The oldest of the three casinos owned by Mandalay Resort Group (formerly Circus Circus) at the southern end of the Strip, the mocked-up medieval castle of Excalibur now makes a crude and unsophisticated neighbor for Luxor and Mandalay Bay . Hastily erected in 1990, in the hope of beating the recently opened Mirage at its own game, it only cost half as much to build - and it shows. Circus Circus Enterprises had earlier pioneered the concept of the child-oriented casino with the original, cheerfully downmarket Circus Circus itself. Excalibur went a stage further by appearing to be both designed and assembled by children, with its oversized primary-colored turrets drawn straight from a kindergarten art class, and its sharp angles and visible seams giving it the air of a cheap Christmas construction kit.
When Circus Circus was planning Excalibur , architect Veldon Simpson - later also responsible for both the MGM Grand and Luxor - was dispatched to Europe to check out hundreds of genuine castles. The model he chose to follow was itself a playful, romantic fantasy. Neuschwanstein in Bavaria was built in the late nineteenth century by Mad King Ludwig, a devoted Wagner fan, who stuck the fairy-tale flourishes of a French château atop the redoubtable walls of a German fortress. If that sounds familiar, it's probably because Neuschwanstein was also the blueprint for Sleeping Beauty's Castle in Disney World.
The name "Excalibur" was the winning entry in a public competition.
In truth, no one ever intended Excalibur to look like a real castle. Its colors are deliberately clashing, and its proportions distorted. Basically it's a gigantic billboard, designed to draw in tourists who see it from a distance. The castle itself is all but engulfed by the two huge hotel towers that hold its four thousand guestrooms, so you can only see it properly either from the Strip, diagonally opposite the main entrance, or from the air.
For its first three years, Excalibur was the world's largest hotel, and it prospered enough for Circus Circus to use its cash profits to build Luxor next door. At the root of that success was its appeal to low-budget tour groups - it was the first casino to have a separate driveway specifically for tour buses - and even now, as it starts to age, its popularity with family vacationers remains undimmed.
The pedestrian entrance to Excalibur has recently been revamped, to incorporate an elaborate station for the monorail system that ferries passengers to Mandalay Bay , right at the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and the Strip. The castle itself is set so far back from the Strip that you have to approach via a long system of moving walkways, on which almost no expense has been lavished. In theory there's a sort of moat down below a sort of drawbridge, with a sort of dragon lurking down there somewhere too, but you get little impression of any of it. A purple-robed figure of Merlin, dwarfed by his surroundings, waves benignly from high on the central turret, while a booming, genial English voice welcomes all "loyal subjects" to King Arthur's domain of Camelot.
Once inside, you're plunged as ever into the maelstrom of the main casino floor, which is unique for the Strip in allowing visitors to take photographs of the gambling action. For once, however, it's easy to escape to the non-gaming areas both above and below. Upstairs you'll find most of Excalibur 's restaurants, together with a replica of the whole edifice built out of sugar and chocolate, a bunch of "shoppes," a food court, assorted family-fun opportunities such as photo studios equipped with extensive wardrobes for dressing-up, and the Canterbury Wedding Chapel for single travelers seized by the urge to settle down. The real highlight, indeed to many eyes the crown jewel of the entire Strip, is a large outlet of the nation's best donut chain, the South's legendary Krispy Kreme , where you can ogle the whole cooking process through plate-glass windows.
Downstairs the atmosphere is reminiscent of a traditional fairground, along the lines of Circus Circus ' midway, filled with sideshows where kids can spend real money attempting to win plastic swords and other Arthurian memorabilia (Mon-Thurs 11am-11pm, Fri 11am-midnight, Sat 10am-midnight, Sun 10am-11pm). A large indoor arena hosts King Arthur's Tournament , a twice-nightly mixture of jousting, joshing and noshing.
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