Q:
On our last trip to Las Vegas, we overheard someone say that you can go from Mandalay Bay all the way to the Sahara in "air-conditioned splendor," was how she put it, meaning without stepping outside. We tried to figure out if this was possible, but we couldn't. Is it?
A:
No, it's not. Almost, but not quite.
As close as you can come to that is going from Mandalay Bay all the way to the Sahara without stepping onto the Strip sidewalk.
You can take the elevated tram from Mandalay Bay to Excalibur, or the tram from MBay to Luxor, then the people mover from Luxor to Excalibur. From Excalibur, you can cross the pedestrian overpass to New York-New York or the Tropicana, and from either cross to the MGM Grand. You'll have to go out of doors to do that, though, so there goes the air-conditioned-splendor theory.
Now, you can travel from the MGM Grand to the Sahara in air-condioning on the Las Vegas Strip Monorail, but the stations on either end are outside.
All in all, though, the amount of time spent crossing Tropicana Avenue and the Strip on the pedestrian overpasses and waiting outside for the monorail is pretty minimal for traveling the entire length of the Strip.
Update 20 September 2008
A reader comment on today's answer:
"For the elderly, I think today's QoD answer about traveling by tram/monorail from the Mandalay Bay to the Sahara in air-conditioned splendor really should point out that it is a long half mile walk from the tram station at Excalibur to the monorail station on the other side of the MGM Grand. As we all know, one of the reasons the Monorail is unpopular is that the stations are located so far from the casinos. Wouldn't an air-conditioned Strip bus usually be a better way to go?"
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