NV - Las Vegas

[Katie H]

Glad you had a good time, bliss. We'll look forward to your extensive report. Get some rest.

 

[DramaQueen]

OMG am I tired. LOL, it was so fun. I'll be back to give a report on my first trip to vegas, after my feet have rested. I think city blocks are small compared to LV blocks. We even walked Christmas eve to the Ellis Island Casino for a dinner from the Strip, the taxi driver told us it was 2 blocks, lol, it was more like two miles. Mostly we ate in, at the condo, but, we just had a blast.

I'm so glad you had a good time. I would love to have met with you but you picked a week with a loaded schedule for me. I was hoping you were coming NEXT week.
I try to tell people to rent a car, that the blocks here an NOT like the blocks in your state. When a casino is "next door" to another one it means nearly 1/4 mile away. These properties are HUGE and you have to walk a long distance from the street to the door after you walk forever just to get to the next casino/hotel. The problem with that is not only tired feet but you've spent so much of your vacation time walking.
I've never been to Ellis Island but from what everyone says, they have the best bbq ribs in the whole state of Nevada. Locals eat there all the time.

Please update us on what you did and what you saw.

 

[DramaQueen]

Hey Girl, I live in Vegas, and it's really easy to get around, if you have a car. If you don't get a car I can tell you to get a bus pass for the day is only $5. All day on and off the busses on the strip. Also, there are great deals off the strip. For instance, Sunset Station, not far from the airport about 15 minutes, really nice. They have million dollar bingo, a great buffet and live entertainment. It's pretty cold now, so bring warm clothes. Go to the venetian and see the statues at the fountain. It's really amazing. Have fun!

Edye, I sent you a PM about your location. Did you get it?

 

[blissful]

Hey Edya and Drama Queen, sorry I missed you, but thank you for the thoughts! Here is the synopsis of the trip.
Las Vegas
This was my first trip to Vegas, so much of what I’m going to write about is everything I learned. Now that I have a feel for the city, I have half a clue of what to expect should I ever go back.
Food:
We didn’t eat out much, just the Ellis Island Casino and pizza at the Flamingo. Our food dollars were spent on food for the condo (yikes, the food prices were 40% more than WI food prices.) When you are at the grocery store, and not receiving discounts because you don’t have a ‘Von’s’ card, just tell the manager and she’ll give you the discount without applying for a card (saved us $25.) If I was a big spender, I’d try some buffets, some were very reasonably priced, and I saw a sushi place in one of the hotels that was $19.95 w/soup, all you can eat. If that is where you want to concentrate your spending, go for it, you have a million choices. Some of those choices are $100/plate, some are $10, and everything in between.
Lodging:
The condo was really nice, just up from Hooters and the MGM. We had a full kitchen, dining area, living room w/tv etc and couch and lounge, and a nice big bedroom. It was an easy jaunt to the strip. It was such a nice breather to be off the strip a little, a time to rest and we had complimentary breakfast, -ham, eggs, cereal, bagels, fruit, juices, coffee, and complimentary happy hour 5-7 pm, wine/beer/soda, snacks like veggies and cheese, chips and dip w/live music (bad music, bad enough to make you enjoy it and laugh.) We didn’t spend many breakfasts or happy hours at the condo, we wanted to see every hotel and casino that we could and with 6 days, we barely had enough time to accomplish that.
Shows:
We didn’t see shows this time, no time and we needed more time to plan. Two for one shows are available from the hotels, and you have ASK for discount tickets. There is a big (HUGE) coke bottle (4X on the strip), one near the MGM, that sells show tickets that day for under booked shows, half price and reduced prices. I’d look there or as many people suggested, book in advance.
Transportation:
We took a shuttle for $11/per person round trip from the airport to the condo (or anywhere on the strip.) That driver was great and answered so many of our questions.
The Deuce (bus) started from the MGM, and went right up to the old Las Vegas (Fremont Street), $2 one trip, or $5 for 24 hours, and stop anywhere on the way. It’s double decker and very convenient. We really enjoyed the Deuce, for people watching. Some of the bus driver’s were comedians!
There is also a free transport monorail type thing, between the Mandalay Bay and the Excalibur (Luxor is in between). That was really nice being able to go to three hotel/casinos without trekking, especially once we were tired of walking our feet off each day. (wear your tennis shoes) I was surprised people weren’t more dressed up each day, most wore jeans.
Car rental, we rented a car for two days at $19.00 per day from Dollar Car rental, so we could trek to Red Rock Canyon (which was beautiful.) I’d recommend going to Hoover Dam too, if you have the urge. Neither is far from Vegas and both are worth seeing.
Tipping:
Don’t forget to tip, and make sure you’ve cashed your $100’s or $20’s into $1’s so you can tip as appropriate. Many of the drivers and servers depend on good tipping for good service. Tip for your room service and tip for information.
We had this one waitress at the Paris, she gets some drinks for us, and we give her a dollar a drink, whether it’s alcohol or just diet coke/pepsi, and then she shows up 30 seconds later (yes seconds) labeling us ‘slow sippers’, which just made us laugh. She must have checked on us 4 times in an hour and a half, very personable. I think she was on a hydration mission. Sometimes the personality of the server makes the night/day. And it is tough to tell if it is day or night in a gaming hall, with no clocks and no windows. Sometimes we lost track of the time and stayed longer than we intended. We intended to see as much as possible!
Hotels/Casinos:
We tried to see as many of these as we could.
We couldn’t see them all but we made a good effort.
Hooters (promotions are misleading)
Von’s grocery (yes gambling at grocery stores!)
McCarren Airport (yes gambling there too)
Tropicana
MGM Grand (at least 3 times)
Ellis Island (nice odds)
Mandalay Bay (classy, everything was so nicely spread out)
Luxor
New York NewYork(easy to maneuver)
Harrahs
Bellagio (fountains/ lights/ music, very inspiring)
Paris (beautiful ceilings friendly staff)
Flamingo (not as modernized)
Mirage (nice statues on outside, easy to get lost)
Venetian (beautifully painted ceilings)
Wynn (nice, we went back twice, the Encore opened that night, twin tower)
Pioneer (Fremont Street)
Binions (Fremont Street)
Golden Nugget (Fremont street, odds were great, I won)
Excalibur (slight let down from advertising)
Fremont Street is great. The casinos and stores turn off all their lights and then they start a music and light show on the canopy, it’s great!
We averaged 3.5 casinos per day, and we discovered there was even more to see.
The one thing that really surprised me was that each gaming hall probably had less machines than the WI Dells Ho Chunk casino. I’m not saying the odds were better or worse but hearing about Las Vegas for so long, I thought the gaming halls were going to be bigger. (Ho-chunk in WI has 2400 slot machines.) (The MGM has 2600 slot machines, but, I’m thinking, hey, this is VEGAS.) thought there would be many more compared to our local Indian reservations. Live and learn.
We were surprised at the number of foreign visitors, 9 out of 10, and they didn’t speak English. With the Economy the way it is, the Asians and French were in the lead.

