Trip 4 August 4 - 7, 1995 This trip was with me and my wife, my mom and dad, my brother and sister-in-law, and my younger brother. Our goal was to have an adult family vacation. A truly once in a lifetime event, we rode up in my parents motorhome, then the kids flew back home while mom and dad went on to vacation in Utah and Colorado for a few more days. HOTEL MGM Grand...$119.00 first night...$89.00 second and third nights My wife, mother, and sister-in-law checked in while my dad, two brothers, and myself waited in the lobby. It took at least a half hour (maybe an hour) to get to the desk. There were at least one hundred other people waiting. It seems the MGM is used to this kind of crowd since they had the area roped off to form a waiting line. I thought it was very disrespectful of them to put their TIRED guests through this kind of torture. Its like going to the supermarket. WHY don’t they have all the checkout lanes open??? Once they reached the desk it took at least 15 minutes to get checked in to three rooms. Why does it take so long? Get our credit card, give us some keys, sign the form, and say “Have a pleasant stay”. There MUST be a better way. I’m no rocket scientist, and I realize it’s only the largest hotel in the world, but could figure out a better way. Mom and Dad went with us to see Lance Burton at the Hacienda for the 7:30 show, and since we got good seats last time, I was feeling pretty confident of my tipping approach. I was going all out this time cause I wanted a booth in the center of the showroom, so I prepared what I thought was a big tip - a folded twenty AND a ten dollar bill. I arrived at this amount by taking the tip from my last visit (10 bucks) and doubling it since there were four this time instead of two. I added the other ten for good measure since I really wanted to get a good seat for my parents to see the show. Instead of giving the tip to the Maitré D as we did last time, he instructed us to give it to “Kim”, his assistant. I did and Kim took us down the aisle and to the right which is off to the side. It was a booth like we wanted and on the row that we wanted, but a disappointment. In a few moments, Kim seated another family on our row and looked at me and motioned for us to “come this way”. It was as if a mistake had been made and he ushered us to a booth marked “reserved”, center of the stage in the middle of the showroom. The seats I had voted as “Best Seats in the House” when I scoped the place out during my visit in January. Success. Once again, the show was polished and when Lance magically appeared standing over our booth, it was quite a surprise for my group. (I was expecting it and STILL got caught off guard) After the show, we walked across the street and ate a sandwich at the Tropicana. Sharlette and I then took a taxi to Bally’s to see “Jubilee”. I had made reservations about a week in advance and when we were seated, I was amazed at the seats we had. We were at table 6, seats 1 and 3 which is dead center, knees bumping the stage (see the enclosed diagram) Maybe not the best seats in the house for viewing the performance with a group of friends (booth 206 would be), but the best for studying it. You could almost reach right up and grab the beautiful showgirls. MGM Grand There were WAY too many kids running around in the lobby and casino. Unless they are actually using the slot machines, they are free to do whatever they want. Again, we left our young ones with Grandma and we really didn’t want to have to dodge kids to walk thru the place. Im talking hundreds and hundreds of kids. The room was a nice standard room. Two beds, but we could have gotten a king if we wanted. Security came by and told us our door was ajar too. I intend to write a detailed letter to the MGM Grand management telling them of my disappointments. Will I ever stay there again? Surprisingly, the answer is “I might”. Wanted to see “EFX”, but they were on vacation during our stay. No good headliners either. At least I got to watch “Pulp Fiction” in my hotel room. Other memorable places We went down to the Frontier and ate Mexican Food, then crossed the street to the Fashion Show Mall and bought some clothes.