Chicago526
<font color=red>Any dream will do...<br><font colo
- Joined
- May 6, 2003
- Messages
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For all those interested, here's how our Vegas trip went this past weekend!
Trip Report: Las Vegas July 2004.
My boyfriend Tim and I left home about 8:45 AM on Thursday for a 3 night mini-vacation to Las Vegas. We dropped off the dog at the kennel (or doggy jail as Tim calls it) and made our way to O'Hare, parking in the economy lot. We took the airport tram to Terminal One to check-in for our noon flight. We got our boarding passes, checked our bag, and went through security. Since we were so early, we grabbed a bite to eat at Chili's before heading to the gate. The flight left on time. This was a Ted flight, United's new low-cost airline. The only difference I noticed was that there is no first class section and you buy your meals (they offered a sandwich, salad, candy bars, chips and cookies). Otherwise, it's just like United. The flight was uneventful, and we landed a little early in Vegas. The hotel we stayed at, the Paris Las Vegas, has a little office just outside baggage claim where you can check-in for your room (you get your room keys and everything!) so I did that while Tim watched for the bag to come off the carousel. We met up and got a cab to take us to the hotel (the fare was $11).
The Paris is a wonderful hotel! The location is perfect, right across from the Bellagio and Caesars, and next door to the Aladdin and Bally's. The French theming is very good throughout the hotel, with most of the shops and several of the restaurants located on a very pretty and nicely detailed faux Paris boulevard, complete with cobble stones! There are several "living" statues (actors in full make-up poising as statues along the street, moving every so often to the delight of passers-by). The staff was always pleasant and helpful, though a few seemed a bit rushed, none were rude or abrupt in anyway.
The room is large and nicely decorated, it feels elegant without being stuffy (the whole hotel feels this way), and the king bed was comfortable. We had a very partial view of the fountains at the Bellagio across the street, even though the room wasn't officially a "fountain view". The marble bath is huge, with a shower separate from the tub (the tub is a little shallow though, but we didn't care as we didn't use it). The sink area has plenty of counter space, and the mirrors are fog-free. The maid service was good, the room was always clean. One day the maid even laid out my hair brushes on a towel on the sink in the bathroom. We always left a few dollars as a tip, and upon check out left a tip and a few candies from the stash I had brought with me for the trip. These ladies work hard at a job most of us would never do, and I always like to show my appreciation.
Once we got to our room (by passing the long line in the lobby to check-in as we already had our keys) and settled in, we headed down for a bite to eat, then hit the casino's. We played the slots in Paris for a little while, and then tried Bally's (next door to the Paris and connected to it, so we didn't even have to go out side). We then walked across the street to Caesar's, stopping to watch the fountain show at the Bellagio along the way. We played some more at the Caesar's casino, then we explored the Forum Shops there. The forum shops are essentially a shopping mall, with mostly high end retailers. We watched a fountain show inside the Forum shops (it a fountain that springs animatronic "gods" out every hour, they fight it out and destroying Atlantis in a big show of water and fire, complete with a fire breathing dragon). After the show, the "gods" disappear back into the fountain, turning it back into a regular fountain you'd find in any mall. After that, we ate dinner at a Mexican place in the mall, La Salsa. I didn't care for the food too much, but Tim did. They do have very good margaritas, though. We gambled our way back to the hotel and went to bed.
