Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009 part 2

Backbiter

July

Having taken so much invaluable info and practical advice off this and other threads on here, it’s only fair that I contribute a trip report. This was our first trip to Vegas, and one we had been planning in our heads for literally years.
My wife and 2 sons (16 and 11) flew out with Virgin from Gatwick on 22.7.09. We booked last September as in our experience flights in the school hols only ever go up. We paid £2550 for economy flights into Vegas, returning from LA. You may well be aware that the LA flight returns to Heathrow not LGW, so obviously we had to travel to the airport by Nat Express, rather than by car. I can highly recommend this as it’s far preferable (and safer) than having to drive 150+ miles back home after a 9-hour overnight flight back from the US. Normally the coach from Cardiff to Gatwick return costs around £48pp (half-price under 16s), but I found a deal with Holiday Extras for just under £200 that included a night in the Gatwick Hilton in a family room (no b/fast). I booked this rather than the ‘open-jaw’ ticket I should have booked (Cardiff-LGW, LHR-Cardiff), as I was quoted £170 for that coach trip alone, with no hotel. The Gatwick coach stops off at LHR anyway, so I couldn’t see the problem with buying a return and getting on at LHR.
The coach and hotel were great. We did twilight check-in (very efficient) and ate at the Wetherspoon pub in Gatwick which is very reasonable, with pub prices for drinks.
DAY ONE
We had a free breakfast at an airport lounge. My wife has a Barclays account that includes various extras, including two free airport lounge visits, so we took full advantage. It was great.
We all enjoyed the flight. The food was decent (as it always has been on past Virgin flights), and the choice of films was also very good. Everything was on time. Baggage collection in LV was slow, but immigration was a breeze.
We didn’t bother to hire a car for the Vegas leg of our holiday, but quickly found a taxi, which cost around $15 to the Excalibur, which we had booked about 3 months earlier via a promotion found on the old Vegas sticky (I think it was via a link on the smarter Vegas site). For our 3-night stay we paid $150 all-in (tax, $5 resort fee etc.), which was a real bargain. We knew what to expect with the hotel, and were perfectly happy with everything about it: price, location, pools, choice of places to eat and drink etc. The boys were suitably ‘wowed’ by everything on arrival (not realising that some of the other hotels we took them to on the following days are in another league altogether).
As our body clocks were telling us it was gone midnight, we decided to grab a couple of hours sleep, setting the alarm for 7pm and then heading out for a brief taste of a Vegas evening. We wandered around the Excalibur and over the walkway into the Luxor, grabbed a sandwich at Quiznos and then stepped outside. The heat took us aback at this point – it was like being blasted with a hair-dryer. It was around 108F that day, and seemed hardly any cooler after sundown.
We wandered over to NY NY, which was pretty spectacular, and had a brief look at MGM. After a short stroll up the strip we were all knackered and went to bed before 10pm.

Backbiter

July

DAY 2
The next day we spent a very pleasant few hours by the hotel pool, after which we walked and walked and walked. I’d read that distances between hotels are deceptive, which is so true. We planned to have a big evening meal at the Caesar’s buffet (we ate at caesar’s in Lake Tahoe a few years ago and it was brilliant), so had a fast food lunch at Wendy’s.
We were bowled over by the Bellagio, which is stunning inside. The fountains were great, but everything about it was very classy. Outside the Flamingo we saw a special offer for the Nathan Burton comedy magic show - $19.99, including a free evening buffet. Apparently he did very well in ‘America’s Got Talent’, and his act appealed to the boys, so we bought tickets (which actually cost $27 with taxes and ‘fees’), only to discover this ‘daily’ show was not taking place that day (Thurs). Our ‘free’ buffet was available that day, though, so we planned to come back that evening, and headed on up the Strip.
Our guide book informed us that we could see lions and tigers for free in the Mirage, so we called in there. We weren’t so taken by that hotel, and soon discovered that there was a $15 entrance fee to see the lions and tigers, so we then headed onto the free Treasure Island ‘spectacular’, which our guide book informed us starts at 5.30pm each evening. This was also untrue – it’s 7pm, so we crossed over to the Venetian.
This is another spectacular hotel, with canals, gondolas and and a mini St Marks sq. We were very impressed.
The Treasure Island show was entertaining enough and well worth the (zero) money. By now we were starving and headed back to the Flamingo for our buffet. The queue was pretty long and slow, and while we were queuing my elder son said he wasn’t feeling great. We therefore decided to scrap the buffet and crossed over to the Bellagio, from where we got a taxi back to our hotel (about $10). We made do with a Mexican takeaway from the hotel (not bad) and had an early night.

