CT Casinos and surrounding activities

Outside of the casinos: Mystic, CT. Good for entertaining people of all ages. There's an aquarium, a restored old New England seaport and good antique hunting here, not to mention good, fresh seafood.

Quick Tips:

If you're spending the night at one of the two casinos, you seem to get more for your buck at Foxwoods. The Two Trees Inn can be experienced for less than a night, and offers 24-hour shuttle service to the Foxwoods casino (otherwise it's about a five-ten minute walk through the Foxwoods parking area). Still, the hotel tower at Mohegan Sun, while pricy, is best described as "pampering."

Best Way To Get Around:

If you're planning to just stay at one of the hotels, getting to them seems easy. Trains and buses run from both Boston and New York. If you plan to go between the two, or go exploring the area, you'll need your own car.

Foxwoods describes the cheapest of its hotels as a replica of a rustic New England inn. That's not a horrible comparison. From the exterior the TT Inn looks like a three-story ski lodge. The inside has a similar feel, with a wood-paneled lobby and fireplace.

The standard rooms (called deluxe even if standard) are okay-sized and comfortable. No heavy, ski-inn-like comforters here though, but then the rooms have good A/C and heat. All rooms have TV with cable. The other type of room is a suite, which I have yet to experience.

The Two Trees has some of the basic hotel amenities. A nice pool and fitness (the latter being small but with good equipment) area and a pretty good bar/restaurant called Birches. Just as with the hotel, the food is relatively no-frills, yet above the basics.

The Two Trees is part of the Foxwoods group and is on the reservation. The hotel is about a five-minute walk from the casinos, and the walk is nice during the day and early evening. For those who lack the desire to walk, a shuttle runs non-stop from the hotel lobby.

There are comparable prices in the region, but nothing as close to the casinos (except the hotels above the casinos themselves) as this is. The convenience is worth it, and I like the cheap, easy access factors the Two Trees has to offer.

Mohegan Sun sprouted up on the Mohegan reservation not too long after Foxwoods opened down the road. When I first went there (as part of a promotions crew from my then radio station of employment), it was just one casino and a food court.

Now, not even 10 years later, Mohegan Sun is almost a village unto itself. There are two casinos, the original Casino of the Earth and the newer Casino of the Sky. Both are primarily filled with slots, but there are all sorts of table games as well. I find the Sky more attractive, as it is lighter and feels more spacious. The roof actually has a planetarium dome above the Wombi Rock martini bar, but it’s visible from the casino floor as well. The Earth casino has free concerts on the Wolf Den stage, with the occasional big-name act (for instance, Chubby Checkers and Greg Allman are both expected to perform there soon, in January '05).

The shops are pretty good, and OdySea has a large aquarium with live sharks swimming around! There are stores, like a record and bookstore, "Nostalgia," and a Discovery Channel store, all of which should fascinate kids and maybe some adults. Also for kids, there is a playroom and arcade, so kids can have fun while parents play elsewhere.

There are a number of restaurants to satisfy about every budget and taste bud. My favorites are the Summer Shack (seafood) and Bubba's BBQ, both fairly priced.

The hotel tower doesn't have any rooms as cheap as the Two Trees Inn at Foxwoods, but the Mohegan Sun hotel is more luxurious and pampering. If you aren't trying to live on a budget, then this hotel is great.

The arena holds some of the bigger concerts, and I had the opportunity to see Simon and Garfunkel here this past summer. For an arena-sized venue, it's a pretty good place. It also is the home of the Connecticut Sun WNBA basketball team. Mohegan Sun offers much for everyone, big gamers or not.