UK to Vegas - 1st timer

[Mrs H]

Hi everyone, as I'm going to Vegas for the first time, this October, I thought I'd stop being a lurker and join up.

For now I'd just like to say Hi to you all and to warn you to be prepared for all my questions.

 

[signtalker]

okay all prepared for your questions, just come back myself(second trip)

so ask away!

Jules

 

[Mrs H]

Jules, thank you.

Will you be writing a trip report? I'd love to read it

 

[wayneg]

Hi Mrs H
We are going for 1st time this Oct, what dates you there?
We go 18th-22nd then flying to LAX for another trip to Disneyland until the 27th.
No idea what to do in Vegas, just started reading some of these threads for ideas. Everyone I know says its a great place, I am not so sure about it(No Disney, not a good start for us ), Don't gamble or drink, which is what my Brother goes for every 2-3 months. Waiting for him to get back, he is there until Sunday, see if he has any ideas for us.

 

[Mrs H]

Hiya Wayneg

We'll be back home by the time you get there! We go on the 8th for one week.

I'll be back just before you go.

Disneyland is only 290 miles away..... I hope I can resist hiring a car and driving over there for a night!

Don't worry there will be loads to do in Vegas, just think of it as Disney for grown ups

And please let me know what ideas your brother comes up with... thanks

 

[hydster]

Hi Mrs H
We are going for 1st time this Oct, what dates you there?
We go 18th-22nd then flying to LAX for another trip to Disneyland until the 27th.
No idea what to do in Vegas, just started reading some of these threads for ideas. Everyone I know says its a great place, I am not so sure about it(No Disney, not a good start for us ), Don't gamble or drink, which is what my Brother goes for every 2-3 months. Waiting for him to get back, he is there until Sunday, see if he has any ideas for us.

We'll be in Vegas the 19th-22nd for a Jimmy Buffett concert. Margaritaville will be PACKED those days with fans in for the concert. They shut the side street down next to Margaritaville on Saturday ALL day long and have music and a bunch of us crazy fans dressed up in all kinds of get ups! As for things to do that aren't gamble or drink I have some for you *we go at least 6 times a year...more if possible because it's just a little TOO close*

Bellagio fountains of course, gallery of fine art, conservatory
Caesars fountain show and aquarium and they have an exotic car show too
Flamingo has the wildlife habitat and of course Margaritaville
Luxor has IMAX and some rides
Mandalay Bay has a shark reef
MGM Grand has the lion habitat
Mirage has volcano, dolphin and tiger habitats
NY NY has the roller coaster
Paris the eiffel tower
M&M World on the strip
Stratosphere has rides on the top of the hotel
Treasure Island has Sirens of TI show
Venetian has gondola, gallery of art, madame tussauds wax museum

The hotels are all themed and if you want you can spend hours just wandering around in them and looking at the different shops and things.

Freemont Street is neat and free. You can take the monorail down to the end and grab a free shuttle to the street for the show. We go so many times a year and never gamble a cent and still have a great time!

 

[wayneg]

We'll be in Vegas the 19th-22nd for a Jimmy Buffett concert. Margaritaville will be PACKED those days with fans in for the concert. They shut the side street down next to Margaritaville on Saturday ALL day long and have music and a bunch of us crazy fans dressed up in all kinds of get ups! As for things to do that aren't gamble or drink I have some for you *we go at least 6 times a year...more if possible because it's just a little TOO close*

Bellagio fountains of course, gallery of fine art, conservatory
Caesars fountain show and aquarium and they have an exotic car show too
Flamingo has the wildlife habitat and of course Margaritaville
Luxor has IMAX and some rides
Mandalay Bay has a shark reef
MGM Grand has the lion habitat
Mirage has volcano, dolphin and tiger habitats
NY NY has the roller coaster
Paris the eiffel tower
M&M World on the strip
Stratosphere has rides on the top of the hotel
Treasure Island has Sirens of TI show
Venetian has gondola, gallery of art, madame tussauds wax museum

The hotels are all themed and if you want you can spend hours just wandering around in them and looking at the different shops and things.