Rather than putting the restaurant reviews in with the rest of the report, I'll pause here to write about the restaurants in the hotel. We ate at 4 of the hotels restaurants during our stay, the Village Buffet, the Le Cafe, and the Artistes Steakhouse. The Chinese restaurant, Ah Sin, was very good, serving traditional Chinese dishes, and the also have a sushi bar. The Buffet was by far the best. We had breakfast there each morning, and though a little pricey compared to other Vegas buffets, the extra cost was worth it as they have very good quality food that you'd actually want to eat. They had made to order eggs, omelets and crepes, and plenty of fruit, pastry, danish, cheese, yogurt, sausage, bacon, and anything else you can think of for breakfast. The cheese is especially good! Le Cafe was also good overall, especially the service. The only down side was the prime rib, it was a bit tough. The Steakhouse was also excellent, but for the price paid, my filet miniogn was again a little dry (very tender though). The Paris seems to have a problem with either getting good quality beef, or doesn't know how to prepare it. Tim had the lemon pepper chicken, and said it was excellent, and we both loved the chocolate mouse desert. We also ate at a counter service place at the Paris that serves freshly made crepes, filled with chocolate, fruit, or other fillings good for either lunch or desert. The are fantastic, and if you stay (or visit) the Paris, you MUST try them!
We left the hotel room at about 8:30 on Friday morning and headed down for breakfast. We then took the new Las Vegas monorail to the Las Vegas Hilton near the convention center. Tim is a closet Star Trek fan, and the Hilton is the home of the Star Trek Experience, which are two Star Trek themed attractions, a bar and restaurant themed after one featured on Deep Space Nine, and a rather large gift shop. The Hilton was hosting a Star Trek convention, and we saw many fans dressed up as there favorite character or alien, many being very detailed, realistic renditions. We did both attractions, one was a 4D movie, the other a motion simulator ride. The audience for both is treated to a "pre-show" that sets up the particular movie/ride that features live actors that help set the stage of the attraction by putting the audience "in the show". It's hard to explain, but anyone that enjoys the t.v. shows or the movies will get a kick out of the whole thing (For Tim, it was the highlight of the trip!) and even though I'm not a fan of the show, I had a good time, too. After we did the attractions, we had a few drinks and an bite to eat at Quarks Bar. After, we tried out a few slot machines, but not winning anything, headed back to the monorail. Instead of getting off at our hotel, we rode it all the way to the south end of the strip, and got off at the MGM Grand. We walked back to our hotel, exploring the strip along the way. We got cleaned up and headed to dinner at Le Café, then headed back out to the Strip. We walked south on the side of the street we didn't cover during the day, all the way down to the Excalibur hotel and the Luxor. We poked around those two hotels for a while (Tim always wanted to see the Luxor's pyramid shaped hotel) before heading all the way back (the monorail stops running at mid-night so we had to walk back as it was 1 AM by this time). We got back to the Paris and crashed for the night.
Saturday morning we slept in a little more, but still made it out of the room by 8:45 AM, eating breakfast at the buffet again. We spent the morning losing our money to Caesar's before heading back to the Paris for some time by the pool. The pool area is nice, with drink and food service nearby, plenty of pool chairs, a few cabana's, and a great view of the Paris's half scale mock up of the Eiffel Tower. We spent about an hour or so soaking up the Nevada sun, then headed back to the room to get cleaned up. We then decided, quite at the last minute, to have dinner at the hotel's steakhouse and see the show Jubilee. I called for reservations at the restaurant and to purchase the show tickets. Since dinner wasn't until 8, we headed back down to Le Café for a bit to eat, then back to the room for a nap. We got ready for dinner and headed down.
After a nice, leisurely dinner at the steakhouse, it was time to head over to the 10:30 PM show at Bally's. Jubilee is a typical Vegas showgirl review, with plenty of beautiful feathered costumes (mostly topless). The dancing and singing were very good, and the smaller acts like the Chinese acrobats and the jugglers were also very good. We paid $69 per person, and even though we were all the way over to one side (due to booking at the last minute) our seats were excellent and we could see everything just fine. Don't get the table seats up front, it's too close to the stage and the drink service (and higher ticket price) isn't worth having to crane your neck up at the stage for 1 and ½ hours. After the show, we headed straight to bed.
