Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2016

Redking83 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I'm currently planning my first visit to Vegas in October. I'm finding the amount of info on these threads a bit overwhelming so hope some of you can cut through it all and advise me on a couple of points.

Firstly, we are only going to be there for three nights and would like to maximise our experience so we were thinking of staying two nights in one hotel, and one night in another one. We would like to be pretty central on the strip and stay somewhere nice. My initial thinking was the MGM Grand followed by the Bellagio. Is this a good choice, are there better hotels at a similar price?

Secondly, I've looked at the MyVegas game people have recommended. Can somebody clarify how much time you realistically have to put into it to get any decent prize out of it. How many loyalty points do you need for the decent prizes?

Thanks

Redking83 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I'm currently planning my first visit to Vegas in October. I'm finding the amount of info on these threads a bit overwhelming so hope some of you can cut through it all and advise me on a couple of points.

Firstly, we are only going to be there for three nights and would like to maximise our experience so we were thinking of staying two nights in one hotel, and one night in another one. We would like to be pretty central on the strip and stay somewhere nice. My initial thinking was the MGM Grand followed by the Bellagio. Is this a good choice, are there better hotels at a similar price?

Secondly, I've looked at the MyVegas game people have recommended. Can somebody clarify how much time you realistically have to put into it to get any decent prize out of it. How many loyalty points do you need for the decent prizes?

Thanks

red_pad wrote: »

Honeymoon Trip Report 28th July - 1st August

I was a long term lurker so thanks to everyone who has posted on this board. I got some great tips.

Background
Me (32) and my new wife (33) were on our honeymoon. Vegas was the first part to be followed by 4 nights in San Francisco and then a week in Cancun. I’d been to Las Vegas 8 years ago as part of a lads roadtrip and was excited to head back. We both enjoy good food, shopping and nights out. We flew out on July 28th.

Day 1
11am American Airlines flight from Manchester to Philadelphia, alas no upgrade for honeymooners:rotfl: No issue with flight, good selection of films and food was alright. Landed in Philli and went through customs, no great delays but as we were waiting there was the mother of all electrical storms. Our 2 hour layover turned into 3 and then we had an extra hour on the runway. Landed in Vegas about 8pm US time god know what UK time.

Heat was crazy as we waited for our cab to the MGM Signature. No need for the $20 trick as nice lady gave us a room on the 35th floor. Excellent sized room with great view of the strip. Quick shower and then out, had planned to walk up to the Bellagio with dinner on the way as we were STARVING:D

It’s a fair old treck from the Sig to the strip and we were struggling badly with tiredness by the time we got to the main drag. Hadn’t planned anywhere for dinner and we ended up at the Hard Rock caf!. Not the most original of choices but it was convenient and we thought it a safe choice. Massive portion of Nachos to start and an OK burger plus a few beers and I was feeling much better. Walked up to the Bellagio via the Cosmo. Wife was giddy at seeing the fountains but the time/ heat/ food in our belly meant our bed was calling.

Day 2
Up fairly early and off to the Vegas sign via some overpriced frozen yoghurt in the MGM:) The “unofficial photographer” at the sign has the best gig in town! Must easily make $100 an hour. Did the photo thing then carried on down to the Premium Outlets, got on the wrong bus so took slightly longer than planned;) Couple of hours here, not many bargains apart from Timberland.

Bus back up to the Aria where I had a MyVegas Rewards for the lunch buffet and bottomless drinks, worth roughly $45. Buffet was amazing although I got my tactics all wrong and filled up with beige stodge. The wife had the right idea hitting the crab claws, she must’ve got through $100 easy. Overall we were very impressed by the buffet, and the Aria as a whole.

Walked back through the Monte Carlo and did our first bit of gambling. $5 blackjack, played for an hour and left $15 dollars up. Cocktail waitress was very attentive as well.

Back to the room for a siesta as the heat was sucking the energy out of us. I’d made 8:30pm reservations at Joes Crab and Steakhouse in Caesars, definitely not moneysaving but it was to be our treat meal. In hindsight I probably wouldn’t have booked a slap up meal on the same day as a vegas buffet but we only had 4 nights and time was against us.

Got a cab to Caesars, got a bit lost but found it eventually. The food was AMAZING. Best rib eye I’ve ever had. Wife had the Sea Bass which she said was amazing. A great meal from start to finish. Couldn’t manage starters or desserts but had a few drinks each. Meal was $160 plus tip. We were absolutely shattered by now so cab back to the hotel and straight to bed, so much for being party animals!



Day 3
Up earlyish again and off to Denny’s for breakfast. I’m sure there are literally thousands of “better” places for breakfast in Vegas but we really liked it.

