Vegas questions

[Albertan mom]

Hi all
We are taking our first trip to Vegas, and I know nothing! Disney, I know, Vegas, I am clueless!!!

What is a good price for flights from Edmonton to Vegas?
They are $188 right now. They are only $102 from Calgary, but that is a way farther drive for us. I am hoping Edmonton will drop too! But maybe $188 is a good price and I am just being greedy! Please tell me what is good!

Where are the best and worst places to stay? Why?

How can I get good deals? What are the things to know there!?

Thanks for all and any advice you can give me!

 

[c&m]

Lucky you to go to Vegas! It's one of my fave places to go. I don't know about flights, since I live in B.C.

But for hotels, if you plan on going once or not often, you should stay at the better places that are mid-strip (such as, Bellagio and Venetian). The Wynn is excellent too, but it's more north strip. I personally think Venetian is the best.

If you're looking for deals, start signing up for their e-mail alerts of hotel special offers. The discounts are pretty significant.

There's also "Name your own price" on Priceline.com. I've gotten the Trump Las Vegas once for $90/night. It's a fabulous, luxurious all-suite hotel - no-smoking and no casino - very nice, calm hotel after pounding the LV pavement all day.

Where we don't like to stay: The cheap places (the ones that are always on special), like the Excalibur, Stratospher, Imperial Palace, Circus Circus. Probably because Vegas has so many high-end hotels that are comparatively inexpensive and I like to take advantage of that. If you go to Vegas often, those cheap places are very handy - but if this is a rare opportunity to go to LV, you should totally stay at someplace that's convenient and central to the action.

Also, we don't tend to stay at hotels that haven't been refurbished recently. There are too many choices to get stuck in an older, worn and torn room. Caesars Palace and Paris have some nice rooms, but their cheaper room selections are in older, unreno-ed rooms.

I also tend to find special deals for flight+hotel on Expedia.com. Travelzoo.com also posts good deals, not only for hotels but also for show tickets.

For show tickets, you can get same-day tickets for up to 50% off at TKTS - there's a TKTS inside the Fashion Show Mall on the strip (across from the Venetian hotel).

Also, Restaurant.com has lots of LV restaurants that you can get coupons for. The one we enjoy the most is Stripburger. You can get a $25 gift card for $2. However, Stripburger is very popular and the gift cards sell out fast. They restock on the first of the month, so if you want them, you've got to jump on it on that day.

Anyways, this is what I can think of for now. If you have anymore questions, just let me know.

 

[Camilo]

Hi all
We are taking our first trip to Vegas, and I know nothing! Disney, I know, Vegas, I am clueless!!!

What is a good price for flights from Edmonton to Vegas?
They are $188 right now. They are only $102 from Calgary, but that is a way farther drive for us. I am hoping Edmonton will drop too! But maybe $188 is a good price and I am just being greedy! Please tell me what is good!

Where are the best and worst places to stay? Why?

How can I get good deals? What are the things to know there!?

Thanks for all and any advice you can give me!

Hi there....

I can't help with prices, I live in Ontario.

I've been to Vegas once only in 2007 when I won a draw from the FAN590. The radio station didn't allow us to take our son, even though he would be free at the time (under 2), so I went with a friend instead. The trip was free, so it's hard to complain, but I still do

To me, Vegas was a bit of disappointment. Maybe (or probably) because of how much cigarret smoke I had to inhale. Differently from Canada, you can smoke in bars and casinos there. And I have serious issues with cigarret.

I have to agree with c&m about staying at nice places. When I went, I stayed at Treasure Island, nice hotel, well located (too much smoke though but this is almost everywhere). One day, I decided to go to Circus Circus for a tour thinking it would be more familiy oriented. It's FAR FAR away from the center of the strip. Also, pretty old, it shows its age.

My sister is staying at the Trump Hotel there this week and she's loving it as well. I remember Venetian was very nice, luxurious as well.

You need to see some of the shows even though they can be expensive, from great magicians, singers, Cirque de Soleil, etc. There are also free "shows" like the pirate ship at Treasure Islands (a bit on the provocative side, men and women showing off their bodies and battling, although the sinking ship is cool) and the dancing waters at Bellagio.

I wouldn't take my family to Vegas at all. On a second honeymoon (no kids), I might.

To me, the highlight of the trip was renting a car and driving to Disneyland for the day. I hadn't been to Disney in California since 1998.

Camilo

 

[grover]

I love Vegas
I've been twice in past year..stayed at the Venetian both times..suites there are fabulous! I would stay there again in a heart beat. Make sure to sign up for players cards..our second stay was comped..would not have been if I didn't have a players card.

