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Saturday, June 18, 2011

Mandalay Pools are Jumpin'

You need a kid to get into the Mandalay Pools. A kid (and/or a hotel room key) is required to get you through the turnstile and into a water world you've never seen before--and might not want to see again if you're the shade loving, book reading relax by the pool type. There is no relaxing here.

NOT AT THE LAZY RIVER...
where you float around in inner tubes and bump into each other for fun.



NOT ON THE LOUNGE CHAIRS LINED UP INCHES APART ON THE BLISTERING SANDY BEACH
and all spoken for by 8:01 AM with no chairs allowed to be reserved by leaving your stuff before you go to breakfast. Any chair left up occupied for longer than a half hour will be cleared. There's a sign. This rule forced us to rent a cabana each day, (Honey and I need shade--me having had radiation therapy etc.), which cut deeply into our gambling allowance--so deeply,we didn't.


NOT AT THE WAVE POOL WHERE THE WAVES ROLL INTO AND CRASH THE SHORE EVERY EIGHT MINUTES.
We had to walk pretty fast not to get drenched while crossing to the far side to cabana #10. I never made it. I did make it into the deep end of the wave pool with an assist from my son; and I gotta say, I was getting ready to belly surf with the rest of the kids. I didn't though. I didn't want to chance the unexpected drop off that was bruising my grandkids. So I taught a light boy to do the dead man's float.


IN THE CABANA, WE COULD RELAX IN SEMI-SHADE--AND WATCH TV--AND DRINK WINE OR BEER (EXTRA OF COURSE)--OR THE WATER AND SODAS THAT CAME WITH THE RENT ALONG WITH MANY TOWELS.
Cabana #10 was strategically located to the rest rooms I might add. Important. The sand and the pavement was incredibly hot in 100 plus degrees. I was most appreciative of this gift of comfort at the pool from our California son and his incredible wife who brought along trail mix and nuts and cut-up melon. She really put out a spread.


My grandkids had a fantastic time at the Mandalay Bay pools. It was definitely the place to take them. As for me, I had a wonderful time in the rooms.

The rooms in THE Hotel were wonderful--beautiful. We had adjoining suites, which I thought was extremely lucky in a thousand room, small-for-Vegas-big-nonetheless hotel. Every morning at five (it was really eight for us Easterners), we'd open the common door and we'd sit around chatting and bantering and being a family while the adults drank coffee from the Krups machine in the room, from Starbucks in the adjacent mall,or from the coffee bar downstairs and the kids watched their cartoons on the plasma TV. I liked these quiet hours together best. They were especially special because my son and grandson from Michigan surprised us and came as well. Sitting around together in the early hours of the morning before breakfast followed by the miles long trek to the pools was the best part of the trip.

10 comments:

  1. There is something about those huge pool w/hundreds of folks in them... My kids would invariably get some sort of eye infection due to the over chlorination of the pools.. Remember u mentioned wave pool? One of my kid's friends use to work at Hurricane Harbor, she said whenever we saw a sign that said ' pool closed' it meant the plumbing to the pool was messed up due to someone crapping in it... So keep that in mind the next time u see that sign...

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  2. I am a swimmer who didn't do any swimming in these pools. I went in just to get wet, met a little kid all alone trying to float on his back; I taught him how--then how to do the deadman's float. The water was about 42" deep. There were two quieter swimming pools, off to the side, where a swimmer could swim, but none of my family wanted to go there. They didn't have any action. I spent my time in the cabana watching The Talk and Oprah just getting wet when I needed to. BUT THE KIDS HAD FUN. And that's why we chose Vegas. As far as cleanliness, this was a top notch swimming area. Lots of lifeguards. Lots of service people. Lots of watching the crowds behavior. No body was crapping in the pool. The wave pool was ten feet deep. You had to be a swimmer. Would I go there again? Never.

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  3. Thanks for sharing all these photos. I think I would have needed the shade too. oh,and I think your hat is brilliant.

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  4. Welcome back Linda. Sounds like a wonderful holiday. The cabana is great! I guess it also gives you a bit of distance from the crowd. It does sound like it would be a fantastic place for people who don't mind a bit of noise and has plenty of energy to use up during a holiday. I love the idea of the cabana, rest and read and rest... doze off :).

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  5. Hi, Linda, welcome back! Sounds you really enjoyed holidays. Thank you for the nice photos & lovely post. I love your, "Self-portrait," most. Very nice!!
    Cheers,Sadami

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  6. Shade was crucial Ann. Thanks, I like that hat too, but as I was sitting there I kept thinking about a broader brimmed hat I left home. It is more umbrella sized. Umbrellas are few around the pool area. They've made shade a luxury. Heavy duty sun screen and wide brimmed hats are an absolute must have--plus a very good pair of walking sandals.

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  7. The cabana Evelyn was the best gift our son could give us. The sun was truly something to hide from--more so than the noise of the crowd. I did enjoy picking up that kid while I was getting wet and teaching him to swim. It's been some time since I did that with my own.

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  8. Thanks Sadami. Honey was sleeping while I took that picture of me just sitting there wondering why I was just sitting there and at the same time knowing I was sitting there for my kids. Plus, being the only photographer on site, I had to throw in at least one self portrait to show I was indeed on the trip.

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  9. My kids would love it... Me, for a short while. I would be searching for shade, quite and a good book! Kind of like Disney... once is enough! :)

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  10. Absolutely Margaret. That's how I felt, but we selected that scene for the children and the children enjoyed themselves for about three days. By the forth, they were as whacked out as we were. I think we were there a day too long, if it wasn't for our tickets to The Lion King. The only matinee was Saturday afternoon, so we stayed an extra day for that. The kids had never seen live theater before and the matinee was a perfect time to take them--a little pool in the morning, a play in the afternoon and pizza and a movie of their choice in the room while the adults dined out.

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