Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2014

We use Tuscany for a large part of our long trips. Under counter fridge coffee maker and microwave are standard, and perfectly adequate for us. If you need more cooking appliances then maybe Platinum or Vdara would work. They are much more expensive though.

working on my report today, just about feel human today !!
Guess I was wrong about the Jetlag, that hit me good this time!


oh, and I looked at flights for 1 week in November (mid), cheapest I can see are £411, but that's a 17hr flight, and is a 2 stop.....
Am tempted already !

jadamcp wrote: »

We booked flights several weeks ago (start of May was when we first seen it) and booked the extra suitcase on the return leg, they are now also giving you a standard 23Kg + 6Kg hand luggage to the US, plus food as well. Prices have gone up quite a bit since then from Glasgow, so maybe worthwhile checking regularly. Going in June 2015 and now have a year to book a hotel, I do like a deal though

The suitcase on the way back would be something I would consider. I am going to keep a close eye on the prices of Thomas Cook from Manchester. I only wish they had flights in November as they only go up to October.

**TRIP REPORT**

Right then guys/girls, same as before, I'm always out to do things on a unrealistic budget and get more for our money....

After coming back from Vegas last year high on the ultimate high, I booked our flights for this year back in July when Delta did the merger with Virgin.... The result of this was the option to book direct with Delta to fly 'direct' on the Virgin plane, for £596 each! - 2 Week trip this time.... (May 19th - 2nd June)

I built a spreadsheet to track hotel costs/trending, and made my move when the time was right... Max budget for direct flight+hotel for 2 weeks = £850 each, and had to include decent hotels!
Overshot the budget as total came to £874 each
Costs shown in report below.....

---

Got a rate for 1 night stay at the Crowne Plaza and 2 weeks parking with APH Gatwick for £95, am a basic IHG member, so every little helps.... Nice room we had with free wifi.

Day 1: (Monday 19th)
I got us seats 61A&C at the back, as we like the 2 seat layout..
Had a stag party on the plane, thought it was gonna be rowdy, but no, all was good, and mostly quiet throughout.....
Final approach to Vegas, OMG, and I mean OMG!!!! I didn't need to book tickets to a theme park, this had it all!
Plane was dropping, stomach to the mouth job, then back up again :eek: , then dropping again, engines getting louder and then quieter, proper mental!!!! Safe to say, you could hear a pin drop for the last 5 minutes of the flight!

Landed at 14:10, got to Mccaran rental centre at 4pm!!! Yes, immigration was very long!
From the start, I had wanted to hire the Camero SS for our first week, but didn't want to pay the £495 premium that Hertz charges for that car (adrenaline range, so this car has the V8 425bhp 6.2ltr engine!)...
Anyway, I had signed up for the Hertz Gold club (free), made a booking, cancelled and rebooked within minutes prior to our trip...
Somehow, this made my account change from Gold to Gold 5* !hehe!
I booked a standard 2dr fullsize car for £123, using a CDP to get a discount.... includes usual LDW/LIS, etc...

Bypassed the rental desk and went to the garage, name wasn't on the board, so the lady who was stood outside the Gold desk had a tablet thingy, I got chatty with her, and she checked the system to see what car we got, ironically she said we got a Ford F150 (truck!) ! haha! now I would have gone for this, but wanted the sports car...
We walked over to the Camero SS convertible, and she does some stuff on tablet.... She tells me the usual upgrade rate is $95 a day (which I knew it would be), but she said as a 5* member, she can offer the car for $50 a day....
A few cheeky comments from me and more talking, we settle on $37 a day upgrade rate, came to $310 with tax..... SWEEET!











Arrive at the Aria for our first 3 nights...
This is comped via 'MyVegas'...
I try the $20 trick for a suite, but the front desk chick is unable to convince the boss to be nice to us! so we get a strip view on the 21st floor....... Lovely room, nice and modern!!!

I forgot to take some pics of the inside of the room, wifey has some somewhere!
Had a quick cheap bite to eat as feeling well tired at 9pm....
Hit the slots in the Aria.... Wifey plays like the $1 - $1.60 bet options on the games.... but I always play MAX bet.. if I lose, tough luck, but if I win on max bet, happy days!
Anyway, in goes $100 on Ghostbusters, first spin, I land $140 win, so cashed out!
Went to bed around 11pm feeling wired!

