MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park

**MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park** was a theme park adjacent to the MGM Grand hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States.

Operating from 1993 to 2002, the theme park was originally planned to be family-oriented by providing activities for children. The overall *Wizard of Oz* theming of the hotel and casino provided the motto to literally "follow the yellow brick road" from inside the hotel to the entrance of the theme park, which was built on the hotel's backlot. Opened on December 18, 1993, along with the rest of the complex, the then 33-acre MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park looked like a smaller version of Disney's Hollywood Studios and Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida, which utilized a film studio-backlot theme. During a later expansion of the hotel's pool and convention facilities, the area of the park was reduced by 40 percent to 18.8 acres.

In 2001, the theme park was renamed **The Park at MGM Grand** and served as a rental facility for corporate functions before closing permanently on May 27, 2002. Since 2006, the property has been occupied by The Signature at MGM Grand.

## Attractions

* **Backlot River Tour** - A mix between Jungle Cruise at Disney Parks and Universal Studios Hollywood's Studio Tour, in which passengers embarked on a tour via a large boat that passed mock-ups of movie sets with special effects such as gunfire, rain, and water cannons. The queue was the longest in the park and featured additional information on special effects.
* **Deep Earth Exploration** - This ride opened shortly after the park due to technology challenges. It was the first attraction of its kind to incorporate a traditional 3-D movie dark ride with a motion simulator. Passengers boarded faux deep earth tunneling machines on a journey to the center of the earth, guided by an animatronic robot pilot. The ride involved a number of stops where windows on the vehicle would open allowing the occupants to look out at special effects along the route.
* **Lightning Bolt** - An indoor, space-themed roller coaster with a top speed of 35 mph. In 1997, the roller coaster was moved outdoors and made to be twice as long.
* **The Haunted Mine** - A traditional dark ride where passengers boarded ore cars on a trip into an abandoned mining operation.
* **Grand Canyon Rapids** - A white water rapids raft ride with special effects such as an old west gun fight and a tunnel explosion.
* **Over the Edge** - A log flume ride through an old sawmill
* **Parisian Taxis** - bumper cars on the streets of Paris.
* **Pirates' Cove** - A 950-seat outdoor theater complete with a pirate ship and lagoon that were home to the "*Dueling Pirates Stunt Spectacular*".
* **Magic Screen Theatre** - Indoor theater that hosted a variety of shows including BMX Grind, a stunt show featuring BMX and in-line skating. It opened with 2 shows; a blacklight puppet show called Kaleidoscope and a live recreation of The Three Stooges.
* **King Looey Theatre** (later **Manhattan Theatre**) - Indoor theater that hosted a variety of shows, including an ice skating spectacle starring King Looey.
* **You're in the Movies** (later **Gold Rush Theatre**) - Indoor theater that hosted a variety of shows.

## External links

* John Katsilometes reminisces with Wayne Brady about MGM theme park by the *Las Vegas Sun*
* Group-Only Adventures by *Meeting News*