Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2010

secretmachines

credit_crunch wrote: »

we are hoping to book a helicopter tour of the gc over the next week or so. we travelon 10th nov to lv. i know boa highlighted the story about papillion crash - has anyone else had bad (or good) experiences with them?

it will be for 4 adults, and ideally picked up from hotel early morning & back around lunch time. would love to be able to stop & get pics taken etc.

ive had a look online, and diff companies offer different tours - some do north rim & others do south? i am clueless as to what the difference is & which one we would be better pricing/booking?

any advice & opinions appreciated x

am going on Maverick's wind dancer sunset tour on tuesday, happy to report back after that!

Froggitt

credit_crunch wrote: »

we are hoping to book a helicopter tour of the gc over the next week or so. we travelon 10th nov to lv. i know boa highlighted the story about papillion crash - has anyone else had bad (or good) experiences with them?

it will be for 4 adults, and ideally picked up from hotel early morning & back around lunch time. would love to be able to stop & get pics taken etc.

ive had a look online, and diff companies offer different tours - some do north rim & others do south? i am clueless as to what the difference is & which one we would be better pricing/booking?

any advice & opinions appreciated x

Helicopters go to West Rim. South Rim is where the GC National Park is, which is the "proper" GC. Youll need to fly there by plane or take a vvv long bus/car journey.

TamVilla80

June

I went to the South Rim last time I went, as everyone said it is the nicest bit to go to - some bits are a bit commercial apparently, and I think the South is a bigger hole / most impressive than some other parts. It takes a while to get to but it's worth the extra distance.

I'm going again as part of my honeymoon next year and we were thinking of hiring a car and driving ourselves (the bus took forever last time and there was some right muppets on there) - has anyone here done that? What's the drive like and is it easy to hire a car from somewhere on the strip for the day?

Kate0208

Hiya!!!
got back from our wedding trip there on monday and havent had a moments peace to post anything since then. Thanks to everyone on here for all your recommendations and help as its down to you that we had such a fabulous holiday! Gonna post my trip report now so if ur easily bored then scroll down quick. sorry if i waffled but when i wrote it i was very very tired and i havent time to read it back yet ooopsy!! have left out lots of details but think its boring enough anyway without the finer details. We booked through thomas cook and paid £1349 for flights and accomadation at the paris hotel for 10 days!! not too bad i dont think and deffo worth every penny! so here goes................................

Friday
Flew continental from heathrow and was pleasantly surprised, G is 6ft2 and has long legs and is very broad and he was happy with the amount of room he had so that’s good! Strangely enough had an ok dinner which I ate all of too!! Ife had a good choice of films for everyone also we had selected the 2 back seats and they were perfect for us! Def would fly continental again!
Got into the hotel at about 6.30 and checked in real quick, got a lady named jenny on check in, handed over the $40 (it was a ten night stay thought 40 would be better than 20!!) and she saw it and said give that to me at the end and took all our details etc while we explained we were there to get married, she gave us a room with a view and off we went to check it out. It was room 2098 and faced the bellagio fountain perfectly square on and at a good height but it was with 2 queen beds and not particularly roomy so I made oh go down and ask if she had anything else – she said she would give us a bigger room but couldn’t get one with a better view. Oh said she looked genuinely disappointed we didn’t like her choice so we decided to stay – and by the time night fell I was so glad I did because the view of the fountains at night from the window was unbelieveable!!!! Felt bad for seeming ungrateful after that lol!! Anyways had a couple of slices of pizza downstairs and people watched for a wee while then off for an early night.