Sunday morning we headed down to the lobby to make sure we had a late check-out since our flight wasn't until 5:30, and they let us keep the room. We then went to have breakfast one last time at the buffet. The previous two mornings we were seated right away but this time there was a huge line of people waiting. Fortunately we had gotten front of the line passes at the slot club desk the day before (more on the slot club in a moment) so we didn't have to wait for a table. We then went over to Caesar's to try one last time to win some money. We were both down for the trip and wanted to win our money back, if we could. And I did! I put my last $10 in a dollar slot machine and hit it on the first pull for $250, almost the whole amount I'd lost over the past 3 days. Tim unfortunately, did not win that day. At about 1 PM, we headed back to the hotel to pack our bags. We then went down to the slot club to redeem our slot points for a credit towards our hotel stay.
The slot club is a way for the casino to track your slot play, so they can give you free stuff (the free stuff is called comps). The longer you play and the more you bet, the more points you earn for free stuff and points towards a cash back rebate. When you sign up (for free), they give you a little card that you put into each slot machine you play, and it keeps track of what you're doing. At the end of the trip, you go back to the slot club desk, and they'll give you a comp voucher good for a dollar amount you can put towards your hotel bill. You can also get cash back, but I only had 7 points, you need 10 before you can redeem them. The voucher was good for $68. I also got a free t-shirt with the Paris hotel logo and the front of the line buffet pass when I signed up. So I got $68 knocked off the bill just for doing something I was going to do anyway, which was play the slot machines!
We check out at the front desk, grab a cab back to the airport ($11 for the cab again), check-in, check the bag, had lunch, cleared security, and got to the gate about 1 and 1/2 hours prior to flight time. The flight wound up delayed by just over an hour though, so instead of leaving at 5:30, we didn't take off until almost 6:45. We landed at 12 midnight, claimed our bag, got the car out of hock ($53 for 4 days, yikes!) and arrived home at about 1:30 AM. The dog, incase you were wondering, was picked up from the kennel (or as Tim said, sprung from doggy jail) on Monday morning.
Overall, we had a great trip. The only down note was not hitting the jackpot and being able to quit our jobs upon returning home. Oh well, maybe next time!
Trip Report: Las Vegas July 2004.
My boyfriend Tim and I left home about 8:45 AM on Thursday for a 3 night mini-vacation to Las Vegas. We dropped off the dog at the kennel (or doggy jail as Tim calls it) and made our way to O'Hare, parking in the economy lot. We took the airport tram to Terminal One to check-in for our noon flight. We got our boarding passes, checked our bag, and went through security. Since we were so early, we grabbed a bite to eat at Chili's before heading to the gate. The flight left on time. This was a Ted flight, United's new low-cost airline. The only difference I noticed was that there is no first class section and you buy your meals (they offered a sandwich, salad, candy bars, chips and cookies). Otherwise, it's just like United. The flight was uneventful, and we landed a little early in Vegas. The hotel we stayed at, the Paris Las Vegas, has a little office just outside baggage claim where you can check-in for your room (you get your room keys and everything!) so I did that while Tim watched for the bag to come off the carousel. We met up and got a cab to take us to the hotel (the fare was $11).
The Paris is a wonderful hotel! The location is perfect, right across from the Bellagio and Caesars, and next door to the Aladdin and Bally's. The French theming is very good throughout the hotel, with most of the shops and several of the restaurants located on a very pretty and nicely detailed faux Paris boulevard, complete with cobble stones! There are several "living" statues (actors in full make-up poising as statues along the street, moving every so often to the delight of passers-by). The staff was always pleasant and helpful, though a few seemed a bit rushed, none were rude or abrupt in anyway.
The room is large and nicely decorated, it feels elegant without being stuffy (the whole hotel feels this way), and the king bed was comfortable. We had a very partial view of the fountains at the Bellagio across the street, even though the room wasn't officially a "fountain view". The marble bath is huge, with a shower separate from the tub (the tub is a little shallow though, but we didn't care as we didn't use it). The sink area has plenty of counter space, and the mirrors are fog-free. The maid service was good, the room was always clean. One day the maid even laid out my hair brushes on a towel on the sink in the bathroom. We always left a few dollars as a tip, and upon check out left a tip and a few candies from the stash I had brought with me for the trip. These ladies work hard at a job most of us would never do, and I always like to show my appreciation.
