It's a California Adventure! (with added Las Vegas) Day 18

[Lizzybear]

Pre-trip
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17

4th October 2008

Had a lie in today (apparently the pace was catching up with us now!) before heading out to the Bellagio for brunch. We parked up then promptly got very confused trying to find the buffet, now I see what people mean about casinos!! I'll be honest, I know it gets rave reviews and it was certainly very nice but we didn't feel it lived up to the hype considering the fairly high cost (and we didn't have the champage, you pay extra for that!). Pros: The fabled mini desserts! and sushi. Cons: Some of the 'hot' food was cold and there were dirty plates on loads of the other tables which kind of lowered the tone a bit (yes it was busy but they were there for the whole time we were seated which was at least half an hour) Oh and they didn't refill our drinks either.

In the Bellagio's defense, they did have a nice fall themed flower dispaly

The famous dancing fountains, more photos of these in the next day's report

After brunch we walked to the New York New York, Excalibur and Luxor where we wasted $20 on the IMAX 'ride' which only lasted a few minutes, I think I queued for the tickets for longer!
To break the wordiness up a bit, some strip photos in no particular order...

 

[Lizzybear]

I have no idea what this is now but apparently I found it worthy of a photo at the time, sparkly!

Next we crossed over to visit the MGM Grand and see the lions, pretty amazing how the keepers just sit and lie in there with them!

From there we made our way to Planet Hollywood, stopping at the Hooters casino for a T-shirt (Steve collects them though we haven't eaten at any of the restaurants yet.. They also sold Hooters branding irons in there, scary!!) and Walgreens on the way for some drinks.

We spent a fair while wandering around the Miracle Mile shops: I got a Las Vegas bag charm which is apparently exclusive to that store for my mum and earrings for me from Brighton Collectibles and a pair of shorts from Build a Bear to match the Disneyland tee and ears I bought in Anaheim and me and Steve both got trainers from Journeys and T-shirts (plus some hairclips for me) from the Bettie Page shop, where we chatted for a while with another couple from the UK. They were both definite rockabilly/1950s types, loved their outfits! I recall being asked by someone if they could take a picture of my tattoos which would be the second time this hol, it's weird because I tend to forget they're even there a lot of the time as i've had them for a while now and have heard every type of comment about them! Now for some reason I had planned for us to eat at the Planet Hollywood buffet tonight, a case of my eyes being bigger than my stomach for sure as we weren't even close to being hungry enough so instead we walked back to the Bellagio and drove to to the Mandalay Bay (which wins the award for most confusing car park in Vegas!) to eat at the famous Burger Bar there. There was a 15 minute wait due to 2 huge groups but we were soon seated, I had an angus burger with avocado and monterey jack cheese and Steve had a veggie burger with a fried egg and cheese. As a side we shared, you guessed it, sweet potato fries!! A very nice meal indeed and definitely a place i'd recommend.. There is also a lovely looking sweet/chocolate shop next door (Chocolate Swan I think it's called) but we were all desserted out unfortunately, most unheard of for us! After dinner we drove back to the hotel to get ready for Penn & Teller. Conveniently for us they play at the Rio which is literally next door to our hotel so we walked over, picked up our tickets and made our way towards the auditorium. We had great seats in section SS (thanks Goldstar!) and the show started on time at 9pm and lasted for about an hour and 20 minutes. We both really enjoyed it, they did the bullet in the mouth, lady in half, fire eating, ball moving of it's own accord and psychic tricks amongst others. For Steve in particular it was one of the highlights of the trip as he's been a fan since his childhood. Just to conclude this day our first impressions of the strip: Mixed! As expected it was very tacky, even the posh hotels in our opinion (watch me get flamed now..!) Probably the only one i'd consider staying in would be Planet Hollywood. I'm not sure if it was just because we'd seen so many amazing natural and historic sights this holiday but we didn't find the strip all that spectacular, just like a more polished Blackpool really but with the same tacky souvenir shops. I must admit, though, the people on the whole were very nice and you can tell that a lot move here from California. Will we return? I'm not sure, but I can't see us rushing back. My post Disneyland sulk probably didn't help if i'm completely honest!

 

[natalielongstaff]

i would love to visit the Bellagio

 

[irongirlof12]

amazing photo's . I have never been, but i think it's one of those msut do, but might not need to do again places

 

[SusanEllen]

Good job with the photos, Lizzy (Steve?) You make Las Vegas look far more attractive than I ever imagined it to be.

Please, tell Steve that when we saw Penn & Teller at the Wilshire Theatre in LA 10 years ago we had the rare privilege of hearing Teller talk--that is, Scott did. At the beginning of the second half of the show Teller came down into the audience to get someone to participate in the next trick. Penn stayed on the stage doing his usual rapid fire banter. Scott was in an aisle seat and Teller leaned in and whispered in his ear, asking him if he'd like to be part of the act. Of course, Scott was the only person who heard Teller that night and one of the few who have ever heard him speak during a performance.

 

[mark&sue]

Lizzy very interesting report. I too liked Las Vegas but do not feel the need to rush back. thought it might be a good place for our DD Kirsty's 21st birthday but who knows. just not Disney I guess.


susan

 

[Lizzybear]

Good job with the photos, Lizzy (Steve?) You make Las Vegas look far more attractive than I ever imagined it to be.

Please, tell Steve that when we saw Penn & Teller at the Wilshire Theatre in LA 10 years ago we had the rare privilege of hearing Teller talk--that is, Scott did. At the beginning of the second half of the show Teller came down into the audience to get someone to participate in the next trick. Penn stayed on the stage doing his usual rapid fire banter. Scott was in an aisle seat and Teller leaned in and whispered in his ear, asking him if he'd like to be part of the act. Of course, Scott was the only person who heard Teller that night and one of the few who have ever heard him speak during a performance.

Yep they were all Steve, he was really coming into his own with the DSLR by this point What a great memory about Teller, I always wondered if he ever spoke to anyone during the shows.