Vegas trip... a little overwhelmed

[gmi3804]

I heard that the wizard of oz experience at the sphere is pretty cool.

With some prodding from my sister and brother-in-law, I caved and got a Wizard of Oz ticket for my trip at the end of January. I’ll be at Wynn right across the street, so it’ll be pretty convenient.

 

[Skywalker3]

DH and I went to Vegas a few times, but last time was over 15 years ago. We always did a couple of side trips/road trips.
For the Cirque shows, I think I'd choose Ka. We loved O a lot, also, but Ka was just a bit better. Mystere was the first one we saw, and it's ok.
We enjoyed hiking in Valley of Fire, and Red Rock. We also did a day trip to Death Valley. It was a long day,but enjoyed it a lot. We did a trip to Hoover Dam, just self exploring, but a backstage tour sounds nice.
We always talked about going to the Grand Canyon, but the drive and back seemed so long for a day. Still haven't been, and it's at the top of our want list for a future trip out west.
Our top food priorities were always the buffets, but we've not been recently, no idea what they're like any more, if they're still good, any of them worth it, etc. Used to love the Wynn buffet.
Universal has the new horror experience, if anyone interested in that.
Hope you have a great trip!!

 

[gmi3804]

Prices at Strip hotel restaurants are off the charts. If you have a car, you can venture off-strip and eat like kings for much less. I always get a car when in Las Vegas on business, as I'm there for a week at a time. I almost always have meals off-strip. Some favorites:

• Herbs & Rye - great locals bar/steakhouse with a really great all-day food happy hour (half-price steaks and more all day) and an encyclopedic cocktail menu grouped by historic era. Cool dark '70s vibe.
• Siegel's Bagelmania - gets crowded when conventions are in town, but great deli menu and enormous, sharable portions.
• Willy & Ethel's Diner - big breakfasts.
• Tacos El Gordo - locations around town. Counter service taco place with different lines for different tacos.
• Monzu - Authentic casual Italian with delicious pastas and authentic scratch pizzas. Fantastic breads.
• TON TON Katsuya - Best tonkatsu this side of Tokyo. Better rope-drop this one around lunchtime, as lines get long. No reservations.
• Zippy's - Yes, Zippy's. A taste of Hawaii from the classic chain. There are tons of other Hawaiian joints around town, but this one hits the right notes for this Haole.
• Ferraro's - Fine Italian dining, enormous award-winning wine list. Great happy hour with food menu too.
• Letty's - Authentic Mexican at the south edge of downtown in LV's oldest restaurant building. The birria tacos are otherworldly, the moles complex. And it's pretty cheap.
• Golden Tiki - Tiki bar in Chinatown, on Spring Mountain Rd five minutes west of the Strip. Make a reservation if you're going at Happy Hour. They also have food.
• Bouchon - at The Venetian. It ain't cheap, but it's soooo good. French bistro classics from chef Thomas Keller. Their Salade Lyonnaise is big enough for me as an entree, with their perfect baguettes, fresh butter, and ramekin of pistachios.

 

[HooperSnag]

Prices at Strip hotel restaurants are off the charts. If you have a car, you can venture off-strip and eat like kings for much less. I always get a car when in Las Vegas on business, as I'm there for a week at a time. I almost always have meals off-strip. Some favorites:

• Herbs & Rye - great locals bar/steakhouse with a really great all-day food happy hour (half-price steaks and more all day) and an encyclopedic cocktail menu grouped by historic era. Cool dark '70s vibe.
• Siegel's Bagelmania - gets crowded when conventions are in town, but great deli menu and enormous, sharable portions.
• Willy & Ethel's Diner - big breakfasts.
• Tacos El Gordo - locations around town. Counter service taco place with different lines for different tacos.
• Monzu - Authentic casual Italian with delicious pastas and authentic scratch pizzas. Fantastic breads.
• TON TON Katsuya - Best tonkatsu this side of Tokyo. Better rope-drop this one around lunchtime, as lines get long. No reservations.
• Zippy's - Yes, Zippy's. A taste of Hawaii from the classic chain. There are tons of other Hawaiian joints around town, but this one hits the right notes for this Haole.
• Ferraro's - Fine Italian dining, enormous award-winning wine list. Great happy hour with food menu too.
• Letty's - Authentic Mexican at the south edge of downtown in LV's oldest restaurant building. The birria tacos are otherworldly, the moles complex. And it's pretty cheap.
• Golden Tiki - Tiki bar in Chinatown, on Spring Mountain Rd five minutes west of the Strip. Make a reservation if you're going at Happy Hour. They also have food.
• Bouchon - at The Venetian. It ain't cheap, but it's soooo good. French bistro classics from chef Thomas Keller. Their Salade Lyonnaise is big enough for me as an entree, with their perfect baguettes, fresh butter, and ramekin of pistachios.