Once we got to our room (by passing the long line in the lobby to check-in as we already had our keys) and settled in, we headed down for a bite to eat, then hit the casino's. We played the slots in Paris for a little while, and then tried Bally's (next door to the Paris and connected to it, so we didn't even have to go out side). We then walked across the street to Caesar's, stopping to watch the fountain show at the Bellagio along the way. We played some more at the Caesar's casino, then we explored the Forum Shops there. The forum shops are essentially a shopping mall, with mostly high end retailers. We watched a fountain show inside the Forum shops (it a fountain that springs animatronic "gods" out every hour, they fight it out and destroying Atlantis in a big show of water and fire, complete with a fire breathing dragon). After the show, the "gods" disappear back into the fountain, turning it back into a regular fountain you'd find in any mall. After that, we ate dinner at a Mexican place in the mall, La Salsa. I didn't care for the food too much, but Tim did. They do have very good margaritas, though. We gambled our way back to the hotel and went to bed.
Rather than putting the restaurant reviews in with the rest of the report, I'll pause here to write about the restaurants in the hotel. We ate at 4 of the hotels restaurants during our stay, the Village Buffet, the Le Cafe, and the Artistes Steakhouse. The Chinese restaurant, Ah Sin, was very good, serving traditional Chinese dishes, and the also have a sushi bar. The Buffet was by far the best. We had breakfast there each morning, and though a little pricey compared to other Vegas buffets, the extra cost was worth it as they have very good quality food that you'd actually want to eat. They had made to order eggs, omelets and crepes, and plenty of fruit, pastry, danish, cheese, yogurt, sausage, bacon, and anything else you can think of for breakfast. The cheese is especially good! Le Cafe was also good overall, especially the service. The only down side was the prime rib, it was a bit tough. The Steakhouse was also excellent, but for the price paid, my filet miniogn was again a little dry (very tender though). The Paris seems to have a problem with either getting good quality beef, or doesn't know how to prepare it. Tim had the lemon pepper chicken, and said it was excellent, and we both loved the chocolate mouse desert. We also ate at a counter service place at the Paris that serves freshly made crepes, filled with chocolate, fruit, or other fillings good for either lunch or desert. The are fantastic, and if you stay (or visit) the Paris, you MUST try them!
We left the hotel room at about 8:30 on Friday morning and headed down for breakfast. We then took the new Las Vegas monorail to the Las Vegas Hilton near the convention center. Tim is a closet Star Trek fan, and the Hilton is the home of the Star Trek Experience, which are two Star Trek themed attractions, a bar and restaurant themed after one featured on Deep Space Nine, and a rather large gift shop. The Hilton was hosting a Star Trek convention, and we saw many fans dressed up as there favorite character or alien, many being very detailed, realistic renditions. We did both attractions, one was a 4D movie, the other a motion simulator ride. The audience for both is treated to a "pre-show" that sets up the particular movie/ride that features live actors that help set the stage of the attraction by putting the audience "in the show". It's hard to explain, but anyone that enjoys the t.v. shows or the movies will get a kick out of the whole thing (For Tim, it was the highlight of the trip!) and even though I'm not a fan of the show, I had a good time, too. After we did the attractions, we had a few drinks and an bite to eat at Quarks Bar. After, we tried out a few slot machines, but not winning anything, headed back to the monorail. Instead of getting off at our hotel, we rode it all the way to the south end of the strip, and got off at the MGM Grand. We walked back to our hotel, exploring the strip along the way. We got cleaned up and headed to dinner at Le Café, then headed back out to the Strip. We walked south on the side of the street we didn't cover during the day, all the way down to the Excalibur hotel and the Luxor. We poked around those two hotels for a while (Tim always wanted to see the Luxor's pyramid shaped hotel) before heading all the way back (the monorail stops running at mid-night so we had to walk back as it was 1 AM by this time). We got back to the Paris and crashed for the night.
