VegasChatter

Tags: Emergencies / MGM Grand / Pool Scenes / → All Tags

Chemical Leak Forces Evacuation at MGM Grand's Pool Area

The MGM Grand pool in happier times.

As summer winds down in Las Vegas, the pool scene drama is heating up. About 100 people are being treated for breathing difficulties at the MGM Grand this afternoon after a chemical leak erupted at the pool. Twenty-six people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries. The Las Vegas Sun reports:

MGM Resorts International spokesman Gordon Asher said the fumes were caused by an injector valve on the chlorination system stuck in the “on” position at the MGM Grand pool. The valve was immediately closed when noticed, Absher said. Brenner said the leak appeared to be the result of an equipment failure as opposed to human error.

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Tags: Snapshot / MGM Grand / Studio Cafe / Food / Do Not Do / Restaurants / → All Tags

When is Meat Loaf Not a Good Choice? When It's at the Studio Cafe

You can’t beat a good piece of meat loaf, right? No, not right. Not, that is, if the meat loaf comes from the Studio Café at MGM Grand.

We’re always on the lookout for cheap eats so when we ended up in the Grand the other night to see Ka, we thought we’d give the Caff a whirl. Normally we go for a burger as our restaurant litmus test, but this time we were tempted by the meat loaf, that we were assured by our server was very good. Which it had to be, really - because at $18.50 it was hardly being given away.

Woe was us – it was not very good. It was, in fact, very poor. It had the consistency of jelly and the only thing we liked eating was the mashed potato, which wasn’t very good, either. suffice to say, we didn’t ask for a box. Then during Ka, we started feeling sick. Was it the food or was it those kerazy kidz and their onstage turning our stomach? Who knows, but we doubt we'll risk it again.

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Tags: Survival Strategies / Tips / Parking / Driving / Valets / MGM Grand / Events / → All Tags

A Trip to NY Is Your Best Bet to Avoid The MGM Grand Traffic

In our ongoing effort to bring you the latest in what’s happening around Las Vegas we do a lot of driving. Which means we do a lot of parking. We dread heading to some casino garages more than others since most aren't empty with a bottle waiting.

Valet is always an option, of course, but some valets are always so busy you can expect a hefty wait, and many always claim to be full on weekends (Caesars and Mandalay Place seem to be permanently full on weekends, and the Palms had run out of space by the time we arrived on Saturday). Which means you're left with self park.

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Tags: Vegas Virgins / Stratosphere / Hoover Dam / MGM Grand / Planet Hollywood / Brits / → All Tags

This (Nearly) 30 Year Old Virgin Did It At the Stratosphere

We told you about our first time...visiting Vegas, that is. And you’ve told us about yours. Except you all seemed to do it with your parents. So we thought it was time for the next member of VegasChatter to tell you about her deflowering at the ripe age of 29.

My most shameful Sin City admission? That I only came here for the first time last year. Yes, I left it until I was pushing 30 to lose my Vegas virginity. Loser. On the upside, being such a late developer meant that I could do it in style, which kind of makes up for it.

2009 was my annus horribilis. I loathed my job in London, I had a catalogue of disasters come my way, and when a friend died in tragic circumstances last July, and I was expected to write about it for the newspaper I worked for, I knew I needed time (and job) out.

I wanted to go somewhere I could relax – somewhere with, as I thought, no culture, nobody I knew, no expectations and no judgment when I got completely onion bhajied. There could only be one place – Vegas! Ok, Vegas as part of a road trip across America. That way, I figured, I could do some Kerouac-esque finding myself in oblivion. Romantico! So I signed myself off work for six weeks and three days after the funeral I was on a plane to LA.

