Las Vegas ?

[kar313]

DH and I are going to LV for long weekend next Thurs. This will be first time for both of us. Anyone have any advice on things we must see and/or do. Which casinos are best, what shows, etc.
DH is playing in softball tournament so some of the time will be spent watching games but we will have some free time and I would like to make the most of it.

 

[aimee11621]

I'm going too, we'll be there on the 6th.

Run a SEARCH here on our dis boards for las vegas tips. You'll get lots of tips . And you know you can trust the dissers.

Good luck have fun !!

 

[Big Dude]

Go to This Site. It has lists of just about everything form eats to thrills. Personally, I like to watch the Bellagio fountains at night. Take the mono-rail up and down the strip. Ride the roller coaster at NY NY and the one at Stratosphere.

Get a 99 cent JUMBO (foot long) hot dog at Slots-o-fun and put all of the toppings on it. If you have some money to burn, have the lunch buffet at the Bellagio (~$34.00 per person) It is steep but they have king crab legs cut lenghtwise so all you have to do is take the meat out. They also have duck, shrimp, fillet mignon, smoked salmon, pasta station, steamed clams, oysters, carved prime rib, turkey, ham etc. and any dessert immaginable.

There is so much to do (and not do) in Vegas. Have a great time.

Adam aka Big Dude

 

[Laz]

You will love Vegas! Lots to see and do. Best thing to do is see all the Hotels. Try this website:

www.vegas.com

 

[jel0511]

Originally posted by Big Dude
Go to This Site. It has lists of just about everything form eats to thrills. Personally, I like to watch the Bellagio fountains at night. Take the mono-rail up and down the strip. Ride the roller coaster at NY NY and the one at Stratosphere.

Get a 99 cent JUMBO (foot long) hot dog at Slots-o-fun and put all of the toppings on it. If you have some money to burn, have the lunch buffet at the Bellagio (~$34.00 per person) It is steep but they have king crab legs cut lenghtwise so all you have to do is take the meat out. They also have duck, shrimp, fillet mignon, smoked salmon, pasta station, steamed clams, oysters, carved prime rib, turkey, ham etc. and any dessert immaginable.

There is so much to do (and not do) in Vegas. Have a great time.

Adam aka Big Dude

First off, the monorail is currently down, with no indication when it will be running again. The dinner buffet at Bellagio is around $30 per person, lunch is a MUCH better deal at approx $17 per person. The food is almost identical from lunch to dinner, with the exception of a few items. I love Vegas, and the website mentioned above is a great resource.

 

[grinningghost]

We're also first timers, going in March. My head is spinning over all the options there!

 

[Big Dude]

Originally posted by jel0511
First off, the monorail is currently down, with no indication when it will be running again. The dinner buffet at Bellagio is around $30 per person, lunch is a MUCH better deal at approx $17 per person. The food is almost identical from lunch to dinner, with the exception of a few items. I love Vegas, and the website mentioned above is a great resource.

Monorail is down but was working the last time I was there. I understand that they brought in experts the 3rd week in September so hopefully it will be up and running soon. There are also trams between certain casinos that are still running. Mandalay Bay-Excalibur, Mirage-Treasure Island. I ridden on these and they offer something a little different.

The buffet I was quoting at ~$34 at the Bellagio WAS the lunch buffet only it was on a Sunday and not a weekday which is the one you quoted.

Adam

 

[jel0511]

Yep, the Sunday Champagne Brunch is more expensive then the lunch during the week. Also, on Friday and Saturday nights, they up the price of the dinner buffet $10 - $15. This is from an article from today's paper. The Las Vegas Monorail will be down indefininately:

The much ballyhooed Las Vegas Monorail has closed indefinitely because of operator and mechanical glitches experienced last month. On Sept. 1, a tire assembly fell from one of the cars, resulting in a six-day shutdown. A day after re-opening, a piece of drive train slipped off. Neither incident caused damage or injuries, but the private company that owns the system is re-testing equipment, a spokesman says. Since its July 15 debut, the monorail had been ferrying about 30,000 passengers daily along a four-mile span that runs parallel to the congested Strip.

