Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2015

tarkytarks

Vegas holiday, Easter 2015.

Flew 30th March, Gatwick to Las Vegas, with BA. Uneventful flight, I didn't sleep, but watched a few films and tried to doze a little. It dragged and the plane landed about 40 mins late landing due to headwind. Got through security very quickly, we had beaten the Virgin flight in and we had walked quickly to get to the front of the queue, it helped being in PE so had managed to beat most people getting off the plane. We then Spent ages (30/40 mins) waiting for bags to appear. Got on rental car bus then sixt bus to collect car. I'd worried that the delay in landing and collecting bags would cause problems with collecting it, but in the end no problems, and we were impressed with them and will happily use again. Ended up with a Nissan Rouge. Nice car, hubby now wants one.

Got to hotel, The Signature, checked in. Asked for an upgraded room, but there were no spare rooms at the inn, so no chance. Ended up in Tower 3 on floor 8. Nice room, but noisiest fridge in the world and a lot of light comes into the room from under and around the door as well as corridor noise. Takes ages to walk into the MGM but we expected that. Nice to be in a non smoking hotel. Easy from the back of the hotel into the Miracle Mile shops is good, it takes less time to walk there than it does to the a Front of the MGM.

Pretty tired out but managed a walk around the block, got a coffee then our first to Earl Of Sandwich in the PH. Got to about 8pm then back to the room to crash out for some broken sleep. Very jet lagged plus toothache from a big emergency filling I had to have done on the Friday before our holiday.

Tuesday 31st. Woke up early (4.30am) and lounged around for a few hours waiting for hubby to wake up. Wandered to the Miracle Mile for breakfast in PBR (?) Rock Bar at the entrance I had a pulled pork eggs Benedict and hubby had fried chicken and waffles. Had a walk around the Bellagio and then back through the Monte Carlo to NYNY. Mike got sucked in to the cupcakes in the Hershey Store and we ended up getting 4 for $20! Massive isn't the word for them!
Came back to room to drop stuff off then picked up the car for a drive around and a trip to a supermarket to pick up snacks and breakfasts, and beer :-)
Ate at Gonzalez Gonzalez in the NyNy. Early night, I was tired. Hubby lost $64 on red in a roulette machine!

Wednesday 1st
Lazy morning, made breakfast in room. Left late morning to get car and drove to Red Rock Canyon via the South Premium Shopping Outlet.
That evening we ate at Shakeshack @ NYNY before seeing the 9.30pm showing of Zumanity. The highlight was the queue with a Chinese couple who actually at tickets for KA. The wife hit her husband in the face with the tickets while shouting at him. It was 9pm by this time so hopefully they made it over to the MGM in time. Enjoyed the show, the seats were good, towards the back of the upper orchestra section. We had a great view of the stage without it being too close or being at risk of becoming involved in the show!

Thursday 2nd
Another lazy morning. Got the monorail down to the flamingo and then ambled our way north via The Fashion Show Mall to the convention centre monorail stop. It was much further than we had realised it was going to be :-). Eventually we made it to the Stratosphere for our sunset dinner reservation at Top Of The World. Great view and service, but the food was pretty so so for the price. Hubby not impressed with his steak (1/3 fat) and I wasn't that taken with the surf and turf gnocchi, although the short rib was lovely. The bread basket was the best part of the meal! Stayed for a good hour and a half, so we had the view in day light, sunset and then dark. A few brave souls jumped off the top while we watched.

Friday 3rd
Cooler day today.
Atomic Testing museum followed by North Premium Outlets, involved buying sketchers and some chocolate.
Drove back via Sahara and ate at a Hash house a go go. As expected we ended up with too much food so we got boxes to take the rest with us.
In the evening we Wandered the strip from Ballys back down to the MGM. Generally enjoying the nightlife. Watched a guy doing spray paint art on the street and bought a vegas-scape one for $40 (plus sales tax!).
Was slightly amused to be confronted with a Boots No7 counter at the entrance of one of the new Wallgreen stores, I wonder how they would react if I was to crack out my boots advantage card :-)

