Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2018

cheers all
my only focus is getting a row of 3 seats for us, and enough water & juice to last the 100000000 hours in the sky !!

Virgin shifting from gatwick to Heathrow for their direct Vegas service from march 2019

Good to have another option (and the clubhouse!)

https://twitter.com/VirginAtlantic/status/998592519477846018?s=20

Trip report.

We spent 10 days in May in Vegas to celebrate my 50th birthday.

Brief overview, very different than what we usually do as we took my daughter who has mobility issues and requires a wheelchair these days.

So, flew direct Thomas cook, way out fine, food and snacks provided. Long flight but great times and flight path and you get to see Hoover Dam as we approach. For us, getting on at Manchester and straight off at Vegas was our best way to manage my daughters' situation.

Way back, had some serious issues with special assistance so a complaint made, will await the outcome.

With special assistance we had priority boarding and went through a different border control which was very fast. Bags were classed as priority and were out with the first lot.

Medication (oramorph) amongst others was fine, we had Dr's confirmation and a printed out list of all prescribed medicines. Despite it being over 500mls in a big bottle this was fine with the special assistance designation.
Useful to know for those who have medical issues travelling.



Stayed at Sam's Town first 5 days and Desert Rose for next 5 days.

Sams Town was a complete comp, mine 5 free nights no resort fee, $150 food, $150 free play.
Hubby's 3 free nights no resort fee, $75 food, $75 free play.

Plus they give you additional money off vouchers at the reception.

Free parking.

These comps had been consistently coming through for us on BConnected (Boyd properties reward cards) for the 4 years since we were last in Vegas. All other comp offers had faded away so we choose these. I had the option of the Orleans re free nights, however, it didn't fit with our plans as we wanted to be near a Walmart - my daughter's favourite! Don't ask. There is a huge walmart across the road from Sam's Town and they have free mobility scooters to use in store.

As myself and my daughter flew out 2 days before my hubby (he had work commitments) we combined the room offers so my daughter had her own room.

Rooms have safes, fridges (free) and coffee makers with coffee (free). Huge, revamped and upgraded, clean and spacious.

Sam's Town has free shuttles to the strip and downtown. We didn't use them this time as we hired a car.

We ate a lot at Sam's Town to use our credits up, food was fine and adequate, we obviously saved a huge amount. We tended to have breakfast then nothing until an evening meal.

Laughably on our final day a person handed my daughter three free buffet coupons as they said they couldn't use them.

We also discovered we had some accrued money to play with on our players cards, I had $57 and my hubby $38.

Enjoyed our stay and my daughter stayed by the pool and hot tub a lot. Not crowded whatsoever, small but adequate for what she wanted.

Dersert Rose, newly revamped and updated.

Lovely, had all the kitchen facilities, fridge, freezer, cooker, dishwasher, separate bedroom, sofa bed in living room which my daughter said was very comfortable. Balcony to sit out on.

Air con a bit loud but not a huge issue. Lovely bath products, coffee, popcorn, salt, pepper, cleaning stuff, dishwasher cleaner all provided for free.

There is a laundry room on site and it costs $1.25 for a washer and $1.25 for a dryer.

So all our washing done and dried for $2.50 total. The reception provides you with complimentary washing powder and dryer sheets.

Free parking.

Casinos we visited.

Sam's Town, The Cannery, Hooters, Tropicana, New York New York, Flamingo, Orleans, Ellis Island, Whiskey Petes (Primm) Primm casino, Red Rock, M resort, Silverton, Boulder Station, Southpoint, Excalibur, MGM and Mandalay Bay.

Paid Parking. We tried to get a 24 hour parking pass at Mandalay Bay, this didn't work and it was extremely confusing and unhelpful, we ended up paying $6 for 2 hours parking which wasn't what we wanted and there was no way to adjust this.

You have to place a credit card in the parking meter to get out although we had already done this at the parking meter in the casino entrance and it told us we had paid, so confusing.

My vegas rewards.

We used one and that was the Mandalay Bay Brunch reward. Nice but I felt a small buffet comparatively to other's I've been to in the past.
Breakfast items, pastries and prime rib, turkey and chicken, plus salads and some seafood, just prawns mainly.

Dessert station very small.

But it was free so can't complain.

Day's out:

Red Rock Canyon, spectacular, my daughter loved it.

Primm for mega discounts on shopping, much better than both the North and South Outlets, has Kate Spade, Coach, Michael Kors (daughters faves) and William's Sonoma (mine). Also Levi's (Hubbys).

You can see the seven magic mountains exhibit on the way back too.

Welder Up - for car fans and hotrod type creations. Bought t shirts for friends. Great free walk around the garage/barn, you have to sign a disclaimer though before going in.

Hobby Lobby and Michaels for me, great places for stationary and general creative stuff. Michaels has heavily discounted stuff, I bought quite a bit.

Car hire Avis, first time using them, joined Avis preferred, free to do online. Walked straight through to the booth in the car park, no lines or queuing picked the car up (Nissan something, huge boot) and off we went.

Temperatures - 104 one day and in the late 90's most of the time, we've never been in May before but loved the temperature. We all managed fine and stayed hydrated, it wasn't the issue I thought it would be however needed plenty of sun lotion, moisturiser and lip balm.

I think that's it for now if I remember anything else I'll add it in.

It was a different holiday for us as we're usually just a couple but to celebrate my half-century it was great. Already planning the next one.

Finally, Buffalo gold and Walking Dead thrashed me however at Silverton one night I saw (on a bank of four walking dead machines by the entrance) three of them hit the Walking Dead progressive one after the other, two hit for about $2000 plus and the other poor chap for around $600.

Love vegas.

hi
and thanks for the detailed feedback Triker!
I do like reading peoples trip reports to be nosy and to see if there were things i had missed-ideas of things to do in vegas!
seems you had fun !!:beer:

Seldom_Seen_Kid wrote: »

Nice trip report Triker.
We were sat in front of you on the way out.

Really...were you whom I talked to? From Ponte?:D