It was a great trip overall, lots to see, lots to learn, fun!

 

[petey]

Hey Girl, I live in Vegas, and it's really easy to get around, if you have a car. If you don't get a car I can tell you to get a bus pass for the day is only $5. All day on and off the busses on the strip. Also, there are great deals off the strip. For instance, Sunset Station, not far from the airport about 15 minutes, really nice. They have million dollar bingo, a great buffet and live entertainment. It's pretty cold now, so bring warm clothes. Go to the venetian and see the statues at the fountain. It's really amazing. Have fun!

Hi, I was just in Vegas last month for my birthday. We stayed at my dad's house in Henderson and rented a car to get around. We went to several buffets and were not impressed with any of them. I mean they were ok.....but that was the extent of it. We went to Arizona Charlie's and Green Valley Ranch in Henderson.....off the top of my head that's all i can think of. I prefer one really good plate of food.

P.S. we're trying to relocate to Vegas/Henderson soon.

 

[DramaQueen]

Hi, I was just in Vegas last month for my birthday. We stayed at my dad's house in Henderson and rented a car to get around. We went to several buffets and were not impressed with any of them. I mean they were ok.....but that was the extent of it. We went to Arizona Charlie's and Green Valley Ranch in Henderson.....off the top of my head that's all i can think of. I prefer one really good plate of food.

P.S. we're trying to relocate to Vegas/Henderson soon.

If you ate at the buffets in Arizona Charlie's amd Green Valley Ranch, you ate at two of the worst places in town. Even the locals won't eat at GVR. Too bad you didn't try the buffets on the Strip. They are far, far better but the prices are higher. You get what you pay for. PM me and tell me where in Henderson you are thinking of locating.

 

[Poppinfresh]

Lodging:
The condo was really nice, just up from Hooters and the MGM.

Wait, were you staying at the Desert Rose behind the Hooters? One of my best friends is the GM of that place :P.

 

[Poppinfresh]

If you ate at the buffets in Arizona Charlie's amd Green Valley Ranch, you ate at two of the worst places in town. Even the locals won't eat at GVR. Too bad you didn't try the buffets on the Strip. They are far, far better but the prices are higher. You get what you pay for. PM me and tell me where in Henderson you are thinking of locating.

