DBear
VIP Bear
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2006
- Messages
- 3,310
- Trips to Las Vegas
- 12
Lots of reports coming in from people visiting over Easter weekend, so I'll add mine to the pile. Wanted to do this last night but after doing laundry and unpacking, all I wanted to do was sleep. Had 7 hours of sleep last night but that's only scratching the surface of the amount I really need after 7 days in Vegas. Although I like reading reports when it's categorized, ie. Shows, Hotels, Gambling, etc., I like writing reports as it happened day to day.
Hotels: Treasure Island (3 nights), Holiday Inn Express @ Grand Canyon (1 night), Paris Las Vegas (3 nights)
Shows: Jubilee, Spamalot, KA, Producers, Carrot Top, Mystere
Buffets: Wynn (L), Circus Circus (B), Dishes @ TI (B, L), Cravings @ Mirage (L), Paris (B), Bellagio (L)
Gambling: -$3.00 - only sat at the penny slots for the drinks
Pre-Day1: Night before leaving, I had a long day at work. Had to work until about 7 or 8pm with a 7:30am flight out the next morning. Still had things to pack and reservations/iternaries to print out at 10pm that night. Started feeling giddy as I was so busy at work during the day to even think about the upcoming vacation. Went to sleep at midnight and was deathly afraid I'd sleep through the alarm clock as it was set for 5am.
Day1: No problems getting up at 5am. Did some last minute work emails for about 15 minutes, then got ready to leave. Biggest dilemna was what to wear for the flight. Looking at the Vegas forecast, I knew it was going to be nice and warm but it was still below freezing at home. Would it be jeans and a sweater, possibly with a jacket, or shorts and T-shirt and freeze until I get into the airport...shorts and a golf shirt it was. Froze for a few minutes walking to the airport after parking the car but it would soon be over. I expected to be the only one dressed like that at the airport as it's a small commuter airport that I'm in, however I get in the terminal and there must be about 30 people dressed like that! Turns out there's a weekly flight direct to Hawaii from my airport. First leg of the flight was OK, then had a 2 hour stopover at the next airport. Met up with one of my trip buddies while waiting for our luggage at the US connections section. Although he arrived at this airport an hour earlier than I did, he said he'd been waiting for his luggage forever. Began to worry that I'd be waiting forever too, but once his bags turned up, mine came out about 5 minutes afterwards. Proceed to check in, ate a quick breakfast, and toured the airport (I always tour around as I can't stand sitting waiting for the plane to board). Everything was on time and we were off to Vegas. Arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule which for us, was actually annoying as we had to wait for another friend flying on a different flight to land. Originally, the flights were supposed to land 10 minutes of each other but with our early arrival, we waited that much longer. Very painful to be standing at the luggage carrasols looking at the sunny weather beyond the exit doors and just stand there waiting for the next buddy to land. Time went by and soon the the next buddy landed. His bag was the first one out the chute and we were off to the taxi stand with no lineups. Taxi tunneled us to Treasure Island and although I was pretty sure we got ripped off, I wasn't 100% sure as TI is pretty far down the strip and the highway exit was right at TI's entrance. So I didn't complain yet I still think we got ripped off. Fare was $21.00 for those of you who have gone from the airport to TI. Checked into the room. Was hoping to try the $20 trick but the hotel was sold out so I didn't even bother. Just was friendly with the clerk anyways and he got a cot delivered to the room for the 3 of us and off we went. View out the room was over the pirate ship looking out at Wynn. The new Venetian tower is going up fast. When I visited last year, that thing was barely a hole in the ground. All of us were starving and at first we went downstairs and eyed the Dishes buffet. At $15, I said, we might as well do the Wynn lunch buffet for a few dollars more. I only planned on doing 2-3 buffets at the most for the week so we might as well do the best ones. The buffet thing changed later on but I'll get into that later. Everyone was impressed with the Wynn buffet. Have one picky eater (call him Buddy1) who's into the whole health food thing...no beef or pork, just fish and chicken. He loved it and all the various seafood dishes. After this late lunch around 3pm, we just walked down the strip (keep in mind both these buddies are Vegas virgins and sightseeing was are primary goal). It was so nice outside, we just walked on the sidewalks and didn't even go into the hotels. Was walking by the Eiffel Tower and saw a showgirl outside posing for pictures. Buddy2 walked up for a picture and then realized she was handing out pamplets. He took one not knowing what it was for and we began walking away. He started reading it and it said, "Free Jubilee Tickets". We immediately did a U-turn and the rest of us got the free coupons as well. Had to sign up for a players card but had no problems with that. We backtracked to Ballys to get the free tickets at the box office and the lineup was incredibly slow. They had computer problems and we spent just under an hour in line. Finally got the tickets and continued on our walking tour. Can't remember what happened next or where we ate dinner so I'll skip to Jubilee. Tickets were for the 10:30pm show and the seats were towards the back of the theatre. Glad to see Jubilee as it was on my list of things to do...see one of the classic shows. Show was just OK for me. Nice to see all the costumes and sets but after 30 minutes of it, all the acts seemed the same to me. After that, we walked the strip a bit more and called it an early night.
