Change to Pay-for-Parking Underway

Visitors to Las Vegas have long been used to and expected free parking at casinos as one of the perks that casino operators offered to attract customers. However, the era of free parking is ending as MGM Resorts International’s properties start to charge for parking this week.

Monte Carlo, New York-New York, Bellagio, Aria and Vdara are the first ones to implement the controversial paid parking program on Monday June 6, 2016, charging customers up to $10 per day. Luxor, Excalibur, and Circus Circus followed on Tuesday June 7; MGM Grand and Mirage are joining in today. Visitors to Mandalay Bay and Delano customers will lose their free parking privileges on June 13, 2016.

Local residents can still park for free until the end of the year. Members of MGM's M Life loyalty program who earned the Gold, Pearl, Platinum and NOIR status will receive free self-parking. Short term parking up to one hour is also complimentary.

While customers can book other properties that do not charge parking for now, the worry is that all other resorts on the Las Vegas Strip may soon follow the trend.

Postcard US-2002271 to Australia shows many MGM properties on the Las Vegas Strip that are affected by the changes, with MGM Grand on the left, and Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, New York-New York, and Monte Carlo on the right.

Monte Carlo Out, Park MGM In

Postcard US-1987880 to Brazil shows the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, a 3,000-room, AAA-Four-Diamond rating megaresort in Las Vegas. Named to invoke the Place du Casino in Monte Carlo, Monaco, it opened to the public on June 21, 1996.

MGM Resorts International has recently announced a plan to renovate the resort and to re-brand it as the Park MGM. A smaller, 292-room spin-off will be created as the NoMad Las Vegas, in partner with the Sydell Group who had built the NoMad in New York City. The NoMad will be independently operated, featuring a dedicated lobby, swimming pool as well as separate gaming and food venues.

Final Battle Scene Returns to "KA"

Cirque du Soleil removed a final battle scene from “KA” after a performer fell to her death when her safety wire snapped during a rapid ascent in June, 2013.

Eighteen months later, the scene is returning to “KA” theater at MGM Grand on December 3, 2014 after changes have been made to the choreography and equipment used in the scene.

Outgoing postcard US-3106782 to Finland shows a scene from "KA" where the Twin Sister encounters giant sea creatures, including a silly turtle, a mischievous starfish, and playful crabs, after surviving the shipwreck.

Vanished Sculptures Outside the Monte Carlo

Expired Postcard US-1945392 to Belarus has reached its 365-day mark and is heading to the postcard graveyard. The postcard shows a sculpture outside the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino with a photo taken on October 12, 2012.

Those frolicking sculptures at the north Monte Carlo entrance were dismantled along with the European facade and famed fountain in June 2013 to make way for a large open-air plaza between the Monte Carlo and New York New York. It is part of the current trend that opens up casinos and converts external facades into profit-making entertainment venues with live entertainment, restaurants and retail stores, similar to what are happening in the MGM Grand and the Treasure Island,

Balancing Men by Cirque du Soleil

Balancing Men

I bought this postcard at a Cirque du Soleil show gift shop. It noted: "Balancing Men: the powerful, yet fluid, movements of the Hand-to-Hand act mesmerize audiences with their fusion of strength and grace". However, we were reminded of the real risk in those unreal acts by the recent accidents.

Last week was a bad week for the Cirque du Soleil shows. First, a cast member was injured at Mandalay Bay during “Michael Jackson One” preview on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. The aerial artist was performing the “Stranger in Moscow” routine when he slipped off the slack rope and fell to the stage. Next, on Saturday, June 29, 2013 inside the MGM Grand, performer Sarah Guyard-Guillot in "Ka" died after a 50 feet fall near the end of its 9:30 pm show. Future performances of "Ka" are canceled until further notice.

I went to see "Ka" early last year and Sarah was mostly likely in the show since she had been an original cast member from 2006. I will remember the excitement and determination Sarah and other artists brought to me by taking the risk and turning those seemly impossible acts into reality.

MGM Opens Up

MGM Grand Hotel and Casino

According an article on Las Vegas Sun, MGM Grand will open its walls along the Las Vegas Strip so that the people who pass by can see right inside. The front facade walls from the iconic gold lion to the M&M’s World is coming down.

Casinos used to be designed as dark, closed spaces without clocks and cellphone signals so that customers inside would forget everything else but gambling. MGM's move joins the recent trend that makes casinos more open and connected to the outside world. It also represents the effort from casino and hotel operators to diversify entertainment options  to shopping and other activities other than gaming.