Well, as many of you know, my Husband works for Corporate MGM (Security devision, non Operations) and he was talking with a co-worker about various MGM properties and once again was told of the difference at Circus-Circus. So, our ';Weekend'; family trip led us to Circus-Circus.
Day of the week- Monday
Time- 5:30pm
Who- Myself, Husband, Son (13) Daughter (5mo.)
We entered through the Lobby. There is construction going on and you can no longer drive through to drop off or pick up.
There is all new carpeting.
**Due to the Nevada Clean Air Act, the air is REMARKABLY clean! I mean, you can smell the air freshener they are using. (I think they have some kind of air freshener) We journey upstairs on the escalators (both are in operation, compared to my memory a few years ago when you had to WALK up them because they didnt ';go';.
We walk around the Adventure Dome. Looks good. Justin wants to ride rides and we talk him out of this until we decide how we feel about the place. As we are leaving the ride area, I spot a store that has the most precious things for a baby girl and pick a few things up for Hannah. Prices are reasonable in here, as my experience with shops in a Casino go.
We head back down to the Main Floor and walk down past the Casino. There are ';No Smoking'; signs everywhere. You can smoke IN the gambling area, but not outside of it. We continue walking... past the buffet. (didn%26#39;t bother to look) and then past a Steak House (THE Steak House) and looked inside and at the menu. All kinds of cuts of meats, median price around $40. a plate. The inside is very ';lodge like'; with dark wood paneling, Servers in white jackets and a sign that said something like ';Voted BEST of Las Vegas a record 18 times';. Humm... why have I never heard of this place?? Oh yeah, Ive always stayed the hell away from here. This is Circus-Circus, after all.
Onward! There are children in the hallway, some with parents, some without parents and as we near the entrance to the ';Midway'; the boys have to use the restroom, so I wait just to the side and within 2 min. I am approached by a security guard who informs me that the elevators are (points, politely) ';over here'; and I explain I am waiting for my Husband and Son and then I say, am I allowed to be here? I have the baby in a stroller, after all and I am not exactly in the gambling area, and not exactly in the ';Green'; area... so as to not block the walk way. I am informed that I can not stand here and after telling him that I am waiting, I am informed that I can wait by the Restrooms. Humm... interesting. OK.
Out come the boys and we head up to the Midway. There is a show going on. Every 30 min is a show and it was 6pm now and they had a guy doing some tricks on steel drums with a hoop. Mildly entertaining. We walk around. There is no smoke... I don%26#39;t know if it was always this way, but it is now. There are not a whole lot of people, but enough, I suppose. Plenty of kids without parents, but this area is designed for them, right? There are all kind of toss the ball in and win the prize booths. We round the corner and are at the arcade area. Skee-ball! Yay! oh, I must play a game. .50 cents a game... the run is slanted (literally) and I cant hit the 50pts. I got the 40 once... I throw another .50cents in ... same thing. slanted. This is not good! We explore some more. Justin sees all kinds of arcade games to play, Something with sitting on a motorcycle, something with guns, something with race cars. A teenagers paradise. Steve and I played with him and we took Hannah to the real children%26#39;s section where they have the rides that they used to have outside of Bradlees, Caldor and K-mart that we would haunt our parents to put a dime in so we could ride the pony, doggy, carousel and what have you. That was the first time she has ever been on one of those rides and we took pictures of her that came out adorable, because they have this colorful play area- well it just makes for a heck of a cute picture! I am going to have it blown up to an 8X10. It is precious!
Next we find air-hockey tables and Justin and Steve have a ball with that, while Hannah and I watch all the bright color stuffed animals hanging from everywhere and the blinking lights of the arcade games. Steve and I have a go at the air-hockey together, I win. Justin and I play, I win. Its good to be the Mom! As we wondered around I found another bank of Skee-ball games and these were all level and only .25cents a game. I played quite a few of those and that added to the kids pile of tickets. All in all, the arcade was much different than I would have thought. The carpet is worn... But, they must have 20,000 kids a day running all over it. I found everything to be clean. Not just passable... but really CLEAN. I noted several security guards around... just sitting back and watching, in case of emergency or need of intervention, I guess. No kids knocked into us. There was not a lot of yelling. I didn%26#39;t see anyone running and I forgot I was in Circus-Circus. The baby was getting tired, it was nearly 8pm and as we were leaving, the next Circus act was about to start in around 5 min. So we sat in the seats this time and waited. It was a contortionist. She was amazing. Very impressive and a lot of fun to watch.
