Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009 part 2

PEBBLESMAX
Thanks for the info. Found Jolt http://joltmobile.com/ or http://www.joltwireless.com/ They sound great but how did you get hold of one. I don't know whether to put the hotel address in Vegas "to await arrival" or risk them sending one over here, with presumably high postage charges.

1 week done in LV up to now. So far so good. 1 week to go.

We're staying at the MGM Grand - great hotel and defo worth the $55 per night. Only drawback is - it is MASSIVE. Expect to walk long stretches to get to/from elevators. Also internet is $15 per day - rip off but we needed it. Rooms are cleaned daily.

The Las Vegas strip is on the doorstep. We manged to walk it to the TI twice - pretty easy but expect blisters on the way back.

Tipping

Ive started to tip like a local - 10% on any service - it's more than enough.

Shows

As we're here for 2 weeks we decided to do a "3 hour" (more like 5 hours) Time Share trip - so long, so boring but in the end it was worth it because we got 2 tickets for Lance Burton and 2 tickets for Mystere for about $110 (usual total would have been about $300+)

Top tip - check out the best show ratings according to Trip Advisor - people dont lie.

Lance Burton

Not bad entertainment - funny guy, good tricks. Didnt like the theatre nor Hotel (Monte Carlo) - it has carpet from the 80's (saw it on the wall too). I wouldnt pay to see him again.

Mystere

Next week

Zumaniti

Great show (best one so far). Very sexual and sensual - expect to see flat fried eggs t*ts. Very funny and very good acrobatics. I think the aim for them was to finish the show leaving you wet and hard - but it didnt work for me. We bought the tickets via the discounted ticketmaster link a few pages back - very good seats and a good buy. If you use the link, select the "Will Call" option and just fill out your name/address. You will not be able to change the option to UK so I left it the country as USA and completed the rest of the address details for the MGM Grand (postcode/state/telephone number). Tickets were booked fine and we collected the the box office using the Mastercard and ID.

Oh yea - if you're sat near the stage, expect to get called out on the stage and they will make you do stuff. Very entertaining, Fortunately we didnt get caught out but the couple behind us did as did another Brit couple.

Mirage volcano show

Saw this on the way back from TI - free and brillant.

Bellagio Fountains

Not see this yet.

Waterfall Show in the Miracle Mall

Not bad, not great but its FREE.

Food

Dennys in the morning - cant go wrong. At night we've tried Outback (not a great menu/variety), The Cheesecake Factory in Caesars (very very good menu), Restaurants in NYNY (very good), Hawaiian place in The Miracle Mall (my dish was good - asian chicken salad but wifes dish was pretty cacky Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich - expect the ciabatta to feel and taste like stone.

Gambling

Although I love BJ (BlackJack haha) the only game I have been playing is $1/$2 no limit poker. Brilliant game. My top tip is to practice on Facebook Zynga Poker and go out and play - it is exactly the same only here it is real players and real money.

Second day lost $40,
Fifth Day lost $40,
2 hours later won $185 (+$55)
Sixth Day - started with $40 and got up to $250ish and then lost it all in like 30 mins. Got hooked into the "I want my money back" trance and ended up losing another $100. To cut a long story short, I am about $85 down over 6 days, which isnt bad at all.

Discounted Books

Bought one of those LVA discount books mentioned on the thread a few pages back. They have a special on $12 for 3 months and you get the 2009 book. We took a taxi out to the main building (Huntington Press) and bought the book over the counter - havent used any of the vouchers yet.

Rides

Defo gonna try the NYNY rollercoaster and a couple of the thrillers at the Stratosphere. I think the book entitles us to 2for1.

Clubs

Gonna check out PURE tonight - supposed to be the "hottest night on the town". Expect to see celebs. LAX on Wednesday (owned by Paris Hilton).

Re the static shocks in Vegas. We had this a lot the first couple of trips, but not since until our trip in September when I got them a lot at Bally's.

I have read that if you carry a tumble drier sheet in your pocket, such as Bounce, that this stops you getting shocks.

adrienne1945 wrote: »

PEBBLESMAX
Thanks for the info. Found Jolt http://joltmobile.com/ or http://www.joltwireless.com/ They sound great but how did you get hold of one. I don't know whether to put the hotel address in Vegas "to await arrival" or risk them sending one over here, with presumably high postage charges.

Adrienne, the website seems to have changed since I used them last. The part about UK delivery not being guaranteed wasn't there then. The postage charges shouldn't be too bad if you're only getting a SIM card because it's just a small envelope.

I've actually moved on to T-Mobile, because if I top up $100 at a time, I can keep the same number indefinitely. The charges for phoning the UK are more, but texts are pretty cheap.

Triker wrote: »

We asked THE WISE ONE re the best mobile phones for our needs, he pointed some out and said' THESE are the ones I recommend for MY tourists and senior citizens', I smiled, 'we'll come under the catergory tourists...right?' My hapless attempt at humour fell flat, this guy had heard every line going, without acknowledging my pathetic attempt at a joke he unlocked the phone packages and handed them to us....our time with him was over, he wandered off being chased by another customer and we went on our way too.

I would like to publicly thank Triker :T :T :T for her generous offer to send me her phones. We have agreed that once I return, I will post The Triker Phones onto the next person who wants them. Anyone who wants them in the new year.......PM me.