Aladdin from 6/23 to 6/27 (First trip to Vegas)

I must say that I am very dissapointed.....
Yeah, dissapointed that I had to leave Las Vegas
Before I begin, I must say that we got a pretty good package thru America West and my travel agent of $1,075 for 3 nights and plane tickets for both of us. I had to add an extra night for $250, since I had forgotten that the Celine Dion Concert was on a thursday, so we ended up staying an extra night (we, by the way, are very glad that we did stay that extra night)
Anyway, the trip started at 6:30 am at the Miami Intl. Airport were we checked our bags in. Funny thing happened there, my travel agent (bless her heart) screwed up the reservations and got my wife and myself separate seats. America West tried everything in their power to get us out at 8:40 am (Miami time) as scheduled, however, since they couldn't get us seats together because they had oversold the flight, they offered us to leave at 10:40am (again, Miami time) in first class at no extra charge....Unbelievable.....
We stayed at the Aladdin in room 1893 with a great view of the Bellagio fountains and the Paris' Eiffel Tower and Arch of Triumph (oh, and the balloon). All this for an extra $30 a night. We found the staff to be helpful and courteous always trying to make us feel at home.
We arrived at around 2:00 pm and left our stuff in the room and since we were kinda' hungry (we hadn't eaten much since around 1:00pm (Miami time) and my wife is pregnant, so we headed to the Spice Market. What a wonderful surprise. We were used to the Miccosukee Indian buffet in Miami and this was another world for us. What an amazing buffet. That's all I can say about that without crying like a little kid
Now I am going to break down my stay into good and bad.

The Good
The room we got at the Aladdin was pretty spacious, and clean. We have heard stories about plumbing this, thin walls that, nah...Sure the plumbing would make noise when someone went to the bathroom (What hotel doesn't. Even the Disney World hotels have that problem), however, we heard nothing during our stay from the adjoining rooms. The shops were great. I don't like shopping much, so that's all I have to say about that, however, my wife liked them. The food all around in the hotel was great, although we didn't really go to Elements, since we are the meat and potatoes type of people, not the ritzy gourment, small amounts of food people (no offense meant).
Las Vegas met and exceeded all of my expectations. I was expecting it to be "Sin City" where all this craziness occurs, but I found it to be fun for everyone. We found it that if you want to go as a single person and "get some", you have no problems there, no matter how pathetic looking you may be. (I say that because I got hit on twice there...LOL) If you go with your spouse, family or group of friends, you will have fun. No question. Everything about the place is fun, beautiful and scintillating all at once. We visited every single hotel in the strip to say that we were there (see the bad). Used up two video tapes, one disposable camera (for couples pictures, since I own a Canon Rebel and wouldn't give it to just anyone to take our picture) and 2 rolls of film from our Canon. The people in the Casinos were courteous, as I made a terrible mistake and went into a few Casinos and filmed for a few seconds, again to say that we were there. When we walked into one of the casinos (will omit name since I don't want to get the security person in trouble), we found out that filming was a no-no, however, this kind gentleman said he would turn around so that I could film for a couple of seconds ("I didn't see you ...") After that, I stopped filming the casinos.
We went to two shows and to the Venetian, which is a show on its own. We first went to Mystere, after making the 2 hour standby line. It was worth it as we got 8th row in the bottom section right in the center. Wonderful, amazing show. We were saddened to find out that "O" was on vacation, so we had to "settle" for Mystere...(settle, ha...). On thursday night we went to see the Celine Dion show (I was predisposed to hate the show sine I can't stand her) as a mother's day gift to my wife (she loves her, yuk). I was more than pleasantly surprised to see an unbelievable show of dancing and special effects (Bravo Franco Dragone and Celine Dion). I still don't like her, but I respect her, as she does this elaborate show 4 nights a week without any vacation time in between. We ate at Puck's restaurant at the Venetian (the name skips my mind, since I am still Jet lagged) and had a wonderful, romantic meal with my wife to the sound of a beautiful (small) orchestra. We then rode the gondolas outside of the Venetian, which took us for a ride around the front of the hotel with the gondoleer (?) serenating us and another couple that joined us.
We enjoyed unseasonably cool weather for Las Vegas at around 85 to 88 degrees the first couple of days and not much hotter at 96 degrees(sounds hot, but really isn't) the last two.
The Bad
When you walked toward the outside of the Aladdin thru the exit from the stores, it smelled aweful, like the sewage system had problems. The same thing happened when we were walking to the Caesar's Palace to see Celine. Right accross from the Flamingo. Also, we did find that the check in was amazingly long. I had to make a line of about 25 people before I got taken care of, however, the wonderful person that took care of us, made up for it.
Let me preface this by saying that I am a hispanic-american and mean no disrespect toward my mexican friends, however, while you walk in the streets, you have this poor mexican people handing out smut. I don't blame them, they need a job, but my wife by mistake accepted a brochure and it all had to do with strippers and prostitution. Although I said earlier that it was enjoyable for everyone, I wouldn't bring my kids. I am not a prude, but my goodness, how they bothered everyone. They however weren't pushy like the people I'll mention next...There is nothing more bothersome to me than the "show consultants" that the hotels had in their lobbies and outside. My god, they would hound us and follow us, and offered free shows until they drove us nuts; and they won't take no for an answer, which is the worst part.
The last part of the bad for us was due to our own stupidity. See, we decided to see all the hotels in the strip, all of them. We went on Tuesday from the Aladdin to the Stratosphere , WALKING, the only solace that we took in this was that it was around 80-82 degrees when we did this, so we didn't die out, however, our feet weren't too happy. We got a cab back, who by the way told us that the Aladdin had just been sold to the Planet Hollywood people (I hope they don't change it) Next time we'll grab a cab if we want to go to the back Stratosphere (Beautiful View by the way). By the way, right after doing this, I stood in a stand by line for two hours for tickets to Mystere (I wouldn't let my pregnant wife make a line), so my feet and legs were throbbing even after we laid down to sleep.
To summarize:
All in all, we were very saddned to have left so quickly. We were so gung-ho with the place, that we were already planning our trip back (while we were still there) for next year (She gives birth the last week of December) or maybe the one after, since we aren't planning to take the kids (we alrady have a 1 1/2 year old). We found this place to be enchanting for gamblers and non-gamblers alike (we gambled around $70 between the two - bad gamblers will stop gambling when they get discouraged after losing some money). Also, due to our stupidity and forgetting what I had printed from this board at home, we didn't get to eat at Delmonico's since we needed a reservation and didn't make one on time... . Still Puck's restaurant made up for that error in judgement...
As you call can see, the good, no question, outweighs the bad.
I apologize to all for the length of my trip report, but I really wanted to give you all the perspective of Mr and Mrs "Vegas Cherries", as someone called us in my ealier post....
Now, I graduate into helping others enjoy the wonders of "Las Vegas"

[ June 28, 2003, 11:09 PM: Message edited by: fantasma62 ]

 

What an amazing walk .. from the Aladdin to The STRAT !! I'm guessing you stopped in all the hotels along the way. Must have been a full day!!! And to think there is so much more to see for your next visit.
Glad your first trip turned out to be all you wanted!! Nice report!

 

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! I think everyone tries to do so much on their first trips not realizing how much there truly is to see and do, and yes, those distances on the Strip area terribly deceiving! The best thing about your first trip, you start planning for the next trip and making of list of things to see and do that you missed this trip!

Congratulations on the upcoming baby! I am pregnant too and due about 2 weeks after your wife. Glad to know that she had no problems with the trip since my husband and I are taking it next weekend.

Enjoyed your trip report and I hope you make frequent trips in the future!