This was very helpful. Thank you for sharing! I stayed in LV last Spring and was surprised by how everything was expensive. 20 years ago, you go have an affordable (but good) buffet. Because the Strip is more upscale, so are the prices it seems.

 

[kdonnel]

This was very helpful. Thank you for sharing! I stayed in LV last Spring and was surprised by how everything was expensive. 20 years ago, you go have an affordable (but good) buffet. Because the Strip is more upscale, so are the prices it seems.

Apparently millennials don't gamble like prior generations but will spend money on quality food and shows. So Las Vegas shifted their offerings to match the experience millennials want.

Recently studies have shown millennials and gen z have started betting, but online, not in a physical casino. So the Las Vegas casinos are trying to figure out how they need to adapt. Some have started removing the tables with dealers and replacing them with electronic machines that millennials and gen z are more comfortable using.

 

[gmi3804]

Apparently millennials don't gamble like prior generations but will spend money on quality food and shows. So Las Vegas shifted their offerings to match the experience millennials want.

Recently studies have shown millennials and gen z have started betting, but online, not in a physical casino. So the Las Vegas casinos are trying to figure out how they need to adapt. Some have started removing the tables with dealers and replacing them with electronic machines that millennials and gen z are more comfortable using.

My niece and her boyfriend, both Millennials, recently had breakfast at Starbucks at Harrah’s. Unbelievable.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I know multiple people have mentioned Awakening, I think the reviews have gotten better but people still seem to say it's just not a very good show. It went through a complete redo not even long after it debuted and the redo still seems to miss the mark.

Well they seem to be grasping at straws to get people to go to the show because we just got an updated Wynn/Encore offer today that includes 2 free tickets to Awakening. Would I go if it were free? Maybe but that's also because we've done the "Vegas thing" with shows in the past and do trips to Vegas differently than years prior.

 

[sam_gordon]

Is vegas.com the best for getting show tickets? Or do you get them direct from the box office?

 

[kdonnel]

I have bought from vegas.com and bought direct. I always just buy from the cheapest.

For some of the less popular shows, https://tix4.com/locations, can have discounts day of.

If you are willing to invest a few hours in a timeshare presentation you can also often get some tickets to a show or dinner. Lots of people don't like the presentations but my wife and I have received great value from presentations, though we have never done one in Las Vegas, only Orlando.

 

[wvjules]

Haven't read any replies past page 1, I'll assume the big things have already been suggested...

• Go to a show at Sphere, even if not a concert. Postcard from Earth was amazing.
• Check out the Casinos/Resorts - Paris, The Venetian (gondola rides!), Bellagio, Caesars, Palace, etc. They are all so beautiful inside.
• Valley of Fire State Park (I assume others have hit on the big NPs.)
• Eat at any Celebrity Chef's restaurant. (We ate at a Bobby Flay Italian place in the Bellagio (I think.))
• Remember that EVERYTHING is much further away than it looks.

 

[kdonnel]

I just remembered another great show.

Carrot Top


While it sounds corny, his show is actually hilarious!

 

[sam_gordon]

I was just looking at shows. I'm sure we'll do a Cirque one since we never have. A lot of other's interest me, not sure about DW...

Shin Lim
Absinthe
Wizard of Oz at Sphere
V
Menopause the Musical

Can't do them all (well, we can, but we'll be paying for it the next 10 years. ) Plus Hoover Dam and/or Grand Canyon.

