Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2013

KarenG

traveller wrote:

However, last year, I was determined to drive in Orlando. I took about 6 refresher lessons and other than drifting to the right a lot at first and running over a valet sign I got through it,lol.

I don't particularly like driving, but once you've done it, you just can't be bothered with the faff of waiting about for other transport, so I'll just grin and bare it I've tried so hard to convince myself not to drive in vegas, but it hasn't worked I've watched you tube videos of driving in Las Vegas, almost as much as I've watched the film 21,lol

Same here. Don't love driving but do endure it as its not fair on DH to always do it. I found the Vegas strip hair raising, but OK. The I15 was just like the I4.

I would personally just get a taxi from LAS to the Signature though; easier after a long flight and will be very cheap. We found the car in Vegas stayed in the garage the whole time except when we left the area eg to Hoover Dam, Walmart (yes, sad I know). This time we are there for ten nights and just getting the car for five nights in the middle.

Brats64

Well..Off to bed in the next couple of hours.
Up at 04.30 am
Taxi to airport at 05.30am...2 1/2 hour run.
3 hours at airport before 11 am flight.
8 hour flight to Philli.
2 hours wait before next flight.
5 1/2 hour flight Philli to Vegas.
Get to hotel about 23 hours after we get up........Wish they would move Vegas a bit closer to the UK.

traveller

KarenG wrote: »

Same here. Don't love driving but do endure it as its not fair on DH to always do it. I found the Vegas strip hair raising, but OK. The I15 was just like the I4.

I would personally just get a taxi from LAS to the Signature though; easier after a long flight and will be very cheap. We found the car in Vegas stayed in the garage the whole time except when we left the area eg to Hoover Dam, Walmart (yes, sad I know). This time we are there for ten nights and just getting the car for five nights in the middle.

Lol Karen- The essential Walmart run, is what swung it for me . You can't get a tour bus to Walmart,lol!In all honesty, It's the off strip stuff we will use it for too.

I did consider getting a Taxi from the airport, but I want to get used to the driving asap, otherwise i'll probably never pick it up,lol! Can you elaborate on what was hair raising please- I need to know as much as possible to prepare myself

traveller

Brats64 wrote: »

Well..Off to bed in the next couple of hours.
Up at 04.30 am
Taxi to airport at 05.30am...2 1/2 hour run.
3 hours at airport before 11 am flight.
8 hour flight to Philli.
2 hours wait before next flight.
5 1/2 hour flight Philli to Vegas.
Get to hotel about 23 hours after we get up........Wish they would move Vegas a bit closer to the UK.

Have a great time!

pebblesmax

traveller wrote: »

Have a great time!

Enjoy your trip.

ferf1223

Brats64 wrote: »

Get to hotel about 23 hours after we get up........Wish they would move Vegas a bit closer to the UK.

Long trip but worth it! Have a great one!

KarenG

traveller wrote: »

Lol Karen- The essential Walmart run, is what swung it for me . You can't get a tour bus to Walmart,lol!In all honesty, It's the off strip stuff we will use it for too.

I did consider getting a Taxi from the airport, but I want to get used to the driving asap, otherwise i'll probably never pick it up,lol! Can you elaborate on what was hair raising please- I need to know as much as possible to prepare myself

I'm just not aggressive enough to drive in America really! What I mean by that is that I like to stay close to the right hand lane to be ready for my exit, and then I kept getting stuck in right hand turn lanes which just never moved, so my fault entirely. I just didnt like changing lanes as it was so busy! We arrived at 5pm on a Saturday and the Strip was rammed. It was especially stressful I guess because we'd spent a few days meandering around Yosemite / Death Valley where we were driving for miles without seeing another car! I just always, always prefer to avoid driving after a transatlantic flight. I'd spend the whole flight thinking about it :rotfl:

Other times, ie in the morning, or any time off strip, it was fine.

traveller

Lol Karen-I was a nervous wreck for most of my holiday last year! I especially hated those spiral ramps-I nearly flew off one :o

Right, i'm trying to convince myself, the driving will be all part of the fun :eek:

vegasvisitor

sk00bie1 wrote: »

Sure no worries, here's a quick report to start with.

