Mohegan Sun Casino

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 23:23:45 +0000

Mohegan Sun Casino located in Connecticut is the second largest casino in the United States with 364,000 sq ft (33,800 m2) of gaming space. It is located on 240 acres along the banks of the Thames River. It is at the heart of the scenic foothills of southeastern Connecticut, where 60 percent of the state’s tourism is concentrated. It features the 12,000-seat capacity Mohegan Sun Arena, home of the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Connecticut Sun. It houses a 350-seat Cabaret Theatre, 300-seat Wolf Den, and 100,000 sq ft of meeting and function room space, including the Northeast’s largest ballroom and 130,000 sq ft of retail shopping.

The Casino was developed in 1996 for the Mohegan tribe. The Mohegan tribe is an Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe that lives in the eastern upper Thames River valley of Connecticut. The casino’s decor is Native American in style in many aspects. The artwork throughout the casino and the structural design has Native American feel. In addition, several mechanical wolves stand high atop rock structures inside the gaming areas that occasionally sit back and howl lightly. The Casino of the Sky has a functional planetarium utilizing fiber optics to display the sun, moon, and stars accompanying the lighting effects of the Wombi Rock, which is a three-story high crystal mountain crafted of alabaster and more than 12,000 individual plates of hand-selected onyx from quarries in Iran, Pakistan, and Mexico; which were transported to Carrara, Italy and fused into glass. A 55 ft high indoor waterfall called “Taughannick Falls“, representing a treacherous crossing point during the tribe’s migration.

The casino contains slot machines, gaming tables including poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, Caribbean stud poker, keno and baccarat. The race book offers live horse or greyhound racing from around the U.S. as well as from Australia and England.

We visited Mohegan Sun during Memorial Day Weekend. We drove to Connecticut from New York City. The casino was flooded with people from all over US.

The casino is really impressive and majestic. There is something for everyone to do, even if you are not into Casino Gaming. You can shop, dine, stay, relax or roam around for hours. Here are some snaps from our trip.

Carowinds Theme Park

admin — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 05:17:32 +0000

Carowinds Theme Park is a 122-acre theme park, located on the state line between North Carolina and South Carolina, in Charlotte and Fort Mill, respectively. The park opened on March 31, 1973 with a vision of bringing the 2 states close together. Carowinds opens in late March each year and closes in early November, after the park’s Halloween event, “Scarowinds“.

Though the park is relatively small, it has both land and water rides to thrill people of all age groups. It remains a popular theme park in Carolinas and can be crowded in summers. For all those who stay in Charlotte and Fort Mill areas, the park is convenient for a day trip.The tickets are expensive but the Season Passes are a real deal. Food is not allowed inside the park but you can go outside for Lunch and re-enter the park. Many people pack picnic lunches and come out of the park to have it. Like any other Theme park, the food is really expensive inside the park.

We visited Carowinds during our first year in Charlotte. We had taken season passes and hence visited the park couple of times. We enjoyed the thrilling Roller Coasters like Afterburn, Carolina Cobra, Vortex and Nighthawk. The Water Rides weren’t impressive but the Wave Pool and Lazy River were good enough. Here are a few photos from our trip.

Our Life - Travel Guides & Photography » Theme Parks & Casinos

Mohegan Sun Casino

Carowinds Theme Park