Freemont Street is neat and free. You can take the monorail down to the end and grab a free shuttle to the street for the show. We go so many times a year and never gamble a cent and still have a great time!

Thank you for that,
You will not believe we made a list yesterday and wrote down just about everything on your list after lots of Googling.
Is it easy to park at Freemont Street? I am not a fan of puplic transport, I would rather walk 30 minutes than take a 5 min journey by bus or Monorail.
I booked to see the Cirque show 'O' this weekend
Considering Helicopter over Grand Canyon, sent email to Papillion on Saturday they have not responded yet. I think my weight might be an issue so want to know their policy.
We have our hotel booked now, thought we were going to be staying at Harrahs but we have booked The Flamingo, was going to go to Margaritaville but looks like it might be too busy.
Thanks again
Wayne

 

[hydster]

How funny about the list. If you want to see more stuff go to www.vegas.com and click on attractions or hotels or any of the tabs. It's a great asset to planning a trip to Vegas.

If you want to drive to Fremont Street *Las Vegas Blvd. is a royal pain in the neck to drive up and back* but if you do you can park at the Fremont Hotel and it's right there. It's been awhile since I've been downtown and to Fremont but I believe the hotel has valet parking available even if you aren't staying in the hotel as well as self parking lots too. It would be a very very very long walk from the strip to Fremont as it is downtown and the strip is not. I guess you could also take a cab if that is easier for you.

Margaritaville won't be too outrageous on Friday night but Saturday and Saturday night I'd avoid it until the concert starts at 8. Saturday will be VERY busy!! If you can go before Saturday or after Saturday you'd be wise to do so! The street party brings in a LOT of people. I know the tickets to the concert were sold out pretty quickly and the arena holds more than 16,000 people so there will be a lot of us there this weekend and the following one.

I don't know about the helicopter tours as I've never done one. You'll love O...it's amazing.

If you need any more info feel free to let me know! I love talking about Vegas!

 

[Barbday62]

We went for our anniversary in August and we too dont drink or gamble.

Our first purpose was to see a show. We saw Mamma Mia and I highly recomend it if you can get tickets. I noticed they sell tickets everywhere there and maybe you can get them half price? We made the mistake of ordering from their web site and it said we had to go somewhere else to pick up our tickets and being my husband uses a wheel chair could have been a big problem so the man at the ticket booth took care of us and got us our tickets.

I had a hard time with all the ciggerett smoke everywere so we did more out door stuff than anything.
I love the Bellagio show. They had different ones a couple times too.
We did Freemont experience. We drive and parked across the street for about $10. It was very smoky there but i survived. The light show was awesome!! They also had street entertainers too. I guess the light show is different each hour but thanks to the smoking we could not stay for more than one show.
There are lots of shops to walk through in most hotels but most are very pricey so better to window shop than buy lol. The had an M&M store and coke store which we never made it into. I went in those many years ago when I was there.

Since we drove from Arizona we stopped at Hoover dam on the way home. That was an amazing tour to take for not much money. I have also been to the South rim of the grand canyon several times since Im from here and I can say its so worth seeing even if from a helecopter. Getting to land and see it would be all the better but its breathtaking there and will somewhat make up for no disney lol. I do am a disney girl and would rather do there than anywhere. I think Disney is about 5 hour drive from Vegas btw lol.

 

[Peri]

We go to Vegas twice a year from AZ and drive.

We stay downtown off Fremont Street.

Fremont street itself is CLOSED TO TRAFFIC so you have to approach from either side. The side streets are bisected by train tracks and freeways, so be sure to get a good map of the area before attempting to drive in the downtown area.

YOu can park at any of the hotels downtown. There are several lots.

 

[wayneg]

We go to Vegas twice a year from AZ and drive.

We stay downtown off Fremont Street.

Fremont street itself is CLOSED TO TRAFFIC so you have to approach from either side. The side streets are bisected by train tracks and freeways, so be sure to get a good map of the area before attempting to drive in the downtown area.

YOu can park at any of the hotels downtown. There are several lots.

I don't know if I am going to drive or monorail/shuttle now. I have TomTom satnav which I used in LA last Oct, worked very well so would propably be ok with that rather than maps. 4 weeks to decide yet.