Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2009 part 2

Angelite

jackieblack wrote: »

There is no charge at the moment, but I remember reading somewhere (might have been on here ) that there are plans to start charging $10 each, possibly from 30th September?

Really? That's awful! And then they make you fill it out on the plane anyway, so what is the point of doing it online?

Froggitt

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

Also BA going to start charging for booking seats in advance. Doubt there will be any corresponding reduction in fares.

pennylane99

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

Angelite wrote: »

Really? That's awful! And then they make you fill it out on the plane anyway, so what is the point of doing it online?

because not all airlines systems are linked into it fully yet, so in the meantime you still have to fill out the green visa waiver form as well.

Virgins Vegas flight is linked now, so they can tell if you havent done the online ESTA, they wont let you board.

mrsclarkie

October , November

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the posts and link. David thanks for the travel report I take it MAg is short for maggianios. We had one here in Belfast briefly so OH was excited when he discovered there was one in vegas. I was great to read about your experiences. The Killers rock. We saw them in Glasgow.

Am mega excited for our trip as it's our first holiday alone since honeymoon 3 years ago as we were in greece for a wedding and then Turkey with my mum.

Zazie

April

mrsclarkie wrote: »

Hi everyone,

we were in greece for a wedding and then Turkey with my mum.

They sound like holidays to me!!

pennylane99

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

mrsclarkie wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the posts and link. David thanks for the travel report I take it MAg is short for maggianios. We had one here in Belfast briefly so OH was excited when he discovered there was one in vegas. I was great to read about your experiences. The Killers rock. We saw them in Glasgow.

Am mega excited for our trip as it's our first holiday alone since honeymoon 3 years ago as we were in greece for a wedding and then Turkey with my mum.

MAG is short for Mon Ami Gabi , at the Paris Hotel/Casino, opposite Bellagio Fountains

http://www.monamigabi.com/vegas

mrsclarkie

October , November

lol Zazie,

They were holidays but bit difficult with 30 other friends all staying in same place. Some people arent good at getting the we are going for a walk and lunch so see you all later hint and turkey with my mum was an apartment and as she was on her own we found it difficult to go out just the 2 of us.

Zazie

April

OK Mrs C - just pulling your leg. The more holidays the better as far as I'm concerned!

luci

September

Yes MAG is Mon Ami Gabi and David was addicted to it! He was there 3 or 4 times.

We went for breakfast and it was lovely, but not cheap. Dinner is lovely and very reasonable considering the location.

kt21

September

Wont do a complete TR but a few highlights from our trip.

Left UK 16/9 45mins delay on our virgin flight but got through at the other end quickly enough so not too bad. Had checked in the day before and was assigned seats away from OH so when we went to twilight checkin i asked if we could sit together and managed to get 'upgraded' to extra legroom seats without paying. Don't ask me how, didnt even realise till we got on the plane. Were pleased though and paid the extra on the way back as the extra leg room did make all the difference and worth the extra money.
Anyways. Got to our hotel, the Mirage, OH did the $20 trick and got upgraded to the tower suite on 25th floor overlooking the volcano. Room was lovely, recently done up and v comfy. Not too sure about the furry orange thing on the bed though! lol!

Day 2- First full day. Went to Virgin welcome meeting and had PH breakfast, which was paid for out of our $25 voucher for atending Welcome mtg. Booked the GC sunset helicopter and Hoover dam pink jeep tour. Yes i know we could have got these cheaper but didnt want to pay the $14.99 internet charge in the hotel and wanted to make sure it was booked. GC tour worked out at £250 each ($404) This day also went on the NYNY coaster (rickety and hurt my head), went to Titanic exhibition (v good), up the eiffel tower (amazing veiws), madame tuassauds (good but only went to get value for money from power pass (dont bother with PP!). Ate in Strip Burger, v yummy.

