What's the story on the Luxor re development?

The MGM was best when opened with emphasis on MGM movies and stars. The Wizard of Oz at the entry, the photos of the stars on the walls, the elaborate painting of various trim and boundary about the cornice area. We took video (vcr) when it first opened and still can't believe it existed. We had no kids so it wasn't a family destination for us.
We went to Pyramid the first year it was open too with the boat ride, weird inclinator(?), sigma derby with camels and yes, the "cute" waitresses dressed as Egyptian servant types. It made gambling fun (or at least more fun). But I agree with previous poster, lack of diversity makes it just another hotel.

 

What? No way...oh, I regret not seeing this with my own eyes!

 

I don't mind the themes at all. theme or no theme, I just want a clean affordable room. but I must say it seems a bit insane to try to de-theme a pyramid shaped resort. just sayin. bean counters and casino bosses they know more than I do. and I am quite sure they are not interested in my opinion or input just because I might spend some money there. {sarcasm}

 

I am sad at the de-theming of Vegas. My first inclination that de-theming was afoot was when they took down the skull and crossbones and replaced it with a romper room-colored "TI". Oh please!

Not a de-theme gesture, but I was also sad when they closed the lion's mouth at MGM.

 

Actually, they CAN re-theme the pyramid if they really want to. Many people might not realize it, but the MGM Grand was constructed around an existing hotel called The Marina. If MGM Resorts really wanted to, they could construct a structure around the existing pyramid to give the building a more traditional look. Would it be worth the expense? Who knows, but it's not as if they would have to tear the pyramid down and start from scratch.

 

True - but isn't Marina now really just one of the hotel room wings? It's more like they added on than built "around" the existing structure. To detheme a pyramid, you sort of would have to build a superstructure, I'd think....
My first trip to Vegas was Jan 1999, we stayed at The STRAT , and I do remember visiting all the extremely themed hotels!!

 

Marina (West Wing) was a small section appended to a new-build.

 

I loved Central park and all the trees and water. I was so disappointed to find out that NYNY took it all out. I am a huge fan of Theme casinos. For me it was something fun to see and made for some great pics.

 

It's true that the Marina is a "wing" but they didn't leave the original hotel as is - they did build around it so it was "swallowed" into the MGM Grand and looked completely seamless. It would be a big undertaking, but I was just pointing out that if MGM Resorts was dead set on de-theming a pyramid, it's possible.

I really love the "themed" resorts and miss the fun of the Pirate Ship show, the old Mirage volcano, the Rio Masquerade in The Sky show and all the fun things that were uniquely Vegas and are now gone (and that includes magicians and showgirls, for the most part).

 

An engineering feasibility? Well, yes, but toward what end? You'd have nothing but a huge void. Apples/oranges.

 

I imagine that MGM would like to detheme but detheming some buildings would be cost-prohibitive (way too much $, no return on that investment) and that's why we still have a pyramid and a castle. And a few pirates but most of that has been removed, so.....

 

Apples and oranges JR. Yes MGM consumed the old Marina, but they just made that a hotel wing around a larger structure.

Draw a triangle and then put a square around. Thats a whole lotta dead space if you tried to facade the pyramid and it would only get worse the higher up you went.

I'm sure people would want to actually look out of their windows, the higher up you go the farther the windows would be from the room. Near the top that would be like looking out down a long hallway to see natural light.

A facade would just turn a giant pyramid into a giant cube anyway.

 

Luxor has cubes already, they're called the Tower rooms.

 

I mentioned this somewhat in the Raiders Stadium thread....

methinks the new location of the new Stadium will increase foot traffic through the Luxor and Mandalay Bay, which i believe will force a massive reconstruction of Luxor to meet the demands of being across the street from the stadium. Luxor or MB would be the tailgate spot for the games. Which this is really confusing because Sands has nothing to do with MGM so is Sands helping Luxor become relevant again?

 

MB and Luxor are two of the bigger casinos on the strip at 160,000 and 100,000 square feet. Not much to do to meet the "demands" of the stadium as MB is only behind Venetian/Palazzo and WynnCore and Luxor is still in the top half. Not to mention many will still prefer old fashion tailgating and we haven't even discussed the proximity of the other casinos too. Plus the likely site seems to be the vacant parcel on the west side of I-15 which leads me to believe many will still traditionally tailgate outside in lots where possible for the sake of being in close proximity on that side of the highway.