Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2013

ictquizzer

Ok, looking back I missed out quite a few of our eating choices of the first part of the trip!

Went to Ellis Island and had a $5.99 steak special that they had on offer that day, fantastic value, specially when coupled with their own beers. Also went to Cheesecake Factory which never lets us down! A few Fat Tuesdays thrown in here and there and I'm in heaven...

After staying at the Downtown Grand for 3 nights we came back to The Strip, staying firstly at Mirage for 2 nights (thanks to MyVegas) and then 3 nights at TI. We've never stayed at this end of the Strip before, always been further south.

Really liked the rooms in both hotels, had a Volcano view at Mirage and was "upgraded" to a corner room on 28th floor at TI (which we sadly had to swap for a strip view on a lower floor after first night due to being able to hear music all night, despite being so high). Used the pools at both hotels but at this time of year it's only warm enough/sun high enough in sky to use them from roughly 10-3. Still lovely in the sun, just weird that they were so dead!

Went to Zumanity (excellent, highly recommended) and NYNY duelling pianos (on a Sat afternoon, so only one pianist) so we needed to buy another 24 hour bus pass as it's some trek otherwise, never mind doing it 4 times! In fact it was 6 times, as needed to go early to get the Zumanity tickets. Both of these were through MyVegas and were really worthwhile rewards and worth all the hours of online slots. Incidentally, our 2 nights at Mirage was through this too.

Went to the following buffets while we were there -
Aria breakfast - again from MyVegas, excellent quality and selection
Main St brunch - not many breakfast type items, but astonishing value at $11.99
Paris dinner - had a groupon which included bottle of wine. Food decent quality but NEVER worth the $38 normal price
Flamingo lunch - groupon which included beer and wine, server was VERY generous with the wine and was pleasantly surprised by the food. Lovely watching the flamingos outside too.
Harrahs lunch - yet another groupon, again had beer and wine, and again was very pleasantly surprised by the value and quality.
Mirage dinner - MyVegas again, good.

One thing that stands out about the buffets is what a poor selection that they have in general for vegetarians, bacon and ham are sneaked into even the mac and cheese and the vegetables in several of them. The bf ended up having a roll and mashed potatoes in Paris, so it wasn't very balanced as I got stuck into the full works and a bottle of wine (he doesn't like wine)! He'd have been out in about 10 minutes if he was by himself. Queue there was awful too, went there about 5 and even although the place was very empty it took over 20 minutes to seat the 20 folk in front of us which was rather frustrating.

Oh, Carrot Top was excellent, Marc Savard was also very good but Mike Hammer was average.

mat5664

Another Christmas in Vegas, with my now 77 year old mother, coming up soon.

Usually see 2 shows - but this year struggling to find anything interesting. Done Cirque to death, seen Jersey Boys (great), Jubillee (awful), seen shows like Phantom and Mamma Mia come and go. Even did Absinthe (not recommended with one's mother!). Not even any Headliner concerts this christmas. (Fleetwood Mac are playing 30/12 which is the day we fly home sadly).

Variety of shows is definitely worse than ever = far too many Cirques not enough 'Broadway' type productions.

Any suggestions?

richardw

Go an ave a flutter in the casino.

Froggitt

Copperfield!!!

mat5664

Froggitt wrote: »

Copperfield!!!

that's an idea.

Froggitt

I was ten foot from the stage and I couldn't figure out how he made people disappear, where the motorbike came from etc.

If its in the same place at MGM, its a very intimate venue.

pebblesmax

How about Human Nature? They are a bunch of Aussies playing Motown. Awesome high energy show. Don't know if they are playing over Christmas.

marsman802

Right then.
I go on Wednesday but as I said this is with the lads so no shows involved...
A taster of what is on the menu;
1. Spice market buffet
2. Rock house open bar
3. Koi lounge open bar
4. Voodoo lounge @ rio
5. 1OAK VIP bottle service @ mirage
6. Fremont night out ending up at Gold diggers nightclub @ golden nugget
7. American football night at Sapphire strip club
8. Beer pong tournament @ dbs in the miracle mile
9. Sin city brewery fun
10. Saturday morning 8am bar to watch the Arsenal game. Bearing in mind we tend to get in about 7am this will need to be a big effort!


So expect something a tad different from my trip report (if I can remember what goes on)

martmonk

Froggitt wrote: »

I was ten foot from the stage and I couldn't figure out how he made people disappear, where the motorbike came from etc.

If its in the same place at MGM, its a very intimate venue.

We saw him 4 years ago and I thought it was awful. We were right at te back and the number of stooges in the show was unreal.

rorylando45

marsman802 wrote: »

Right then.
I go on Wednesday but as I said this is with the lads so no shows involved...
A taster of what is on the menu;
1. Spice market buffet
2. Rock house open bar
3. Koi lounge open bar
4. Voodoo lounge @ rio
5. 1OAK VIP bottle service @ mirage
6. Fremont night out ending up at Gold diggers nightclub @ golden nugget
7. American football night at Sapphire strip club
8. Beer pong tournament @ dbs in the miracle mile
9. Sin city brewery fun
10. Saturday morning 8am bar to watch the Arsenal game. Bearing in mind we tend to get in about 7am this will need to be a big effort!


So expect something a tad different from my trip report (if I can remember what goes on)

Enjoy, sounds a lot like my sort of trip :beer: