Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2013

wdyw wrote: »

Anybody stayed in a modernised room in the Quad yet? Quite liked the easy access to the Strip (for the part that's open) and a nicer "feel" compared to IP

Is there any? I thought I read somewhere that they hadn't touched the rooms

wdyw wrote: »

Anybody stayed in a modernised room in the Quad yet? Quite liked the easy access to the Strip (for the part that's open) and a nicer "feel" compared to IP

I didn't know they had started room renovations yet.

Have a great trip Georgie Girl

Have a great time Georgiegirl.

Wow! Well, that took some time to catch up with this thread!

First of all, thanks to Lesley and Stoneman (and respected partners) for meeting up at Platinum - enjoyed it, and we hope you enjoyed the rest of your trips! I had never given much thought to my username on this forum, though I'm going to try and think of some cool acronym for it now Was funny seeing Lesley and her fella in PlanetHo (shortly after she had claimed the Scots were stereotyped as alcoholics) with a yard long drink also we enjoyed Tracys, Oscar Meyer wiener story!

Wifey, as usual, has done a trip report but it covers Chicago, Denver, Monument Valley, Moab, Zion... and then tails off as we get to Vegas!

Some things that are perhaps of note for the Vegas portion of our trip:

Hotels:
Our stays were at Monte Carlo (2 nights), Platinum (5 nights) and Mirage (3 nights). This now ticks off pretty much all the hotels on the strip that we have wanted to stay at (would love to stay at Venetian / Palazzo but don't really like their casino!) We have done 11+ strip hotels (IIRC)

Monte Carlo - having now stayed in Monte Carlo (always never considering it in the past), I can safely say that we will probably make the effort to stay there again! Love the ease of the place (quick and easy to get out and about, convenient for Aria / Bellagio, NYNY, MGM, Ross is over the street etc etc) and generally quiet... oh, and love the wave pool and lazy river - enjoyed it more than Mandalay Bay as it just seemed quieter. Bought a rubber ring, and ended up going round the lazy river for at least half the day.

Platinum - Business as usual here got a decent deal with Derek and for the first time ever, joined the Vegas 'washing machine club' - we'd deliberately planned on this when packing to go, and therefore it was utilised whilst there. came in handy, and meant we had more room to bring stuff back (... though as you can tell from my post earlier this month in relation to trying to find a suitcase, it obviously didn't pay off that well!) Also got use of the hotel car which came in really handy for grabbing the suitcase, and Don, the driver, was a top bloke! Claudia was good to us at the bar too - seemed very dry on the first night, but was happy as larry by the end of the trip

One thing I will say for the Platinum, is it is starting to look a little bit warn (sun loungers, carpets, hallways etc) but it doesn't bother us that much. Just a shame they can't clean it up a bit.

Mirage - We'd splurged a bit for Mirage so in the end I was really disappointed with it. Had a horrible 1st night with the lift 'whirring' in the background, affecting my sleep... next morning, they couldn't move our rooms, and neither could they the day after. They did however to downgrade us a room level and put us on the 6th floor - great, but no thanks - I wanted wifey to enjoy a nice room! At one point, we were seriously considering packing up and moving back to Platinum but decided against it in the end. Have to say, the 'netted fabric' loungers here are considerably better than the Monte Carlo's

As luci has pointed out in the past (and I completely forgot!), the MGM properties had paperwork indicating they would charge me in GBP. I blindly signed it (its the mammoth check-in paperwork they give you), and they subsequently charged in GBP - by my reckoning, it costs us an extra £5 - £10 for our stays at Mirage because of this. Annoying.

Food:
@ Monte Carlo, we utilised the myVegas "Picnic by the pool" - loved it - massive plate of Nacho's and 6 beers... what's not to like we also used our $50 myVegas credit here at the Pub - seems a great place but overheard staff saying things like "that won't save this place" so guessing it may not be around for much longer. We did a 4Square check in here for the 'Happy Hour, Any Hour' deal, so got some sliders etc too and made the credit good value. Also used a Travelzoo $99 set menu for Andre's @ MC too - have to say this place is really secluded and swanky. It's a proper "dress up nice" place. Loved the food though (Travelzoo set menu) and tried Lobster Tail for the first time. You end up paying the taxes on the full amount but I have to say, I felt it was worth it and would recommend the place for anyone wanting a secluded romantic meal (they also had the iPad drinks menu so it must be good ). We also had 2 free buffets included in the rate here, so decided to redeem at Aria (because it was next door, new and receives quite good reviews). Now, we are not buffet people at all and I have to say... we still aren't. It truly was AMAZING, how good the buffet was, and how much selection there was, and I loved every minute of it, until I had to try and move afterwards (and I deliberately held back eating too much!) Buffets just aren't cost effective for us I'm afraid, but it was good to try lots of different foods

@ Mirage, we went to Gordon Ramseys Steak at Paris... just to see what the fuss was about. We had passed by 2 nights previous, and based on what people have said on here I genuinely thought we wouldn't get in, but they had loads of slots available. 7:15, 7:30, 7:45 (etc). We went for 7:45. It's definitely not a romantic place, and IMO, it lived up to the slightly 'noisy' experience I had read about (music etc, and then conversation talking over it), but it was a fine experience none the less and good food, even though I couldn't finish it! (Curse ye 24oz Steak! ) The bill came to $202 but we had enough credits through using Social Rewards that covered it (and left we still have 50 left!) Whilst staying at Mirage, they gave us $175 F&B credit - in the end, this was mainly spent on cocktails by the pool and also getting various snacks at Stack which were overpriced in the first instance ($20 for an appetizer?!), but not bad when they're free.

