A bay that isn't — and a beach that is
The worth-it test opens with homework: the resort is named for Kipling's poem and a river city in Myanmar that has no bay at all — 'Bay' was marketing. What isn't marketing is the water: Mandalay Beach's 11 acres of real sand, a giant wave pool and a lazy river move one suite-tour host to call it, slightly stunned, 'easily the nicest pool area in Las Vegas' — his verdict, and the day-out film agrees by building its whole tour pool-party-first. The three-part complex (wave pool, lazy river, beach) is the resort's main event; everything else on this page orbits it.
The far-south question, answered three ways
Every film raises the location and every film answers it. The cheapest-room stay (a standard King on the 26th floor, soaking tub raved about) makes the case directly: the free tram runs to Excalibur and onward, so the south end never feels cut off, and the restaurant bench is deep enough to eat for a week. The review film agrees — far-south is the sole drawback named, mitigated by the tram (it runs until midnight, as filmed). The 2026 update shows the current state: the new Tailgate Beach Club, Border Grill mid-renovation with downstairs seating open, the burnt-ends burrito at BBQ Mexicana still the standing order, and the tram-plus-walk strategy endorsed. Walkways through Mandalay Place (Ri Ra, Ron Jon Surf Shop) reach Luxor without going outside.
The rooms, from cheapest to unbookable
The 2021 full walkthrough is the orientation standard — tropical lobby, Rhythm & Riffs' stage, the Eyecandy center bar — with Shark Reef's entrance located and its tickets priced as filmed that year ($24 kids / $36 adults). The Horizon Suite tour films a comped 1,700 square feet at around $500 a night with the penthouse lounge attached. And the penthouse film tops the page: a two-bedroom, 61st-floor, 2,000-plus-square-foot suite you can't book on the website — shower tower with body jets and steam, VIP lounge with private check-in. Shark Reef, the resort's aquarium, has its own page; this is the tropical giant around it.
Sources: the eight videos on this page — two worth-it stays (2025, 2026), a full walkthrough, a cheapest-room stay, a day-out tour, a stay review, and two suite tours — summarized from their entries in our catalog.