Saturday morning we slept in a little more, but still made it out of the room by 8:45 AM, eating breakfast at the buffet again. We spent the morning losing our money to Caesar's before heading back to the Paris for some time by the pool. The pool area is nice, with drink and food service nearby, plenty of pool chairs, a few cabana's, and a great view of the Paris's half scale mock up of the Eiffel Tower. We spent about an hour or so soaking up the Nevada sun, then headed back to the room to get cleaned up. We then decided, quite at the last minute, to have dinner at the hotel's steakhouse and see the show Jubilee. I called for reservations at the restaurant and to purchase the show tickets. Since dinner wasn't until 8, we headed back down to Le Café for a bit to eat, then back to the room for a nap. We got ready for dinner and headed down.
After a nice, leisurely dinner at the steakhouse, it was time to head over to the 10:30 PM show at Bally's. Jubilee is a typical Vegas showgirl review, with plenty of beautiful feathered costumes (mostly topless). The dancing and singing were very good, and the smaller acts like the Chinese acrobats and the jugglers were also very good. We paid $69 per person, and even though we were all the way over to one side (due to booking at the last minute) our seats were excellent and we could see everything just fine. Don't get the table seats up front, it's too close to the stage and the drink service (and higher ticket price) isn't worth having to crane your neck up at the stage for 1 and ½ hours. After the show, we headed straight to bed.
Sunday morning we headed down to the lobby to make sure we had a late check-out since our flight wasn't until 5:30, and they let us keep the room. We then went to have breakfast one last time at the buffet. The previous two mornings we were seated right away but this time there was a huge line of people waiting. Fortunately we had gotten front of the line passes at the slot club desk the day before (more on the slot club in a moment) so we didn't have to wait for a table. We then went over to Caesar's to try one last time to win some money. We were both down for the trip and wanted to win our money back, if we could. And I did! I put my last $10 in a dollar slot machine and hit it on the first pull for $250, almost the whole amount I'd lost over the past 3 days. Tim unfortunately, did not win that day. At about 1 PM, we headed back to the hotel to pack our bags. We then went down to the slot club to redeem our slot points for a credit towards our hotel stay.
The slot club is a way for the casino to track your slot play, so they can give you free stuff (the free stuff is called comps). The longer you play and the more you bet, the more points you earn for free stuff and points towards a cash back rebate. When you sign up (for free), they give you a little card that you put into each slot machine you play, and it keeps track of what you're doing. At the end of the trip, you go back to the slot club desk, and they'll give you a comp voucher good for a dollar amount you can put towards your hotel bill. You can also get cash back, but I only had 7 points, you need 10 before you can redeem them. The voucher was good for $68. I also got a free t-shirt with the Paris hotel logo and the front of the line buffet pass when I signed up. So I got $68 knocked off the bill just for doing something I was going to do anyway, which was play the slot machines!
We check out at the front desk, grab a cab back to the airport ($11 for the cab again), check-in, check the bag, had lunch, cleared security, and got to the gate about 1 and 1/2 hours prior to flight time. The flight wound up delayed by just over an hour though, so instead of leaving at 5:30, we didn't take off until almost 6:45. We landed at 12 midnight, claimed our bag, got the car out of hock ($53 for 4 days, yikes!) and arrived home at about 1:30 AM. The dog, incase you were wondering, was picked up from the kennel (or as Tim said, sprung from doggy jail) on Monday morning.
Overall, we had a great trip. The only down note was not hitting the jackpot and being able to quit our jobs upon returning home. Oh well, maybe next time!