I used blindman's how to thread and betterbidding.com loads of helpful stuff on there.

My bids were quite straightforward as I only wanted 5* north, I'd be worried about trying it for lower rated hotels. I'm sure I'd end up in a muddle!

Right so, when you go to the 'name your price' section of Priceline for Las Vegas you can select each zone and you get a list of ratings of hotels contained in that zone. See the list Lesley posted a few pages back for an idea but use the map for up to date ratings in each zone! From that list I saw that the 5* hotels in LV Strip North were Venetian, Palazzo and Wynn, all of which would be great. I didn't want 5* strip vicinity south as I could get a hotel without a casino, or 5* strip vicinity north as I could get the Trump!

You select the zone you'd like, the rating of hotel you'd like and the dates of your stay. You get one bid per 24 hours.

My first bid was Las Vegas North Strip 5* at $90 (cheeky! ALso heart in mouth hoping that they haven't changed the zones since the last wins posted on betterbidding!) which was rejected.

Priceline then tells you if you change something (dates, hotel rating, city zone), you can bid again (for a higher amount). My dates are fixed and I wanted 5* North so I looked at the zones.

If you find zones that do not have 5* hotels you can select these to get effectively a free re-bid. For Las Vegas, the only zones with 5* hotels are LV Strip North (zone 7), Strip Vicinity North (zone 8) and Strip Vicinity South (zone 9), so as long as you avoid these you are good to go! Make sure you check this yourself by clicking each zone and noting the hotel ratings in it before you bid as the zones can change at any time!

(Also be warned you can be upgraded, but not downgraded, i.e. if you chose 3* and select a new zone that has no 3* but does have a 3.5* at a lower cost that your orginal 3* you may get this! As I was choosing 5*, the highest rating this wasn't a worry)

So I proceeded to add in a new zone each time and increased my bid by $2-5 until after 10 bids I got to $120!

My bids exacly were as follows;

$90 - Las Vegas Strip North (7)
$95 - (7) + Boulder Strip (1)
$100 - (7) + (1) + Summerlin (15)
$105 - (7) + (1) + (15) + Henderson (3)
$108 - (7) + (1) + (15) + (3) + (11) Sorry I stopped writing down zone names here =/
$110 - (7) + (1) + (15) + (3) + (11) + (14)
$112 - (7) + (1) + (15) + (3) + (11) + (14) + (2)
$115 - (7) + (1) + (15) + (3) + (11) + (14) + (2) + (4)
$117 - (7) + (1) + (15) + (3) + (11) + (14) + (2) + (4) + (5)
$120 - (7) + (1) + (15) + (3) + (11) + (14) + (2) + (4) + (5) + (6) Success!!

I hope this makes sense?! If not I can re-write it, but I strongly suggest reading the thread above and betterbidding.com as they explain it much better than me :rotfl: and give much more information.

Can't wait til April now

Can I just add a note here - please use caution when free re-bidding in other zones. There could be other hotels in there that you're not aware of and Vegas is full of classy properties. I am sure there's a fancy joint down and Lake Las Vegas, and this could be an bad error.

Well done on the bidding. I'm happy to see Priceline being a good choice for Vegas again. It was a seen as a bad way of booking hotels by many for a while there.

Another one to investigate (and you'll also probably now receive discounts offers) is the Priceline Express deals. I found the price with 10% coupon code to be around what I paid on the bidding section. Still good for identifying and also gauging the price for bidding. :beer:

nvh

Jeez, just realised the Win / Loss statements are out for last year...

It's no wonder MGM are sending me offers for free rooms

Made a loss at CET too, but only around $30 so not too bad... PlanetHo was my friend, Paris was my nemesis

Regardless, it's always a reminder to me that sometimes, my drinks aren't exactly free