Must do's/ don'ts, help please.

[tony64]

Hi
We are planning our 1st trip to Vegas in May 2014 to celebrate my 50th birthday. I was hoping you guys would give me some tips on the things we should make sure we don't miss and some of the things we should avoid at all costs.
We will be staying for a week so we should have plenty of time to fit loads in.

 

[wilma-bride]

I know you have heard it all before (from me) but:

Based on our experience...

Must do's

Hoover Dam
Terry Fator - hands down, the best show we saw during our trip
Bellagio Fountains - must see at least once during day and at night too
Palazzo Shops - so glam, so pretty, so elegant
Venetian Hotel - St Mark's Square entertainment
Miracle Mile Shops (just because I know you and Tee love to shop)
Ice-cream sundaes @ Sugar Factory, Paris Hotel
Frozen Hot Chocolate @ Serendipity 3
Toby Keith's I Love This Bar (again, because I know you'll love it)
Double Chocolate Icebox cake at The Coffee Shop, Treasure Island - I am still dreaming about this cake even now

Dont's

America Restaurant, New York New York - bleugh!
Excalibur Hotel - hated it! Dark, dirty, smelly
New York, New York rollercoaster - trust me, it will play havoc with Tee's neck
Denny's on the Strip (opposite Treasure Island) - 'nuff said

Not many dont's because, in all honesty, there wasn't that much we didn't enjoy

And just because....

Our favourite hotels to visit were (in no particular order):

The Wynn
Paris
Bellagio
New York, New York
The Venetian/Palazzo

Still can't believe we never set foot inside Caesar's Palace

 

[tony64]

Thanks Joh

We are staying opposite CP so will definitely be popping our heads in there.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Inside the Bellagio is a chocolate fountain , not to miss ,along with the bakery attached to it. YUMMY!

The gondola's at the Venetian. If you like Pawn Stars, fun to visit , just do it towards the evening as the line is long during the day till after 3 pm. You can take pictures inside as well. There is so many shopping places it is unreal. I even love looking in the expensive shops for fun.

If you like bacon and chocolate there is a shop in Ceasars that sells only that stuff. Yum!

The hotels have the free shows out side.

Bellagio
Treasure Island
Mirage

So much to see and do.

 

[tony64]

Thanks for your help. Are there any other things/places/areas we should avoid?

 

[malibuconlee]

I would avoid Freemont Street early in the morning. We stayed downtown this year for the first time. With the time change and the fact that we have a young child sleeping in is a thing of the past. Early morning the street vendors are all closed and there are far too many homeless walking around. Much more noticeable than later in the day and evening when there are crowds.

Don't think just because you can see it the walk isn't far! DO wear comfortable shoes. Do drink water. Do tip the cocktail waitresses.

You can spend days walking around if you haven't been before. I try to do or see one new thing each trip I haven't before. One trip it was to see the Hard Rock Hotel since it's not on the strip. Another it was to the Palms for the same reason. This trip I went into a speakeasy you have to text and make reservations to get into.

Have fun. Where are you planning on staying?

 

[tony64]

Hi

We will be staying at The grand Vacation Hilton suites by The Flamingo.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[BwoZoo22]

If you are renting a car, DO NOT drive on the Strip. Ugh. Traffic is awful, all the time. Use the backstreets whenever possible if you must drive.

If you want to see a Cirque show, I highly recommend O. And getting the tickets NOW.

The best buffet can be found at the M. Bit of a distance, but its nice to get away from the 'main' Strip area sometimes. The Wynn has a nice buffet too.

The M also has a really fun wine bar, the Hostile Grape, where you can get a small taste of a whole bunch of different wines. If they have live music, though, it can be a bit loud.

If you are going to eat at a buffet, try to do it an an off time (between standard breakfast and lunch, or lunch and dinner, times). The lines will be much shorter.

The Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay is a quality aquarium. It's also one of my favorite hotels.

On the walkway between Mandalay and Luxor is Ri Ra, my all time favorite Irish pub with nightly live music. We always go there after concerts. Minus 5 is also in this area; it is worth a visit if you have never been to one. Recommend not continuing on to the Luxor; not one of my favorite hotels.

Bellagio’s Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is a must see as well; really amazing.

