Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009 part 2

DaveyGee_2

September

Day 4: Had breakfast at McDonalds again can't beat a good cheap breakfast.

Made way back to the hotel as we were going to the hoover dam/lake mead/ethel ms chocolate factory. Bus picked us up about 9.15am then we went to the tour depo where we got a sticker and headed for the bus! Got on the bus and headed for the Hoover Dam, traffic was surprisingly quiet so didnt take too long to get there! It was roasting once we got to the dam, 102 degrees!

Went on a powerplant tour of the dam, which showed the workings of the dam and how it was built. Then went through the dam museum and out on to the dam itself, was a good tour and due to the fact that there was little traffic we had plenty of time to walk over the dam etc and even get an ice cream

After the dam we went to Lake Mead where we went on a large paddle boat and sailed up to the dam then back round again while getting lunch on the boat. We were on the boat for about 90 mins then headed to Ethel Ms chocolate factory, wasnt that great although the botanical gardens were the best bit about it! Plenty of cool catcuses.

We got back from the tour about 6pm then got ready and headed to the spice market buffet which was excellent, also had $5 voucher off each buffet so we got a good bargain here! Had crabs legs for the first team here and there was a huge variety! Definitely the best buffet ive been to.

After dinner we then headed to the MGM casino and done some gambling in there, played roulette think we ended up about $20 down all in! Gambled til about 130am then headed to bed

DaveyGee_2

September

Day 5 : Went to Sugar & Ice at the Wynn for some breakfast bagels, was really nice with a really nice setting! Got a seat outside so we had a beautiful waterfall behind us!

Then headed to the Outlet mall, the one towards the Stratosphere end. Got quite a lot of stuff as did the GF and found it great value, buy 1 pair of trainers get a 2nd pair half price for example.

Headed back to the hotel a few buses later then dumped our shopping then went to subway for some lunch.

Decided to go to the new Hard Rock Cafe on the strip for dinner which was good, got an awesome burger and chips while the GF got twisted pasta with chicken which was also nice and very filling, no room for desert!

Headed back to the hotel to get ready and went to Studio 54 as we were on the guest list. Went in and it was alright, nothing special, was expecting it to be much bigger. 2 vodka cokes also cost a cool $20 so there was much drink drunk that night! Left Studio 54 about 2am then headed to bed!

DaveyGee_2

September

Day 6 : Today we moved hotel from the widescreen room to the grand tower room in the MGM Grand. Used the check out machines to check out, was really quick and easy. Went to the MGM via the NYNY walkway. No stairs involved Got to the MGM and checked in quickly and straight to the room. First impressions of the room was good, bed was massive! Not the greatest view but not the worst either could see City Centre and Monte Carlo to the left while straight ahead was the PH Westgate tower and Paris.

Although no 42" plasma like the Excalibur this room was much better and would highly recommend it.

Went down to the MGM buffet for some lunch as this was included in the package i had. Buffet was decent, a lot of choice for lunch, had some pizza.

We then headed out to the pool, was really busy as it was Labor day. The pool was excellent, spent plenty of time drifting round the lazy river, didnt bother hiring a ring though. It was also scorching that day so had to top up the suncream. Stayed there for about 2-3 hrs. Went back up to the room to get ready for dinner.

Back down to dinner at the buffet. Was pretty much the same as the lunch buffet so that was pretty disappointing. Again had some crabs legs and a mixture of stuff. Headed to the casino and done some gambling, some roulette and some blackjack, ended up about $20 down again, but got a lot of free drink that night so it probably paid for itself Headed to bed around 1am

DaveyGee_2

September

Day 7 : Went to McDonalds for a pancake breakfast and went shopping to the other outlet, closest to the airport! This was all indoor and again came out with bag loads, the best being CK jeans for $25.

After shopping we had to wait ages on the Deuce bus! Then eventually got back then dumped the bags then headed back on the bus to the fashion show mall where we done a bit more shopping then we had another wee wait for the Deuce bus back to the MGM.