Saturday
Much to my distress (I love my sleep) I woke at 4am and couldnt get back to sleep, after much fidgeting and getting annoyed I gave in and went and ran a bath! The bath was tiny (perfect for me I have little legs but anyone taller would have their knees round their ears lol) after letting oh sleep for as long as I could I poked him in the eye until he gave in and we got dressed and went for a wander at 6.30 lol!! Eventually went to the bellagio for their breakfast buffet and they talked us into getting the champagne brunch – its never too early for champagne apparently! Buffet was fresh and had a really good selection, I loved everything I chose but oh said the beef rib and lamb had hardly any flavour and that it was even a bit too pink for him – well at least at 7am anyway! After eating so much I couldn’t move and drinking 2 bottles of champagne between us we decided it was time for a nap lol!! Only gripe here was the eating area was about -2 degrees and I was shivering madly by the end of brekkie! After sleeping off the food and alcohol we headed out and wandered round the hotels for a look which lasted all day and finally ended up in cheesecake factory for dinner. After recommendations on here we ordered one starter, one main and one dessert between us and it was plenty enough!! We had calamari (ok I guess but a tad rubbery for my liking) and combination main consisting of salmon and shrimp scampi with mash (very tasty and massive) and tiramisu cheesecake (was delicious!!). hun about and watched the caesers shows and divers in the fish tank and people watched that evening!

Kate0208

Sunday
Had to go pick up our marriage licence but no idea where the place was, decided to jump on the goldline bus and get to downtown and then try and catch a cab, turned out we could kinda see our wedding chapel from the bus and knew the wedding licence place was just down the road so jumped off bus at next stop and found it! Then went to look round chapel and finish paperwork. After this decided to go the outlets at this end – oh my gosh even better than I remembered, spent far too much money on baby clothes and handbags and then came back to hotel happy as pie with purchases. Ate at spice market buffet for dinner – with coupons for money off – thought it was really good here, liked how there was different cultures at each station, thought the tandoori lamb and chicken were amazing. Less impressed with those annoying crab legs that everyone queues for ages for – very watery and tasteless! Got $2 coronas to wash it all down with as didn’t fancy the soft drinks! Again had to be rolled out of the place as was so full!

Monday
Wedding day yippee!! Wedding not till 6 so decided to chill for the day and slowly get ready. Went for brekkie in ocean one bar and grill at miracle mile shops next door - $5.99 lovely decent filling breakfast recommend it for a reasonable place to eat! Made sure I had an afternoon nap as was gonna be a long day lol! Limo came to collect us at 5 – had to walk through the paris lobby in my dress – luckily just a simple cream dress but G in a full kilt and all the trimmings so lots of looks and whispering and got kinda nervous and silly. Once in limo felt much better!! Arrived at chapel and long story short we got married!!!! LOL!! it was such a surprise as it was so meaningful and intimate and cant quite explain how lovely it was. Totally recommend the vegas wedding chapel (702weddings) as couldn’t fault them at all. We were blown away by how perfect it all was! Anyways we had previously declined the chapels offer of return limo and booked our own limo for an hour through presidential s we could relax for a bit and go have the obligatory picture at the vegas sign! Presidential were fab!! Had a driver called roman who was just lovely, really polite and took lots of photos without asking, even got on his knees in the mud to get better shots and was crouching around and getting good angles. Bless! Seemed like a lovely chap! Also you get free (albeit not the best) champagne in the limo too! After the hour was up we got dropped off at maverick helicopters for our night flight over the strip. Paid $99 each plus a free t-shirt through their online special offers so was pleased with that. Got some cheap champagne again while waiting and staff were really nice! Managed to get our requested front seats too and the flight was amazing! Got some good pics and even lasted more than 15mins, lots of congrats from the pilot etc and was a smooth impressive flight. Then off we went to mon ami gabi for our evening meal. Got inside table with fountain view as requested and food was really tasty. It was exactly the type of thing we were after, good food, good wine and not so posh you feel uncomfortable. Had a lovely few hours there then headed to bed!! J