Day 2:
Out to the pool, and from like 10am to 4pm, we did some cooking (our skin! ) I don't tend to burn, but wifey burned a bit here!
7pm, we went to 'Rollin Smoke BBQ', OMG, OMG, OMG!!!!!
This place is awesome, $20 for the 4 meat trio, chef gave me some of his homemade devil hot sauce (was hot, but finished it all anyway!). The ribs, brisket, pork and chicken, WOW, proper smoked, full on flavour... Food was too much, we couldn't eat it all, but I did my best!
We did some more gambling, but in the Monte Carlo.... Stayed there until midnight before getting real tired, I walked out of there with $320 in chips (went in with $160) + cash....

Day 3:
Out to the pool, sunbathed until 1:30pm, followed by !!!!!!!
Winds so strong even sun loungers were moving!, and then clouds, CLOUDS!!! grrrrrrrrrrrr :mad: !!! I wanna be cooking!
Oh well, we had just short of 3 hours sun, so took a trip to North outlet mall, bought some nice goodies, and then back to hotel.. We had the ARIA Food Buffet (myvegas) deal, so had dinner there. When we left, I think I gained 1 stone in weight from that hour we were there! haha !!
Ate too much of the pork shoulder/beef brisket & prime rib!
Nice buffet, although does seem limited kinda, not sure I would want to pay for that buffet....
More gambling in the Monte Carlo again, lots of drinks, and then bed by 1am as still feeling full!

Day 4: (checkout Aria, now on route to LA)
I've been looking forward to this, driving this awesome machine (Camero) all the way to LA...... Roof down, crusing at 70mph gave 18mpg! haha !!! what a sweet sound from the engine when you took the revs over 4k, mmmm mmmmmmmmmmm !
Now, when we left Vegas, it was hot and sunny, average 99 degrees, and driving through the desert, temps change and so on....
When we were driving high (signs say 4000ft elevation), we noticed the clouds looking a bit mean in front of us!

Figured best put the roof up, as looking to the right, it was the same....

And then within minutes, OMG! :eek:
This rain blasted down like I was in a power shower, sounded like golfballs hitting the windshield!!

Could barely see anything, road turned into a river, was proper nuts!!!!!!
10 minutes later, were through it, and goes back to cloudyish sky! crazy stuff!

Got to our hotel which is the Hampton Inn - Santa Clarita...
We have 2 nights here, got the Kingsize Study room (best option), and managed to get an MVP rate of £58 for the Thursday night, and used Hilton Honors points for a Friday night stay for free
Weather was cloudy and cooler here in the evening, so we hit the shops at Valencia town square... all nice and posh here !
Back to the hotel for 9pm, and went and sat in the outdoor hot tub until 10pm, she got the coffee, but I got the big 25oz Bud Light cans (3), now this was a nice chilled feeling!!!!

Day 5: (Friday)
Woke up nice and early, yummy free breakfast in this hotel!
Left by 9:50 and headed for 'Six Flags Magic Mountain' theme park...
Typical, the day before the weather was pants, today its clear blue sky with a searing heat from the sun!..
Got into the park, went straight to the X2 ride, queued for 1hr, then busting for a pee meant we had to leave before getting on the ride! doh!! Dam all those orange juices for breakfast!


haha, we had to get our pics taken with these guys!


By the time we got back to our hotel early evening, was feeling proper worn out! Luckily for me, In n Out burger was across the road, so went over there for a 2x4 with chopped chillis & animal fries
Then another soak in the hot tub just before 10pm !

Day 6: (Saturday)
Were now heading to Hermosa Beach in LA.... Plan is to hit the beach and sunbath all day, swim in the sea, etc.....
Got to our Holiday Inn express - Hermosa Beach (£85 using F&F deal) hotel for 12 noon, got room key straight away, nice big room with fridge and so on.....
Anyway, weather is UTTER rubbish! was like a day in Skegness! full on clouds, no sun and a cool temp! doh!!!!
Walked from Hotel to beach, and then walked along until we got to Hermosa Pier (which has bars/food places, etc)...
They also had some street fair thing going on, market stalls, live bands playing, a food pit thingy, fair play, it was pretty awesome! nice walk around buying a couple of bits...

