Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009

Teachertim

katesu wrote: »

Hi All
Has anyone flown to Vegas with Air France yet? They keep popping up on my searches for MAN-LAS with decent prices and good transfer times but not sure I want a repeat of my experience flying to Vegas with MyTravel if they're rubbish!

I have never flown air france because I have heard horror stories of people connecting in Charles De Gaule with AF and their cases getting lost for ever. Happened to a colleague who flew to Boston from Man via CDG with AF.

Cage

The Bellagio Fountains

The dollar rate is heading back towards the right way, its jumped almost 7c in a day, was $1.38 at open and now at $1.45, wonder what caused it to climb so high ?

Teachertim

Cage wrote: »

The dollar rate is heading back towards the right way, its jumped almost 7c in a day, was $1.38 at open and now at $1.45, wonder what caused it to climb so high ?

The Fed announced their intention to 'create' $1.2trillion.

stoneman

The Bellagio Fountains

ferf1223 wrote: »

Ok - I did it...I bought a FairFX card for £500...as a trial run...it's a better rate that I can get it my really great rate place in London anyway, but hubby is still nervous about committing much more to an unknown (to us) system...I'm sure it will be fine but can understand that he doesn't want to put all the eggs in one basket.

Thanks for the note on the rate, nvh - my place is at $1.415 - so a pretty significant difference to get $1.44.

ferf, do you work in Victoria?, and do you mean Thomas Global as the currency exchange place. If so try the place nearer the tube station on Vauxhall Bridge Road, it has been better than Thomas in the past.

davidmcg2u

The Secret Garden

Edit - though I'd lost 1st part of report but got it - see below. Rest to follow

davidmcg2u

The Secret Garden

Hi Guys,

As I said earlier here's as much as I can remember :rotfl:but please remember I've only had 2 hours sleep so apologies for any obvious mistakes in advance!!

This was booked a a surprise for Liz's b'day which was December past. Flights with Thomas Cook & 7 nights at the Paris on their friends & family offer which has been kicking around. Just after the new year a great deal came up on the Venetian through Expedia - stay 4 nights & get the last 1 free.

I tried a few permutations & the best value for us was staying Wed - Sun which gave us the Sat night free - costing £400 but saving £196 - I didn't tell Liz though - left that until we got to Vegas so it could be 1 last b'day surprise.

Then I was tipped off about the City & Show website which I hadn't used before. So I managed to get 3 nights for Planet Hollywood (Sun - Wed) for £143. Liz did know about this though so she though 4 nights Paris then 3 in PH.

We travelled from Glasgow to Manchester on Tuesday & stayed overnight at the nearby Travelodge.

The flight out was decent enough with Thomas Cook in Premium (with exception of a little turbulence) & we looked forward to getting through immigration quickly as we had our ESTA fors sorted & were off the plane quickly.

TC staff told us to fill out the green form & white family form on the plane before landing which was frustrating but they couldn't tell us if the ESTA forms covered us or not :mad:

The U.S. staff weren't really interested in the ESTA form at all & told us wouldn't really be enforcing it until June/July but in all honesty they seemed unsure themselves so take it just incase. We also had a fingerprint issue - seems they got our prints mixed up when they put us on the system last time so took us an hour to sort out. The funny thing is the Officer (if that what you call them) who was trying to sort it tried to blame us until we explained it was he who did our entry last year which shut him up & we then got "I'll sort it for you guys". OK so the first hour and a half of our trip was wasted but now onto the hotel.

So the cab driver played along with me on the we're going to the Paris but really it's the Venetian & after about 15mins I see Liz looking around & abviously thinking he was taking the long road. As we drew into the back of the Venetian the driver asked if I told her yet - so I did & she was a very happy bunny!! I'll not mention the room as we know what to expect at the Venetian - it was up to its usual high standards with a view which overlooked the Mirage.

OK so the 1st day was our traditional 1st day in Vegas (only 2nd visit) - walk the strip for a few hours, grab a bite to eat & flake out around 7pm. We did wake up around 2am but just turned over then it was 8am.

On the Thurday we headed into the food court downstairs opposite Cafe Luz at The Venetian & had a great breakfast (full american for $10.99) at little pizza place at very right hand side. We then went walkabout & spent hours just walking the strip. We ended up just heading to Ellis Island (took directions from here - thanks!!) for BBQ around 6pm in our day clothes as we didn't have the energy to go & change the go back out.

We had to wait 75mins for a table though but I can see why. The BBQ is superb value for money - I had full rack of ribs & Liz had the chicken/rib combo. We were so stuffed after that we just headed back to the Venetian. We grabbed a bottle of wine on the way & chilled in our room the rest of the night.

Friday was pretty similar - breakfast at Venetian & walkabouts. This time we heaed to the Wynn & onto the fashion show mall. We really liked the Wynn & spent ages just walking around admiring it. We did intend going for the buffet & going to see one of the shows at the waterfalls but unfortuneately never got the time.

Dinner was at the Spice Market at PH & we used the $5 vouchers for that. Wow - I'm stuffed thing about it. I don't know what it is but buffets don't agree with me - just never know when to stop :rotfl: . We got $50 slot credit on check in at Venetian so we just headed back there for a bit then bed.

Saturday was pretty much spent wandering around Mirage/Caesars. We checked out the LOVE area & just got famaliar with the place in general. We ended up going for the champagne brunch at the Mirage - this too was stunning. In particular we really enjoyed the Mongolian Beef. We were whacked after this & went for a rest before taking in LOVE.

We managed to book LOVE tickets at 25% off for the first row in block 306. This show was great - both of us really enjoyed it & the seats were just perfect to see everything which was going on. I also noticed that on some days they had CAT1 tickets for $104 at the 1/2 price tickets booths.