 

[pooh6890]

Try this website for everything and anything going on in LV. www.lvol.com (means Las Vegas online).

 

[hydster]

As you can see by my countdown we leave in 2 weeks from yesterday (the countdown is for the concert) and I absolutely LOVE Las Vegas! Thankfully it's only a 5 hour drive for us so we go quite often. Some of the things I would say you can do are:

Bellagio - The fountains of course especially in the evenings. Cost: Free
Also the Gallery of Fine Art is awesome! Right now they are showing the works of Monet along with a few from Manet and Renoire. Cost - $15.00 pp


Caesers Palace - The show by the Cheesecake Factory is awesome! It's called Fall of Atlantis and it is really awesome! Cost:Free. It includes animatronics and fire rains down along with a huge beast! There is another animatronic show at the fountain between Bacchus, Venus, Apollo and Plutus.

Circus Circus (in my opinion) is a dump! It was nice in the past but has really gone down hill and it feels really dirty in there to us. We wouldn't waste the time but if you go they have circus acts for free.

Flamingo has a wildlife habitat with birds and penguins and turtles. Cost - Free

LV Hilton is perfect if you are a trekky! They have various things for Star Trek fans.

Luxor has motion simulated rides and an Imax theatre. The cost of the rides is about $6.50 pp per ride or you can buy a pass for $24.95.

Mandalay Bay has the Shark Reef and it is awesome! Lots of sharks, fish eels. Cost $15.95 pp

MGM Grand has the lion exhibit. Cost : Free

Mirage has the dolphin and tiger habitats and admission cost for entry into both is $12.00 pp

NY NY- Has the Manhattan Express roller coaster. Cost $12.50 pp. Beware that unless you like to be thrown around and bumped into the sides this may not be for you. I had a bruise on my shoulder for about 2 weeks after riding it.

Paris has the Eiffel Tower. Cost $9.00 during the week and $12.00 on the weekend. You go up about 460 in a glass elevator.

Rio has Masquerade Village but we didn't think it was too impressive. I believe you can watch for free or join for a fee of I believe 10 bucks.

Sahara has the Speed Ride and the LV Cyber speedway. I think to get into both it's about $15.00 pp but we weren't too impressed with the cyber speedway..kind of like an arcade.

Stratosphere- Don't go up there if you hate heights! It is really high. They have a few rides on top if you are really brave!

Treasure Island has a pretty risque "adult type" show that runs outside for free nightly 4 times. I think it's like 7, 7:30, 9 and 11 or something like that.

Venetian also has a museum like Bellagio. Its the Guggenheim Hermitage and I believe they are now featuring works from Picasso, Renoir and others. I believe the cost was $15.00 pp.
They also have Madame Tussauds Wax Museum which I believe is $21.00 pp.
The gondola rides are $15.00 for inside and $12.50 for outside. If you want your own private gondola the inside is $60.00 and the outside is $50.00.

For any more info go to http://www.vegas.com/ and click on attractions.

HTH
Heidi

 

[robsmom]

We just got back on Tuesday from a long weekend in LV. It was great. We stayed at the Luxor and liked it alot. If you have never been, my suggestion is to just pick a direction from your hotel and head out. It is really nice to just see all the different casinos on the strip, the themeing is wonderful. As folks have mentioned they each have an attraction/ride/exhibit that you can do. Go out in the morning because the afternoon will be very hot. Save yourself some pool time if you can. One thing not mentioned that I enjoyed was the wax museum. I believe it is at the venetian but am not positive, we did it last trip. Even though the main new monorail is down there are trams and walkways from hotel to hotel so it is not too hard to make your way down the strip. Do realize that you will do alot of walking so where good shoes.

 

[kar313]

Thanks everyone. I knew I could count on the Dissers for great info. I have actually checked out vegas.com already. It was very helpful but seemed kind of overwhelming. I will def check out the other sites

hydster - thanks for the specific info. on the attractions. I printed this out and will take it w/ me.

robsmom - unfortunately we are not staying on the strip. Although we may the last night. I do plan on going there as much as I can.

