The Las Vegas Thread and MSE guide

mils

Hey all,
just 1 more day untill we set of to vegas wooo hooo, and after our summer im looking forward to actually getting some SUN the most!
But anyway just wanted to ask as the begining information part of this thread (first page, introduction) it states you can get a limo from the aiport for $50 for a hour, and as im heading out with 2 girls who havent been before i thought this would be a great way to see the strip straight off and get to the hotel, is it easy to pick up these limo's ? and are they still $50? and would they fit luggage for 3 in one?
also could anyone advise on a good buffet to go to for our first night dinner??
Paul

Aidenr

November/December

mils,
IMO the best buffet on the strip in the one in the Wynn - its amazing.
Not sure about dinner prices, but brunch is about $30 ish
weekends is $39
have a great time - it is absolutly scorching, no worries about getting a tan !!

bitgiggy

Hey everyone

Am going to Vegas in December for 12 days, flying to LA for 3 days then driving up to Vegas for the rest.

Am trying to find hire car at the moment, and as I fall into the "under 25" bracket it looks like I can't avoid the $25 a day extra. I have checked out various websites (uscarhire.co.uk etc) who say that they don't charge extra for young drivers, but as I'm dropping off in a different state, they impose the one way rental fee instead; either way I can't win!

Can anyone reccommend a cheap car hire company, preferably that doesn't charge for young drivers and one way rentals?

I had also looked at the possibilty of just hiring a car for the day for our trip to Vegas. We are staying in Hollywood and wondered how easy it would be to get to our hotel from LAX, and to other attractions such as Universal Studios. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has stayed in LA and whether you think a car is a necessity for two days!

Thanks

Nala

bitgiggy - have you looked into taking an internal flight from LA to Vegas? Might work out cheaper than car hire for you.

usairways are coming in at $80 one way. One hour one the plane v a few hours driving. Guess what we're doing

ferf1223

March

pebblesmax wrote: »

Ferf, the first place I remember with any restaurants was Kingman. We did set off horribly early though, and Kingman was a good time to stop for breakfast. We arrived there about 9am.

Thanks very much! We'll see how we feel when we set off - if we're too hungry to wait until Kingman, we'll stop before we hit the Dam, if we can wait, Kingman it is.

Ok, one more question if you don't mind? Do you recall how obvious the signage for Route 66 was at Kingman and thereafter?

Reason I ask is we're planning on driving the stretch from Seligman to Kingman on the way back from the GC as my FIL has a life-long fascination with Route 66...BUT we're hoping to keep it as a surprise (we don't think he realises we'll be right by the longest remaining stretch)...if the signs near Kingman make it really obvious though, it's unlikely we'll be able to keep it under our hats long enough.

ferf1223

March

bitgiggy wrote: »

I had also looked at the possibilty of just hiring a car for the day for our trip to Vegas. We are staying in Hollywood and wondered how easy it would be to get to our hotel from LAX, and to other attractions such as Universal Studios. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has stayed in LA and whether you think a car is a necessity for two days!

I personally think a car is more of a necessity in LA than in Vegas, though we always rent a car in Vegas as we like the freedom it offers, I can't imagine getting around in LA without a car myself. I'm sure you could get a taxi from the airport to your hotel easy enough (no idea of cost) and perhaps there are shuttles to Universal, etc. that would work for you - may be worth calling the hotel and asking about transport links from the hotel to the places you want to go...depending on where in LA your hotel is the answer might be quite different from other areas.

There was a post recently about the one-way fees and wdyw indicated that the majority don't charge for one-way if in California/Nevada - so perhaps look into another company.

On the under 25 thing, I think you'll be hard pressed to find one that doesn't charge more for under 25s as you'll be considered higher risk I think.

PAUL7331

Im off to Vegas in two weeks with 3 guys. The only thing thats concerning me so far is the Q'S to get in to clubs. So does ringing the club on the same day and asking to get on the guestlist actually work?

Also Im sure there is something on ebay like a club 'pass' or something that can be purchased? Ims ure I read that on this forum or was I dreaming it?

pebblesmax

November/December

ferf1223 wrote: »

T Do you recall how obvious the signage for Route 66 was at Kingman and thereafter?