Got back around 5pm and decided to go for a swim again around the lazy river but it was shutting so only managed to go around once. Then we went to the producers pool for another swim until around 7pm. Headed back up to the room and got ready then went to the buffet for the last time. Again got some crabs legs and a taco, not a patch on the spice market buffet though.

As this was our last night we went gambling, i mostly played blackjack where i ended up up $20 but the GF was down $50 at roulette so $30 down for the night. Went home and got packed, went for a quick nap and left the hotel at 330am for our flight home

Overall i loved my time in Vegas and would definitely go back if i got the chance!

luci

September

davidmcg2u wrote: »

Hoping mu $ arrive tomorrow instead of Monday, would save a bit of time Monday morning - getting excited now. Although I have 2 days of work remaining (Mon & Tues0, I've been in holiday mode all this week.

Luci - what type of tickets did you get for The Killers? Do you still want to meet for a drink before the show?

Let us know if you get the currency tomorrow. I haven't bothered ordering in advance for this trip, but I think I would request delivery for the Monday if I was ordering again in the hope that it arrived on the Saturday to save us having to go to the sorting office to pick it up.

We have Killers tickets in Section 108. I did originally have standing room tickets, but changed them as we were originally arriving into Vegas on the Saturday night and I thought seating would be better if we arrived late.

Will PM you re a meet.

luci

September

Just saw this on their site and I haven't come across it anywhere else.

Rate Change Fee

If you book on Excalibur.com and find a lower rate for the same dates later, call 1-877-750-5464 and we’ll be glad to lower your rate ($10 change fee applies).

From here:

http://www.excalibur.com/hotel/reservations_policy.aspx

Their resort fee has also increased to $7.50 + tax.

ferf1223

October , November

luci wrote: »

Just saw this on their site and I haven't come across it anywhere else.



From here:

http://www.excalibur.com/hotel/reservations_policy.aspx

Their resort fee has also increased to $7.50 + tax.

Yet oddly further down -

Cancellations
Excalibur requires a minimum of 48-hours notice prior to your scheduled arrival date for a full refund.

So you could cancel and rebook for free, or pay $10 to change to lower rates...a bit bizzare.

duchy

August

A brief Trip report

We me and 17 year old son aka the Teenogre wanted a break before he went back to college. Fares in August were pretty high but dropped the 23rd August which fitted in with our plans nicely so we booked our flights. I have Gold status with Delta who I'm trying out this year (I status matched across from AA) as I prefer the Gatwick option to Heathrow.
About a month before we were due to fly I got a phonecall from Delta asking me if I'd like to switch from arriving back into Gatwich-to Heathrow. I declined -as if I had wanted to fly into Heathrow-well that's what I would have booked. Almost as soon as I finished the call an email arrived telling me my departure from Vegas had changed from 9am to 7am-something she had neglected to mention. I called Delta back and got someone far more helpful (I always call the US direct -it's free on my call package and I find them more knowledgable). The agent explained the flight was 65 (yes 65! )overbooked due to an equipment change and it was the same a day either side.

I decided I didn't want to be anywhere near that kind of overbooking so asked her to switch me from the 6am connection to the 11pm connection "But Ma'am that give you 11 hours in New York" Yes it did a whole day to spend sightseeing.

As we had a 9am departure we opted to stay at the airport the night before. We travelled by train via the Gatwick Express. I had booked a "Name Your Own Price" 4 star hotel and we got the Holiday Inn Gatwick-nothing plush but a decent room with two beds at a very reasonable £40. We arrived late and to my surprise they didn't take my card (the room was prepaid) for a deposit but just handed me the keys. We used the Hoppa to the terminal the next morning-nice and easy it was waiting when we checked out.

Airport checkin was easy we used the first class check in (a perk of the Gold card) but unlike last time I wasn't offered an invitation to the lounge-ah well.

We flew Gatwick to Atlanta and then connected onto Santa Ana airport-also known as John Wayne or Orange County-having three names is a pain when trying to find the flight on the board ! This is the nearest airport to Anaheim and a much better option than LAX if going to Disney as it's smaller and closer. The flights were good -decent food and we both enjoyed watching the Star Trek movie. Not all AA's flights have IFE so it was nice to have both TV and movies to watch on the domestic flight too. If find Delta's staff to generally be far friendlier and pro-active than the AA cabin crew. With my Gold card if I'm quick enough I can book emergency row seats and we had these already booked on all sectors except New York to London.