I stayed a week in LA but the place didn’t really speak to me. I’d planned three days in Vegas to douse myself in alcohol and move on, expecting the hangover to be the longest lasting effect it had on me. But the drive along the I-15 was kind of life-changing. I’d never seen a desert before, and I was utterly entranced – I remember pulling off the road near Barstow, mesmerized at how hot the wind was, and how there were real, live cacti sitting in front of me on the roadside. You know those three huge sandy lumps on the plain outside Baker? I was fascinated. I made them the desktop on my laptop that night, and I’m still staring at them today.

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Tags: Competitions / Free Vegas / MGM Grand / → All Tags

Need to Get a Life? MGM Grand Will Give You One

Good luck out-boring this guy

Ooh this is fun! Everyone’s a closet exhibitionist, so now’s your chance to put that streak to good use in aid of a good cause – your free vacation.

MGM Grand launched its Get a Life giveaway yesterday, with a weekend for you and three friends up for grabs. You’ll be put up in a suite, fed “gourmet dinners”, given a cabana at Wet Republic, bottle service at one of the nightclubs, a helicopter tour of the Strip and tickets to KA. All in one weekend – September 24-26.

To win, you just need to make a two minute video (here comes the exhibitionist part) telling them why you need to get a life. Hint: you’ll have to come across as more boring than the dude in their video who gets his kicks from putting toothpicks in his beard.

Obvs you’ll have to suffer the indignity of having your “transformation” filmed once you get here, but hey, for free bottle service we’d be happy with that. We can hardly talk, seeing as we’re marrying a sandwich this afternoon. Good luck, lame-ohs! Click here to enter.

Tags: NHL Awards / Pearl Theater / The Palms / Sports / Events / MGM Grand / → All Tags

NHL Skates Back Into Vegas This Week

Can you spot the fake hockey players?

Hockey returns to the Pearl at The Palms this Wednesday night for the 2010 NHL Awards. For the second year in a row, the NHL is ready to let loose and hand out some hardware after a long, hard season and some exciting playoff games.

Tickets for the event and after show pool party cost $304 but are sold out, including Stubhub (of course we checked). For hockey diehards without said tix, the awards red carpet begins at 3pm, so hanging around the Palms might net you some NHL stars and hockey loving celeb sightings.

We’d suggest getting a room to watch the awards show on Versus in between your stalking, but the hotel is sold out as well. Yes, this is a big event. So big, the Stanley Cup and Canadian TV sports show tapings have already been in Vegas this week.

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Tags: Resort Fees / MGM Grand / MGM Mirage / Aria / → All Tags

MGM Grand to Charge $10 Resort Fee, Will Aria Be Next?

Go here for VegasChatter's Resort Fee List.

It was inevitable. MGM Mirage could only go so long without charging a resort fee at its namesake property, the MGM Grand. But that time has come to an end. Dutiful Twitterer, @Rex_Imperator tells us the hotel will now charge a $10 resort fee, effective July 5.

That fee will include the following: complimentary internet (yay!), a $15 beverage credit (ok!), daily USA Today newspaper, local and toll-free numbered calls and limited business center services such as outgoing faxes, copies, notary, and boarding pass printing. Hmm...the only one we'd really use out of the biz center is the boarding pass printing but the internet is definitely a perk and even the beverage credit is nice. (Although we can always get free drinks on the casino floor.)

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Tags: Casino Whales / Gambling / High-Limit Rooms / MGM Grand / Luxor / Aria / Palazzo / Red Rock / → All Tags

Where to Go Whale-Watching in Vegas

Have a drink while whale-watching at The Palazzo Las Vegas

Like their marine mammalian counterparts, casino whales are larger than life. Betting for them is like breathing: $5,000 here, $10,000 there—to them, it’s all pocket change. Most of these players have casino credit that stretches six digits and beyond. Naturally, then, when they come to a place like Vegas, they want to wager like there’s no tomorrow, no matter how the cards or dice may fall.

For casino executives, these players are lifeblood. Kirk Kerkorian, Steve Wynn and Gary Loveman could care less how much Jack and Jane Tourist win or lose at the low-roller pits; it’s these guys, the whales, they need to attract to pay for their new spas, new hotel towers and new nightclubs.