There was a stall with a guy selling hot sauces, but he had 1 sauce which was a special reserve sauce, cost $45... he had a sample, but needed a waiver signed incase I sued him?
If u recall last year, I melted my mouth with Atomic sauce in 'Slice of Vegas' !
Anyway, got some of this sauce onto a tortilla, OMG! :eek:
Last year was sea urchin pain, this time, I got instant hiccups, I turned red and the pain was like I got the SUN in my mouth!! haha !
Didn't talk for 9 minutes, even my eyes felt like they had blown out the sockets! heh !! didn't buy that bottle as you can imagine!

Plan was to head back to the hotel, chill for a bit, and then come back to this area on the evening for food, and LOTS of drinks and grab the UFC match on telly...
Anyway, figured we would stop in the 'American Junkie' bar for 1 Bud Light...... then 2, then 3, then 4, wifey is pretty wrecked cos she on Baileys and the bar dude is doing full on FULL glasses of baileys!
I decide I want a cocktail, which is a Beer-Garita! haha !
Tequilla, some other stuff, more stuff, and a bottle of Corona on top.....
This finished me off, I estimated about 12 - 14 shots worth of tequila, before the other stuff went in... OMG! I was proper wrecked, so was a very drunken walk back to the hotel at 5pm !! You can see my eyes are spaced out! haha!

Back to hotel, we both slept it off, didn't wake up until 10pm! doh! So our Saturday night in LA didn't quite go as planned, so stayed in and went back to bed before midnight (watching telly)...

Day 7: (Sunday - Heading back to Vegas)
Typical, wake up very early and its clear blue skies and warm! doh!!!!
We head upto Irwindale Race track, as were booked in to drive 20 laps in a Nascar stock car round this track at 10:30am.....
Really really enjoyed this, something I have always wanted to do! Shame the weather was hot, as wearing a race suit, sat in that car and no air con = very hot sweaty fun!!!
I thought I was Cole Trickle for 10 mins !! (think Days of Thunder movie)
I was in the black 3 car (yes, the one behind haha!)



Stopped at Primm for some shopping, didn't spend much here, although did note that the Nike store here is better than the ones in Vegas.....

Got to our hotel: The ELARA (Blue tall building @ Planet Hollywood)
Now the rate for this place for 3 nights (memorial weekend remember!) worked out to be $580 for 3 nights in a studio.....
There was also a promotion on there website that said free upgrade to Junior Suite if you booked direct with them....
Well, using social media and price matching and cheek, we got 3 nights for £192 ($312.40) and a Junior Suite!
38th Floor, the views were stunning, floor to ceiling windows, separate bedroom, interlinking bathroom and mini kitchen....
Real nice room, I like this place a lot!!!!


Gambled in Planet Hollywood, not going to good so we went across to Bellagio.... had some nice wins in there

Day 8: (Monday - memorial day)
Out to the pool, how hot!!!! pool was awesome, great pool, not too busy, felt like the sun reflected off the glass and burned down on us (like it does at the Vdara)... Very hot day, got some great tanning going on!

Comfy loungers too!!
Had some nice lunch at 'Fresh grill & bar' using the r.com voucher, great sarnies there!
Took the Camero SS back to Hertz, I really didn't want to let this go, despite spending $173 in fuel which covered 605 miles!

Next car rental is with Dollar... Had booked a 2dr Fullsize to include fuel/X driver for £151 for 1 week.. Linked to my DE account..
Garage goes shows me the cars I can pick from (all fullsize), I showed him the BJ's travel upgrade voucher, he checks with the agent in the booth, she don't care, he says he never seen one before and unsure what to do....
I said heres $10, can I take the Buick Lacrosse (luxury, so 2 steps up!!), he said "yeah, whatever" and walked off!
haha, so we got in that car, drove to the gate, told the guy it was a free upgrade, and that was that!!
Out we drove in the Buick, nice car inside and got some power to it!

The 1 thing that REALLY annoyed me, and I mean really annoyed me, is they placed an AUTH of $350 onto my prepaid card.. $350 !!!!! !!!!!!!
Didn't realise until an hour after we left, so drove back to Dollar and asked why the AUTH is so high, given they cant bill me for nothing as I pre-paid it all, full insurance, etc etc...
Guy said its standard with Dollar now, !!!!!!! Wont be using these clowns again.