Kate0208

Tuesday
The plan was to order breakfast in bed on the morning after the big day but paris’ room service menu was very uninspiring and very expensive for what was on offer. Decided to head out to ocean bar and grill again as was good yesterday after which we wnet to the other outlets at Mandalay bay end of the strip- was ok but not as good as the other outlets, bought a few more things for the baby and another handbag for me, new husband bought two pairs of trainers so wasn’t a wasted trip. Got all confused with getting the goldline back as you have to go back to the stop you got off at and head for the bus station, then get off and collect the bus going back to the strip. All a bit much for me after a days shopping! Had booked cirque du soleil tickets for tonight so headed back to room to get freshened up find somewhere for dinner before. On way out with no idea where to eat encountered a wee man outside miracle mile shops giving out cards for buy one get one free for a brazilian restaurant called pampas. Had read about it before we went and remembered it looked good so grabbed the cards and headed there. It is called a brazilin meat buffet (rodizio maybe?? Cant remember!) basically an endless supply of freshly grilled meats that are bought to your table – oh thought he was in heaven. It would have been $49 pr person but little discount card meant it was $49 for us both then add drinks. It had a really extensive salad bar (pasta and seafood included) and then men keep bringing round skewers of different meat i.e bbq chicken thighs, spicy chicken, roast ham, ribs, sirloin, topside beef, pork, calamari, minted lamb and so on. It honestly never ends lol!! Was really good, especially if you’re a meat lover and its all got that flame grilled taste! Yum! Anyways then onto mgm for KA – we had booked through the concierge from the uk using the summer of cirque promotion and got good seats (recommend phoning concierge as ticketmaster wouldn’t give me good seats but they did) we had block 202, row dd, seats 18 & 19. stage is unbelievable and I thought the performance was excellent, especially like the moving platform. Only gripe was a very loud obnoxious American sitting next to me ruined the start but a few stern looks and he eventually got bored of the sound of his own voice!

Wednesday
Had booked to go dune buggying today through a company called sunbuggy. Don’t know if they’ve been mentioned on here before but I haven’t seen it if they have. Got picked up at 9am and taken to their little depot and tried on helmets had a safety briefing etc. only one other couple on our time slot so we got drove out to the desert and dropped off with the guide and the buggies. Oh my gosh it was amazing!!! You have to go onto the sun buggy site to get a feel for it, we did the mini baja 90 minute chase and our guide was justin and it was just amazing from start to finish. He said sometimes there are up to 10 buggies on one time slot so we basically had vip treatment out there as no waiting around for the slow folks lol!! G drove as it was really rough terrain, with drops off dunes and skidding and jumping etc, I screamed until my mouth filled up with sand (through my full face helmet and goggles!!!) both me and the other girl didn’t want to drive but before we finished for the day Justin found a flat bit with gentler dunes and convinced us to have a go, im sooooo glad I did, I had my foot to the floor and drove it like I stole it and made G hang on for dear life. Cant recommend it enough – deffo try it was grinning ear to ear!! Justin knew the terrain like the back of his hand and you just learn to trust his path through so we recommend him too. We chose 9am so we would get back before the serious midday sun in the desert. Its 4 hours door to door and cost $410 for the 2 seater buggy! Be prepared to be covered head to toe in sand!!
Wednesday afternoon was spent loitering around the fashion mall and had dinner at strip burger, really enjoyed it but was expecting a bit more after all I’d heard! Was good though and very filling. The beer mojito was very tasty too. Found fashion show mall to be quite dull actually and expensive. Nightime was spent having a few drinks and people watching on the strip.

Kate0208

Thursday
Went back to the chapel today to view the photos which were amazing so bought them all, turned out to be a really good price as I had researched so many chapels I knew this could be their rip off point. But got a good deal after some chat and we were so happy with the pics. Popped into the outlets again to buy some things we had had time to think about then back to the room. Plan was to spend tonight at Fremont street was after getting changed headed out again. Used the goldline bus again which was really good actually, not too much waiting around and cool and not packed! Spent the evening in Fremont doing Fremont things, watching the stage shows they have there at the mo, the light show, drinking cocktails etc etc. had a restaurant.com voucher for flame steakhouse in el cortez hotel. After locating it we walked into the casino and it felt like a time wrap lol, very very dated with older people in it and filled with smoke – def need to update the air con!! Anyways the steak place was at the back and we ordered shrimp pasta for me and filet mignon for G, really pleasantly surprised-the steak was done perfectly and tasted amazing. Same with the shrimp so cant fault them there. Voucher included alcohol so managed to have a starter, 2 mains including fillet steak, dessert for me and 2 bottles of nice wine and after discount with a 20% tip was $80 so we thought that was good! Was a bit tipsy by then so headed back!

