Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino

Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino is a 39-story hotel casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, USA, near Las Vegas. It is owned by MGM Mirage. The top five floors (floors 35-39) of the main hotel building are used by the Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas.

Mandalay Bay has 3,309 hotel rooms and a casino of 135,000 ft² (13,000 m²). The adjacent Mandalay Bay Convention Center has almost one million ft² (93,000 m²) of space. In addition, the Mandalay Bay Events Center hosts events including boxing, the UFC’s MMA pay-per-views and concerts.
Attractions

As of August, 2007, Mamma Mia! was the long-term stage production at Mandalay Bay. Mandalay Bay features the 11 acre (4.5 ha) Mandalay Beach with two heated pools, a wave pool, topless pool and a lazy river that features a small waterfall. There are also two restaurants at the Beach. The pool area is considered among the best in Greater Las Vegas, winning the 2006 Las Vegas Review Journal’s Reader’s “Best Pool of Las Vegas” award for the 7th year in a row.

In keeping with the resort’s tropical theme, it features a saltwater aquarium, the Shark Reef Aquarium, which contains the third largest tank in North America. Shark Reef Aquarium contains numerous other exhibits, including two tunnel-shaped, walk-through aquarium. Another popular attraction is the House of Blues, a venue for live music and a restaurant, with a capacity of approximately 1,800. On the top floor of the hotel is the House of Blues Foundation Room, featuring a dining room, private dining rooms, and a balcony looking down the Las Vegas Strip.

There are 24 restaurants and cafés at the resort. Michael Mina, Charlie Palmer, Hubert Keller, Wolfgang Puck and Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger (Too Hot Tamales) are all associated with restaurants on the property.

History

On December 31, 1996, the Hacienda was imploded to make way for the Mandalay Bay.

During construction engineers discovered that one side of the tower had sunk about two feet (600 mm) stopping construction. Construction was delayed while a solution was designed and tested. Eventually they were able to add material below the structure to carry the weight. Since then, there have not been any reports of this problem recurring.

The resort opened on March 2, 1999, with actors Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi, and John Goodman headlined a parade of Harley-Davidson motorcycles through Mandalay Bay’s front doors to celebrate the grand opening.

The convention center was added in January 2003. When it opened, it was ranked as the fifth largest in the United States. It also offered the largest unobstructed ballroom in the country, at 100,000 ft² (9,000 m²).

In 2004 a new 43-story tower was opened with 1,120 suites, called The Hotel at Mandalay Bay. The hotel contains 1,117 one-bedroom suites, each at least 750 square feet.

The Las Vegas Review Journal reports that a condo-hotel called The Place is planned on land across from the hotel belonging to the Luxor.

Film and television history

* Las Vegas - 2003-present
* Rocky Balboa 2006
* Ocean’s Thirteen - filmed in the “MiX” at The Hotel 2007