Day 3- Walked up to circus circus, v long walk and not worth it, this was my least fav casino walked in and out again, would def not do that again. Went up the stratsophere, now am back am annoyed i chickened out of the rides, next time, again amazing views. Went to Hard rock cafe for dinner. Just had appetisers at the bar as we werent too hungry. were huge and v enjoyable. as was the hurricaine cocktail with souvenir glass, also enjoyed the highlights they played from the Hyde Park killers gig i went too that put me in the mood for the next night. also had lunch in BLT burger this day, thought it was ok but more expensive than strip burger, even though we only had soft drinks and not as nice. Seigfried and roys this day too. Was nice but not really worth the money. Sorry keep remembering stuff we did. also did CSI experience this day. was ok, agree with previous poster dont know if was worth $30pp luckily it was v quiet so managed to get to everything dont think it would be too good if was busy. OH enjoyed it though, semi made up for star trek closing.

Day 4- Killers day!

Went to the south strip outlet this day. bought a few bits, came bac k to hotel, made most of our power passes and went back to siegfried and roys and had hotdogs whilst watching the dolphins, nice and civilised. went back to the room for coupla hours to chill out then headed to the deuce to make our way to MB. Ate in the house of blues, (if you go between 3-7 you get cheap drinks ranging from $1-3. buds for a $1!) lovely food. could only manage entree each. Went into killers early. watch both support bands. 1st 1 was dire. (anyone who was there know who they were) 2nd phoenix were quite good then the killers, was amazed they came on so late OH was getting bored. they were amazing though, glad we went. walked back from MB to Mirage, bit of a trek but couldnt be bothered to wait with everyone else.

Day 5- Beatles Love.

Went to the premium outlet mall this day. Was much more impressed with this one, bought loads of stuff. checked out the rest of the casinos later on then ate in margaritataville. Was ok but far more impressed with the florida one in universal city walk. had booked Love for this night and all I can say is WOW..... most amazing show ive ever seen, so glad i opted for the cheaper seats from the advice on hear, could see everything. WOW!!!!

Day 6- Grand Caynon

We had booked the sunset tour so spent the morning wandering around the casinos and took a look in the fashion show mall. the helicopter tour was amazing. got picked up in a limo which took us to mcclaran to puck up the helicopter, landed in the caynon had a champagne picnic then took off to see sunset over the strip.

Day 7- had look round the strip again then got deuce to freemont street, had a brief look round but decided to head back to strip and come back later on to see the show. played some slots in our casino (had done this quite a bit but not mentioned in TR) headed back to freemont street and watched the first show. was good but decided to leave after this, head back down to the strip and grab some food in the ESPN cafe was the longest bus journey in the world back thought took 1hr30mins from freemont to NYNY!!! so glad to have food and cocktail. food was yum. def reccomend.

Day 8- book early Hoover Dam pink jeep tour. picked up at 7:45 and headed to the dam. was good and did base upgrade which involved raft at the bottom of the dam, worth doing. had wanted to see another show and was going to get terry fatcor tickets but was sold out so decided not to. went back to hard rock cafe for dinner for more hurricaines made a slow walk back down the strip to spend our last $$ in the slots then back to our hotel.

Last day- Had really wanted breakfast in Denny's but the Q at the casino Royale one was huge every day so opted for magaritaville breakfast. was good and got there just at right time as started to fill up. had one last walk up the strip and couple more $$ in slots then last look in forum shops. then got a cab to the airport $20 with tip. boarded plane early but was then told was a fault with FC toilets and auxilary power. was stuck on plane fpr 4hrs whilst fault was fixed. not a nervous flyer but was v nervous when eventually took off and took a while to calm down.

Highlights- Love, killers, bellagio fountains , GC helicopter.

Disapointments- not getting to MAG & cheescake factory. Sirens of TI, dont even bother!! circus circus.

All in all good trip but dont think next time would go for as long, maybe as part of a multicentre trip for coupla nights. We arent big drinkers or gamblers and found it quite repetitive.