We grabbed a cab at John Wayne and headed to our Anaheim home Crowne Plaza Garden Grove. We knew exactly what to expect from this hotel -we had visited Anaheim last July and Priceline gave us the same hotel both times. The hotel's resort fee included not only free shuttles to and from Disney but also wireless internet which was nice. One of the reasons we had gone back to Anaheim was because Disney had refunded our passes last year when the rides closed for an hour for safety checking after the big earthquake-the valet remembered me from that day as I'd asked him why the tourists were running and the staff were not bothered LOL, Nice hotel we were happy to get it again. It has a big Target right opposite which as usual took some of my spending money-I love Target We split our Disney visit in two -went early morning-quit at lunchtime and then returned later-Disney after dark is always fun and some rides like Big Thunder Mountain and the Jungle Cruise are BETTER after dark.....and of course you get Fantasmic and the Fireworks too

duchy

August

We then moved hotels to the Hilton Glendale (another Priceline booking). A business hotel rather than a tourist hotel but fine for visiting Burbank. My friend who lives in LA drove us between the two and on the way stopped to visit a friend who owns a fabulous company called Cupcakes and Co in Burbank. They have a retail store as well as catering to private parties, awards ceremonies etc and their cupcakes are to die for !

The air quality at Anaheim wasn't great but beareable (due to the fires in the LA Hills) but was noticably worse in Burbank. Universal we did in a day-we had a pass due to my son's disability that gave us front of line access but we really didn't need to use it much as lines were light (Disney do a similar pass). The heat was exhausting-usually LA at this time of year is somewhat cooler than Vegas but there wasn't much difference -I guess the smoke trapped the heat.

We had tickets to see Liza Minnelli at the Hollywood Bowl but the air quality was so poor we skipped it-real shame. After Universal instead of heading for the Hollywood Bowl we called the Hilton and they sent their free shuttle to pick us up. As there isn't much around the hotel the shuttle driver stopped at a grocery store on the way back and I picked up roast chicken and various nibbles for dinner.

The next day we booked the shuttle to take us to Bob Hope (Burbank) airport for our JetBlue flight to Vegas

I really like Jetblue -the hour's flight went really quickly with their excellent IFE and the headsets (available for $2) were vastly superior to the free Delta ones on the transatlantic flight. They also come around with a snack basket and complimentry non alcoholic drinks (you pay for booze). Pretty good for a one hour flight that cost $29 in their seat sale. They also upgraded us to extra legroom seats at the airport at no charge which was a nice surprise.

Finally-Vegas

No taxi line and no tunnel-cost was $20 with tip

Our first three nights were at the Orleans -partly because I had two comped nights there and partly because we were meeting up with friends who had been there since Thursday to see the Osmond Brothers who were playing there that weekend.

We had requested rooms in the newer tower and got them. All the rooms are pretty much the same-spacious, clean and slightly retro. Prices had dropped as low as $50 for the weekend nights and the only night we paid for was the Monday night which was $19. The Orleans has a new food court which was pretty good and there's a short-cut back to the rooms which means you don't have to hike through the casino with your food if you want to flop out in front of your TV with your food.

(to be continued)

davidmcg2u

September

luci wrote: »

Let us know if you get the currency tomorrow. I haven't bothered ordering in advance for this trip, but I think I would request delivery for the Monday if I was ordering again in the hope that it arrived on the Saturday to save us having to go to the sorting office to pick it up.

We have Killers tickets in Section 108. I did originally have standing room tickets, but changed them as we were originally arriving into Vegas on the Saturday night and I thought seating would be better if we arrived late.

Will PM you re a meet.

Got my $ delivered this morning (from Crown) which is perfect for us as we are both working Monday.

We're in section 121. We normally do standing but Liz always struggles to get a good view so decided to get seats this time. Also means we don't have to turn up 60-90mins before the show just to get a good pitch.