I was hoping to see the League Cup Final between Celtic - Rangers and had emailed the Crown & Anchor as you guys suggested. I pretty much gave up on it & was just about to text my brother back home & request text updates then he text me to say the C&A had just emailed to say they would be showing it - this was 7.40 - quick wash,throw some clothes on & taxi - I was there for 8.10 & it was a good day overall as we won in extra time!!

So it was now goodbye to the Venetian & hello to PH. It was my 1st time trying out the $20 trick - it was a success. I asked nicely if they had any upgrades available & the nce lady said she'd see what they have. She then opened my passport, noticed the folded $20 & immediately looked at me, smiled then said "that'll get you an upgrade". 5 mins of her typing on her PC & bingo - Resort Room with view of Bellagio fountains & it's ready now.

We headed to the room & were really chuffed with our deal. We were in the south tower on the 17th floor and our room looked into the Bellagio fountains from the left hand side - perfect. At night it was stunning with the Paris sign & the Bellagio fountains. The 1st thing we'd see when we walked into our room at night was the Paris sign illuminated.

Now confession time - we fell for time share in PH on Friday afternoon but decided to go on Sunday at 2pm as we'd be checking-in into PH was at 1pm & our day would be broken up anyway. We were told :free lunch, free show - so we asked for Blue Man Group & were told they'd cost $10 each due to the high cost.

PH towers preview/time share etc was a washout. They messed us around when we got up there about criteria - salary, what hotel we stayed in & we weren't married - all of which they didn't care about when the booked us in. They were trying to palm us off with our $20 back but I chucked a mental which prompted them into offering us our $20 back & $50 PH vouchers but said manager couldn't come to see us. I was just about to accept then decided sod it - "we want our BMG tickets - you messed us around & we planned our day around this - I wanna see your manager or someone above him!!"

10mins passed an eventually the manager came around - gave us the BMG tickets to shut us up the said sorry blah blah blah!! So we got what we went for & it took us 20mins instead of 90mins of drivel & sales talk - result!! :beer:
Time to take a rest - part 2 shortly.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

stoneman wrote: »

ferf, do you work in Victoria?, and do you mean Thomas Global as the currency exchange place. If so try the place nearer the tube station on Vauxhall Bridge Road, it has been better than Thomas in the past.

I used to work there, yes, until the credit crunch bit me in the bum...and the one I normally go to is the LinkFX at Victoria station (tube, not mainline) so that's probably the one you mean? My plan when I pull the trigger is to check LinkFX, walk down to TEG, and then decide.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

davidmcg2u wrote: »

Time to stop as this takes for ever - part 2 shortly.

Really looking forward to part 2 - have enjoyed part 1...well done on the time share thing, too.

davidmcg2u

The Secret Garden

Ok now part 2.

Sunday - I can't for the life of me remember what we ate - it may have just been a burger at Il Tacone in PH - very good by the way. Anyway probably some shopping & sore feet followed before we headed up to get changed as we were going to see Cher.

After we grabbed a couple of beers & wines we took our seats in section 6 of the rear orchestra. We had the 1st 2 seats in row H. I was surprised as they were very good seats but it's Vegas - these arenas are purpose built for these shows so we should know better!!

Anyway Cher was very good although she did claim to have a sore throat but you wouldn't have noticed. It was a show rather than a concert - so much going on in between songs & costumes changes. Liz really enjoyed it which was the main thing.

On Monday we decided to take the Deuce to the shopping outlet way by Mandalay Bay then noticed the Welcome to Vegas sign whilst on our way. Personally we thought that the outlet was like any other outlet we have been to anywhere else - a let down. Just our opinion though but on our way back to we jumped off the bus & got our pic taken beside the Welcome sign so it wasn't all together a wasted journey :T

We headed down to Freemont Street in the evening just for a bit of a change. We ended up going to Tony Roma's like we did last year - very nice food but once you've hit the PH & Mirage buffets then I think most things seem poor in comparison.

Tuesday was our last full day - where did the time go, why do we feel so fat & why do our feet hurt so much??

Anyway it's St. Patrick' Day & OMG do they go nuts for that in Vegas. About 90% of the folk we seen that day were wearing green or had some green beads around them - we didn't even hear 1 single Irish accent that day. We came out of PH & decided to jump the shuttle down from the Paris to the Rio. We spent a couple of hours in there just wandering around & then went for some food at All American Bar & Grille - build you own burger meal. That was $10 for the burger, chips/fries/potatos & milk shake - great food & great value - it was very nice in there.

We headed for the Hurrahs shuttle & picked up our BMG tickets. We then headed over the the Mirage & took in the Secret Garden which we really enjoyed before heading back to PH. We grabbed a little sushi, beer & wine from the ABC shop to keep us ticking over. We then headed down to The Venetian for the BMG. We didn't have a clue what to expect & have read the love it or hate it comments here.

I must admit, both of us really enjoyed it as it was alot of fun with some good music in there too - well worth the $20. We were in row H (think it was red section - cheapest tix) seats 1&2 - the very last 2 seats at the right hand side of the stage - great view from there too. We then headed back up to PH but ended up sampling the $5.45 steak & eggs at Bill's. For the money it hit the spot & it was very busy - around 12.30am.

Well Wednesday was just last minute shopping,airport ,long bumpy flight home follwed by at long train journey home.

Overall a great but tiring week for us. We will go back but not sure when & when we do we will plan in more relaxation time, less walking & shopping and just maybe I'll learn to gamble.

Thanks to everyone here who has helped make our holiday a great & a cheaper one!!!

Any questions feel free to ask.

pebblesmax

The Bellagio Fountains

Sounds like you had a really good time in Vegas. All I can say is that you WILL be back and you WILL have another excellent time. (Our next trip is our 14th, what else can I say?)

Thanks for writing your report.