 

[mommytotwo]

While you are at The Bellagio, don't forget to check out their conservatory.

 

[PryncessChrysty]

Just wanted to add my own 2 cents, sounds like you've been given lots of good tips already, though.

My DH-2-Be and I don't like to gamble, but we love to go to Vegas to look at the sights, eat at buffets, see some shows and people watch.
If you like stand-up, the Improv at Harrah's is a LOT of fun! I've also heard from more than person that Harrah's machines pay out well.
The mall at Caesar's is beautiful, as is the one at Aladdin. The gardens & conservatory at Bellagio are also very pretty. Oh, and speaking of Aladdin, they have delicious brunch buffet. (Just thinking about it makes me hungry! )
IMO, the best hotels to make sure you get to see are (in NO particular order): Treasure Island, Mirage, Caesar's Palace, Bellagio, Paris, Aladdin, MGM and New York New York. For some reason, in all my trips I still haven't been inside the Luxor or Excalibur, so I don't really have any info on them. The reason I pick these hotels is because the theming is really fun and you get the feeling that you're "in" Vegas when visiting them. There are some other beautiful hotels, such as Mandalay Bay, Monte Carlo and the Rio, but IMO are kind of boring unless you're staying there.
If you have the time and are able to make it over there, the Hard Rock Hotel is a lot of fun, too!

I hope you have a great time!!

 

[DiaDeGuadalupe]

I just got back from Vegas on Tuesday, and though the girls and I didn't get much sightseeing in (we were there for a garage band weekender), we did go to the Aladdin where I won some money and treated the girls to their buffet. YUMMY! Good Lord, that was one of the best we've had! We also walked down toward the Mirage and just hung out. It was more of a weekend for enjoying bands and catching up with old friends than anything else

Also we went to the Rio one afternoon (we stayed across the street at the Gold Coast), and their machines were unusually loose. So if anyone likes to do the slots thing, try there. You might be pleasantly surprised

 

[GoldenGate]

Go to the top of the Stratosphere for a spectacular view of the strip. It is especially great at sundown when the lights on the strip go on.

 

[DopeyRN]

One of our favorite activities is simply exploring the different casinos/hotels (we have only been once). They are so cool...like mini Disneys. I would also add the Venetian as a not miss...it is absolutely gorgeous along the shopping areas.

 

[Laz]

Originally posted by kar313
Thanks everyone. I knew I could count on the Dissers for great info. I have actually checked out vegas.com already. It was very helpful but seemed kind of overwhelming. I will def check out the other sites

hydster - thanks for the specific info. on the attractions. I printed this out and will take it w/ me.

robsmom - unfortunately we are not staying on the strip. Although we may the last night. I do plan on going there as much as I can.

Vegas itself can be a bit overwhelming! Don't try to do everything during one 4 night stay. Just plan to go back!

 

[Disneycrazymom]

We also just returned 2 weeks ago. I really enjoyed walking up and down the strip and seeing the hotels and people. We enjoyed going Downtown one night to see the show. I think outside of Banions? Really, all along the street downtown. It had a totally different feel than on the strip.

There are some deals on hotels and even the rollercoasters. Just watch the coupon books they had out when you walk in the door. We did the New York Rollercaoster 2 for the price of 1. Every little bit is more to play the pony's!

 

[crz4mm2]

If you like shows, go to Mama Mia. It was wonderful! WE were just there last week and had a great time. Buy the cheap seats, they are good seats (and if there are others closer, you can move up).
We ate at the mexican place in Mandalay Bay (it was delicious!!). We also ate mexican at the Forum Shops (can't remember the name of the place).
I thought the Effiel tower(Paris) was worth the money to go up in. Didn't think the Gondola boats were worth the $$$ though
We stayed at Flamingo this trip. It was nice. Mid strip, good location.

Have a great time. We love Las Vegas (it is soooo much more than gambling!).