By now, its just after 8pm and we head out. We spent $20. on the whole family. We had 2 hours of QUALITY time together as a family and an excellent time. This is Circus-Circus... I cant believe it. We had no issues and the whole experience was very pleasant. I never in a million years would go there if it weren%26#39;t for Steve mentioning how the people at work have been talking about the ';difference';.
So, for whatever it is worth...
I am not big on sugar coating. This is the way things were when we were there and I think it is worth reporting. I WOULD return there. It is a fun place for children and I find it to be safe. I know our 13 year old is waiting to go back. We promised him a day pass for Adventure dome ($23.00) and we plan on leaving the baby with my Mother In Law and spending the day with him, riding the roller coasters and other such rides and trying out that Steak House.
I don%26#39;t know what the rooms are like. I have heard there is a tower where all the rooms have been redone... I am thinking if you are a family traveling to Las Vegas, Circus-Circus might be just what your family would enjoy.
Cheers!
MelissaLynn
Oh yeah, MGM is not paying me to say this! lol
Circus-circus did a clean-up clean-up!Great to hear! I remember Circus Circus from when I was a child-6-10 years old I used to go, every summer. Loved it then! All those games-loved tic-tac-toe! Won all sorts of stuffed animals. My cousin won this big huge lion once--Had to box it up and ship it back to NY. LOL We also got our faces painted to look like clowns.. lots of memories there.
Circus-circus did a clean-up clean-up!Good post Melissa - we had a similar experience at Christmas. I visited the hotel once in the mid 90%26#39;s and have always given it a very wide berth since....
However, on the recommendations of several TA%26#39;s, we booked dinner at The Steakhouse. Comfortable restaurant with very nice steak; I couldn%26#39;t quite believe that I was sitting IN Circus Circus.
Generally, there were a lot of children around the hotel, but we stayed for a few roulette games and ended up winning : ) One of our party even enjoyed watching the circus acts whilst we were on the slots.
A surprisingly good night all round.
';Oh yeah, MGM is not paying me to say this! lol';
lol, stoolie!
Very nice report. Thank you for taking the time to report on this place.
It gets slammed on a daily basis, which is one reason I won%26#39;t set foot in there. Can you report on your second visit to see if it remains a decent and more important, ';safe and clean'; environment?
Great post!!
Thank you for taking the time to post this.
I too haven%26#39;t stepped foot in Circus circus for probably 8 yrs because of the way it was upkept.
I%26#39;m curious also if it keeps improving or slides back downhill.
Thanks for giving us a an honest look at CC. So many people have criticized it without actually going in there. I have stayed away because my few visits there have not been to my liking-but that was years ago. Maybe I will look at it myself on my next visit.
Thanks, MelissaLynn, for the report. After reading all the reports here, and having experienced CC-Reno on several occasions, we intentionally avoided the place this last trip. Maybe it is worth a look once all the recent refurbishments are completed.
Hi Melissa Lynn
I think your report surprised a lot of people wno have been avoiding CC.
You%26#39;ll have to make yourself an official looking badge ';Trip Advisor Property Inspector'; and check out some of the places that interest you. Or will you be too busy in partnership at your new hot chocolate concession outside the Bellagio fountains?
Just think in a couple of years you%26#39;ll have a built in baby sitter.
Thanks for the report, Melissa. I had avoided CC for years because of ';the reports';. Finally visited last April and decided that was enough for me. I%26#39;m glad to hear things are changing.
We don%26#39;t travel with children . . . so will likely not make it a frequent stop on our itinerary. But we do like a good steak . . . will now not be as likely to steer clear.
Glad to hear it. After I ate at The Steak House, I couldn%26#39;t wait to get off the premises.
HI Meliss - You are so very brave to go and do this investigation! Great post, now I know what you meant about MGM and smoking, they are readily complying with the new law. Any other tidbits about smoking issue?
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