For us, however, stalwart casino players, whales are true spectacles—honest-to-goodness sights to behold. We’re drawn to them instinctively, sometimes inexplicably, because inside, we all want for ourselves the very thing these gamblers have in droves: money, and the fearlessness to throw it down. With this in mind, here are the five best high-limit rooms in town, the five best spots to observe these mythical creatures in their natural habitats. Captain Ahab would be proud.

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Tags: Hotel Rooms / Room Service / Dining / The Signature / MGM Grand / Eating / → All Tags

The Signature at MGM Grand Wants You to Make It Hot In Their Room

Scallop risotto. Yours may not be as pretty.

UPDATE: Turns out you can only order the Baked Ziti basket for DIY dinner. The other two dishes are available to view, and then to order on room service. The scallops cost $36 and the chicken curry $23. But you can still pretend you made them.

For years Vegas hotel rooms were amenity-less spaces with a bed so that visitors were encouraged to spend more time on the casino floor. More and more to our liking however, hotel rooms have become quite the scene.

The announcement of The Signature at MGM Grand’s new In-Suite Cooking Program is one new amenity surprisingly aimed at keeping you out of the casino even more. Care to learn how to cook Scallop Risotto, Tandoori Chicken Curry or Baked Ziti during your trip? Just turn on the TV - guests can now learn how it's done from Signature chefs via three 30 minute videos on the in-suite TV channel, “Signature Dish”.

And, even better, this isn't a normal TV cookery show - you can do it hands on in your kitchen as well. Dial the "In-Suite Dining line" and you can buy a pre-assembled culinary basket to work with. It's not overly expensive, either - the Baked Ziti basket costs $55 and has enough food for a party of four.

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Tags: Snapshot / CineVegas / Film Festivals / The Palms / Las Vegas Hilton / Town Square / MGM Grand / → All Tags

Oh CineVegas, Where Art Thou?

Since CineVegas announced last year that the city’s premier film festival would be taking at least a year off, we’ve had some time to come to terms with the news. But we still weren’t prepared to see CineVegas branded coffee sleeves proudly on display recently at Coffee Bean at the Palms.

Our first reaction was excitement the festival was back. After all, it would be normally coming up within the next month. But it wasn’t to be as the hiatus was still on and the coffee sleeves were leftovers from 2009. So unless business has been terribly slow at Coffee Bean, we’ll interpret these sleeves as a living tribute to CineVegas during its break.

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Tags: Boxing / Fights / Floyd Mayweather / MGM Grand / Events / → All Tags

Mayweather, Mosley, and the Circus to Follow

Fight night in Las Vegas. A phrase that at one time would give us chills and get us digging out our best Howard Cosell impression. But a long string of un-interesting boxing matchups and the fact that UFC is just a lot more interesting has long since killed our giddiness over Fight Night.

Not that we don’t want to ever get excited about boxing again. We were all over the Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao news when that fight was finally announced. We had our fight night plans all mapped out months in advance. Finally a fight that we could rally around. But that card was killed when someone sallied out couldn’t agree over drug testing methods, leaving us an even more bitter taste over the state of boxing.

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Tags: Show Openings / Entertainment / MGM Grand / Pussycat Dolls / → All Tags

The Jabbawockeez Pop Over to the MGM Grand for a Month of Shows

Note to the Pussycat Dolls: When your No. 1 doll's gigging on Dancing with the Stars, you know it's time to retire the fishnets. Luckily, there's a new hot dance troupe ready to the stage in Vegas. The Jabbawockeez will bring their trademark white masks and gloves to the MGM Grand for a nearly one-month residency in May.

The hip-hopping Jabbawockeez, most well-known for being the first-season winners in MTV's America's Best Dance Crew, will take over the MGM Grand's Hollywood Theatre from May 7 to 26 for nightly 9:30 performances of "MUS.I.C.," which awkwardly reads "muse I see."

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