The new ferris wheel (High Roller Observation Wheel) may be operational by then, not sure. It's going in across from Caesar's right now.

And finally, everyone should have their picture taken at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. It's quite a ways south on the Strip, next to the airport.

 

[tony64]

Thanks, can we park anywhere near the sign and walk over to take a picture?

 

[BwoZoo22]

Thanks, can we park anywhere near the sign and walk over to take a picture?

The sign has its own parking lot, which is best. The city plans to eventually build a walkway over LV Blvd for pedestrians, but right now you have to cross the Blvd if you don't use the official parking lot. The next closest parking lot is for the Bali Hai golf course; I'm not sure they would let you park there. The Mandalay Bay south parking lot is a few blocks if you would rather walk (the sign lot is small).

 

[tony64]

The sign has its own parking lot, which is best. The city plans to eventually build a walkway over LV Blvd for pedestrians, but right now you have to cross the Blvd if you don't use the official parking lot. The next closest parking lot is for the Bali Hai golf course; I'm not sure they would let you park there. The Mandalay Bay south parking lot is a few blocks if you would rather walk (the sign lot is small).

Thanks for the info.

 

[Luv0fDisney]

I just got back from Vegas. .

I had a great time, other than losing my ipod.
First things. if you have kids and plan to spend like a week there, Circus Circus is great for kids/teenagers with their amusement park. (FYI: Baby Genius's the 1st movie was filmed there). If you are into the "mob" a trip to the Mob museum is a must in down town Vegas which is also great.

If you are staying on the strip I must say you should ride the monorail. It starts at MGM and goes down to the "Hilton" I say "hilton" because i don't think it is called the Hilton any more.

If you like arcades, the best arcade is at NY NY.
If you like thrills, the stratosphere is the best. Skip the roller coaster at NY NY because its like $20 for 1 ride.

Also if you plan to get the bus, or rent a car you can go to the Disney Warehouse store at the Las Vegas Outlets. It is past the Famous Vegas sign (past Excalibur). It's past "Fry's . I just went there on this past trip and omg. my hand didn't know what to buy because there are soo much great stuff for great prices. ...

Downtown is a MUST!
You can get a FREE souvenier at Binions Hotel/Casino. You can get your picture taken for FREE with $1,000,000. You also get a cool souvenier..FREE. You get to bring home your picture in a cool Binions Folder!!! I think this is a must to capture your trip.

Here is my picture:

Sorry for the size. You can get up to 2 pictures a day. i think only when you have two people in the picture so each person can get one. The only drawback is that it takes 30 minutes or more to get the picture. So do this first when you go downtown.

Downtown has the best prices for souvenier's but BEWARE, the booklet of 40 postcards doesn't have 40 regular postcards. It has 20 regular postcards and 20 small pictures. I was shocked when I got home. I was expecting 20 regular postcards. The booklet of 20 has 10 regular postcards and 10 small pictures. They also have souvenier's under $1.00 okay... $0.99 souveniers. lol.

Omg. if you want more info just pm me.

 

[malibuconlee]

Are you and your spouse on facebook? If so start playing Myvegas game on there now. You can earn free things in Vegas. Last trip we my husband and I had show tickets to Ka ($300+ value), $75 drink credit at Bar at Times Square, and a $50 voucher for Monte Carlo for food.

I'm going back next month and have the food voucher again and am trying to decide what else to go for. You can each have 3 rewards.

 

[tony64]

Thanks for the advice, I'm on Facebook and have 113K Myvegas points so far.

 

[BwoZoo22]

I just got back from Vegas. .

If you are staying on the strip I must say you should ride the monorail. It starts at MGM and goes down to the "Hilton" I say "hilton" because i don't think it is called the Hilton any more.

The old Hilton is now called The Las Vegas Hotel. They did that so they would have to change anything with the Hilton initials on it (LVH), like the huge sign out front!

They also got rid of the Star Trek exhibit and Quark's bar. Very disappointed.

 

[Disneykatz]

The only things I can think of to avoid are: taking the cards or handouts from the numerous people on the strip trying to hand them out or talking to the numerous timeshare people that are stationed on the streets and inside hotels looking like they work there.

