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Are you a planner in Vegas?

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by msujen12, Oct 24, 2013.

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  1. msujen12

    msujen12 Low-Roller

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    DH and I are going to Vegas for NYE and I keep trying to get him to sit down with me and plan and he doesn't understand why we would do that. We have around $700 of resort credit to use towards food, etc., and I personally want to set a budget and stick to it, and my experience is that planning helps. DH is also the DEFINITION of a cooler, loses money quickly and should really have something other to do during the day than gamble.

    Just wondering how many of you have plans for your vegas vacations. I'm not thinking of an exact schedule, just more of a tentative outline for restaruants to hit, etc.
     
  2. ex507

    ex507 Low-Roller

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    I am totally a planner! I have to force myself not to plan too much. I love planning money, food, a loose schedule what i am going to do each day and so on. I think it helps in case of money. If i didn't plan i would spend wayyyyy too much money. Also planning is a ritual and sets me in the right mood for vegas. It's like the pre games
     
  3. mdlee3_46041

    mdlee3_46041 MIA

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    I always get reviews and make a list of things I'd like to do. Sometimes I get a lot of them done, sometimes just 1 or 2 things, and a few times I got none of them done.

    I usually go for a week so when I go on a shorter trip, such as 3 days, I've noticed that I have to plan better if there are things I really want to do.
     
  4. ardee

    ardee It's only money.

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    We tend to make copious plans, most of which revolve around dining. We also tend to over-plan. We'll list a half dozen meals for a trip and actually eat maybe 4 of them.
     
  5. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    Mostly no planning. If it's fall/winter we plan on where we are going to watch the Badgers & Packers play. We maybe plan one nice sit down dinner, especially if family is in town, but other than that, no planning.

    We just wing it.
     
  6. OntheStrip

    OntheStrip Tourist

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    In general in my life I plan things; time management and all that. But in Vegas I don't really want to plan anything.
     
  7. DeMoN2318

    DeMoN2318 The DERS

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    I pretty much plan every aspect of my life: annual, monthly, weekly budgets, I make a weekly menu every Sunday morning, I even make a Gantt chart for my weekends and days off work...I plan everything...EXCEPT Vegas!

    Vegas is an escape for me, so when I go I dont want life to be so structured like it is back home...just do what you want when you feel like it...nothing HAS to get done
     
  8. fugsworth

    fugsworth VIP Whale

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    I'm not much of a planner. On any given trip-- typically weekends or long weekends-- I might have a rough outline of 2 or 3 things (clubs, restaurants) that I really want to do. Apart from that, I leave it completely up in the air. Hasn't steered me wrong yet.
     
    EDC
  9. dfalk

    dfalk VIP Whale

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    I quit planning anything after like my 4th trip. I find it much better to just wing it and do whatever you feel like at the time.
     
  10. Kickin

    Kickin Flea

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    I love planning things for Vegas, so does my girlfriend. I make a detailed itinerary on TripIt and its like having a virtual trip in my head.

    Then I love watching my plans go completely out the window the moment I land, and just kick back and play it all be ear.
     
  11. sybgal

    sybgal VIP Whale

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    Yes, I do plan...it's my nature...lol. But, with that said, very little is "firm plans". Mainly plan to eat at certain restaurants while there with no exact schedule. Always have many TR credits to cover the costs since we rarely eat at any restaurant that is not in a CET property. We wait till we are there to decide what to use our CET Diamond show tickets on.... sometimes they throw in something like Jersey Boys (had already seen once but got to see the show with a different "Frankie"). Take any coupons we have - just in case. If I didn't plan ahead somewhat.... trip would be much more costly.
     
  12. LolaDoggie

    LolaDoggie VIP Whale

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    I think even non planners should probably have some kind of loose idea of what to do for NYE. There's too many factors; shutting down the strip, what if you have to pee/poop, where/what/when are you going to eat, forget about getting around etc. There's a few sites that outline what to expect for NYE.

    Just make a plan A, B, C and D on your own. Don't bother arguing with him. And then when he sees the huddle masses yearning to party that start to overwhelm him by 4pm on NYE, he'll start asking you what you had in mind to do tonight. Trust me, I been married to a hard headed man for a long time and I haven't killed him yet.
     
  13. KellyLovesVegas

    KellyLovesVegas Earthling/retired space nerd

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    If you wish to have dinner at a nice restaurant on NYE I strongly recommend you make reservations and plan out most of that evening. On NYE the Strip is closed to traffic around 5-6pm, and later that evening hotels restrict access to their properties. Once the Strip is closed, travel becomes much more time consuming. So you'll want to consider the impact of this on your NYE plans. At which hotel are you staying? You may want to consider having dinner in a restaurant located at or near your home hotel on that night.

