Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2013

stoneman

ferf1223 wrote: »

I worded it badly - I go through together with him, not through 'his line'. In reality we normally go to whichever queue is shorter which is usually the American citizens line. I haven't been to an immigration desk in the UK in years due to IRIS but I recall them being about the same over here...no-nonsense, strictly business...as I would expect.

You do know that IRIS closes permanently as of today.

stoneman

lesley74 wrote: »

I'm a bit puzzled....where is Tracy from? Never noticed an accent when we spoke.

Tracy is British, I am American even though I don't sound it

Georgiegirl256

littlemissbossy wrote: »

Thanks for the nice comments everyone, I was a bit hesitant about doing a trippy, I'm more of a behind the scenes long time lurker and after reading other trippies they've always sounded a lot more wild and exciting than my holidays.

As for next time, 3 of the 4 shows we'd seen before so might? give them a miss next time but we will DEFINITELY see Michael Jackson One again. I don't really like to recommend things to people as everyone has different expectations and likes but both me and John thought it was amazing!

We've seen Celine Dion twice and really enjoyed her shows but she wasn't on when we were there, unfortunately she hadn't announced her Autumn show dates and we really needed to book our hols due to work so we'd like to see her show again. Maybe give Zarkana at the Aria a try, and I'd quite like to see Matt Goss (being of a certain age), but John changes the subject when I mention it for some reason?

My absolute dream would be to see Muse there, I've had really bad luck with their American dates, we had a holiday in Florida 5th March 13 and they played in Florida 25th Feb 2013. Then they played Mandalay Bay 17th March 2013, talk about bad timing. ETA Oh yeah and I forgot they're now playing at iHeart Festival at MGM on Friday.

After that, not really sure, just being there is such a buzz and so different from our everyday lives!

We seem to miss bands we'd like to see too. Queen are my favourite band, and they are at that iHeart Festival just before we go, but as someone on here mentioned, the tickets prices are quite high, so when I read that, I didn't feel so bad!

My second favourite band Mötley Crüe are actually on when we are there, but we're not too bothered about seeing them. We've seen them 3 times, (once in the MGM) and although I love them, they're not that good live, if they were better, then I'd be there like a shot....I'll wait until they come to the UK again.

Hovis91

Georgiegirl256 wrote: »

I don't think we've ever been upstairs before either? Did you notice if they had coke zero in glass bottles? The hubby reckons coke tastes nicer out of glass bottles! He's peeved everytime the advert comes on, showing it in the bottles, yet you can't seem to buy them anywhere, apart from cash and carrys I think?

Im pretty sure they had all types of coca cola in glass bottles even limited edition ones.In fact there is nothing you cannot buy in there from everything for your kitchen,xmas decorations,wall hangings,lamps you name it and there it is with the coca cola logo on!!! Yes we also played russian roulette with the samples-they really were foul,mouthwash,peppery,cream soda,dishwater!Some countries have no idea how its supposed to taste!!

Georgiegirl256

Hovis91 wrote: »

Im pretty sure they had all types of coca cola in glass bottles even limited edition ones.In fact there is nothing you cannot buy in there from everything for your kitchen,xmas decorations,wall hangings,lamps you name it and there it is with the coca cola logo on!!! Yes we also played russian roulette with the samples-they really were foul,mouthwash,peppery,cream soda,dishwater!Some countries have no idea how its supposed to taste!!

Thanks! Might give that taste testing a try, although its good to be forewarned that some of them are pretty nasty! :rotfl:

traveller

When I went through immigration at Vegas, the Officer was asking me what did I expect to do with 4 kids and eyeing me very suspiciously. I fired off my list and he said that he can see i'm just using vegas as a base! I wasn't, but I was not going to argue and was so relieved when the passports were stamped! In my head, I was saying, this is a dream come true in the making-not a base,lol.

luci

The ice cream floats at the cafe at the Coke bottle are pretty good.

Dirk_Gently_2

[FONT=&quot]Spent three nights in Vegas last week, so I'm here to share my random experiences, recommendations (good and bad) etc....

Stayed at the Flamingo, as much for its location as anything else - had a Go Superior room with strip view, which I felt was better value than a bigger, internal room at the likes of CP or the Venetian. And, tbh, I'm happy with that decision - we were on the 17th floor, 4 rooms away from the "angle" of the hotel's two towers, so the view of the strip and the Bellagio fountains was brilliant. The room was perfectly clean and big enough for us, and had nice gadgets like electric curtains and a small TV screen in the bathroom mirror.

the biggest complaint about the hotel itself (didn't eat there!) was the lifts - only a maximum of 2 out 8 seemed to be working at any one time, and sometimes just one. Not so much of a problem coming down, but there were some very crowded lifts and long waits to go up to the floor.