Well I can't speak for the buffet (I don't do buffets), but the GVR does have at least one very good restaurant in it. I can't recall the name, but it's the one that Rock from Hell's Kitchen took over.

 

[blissful]

Wait, were you staying at the Desert Rose behind the Hooters? One of my best friends is the GM of that place :P.

bingo, nice place!

 

[Poppinfresh]

bingo, nice place!

See? You shoulda spoke up. I coulda got you some screaming comps :P. And yeah, it's quite nice. They just got done with a 4 year remodeling project. It really turned out well. That joint was actually pretty rough when they bought it from Hawthorne.

So are you a time share owner there or were you a walk-in?

 

[petey]

Vivaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....Las Vegas! I miss Las Vegas.........By the Way. Due to the crappy economy The Venetian has rooms at $30 per night.

 

[Poppinfresh]

Vivaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....Las Vegas! I miss Las Vegas.........By the Way. Due to the crappy economy The Venetian has rooms at $30 per night.

Where's the link for THAT? They've been sending me a lot of emails with discounted rates lately (for obvious reasons) but they never sent me anything saying 30 bucks. I know most strip casinos are just about giving their rooms away at this point (I won't bore you with the numbers--I just find it interesting cause, like I said, one of my best friends runs a resort there), but that's a new one to my ears. I wanna see a link so I can book a couple trips :P

 

[petey]

Where's the link for THAT? They've been sending me a lot of emails with discounted rates lately (for obvious reasons) but they never sent me anything saying 30 bucks. I know most strip casinos are just about giving their rooms away at this point (I won't bore you with the numbers--I just find it interesting cause, like I said, one of my best friends runs a resort there), but that's a new one to my ears. I wanna see a link so I can book a couple trips :P

Where online to find I dont know. It seen it on the local New York News channel about two weeks ago.

 

[DramaQueen]

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a very slow period on the Strip so there are some very good deals to be had. Once Christmas Day arrives people start flocking to Vegas and all the rates go up. However, due to the economy, you might still be able to get some very good room rates, but, YOU HAVE TO ASK FOR THEM. Try to call the hotels directly, you can get much better prices from the front desk than you can from online bookings. The reservations people will NOT volunteer the best rates, you must ask. You'd be surprised what you get from going direct and asking. Forget that the phone call will cost you fifty cents. You'll save much more in the long run. TALK, they're willing to listen.

Google the name of the hotel, Las Vegas NV. The hotel website will always give you the reservations number.

 

[qmax]

Aside froom the fact that Las Vegas has long been considered the most exciting city in the world, there are more 4 star restaurants and 4 star chefs than any city in the world, the shows are first class and there are probably just short of 100 show venues, the hotels spend billions outdoing each other, and the electricity in Vegas is something you'll never forget, I guess you're right. There is nothing there.

I'll agree that there are probably more 4 star restaurants in Las Vegas than anywhere else, and there are great shows. That said, I would much rather go to New York or London than swallow the cheese, phoniness and the totally tacky tourists that overwhelm Las Vegas.

As it is, I have family In in Henderson, and have been there numerous times. In spite of that, I go there only under duress. It is about last on my list of places I would want to visit.

 

[petey]

I'll agree that there are probably more 4 star restaurants in Las Vegas than anywhere else, and there are great shows. That said, I would much rather go to New York or London than swallow the cheese, phoniness and the totally tacky tourists that overwhelm Las Vegas.

As it is, I have family In in Henderson, and have been there numerous times. In spite of that, I go there only under duress. It is about last on my list of places I would want to visit.

I know what you mean about the whole feeling of being in a tourist trap. I'm actually going back there in a few weeks to visit my dad for fathers day. He too lives in Henderson. I plan on seeing the sites outside of town such as taking a trip to the top ofo Mt. Charleston, Red Rock Canyon, & the valley of fire. That being said, i'll more than likely end up in Vegas itself one day .

Cheers, Petey

 

[blissful]

So are you a time share owner there or were you a walk-in?

Just a walk in!
Oh I must have missed your reply.
It was a really really nice place to stay, with the kitchen I could cook everyday and it was close to the strip.

 

[LilSarah]

I'm thinking about visiting LV in a couple of months and was wondering if anyone has tried Wolfang Puck's restaurant yet because that one would be on my list if it's worth the money.

 

[petey]

I'm thinking about visiting LV in a couple of months and was wondering if anyone has tried Wolfang Puck's restaurant yet because that one would be on my list if it's worth the money.

I myself havent eaten there.......My suggestion is to do a google search for reviews and then if satisfactory plan to make reservations ahead of time.

Make sure to get back to us and let us know about your culinary experiences in Vegas

 

[stylymmir]

Thanks so much 4 sharing with us,bros