Went to Harley Davidsons caf! on the strip for dinner...
It is safe to say, I had the best bbq brisket I have EVER tasted....
I had the hog plate (ribs, pork, chicken and brisket), was no way I was gonna eat it all as it was a masssssive portion, but as far as flavour goes, the whole lot tasted super amazing, but the BBQ brisket, no idea how they created that, but it was the best I have ever tasted, without fail!

Left there and went into PH again to see if I can win at the tables, not happening again, just lose ! Grrrrrrrr
So we leave there and head to Excalibur, hit the tables, playing 3card poker.... I got $75 on the table, and draw 3 2's.....
The smile on my face was big, very big! over $1k win, and then hit straights and flushes... went to Excalibur with $120, left with $2620 !!!
We get back to Elara (drunk), time for sleep, its late/early (2:30am)

Day 9:
Woke up smiling, out to the pool and cooked all day......
Went to see Zumanity (myvegas prem seats) in NYNY, what a cool show, lots of boobies! only downside is, all the chicks are too thin, so not the boobies u wanna see! :rotfl:
Great show though, really enjoyed it, was funny, raunchy, great acrobats and generally a great show!!! Very good!
Left there, and went for wings at Buffalo wild wings, wasn't as good as last year, back to the strip and into PH....
Losing on the 3card poker table again Down to my last $60, all goes on the table again, DING DONG! I draw x3 3's!!!
Just under $700 win! woohoooo !!
What do I do next ? be stupid and keep putting $100 on the pairplus..
what happens ? am broke with 20 mins..... doh! 2am, time for bed!

Day 10: (checkout day, move over to Monte Carlo)
Forgot to say, we had been to the North/South malls a few times and picked up stuff as we go, so checking out of Elara, we had 2 big cases, 2 mini cases and 1 holdall half full......
Left Elara, went to North outlets again, shop shop shop......

Now, got to Monte Carlo (booked 5 nights, Weds-Mon for £220 via Lowcostusa.co.uk) for standard deluxe inc Resort Fee......
Because of the bags (and about 12 shopping bags), we did valet parking and got the bell guy with the trolley....
Got in queue to checkin.....
The guy behind the counter looked like Penfold, asked if any complimentary suites were available and showed a $20....
He didn't check, he just rang someone..... wrote numbers down and then said to me:
You have Hotel 32 studio for an extra $40 a night, Monaco suite for $50 a night, diamond suite for $70 a night and Spa Suite for $100 a night....
I said i'll take our standard room thanks!
Got to the room, lets just say, if we stayed here first, it would have been OK... dated room, standard, nothing fancy.....
But coming from Aria/Elara to this, not good!

Said to the wife, seeing as we got some money from our wins, lets treat ourselves and find out what the hotel32 studio is like (we can see from the photos its a normal room same size as the standard room, but more modern and updated...)

Back to lobby, different guy on the front desk, this time I bought out the cheek.... got the Hotel32 studio option down to $30 a night, but I think that place is all about the VIP if that's your thing.....
I said to the guy, we were offered the spa suite for $30 a night (not $100 as originally told ), and I said I offered $20 a night but the guy was having none of it... etc
SO i said, if the spa suite is still available for $30 a night ($168 total), we would take it....
AWESOME!!! guy checked and checked again, did something, and ding dong, we got the spa suite for $30 a night ($168 total)
hehe !
Bell guy gets our stuff again, moves us to 29-301 (29th floor)...
Strip view, reaaaaaaaal nice room !!!





As you can imagine, super smiles are in play now!!!!
Went into the casino to play for a bit, on slots and tables, its just win win for me (has been since playing in the MC from start of holiday)...
All the while building points on my Mlife card.....
Went for walks and stuff on strip (walk off another buffet at the Aria!), then went back to MC for gambling... bed by 3am...