Saw three show while we were there :

- On the Saturday, Donny & Marie, where we had seats at a table close to the stage. My OH absolutely loved this - she still gets a warm feeling (I think that's what it is,...) because Donny sang a song just to her ... and her free (pink) "Donny & Marie" cocktail glass is now a treasured possession. Although it's not my natural kind of thing, this was so well staged and so slick that I did enjoy it too.
- The next day we saw Absinthe, again from quite good tier 2 seats, in the second row. Again, we both really enjoyed this - the only fly in the ointment was the !!!!!!!! two to our right who'd seen the show a few times and proved it to everyone by telling them what was about to happen! He even had the ponytail to prove what a waste of good fresh air he is ..... if you ever read this, I hope you die a slow and painful death when your ponytail gets caught in the blades of a combine harvester. But apart from him it was a great show.
- On the Monday the choice was less, so we went to see Comedy & Burlesque at Hard Rock. I don't know if they have a Trades Descriptions Act in LV, but if they do this should have fallen foul of it. The comedy wasn't remotely funny and the Burlesque was a million miles away from being sexy.... Maybe it's because it was a Monday, but at least it was cheap.

In terms of eating, we had breakfast twice by the side of the Strip at Serendipidy3 outside CP, both times were great.
Had dinner once in Margaritaville outside The Flamingo, with great (and cheap) cocktails and a lovely salad, and a "posh" meal for our anniversary at Mesa Grill in CP - really good food and great service.
Also ate at a small Italian-style place in the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood - that was really good value and really good food which we very much enjoyed.

Had some laundry done as planned - after asking on this thread for the best places to go, I forgot to take the recommendations with me, but found a really good place myself (not sure it it's already been recommended). It was "24 Hour Laundromat" at 525 East Twain Avenue. Only went there because it was close to the National Atomic Testing Museum which we were going to, but it turned out to be really good. Dropped a fair-sized bag there just before 12 noon for fluff and fold, and it was ready for collection at 4.30 pm, for $9.30. Great stuff!

On a side note, really enjoyed the National Atomic Testing Museum - held our interest for a good couple of hours although the temporary Area 51 display was a bit naff. Those with kids or gullible tendencies would probably love it, though.

The biggest disappointment was Fremont Street, which we went to one afternoon and didn't enjoy at all - despite the investment, seems really run-down and not sure what it wants to be at all. A bit like a shabby version of Blackpool rather than LV, and the only place in Vegas we were hassled by beggars. But we know for next time not to go back there.

The other point to note - apart from disappointment that the Venetian indoors canal was closed - was to state that you've not lived until you've seen a thunderstorm over Vegas. It broke in the time it took me to cross the pedestrian bridge between CP and Flamingo, and then it was raining like I've never seen rain, and horizontally as well! Drains were overflowing within just a few minutes, and some roads were flooded to a depth of a foot shortly afterwards. On the second floor of Planet Hollywood water was coming in through the roof (!) and it really was dramatic stuff - with the TVs in the bars being interrupted to show emergency weather warnings. A few minutes later we were sitting in the warmth outside the restaurant in Miracle Mile watching the artificial thunderstorm, which was quite a surreal experience.

Anyway, hope this is helpful to someone, and thanks for the assistance given when planning this. [/FONT]

ferf1223

we might do this - I kind of think that seeing the Professional Bull Riders finals (even the early stages) would be fun...certainly in a never done that before, unlikely to do it during my day-to-day life sort of way.

https://www.livingsocial.com/events/cities/30-las-vegas/835164-pbr-built-ford-tough-world-finals-ticket

photome

ferf1223 wrote: »

we might do this - I kind of think that seeing the Professional Bull Riders finals (even the early stages) would be fun...certainly in a never done that before, unlikely to do it during my day-to-day life sort of way.

https://www.livingsocial.com/events/cities/30-las-vegas/835164-pbr-built-ford-tough-world-finals-ticket

We had been thinking of going there but the only time we could go would be our last nightn so not sure we want to tie orselves up that night.

Also I had looked at seat prices a while back and to get a good view it was very expensive, I had looked at the deal and my guess they are the next to cheap seats for $33 and that is way back, and for bull riding all the action takes place up one end of the arena...so still undecided