My first trip report- Luxor March 20-24,2004

Left Manchester, NH on Southwest at 7:15 am. I’d gone online at 2:30 am and printed out the coveted A boarding passes. Flight was 1/2 hour early, and I was worried that Jim with Presidential Limo wouldn’t know that. I was surprising my husband with the limo ride for our 30th anniversary. I called him from the restroom in the airport, and they confirmed he was waiting in baggage for us. My husband’s face was priceless when he saw me talking to Jim and introduced him as our driver. While waiting for the bags, Jim apologetically informed me he wasn’t able to get the car I’d reserved, and I said it didn’t matter to me what we rode in, this was treat enough as it was. Well, much to our surprise, he pulled up in this HUGE vehicle- a SUV stretch limo that must be able to seat 18 people! We climbed in, and Jim popped open the champagne for our drive up the strip. We were giggling like schoolgirls, and my hubby couldn’t get the grin off his face. After our tour of the strip, he dropped us off at the Luxor, and we faced a long line just to check bags. It was about 11:30, and check in wasn’t until 1:30, so we had lunch in the Pharaohs Feast buffet ( it was ok- it filled us up), looked around a bit then returned to registration to more huge lines for check in. We tried the $20 trick to no avail. The clerk wasn’t that friendly, she said they had nothing available, but said she could give it to us for $50 a night. So that meant, jacuzzi rooms WERE available, but just not for free! We decided to pass, and asked for a strip view. She said there are no strip views(?- is that possible?), so we asked for a room high up near an inclinator. She gave us a room on the 11th floor just a few rooms away from the inclinator, which was nice. Maybe we just didn’t get lucky this time- no harm done- we were pleased with the room, and were just happy to be there. Unpacked a bit and changed into walking sneakers and toured a few hotels before returning to change for Mystere. We really enjoyed that, and I managed to find a Krispy Kreme shop there to get my first fix of those! Retired about 10:30- still on east coast time.

Sunday, woke at 5am raring to go, and walked to Excalibur to get more Krispy Kremes, including a free hot one, then back to the room to plan the day. Started up the strip, looking for the elusive 1-2 dollar blackjack tables- none to be found. Ended up downtown, and hubby sat down in the California Hotel to a $2 table and played for about 4 hours while I tooled around, shopped, saw the Golden Nugget, had a $2.99 shrimp cocktail (decided to pass on the 99cent one), then had lunch in a cafe in the California and headed back to the hotel. Vegas was having an unusual hot spell all while we were there- temps 90 every day, and I must have gotten a bit of heatstroke, so came back to the hotel and rested barely enough to get us ready to go to the 5pm showing of Mamma Mia. That was really good. We came home and changed and went up to the Bellagio to watch the fountains, then back to the hotel again for bed about 10:30.

Monday, up again at 5-5:30, decided to head up to the Sahara, where we heard there were $1 blackjack tables for us lowrollers, but, again, none to be found! We had breakfast in a MacDonalds, then went shopping in the Bonanza gift shop (which we thought wasn’t that great), then went to Slots of Fun where FINALLY we found $1 tables. We played a couple hours and headed to Las Vegas HIlton about 10:30 to get in line for the Star Trek Adventure. Did both rides(didn’t think it was worth the $30 admission), shopped in the shops, but the lines in Quarks bar were too long to get lunch there, so decided to go back to the Westward Ho, and we had a HO dog and $1 beer and 99 cent margarita for lunch. We headed back down the strip, stopping at the Bellagio and Paris, when I started to feel a little sick again, so I decided to hop on the bus and go back to the hotel, and hubby went back to Slots of Fun for more blackjack. He called me at 6pm, and I hopped back on the bus and met him downtown to watch the Fremont St. Experience. That was a big disappointment. Only part of the canopy was lit, and it was very blurry. We decided to leave, and back on the bus to Caesars and had a late supper in Planet Hollywood. Strolled around a bit more, then back to the Luxor.

