Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2012

photome

VALUE FOR MONEY

josha007 wrote: »

I've looked at Paris but it looks a bit dated and a lot of reviews I've read don't put it in a good light. The Golden Nugget looks a good option, it's fairly cheap, not too far from the centre of the strip and has a good feel for some old school Vegas as well. I'd be saving about $300-$500 compared to the Bellagio and The Mirage.

What do people think?

IMO paris is an excellent choice...please dont read any more tripadvisor reviewsand ignore most of what you have already read.

As you now know, golden nugget isnt even on the strip but a few miles away downtown. where did you see that it was not to far from centre strip?

http://www.cheapovegas.com/cheapo-vegas-las-vegas-strip-map

Have a look at that map, its about 4 miles from Mandalay bay to Stratopsphere, then downtown is a few miles north of the stratosphere

bubble113

CASINOS

josha007 wrote: »

I've looked at Paris but it looks a bit dated and a lot of reviews I've read don't put it in a good light. The Golden Nugget looks a good option, it's fairly cheap, not too far from the centre of the strip and has a good feel for some old school Vegas as well. I'd be saving about $300-$500 compared to the Bellagio and The Mirage.

What do people think?

The only thing im not keen on at Paris and Ballys are the baths,they seem small and shallow to me.

Have stayed at GN and was nice but as said is not on the strip.

Have you looked at Cosmopolitan? I stayed there last year and will be there again this year. The room I stayed in was amazing ( 1 bed terrace). The brunch buffet I believe is free for international gusets at the moment and is a really good quality buffet. You can also get a fountain view from this hotel.

The gambling in this hotel is not for everyone,tables are expensive and no poker room but slots I found to be ok and and cocktail service frequent.

On a weekend it does get really busy with younger crowd (early 20's) for the club but if thats you or doesnt bother you then not a prob.

I believe lowcostusa is currently the best price for the Cosmo,I booked through Virgin which were the cheapest I found but my sister has booked more recently and lowcost was the best price.

I believe Ferf has been pricing it booking it direct so also worth looking at.

bubble113

CASINOS

ps Im with Ferf on the Bellagio,doesnt have the right atmosphere for me, i'd describe it the same 'snooty' but just my opinion....

Have stayed at PH in a resort fountain view room and really liked it (huge baths!) but my fave at the mo is Cosmo.

glenbois

I have an 2005 edition USA garmin maps for my sat nav, to upgrade to the newest maps they want £69 and I'm pretty sure the sat nav wont except the upgrade as it was originally a european maps that I deleted and put the USA ones on.

Question: Will I have much problem using the 2005 maps for a road trip from flagstaff to Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Arches etc... then back into Vegas? The old maps don't have waypoints like The Vdara and newer properties. Not too fussed about having up to date maps for the stay in Vegas, as I will be relaxing without the car for 6 nights we are there.

wookeyhole1

Hi everyone,

Our trip was fantastic,

We loved the business class/club world. The airport lounge was great, all you can eat food and drink, It was a great start to our holiday. Also our plane seats were great and I have never ate and drunk (non alcoholic)sooo much on a plane in my life lol. If I ever get to fly long haul again, I will definately fly in business class again.

On arriving in las vegas on friday night, no problems with my etsa, no questions asked which was fab. Got a taxi to the MGM OMG it was busy. We got a older suite on the 18th floor. It was lovely for us, and the bathroom was 3x as big as ours at home which is a massive bonus. We couldn't get used to the time difference. often my dd woke up at 4am, once at 1am lol. and no matter what we tried we couldn't get back to sleep. We took a kettle but we didn't use it much as we made full use of the ice machine, day and night, which was a huge bonus and we have never known a hotel to have one lol.

The pools were fantastic and there was always space round them for us. We did have a problem with the lazy river pool as after using it me and my daughter had a rash. We loved the jacuzzi's they were hotter than a bath I would have at home.

The walk from the lifts to the sidewalk was about 15 mins which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We ate fast food most of the time as that was great for our budget. We had a huge pizza from in the hotel and it was about $30 wich was gorgeous and provided us with dinner and breakfast the next day. A kind lady seen us ordering a icecream from hagen-daz and gave us a voucher for bogof which was very lovely. We only had $9 on us so we decided to have a large one and share it, in the end we had 2 which tasted amazing.

My daughter loved the m&m store. She wanted to go in it everytime we went past lol.

We went into the excalibur hotel and my daughter loved this hotel as it looked like a castle and had a shop selling princess items. And she loved the games area downstairs.

We went into NYNY and although the times square area was lovely that was about all we could find good about this hotel.

I cannot believe I paid over $5 for 3 bananas in starbucks :eek:

We went to the secret gardens but were not that impressed by it. There are 3 pools with dolphins in and some lions/tigers/leopards out the back area. There were no shows with the dolphins but the trainers did interact with the dolphins for a bit. IMHO it's not worth going to see.

We had the limo ride and my daughter fell asleep half way through lol.

Not sure if I have forgotten anything. All in all a great trip but we could not get used to the time difference and it was too busy for us. If I did go back to las vegas it would be when my daughter would be old enough to see some shows and be able to gamble if she wanted too. Unless I won another holiday

Thank you for all the information given on here and privately from members. It was alot of help with the information before we went.

wookey xxx

secretmachines

VALUE FOR MONEY

luci wrote: »

Yes I had read that on here and signed the petition for both of us. It's a huge time saver. I guess the next best would be the E-gates although I have never used them.