 

[AustinTink]

A lot of good advice in this thread. I go to LV a couple times a year with my DH for work conferences. We stay at the Venetian.

I always do a full day at Canyon Ranch at the Venetian. One of the best spas I’ve been to, you can easily fill an entire day between services and the facilities in general. Feels like a world away from the craziness of Vegas. Just a thought.

 

[kdonnel]

V and Absinth are similar in acts but very different in presentation. One is kid and family friendly and the other is not.

If you only could do one, I would do Atomic Saloon.

I know that doesn’t really make sense but Atomic Saloon is that good.

I have been part of the V show, pulled up on stage. I don’t have any idea what I was doing, I was wearing a mask, there was bubble gum, my wife said it was hilarious and the crowd sure was laughing.

I have also been part of the Atomic Saloon show. Got my first lap dance there, from another man, so there’s that. Again my wife thought it was hilarious. I also somehow ended up reenacting the spaghetti scene from lady and the tramp with another male audience member.

I can’t even say to make sure to not buy front row seats because both times I bought back of the house and got upgraded to audience participation front row seats.

 

[kdonnel]

I was going to suggest you combine a meal with an Absinth/Atomic Saloon style show at Superfrico - The Party at the Cosmopolitan, save some money. Then I saw the price.

$496 for a table for two.

Granted that includes dinner for two and a show but still, things really are stupid expensive in Las Vegas right now.

The Cosmopolitan used to have its own Absinth/Atomi Saloon show, Opium, later renamed OPM, that had some great acts but a stupid storyline that tied the acts together. The acts were spectacular but the space storyline together with a name that made it difficult to advertise, what advertising networks want to carry ads for a show named Opium, killed the show even after it was renamed OPM for advertising purposes.

I was going to suggest going just because of the guy that blows bubbles. Sounds childish but he was mesmerizing. Somehow he created square bubbles. He carried over into The Party show with most of the prior Opium acts.

If you want to grab a drink and catch a lighter version of some of the acts, stop by the Ski Lodge at The Cosmopolitan one evening. It is attached to Superfrico and the space used by The Party. If you like smores, they have a smores kit you can order along with your drinks. Comes with your own fire.



Remembering my trips has me really wanting to plan another trip for my wife and I!

 

[wvjules]

I was just looking at shows. I'm sure we'll do a Cirque one since we never have. A lot of other's interest me, not sure about DW...

Shin Lim
Absinthe
Wizard of Oz at Sphere
V
Menopause the Musical

Can't do them all (well, we can, but we'll be paying for it the next 10 years. ) Plus Hoover Dam and/or Grand Canyon.

Do this!!! I saw U2 at Sphere but the Wizard of Oz looks amazing! Sphere is awesome.

 

[sam_gordon]

With some prodding from my sister and brother-in-law, I caved and got a Wizard of Oz ticket for my trip at the end of January. I’ll be at Wynn right across the street, so it’ll be pretty convenient.

We're about six weeks from our trip so time to start booking.

What did you think of Wizard of Oz at the Sphere?

 

[geargrinder]

Boulder Dam (now called Hoover).
Red Rock
Valley of Fire

 

[gmi3804]

We're about six weeks from our trip so time to start booking.

What did you think of Wizard of Oz at the Sphere?

I have mixed feelings. The venue and technologies were awesome. But the way they filled in a lot of the visuals in many scenes gave the film a different feeling, like its “geography” was off. Munchkinland has a really strange feeling about it, as do the Emerald City scenes. There were also lots of cuts made for time, and for a film that’s as ingrained into the collective consciousness of so many, some of them were jarring. Still, it’s quite a spectacle, and I tend to analyze movies way more closely than the average moviegoer.

 

[sam_gordon]

I have mixed feelings. The venue and technologies were awesome. But the way they filled in a lot of the visuals in many scenes gave the film a different feeling, like its “geography” was off. Munchkinland has a really strange feeling about it, as do the Emerald City scenes. There were also lots of cuts made for time, and for a film that’s as ingrained into the collective consciousness of so many, some of them were jarring. Still, it’s quite a spectacle, and I tend to analyze movies way more closely than the average moviegoer.

Thanks.

Would you go again and/or recommend it to someone who hasn't seen it?