Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2012

luci

According to the news this morning, O'Shea's will be re-opening in 18 months time.

We went this morning to say goodbye. It was busy, but I expected it to be busier.

Ask Lucky what he was going to do for the next 18 months and he said work and vacation.

elantan

Hi all,


flying into LV in august and back from san fran 3 weeks later I'm looking for some advice as i have never been to LV before, have been reading a bit of the threads so far and checked out some of the links...

have been looking at the accomadation and trying to get a good price for the likes of the wynn, mandalay bay, mgm but they seem a bit expensive ( especially as we need to find 3 weeks worth of accomadation) etc can anyone suggest any relatively good hotels to stay at ? is Harrah's a good hotel for eg? is it on the strip ( trying to learn the lingo lol) how about the luxor hotel? or the montecarlo? or NY NY ?

we really want to do the hoover dam as well and the south rim of the grand canyon as well as death valley, sequoia and kings park,yosemetie park, alcatraz, redwood park etc but i am having trouble trying to find a route for them all, i am also not sure how many days i should spend in each place?

is 4 days enough for a feel of las vegas? would i be better staying longer? how about death valley how many days should i plan on staying there for? same with yosemite park etc

i have also noticed that alot of the accomadation is unavailable so i am thinking i need to get this organised sooner rather than later

any advice would be gratefully appreciated

thanks

el

Froggitt

gracie10 wrote: »

Yes he performs every friday and saturday night and is contracted for the next 2 years. He is normally always on unless contracted to do something else, this weekend he is performing at the nevada ballet theatre. Have seen the show in vegas twice its great you will love it, I'm a big fan though so could be a bit biased!!

Does he do all the old faves? I Owe you Nothing.......in fact thats the only old fave I can remember :D:D

Froggitt

pippaloou wrote: »

Could anyone recommend a day trip to the Grand Canyon? We want to go to the South Rim, so it's looks like it's easier to get to by air (and an air tour would be a great way to end our holiday). I've been looking at the air tours on Viator.com- has anyone booked one of these, or used any other booking sites or tour companies they'd recommend? Alternatively, the pink jeep tours look good and have good reviews, but looks like a very long day.
Thanks

We did air to South Rim with Papillon.

Canyon Connoisseur
!
We know that there is so much to see from so high up. We also know how to show it to you. Aboard one of our luxury airplanes, you will take off for the scenic grandeur of the Grand Canyon, taking in celebrated views of Lake Mead, Boulder City, and the Hoover Dam along the way. Leave from Las Vegas and then visit Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Once in the Canyon you will see the Colorado River snake its way through the length of the Canyon, continuing to carve out its history.
After landing, hop aboard a motorcoach ready to take you on a tour of this impressive National Park. Enjoy two impressive viewpoints allowing you to take in the sights of the Canyon with great photo opportunities. Your tour includes a light buffet meal and tickets to the IMAX Grand Canyon for a historical film about the canyon. At the end of your tour you will return by airplane to the Las Vegas area.
[/QUOTE]
Was $434.00 for two including taxes three years ago. Highly recommended.

blindman

HOTELS

elantan wrote: »

Hi all,


flying into LV in august and back from san fran 3 weeks later

I'm doing LHR-Los Angeles SFO-LHR for three weeks

we need to find 3 weeks worth of accomadation

Look at VRBO for rentals

etc can anyone suggest any relatively good hotels to stay at ? is Harrah's a good hotel for eg? is it on the strip ( trying to learn the lingo lol) how about the luxor hotel? or the montecarlo? or NY NY ?

Look at the first page and through this thread :cool:


we really want to do the hoover dam as well and the south rim of the grand canyon as well as death valley, sequoia and kings park,yosemetie park, alcatraz, redwood park etc but i am having trouble trying to find a route for them all, i am also not sure how many days i should spend in each place?

This is my route

is 4 days enough for a feel of las vegas? IMHO as a first timer Yes
how about death valley how many days Minimum 1 night
same with yosemite park Minimum 2 nights

i have also noticed that alot of the accomadation is unavailable so i am thinking i need to get this organised sooner rather than later

Especially in\near Yosemite

any advice would be gratefully appreciated

thanks

el

My itin: (Did this tour a couple of years back so covering old ground.)

1 night Los Angeles: Cheaper to fly to-Get past jet lag B4 Vegas

3 nights Las Vegas: 5th time of visiting. Will have hire car.

5 nights Kanab: VRBO rental-Use as base to see GC North rim, Bryce, Zion, Lake Powel, The Wave

4 nights Moab: VRBO rental-Use as base to see Canyonlands:D

1 night Monument Valley: 'nuff said

2 nights Williams: GC South rim Hotel\downtime

1 night Bishop : Break of journey to Yosemite

2nights Yosemite: Cabin in the park :cool: Second visit.