Saturday 4th
Temperatures back up to late 20s today.
Woke up feeling a bit run down, so once dressed we headed to the Miracle Mile shops to Jamba Juice (pretty much our go to place now!) and Earl of sandwich for lunch. Crossed over the strip with a view to head down to the Mandalay Bay via Excalibur and The Luxor.
We didn't get further than the Excalibur in the end. We are suckers for the 25c roulette machines, which don't exist in the MGM so hubby made $20 and I lost a few $ then the plan was to go and spend a few $ on my new favourite machine Hot Red/Cool Blue quick win machines. While I spun another machine came free and hubby started spinning. It got to the mini game and it spun 10 x quick win symbols winning $7,540ish. Very surreal moment. Had to call an attendant, and luckily passports were in my bag rather than in the safe today. After a very long wait and several signed declarations later hubby had the money counted out into his hand in the middle of the casino floor. It's a big pile of cash! We went straight back to The Signature via Starbucks for a celebratory frappuchino and to stash the cash in the safe. Holiday paid for, I can get the new kitchen finished off now :-)
Jeff Dunham tonight, great show. Very slick.
Ate at the Harley Davidson cafe. Food was meh. Got a cocktail for the "free" glass.
I really dislike US touristy places who auto add a 20% tip onto the final bill, is it just me who is bothered by this? Let me choose the amount I want to tip!

Sunday 5th
Got up late (as per) drove out to the valley Of fire state park for a drive around. Expected the rocks to be more red than they were! Still very striking. Very windy at the top, struggled to open the car door to get out. Fuelled up the car in the middle of a dust storm.
Back into Vegas and went to Ellis Island, Joined the players club, spent my $20 freeplay and ended up with $20. Result. Ate BBQ. Both had half chicken and half ribs. Very tasty. I liked Ellis Island, it's old fashioned, smells like a pub when you first walk in, good atmosphere.
We then ambled up to the Mandalay Bay via Excalibur and The Luxor. Actually made it this time! We got a bit frivolous and ended up loosing about $200 along the way in the slots. The mlife machines were not good to us today!

Monday 6th
Woke up with the idea of getting brunch at Hash House a gogo in the LINQ but when we got there there was a looooong queue of people waiting for a table so decided we'd use the myvegas bogof buffet reward I had stored just in case. It was just ok. Not really a big fan of the buffets as it's too easy to over eat and end up feeling way too full and uncomfortable for the rest of the day, this was the only buffet we did this trip.
Then we ambled over to the Fashion Show Mall via Caesars Forum shops. I had the intention to get cheesecake but was still too full so didn't bother. After a bit of a shop we got the monorail back down the strip then had a couple of hours to potter in the room before heading back out to the Mirage for LOVE. Really enjoyed it! So much to look at, almost too much going on. We had seats in one of the stadium seating bits (row O) and they had great views. I'd get those seats again without a doubt.
Show finished at gone 11 so after a bit of persuasion with hubby it was back over to the FSM to eat at Stripburger. A burger and couple of cocktails later we got to the monorail to find it had closed. We got a taxi back in the end, feet were hurting lots by this point. Very late by the time went to bed.

Tuesday 7th
Very late getting up, ~2pm when we left the room for breakfast! So much for driving to hash house on Sahara ^^
Ended up getting the casino win (aka "the big wad") exchanged at a place on convention center drive (found online - Foreign money exchange inc). Worked out about the same rate as the UK agencies that require you to post the money off. Exchanged $6400 and ended up with £4200 at a rate of 1.52 (I think). This way we have it ready to pay straight into the bank as soon as possible.
Back to the Miracle Mile and earl of sandwich to eat then do flight online checkin. Got the seats I had wanted (result).
Final drive out to The Hover Damn, walked out on the 'new' bridge that looks out over the damn. We last visited in 2010 when the bridge was still being built so it was interesting to see it from the other perspective.
Called onto the south strip to take a couple of Vegas Sign selfies then picked up a few bits and bobs shopping wise to take home from Smiths before heading back to the hotel.
Had a lovely meal and a couple of (strong) cocktails at PFChangs, then back to the MGM for a last bit of slots playing. Avoided the old favourite machines in favour of some slightly different ones, managed to end the evening $50 up from a $20 bill, so happy with that. That pays for breakfast in the morning and any bits and bobs we want in the airport.

Wednesday 9th
Checked out at 11, headed to airport via car rental drop off. Again Sixt were very efficient and I'd recommend them.
Checked in with no problems, flight left on time, landed early. Absolutely no queue at passport control at Gatwick, bags were on the belt by the time we have both nipped to the loo and we were on the long stay car park bus within about 25 minutes of landing!

