6 Cheezheads in Vegas

Six first-timers in Vegas!

Wednesday, 23rd
The flight from Madison to Denver was a little rough. I had a small amount of feeling sick, but not too bad. However, the Denver to Las Vegas flight was TERRIBLE. Turbulence the whole way and I had to breathe deep the entire time to keep from barfing. Hubby hated it and said he will not fly again. I knew he would say that as he hates to fly!!!! But, we made it and had a great time (other than the flight there).

Had a slight delay out of Denver, and were late getting into Vegas. We were supposed to get there about 12:00, but got there at 1:00 instead. No big deal. The limo driver was waiting by the baggage claim and we were off. Got to the hotel (Orleans) and no line at all for checking in. Got right into our room. Room was nice. The bathroom was huge, 2 double beds. Very nice. We headed down to the casino after getting settled. Went to have lunch at the buffet. Had a few drinks and checked things out. We took a taxi down to Freemont Street. Loved the light show!!! Also had a good band playing 70's music. After that we took a taxi downtown. We walked around and took in all the excitement. We saw the fountains at Bellagio (outstanding). To see this place at night is just unbelievable. We took the shuttle back to our hotel that night.


Thursday, 24th
Had breakfast at the buffet at our hotel. It was great! They have anything you can possibly imagine. We loved the omelette station. They made them to order. They were so good. We really looked forward to breakfast and it was only $5.45 per person. YUM! We took the shuttle from our hotel downtown. Went to the Imperial Palace, Harrah's, Venetian, Mirage, Ceasar's Palace. Back to the Barbary Coast (that's where the shuttle would pick up and drop off) to see the "Big Elvis" show. Then we headed back to our hotel and went to the pool. It was a little cool (mid 70's), but we jumped in the hot tub with our drinks and relaxed. Felt great on the sore feet. The pool area was really nice. A big pool, lounge pool and hot tub. They had a nice tiki bar - the BEST margaritas. Ate at our hotel at the café. It was good. That night we took a cab to the Stratosphere . We bought tickets to go to the top (and you got a free drink at the bar at the top). We went to the outside observation deck with our drinks. WOW! What a view. That was one of the highlights of the trip. After that we took a cab to the Hard Rock casino. We didn't stay there long as it was really packed, so we headed back to our hotel.

Friday, 25th
Got up and had the GREAT breakfast buffet again. Took a taxi to the Excalibur. Then to the Luxor, New York New York, MGM Grand, M&M Factory, Coke store, ESPN Zone. Took a taxi back to the hotel in the afternoon and did more pool lounging. Weather was warmer and we hung out there for a long time. Made reservations for dinner at the Prime Rib Loft at the Orleans (AWESOME food). Then, that night we had tickets to Skintight at Harrah's at 10pm. We left about 6:00 and walked down to Treasure Island hoping to catch the Pirate Ship battle, but it didn't start until 8:30, so we watched the volcano eruption at Mirage, and then went to Harrah's. While waiting for the show to start, we sat in the lounge. They had karaoke going on. Hilarious! Then they had a dueling piano show that was great too. Went to Skintight. It was really good, but glad that we had buy one, get one free tickets. Glad that we didn't spend $40 each on it. It was good, just not great. The guys loved it, of course. They have a great comedian that does a sketch in the middle of the show. She was hilarious. Back to the hotel after that for more drinking, gambling.

Saturday, 26th
Breakfast buffet again! YUM!!! Bus picked us up at 10:30 for the Hoover Dam tour. Had to pick up quite a few more people at various hotels and got to Hoover Dam about 1:00. Had two hours there. They had just lifted the security there, so we were able to take the tour down into the dam, which was great. We left there at 3:00 and were back to our hotel at 4:00. The pool was calling our name, so we got in the hot tub and drank until 6:00. Had reservations at Sazio's (italian restaurant at Orleans). Gambled some more after dinner. One of the guys we were with won $3,000 that night. He just kept winning and winning. We went to bed about 12:00 and had to be up at 3:15 for our flight. UGH! The limo was there to pick us up at 4:00 and got to the airport. We had to be there 2 hours in advance, and we had quite a bit of time to burn. Everyone was pretty quiet! All flights home were very calm and on schedule. We were back in Madison by 1:30 on Sunday.

Can't wait to go back again!!! I would recommend the Orleans to everyone. Nice rooms, good service, great food, and according to our friend, GREAT gambling! I didn't win anything, but had a blast.

 

Thanks for the great report! We will be staying at the Orleans in June for the first time. Your report just re-inforces all of the good things I've heard so far. How was Sazio's? Thinking we might try it for lunch one day. Thanks again for the great info!

 

Sazio's was delicious! I had chicken fettucine and my husband had a vodka/tomato pasta dish that he said was fantastic. You can't go wrong at the Orleans. I can't think of anything that I didn't like about it other than the smoke, but kind of hard to get away from that.

Also, the liquor store in there is very cheap and we took advantage of that rather than paying for drinks by the pool all the time.

Have a great trip!!!

 

Thanks again for all of the great info! Sounds like Sazio is a "must try"! Been to Vegas several times, but never been to the Orleans so this will be a new experience.
38 days and counting!!!!!!!