To be honest, I didn't notice it on the way there at all. My Dad took some photos of the signs on the way back though. Don't know if he just didn't notice them on the way there, or they weren't as obvious. Sorry.

ferf1223

March

pebblesmax wrote: »

To be honest, I didn't notice it on the way there at all. My Dad took some photos of the signs on the way back though. Don't know if he just didn't notice them on the way there, or they weren't as obvious. Sorry.

S'ok - I know it's one of those things that you wouldn't remember if you weren't looking for it - hopefully we'll be able to distract him so he doesn't notice on the way out.

How much time did you guys spend at the Canyon? I think you were there one night which is what we're doing...I'm a bit baffled as to how long we're likely to want to stay the following morning and planning for the trip is quite tight so trying to keep that evening free if we can so we're not rushing back but at the same time, if we're likely to be back at a reasonable time, we can slot in a few things we're struggling to fit...I know it's totally relative and some will stay for ages and others will be happy with a short time, but any personal reviews/exeperiences will help.

pebblesmax

November/December

Ferf, this is what i wrote about our trip last November. I hope it helps with your planning.

In 9 visits to Vegas, Tony and I have just not bothered to go and see the Grand Canyon. Each time when we got back to England people would ask if we had been to the GC and he’d say no, it’s just a hole in the ground, we flew over it on the way there that’s good enough for me.

Mother requested a visit to the Grand Canyon, so because this family trip was for her 70th birthday and Mum and Dad’s 50th anniversary, we finally went there. :T

We planned to set off at 5 am to avoid traffic, but didn’t get started until nearer 6. It was fairly quiet on the road once we left Las Vegas. We took 15 South and then joined the 215, and then it was pretty straightforward. We went over Hoover dam and there was no delay and hardly any traffic at that time in the morning. We stopped for breakfast at a diner in Kingman. I think it was called Calico’s. We all enjoyed our meal there, but the restrooms were a bit Eeeewww. After a short break there to eat and stretch our legs we were off again towards Tusayan.

The road from Williams to Tusayan is the most boring drive I have ever done. I was getting tired of driving by then and the undulating road seemed to go on forever.

We arrived at around 1 pm and checked in to the Holiday Inn Express. I had pre booked our rooms online some time ago and it was $66 per room including a continental breakfast. Not bad. The rooms weren’t huge but the beds were very comfortable and there were lots of pillows. The pillows had soft, medium and hard embroidered on the corners of the pillowcases. I had never seen that before and thought it was a good idea. There was a fridge, microwave and a coffee maker in the room and downstairs there was an area where you could make drinks for yourself too.

As soon as we had offloaded our bags we went to the IMAX theatre to watch the movie of the canyon Website here. We had 10% discount vouchers from the hotel and the prices were about $12 each. The movie was very good. It told the story of some canyon explorers from 1869 and how they travelled the Colorado River through all the rapids and other obstacles. It was 34 minutes long and I was knackered after watching it because it was pretty realistic. We then set off to explore the Canyon itself. We spent the rest of the day driving around and looking at different sections along the South Rim.

As it became dark we went back to the hotel and I fell asleep. My brother woke me later on to say that all the restaurants they had looked at seemed to close at 9 pm. We ended up eating at Wendy’s. It also closed at 9 pm but was the nearest place we recognised.

Next morning we were all up bright and early. The free continental breakfast started at 6 am and there was a queue at the door of the restaurant. There were plenty of choices and we had cereal, eggs and fruit to keep us going, along with some hot tea and coffee.

We went back to the Canyon again after checking out of the hotel. It was much quieter in the early morning, and bloody cold too. Although it was misty in parts it was lovely to see the sun coming up over the canyon. We spent another hour or so looking at various things and then set off back to Vegas. We went via Laughlin. We had lunch at Harrah’s Laughlin using a 2 for 1 coupon from the ACG. It was a nice sunny day there although it was extremely windy. We have eaten at a couple of the buffets before, Edgewater and Flamingo?? It was a couple of years ago. The Harrah’s buffet was far superior to either of them.
After lunch we had a wander around the outlet mall, then drove the rest of the way back to the Gold Coast.

I would definitely recommend a stopover at the South Rim so that you can explore fully. The contrast between afternoon and early morning was good to see. I would use the Holiday Inn Express again too. Be aware that the dining options in Tusayan are fairly limited. Having said that we were looking after dark and may not have found everywhere available. It was definitely better staying there than in Williams, IMHO.