Circus Circus is not part of MGM mLife

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alpax
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Circus Circus is not part of MGM mLife

Post by alpax »

I knew Circus Circus was on the MGM chain, but I was surprised to learn that it is not linked to mLife anymore and they have their own player's card system.

Scott Kruse Article - Slot Club Spotlight Circus Circus

Circus Circus Player Club Homepage

It seems like CC is getting into the Dave & Busters type of business.

Anyhow I always viewed CC as the lowest tier you can get on mLife.

My personal ratings of MGM places (1 being lowest and 5 being the high end)

Aria - 5
Bellagio - 5
Monte Carlo - Borderline 4 and 5 (4.5)
Mandalay Bay - 4
MGM Grand - Borderline 3 and 4 (3.5)
New York New York - 3
Mirage - Borderline 2 and 3 (2.5)
Luxor - 2
Excalibur - 1
Circus Circus - 1

betjimjam
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Post by betjimjam »

Wha?? MGM Grand is numero uno all around. It's the straw....say no more.

Vman96
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Post by Vman96 »

I hope you rated MC high because of the pool...

And part of me would want to rate NYNY below CC because something about NYNY rubs me the wrong way. Same w/my g/f. And I would rank Luxor badly if it wasn't for the VP.

And CC has the "Aces and Eights"!   

Here is what I rate them in terms of various "factors"...room/food/location/VP selection/general casino atmosphere. Anything in parentheses are specific reasons for ranking, from highest to lowest.

Bellagio (good location, good VP, classy)
Mirage (mostly for location/room)
Aria (good VP on my favorite game!, classy, decent buffet)
MGM
MC (pool, decent location for MLife)
Luxor (good quarter VP)
Mandalay Bay (poor location, boring casino, good pool is the main highlight)
Circus Circus (good VP, cheap)
Excal
NYNY

alpax
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Post by alpax »

I hope you rated MC high because of the pool...

And part of me would want to rate NYNY below CC because something about NYNY rubs me the wrong way. Same w/my g/f. And I would rank Luxor badly if it wasn't for the VP.

And CC has the "Aces and Eights"!   

Here is what I rate them in terms of various "factors"...room/food/location/VP selection/general casino atmosphere. Anything in parentheses are specific reasons for ranking, from highest to lowest.

Bellagio (good location, good VP, classy)
Mirage (mostly for location/room)
Aria (good VP on my favorite game!, classy, decent buffet)
MGM
MC (pool, decent location for MLife)
Luxor (good quarter VP)
Mandalay Bay (poor location, boring casino, good pool is the main highlight)
Circus Circus (good VP, cheap)
Excal
NYNY

It is biased, but my motive to rate these MGM casinos was to show that Circus Circus fell off the bottom of "my" charts. I suppose truthfully, not that they are not good enough to be an mLife casino, this direction might be for the best for Circus Circus (its been around for a very long time). The ratings were based on quality of life rather than everything considered. Your ratings should carry much more weight to people looking into playing on the MGM side of things in Vegas, unless a player can roll like billyjoe who can comfortably do 7Star and NOIR in both Total Rewards and mLife.

The weekend rates for non-MGM card holding players are always cheap for Circus Circus. I heard way too many horror stories from others about CC and Excal (some were pretty bad to a point where they will not even stay there even if they were given $100 in extra free play on top of a free room). I agree about the Luxor, the VP is probably the best for non-NOIR players, but other than that I had a hard time falling asleep there even though I was tired, the rooms were terrible in many aspects.

Other than that, Mirage and CC have been around the longest, I've seen each of those places besides those two being built over time. I have not stepped foot on some of them for many years. I never stepped a foot inside Monte Carlo, I focused interest in Total Rewards and took a hiatus from Vegas due to terrible trips, I only saw pictures online and heard how great it is from others (non-VP) players. I should not have been judgmental about MC, and also Mirage just because of its old age.

Aria is by far the most ambitious casino out of all the MGM places.

Wha?? MGM Grand is numero uno all around. It's the straw....say no more.

1 as in the best casino out of the Vegas strip or 1 as it my low tier rating?

Considering that this is a video poker forum and the video poker out on the floor was terrible. 8/5 $1 Jacks or Better is what I found. The high limit room is where the good VP is at, but at the time I did not have knowledge it was possible to play just 1 line on spin poker which is 9/6 Jacks or Better. The table minimums were $15 and the blackjack was 6-5, based on a trip I took last year.

