Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

stoneman wrote: »

And of course they are part of the One World alliance, so will get valuable loyalty points to go along with all those lovely American airlines ones we have.

I can't get my head round these FF miles. I have 92000 bmi Diamond Club miles, but apparently I can't transfer them to another Star Alliance member. I have looked at Flyer Talk, but it's all double Dutch to me.

I did ask Diamond Club if I could book the United flights through them, but surprise, surprise, there were no award flight available. She said they may not have been released yet and looking at flight prices booking 2 months out, they were amost £800 each so I didn't want to wait.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

stoneman wrote: »

And of course they are part of the One World alliance, so will get valuable loyalty points to go along with all those lovely American airlines ones we have.

PS don't know what happened there, I seemed to have replied to my own post

We were just discussing this...and wondering if it will give us the option of a direct return flight from Vegas when we do our LHR->ORD, ORD->LAS, LAS-LHR combo to visit family near Chicago for a few days before going onto Vegas...booking on AA at present means a change on the return leg...but if they codeshare with BA, will that BA flight pop up as an option when booking with AA? I'm not sure because I know when I checked the options on BA, it was sending us back to the UK from Chicago to get a flight to Vegas (connecting elsewhere) - so it wasn't giving us codeshare partners as options.

indiegirl_2

luci wrote: »

Flying with United via LAX out and SFO back.

So now I am officially going back and looking for offers on hotels from 19 September onwards so if anyone spots any, please post.

So far I've seen the Excalibur for $36 mid week, but not sure I want to be that far south.

Long term lurker; occasional poster here; Luci we're doing a similar route on the 23rd Sept as you'll be doing 4 days before (out with United via SFO and back via LAX)! I'm still unsure if we got the best deal but we've booked Planet Hollywood for 7 nights for £395 (through the Virgin Holidays website)... which works out at about $85 for each night. Looked the other week and it'd gone down a little bit more. It was under our budget and my OH wanted to stay at PH so we went for it whilst we had the money.

I should add; it might be just over 4mths to my trip but it's my first time to Vegas (currently also looking like my first time to the US [unless work have their say over that before Sept]) and each of the TRs I read and the pics I see make me more and more excited...!

nw_man

The Bellagio Fountains

IndieGirl, you should be excited, Vegas is the best place on planet earth !

As for your choice of hotel, PH is a good one, excellent location and the deuce bus stop is right outside :T

Make sure you sign up for players cards and grab any freebies they are chucking out.

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

PH is a good hotel, but the rooms have next to no storage for any more than a couple of days clothes.

The $20 trick almost always works a treat there so ask at check in if they have any fountain view rooms available and tip the clerk $20 if they come up with the goods.

Planet Dailies is a decent coffee shop and you can get 50% off entrees for dinner if you buy a voucher for $3pp at Tix4Tonight.

leew914

I thought I would start my trip report while I am here so that I dont forget too much.....and the fact that the jetlag has me waking up far too early.
This is my first ever trip report, so please be gentle with me!!

We left home Thursday evening after dropping our 7 year old off at my parents, without them we wouldn't be making this trip!! Stayed at Sofitel Gatwick courtesy of Airmiles which I found very nice, although Claire didn't rate the bed too well and actually had a poor nights sleep. Checked in Twilight with a small queue, but just managed to sneak in front of a family of about 12! Early night in preperation for the 10 hour flight the next day.
Woke around 7 and out of the hotel at 8 as we like to have a walk around the terminal and have a MaccyD's breakfast. Good job that we did as the queue for security was all the way back to the Virgin desks!! Lots of complaints from people but hey, what can you do? Didn't really take too long to get through and before we knew it we were sitting on English Rose(i think!) and on our way. Uneventful flight, which is always nice, just long and boring as you would expect. Arrived at 2pm Vegas time feeling pretty good, made our way through customs and caught the bus to the car rental facility. Poor service at the Thrifty desk. only 2-3 people in front but waited over 30 mins to get served. Booked all inclusive convertable through netflights but still had the guy trying to sell me even more insurance!! Eventually picked up our Sebring and headed off to Wynn.

I completely messed up the $20 trick and forgot to pass it with the cc. asked about upgrades and dropped in that it was out 10th wedding anniversary but was told it would be $25 per night for a panoramic room. Didnt bother and ended up with a 14th floor strip view room. Not disapointed in the slightest, a wonderful room.

After unpacking, shower and change of clothes we started to explore! Its been 2.5 years since our last visit so plenty of changes. The first thing we noticed was how quiet it was. From the no queue at check in to the empty tables. not a good sign.
Had a walk over to fasion show mall for our dinner and then into Ti. Saw the Ebay game and put in $1 walked away with $57 after 1 spin. A great start the the trip! We forced ourselves to stay out as late as possible and try to get into Vegas time quickly. Had a wander around Mirage, Ti and Wynn/Encore. Went to bed around 11, 24 hours after waking!

Saturday 16th.
Woke at 4.30. Not good. Decided to make the most of our early start though and headed out to the Welcome sign around 6am. Beautiful weather at that time of day too. Took our pics then thought why not head out to Hoover Dam and beat the rush. We didnt want to take any tours, just have a walk over and get the pics. We were on our way back to the Strip by 8.30!! Took a detour to Silverton for breakfast and then shooting range to have a blast of a M16 and Desert Eagle.50. Big grins from me!!
Took a drive to the premium outlet mall, but wasnt too impressed. Then back to the strip. For some more walking, slots and food!
Had a late night last night, in bed at 3am, and I was awake at 5.30 this morning.

The best thing so far is that we have been quite lucky with the slots, Star Trek is great, and the Ebay game. Before we went out on Saturday night we had more money that we had arived with! Not a lot more, but it means that the first day and a half were free! Cocktail Waitresses have been very good, some are asking if we want drinks when we havent been playing, I suppose a little plus side to the quietness.
Looking forward, we have reservations for Stratta at Wynn for our anniversary on Monday night and will be eating at Smith and Wollenskys tonight. Claire wants to ride the NYNY rollercoaster....not my idea of fun! Have decided to drop a night trip to Downtown in favour of staying on Strip.

Not sure if anyone has read this far, but if you have then thanks. I have probably rambled too much, as I realise I am doing now!! Will probably post the rest of the report when I get home on Thursday, please tell me if I need to condense more!

Lee n Claire

Stew68

The Secret Garden

Lee,

I don't class that as rambling, we like the details here. Have a good time for the rest of the holiday and happy anniversary.

Stew

leew914

Also forgot to add that I racked up 100 points on the redcard pretty quickly and won a spin on the wheel. Won a free buffet!! Claires going to take her spin this morning, so hopefully a free lunch on Wynn today!

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

Lee - enjoying the report and look forward to reading more!

If you play Star Trek again - you can use the login dennycrane to unlock some additional games - when we were there that user ID had over 187 medals and was ranked Starfleet Commander in Chief...you won't win more, but you can see some of the other games on the machine.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

luci wrote: »

I did ask Diamond Club if I could book the United flights through them, but surprise, surprise, there were no award flight available. She said they may not have been released yet and looking at flight prices booking 2 months out, they were amost £800 each so I didn't want to wait.

I always thought that reward flights were released early and snapped up - so the best way to have a shot was to look 330 days out or so? I could be wrong but it was always my impression that there weren't many and they were booked pretty quick once the flight was released.