Backbiter

July

DAY 3
The next day we had another relaxing few hours by the pool (a different pool this time – one with slides), before heading out. We bought a 24-hour pass for the Deuce (double decker bus) as we planned to go to Fremont St that evening after our buffet meal. My son was feeling better, but was glad of the bus up as far as Paris. We were also impressed with this place, which has some nice streets and shops, but we preferred the Venetian.
After this we took the boys for an ice cream in the Flamingo (thumbs down for the ice cream from them) while my wife and I went into Wild Bills for the Happy Hour (99c margaritas and beers). These were great and put us in a good mood for the comedy magic show. The show was excellent – very funny, with some fabulous magic, and a hilarious juggler. My only complaint was the air-con, which was absolutely freezing where I was sitting. I really felt like complaining, but I’m sure I’d have been seen as a looney if I had. (“It’s 105 degrees outside and you’re unhappy that we keep our theatre cool. Right, sir”).
After the show, we had a bonus of discovering live coverage of Chelsea’s pre-season US tour in one of the bars, so settled down for more beer before queuing for the buffet. After two days of snack-type food we found this delicious. Even if it hadn’t been ‘free’ we’d have thought it was great value, with amazing sea food, steak, salads and desserts.
From here we caught the deuce up to Fremont St. The boys were not very enthusiastic about going, and were a bit underwhelmed when we reached the street, but they were hugely impressed when the light show started. It is terrific and a definite ‘must-see’.
By now it was around 11pm and we headed back. I expected to spend an hour or so playing roulette but my wife was too shattered and I didn’t trust myself to go to the casino on my own. So we spent 4 days in Vegas and didn't spend a cent gambling. We're not the sort of tourists Vegas is trying to attract!
DAY 4
The next morning we spent another couple of hours by the pool before checking out, and immediately handing our luggage in until later. We then took the boys on the NY NY roller coaster ($14 each), which was brilliant, and then used our Deuce pass to take us up to Caesar’s to see the shops. These were pretty stunning but we didn’t buy anything (I wasn’t tempted to spend over $7 on an ice-cream cone).
We then headed back, collected our luggage and walked over to the Dollar car-hire desk in the hotel, where we picked up our car for the next 15 days, touring Arizona and Southern California. We booked a Chrysler 300 with Usrentacar, and were really happy with the price, vehicle and service. Fuel ranged from $2.50/gallon in Arizona to $3.40 in LA.
All in all we had a fabulous few days in Vegas. It was long enough for us, although there was plenty we didn’t do, and we were quite tired when we left. We did it on a budget and had great value for money. It wasn't as hot as we feared it would be - we had quite cloudy weather which helped

Many thanks to everyone on this board for all their tips, which were so helpful (and accurate).
The rest of the holiday – Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Palm Springs, San Diego and LA – was wonderful. All our arrangements went like clockwork and we had a truly memorable time. The weather was fantastic and the US remains brilliant value for Brits.
The return flight was great, with a better inflight entertainment system and a huge choice of films.
I did have minor anxiety about using my return coach ticket (Gatwick to Cardiff) at Heathrow, but there was no problem at all. Technically our failure to board at Gatwick meant Nat Exp treats you as a no-show, so our seat reservations for the LHR-Cardiff part of the journey would have been invalid (though the ticket would still have been usable). We should then have re-booked our seats, at which time we could have been charged the full price for the journey we were making i.e. the open-jaw ticket, costing over £170, as I mentioned above
We got around having to do this by managing to catch an earlier coach, and the driver was happy to take our tickets as he had room onboard (although there were hardly any seats left after we got on). It was a great end to a brilliant holiday.

luci

September

Many thanks for the TR Backbiter. Sounds like you had a great time and it shows that Vegas can be done with kids and without gambling.

Trust_2

October , November

For everyone in Vegas from 4th to 7th, Labor day weekend (B-Hol States) usually have some good offers in the outlets


www.premiumoutlets.com

Apologies if this has already been posted

adrienne1945

October , November

BA FlightsI've just booked 2 flights direct to LV in December for £400 each. I've waited and waited and checked 2 or 3 times a day and my patience has been rewarded. (Assuming they're still im business in December!!) Only thing is instead of 16 -30th I've had to book 14th - 31st sob sob! 3 extra days of fun yipee

Gav86

June

Some really helpful tips in this thread, and this morning i booked flights for me and the girlfriend to go to Vegas in June next year!
Came to about £750 total, which i was quite pleased with. Just going to wait now to book a hotel!

ratkarth

nice TR backbiter, can you give me any tips for LA
going there for only 2 fulll days,

jackieblack

Backbiter wrote: »

The rest of the holiday – Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Palm Springs, San Diego and LA – was wonderful. All our arrangements went like clockwork and we had a truly memorable time. The weather was fantastic and the US remains brilliant value for Brits.

Great LV TR :T - can you post the TR for the rest of your trip on the Touring holiday to Nevada, California & Arizona thread when you have time please?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=542691&page=28

battyboimatt

October , November

Agghh do I book now with BA while the tickets have dropped in price or do I hold out for septmeber in hope they might have a flight sale..curently £100 cheaper from when I checked last week $482 return isntead of £582 buy or wait, buy or wait