I remember in the mid 90s when the MGM was being built, it was going to have an unheard of 5000+ hotel rooms. It was indeed top of the line during that time, the biggest and baddest when it opened. The Bellagio was finished in 1998.

Vman96
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Post by Vman96 »

FYI, Monte Carlo is a VP wasteland unless you play the $5 level. If you like older penny slots MC isn't bad. Best nickels is 6/5 STP, if they even still have the 25 Play STP games. Best quarters 6/5 BP, 8/5 DDB with a progressive that is often in the $1300 range. Dollars probably bump things up to 7/5 BP, 9/5 DDB. Also the casino theme is truly as bland as they come. I have stayed there a lot, and wouldn't hesitate to stay there again for price/location (especially during pool season), but I never really play there anymore.

alpax
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Post by alpax »

FYI, Monte Carlo is a VP wasteland unless you play the $5 level. If you like older penny slots MC isn't bad. Best nickels is 6/5 STP, if they even still have the 25 Play STP games. Best quarters 6/5 BP, 8/5 DDB with a progressive that is often in the $1300 range. Dollars probably bump things up to 7/5 BP, 9/5 DDB. Also the casino theme is truly as bland as they come. I have stayed there a lot, and wouldn't hesitate to stay there again for price/location (especially during pool season), but I never really play there anymore.

Thanks for the heads up about the hotel and VP at Monte Carlo. It must be good if you would stay there. I checked the myVegas rewards on the mobile app and they offer 25% off room rate for 4000 loyalty points (it can be done with collecting myVegas blackjack bonus periodically every 4 hours) or a midweek comped for 30000 points.

These days people feel myVegas is scamming them. Bonuses no longer appear often on the slot games, and the AI opponent on blackjack gets 21 most of the time if the player increases their bet to big amounts. I still just collect the 4 hour bonuses on the mobile apps and from the buildings on the facebook edition. I get a bunch of 3 day offers from Luxor, but for now I am satisfied with the local casino options over that.

I will probably stick to Boyd-Gold Coast for Vegas trips now. I can bear with their poor ventilation for now. The VP is good for the quarter denominations and the locals casino that offers RFB (Palms does not offer, I heard SouthPoint does not either). I heard horror stories where the offers stop coming if players start winning. I will worry about that if I actually win.

DaBurglar
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Post by DaBurglar »

I cannot believe I am old enough to recall in 1993 the LUXOR being hailed (for a little while) as the BEST place in Vegas (it was brand new back then, and with its unique design and new casino, everuone was blown away.....then the craziness started.....NYNY and Monte Carlo came online in late 1995 & 1996 and then they were all the rage (and remember, all the while this is going on MIRAGE & Treasure ISLAND are also setting standards for service and class, prepping the town for the 1998 unveiling of Bellagio).....Stratosphere showed up for good in 1996 as well, and it was definitely a sight and a draw....Bellagio, then PARIS, then the new ALADDIN (which quickly folded and became planet hollywood) in 1999 culminated a period of amazing growth in VEGAS....I wish they could have stopped in the year 2000, and never built things like the Cosmopolitan, or M, or even ARIA (basically anything built after 2000 was just overkill and ultimately tipped the balance into OVER SUPPLY such that when the recession hit in 2007, it made things so much worse than it could have been.)Manadalay BAY was the PROPERTY that represented the tipping point....I forget if that went up in 2001 or later, but I have never been a fan of that place even though many others rave about it......I like circus Circus.......they have the best steakhouse on the strip in my opinion (that is, the BEST steakhouse without charging you an absurd amount of money......at Circus Steakhouse, you get as good a meal as you'll get at the steakhouses in places like Bellagio, Cosmopolitan, Mandalay Bay  etc.    It still has that OLD TIME VEGAS feel and smell and taste to it as well.....Wow, I really do miss Vegas in the mid to late 1990s.....it was so much fun back then and still was not overly expensive.


Galeygoo
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Post by Galeygoo »



Wow, I really do miss Vegas in the mid to late 1990s.....it was so much fun back then and still was not overly expensive.

My favorite line/paragraph of your enjoyable post, DaB....I agree with just about everything in your reply as well.....Ah, the memories....

doris13
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Post by doris13 »

well joaquin went to sea so no worries leaving for vegas tomorrow

Tedlark
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Post by Tedlark »

Have a great trip doris. Maybe you should try the steakhouse in Circus-Circus?

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