EDITOR’S NOTE:  “Vegas Myths Busted” publishes new entries every Monday, with a bonus Flashback Friday edition. Today’s entry in our ongoing series originally ran Feb. 17, 2023 .

In one of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority’s funny new TV commercials, a father informs his son that broccoli is “the only food they have” in Vegas. “Everything is broccoli,” including the ice cream, he tells the grimacing tyke, who elects to stay home instead.

In the ’90s, Las Vegas wanted you to come with your kids. Now, it wants you to leave them at home. That’s because Vegas’ attempt at appealing to families failed miserably, leading to a massive loss of revenue. Right?

In 1993, a new MGM Grand opened. (The old one became Bally’s, and now, Horseshoe.) The largest single hotel in the world with 6,852 rooms, MGM was the first resort to top $1 billion in construction costs. It was also the first new Vegas resort to directly target families since Circus Circus opened in 1968.

In addition to a Wizard of Oz display featuring prominently inside the casino, MGM built a $100M theme park on 33 acres out back. Its rides included a roller coaster, log flume, rapids raft, and a simulated film studio backlot boat tour.

By 1996, Dorothy and Toto were gone, and by 2000, so was the theme park. Disappointing attendance was to blame, as it usually is. The problem wasn’t the concept of an amusement park on the Strip. The lasting success of Circus Circus’ Adventuredome, which debuted three months earlier, proves that.

The bad idea was not also enclosing MGM Grand Adventures inside a climate-controlled dome.

Most families vacation when school’s out for the summer—which, in Las Vegas, means standing on long lines in 115-degree heat.