Tips for long weekend in Vegas

The Coffee Shop
1

For my wife’s birthday surprising her with a long weekend in Vegas for a surprise.
Looking for any tips/tricks/advice.
I was there in 2011 for LC worlds so I was racing and not doing the whole vegas thing.
She has been there several times but its been a few years.

The few details I’ve been able to get out of her from talking to her, without giving it away to her, and other details for the trip are:

We are flying out of Pittsburgh hopefully early Friday Nov 28th, and coming back Monday December 1st. I know its a bad weekend to travel right after thanksgiving but its her birthday and she will be on break from getting her BSN in nursing.

We plan on not renting a car and just taking taxi/shuttle to and from airport. She really wants to stay on the strip.

Questions are: Hotels to avoid/ones that are better than expected. Best hotels for clubs/night life, maybe a good show to see, best deals for gambling (she likes blackjack and so do I), best hotels for comps etc…

Right now looking at various websites such as bookit.com I’m leaning towards Mandalay Bay, MGM or Luxor. Treasure Island is also a possibility. That is based solely on price vs comments and reviews online. I’m also signing up for the various casino/hotel rewards programs and email lists as someone told me that is a good way to learn of specials.

Basically, looking for anyone with Vegas experience to offer some insight and or tips/tricks to help get the best bang for the buck.

2

Crazy Horse.

3

Crazy Horse.

Yes, we will be going there!

4

Fly Away is pretty cool.

5

Recent trips:

Venetian - nice rooms
Planet Hollywood - Avg rooms and they ding you for everything especially the pool area
Trump- very nice room, kind of far away
Treasure Island/Excaliber - dumps
Aria - very nice place and great rooms

We always go to the piano bar at New York. Just love that place.

We like this restaurant, but I’m not a fancy person. Just good food and a huge menu http://www.grandluxcafe.com/

A friend of mine just came back. He is an aging rocker like me and said they saw the Donnie and Marie show and claimed it was one of the best he’s ever seen.

6

<<Looking for any tips/tricks/advice>>

Tricks are a dime a dozen in Vegas, that’s why there are so many hookers :slight_smile:

I like staying at the Bellagio. Have stayed at Mandalay Bay also and it’s very nice, though less centrally located than the Bellagio. I avoid Treasure Island, Excalibur and New York New York. The rooftop bar at THE Hotel (associated with Mandalay Bay) is a great place to have a drink at sunset - beautiful view down the Strip.

In terms of shows, I have seen Penn & Teller a couple times, always enjoyed them. The Michael Jackson show is rumored to be excellent, though I have not seen it. The couple Circque du Soleil shows I’ve seen have been pretty enjoyable.

I don’t really gamble so can’t make recommendations on that front.

7

Any of the major strip hotels will be reasonably nice and not too expensive. Rooms are generally on the cheap side, because they know they’ll make money on alcohol, food, and gambling. That said, the more “themed” the hotel, the less nice. Treasure Island, Excalibur, Luxor, etc are generally not as nice as Mandalay, Belaggio, Venetian, etc.

For shows, it depends on what you like, but you can’t really go wrong with one of the Cirque du Soleil shows.

If you plan to stay on/near the strip, no rental car should be fine. You can walk everywhere.

For gambling, you can always walk down the strip a bit and gamble at the second tier casinos where they have lower table stakes, looser slots, etc. You don’t have to give it all away in the top tier hotels.

Unless you plan to gamble a lot, I wouldn’t count on comps, but that’s just based on my experience, and I’m not a huge gambler.

8

Just went for a conference 6 weeks ago. Stayed at the Venetian. It was nice, got a good room upgrade for a $20 tip to the desk guy. They have a nice pool, the gym was good (if a place has a squat rack, I’m happy), and there’s a big mall with a Venice-themed canal with boat rides and all of that. All the stores are expensive, but your wife may enjoy looking around. Lots of good food to be had within the hotel and attached shopping. It was pretty central. Overall it was very clean, and not too many screwballs.Treasure Island is right across the road- it’s a bit more raucous, a bit rundown, and the folks over there are a bit rougher.

9

Any of the major strip hotels will be reasonably nice and not too expensive. Rooms are generally on the cheap side, because they know they’ll make money on alcohol, food, and gambling. That said, the more “themed” the hotel, the less nice. Treasure Island, Excalibur, Luxor, etc are generally not as nice as Mandalay, Belaggio, Venetian, etc.

For shows, it depends on what you like, but you can’t really go wrong with one of the Cirque du Soleil shows.

If you plan to stay on/near the strip, no rental car should be fine. You can walk everywhere.

For gambling, you can always walk down the strip a bit and gamble at the second tier casinos where they have lower table stakes, looser slots, etc. You don’t have to give it all away in the top tier hotels.