Then off to the MGM pool for the morning, nice vibe there. DJ started at 11am and the weather was hoooot!! Drinks were very expensive though so only had the one.

Back to the room, shower and change ready to be picked up for our Sundance Helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon. Again this was no way money saving and in an ideal world I would’ve liked to go to the south rim but we just didn’t have time. Next trip maybe!

The whole Sundance operation was very slick and professional. There was us and a family of 4 in our helicopter and the experience was amazing. We flew out to the West Rim and landed on top of a flat cliff area. We had about 20mins to admie the amazing view then had a nice picnic with some Champagne. On the way back we flew over the strip which again was amazing. A definite highlight of the trip.



We rested at the hotel for a bit and then took a cab up to Cashman field for the baseball game. There was a really nice family atmosphere. We had seats just behind home-plate and we both really enjoyed it.





Quick cab over to Freemont street where we had a brilliant time taking in all the lights, sights and sounds. We both agreed that we definitely preferred this part of town to the Strip.

There was so much going on with a great atmosphere. We gambled in a few of the casinos and got our photo taken with a million dollars in Binions. The light shows were great and David Bowie's son was performing on one of the stages. Great fun. We lost track of time and before we knew it it was 2am. Got the Deuce back to the hotel and fell straight asleep.

Day 4
For some reason, only known to ourselves we headed back downtown and to the Premium outlets north. Good range of shops and got some bargains but seemed a bit of a waste of time, ah well.

Got off the bus at the Venetian and walked through the shops/ canals. Wife was mesmerized. Then over to the Mirage where we had a MyRewards voucher for 2-4-1 sandwiches at the Carnegie Deli. Sandwiches were huge but quality was just OK. I’ve been to the Carnegie Deli in NY and it wasn’t the same.

Then we walked back along the strip to NYNY where things got interesting. My wife had been badgering me to go on a roller coaster or ride whilst in Vegas. I’m not scared but not their biggest fan, especially ones that involve heights:o Anyway I agreed to go on the rollercoaster at NYNY, we had 2-4-1 thanks to MyVegas and it looked fun. Queued up only to be told the ride was suspended due to rain. Heart rate was creeping up a bit now! Waited a bit longer and got on the coaster. Off it started and only when it started creeping up the ramp did I realize how much I hated rollercoasters:mad: Ah well, male pride and all that. About a quarter of the way up the ramp we suddenly dropped back down to the bottom and the emergency brakes came on. There was a bit of nervous laughing with people thinking it was part of the ride. We were held nearly vertical at the bottom of the ride for about 5 minutes with a nasty smell of burning. Then a message came on the tannoy that we were getting evacuated. I’m a big guy but even I struggled to get out of the cart and onto the steps. There was no one there to help and it was all a bit shambolic really (not to mention dangerous.) Safe to safe the ride was suspended again and we got out money back in the form of freeplay. Needed a drink and some sugar after that so went to the creperie and Tom’s urban (both thanks to MyVegas) it’s a shame about the
rollercoaster as I liked the vibe of NYNY.

Nerves settled we walked back to the hotel room, got ready and headed back to the Mirage for Beatles Love. Both my parents are from Liverpool and I was brought up on the Beatles so I was really looking forward to it. The show was great, very slick with some wonderful set pieces. Wasn’t a patch on the house of Dancing Water in Macau though. I think I may have been spoiled by that:cool:
Walked back down the strip stopping to watch the fountains for a final time. Spent a bit of time in the MGM before bed.

Day 5
Up early and packed. Got breakfast at Starbucks and then a cab to the airport for our flight to San Fran.

Overall an amazing start to our honeymoon. Highlights were definitely our Grand Canyon trip and night out downtown.

Everyone comments on the sheer size of the place and it definitely catches you off guard. That added to the heat and jet lag definitely affected our evening activities but overall we had a blast!!

Edit: Not sure why photos aren't showing.

Raymondo111 wrote: »

Great trip report, we are staying at the Signature at MGM this Saturday for 6 nights to celebrate my daughters 30th Birthday so like you decided we wanted to have a 'nice' meal so booked Joes Fish and Steakhouse for the 5th September which is her actual birthday. Glad you enjoyed it!! must remember to not visit the buffet that day though!! we were going to use the monorail to get to Joes as it looks like there is a monorail station for Caesars which we could use. Could I ask what the cab cost was as this could be a better option, one thing we won't do is the rollercoaster at NYNY that sounds really scary!!

Sounds like you have done 2/3rds of our trip as we are off to San Francisco for 3 nights after Vegas so hopefully this will be a bit less hectic.

Ray