    Last NYE (December 2012) we had dinner at Charlie Palmer Steak, located in the hotel where we stayed (Four Seasons).
     
  14. justmare

    justmare High-Roller

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    Planning the trip is part of the fun for me. I make a detailed itinerary or I may forget to use a specific comp or coupon. We try to stick to it as much as possible, but it is Vegas and things can change quickly!
     
  15. vegasqc

    vegasqc VIP Whale

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    I book my hotel and plan all of my nights( for shows)

    but ill leave the daytime unplanned
     
  16. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Over the years planning went increasingly by the wayside. We never felt we were in a position where we just absolutely had to or else see something or do something or eat something, because we knew we'd be back soon. Now that doesn't mean we had absolutely no dinner razzes or no spa appointments or no tee times, but mostly it was free form. Chasing around tagging this base and getting that deal got old for us pretty early.
     
  17. lotso-bear

    lotso-bear VIP Whale

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    I always plan out my trips, including ones to Vegas. If there's a restaurant I want to hit up, I note it. I then make a daily schedule of things to do, outside of gambling. It's difficult when I go there with my family since we all have different preferences...
     
  18. Texas Gramma

    Texas Gramma Low-Roller

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    I am a "tentative" planner

    For me, half the fun of going to Vegas is in making the plans. I will be going Christmas night to downtown Vegas ... the 3rd year in a row... as my Christmas present from my son. Each year I have found something I really wanted to do the next year and that starts my new list of things I want to do. Keeping this list gives me a sense of enjoyment of my vacation for a lot longer than the six actual days.
    ---
    This year my computer list is titled.... 2013 Las Vegas Suggestions... I do “intense” research by reading this site and others. When I see an idea I might like to do, see or eat, I go to other sites, trip advisor, yelp, etc. and see what others are saying about this item...including googling it just to see what I can find.
    ---
    About September, I start putting things in order so I can print the pages before I go on my trip... i.e. Restaurants, Gaming, Hotel, etc. --- I even keep a list of “Slots I would like to try” and table games I’ll possibly use for my match plays... also any drawings or tournaments that might be available on the days we plan to be in Vegas.
    ---
    About October I start a Tentative Days Plan ... the reason for this is I have found out the hard way that sometimes the very thing I wanted to do was available only on certain days of the week... or the restaurant I wanted to enjoy was closed on 2 days of the week.
    ---
    Now I shuffle “days” around trying to include all I want to do... sometimes things change up to the last minute i.e. this year our host has given us tickets to a dinner theater and that necessitated crossing off my list one of the special dinners I had wanted to try ... chicken fried lobster at Binion’s Steakhouse... with a skyline view... I just moved it to next year’s list.
    ---
    I make a page with travel items... the flight numbers and times our plane departs from home and from Las Vegas, etc. and a list of envelopes of money I allow myself for each day, I make sure to allow dollars for tips at the airport and slots at the airport... both coming and going... it eases the lifestyle transition for me to indulge a small amount at the airport... and I see on major jackpot lists that many have been hit at the airport... why not me?
    ---
    On this page I also include offers each casino for free play, match play, food comps etc. One list for my son, one for me. These add to the dollars we have available for the trip... and makes sure we don't forget to collect on one of them.
    ---
    When I get through, I have a “tentative” schedule for my days. I have never been able to follow it exactly... but I keep it on me and when I can’t do something I have scheduled, I don’t hesitate to pull out my “tentative” plans sheets and pick something else on the list... no standing around trying to think of something to do.
    ---
    My son does no advance planning other than comped rooms and plane tickets, but he gets to enjoy all the benefits of my “fun planning” if he wants to do so. We tend to each do our own thing while in Vegas... usually at least meeting for breakfast and most dinners to talk and compare our days.
     
  19. owenmc60

    owenmc60 Low-Roller

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    I'm going on my first Vegas trip since I've been 'of-age' (I've been once before when I was 13). We're going for 9nights plus 2nights at the Grand Canyon & 1night at Lake Mead.

    We're intending to plan 4 of those days in Vegas and leave 5 days clear to play-by-ear as I'm sure theres so much stuff we'll discover once we're over there we wanna do! And the 3 nights away from Vegas will mainly be planned to ensure we're at the right places at the right time

    So in summary, some planning and some going with the flow! :beer:
     
  20. JosieCat

    JosieCat VIP Whale

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    I used to, but after many trips where I didn't do hardly anything on my itinerary - now I don't even bother beyond the basics.
     
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