Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

davidmcg2u wrote: »

Hi Luci,

Get you decide on The Killers yet?

We're just from from Hyde Park - what a show!!

Looking forward to Vegas but need to get myself into gear & decide about flights/accomodation!!

Decided? I'm booked!

What a carry on I've had. Was both on the phone and online ready for 6pm. Kept refreshing the browser and the tickets wouldn't appear. Finally got through on the phone to the automated service and every time I selected 2 tickets it said I had selected 22! Gave up after re-tying several times and phoned the other number.

Got through, went through the order and when I gave him my home phone number he said I had to purchase them from the UK!

Still kept refreshing the browser and phoned the UK. Finally got through and the guy couldn't find any details of the Killers. He went away to speak to a supervisor.

Meantime I twigged that the browser may be the problem and opened up IE. Yes it was Opera the flaming thing.

The guy came back and said I would have to phone the US for tickets for Vegas! Grrrrrr!!

Got IE to work and panicked placing the order, which wasn't good and I've never used TM before. It came up with Main Floor, a row and seat numbers so I quickly ordered the most expensive tickets.

When I got the confirmation it still stated the row and seat numbers, but also said it was general admission and standing only!! More gggrrrrrrrr! We needed seats with probably arriving late.

Called TM in the US, finally got through to someone and told them what had happened. They went to look at it and I was cut off!

Called again and after going through the rigmarole again I was able to change to seated tickets.

Felt a bit reassured when I found there was insurance you could take out which covered missing the event due to a flight delay so I selected that at extra cost. However there was nothing on the confirmation about the insurance. Called the insurance company and it's only available to US residents.

Looked up their UK site and yes they have it too, but it's only available if you bought the tickets through TM UK so I've hit a brick wall. I have emailed them to see if there is any way I can cover them, but I'm not optimistic.

So after all that carry on I'm not in the slightest bit excited at getting tickets, I'm still totally stressed.

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

lumines wrote: »

Anyone flown from Cardiff before?

So is the Paris Hotel better than Planet Hollywood hotel?

We've stayed at both. The PH is more modern and hip, but there is practically no wardrobe or drawer spare which is a major problem with 2 weeks worth of clothes. We have stayed there 3 times, but doubt I will go back for that reason.

We really liked Paris in May and will be returning in September.

I would personally choose Paris over PH unless there was a huge price difference, but PH may suit you.

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

davidmcg2u wrote: »

Hi Luci,

Get you decide on The Killers yet?

We're just from from Hyde Park - what a show!!

Looking forward to Vegas but need to get myself into gear & decide about flights/accomodation!!

You'd better get a shift on as there is the Killers concert and the Mayweather fight on the 19th so room rates will be going up by the minute.

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

DaveyGee wrote: »

Oh and what did you think of the MGM Grand?

We really liked the MGM. funkyfin got the room type wrong in his post earlier. He was in a West Wing room, not a Grand Tower room and his was tiny.

The Grand Tower rooms are a good size and the beds really comfortable.

ferf1223

The Bellagio Fountains

luci wrote: »

However there was nothing on the confirmation about the insurance. Called the insurance company and it's only available to US residents.

Exact same thing happened when we booked Bette tickets - totally freaked me out to not see it on the confirmation when I knew we had selected the option...call to them confirmed the US resident thing... would be nice if it would have said that!

Congrats on getting tickets at least! I can imagine that you're a bit stressed after all of that, though!

pebblesmax

The Bellagio Fountains

Wow Luci, I can see how that would stress you out.

duchy

funkyfin2000 wrote: »

Has anyone been to Vegas for just a weekend? Fly Friday 2 days there, fly back Monday, back in work Tues/Wed!?

Yep
I've even done fly in Friday -leave 1am Sunday morning to arrive back 9pm ish into Heathrow. Weirdly the jetlag isn't nearly as bad on such a short trip as on a longer one-and boy do you sleep well on the return flight

I once had tickets to a show the evening I arrived on one of these hit and run trips and got delayed. Was chatting to the artist afterwards and commented I'd only got to the hotel to check in an hour before the show. His comment "You must be knackered" NOT the sort of remark you expect from Donny Osmond :rotfl::rotfl:

luci

The Bellagio Fountains

TI from $69 inc Mystere tickets with a 3 night stay

https://reservations.mgmmirage.com/bookingengine.aspx?utm_source=travelzoo_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text_link1&utm_campaign=TIMYS_Promo&pid=170&host=promo&code=TIMYS

duchy

Finally booked my Vegas nights -was faffing about whether to do 2 nights or 3 at the Orleans (friends are there for the weekend) and then one or two at the Flamingo (or Bill's). Ended up with 3 at the Orleans as there's more for the teenogre there. B-connected system comped me the Saturday and Sunday -I missed out on vegas.com's $29 for the Monday but the Orleans gave me casino rate at $35.84 ($32) with tax-the comp nights include $25 food credit so effectively it comes out at $10.84 for three nights total. I think that's pretty MSE
Flamingo came out at $78.40 ($70) for a Go room on a hot deal which was $10 cheaper than using my player card so all in all a pretty good deal all around. (Could have brought this down to $40 if we'd gone for a deluxe room instead though)

Just need to find the Disney passes we got given last year when the earthquake shut the rides for a whole hour and find the cheapest rates for Universal and I'm all done.

Total costs-This is for late August btw

LGW Orange County & LAS LGW 2 x £347.90 (trip also earns me 33 K in Delta miles and 11K on son's ticket towards future flights)
Burbank to LAS one way JetBlue 2 x $69.60
Crowne Plaza Anaheim 3 nights (Pricelined) $169.99
Hilton Glendale 1 night $87 (Pricelined again)
Orleans 3 nights $10.84
Flamingo 1 night $78.40

Total £999.19 or £499.59 per person


Optional extras
Holiday Inn Gatwick (Priceline) £39.20
Shows at Orleans and Flamingo £270

Maybe useful for planning purposes. I'm really pleased at the price.
We're not hiring cars so will use shuttles from the various airports -the only expensive one was getting from Anaheim to Glendale (there is a service tho) but a friend who lives out there is picking us up for that one.

duchy

Re ticketmaster-I don't understand why they said you had to book through the UK site. I've booked seats in NYC with ticketmaster US without issue in the past. The only difference is they won't always let you print your tickets out but say you have to use Will Call and definitely won't post them-which is understandable.