@ Platinum - oh man, we did 2 for 1 night TWICE at Metro Pizza - this stuff is so good, but in all honest, it got to the point where I never wanted to see a pizza again - especially as one night it was only 2 for 1 on the large pizzas Went blondies whilst we were here to watch the football (we had a $30 credit) but they wouldn't let us use it, despite it not saying the voucher is not valid game days (though it did say happy hour wasn't). This was disappointing, and the manager was an !!!! so we won't be going back! - we had deliberately spent as well (in order to utilise the voucher).

Gambling:
We had somewhere between "very little" and "next to nothing" when it came to luck on the machines. Had some nice wins but they seemed few and far between! Tables were good though and we enjoyed some 3-card poker and came away with some good results a couple of times. Especially in Harrahs, which if I'm honest, I never imagined ever setting foot inside! (hope that doesn't sound too snobby!), but as it was opposite Mirage and I was on an MGM hate campaign, it was quite conveniant I will definitely go again. The atmosphere at the tables was also better in there than anywhere else I went. We must've gambled more than usually (especially with CET) as I came back to a load of room comps with them (on the rate calendar) and I've never had them before! I have always focused my table play at Mlife though. Time to switch it seems!

Oh, and Willy Wonka machine had a cool bonus but you didn't see it very often! Pawn Stars and Family Guy both disappointed us too.

Weather:
Awful! We arrived on 2nd Sept, and left on 12th Sept - can honestly say we've never experienced weather like that before. The first time it rained when we were in Mirage (9th), the water started to cascade through the windows, and you could barely make out 'Trump' in the distance. Lightening was striking the top of the Stratosphere and the whole town seemed flooded. During the period I was there, I probably wore jeans (instead of shorts), more often than I've worn jeans in all of our previous trips combined! It wasn't cold, but it seemed cold for Vegas (in early September) We did get some pool time though, as the mornings tended to be ok, before it clouded over in the afternoons.

Flights:
Uneventful in the main. Probably our last trip with Bronze Status (AA Gold) - on a side note though, we got upgraded to 1st flying from Chicago to Denver... I can see what the fuss is all about now - short flight but lovely experience!

Car:
Wow - those one-way drop off fees don't half mount up! Our fee was an extortianate $300 + taxes + fees... came out at $450! Because historically, we've always gone straight to west coast, i'm used to the free one-way deal between California & Nevada... Colorado was an oversight on my behalf! Doh! It did the job though, just meant we didn't keep it in Vegas long cos we couldn't afford to!

Other Stuff:
We had some coupons for free entry to the Car Museum at the Quad. I love cars, so really enjoyed it and was a good way to spend the morning. Thanks to ferfs directions, we also managed to find the wildlife habitat at Flamingo (for once!), so stopped by there for a look around.

We had got a ticket for 'O' via. myVegas, but after several cockups (redeemed it but they charged us for 2, and 2 x 30 minute phone calls), I made a complaint via. a Facebook message and they upgraded us, refunded my money and also knocked 30% off the ticket we paid for. Loved the show - really impressive.

As gambling and drinks service was so rough over the first couple of days, we decided in some instances, it was just cheaper to go to a nice bar, so ended up going the Mandarin Oriental bar (23rd floor) and also Chandalier bar was nice. SeaHorse bar at Caesars is always a winner.Went a few other bars (Society Cafe @ Wynn for Happy Hour, and also the Sports one in Monte Carlo). All good!

As you may have seen on VegasChatter, there was a gang related stabbing on the walkway between Excalibur and Luxor whilst we were there too. Didn't impact us in the slightly, except when we tried to leave and the taxi line was half a mile long because no-one could walk back through. Used it as an excuse to finally drag the missus into Tropicana and she likes the new look so it could potentially be a future option.

Oh, and on our last night (11th), we went and they were filming right at the front of Caesars. No idea what it was but I'm really curious. Was a really jazzed up 'old style' party bus, and taxis were being held up until the filming paused. Looked cool.

Overall:
Didn't overly feel the vibe in vegas this time if i'm honest. We had a lot going on in our personal lives before we left, and didn't have the energy to dart everywhere on this occassion. By the 3rd day, we'd probably only really set foot in Monte Carlo, MGM, Cosmo and Bellagio which is really unusual for us as we tear about all over the place.... maybe one more trip will help change my mind back

I will try to post some pics when I have a better internet connection