Las Vegas (September)

kai

kai

kai

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The last post for Las Vegas was back on Apr 16, 2015, I've read a lot of the comments so looking for something a little more up to date.

4 of us in September are travelling to Vegas for 6 nights in the MGM Grand. I wondered if anyone here has been and has a few tips, and suggestions?

Perhaps things that I really should do while I am there etc.

p.s. I do love my food, so any restaurant suggestions or great places to eat are welcome.

So far I’ve only booked Slotzilla in downtown and planning to book Absinthe this week.
 
kai said:
planning to book Absinthe this week.
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DO THIS!

Brilliant show and there is not as bad seat in the house. The tent is really quite intimate, there is only perhaps 10 rows. We used Tix4Tonight and brought our tickets the night before but you obviously run the risk of it being fully pre-sold.

Voodoo Lounge (steak) is a very good shout also, its in the top floor of the Rio and has an open balcony. Great strip views, aim for sun set.

We normally hit the Wynn buffet at breakfast but we didn't need food again until the evening but it is at the opposite end of the strip to you so it is a bit of a trek.

If you need a cheap eat one night the Cheesecake Factory is a very good value option. It's in the Forum Shops @ Caesar's.
 
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Second the above. Absinthe was cracking, though that was 6 years ago. Bit like Moulin rouge but far more crass.

I quite enjoyed the Hoover dam tour, but I'm a bit of a nerd. Tour guide was the spit of Rick Moranes.

I'd also say take the time to do a night in downtown. Very different feel to the strip.

I stayed at the MGM on my trip, it's a lovely hotel, huge rooms but I can't really advise too much as it was so long ago (still had the lions!). Trip adviser and oddly money saving experts forums have strong communities who can advise. Also check smarter Vegas for any voucher codes or deals and if you fancy a cheap flutter consider getting some of the voucher booklets that will likely be recommended in the mse thread. Free okay for signing up to players cards.
 
I forgot to add, if you have a lot of spare time and you don't mind MGM & Facebook data mining the **** out of your data check out 'myVegas' on Facebook. You play the game and win coins which you can redeem for rewards. You don't need to spend any money, though it is very much a 'fremium' game and it does its best to get you to spend a bit of cash. I've never spent a penny.

The rewards range from food, to free entry to attractions, show tickets and rooms. Getting coins is more time consuming than it used to be but we both had a few hundred thousand left from when we went 5 years ago. We used it all this year to get free tickets to Ka, Zoomanity and Fantasy shows.

This would be difficult to co-ordinate for 4 of you but it was fairly easy for my wife and I.
 
Capital grille does amazing steak, probably on par with hawksmoore or goodmans in London, steak sizes are huge at 28oz

One thing I didn't understand about vegas is getting stung with resort fees.... we done the helicopter ride over Grand Canyon which was amazing, completely underwhelmed by the Hoover dam as its much smaller than I thought.

Not sure what September will be like. But look at the encore beach club if that's your thing.... best party place in vegas.

Cheesecake Factory is also a very good chain restaurant
 
If you head out to the Hoover Dam drop into the Marina nearby at Lake Mead and rent a speed boat! Brilliant way to spend half a day and see the dam from another perspective.

Something that caught us out last year was some of the pools in the MGM complex were closed due to it being winter (was still 35c!) So no lazy river :( Also the 2 surrounding water parks were open at the weekend only.
 
FishThrower said:
Cheesecake Factory is also a very good chain restaurant
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No it's not. Cheesecake factory is to yanks what Angus steakhouses are to us. They just make up for it with ridiculous sized portions.

I don't see what others are mentioning other steakhouses when I already said the SW ;)
 
Scam said:
No it's not. Cheesecake factory is to yanks what Angus steakhouses are to us. They just make up for it with ridiculous sized portions.

I don't see what others are mentioning other steakhouses when I already said the SW ;)
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Cheesecake Factory is a different league to Angus steakhouse, loads of choice and the quality of food for the price is excellent, most chain restaurants can be hit or miss. Going off topic, the best Italian place I've eaten is a local prezzo where I live, which is miles better than anything I had in Rome or Venice ( which weren't tourist traps before you ask!).
 
Was going to say Cheesecake Factory isn't a tourist trap and the quality for the price is great as is the service.

Angus Steakhouse is extortionate for what you get and is just there to serve tourists that don't know any better in London.

All restaurants give you stupid sized portions, doesn't matter where you go from McDonalds to high-end Steakhouses.

My experience of restaurants in the USA are they are either cheap and rubbish or quite pricey especially once you take into account they expect you to tip 15-22% on everything. There is very little in the middle ground.
 
We went in September once, it was very dead so you probably got a good deal. For transport, never use cabs. There's a bus called the Deuce which runs up and down the strip 24/7, every 15 minutes. Think it cost us $10 each for a 24h pass. The coaches are massive double decker jobs with air conditioning and the drivers tend to be very warm, welcoming folks. For the Canyon, we've done both heli and coach and we preferred the coach as they also take you over Hoover Dam and some or other little town which is full of history. The drivers are very knowledgeable and offer some very interesting stories and facts about the area. You also get fed (we went hungover and the sammiches they gave us didn't even begin to meet our needs but it's a start). If gambling, make sure you sign up to the casino loyalty schemes as they often give you all sorts of tat just for joining, we got shirts, drinks bottles, half price buffets, etc. For shows, I highly recommend Frank Marino's Divas. My wife nagged me for our whole holiday to go but I refused, until we got to the last few days and I finally caved. It was by far the funniest show I've ever seen, really worth a watch and it blew Criss Angel out the water in terms of entertainment. If you want cheap Levis, Wranglers, whatever Murican brands you can think of, then catch a Deuce to the outlet center. It's about 15 minutes from the Luxor (pyramid shaped hotel near McCarran airport) and they have a food court which was both cheap and excellent. Stay away from anyone offering you condo / timeshare tours for show tickets, it's a scam designed to get you to hand over loads of wedge there and then, and these guys push hard. Think Wolf of Wall street, it's effectively the same tactics.

Dunno what else to say really. Go get drunk, keep your wits about you and if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Have fun :)
 
Oh and one more thing, if you get skint like we did, you can gamble on the penny slots and the cocktail ladies will keep you well oiled for a tip. Remember that Murica is a massive tipping culture. On the last night of out last trip we sat and played penny slots until 2am, tipping the lady $5 every time she brought us a drink. This meant that she kept coming back very swiftly and kept us topped up. We ended up winning the jackpot on one of the slots ($5k) and eventually stumbled up to our hotel room at 2am absolutely hammered :D
 
TBH, Reno is much nicer if you're not into gambling quite so much. LV essentially a handy place to stop off for cheap and plentiful hotels/restaurants (beware food poisoning at "all you can eat" type places though). I believe the old adage of arrive late, leave early still applies and if you're going to play the slots etc. put a specific amount aside and do it as a bit of fun, then walk away.
 
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