Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009

Stew68

The Secret Garden

I was at the Monte Carlo just a month ago and would go back again without a second thought, nice casino and only a short walk down to NYNY with a large choice of restaurants.

Stew

jackieblack

The Bellagio Fountains

Hi everyone
We (myself, DH and 13yr old DD) arrived home on Sunday after a two week trip that started with 4 nights in LV. I'll post my full report in the 'Touring Holiday in Nevada, Arizona & California' thread, but this is the first few days (the LV part!) in case anyone is interested at all. It was our first time in LV.

I must say that although I picked up loads of useful info from you guys before we went, I used virtually none of it as the time passed in such a whirl and it was all a bit of a blur! eg I had planned we would eat at Ellis Island and Peppermill (per your recommendations) but at the times we were in the right area for those places, we weren't hungry!
I was glad I hadn't booked any shows in advance as the time difference hit us really hard (we are normally early to bed/early to rise people anyway) and we were asleep by 9pm every night so would have slept through it!
The other thing that took us by surprise was how dry our skin and hair were those few days - we used gallons of moisturiser and hair conditioner!

Anyway, here goes....

Friday 3rd April
Arrived at Gatwick around 6pm for Virgin's 'twilight check-in', then went to the Travelodge for the night (£29 family room – you get what you pay for!).


Saturday 4th April
DD and I had breakfast at Travelodge (Adult £7.50 + child under 16 free), DH too nervous to eat. Got the bus to South Terminal (£3 per adult, children under 16 free). Flight delayed '30 mins'. Actually took off an hour late. Good flight, flew over central London (saw London Eye, Houses of Parliament & Wembley Stadium - quite exciting for us simple country folk), we didn't know what route the plane would take but flew over Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, northern Canada, Hudson Bay, crossed the U.S. border over North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Utah (all the land we saw from leaving Scotland to well into Utah was covered in ice/snow) started descent and (after seatbelt sign came on and we couldn't us digital camera any more - how frustrating!) we flew over Zion National Park and Lake Mead (saw the Hoover Dam) before landing 30 mins later than scheduled at Las Vegas airport. I know lots of people don't like the Virgin flights from Gatwick - we flew on Jersey Girl (have flown on her before to Orlando) but we thought it was fine.

We had been given the local time on the plane but I was confused the time were given was 9 hours behind. I thought the time difference should have been 8 hours.

Got a taxi at the airport, had just left the airport when the taxi was pulled over by a LV traffic cop! Evidently the driver was taking us through the tunnel (in our excitement/tiredness/bewilderment I had completely forgotten about the two different routes) and the cop asked us whether the driver had told us that the route we were being taken was longer and therefore more expensive. It turned out that the driver also had not filled out a 'trip sheet' that he was supposed to complete after picking us up, before leaving the airport, and the cop took his license. After a while he came back and gave the driver a ticket. He said to the driver “we know what you're doing – you're trying to turn a $13 fare into a $25 dollar fare” and told him to turn around and take us the surface route.
We got to the Excalibur and there was quite a queue to check in. With not much expectation I tried the $20 tip (I said that it was our first time in LV and could she please pick us a really nice room), she said she'd check and worked at the computer for several minutes. She apologised that she was was unable to offer us a complimentary upgrade, but said that she could upgrade us to a refurbished room with a 42” TV for $10 a night. I asked if she had a room with a good view as that was more important to us than big telly (we didn't travel to LV to watch TV!) and she replied that the only outward facing room in Tower 2 (the refurbished rooms) overlooked the pool and was at the very end of the corridor. She looked at her computer again and said that if we took the standard room she could give us a room on the 25th floor in Tower 1, overlooking the Luxor & Mandalay Bay and the airport, which was nearer the elevator. We took that ( she returned the $20) and were glad we did as the room was fine and the view was great.

Had a wander up the strip to find something to eat and were accosted by the 'Flicky-card' people just past MGM. We were so tired by this time that we just ate a quick McDonalds then went back to the Excalibur and crashed out.

Sunday 5th April
Ate breakfast at the Sherwood Forest Cafe. Went to speak to the Virgin Rep at the Luxor and she sorted out the confusion over the time difference – obviously it is 8 hours, not 9 so our watches were an hour behind what they should have been. We told her about our taxi journey and she was pleased that the traffic cops were onto this trick by the taxis.
She advised us not to go to the drive-in I had found details of on the Internet as it was in a bad area, she told us 16 people were shot (killed) there in January and the week before a man had been shot there and just propped up on someone's garden fence! I was glad I'd checked!

After having a look around Luxor we went via the shopping mall to Mandalay Bay. From there we walked down to the 'Welcome to Las Vegas' sign and took some photos, walked back to Mandalay Bay and got the monorail back to the Excalibur. Then we headed up The Strip - had a look at New York New York, passed Monte Carlo and all the construction work, to Bellagio. The fountains were just finishing 'Hey, Big Spender' and we decided to hang around for the next lot. We got a good spot for DH to video, and when the music started it was 'Viva las Vegas'! Perfect! (I've voted for the fountains in the poll as our favourite thing)

After the fountains we crossed the road to Planet Hollywood and had a walk through the Miracle Mile shops. Loved the ceiling painted to look like the sky!

