MGM Grand Lion Habitat Closed
After more than 12 years, the MGM Grand Lion Habitat has been closed. The lion habitat at the MGM Grand had over 20 lions rotated in and out over the years, where guests and tourist could watch them play (but mainly sleep) throughout the day. It was open daily from 11am until 7pm. All the lions will return to the Cat House, a ranch outside of Vegas where they have been living/trained for years.
“That is part of an overall property-wide renovation project,” MGM Resorts spokeswoman Yvette Monet said. “There are going to be significant changes in the casino and hotel.”
MGM officials would not say what will replace the $9 million, 5,000-square-foot, glass-encased structure.
“We’re always assessing our properties to determine how we can provide a new and fresh product to our customers,” Monet said.
Possibly in response to the growing “Project Linq” being complete by Caesars Entertainment, the MGM property began a 160 million dollar remodel of hotel back in October. The MGM Grand’s 3,570 main hotel rooms and 642 suites will be getting a facelift, as well as significant updates to the casino, restaurants and clubs. These updates will take the better part of a year to complete.
The updates may also have been brought on by the new and improved Tropicana across the street, which is also gearing up for further updates in the future. Although we’re unsure why MGM chose to 86 the Lion Habitat exactly (its one of the few reasons people would actually want to re-visit the MGM), we’re certainly hoping its not used up just for more restaurants… as the MGM Grand already has a SIGNIFICANT number of restaurants in it…
Time will tell…
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