IRIS is definately going, it was only ever a project and UK Border Force no longer have the money to support it continuing.

E-gates are very quick. You need a newer 'chipped' passport to use them, and even if the machine doesnt like your passport, your then put in the 'rejections' queue which moves much faster than the normal lines.

came through Heathrow this afternoon and the IRIS lane was closed - not sure if it was just a temporary thing today

dontone

wookeyhole1 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Our trip was fantastic,

We loved the business class/club world. The airport lounge was great, all you can eat food and drink, It was a great start to our holiday. Also our plane seats were great and I have never ate and drunk (non alcoholic)sooo much on a plane in my life lol. If I ever get to fly long haul again, I will definately fly in business class again.

On arriving in las vegas on friday night, no problems with my etsa, no questions asked which was fab. Got a taxi to the MGM OMG it was busy. We got a older suite on the 18th floor. It was lovely for us, and the bathroom was 3x as big as ours at home which is a massive bonus. We couldn't get used to the time difference. often my dd woke up at 4am, once at 1am lol. and no matter what we tried we couldn't get back to sleep. We took a kettle but we didn't use it much as we made full use of the ice machine, day and night, which was a huge bonus and we have never known a hotel to have one lol.

The pools were fantastic and there was always space round them for us. We did have a problem with the lazy river pool as after using it me and my daughter had a rash. We loved the jacuzzi's they were hotter than a bath I would have at home.

The walk from the lifts to the sidewalk was about 15 mins which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We ate fast food most of the time as that was great for our budget. We had a huge pizza from in the hotel and it was about $30 wich was gorgeous and provided us with dinner and breakfast the next day. A kind lady seen us ordering a icecream from hagen-daz and gave us a voucher for bogof which was very lovely. We only had $9 on us so we decided to have a large one and share it, in the end we had 2 which tasted amazing.

My daughter loved the m&m store. She wanted to go in it everytime we went past lol.

We went into the excalibur hotel and my daughter loved this hotel as it looked like a castle and had a shop selling princess items. And she loved the games area downstairs.

We went into NYNY and although the times square area was lovely that was about all we could find good about this hotel.

I cannot believe I paid over $5 for 3 bananas in starbucks :eek:

We went to the secret gardens but were not that impressed by it. There are 3 pools with dolphins in and some lions/tigers/leopards out the back area. There were no shows with the dolphins but the trainers did interact with the dolphins for a bit. IMHO it's not worth going to see.

We had the limo ride and my daughter fell asleep half way through lol.

Not sure if I have forgotten anything. All in all a great trip but we could not get used to the time difference and it was too busy for us. If I did go back to las vegas it would be when my daughter would be old enough to see some shows and be able to gamble if she wanted too. Unless I won another holiday

Thank you for all the information given on here and privately from members. It was alot of help with the information before we went.

wookey xxx

Thanks for the T/R :T

BTW the secret garden used to be really good, the guide used to accompany you down to the bottom part and talk about all the dolphins, personality wise, you know.
But when we went last year, it seemed like it was a case of get your money and leave you to it. They've even had one of those stupid compulsory photo shoot studios set up (one of my pet hates). It's like it's lost a lot of it's magic. Part of it was walking into the Mirage and seeing the tigers in the large enclosure, that's now a burger bar place :mad:
The Shark reef at Mandalay Bay is better. And there is also a place that we are going to try next time we go - think it's called "Roos"
Glad you enjoyed Vegas though. I'm itching to get back there.

ferf1223

VALUE FOR MONEY

Welcome back, wookey! And so glad to hear you had a great trip! Shame about The Secret Garden - the dolphins were our favorite part, we spent ages...but do seem to recall hearing more from the trainers and seeing some interaction...but from what dontone has said it sounds like that's changed. We definately preferred it to Shark Reef but went several years ago so shame if it's changed...it wasn't the most exciting thing ever, but it was a nice thing to do.

wookeyhole1 wrote: »

we made full use of the ice machine, day and night, which was a huge bonus and we have never known a hotel to have one lol.

This did make me chuckle because as an American, I just assumed all hotels had ice machines and 11 years after moving here it still surprises me to stay in hotels in Europe that don't...it's kind of barbaric, really...maybe kind of like when you guys travel to American hotels with no kettle?

ferf1223

VALUE FOR MONEY

secretmachines wrote: »

came through Heathrow this afternoon and the IRIS lane was closed - not sure if it was just a temporary thing today

oh no.....I hope it's temporary...we're going via LHR in June (not to Vegas) and I thought it would be one last chance to use it at least...and our flight lands really late...oh dear, oh dear...at least now I will probably expect it to be closed and be pleasantly surprised if it isn't.

photome

VALUE FOR MONEY

glenbois wrote: »

I have an 2005 edition USA garmin maps for my sat nav, to upgrade to the newest maps they want £69 and I'm pretty sure the sat nav wont except the upgrade as it was originally a european maps that I deleted and put the USA ones on.

Question: Will I have much problem using the 2005 maps for a road trip from flagstaff to Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Arches etc... then back into Vegas? The old maps don't have waypoints like The Vdara and newer properties. Not too fussed about having up to date maps for the stay in Vegas, as I will be relaxing without the car for 6 nights we are there.

I am sure you will be fine, I have done many road trips around Nevada, Arizona, California and never used a sat nav, many places only have one road connecting them so pretty easy to follow, we do have to look at a map occassionally