March 8, 2009: Las Vegas Trip Day 4
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This is our last day here in Las Vegas. We have met Ron and Jay and had some breakfast, but they have to head on to the airport with their car to meet their flight to Minneapolis and from there to Fort Lauderdale. Our own flight is about three this afternoon, so Steve, Mario, Fred and I are just walking around the Strip some more this morning. We decided to go on over to the Excalibur to have some lunch at a hotel we hadn't done much at so far. So first we will take a look at the Excalibur, and then I can show pictures from our lunch. After that, the only remaining section of pictures will involve our trip home.

Hotel #20: Excalibur Hotel and Casino

The Excalibur is the fourth of the hotel casino complexes here at the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and The Strip. It is on the southwest corner.

      Aerial View and Location

The Excalibur Hotel and Casino is catty-corner from the MGM Grand, and is owned and operated by MGM Mirage.

In the aerial view at left, I've pointed out the four hotels that surround the Excalibur at this busiest of Las Vegas crossroads.

      Description

Excalibur, named for the mythical sword of King Arthur, uses the Arthurian theme in several ways. Its facade is a stylized image of a castle. Until 2007, a wizard-like figure representing Merlin looked out from a high turret. The style of the hotel is heavily based on the castle in Carcassone, France.

Excalibur is situated at the Tropicana - Las Vegas Boulevard intersection. The intersection is so busy that pedestrians are not allowed to cross at street level. Instead, Excalibur is linked by overhead pedestrian bridges to its neighboring casinos to the north (the New York-New York, across Tropicana Avenue) and to the east (the Tropicana, across the Strip). There is also a free tram that connects Excalibur to its sister MGM Mirage properties to the south, the Luxor and Mandalay Bay. As of 2007, Excalibur has remodeled 2000 of their guest rooms to feature contemporary furnishings and state-of-the-art plasma-screen TV's.

Address: 3850 Las Vegas Boulevard South Opened: June 19, 1990 Theme: Medieval / Camelot Rooms: 4,008 Gaming Space: 100,000 sq/ft Permanent Shows: Tournament of Kings       Thunder Down Under Signature Attractions: Merlin Versus The Dragon Owner: MGM Mirage Years Renovated: 2000, 2007 Website: www.excalibur.com

 

      History

The Excalibur opened on June 19, 1990 originally built by the Circus Circus company. It was one of many new, modern Las Vegas hotels that featured children's attractions, such as an arcade and a motion simulator called Merlin's Magic Motion Machine. Another feature of the Excalibur that is prominent is a large family swimming pool. When it opened it was the largest hotel in the world.

On March 21, 2003 the largest Megabucks Jackpot, as of that time, was hit at the Excalibur. The jackpot was for $39,713,982.25. On April 26, 2005, the Excalibur, along with the other hotels of the Mandalay Resort Group, was purchased by rival MGM Mirage. Excalibur now has 2,000 newly remodeled rooms that are called "Widescreen Rooms". The all-new widescreen rooms have been upgraded floor to ceiling. They feature 42" plasma screen televisions, custom pillow top mattresses with Egyptian cotton, contemporary bathrooms with granite countertops, and alarm clocks with iPod inputs. Widescreen rooms also offer the property's best views, as well as its most convenient access to the pool and spa.

      Picture Gallery

Below are groups of thumbnail images for some of the pictures that we took of the Excalibur Hotel and Casino, both from the other hotels at the crossroads and inside the Excalibur as well. To see a full-size picture, all you have to do is click on its thumbnail. Please feel free to have a look at as many of the pictures as you like:

Inside the Excalibur Hotel and Casino On the day we walked through the Excalibur and Luxor to get to Mandalay Bay, I filmed a movie as we entered Excalibur from the crossroads entrance.

Lunch at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino

We came in the main entrance (where I made the movie you saw in the previous section) and walked through the casino to find the far side and the Sherwood Forest Cafe. None of us were hungry enough for a buffet or a large meal, and this restaurant was the perfect choice.

We had a nice light lunch- Fred, myself and Mario & Steve. And after lunch we wandered around the casino for a while. Then we headed back to our room to get our stuff together.

The Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand

When we were done with lunch, we walked across the pedestrian walkway to New York, New York, and from there across the walkway back to the MGM Grand. Entering our hotel on the second level, we descended to the main casino floor to stop at the Lion Habitat.

From the MGM Web site, I got the following about the habitat:

"To honor the lion and help safeguard its preservation for future generations, MGM Grand Hotel and Casino has created a one-of-a-kind Lion Habitat as a showcase for public education and appreciation for this majestic creature of nature. The lion has been a part of the MGM heritage for many years, beginning with the legendary Leo, whose roars have welcomed generations of moviegoers to epics of the silver screen. The lions live in custom accommodations on an 8.5-acre ranch 12 miles from the MGM Grand. They are owned and cared for by noted feline expert Keith Evans, who has been training exotic animals for more than 30 years."

Admission to the habitat is free, and so we stopped and waited in line for just a little while before we could take the short walk through the habitat itself. Basically, there are enclosed public halls and observation rooms that you walk through, while the lions are actually roaming around and above you in a much larger enclosure. So it is possible to get quite close to them but at all times separated from them. The light was terrible, and flash wouldn't work well because everything was beyond plate glass or plexiglass. But we did take a few pictures. We apologize for the fact that they aren't as clear as we would like, but you can see them anyway by clicking on the thumbnail images below:

Then it was back to our rooms to pack and check out for our cab ride back to the airport.

Our Trip Home

We got to the airport with no problem and in plenty of time for our flight. As it turned out, the flight was delayed for over an hour, so we spent a total of two and a half hours waiting in the terminal before our flight was called. Fred sat by the window on our aircraft, and he took a few pictures of note on the way home. First, he was able to get an admittedly fuzzy shot of the Stratosphere Tower. Then, a few minutes later, he got a much better shot of the Las Vegas Strip, and you can pick out a number of the hotels I've described, and you can see much of the new CityCenter development.

The last picture from our Las Vegas trip that I'd like to include here was what I think is a particularly beautiful shot of the setting sun beyond our airplane's wing, and you can have a look at that picture here.

We got back to Dallas about nine o'clock, and ended up having dinner at Chili's before heading home. After visiting at my houe for just a while, Steve and Mario picked up their car from my garage and they, too, headed home. It was a great trip and, thanks to Mario, we did more than I would ever have expected.

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	March 8, 2009: Las Vegas Trip Day 4
	Return to the Index for Our Las Vegas Trip