LA + Vegas, need tips and recommendations!

Stupidspender_2

Heather take a look at Huntington beach and Newport Beach on the coast down the pacific highway from LA.
Both those resorts are nice Californian low crime coastal surfing/beach sports area and driving to Disney would take 20 mins max and back into central LA about 60 mins on the LA highway system.
The hotels are good value and you can breath in fresh air instead of smog and take a nice relaxing walk along Huntington pier and have a 50’ stlye shake or burger at Rubbys at the end whilst watching the pro surfers fight the waves.
It means you have both the beach and city in one holiday, Huntington is where surfing originated in the USA and the beach are fantastic.
Newport is very nice again with fantastic beaches and Fashion island , one of Americas most prestigious shopping mall.
You could even take a ferry for a day trip to Catalina island from Newport (well recommended) it’s chewing gum family magnets wrigglies old island that is beautiful.
Its then straight down the coast to San diego.
http://www.ci.huntington-beach.ca.us/
http://www.shopfashionisland.com/
http://www.rubys.com/
http://www.catalina.com/main.html

Another places to consider in that are aon route to Vegas is a visit, Palm springs.

completely_lost

tweetie wrote:

thanks fatboyonadiet

have found them for £108.80 return for the 2 of us - does that sound like a decent price to you?

I used the budget airline Southwest when I went in June- we got a single from Vegas to LA for £30.

Also try Jet Blue which is another American budget airline but you have fly to/from Long Beach, CA or Burbank, CA. Check out 'Ted' which is United Airlines budget operation http://www.flyted.com/ and also look at the standard United site too as we found they were cheap for our other internal flights in the States.

fatboyonadiet wrote:

Should I just use the UK site, or should I try with the US one, is that likely to be cheaper for me with the conversion taken into account?

I go via the UK site and have found that prices are the same or in some cases slightly cheaper (like by a pound though lol) when comparing the same dates on biidingfortravel.com in the same area.

fatboyonadiet wrote:

How do you mean gamble?

Lol I think Stupidspender means in Vegas!

fatboyonadiet

completely_lost wrote:

Lol I think he Stupidspender means in Vegas!

D'Oh! Wasn't even thinking about that! Was in the Priceline zone, doubt I'll do much gambling, planning on going to the Grand Canyon, a bit of sightseeing and going to all the amazing hotels!

Stupidspender_2

Fatboyonadiet, its just that if you are a gambler with a small bankroll to deposit with a Hotel in Vegas you could comp a free room that’s why I asked.
If your going to grand canyon don’t leave your camera on the shuttle bus in the visitors centre at the end of a day like I did
;-( lol.
In that area lake havasu is worth a visit to see London Bridge. and then to Laughlin, one of my fav places in America.
From Laughlin its a 90 min drive onto Vegas.
http://www.visitlaughlin.com/ltourism/index.jsp
http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/aug/stories/lkhav.html

completely_lost

That's what we said but the slot machines are really addictive! On our last day my friend won $15 dollars and I won 4 Cents :rolleyes: Mind you we only gambled about $7 on the 5 cent slot machines that day.:rotfl:

Make sure your spend at least a night in the Grand Canyon or do the helicopter tour. We did a day trip and really regretted it as most of our time was spent on the road and we only got about 2.5 hours in the canyon although we did see Hoover Dam too but you can do that anyway if you drive or go by helicopter.

If you want to see a show, there's a ticket outlet near 7eleven opposite Monte Carlo hotel I think, just after Aladdin which sells half price show tickets.

wdyw

completely_lost wrote:

If you want to see a show, there's a ticket outlet near 7eleven opposite Monte Carlo hotel I think, just after Aladdin which sells half price show tickets.

The three main half price/cheap show ticket outlets (tix4 tonight) are now at Hawaiian marketplace at the south end of the strip, the fashion mall (towards the north end), and opposite the Stardust (even further towards the north end). open each day at noon, Queues start forming quite a bit earlier!

phill79

wdyw wrote:

Queues start forming quite a bit earlier!

Or you can go and get a VIP pass from:

http://www.lasvegas-nv.com/las-vegas-coupons.htm

fatboyonadiet

Just tried to do Priceline for LA (been more then 24 hours) but it won't let me make another request (have increased price) tells me to add me to add more areas or lower the rating, any ideas why?

tweetie_2

another quick q!

I'm off the Vegas in the middle of Sept and have booked the Tropicana (the island tower) but have just found I can get the MGM (grand tower) for £100 more.

My question is - should I move?

I can cancel the Tropicana at any time prior to going without losing any £ but I was just wondering if the size of the MGM makes it just too annoying to get to your room?

If anyone has any experience of either of these two hotels please let me know.
Thanks!

Stupidspender_2

Hello, i have stayed in the Tropicana, its got a good position and the tower rooms beat the ouside chalet rooms by miles..
The desk always offer you upgrades when you check in to strip view larger rooms. The hotel is showing its age a bit and the carpet it’s a little worn ect but don’t let that put you off.
The pool area is fantastic and large and the car parking is easy and close to the rear hotel entrance.
The hotel is easy to move around and the MGM is linked via a footbridge from the trop.

The MGM, this is a higher class joint that takes some manoeuvring around, a tip if you stay there ask for a room near the elevator stop on your floor, or you could be walking a long way to your room. Allow 10-15 mins from car park to room.
Again the MGM has a very good location and is just generally a lot fresher and newer than the trop, the rooms are modern and its worth extra £ to stay, but how much well? that’s down to personal choice>
But dont be afraid of the trop, its more old vegas and quite sweet!