Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2011

ferf1223

March

secretmachines wrote: »

naturally there's a handful of things we want to do/places we want to see but we'll do them when we feel the time is right. for me, half the fun of Vegas is just wandering round and exploring and relaxing

Agree - we still haven't been to The Gun Store, Pinball Hall of Fame or done the Eiffel Tower Experience (and I'm sure some other things) we've meant to do since about 14 trips ago.

We did learn early on that too rigid an intinerary goes out the window. We do like to plan some things and do have a little calendar sort of thing my hubby knocked up in Excel that shows us when we have things that are immovable (like shows, spa bookings, meeting up with friends), but other than that we only have a general idea what we want to do and just fit things in as and when.

The only thing is a few trips ago we had almost nothing planned...and we found that that ws dangerous as with nothing at all scheduled, we just wanderd around playing the slots most of the time. So now we try to have a few things locked in and work around those.

Spursman180

March

thehobbit wrote: »

Thats fair enough if your getting comped or getting something extra.

I was talking more of the US in general (not been to vegas yet).
My experience with drinking in the US has been, wait to get served, get served and the barman expecting a tip.

I think ive never bothered to tip barmen because of my experiance at JFK. The barman was stood at the bar with nobody in there. He pured my drink without have to move and then said "what no tip" after i payed.
I dont mind paying for good service but the guy didnt even have to move to serve me

I can see your point, whilst it is always worth making your point, don't do it before you get your food or drink. If you think it is bad in the USA visit France, Paris in particular, I used to be there at least once a week over a period of about 7 years. I even spent leisure time there and whilst I had good experiences I had some gobsmacking incidents and that is as a French speaker and working for a company that has a high proportion of French employees, that is about all I can say on the matter otherwise my post will descend into proper nastiness.

CellAuto

September

I am planning, for the first time, to switch hotels while in las vegas. From reading this board it seems quite a lot of people on here have done this.

Would people recommend it? Has anyone every felt that they have 'lost' a day of their holiday because of any hassle it has created?

I am going for 10 days, will probably stay somewhere on the south of the strip (Monte Carlo / MGM) for 7 days then move to Wynn/Encore for last 3 nights.

Possible a stupid question but after checking out of first hotel will the Wynn/Encore store my bags until check in time?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

WestHamDaz

Not at all.

Doesnt take too long to shift from one place to another. we normally try and check in earlier than it states and 9/10 times our room is ready. If its not we'll dump our bags off go to the casino or go eat or do something until the room is ready.

We're off for 17 nights in June and staying at 4 different hotels. Starting at the Golden Nugget and ending at Mandalay Bay gradually working our way down the strip

nvh

We always plan our room moves around when we have a hire car (usually 4x4 which helps to accommodate the luggage), and then we can work in 'going somewhere' at the same time, and we avoid paying for a taxi.

So for example, checkout MGM first thing, jump in car (we always self-park now), go visit Hoover Dam, Death Valley, Ghost Town, Outlet Malls or whatever, then drive back to Wynn, park up and check in.

More often though what we'll try to do (especially if we can work it in with a Friday / Saturday), is checkout in the morning, go Grand Canyon / Death Valley / Zion etc, stay a night there (where the accommodation costs the same every day of the week) then drive back the next day to check in to the new hotel - this avoids paying for 1 (expensive) weekend night in Vegas - though you have to want to go somewhere else in the first place!

I don't see either of the above as any time wasted at all - we've rarely had to queue for checkout / checkin at all (though I have read horror stories of hours queuing to checkin)

With that in mind, what's peoples experience of having to checkin in Vegas? Usually seems 5 minutes wait (maximum) for us - probably had to wait around 10 minutes at Paris once.... have we been lucky or do people over-exagerate? It's obviously partly to do with timings (if lots of people arrive at the same time), but have read stories of people queuing for hours?!?

luci

May

The quickest we have moved is 15 mins from the room in one hotel to the room in the next. The longest has been about 1.5 hours at MGM on a Friday when we just left the bags with the bell desk and went to the casino.

The longest we have waited at check in is probably 15 mins at MGM, Paris and Bally's, but it's usually just 5-10 mins.

When moving hotels we usually ask for a late check out at the one we are leaving and get an extra hour FOC. My thinking is that it gives the hotel you're moving to an hour longer to get more rooms ready.

However I keep reading of people being able to check in early morning so might give that a try.

misa.blue

May

thunderchump wrote: »

Hi all,
This is my plans for my trip in may!! I am very excited! Any ideas for our "free time"? or can anyone spot any glaring errors or bad ideas?

VEGAS 2011!

WED 4TH MAY
AM: Champagne brunch, Addiction @ Rumor Boutique Hotel (voucher) T
9pm Penn & Teller (BOOKED)

Wow, looks like we will see you at Penn& Teller show! Going to see them on 4th May too:) Will book tixs tonight. Where did you book them from?

duchy

May

Quite a good way to get around the check in line when switching hotels is to go do it mega early . At the Flamingo -which often has evil lines-I check in around 8am -room usually isn't ready (I don't expect it to be-I leave everyone else in the "old" room sleeping) so I take the paperwork -go back later-bypass the queue and go to the dropped mail desk and they allocate my room there.

pebblesmax

November / December

duchy wrote: »

Quite a good way to get around the check in line when switching hotels is to go do it mega early . At the Flamingo -which often has evil lines-I check in around 8am -room usually isn't ready (I don't expect it to be-I leave everyone else in the "old" room sleeping) so I take the paperwork -go back later-bypass the queue and go to the dropped mail desk and they allocate my room there.

We have done this at Rio and Orleans too.

Froggitt

luci wrote: »

Agree about not doing a show the first 2-3 nights.

First time Vegas saw half of LOVE and second time I saw half of Phantom.