Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

Ferf, on the main page, if you click on the white tick on a blue background to the left of any topic title, it will take you to the latest posts since your last visit for any topic.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

luci wrote: »

Well we just got back on Saturday and already have tentative plans to return at the end of September. Anyone else going then?

Need to get that booked first, but the possibility of going for New Year popped up this morning. Hubby called me to say that he'd priced the hotel we were at in Benidorm last New Year and had shot up to £766 each. Errmmm, no thank you. So I priced Vegas and we can do the flight and hotel for less, even accounting for NYE rates being sky high, and could probably do our food as well for the same price if we're careful.

It now looks like a distinct possibility.

We're looking at arriving September 29th or 30th for 8 or 9 nights, so may just be there the same time..my hope is to book flights in the next 2-3 weeks or so. I did ask about Bike Week at Open Vegas and while I didn't get too many replies, it seems that the focus of Bike Week is downtown.

As for NYE, we went once and it was cool, but wouldn't do it again...but we aren't big fans of big crowds and obviously, NYE+Vegas= insane crowds...we knew that going into it of course, but still wanted to try it out. I would imagine for those who love the vibe of big crowds in celebration/major party atmosphere it would be ideal...I can totally see why you'd consider it if you could do it for near enough the same money as Benidorm, though!

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

luci wrote: »

Ferf, on the main page, if you click on the white tick on a blue background to the left of any topic title, it will take you to the latest posts since your last visit for any topic.

Cool - thanks Luci...but I'm so used to coming in by bookmark direct to the thread I don't know if I could mend my ways.

c_l_a_i_r_e

The Bellagio Fountains

Just noticed this promo on fatwallet. Lots of weekdays in June, July and August for $35 or $45:
http://www.harrahs.com/MakeReservation.do?propCode=FLV&packageCode=IFLTA&KEY=774394-772069&EDID=GZ2OHK-20CXX-52YM9A-160M5Q-QC72S-v1

Thats a great price for a hotel with a fab pool in a great location:D

c_l_a_i_r_e

The Bellagio Fountains

Also saw this Paris promo on FW but must be booked by May 16th (72 hour sale):
http://www.harrahs.com/AvailabilityCalendar.do?propCode=PLV&packageCode=IP72H

Not a lot of dates at the $55 rate but may be lucky and suit someones dates.

Ballys promo with rates from $45, must be booked by May 16th as well:
http://www.harrahs.com/AvailabilityCalendar.do?propCode=BLV&packageCode=IB72H

There's quite a lot of dates at this low rate, and weekend rates as low as $85/$95 as well.

stoneman

The Bellagio Fountains

luci wrote: »

Well we just got back on Saturday and already have tentative plans to return at the end of September. Anyone else going then?

Need to get that booked first, but the possibility of going for New Year popped up this morning. Hubby called me to say that he'd priced the hotel we were at in Benidorm last New Year and had shot up to £766 each. Errmmm, no thank you. So I priced Vegas and we can do the flight and hotel for less, even accounting for NYE rates being sky high, and could probably do our food as well for the same price if we're careful.

It now looks like a distinct possibility.

Agree with ferf about NYE. you will not get a seat in a casino after 9pm. you will also not get into some casinos without showing a room key for the place after 12. The fireworks were by all accounts a real dud last year, thay are not doing them off of the tops of the hotels anymore. And remember it will be cold at night, I mean, really cold, so much so that we are not going back in the winter anymore.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

stoneman wrote: »

Agree with ferf about NYE. you will not get a seat in a casino after 9pm. you will also not get into some casinos without showing a room key for the place after 12. The fireworks were by all accounts a real dud last year, thay are not doing them off of the tops of the hotels anymore. And remember it will be cold at night, I mean, really cold, so much so that we are not going back in the winter anymore.

I think it's even earlier that most casinos start requiring room keys to get in - about 10pm if memory serves? And usually until 1 or so...so yeah, that's a long time to be out in that cold! Though with all the bodies on the strip maybe it's not that bad...we didn't venture out (had a great view from our room) but it was absolutely packed as far as the eye could see. I would have had a heart attack (and I would have had to pee).

One cool thing though was New Year's Day...if you weren't up/out late drinking, being up relatively early made for GREAT people watching...so much carnage.

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

Thanks for the comments re NYE. I appreciate any feedback.

It's very up in the air at the moment as I would like to get September booked first. It looks like I may be booking the hotels first and the flight next week as the flight price went up today so I'm hoping it will come down if I leave it a few days.

Does anyone know which days are cheapest for booking flights? I imagine a lot of people would be looking and booking at the weekend.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

just a heads up for anyone who uses kayak.co.uk (or americanairlines.co.uk) - have found lately that the results it brings up are astronomical for our dates/cities (which happens to be a multi-city itinerary, so maybe it isn't happening for standard return flights)...but when I go into American's website direct and select our preferred flights individually, they come back down to reasonable levels.

seems this only started happening the last couple of weeks...I only mention it as if people use kayak or even American's own website, it seems it will pull the crazy fares that American's website spits out...but if you select individual flights instead of going with their set itineraries, it works out about 1/3 of the price. I've seen before where picking and choosing flights can work out to less than the set options they give you, but not by anywhere near this much. Weird.

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

Ferf, can you explain what you mean by "picking and choosing the flights"? Please explain slowly as I can't read very fast!

I priced AA both with kayak and direct and agree their fares were OTT so I have discounted them. However if there is a way to get them cheaper I would reconsider.