Unless you plan to gamble a lot, I wouldn’t count on comps, but that’s just based on my experience, and I’m not a huge gambler.

SG is spot on.

The Cirque show at Bellagio is spectacular.

The buffet at Bellagio on Friday night is a real treat, they have a wide variety of foods, many of which you wouldn’t think of, quality for a buffet and not unreasonable, the negative of that is the long line. There are line passes that can be had that will save an hour or two, I use to get them from the poker room manager.

Without a car you will and may not be interested in the Nevada or Arizona Hot Springs, a truly unique experience and that is a good time of the year for that hike.

Have fun.

10

One thing my wife and I did was take a dinner cruise on lake Mead. They pick you up and drop you off. It was a very good dinner.

11

Water, more than you’d usually drink.

If you’re at the tables and enjoying the complimentary booze, have one of their 8oz bottles of water with every other drink.

If you’re outside strolling around, water not booze.

The alcohol dehydrates, and the desert dehydrates, it’s a double whammy.

Learned this lesson the hard way.

Any MGM property is going to be a nice place. I like New York, New York.

12

For booking hotels, try hotwire or priceline to compare with current deals. You can use betterbidding.com to help narrow down the potential hotel. I don’t think you can go wrong with a 5 star. Sometimes this works, other times, online direct deals are better.

When checking in, there’s the $20 sandwich trick: $20 bill between your credit card and ID. Some say it works, others say you can just ask and save $20. It worked for me. Went from a room to a suite. YMMV.

13

Red Rock canyon for a quick hike or just drive through the 13 mile loop. China town in Vegas has a lot of great places to eat, cheaper than the strip and better food in my opinion.

14

Hookers and blow?

15

Been a couple years but Mandalay Bay was nice as far as the room and pool. Also the casino there was very nice and not like what you’d find in some of the seedier ones on Fremont or even Luxor/Excalibur.
If you do the Bellagio buffet make sure to get a line pass, it was a pretty good buffet but the line was terribly long.
Watched Ka (Cirque show) and that was very impressive. They have a huge moving stage/screen that blows your mind.
If she is a thrill seeker you might want to try some of the rides on the Stratosphere. I did the Sky Jump and while it was pretty cool during the day it would be awesome at night with the strip lit up before you.

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Looking for … best bang for the buck.

slowguy?

17

Mrs. Tropic and I stayed at the Luxor a while back and really liked it.

If possible, go see the Blue Man Group if it is still at the Venetian. It is really good/funny/entertaining. Just don’t show up to it late…

18

Stayed at Encore in May. it is an awesome hotel with very pimp suites. But it’s on the farther end of the strip about a mile away from the real action. You shouldn’t need a rental. Tell the cabbie to avoid the strip and take the highway route- it’ll save you some dollars and since you’re landing in the daytime the strip isn’t as eye-mazing.

The Cosmopolitan hotel had some cool bars and we ate a restaurant with a 3-story wine rack either there or in NY NY. Very cool place. Veneitian is a cool place too but it gets really crowded.

Enjoy!

19

I go twice a year - a Summer trip with my wife and a Fall work/board meeting. My wife and I want to be at the pools, go to shows, hit the nightlife so for that we stay at Mandalay Bay in the summer- (can’t beat the Morreau Beach Club). The work trip is golf, gambling/sports book, and nice dining. We stay at Monte Carlo for that trip. Both properties are MGM branded and about equal in room quality without any upgrades.

Both of these are at the South end of the strip, which is a bit more wallet friendly. The Monte Carlo is connected to Aria and from their lobby to the City Centre shopping (very high end) via walkway. But you are then humping it on foot to Caesar’s, Bellagio, Venetian and the Wynn (all more upscale properties) further up the Strip. Also the tram from MGM takes you to Bally’s (or further if you want) and then can cross over to Caesars etc. So unless you are planning on getting off the strip for activities, I would not get a car as you can take a shuttle or taxi’s from the airport and between resorts and Freemont Street if you want to avoid trams or walking.

As for shows, the Cirque shows are hit and miss IMO. “O” and “Mystere” are great. “Ka” and the rest meh. Although we have been to Zumanity twice and it was well worth it (get a couch in the front if you can). Also we just went to “Absynthe” at Caesar’s and were impressed with it.

Restaurants - well you can’t go wrong with all the celebrity chefs having restaurants on the strip now. It really depends on what cuisine you want and how much your willing to spend. Off strip Michaels at South Pointe (technically its the strip but way south of the airport) is one of the best steakhouses in Las Vegas but spendy. We found a great place that is much more budget friendly called Hugo’s Cellar in the Four Queens (Freemont Street) and now its a must do every time we go.

As for the strip clubs - no comment :wink:

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If you aren’t in a big hurry to get around on the strip a bus pass isn’t bad either, at least during the day. At night it is more crowded and makes more stops.