There is so much to do and see..it's like disney for grown ups
I love Cirque so I have see Beatles Love at The MIrage (my favorite Cirque show so far) and Mystere at Treasure Island (it was really good too). We also saw Jersey Boys at The Palazzo..great show if you liked The Four Seasons. My only regret is not seeing more shows..

I have a Vegas site I visit that gives me a ton of info..will pm you.

 

[weswife]

Hi

Can not help you with the air prices. I live in N.S.! We went to Vegas in Dec. 07! We had a wonderful time! We went as a family DS was 8, DD 14 and DD 19. I enjoyed all of the strip. We walked and saw alot! My kids loved the MM store and inside the MGM Grande! We stayed at the Monte Carlo! It was beautiful! I agree they can smoke anywhere. Its worth going at least once. We decided we would not go again until the kids are grown! Of course our oldest DD is bugging to go back as she is old enough to take part in all that Vegas has to offer!

 

[boundfordisney]

We went this past Jan. it was work related for my dh so paid for by the company, we didnt choose the resort since his work booked it all they booked at the flamingo. The hotel was okay rooms were clean but you could smell cigarrete smoke , it was very central which was a plus and I think the rates were only 40 a night! If budget is a factor then the flamingo is very worthwhile no complaints really, I plan on booking another trip to Vegas next year for a girls getaway but hopefully will book the venetian , unless the rest of my party needs to do the budget way then in that case it will be back to the flamingo. We missed the titanic exhibit so would like to see that next trip, and do more shows as well,so much to see and do! lots of info on the vegas website happy planning!

 

[ABCanada]

Not a Vegas fan but we did go last year for five nights.

Watch the the Vacation specials.
We got a WestjetVacation including five nights at the Bellagio for not much more than the flights would have cost.

The Bellagio is a lovely hotel and a good location. Generally the hotels were gorgeous but we are not gamblers and I found Vegas to be a very depressing place. Just not my cup of tea.

Because we will likely never go back we did splurge on the Helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon which was the highlight of the trip. We also enjoyed the Atomic Testing Museum.

We also took in a few of the shows. Check the discount sites. When we were there things were slow and even the Cirque du Soleil shows were discounted.

Enjoy your trip

 

[hockey mom]

I love Vegas

Try to stay mid strip. We love Caesars and Paris. I also second to look at west jet vacations.

If u gamble though book a room directly then use comps at the end of your stay to pay for the room. Make sure you get a players card.

Make sure to take a walk through the Bellagio conservatory.

 

[pxlbarrel]

I've been to Vegas many times. I used to alternate between Vegas and WDW every year for my "winter" vacation. LOL I favour Orlando more than Vegas these days. However, that being said, I was just there in May.

There are hotel deals EVERYWHERE right now. If you're not buying a flight/hotel package and doing it separately (you need to price it out to see which is cheaper), go to the hotel sites directly and see what kind of deal you can get. I've been getting emails from Luxor and Treasure Island telling me of really cheap nights. Both are pretty nice hotels. Hotel rooms will be more expensive on Friday and Saturday nights. If you're not going for a week, consider missing the weekend and stay on the weeknights. It'll be a LOT cheaper that way.

I used to love staying at Ballys since it had really big standard rooms and was in the centre of the strip. Last time we stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton (a little bit off the strip) for one night before we moved to a timeshare. I've stayed at the Flamingo ... it's a bit old and showing it but it's still ok. It has a very nice garden in the back with birds, ducks, flamingos, etc. Luxor and Treasure Island have very nice rooms (the pyramid rooms at Luxor are interesting!)

We usually rent a car when we go ... mostly so we're not stuck on the Strip. We like to drive to the State park, the desert, to other casinos, to the outlet malls, etc., etc. When in Vegas, you don't have to in the casinos all the time. If you don't want to rent a car, check out the various shuttles to the outlet malls and to casinos off strip.

Cheap eats are everywhere but not all cheap eats are good. LOL Stay away from Circus Circus food and rooms if you value your lives. It's ok to wander in and look around but don't stay there or eat there. If you want some good value and good food, go to Ellis Island. They have a nice restaurant AND they also have their own microbrewery and bbq restaurant. They have an enormous rib and chicken dinner that is under $15....and it is delicious.

The outlet mall south of the strip (it used to be a Belz but it's called something else now) has a Character Warehouse. You can get discounted Disneyland stuff there. It's hit and miss. One time I hit the jackpot there and got DL baseball caps for $2 each. Alas, my last trip, there was nothing there that I really liked. It's worth checking out though.

On our May trip, we actually flew from Toronto to Calgary to Vegas. (The direct flights from Toronto that were cheap arrived late in the evening and we didn't like that.) I can't recall how much the Calgary to Vegas leg cost but I'm pretty sure it was a lot higher than $102 or even $188.