Located on the Foxwoods property in Ledyard, Connecticut, the MGM Grand at Foxwoods is a great place to stay and play.
If you’ve ever stayed in Las Vegas and want to find a hotel back east that has the ambiance and feel of one of the Vegas hotels, you might find that the MGM Grand at Foxwoods is just what you are looking for. This casino, hotel and resort all remind me of the nicer hotels and casinos in Las Vegas.
Where is it?
MGM Grand at Foxwoods is located on the Foxwoods property adjacent to the original Foxwoods Casino & Resort in Ledyard, Connecticut. The two have a connection that allows for walking between the two resorts. They also share the same rewards program. MGM Grand is located in the southeastern corner of Connecticut off of Interstate 95. It is about 2 hours from Boston, 3 hours from New York City and probably about an hour or so from Hartford. Getting there is fairly easy, MGM Grand is about 8 miles off of Interstate 95 and the exit and the route are signed well. As with any casino, there’s plenty of free parking. MGM Grand has its own entrance, parking garage and valet parking aside from Foxwoods’ entrances and parking areas.
What’s it like and what will I be doing?
From the design and layout of the hotel and casino to the types of amenities it has, MGM Grand is like a little piece of Las Vegas in eastern Connecticut. There’s the modern architecture with an Asian influence, an overall ‘upscale’ feeling to the property, a nightclub, several finer restaurants and plenty of other things to keep you busy.
The restaurants include three fine dining spots, Alta Strada, Craftsteak, and Shrine. There’s also Junior’s which is a more casual restaurant and for something even faster, the Gelato Cafe offers sandwiches, salads and Gelato. Still not quick enough, the Food Market is something of a food court that has several different kinds of food to choose from including seafood, pizza, sandwiches, burgers and Chinese food. All told everywhere that we ate was good, though since you are in a casino, everything is pricey, even the less expensive options. On certain nights, Shrine, the restaurant also is a nightclub. We were there on a Tuesday night and a Wednesday night. The club was open on both nights.
What about that gambling? MGM Grand’s casino is not all that large, but it is spread out enough so that you never feel all that cramped when playing. There’s a large selection of slot machines in all denominations along with plenty of tables for those who prefer the table games to the slots. I like the high ceilings of the casino since that allows the smoke to rise up and not suffocate you.
Outside of the casino itself, the hotel also has a pool area and the spa floor. We spent a lot of time at the pool, which is a fairly good size. It’s fan shaped so that it can hold quite a few people without feeling too crowded. There’s seating all around the pool along with seating outside the immediate pool area on the grassed area. There are also private cabana’s that can be rented on the outer edge of the pool area should you want them. We had lounge chairs right in the shallow part of the pool and had great sun all day. What’s nice about the pool area is that there’s waitress service around the pool with a limited menu from Junior’s and a full drink menu available. So that was nice to lay there and have cold drinks while we enjoyed the sun and occasionally went swimming.
We never made it to the spa level of the hotel, which is home to the spa and a workout facility. The workout facility is part of the spa, but $25 will get you a pass to the workout area and that’s good for your stay.
The Hotel
If you’re staying at the hotel, the easiest way to get there is to pull into the hotel valet parking. They’ll help you with your bags and then take care of your car. You walk right into the hotel lobby and the check-in desk is to your right. Our check-in took about 5 minutes at most. We put a credit card down so we could charge to the room throughout MGM Grand and at Foxwoods. There’s also a self check-in station if you want to avoid waiting for a clerk. The lobby also has a Bell Desk where you can check your bags and have them hold them until you’re ready to check in or leave.
We stayed on the 23rd floor in a standard deluxe room with a single, king sized bed. Our room was located on the curved portion of the building and the entire outer wall of the room was floor to ceiling windows with an incredible view looking across to the Foxwoods resort and the surrounding forest lands. The room was a good size and the layout was nice. You came into a small hallway when you entered with the bathroom to your right and the rest of the room straight ahead and to the left. The room had a king sized bed, a table, a lounge chair, a dresser and a work area. At the foot of the bed was a cabinet where the TV was held. It rose up out of the cabinet and you could lay in bed and watch it (it was a flat screen TV).
The bathroom was really nice, though it didn’t have a tub, which was one thing I was actually looking forward to. Instead it just had a large tiled shower with glass doors. Besides the shower, there’s a large sink area and the toilet. The windows are a bit smaller here, but there were still the tremendous views.
The bed was really comfortable. It was soft, there were plenty of pillows and we both slept really comfortably for the two nights that we were there.
There’s room service available that includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and catering platters. Pretty much anything you could want.
Besides a tub, the only problem we had with the room was after our first night. Housekeeping somehow forgot to clean our room. We had a do-not-disturb sign up early, but when we left, we took it down, however they never came back to the room. So that evening we checked in with the concierge and they had someone go and clean the room while we were in the casino.
MGM Grand isn’t cheap, though if you are a regular player, you’ll likely get discounted and complimentary rooms. I consider myself a fairly casual gambler, but I get offers for free rooms each month. That was the case with this stay – we had two complimentary nights.
The DreamCard
For people interested in playing in the casinos at either MGM Grand or Foxwoods, there’s a players card called the DreamCard that gives you the opportunity to earn points based on the amount of play that you have. The points you earn can be used throughout MGM Grand and Foxwoods just like money. When you sign up for the card, you also become eligible for special offers and contests, which can include free play, free show tickets and complimentary rooms.
Foxwoods
If you do wander across the pedestrian connection (completely indoors), you’ll make your way to the Grand Pequot portion of Foxwoods. From there, you can get to the rest of Foxwoods just by walking around.
In the end…
Besides the lack of a tub and that we had to have our room cleaned when we went out for the evening, I didn’t have any problem with MGM Grand at Foxwoods. For that matter, I loved it. I found it to be a great place to go and escape to for a few days. I also really liked that it reminded me so much of a resort in Las Vegas, since that’s one of my favorite places to vacation. It was like finding a little piece of Las Vegas here in the Northeast.
I know I’ll go back and stay MGM Grand at Foxwoods. I loved the two nights and days that we spent there. I was able to lay in the sun at the pool, dine in a number of different restaurants, and relax in a really comfortable room.