Day 11:
Out to the Pool..... it does say that Thurs-Sun = DJ by pool from 12 till 5pm....
so grabbing sun loungers by the volleyball beach wasn't good, as right under a speaker! so loud felt like we were in a club!!!
Didn't bother us, stayed out all day cooking in the sun!
Do like the wave pool! and dancing in the pool ! haha !
Went to Spice Market dinner buffet, now this was nice, way better than Aria...
Ribs, country fried chicken, pork, etc etc.. and Yukon Gold Mash, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm !! i like that!!!!!
As it was the groupon deal, the lady kept the Bud lights coming, and had 3 to go when we left (did 6 bottles in there!)
Got to 'The Pub' in MC for 9:45, ready for the $100 myVegas comp at duelling pianos...
Great fun night, good atmosphere, managed to get 8 drinks as there not cheap in this place....
Drinks waiter was a total F'tard, spent more time walking round and talking to his pals than serving us, called him a tw@t towards close!
Into the casino, win win win, bed by 4am!

Day 12:
Cook by the pool for a few hours, then off shopping again to south outlets.... And Walmart, as i like my BBQ sauces!


The shopping u see above is just from 1 day, did lots of buying!

Went to see KA in the MGM (myvegas prem seats), was a good show, but we were both falling asleep to it, unsure of whether we were bored by it, or tired or both !
Was good to see it anyway....
Out of there and into Hooters for dinner!
Mmmmmm mmmmmmm, i like my wings and buffalo shrimp! and orange shorts! Luckily the wife is OK as long as i don't stare! haha !
Back to MC for some gambling, win win win, bed by 3!

Day 13: (Saturday)
Figured it would be mental round by the pool so decided to miss that, have a lie-in in the morning, and hit shops again afternoon, was cloudy on the Saturday too, so worked out good for us....
Nice chilled day
Saturday night though, we had tickets to the Axis theatre to see Backstreet Boys/Avril Lavigne (she did like 30 mins at the start)......
Now fair play, these guys can perfom and sing, what an amazing night!!!!!!! Great music, great atmosphere, from the girls screaming in here, i came out deaf! haha !





As said, great night, left there and into MC again for some gambling and getting drunk! Bed by 3am again !

Day 14: (Sunday - Our last full day)
What a blast its been, so off to Spice Market for groupon breakfast..... wasn't too bad...
Back to MC to lounge by the pool all day, great fun all day
Walked up the strip a little early evening, took these pics:



Then we went upto old town....
I was on a mission collecting $1 chips from the strip hotels, so figured it would be cool to goto old town for a few hours anyway, and eat at Tony Roma's
and collect some $1 chips up there....
Anyway, we ended up on a BlackJack table in Binions, with some great people, great fun, great dealer and a pocket and $300 up by the time we left!!!!
Back to the strip and into the MC to hit it hard......
Got to bed by 4am, with a total of $1015 money left!!!!

Checked my Mlife status, showing 375 points short of moving to Pearl status! I had accumulated 23k points within the 2 weeks!

Day 15: Home time...
Came down at 9am for breakfast, had a quick blast on the Blackjack tables, am upto $1200 now!! Asked mlife desk quickest way to make 375 tier points, they said to buy $20 worth of food, shame i wasn't hungry, and the wife had a $20 comp put on her mlife card to use in starbucks!

Anyway, all packed bellguy gets our backs, we hit the mlife desk before checking out to see if they can reduce our bill (i got $30 in express comps), so figured the $168 upgrade fee could be reduced by $30......
Mlife lady chats with someone on the phone, gets off phone and says the upgrade has been comped, zero bill !!!
WOOOOHOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Got to the airport, thought i would have a go on the slot, max bet, had put in $40, was down to last few goes and this happens!

Caaaaaa-ching!!!!!

Soooooo, in total, i have nearly $2000 that i have come home with.... only took out $2700 and i spent over $1600 on clothes & sauce!! (and $300 in the gun range!)

Oh and the bag drop for VA, bit of cheek with the checkin lady, we got our big holdall on the plane for free, no $100 there! woohooooo !!!!!!!!!!

Home now and it sucks!! i wanna go back!!!
Great holiday, this was our 3rd time there, and i want more, i love the place, the atmosphere, the people, and just everything about being there!!!

Guess where these 2 pics were taken ?!

2..

Thanks for the report stuie.

I know the bottom pic is Cosmo , guess most people do but the top one not so sure, maybe stripburger but you didnt mention going there

I asked as you were leaving if you had booked the American muscle car challenge that you linked to, I can see now that you didnt do it, I am thinking of booking for August but not sure about doing it in the heat and can see that you suffered the heat in the Nascar (something I keep thinking about), It will be way worse in middle of August altho I guess the street cars should have air con