1 night San Francisco.



Did this tour a couple of years back so covering old ground.

Sorted

Lots of Info on MSE

costingbunny_2

pippaloou wrote: »

Could anyone recommend a day trip to the Grand Canyon? We want to go to the South Rim, so it's looks like it's easier to get to by air (and an air tour would be a great way to end our holiday). I've been looking at the air tours on Viator.com- has anyone booked one of these, or used any other booking sites or tour companies they'd recommend? Alternatively, the pink jeep tours look good and have good reviews, but looks like a very long day.
Thanks

Hi
I went to LV for the first time in March and also wanted a GC tour but too scared to do the helicopter thing! Looked a few operators (inc. pink jeep) and used Detours which were similar price for the South Rim, around $210 each.

The vans seat 8 although there were only 5 on our tour and each person gets a big leather captain's chair which has a good recliner on it and the windows are massive. We were picked up at 6.30am at Aria (were stayed at Vdara) and got dropped off at 7.30pm (there is a time difference as you travel there). The tour was ace imo - snack bag on arrival, coolbos full of water and juice to help yourself, interesting stop offs at Lake Mead for a mini hike, Route 66 and Flintstones camp site for photo ops, freshly made packed lunch at GC railway, 3 hours at the GC which we needed to walk all the way around the trail, call at GC market shop for any extra snacks before leaving.

Took 5 hours to get there will stop offs but much quicker back as no-one needed the loo and no other stop offs made. Tiring but not that bad - still had energy to go out for pizza and beer when we got back.

The bus trips are much cheaper ($79 upwards) but there are up to 50 folk on them, which means longer waits for loo stops and I would think you don't stop at interesting sights along the way. The journey is longer too, Our guide was pretty much, let me know if you wanna stop for anything etc and as there were only 5 of us, he could chat to us easily and take our photos for us!

Enjoy whatever you decide, the GC is amazing. X

ferf1223

VALUE FOR MONEY

elantan wrote: »

i have also noticed that alot of the accomadation is unavailable so i am thinking i need

What dates are you looking at? It seems odd that Vegas hotels would have no availability this far out unless something major is going on, or if you are trying to arrive on a Saturday - some hotels are closed to Saturday arrivals so would show no availability.

All the hotels you mention are on the strip...whether they would be good options for you is a matter of personal preference.

www.lowcostusa.co.uk/ usually has some reasonably good deals for higher end hotels like Wynn, etc - have you checked with them? Or have you checked the other links on the first page for special offers availalbe to the public?

If your dates do happen to coincide with a major event, it may be that hotel rates are higher than normal...weekends are normally more expensive, so you can cut your costs by timing your Vegas nights accordingly if you have flexibility, which it sounds like you may, to some extent.

kroberts

WEATHER

elantan wrote: »

is 4 days enough for a feel of las vegas? would i be better staying longer? how about death valley how many days should i plan on staying there for? same with yosemite park etc


el

I would say 4 days is long enough if you just want a feel of Vegas. We drove through Death Valley within a day from Vegas, left early morning and back in the evening going. On the way via Beatty and Rhyolite (Ghost Town).

Julz11

CASINOS

I'm off to Vegas for the 3rd time, arriving on 29th Sept for a week.
I have only ever been in Dec so pools were never a consideration.

I was wondering if it is still swimming pool weather at the end of September?

I am imagining that there are some pools in Vegas full of 'beautiful people' busy watching all the other beautiful people and what/ how much they are wearing! OR wild young people pools where the aim is to drink as much as possible!

(if this is true) Neither are my thing lol and i was wondering which pools people would recommend for a couple in late 30's no kids?

I will be staying at PH Towers (an amazing gift )

thanks

nvh

Julz11 wrote: »

I was wondering if it is still swimming pool weather at the end of September?

the average high temperature for the whole of OCTOBER, is 28c (82f)
http://www.vegas.com/weather/averages.html

if that doesn't count as pool weather, i'll eat my swimming shorts

as you're staying at PH Towers, you'll be using their pool... typically, you can only use the pool at the hotel you're staying at! (think there's a few exceptions where you can pay to get in - Encore Beach Club etc etc - but its not worth it for us so I can't give an opinion)

i'd say for pools where you don't pay to get in, there will always be a mixed crowd... for pools where you pay to get in, the majority would typically be a younger crowd, groups of friends, drinking etc etc - this is purely what we observed from people queuing to get in though...

enjoy!