Tuesday, up early again, and decided to try Pharaoh’s Feast for their breakfast buffet. It was ok, we decided we’ve had it with buffets. Hubby had to be back at noon for his Royal Shave and haircut at Art of Shaving, and I wanted to check out the shops in the hotel, so we split up and he went back to Slots of Fun, and I leisurely looked around the Luxor, doing my souvenir shopping, as well as going across the street to M&M world and Coke world. Met back in the room after his shave, (which he loved), and we took a quick trip up to the Venetian to check that out, as well as Paris, which I’d missed the day before. We wanted to ride the Gondolas and see Madame Tussauds, but didn’t have enough time, as we had 7pm dinner reservations at Top of the World for our anniversary dinner. Back to the room to get ready, and crack open the bottle of champagne that my siblings had sent us. Took a cab to the Stratosphere , and up to the tower. Stepping off the elevator just took my breath away, it was so lovely!! We were early, but they seated us anyway at a window table, and we had the most wonderful time with our great servers and the great meal. The photo girl came by and took pics of us, which came out so great that we bought. Had another bottle of champagne with dinner, and the Stratosphere tower for dessert, and they brought us a complimentary glass of sparkling wine. We went outside to the observation deck and took a couple pics at the railing. Just a fantastic place! We were a little full with champagne, so decided to head back to the hotel and retire for the night.

Wed, am, our last day- woke at 6am, and went to the Pyramid Cafe for breakfast. I had the biggest blueberry waffles and yummy hot chocolate. Back to the room to pack and on to see King Tut’s museum when it opened at 9, a few more souvenirs bought, then at 10:30, we thought we’d check out of our room, check our bags, and tour some more before leaving around 1 for our 2:30 flight home. Plans quickly changed, however, when we saw both the huge line to check bags, and the huge taxi line. We figured we’d better just head to the airport. Turned out to be a wise decision, because it took us 1 1/2 hours to get from the Luxor taxi line, through check in and security at the airport. We’d have missed our flight if we left at 1, as originally planned. Got the A boarding passes and grabbed a sandwich from Subway and staked out our place in line for an hour before boarding. Flight was on time and very pleasant. Back home before 11:30 pm to kiss our boys and tell them we were home.

Final thoughts:

A wonderful trip all around, though I thought 5 days would be plenty of time to see/do everything I’d planned on, but it wasn’t! I expected a lot of walking, but my 3 mile walking tape I do every day didn’t seem to do the trick- I ended up with mild shin splints, sore muscles in my upper thighs, and a couple blisters on the toes! Not enough to hobble me, but I was walking a little slower until Tuesday, and Wed, our departure day, I felt the best, and could have kept on going for days more, at that point, of course!

Favorite things- the limo ride from the airport, and our Top of the World dinner

Things I’d planned on seeing/doing but didn’t get to: Motion simulator rides at Luxor, Excalibur, Caesars, Caesars statues, Venetian gondola ride and wax museum, Volcano, Sirens, Palms, Rio, Hard Rock, Aladdin slot tournament. We didn’t even go into the Aladdin hotel, except for the Desert Passage shops, or the Mirage. Also thought we might have time to use the pool, but didn’t. OH well, there's always next time! Thanks to everyone on the boards for all the good tips. It was a great source of info.

 

A day that starts out with a Krispy Kreme and then a day that ends on top of The STRAT sounds like a pretty good deal to me. I can sympathize with you regarding the things you wanted to do but didn't find the time to. I did the gondola ride for my 27th anniversary and it was extremely nice (they make you kiss under a bridge) so be prepared. Sounds like you had a great time!!

 

From listening to your TR, it sounds like you two are a very happily married couple.
On a food note, don't give up on the buffets. Luxor is not noted for being among the best in Vegas, though I hope it was better than your meal at the the Ho. Try some of the more upscale ones next time.

 

Sounds like a fun trip, browndover. IMO, buffets are generally to be skipped, unless it's one of the good ones like Bellagio, Paris or Aladdin. And I always leave vegas with blisters on my feet and unchecked items on the to-do list...

 

Thanks for the report --I think the more I read about Jim - the more I want to book him for our trip in JUNE!

 

Since I'm a KK stockholder (I eat most of my profits though) I just love to hear of someone enjoying the fine KK products! jingle jingle!