As far as cool stuff to see:

The top of the Stratosphere. They have an observation deck, part inside part outside, & there are some "extreme" rides up there that go over the side of the building, I freak out just watching those rides.

Bellagio fountains & the inside is pretty also with the gardens.

Caesars Palace, it's been awhile since I've been there but there is some free show inside & something with the statues.

Cosmopolitan - next to Bellagio - pretty, it's draped with crystals everywhere.

If you like the tv shows, you can visit the shops on your own, but we did the Pawn Stars tour that starts at Ballys (across from Bellagio), it took us to "Tanked" the aquarium show, "Counts Kustoms", the toy store & sports memorabilia stores that pawn stars use as experts, Fremont Street downtown for about 20-30 min., & then Pawn Stars -it was $80 a person but we didn't have to drive & if there's a line at the shop, the tour goes in first.

Hard Rock hotel is just behind the strip it's a fun hotel with loud music & tons of musician memorabilia.

Monster Mini Golf by Kiss - indoor glow in the dark mini golf with KISS theme, across from Hard Rock Hotel.

Miracle Mile Shops across from Cosmopolitan

The mall in the middle of the strip, it looks like a spaceship out front. It is a huge mall..

The Las Vegas Outlet Mall South. It is a large indoor outlet mall with a lot of great stores, they just put a Disney store inside. It is all the way at the South end of the strip.

Also at that end of town & just off the strip is the M hotel, best buffet - it includes wine & beer in the price.

If you like Benihana restaurants, my favorite is in Vegas at the Las Vegas Hotel.

The Terry Fator puppet show was pretty good. The Blue Man Group show was a lot of fun.

Even though you have a week you won't be able to do everything you want.

 

[kailuagirl]

I'm sorry, I didn't get to read everything but

you can't park at any of the hotels for free. usually the public parking is a walk though to the casino/restaurant areas, and I mean a walk. you can also valet for free, just the tip is all you pay. but sometimes for this it can take forever to get your car if there is a long line.

what we like to do is find a central hotel to the area we are going to visit, maybe one or two hotels and park and walk just those.

a couple of the hotels have a tram that runs between them, monte carlo, mandalay bay, luxor, I can't remember if it goes to belagio, anybody? but I do know it goes from mandalay to monte carlo.

We always try to eat the seafood buffet at bellagio, love the crab and sushi there. I've heard the one at the cosmopolitan is super good, the one where you get your food at the buffet off little plates inside of digging into something.

We love the outlet mall near downtown, that's our favorite shopping place.

We love going to trader joe's, and Inn n Out across from NYNY over the freeway and going to the factory store there.

Dont ride the bus, I did once in the daytime and I was scared. Its was yucky, people drinking out of paper bags on it, it was really shady.

Dont go into shucks, not sure what part its in, but if you were on the strip and head downtown, don't keep going too far in the area, it gets sketchy, and that's where the gangs and stuff are. You'll tell if you get there, everything changes. It's the area past downtown, past the Natural History Museum.


Our favorite show is mystere

We like to just get in the car and drive and see where we go. We went to red rock canyon once and it was beautiful. Hoover Dam is also neat too. There is so much to do there, eat, gamble, shop, sight see. Have fun and win lots of money!!!

 

[BwoZoo22]

I'm sorry, I didn't get to read everything but you can't park at any of the hotels for free. usually the public parking is a walk though to the casino/restaurant areas, and I mean a walk. you can also valet for free, just the tip is all you pay. but sometimes for this it can take forever to get your car if there is a long line. what we like to do is find a central hotel to the area we are going to visit, maybe one or two hotels and park and walk just those. a couple of the hotels have a tram that runs between them, monte carlo, mandalay bay, luxor, I can't remember if it goes to belagio, anybody? :

Parking at the hotels, at least for non guests IS free. We park down there all the time for shows. Hard Rock tonight, as a matter of fact.

The monorail at the south end of the strip is free. It goes to just a few hotels. The longer one for central and northern Strip is something like $12. At least it was a couple years ago.

 

[ncc1701]

I know that on our trips to LV staying at NYNY and Mirage the parking was free.We decided against getting a car for other reasons.Based on where the garages are it is a walk but there is always valet.

 

[tony64]

Thanks for all your advice. Its all very helpful.