Vegas

[pepp77]

I have just booked myself 5 nights at the Mirage in April. Whilst out there I have two things I definitely plan to do, the first is see Penn and Teller at the Rio and the second is to take a trip to the Grand Canyon.

I have some questions I am hoping someone who has been before can advise on.

1. For the Penn and Teller show I can order through something like Expedia and get a ticket for under £50, but without a set seat, or I can go to vegas.com and order a specific seat but the cost jumps to about £65 - so would you recommend buying in advance at all, and if so which would you go for.

2. For the Gran Canyon there appear to be two main options - South and West ridges - =I think I have decided on the West ridge, but should I do the 12 hour round trip by Coach (so about 9 hours on the coach) or should I just bite the bullet and do it by plane (I have found a site that charges £125 for the flight, but states no entrance to Grand Canyon - does that just mean the actual observation decks and I can still walk the trails etc, or if I didn't buy an entrance ticket would I literally have nothing to do for the 3 hours whilst I wait for the return flight. The coach is 12 hours total and appears to be about £70

3. Is it worth getting a pass for the Monorail?

4. Any All you can eat buffet places people would recommend.


Then anything else people would like to recommend as an experience would be appreciated and looked into

 

[Rotty]

2. the west rim is not the actual GC, it is in the GC national park but it is not the GC, it's basically a tourist scam, you need to go to South Rim

3. No the monorail is crap, its set behind the strip and it pretty useless , it is totally useless if staying at Mirage

4. Bellagio, Wynn, Caesers, Sterling Brunch at Ballys is amazing if the budget runs to it

 

[iamtheoneneo]

1. When we went we just got tickets on the day for pretty cheap if I remember. We just decided to go one evening and had zero problems getting a decent seat. In fact we did that cirque du soleil as well and met Mike Tyson along the way!

 

[randomshenans]

2. the west rim is not the actual GC, it is in the GC national park but it is not the GC, it's basically a tourist scam, you need to go to South Rim

3. No the monorail is crap, its set behind the strip and it pretty useless , it is totally useless if staying at Mirage

4. Bellagio, Wynn, Caesers, Sterling Brunch at Ballys is amazing if the budget runs to it

Agreed.

 

[VincentHanna]

I went to Vegas once in 2018 and once in 2019 and both times stayed at the Wynn. The buffet there is amazing, to the point we tended to have a massive brunch and not eat until dinner - two meals a day.

Can't help you much on the first set of questions, but Mirage is a decent location a bit closer to the centre

One day we decided to go from 'The Wynn' (North of the strip) to the Mandalay Bay which is far south on 'foot', going through all the casinos as we went. Ultimately a bit pointless as they are all much the same, but we walked from:

Wynn - Treasure Island
Treasure Island - Free Tram to Mirage
Walk over the road to Harrahs
Go through The Flamingo
Back over the road to the Bellagio
Bellagio - Free monorail to Park MGM
Over the road to the MGM Grand
MGM Grand - Free Monorail to Mandalay Bay
Free monorail from Mandalay bay to Luxor and then Excalibur.

Just get uber or Lyft is my advice though.

 

[Rotty]

Just get uber or Lyft is my advice though.

that is how we get about

 

[randomshenans]

I went to Vegas once in 2018 and once in 2019 and both times stayed at the Wynn. The buffet there is amazing, to the point we tended to have a massive brunch and not eat until dinner - two meals a day.

If you get there late brunch time, you get the bonus of the change over from breakfast to lunch. Mmmm king crab. I love that place. Get bottomless mimosas too. We did, just held the orange in the end. Were there 4 hours and got leathered. I love the Wynn/ Encore

 

[VincentHanna]

If you get there late brunch time, you get the bonus of the change over from breakfast to lunch. Mmmm king crab. I love that place. Get bottomless mimosas too. We did, just held the orange in the end. Were there 4 hours and got leathered. I love the Wynn/ Encore

Among many other things, I think I had the chilli steak everyday. Utterly amazing.

 

[randomshenans]

Among many other things, I think I had the chilli steak everyday. Utterly amazing.

That meat section they have where they just cut you off slabs of meat is also just amazing. Honestly could stay there all day tbh haha

 

[wolfie138]

For P&T, get a seat, you could end up anywhere otherwise. I think I got mine at ticket*******, but try the RIO's site itself too.

I did the plane hop to the Canyon. downside might be the leaving time, depending on your habits/times, mine was a pickup shuttle at about 5:15AM. upside was it flies low so great views and some cracking turbulence kicking the plane about .

 

[booyaka]

Agreed about monorail - just use cabs - they are cheap and plentiful.

Did GC via helicopter - landed in the Canyon and had a nice little champange lunch. Flew via Hoover dam etc - great time - bit more expensive but a once in a lifetime trip. Used Viator to book it, we needed to change a few things when we were their and they were superb - very helpful, great communication and refunded my card for one person not being able to go within 24 hours - way better than any UK customer service.

We booked tickets for a show on the morning of the show - used one of the ticket booths on the strip and got 5 seats together no problem.

 

[Rotty]

Did GC via helicopter - landed in the Canyon and had a nice little champange lunch. Flew via Hoover dam etc - great time - bit more expensive but a once in a lifetime trip. Used Viator to book it, we needed to change a few things when we were their and they were superb - very helpful, great communication and refunded my card for one person not being able to go within 24 hours - way better than any UK customer service.

.

if thats helicopter from Vegas then that is the west canyon (west rim)

 

[pepp77]

Cheers Guys

So if I can afford it go to the south rim, if I can't the west will just about do

The buffet at Wynn sounds like something that needs experiencing.

I think as P&T is something I definitely want to do I might just bite the bullet and grab a ticket in advance.

 

[wolfie138]

P&T are great, when I was in Vegas I managed to book the one night they cancelled, was really naffed off as I had a good seat too. fortunately caught them later on both UK tours though. The great thing about them is they hang out in the lobby afterwards and will sign autos and have pics w/ EVERYONE.

 

[Rotty]

So if I can afford it go to the south rim, if I can't the west will just about do

.

I'm sure the west rim is a great place to visit but it would bug me that I hadn't actually been to the Grand Canyon

 

[Maccapacca]

Sapphires does good food.

 

[Pipe & Slippers]

Did GC via helicopter - landed in the Canyon and had a nice little champange lunch. Flew via Hoover dam etc - great time - bit more expensive but a once in a lifetime trip. Used Viator to book it

I did this as well. A small word of warning though, I was completely underwhelmed. I think the sheer scale of the place makes it difficult to take it and process. I look at the photos now and think "wow, that was great", but at the time it wasn't. Completely bizarre. Apparently it's not an uncommon experience. Unfortunately, I still feel a bit cheated

 

[chroniclard]

Also did the helicopter thing. I hated it, hate flying, dont know why I did it. Wife loved it.

 

[Maccy]

Sapphires does good food.

Course you'd know that...

 

[randomshenans]

Heard it's a bit fishy