After that we were flagging so walked back MGM to eat at Rainforest Cafe (bit pricey for a burger I thought but DD wanted to go there and we were too tired to go any further) and then went to look at the lions. Shattered by about 8.30pm so another early night!

Monday 6th April
Awake early (again!) Bought a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts and coffee for breakfast and headed out to catch the Deuce up to the Sahara. Went to Bonanza gifts,had a quick look at Nascar Cafe then walked back to the Venetian. Went inside to see the gondolas on the 1st floor. Crossed the road to Caesars Palace and had a look around there. We were too early for the Bellagio fountains which weren't starting for another hour and it was HOT and we all had sore feet so we got the Deuce back to Excalibur and went to the pool. After swimming we went to pick up the car, were given a Chrysler Sebring, which was an upgrade from the car we'd been allocated (a Dodge Caliber) so we were happy. The Dollar car rental guy advised us not to venture out for another hour or two as it was rush hour so I went and had an Aqua-Massage!
Were crashed out again by 9pm.

Tuesday 7th April
Drove out to Red Rock Canyon. Arrived late morning and spent about 3-4 hours. Ate at Applebee's on W. Charleston on the way back, really nice freshly cooked food (Appetizer and two Entrees for $20). Arrived back at Excalibur in time for DH & DD to swim and I had another Aqua Massage.

Early evening walked up to Bellagio as sun was setting to watch the fountains lit up (music was Luck Be A Lady Tonight – Frank Sinatra?), walked back to New York New York for an ice cream at the Hagen-Dazs shop (2 for 1 voucher from a sheet in one of those stands on the Strip). Bought all the snacks and drinks we needed for the next few days at Walgreens & CVS.

Wednesday 8th April
Breakfast at Excalibur buffet – haven't heard anyone praising it on here but we really enjoyed it.
Checked out, loaded up and headed off to the Hoover Dam – the narrow winding road on the approach was a bit startling but gave us a good idea of the roads that lay ahead for us over the next few days.

c_l_a_i_r_e

The Bellagio Fountains

I've finally managed to book flights and hotel for our trip this July:j:j:j:j:j:j:j:j

Flights costs £620 each from Belfast with netflights:eek::eek::eek:, but seeing as we're going for my 30th there's not much I can do about that. Needless to say all future trips will be our usual (and cheaper) months of June or December. Flights are with Continental via Newark, and i've been able to select our seats for all legs online so thats one less thing to worry about.

I've booked 3 nights at Mirage, and 5 at Encore.I didn't think we'd be going back until at least December so to say i'm excited is a massive understatement:D

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

Great TR Jackie. You certainly packed a lot in.

Congrats on the flights Claire, you can start getting excited now. I will be celebrating my birthday in Vegas in 2 weeks time. Was going to have my birthday dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant, but now I'm leaning towards one of the restaurants at the Encore, either Switch or Society Cafe Encore.

c_l_a_i_r_e

The Bellagio Fountains

Glad you all had a good time Jackie, thanks for a great TR.

Luci, hope you have a wonderful birthday hun. I've a shortlist of places already for my birthday dinner and Switch and ET are two of them (great minds:D) although i think i'm leaning towards Daniel Boulud at Wynn. I'll probably change my mind a million times between now and then though, so who knows where i'll end up lol.

nvh

The Bellagio Fountains

JackieBlack - what was the 'drive-in' you had found and where was it? Was it a 'movie drive-in'? Sounds interesting! (albeit a tad dangerous! haha)

Can't believe you walked to the Vegas sign!!! Let alone from Sahara to Venetian!



C l a i r e - nice one! £620 wasn't too bad and at least the price hasn't gone up since you last looked!

jackieblack

The Bellagio Fountains

nvh wrote: »

JackieBlack - what was the 'drive-in' you had found and where was it? Was it a 'movie drive-in'? Sounds interesting! (albeit a tad dangerous! haha)

Can't believe you walked to the Vegas sign!!! Let alone from Sahara to Venetian!

Yes, I meant a drive-in movie theater, it's on W. Carey Ave apparently, here is the link to the website I found it on - http://www.fandango.com/northlasvegaslasvegasdrivein_aacee/theaterpage

DH & DD have never been to one, and the last one I went to was 20 years ago (in Florida) so I thought it would be fun (however the prospect of potentially being caught up in a drive-by shooting seemed less so somehow!:eek:)

samuela66

thanks for the help about UFC, sadly none for the days I am planning on going! just a qu8ick one does anyne have any idea how much a taxi/limo form the airport to the strip is thanks, also any opinions as to which hotel is best circus circus/ planet hollywood, stratosphere.......


thanks again:D

Triker

The Bellagio Fountains

samuela66 wrote: »

thanks for the help about UFC, sadly none for the days I am planning on going! just a qu8ick one does anyne have any idea how much a taxi/limo form the airport to the strip is thanks, also any opinions as to which hotel is best circus circus/ planet hollywood, stratosphere.......


thanks again:D

Planet Hollywood wins by a country mile.:D


Can't help you re the taxi fare though, sorry.

ajmoney

c_l_a_i_r_e wrote: »

14 nights is a long time to spend in one place

Looked at Monte Carlo, more affordable than some of the others although I am tempted, Any suggestions for where would be a good second week to go with it?