It was a great trip, obviously made better by the fact that we had a great lucky slots win. We mainly gambled in the MGM properties and the summary page shows we lost around $600 out of the win. We got frivolous but had a good time. The win pretty much paid for the holiday which helps.
We had wanted to do the High Roller this time but didn't quite get around to it, next time....

pebblesmax

Thanks for the report. Sounds like you had fun. You managed to fit a lot in.

ferf1223

tarkytarks wrote: »

Eventually we made it to the Stratosphere for our sunset dinner reservation at Top Of The World. Great view and service, but the food was pretty so so for the price.

Thanks for your report - really enjoyed reading it and that win is just so very exciting to hear about! Really pleased for you guys.

And on Top of the World - thank you. I always felt a bit like we were alone in thinking exactly what you did about the food.

ferf1223

I keep meaning to mention that we tried the Gatwick South Terminal valet parking this trip...we haven't driven to the airport in years, normally we head over after work the night before our flight...we were surprised at the price, it seemed quite cheap to drop your car off right across the road from the terminal and have it waiting for you when you got back, no need to take a shuttle. At the time I think it was £5 more than the long-stay car park. For 11 nights it was £51, I thought that was very good,though as we rarely drive to Gatwick, maybe we just don't have a good idea what parking now costs.

It was awesome, we would do it again anytime we drive to Gatwick. Completely 100% painless. Park the car, unload the cases, out of the garage (same level) across the road, terminal. On the way back, just the reverse, go to the little building, get told where the car is, walk to it, load up...then send hubby into the Hilton for Costas for the road. No scrum for the shuttle...no having to let a shuttle go because you were defeated by others in the scrum.

We arrived at the booth on the way back about an hour before our scheduled pick-up time and I was a bit worried - I had over-calculated time for immigration/bags/etc. No problem, based on the slip of paper in the car, they had brought it back about 2 1/2 hours before we were due to pick it up.

Seldom_Seen_Kid

Loved the report tarkytarks.
We fly tomorrow, and I am just going to start my packing.

Boffin2001

thanks for the report tarkytarks sounds like fun we fly out tomorrow:T

Winter_Jasmine

Thanks Tarkytarks! Loved your report and am now utterly convinced that this time, we're DEFINITELY going to get a big win haha

Am v jealous of those heading out tomorrow, I'm counting the days now but we still have a few months to go

I reserved a table at the Sterling Brunch yesterday. I've been wanting to go since before our first trip in 2003 but always talked myself out of it because of the cost. I'm justifying it this time as I'm having it as my very belated birthday present. Also, I'm hoping to pay at least half the bill with Social Rewards points - that's assuming they will they let you pay half points/half cash?

ferf1223

Winter_Jasmine wrote: »

that's assuming they will they let you pay half points/half cash?

I've never known anywhere not to allow it...normally you can pay what you want with points and the balance another way.

Like you, I have talked about the Sterling Brunch so many times, but always talk myself out of it due to the cost and whether we would get enough out of it...neither of us are fussed about champagne, either...which cuts into the value for money for us. One day, I really would like to try it.

Also, I really like your means of justification...I have every intention of stealing that at some point each year from here on out.

secretmachines

Right! I'm going to try and be on the ball and look for best prices on return flights to LV for Easter 2016 as they'll be bookable in the coming weeks!

Does anyone know when the Virgin sales are on (or BA, but preferably VI for the air miles).

Or any advice on when is a prime time to book for the best price? Would prefer to fly direct. And which day/s to fly on...

Just need to work on the OH to convince it's a good idea

tarkytarks

secretmachines wrote: »

Right! I'm going to try and be on the ball and look for best prices on return flights to LV for Easter 2016 as they'll be bookable in the coming weeks!

Does anyone know when the Virgin sales are on (or BA, but preferably VI for the air miles).

Or any advice on when is a prime time to book for the best price? Would prefer to fly direct. And which day/s to fly on...

Just need to work on the OH to convince it's a good idea

Wait until there is a sale to book flights to vegas if you want better price. There is usually some July/August/September time that include Easter dates in my experience (we tend to have our big holiday during the Easter hols), if you are going in school holiday period you might find that flying on a day Sunday - Thursday works out a little cheaper than Friday or Saturday, if you can fly a day or 2 before schools break up you should (in theory) get a cheaper price too.