Choose Mirage or Mandalay Bay Resort? Full comparison between these 2 Vegas hotels
Mirage or Mandalay Bay? Both excellent Vegas resorts (but NOT without faults), if you ignore the huge location difference (more about this later); the choice between the two will depend on your specific needs. Important things to consider:
1 – comfort of regular rooms. Since most top Vegas hotels have excellent and comfortable high-end suites, we are talking about the regular rooms that most people book or get for a good Vegas deal.
Mandalay Bay has well appointed rooms which are very comfortable; however, their level-entry rooms are not special at all, they’re like any good hotel in North America and, on our last visit, they were showing signs of neglect. Some are smaller than others, much smaller. Their bathrooms are larger than what the basic rooms at Mirage. We had huge problems with noise in their connecting rooms, which are not soundproofed (but this is a problem in many MGM resorts we found).
They can both be noisy hotels these days, for different reasons (Mandalay Bay rooms seem paper-thin and Mirage rooms have a door which seems to attract noise rather than repel it); if noise is an issue I would recommend you book a room at the end of a corridor and definitely not connecting.
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2 – the pool. Both Mirage and Mandalay Bay excel in the pool areas. They are both outstanding albeit different. Closed in winter (pathetic). You can read about it on ‘best Vegas pools‘.
3 – resort fees. Both resorts charge extortionate prices as ‘resort fees’, so there is no significant difference here. Always check with the resort directly over the phone or on their own website because these things vary all the time and can increase or be waived without any warning.
4 – casino. I prefer the Mirage casino (plenty of slots, lively though a bit too smoke-filled with poor ventilation) but I know many love the casino at Mandalay Bay, with its live bands (too loud for me) at times and many good restaurants all around. Neither ‘paid’ well last time we were there, unlike previous years, unfortunately. We had much better luck at other, non-MGM casinos. We also have a page on the best Vegas casinos, with some tips, and hopefully you’ll find it useful if you are interested in casinos.
5 – location. Without a doubt, Mirage sits in a near-perfect location for those who like to be in the middle of the action. It faces Venetian and Palazzo (so you can go there for a change) and it’s next to Treasure Island and Caesars Palace. It is walking distance to the famous Bellagio and Paris resorts. I also absolutely love the fact that Mirage is smaller and its layout allows for a relatively quick entry/exit to and from the Strip. Very quickly you can be at the buffet, or at Starbucks, or simply out on the Strip. Mandalay Bay does is larger and wider, so you won’t have that feeling of having everything at your fingertips at all. Remember that if you want an affordable Subway or similar at Mandalay Bay, you will have to walk out through the convention center and cross the main road. It’ll take a bit but of course you will not have to pay extortionate prices. Mandalay Bay sits in the middle of nowhere; however it’s relatively convenient for a few things, such as the famous Vegas sign, Fry’s Electronics or the popular higher-end shopping area at Town Square, or the M Resort with one of the best buffets in Vegas (if you drive you may like the shorter distance). But for anything else, if you don’t drive, as it’s located at the far end of South Strip, and you will have to catch their free shuttle to Excalibur, after which you have to keep walking a very long distance (rendered so by the non-direct route through City Center) to reach mid Strip; between NYNY and Park MGM you can enjoy the new Park District (trees, cooling areas, restaurants and much more), so you can at least pit stop there for a while; then from the very far back of Park MGM you can catch another shuttle to go to Bellagio (mid-Strip). By the time you end up there, you may have played at all the casinos on the way and tired yourself out to the point of no return! Of course, you can always rent a car or hop on a taxi; you can read about the best ways to get around Vegas.
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6 – food. Mirage has a relatively better buffet though on our last visit it had worsened significantly, and it’s surrounded by a lot of famous restaurants and cafes. However, these days Mandalay Bay has caught up with good restaurants too (and the famous ‘Aureole’), though its buffet is small and average, though the dining area is stunning and for breakfast you will still enjoy fresh blueberries and fresh blackberries (not at Mirage, sadly).
7 – nightclubs. Mirage is across the road from Tao and near Pure, whilst Mandalay Bay is closer to LAX at Luxor. We have a page on Vegas nightclubs which may help you on this topic.
8 – Wi-fi. MGM Resorts in Vegas now have standardised 3rd party wi-fi, included in their resort fee, pretty much resort-wide. Having said this, Mirage’s wifi is probably the worst of the MGM group Vegas resorts, given my own personal experience. Also, their (Mirage) TV service does not seem to work smoothly. On our last visit channels will stop working every few seconds. We have a video showing this (Mirage).
9 – Customer Service. Mandalay Bay for reasons we can’t comprehend is still not top-notch with regards to customer service. For example, you are bound to wait for several minutes before you manage to speak to any customer-related station (front desk etc) if you are lucky. We often have to listen to 2 full songs before any signs of life shows on the other side. Mirage’s has improved a lot lately. Even engineering responded very fast (to fix the TV channels) on both occasions during our last visit.
10 – Gym. Both good but Mirage’s (great) gym now closes at 7pm whilst Mandalay Bay has now placed a mediocre cardio room which however stays open 24 hours, which is fabulous. I wish everybody complained about those limiting opening hours at Mirage: if we are asked to pay a very high resort fee, then there must be a set of resort services available for guests at all hours! Don’t hesitate to complain, the more voices they hear… The more quickly they will change their schedule and services.
11 – Noise. On our last trip Mandalay Bay was an extremely noisy resort; we could hear, whilst inside our bedroom, the loud noises at all hours along the corridor at all hours; it may be due to the fact that it’s now attracting a large number of families with children and a significant number of twenty-something’s. Mirage has also had noise issues, with a door which has a gap to the floor and has no sound-proofing material whatsoever. So, neither of these 2 resorts are really that ‘relaxing’ nor necessarily suitable for a romantic getaway.
We have more detailed page on the Mandalay Bay resort, if you want to know more. If you found our page on Mirage or Mandalay Bay ? you will find the following useful too: Best 5 Vegas Resorts – Best 10 Vegas Buffets – Las Vegas Coupons