Friday
Had a chilled morning at the Hawaiian marketplace wandering around and then stopped at tix4tonite an G said he wanted to see bodies so picked that up and went to luxor! Heres a tip – don’t sit on the concrete lions outside luxor when they’ve been in the sun for hours – most hilarious photos of G burning his bum through his shorts lol! Bodies was more interesting than I thought it was going to be and certainly a way to spend some quiet time away from the strip – more G’s thing than mine as I always feel like im at school on some trip with things like that. Anyways if ur not squeamish then worth a look. Think it was $20 each from the booth! Afterwards just made our way back to paris via nyny and Venetian etc, having a drink and people watching and taking pics. Long walk in the heat!! That evening ate at BB kings in the mirage as had another voucher from restaurant.com. really really enjoyed ourselves here, live band on and a good atmosphere. Real down south kind of food, I had a chicken and ribs combo, G had more steak (yawn!! Why does he feel the need to try it everywhere like he’s some steak connoisseur lol) had a rather large delicious cocktail in a glass you get to take with you, same with G’s giant beer. New singers appeared and the mood was even more lively, people got up and danced was generally a really nice place, is a bit loud tho but could have stayed longer but was shattered after walking all day so called it a night even though bb kings was just getting started.

Saturday
Going home day. Increased our check out time from 11 till 1 by asking the night before, no charge but they couldn’t offer late check out as they were booked up. To be fair hotel was heaving and it was labour day yesterday, long queues for check in etc. checked out at 12 and left cases with bell hop for the tip. Wandered around all day just taking in the sites, having a leisurely breakfast etc. decided to head on up to the mirage to see the secret garden before we went. Was really small but quite enjoyable. They had 10 week old white tiger cubs there which were soooo cute. Dolphins were lovely to see and I was surprised how close you can get to the pool so got some good pics. The other lions & tigers were just sleeping or hiding from the sun so didn’t see much from them! Good way to kill a few hours although very very hot walking round as no aircon except in shop and half the misters non on! Decided on a cheap dinner in dennys for the evening meal as had a coupon for them. Had a burger with egg, hash browns and bacon on and seasoned fries and you know what I was really surprised it was so good. Maybe I was hungry or something but I was expecting mcdonalds, wimpy type standard of food so was pleasantly surprised. Think one starter nachos, 2 big big burgers and fries and drinks came to $20 so not bad if ur running outta cash and certainly made me full!! Then off to airport……booohissss……….uneventful trip home on air Canada (I booked united but apparently that’s the norm) very cramped seating compared with continental and crappy food but just wanted to get home and see my wee baby so didn’t really care at this point! But would fly united/air Canada again if I could help it!

sorry that was all drawn out and waffly. If anyone wants details of the wedding stuff etc then pm as i really recommend them.
If you managed to get this far reading it all then well done!!! hope i can help provide some advice on here know to help others!!
Thanks again everyone!!!!
Kate x

TangoBunny

September

Thanks Kate0208 and excellent TR ....Really enjoyed reading it

Triker

Great report Kate, many congratulations on your wedding and Vegas trip, sounds like you had a great time....I suppose the next question is, when are you going back?:D

adrienne1945

December ( including Xmas and New Year )

Hi Kate congratulations on your marriage. Enjoyed your trip report you certainly got around. The buggies sound great fun, but I think I'm too long in the tooth to risk a go.:eek: I'm busy price watching for a decent priced flight for December. Last year only paid £400 BA direct so this year's prices seem terribly expensive.