Day2: Woke up around 9:30am. With 3 guys in the room, I knew it could take a while to get ready, but I didn't think it would take this long. Every morning, it took us about 1.5 hours before we could start our day. Walked north towards the older hotels. Had the breakfast buffet at Circus Circus. We got in just before lunch so we paid $9.99 instead of $10.99! Had a plate of breakfast and a plate of lunch. Although not overly impressed with the buffet, it exceeded my expectations. Breakfast was definitely better than the lunch portion and like everyone here says, how hard is it to screw up scrambled eggs. Did some more walking...saw the big tent at Circus Circus, walked up to the Stratosphere and Sahara. Buddy2 wanted to go on the rides at the top of the Strat but we chickened out on him. Continued walking back towards Wynn. Ran into a guy asking for directions to the Sahara. Told him it was a 20 minute walk up the street. He nearly fainted...said he's been walking for over an hour already and someone else told him the Sahara was only a 20 minute walk further, but that was 20 minutes ago! Told him we weren't lying and it was only 20 minutes more. Don't know if he made it to the Sahara but we saw him later that night walking through Wynn. We walked back to Wynn and had a drink on their Parasol Up bar (think that's what it's called - the bar right by the registration desk). Good to just sit back and relax after a couple hours of walking. It says there's a 1-drink minimum purchase to sit on the deck but we already had drinks in our hands and there was only 1 bartender who was too busy to even notice we were taking up precious seats on the deck. No problems with just sitting back and relaxing. We eventually got up and went back to TI. Sat by the pool for an hour or so. Had the Dishes lunch buffet around 3:45pm. Actually had wanted to go to the Mirage buffet but as it was already 3:45pm, didn't think we could get to Mirage and pay before 4pm when dinner starts.Generally impressed with the quality of the food. I remember the sushi sticking out in my mind as being very fresh, even tastier than the sushi at Wynn's buffet although I'm sure it's just as fresh. Overall, pleased with this buffet. After this early dinner, we went back to the room to relax and prepared to go see Monty Python's Spamalot at Wynn. Got to the theatre with a few drinks in hand. No glass allowed in the theatre but they allow you to pour your drink in a plastic cup before going in. As I already had a few drinks in me and was in a hurry to get inside as both buddies were already in, I quickly poured my drink into the cup, assuming that the cup would hold a full bottle of beer.....no. The cup overflowed and everyone in line starts looking at me like I was some drunk. Even with the overflow, still had about a quarter of the beer to polish off in the bottle. Wynn - get some bigger cups please. Off inside the theatre, we were up in the balcony, dead middle, about the 3rd last row. Seats have definitely been changed since it was Avenue Q but that's been said here before. Less legroom and less elbow room. Overall a good show. Musical theatre isn't really my thing but for $49, this seemed like a relatively cheap show to see. It was a packed house and judging by the audience's laughter, everyone had a good time. For the person sitting in seat D101, we all thought you were going to have a heart attack when asked to go onstage. Don't know if they change the seat gimmack from show to show, but for those of you not afraid of going up onstage, try to get D101 seats up front. After the show, we went to the New Frontier for some bikini bull riding. Wasn't much going on at that time, just after 10pm, so we decided not to pay the $10 cover and use it towards getting some beers at their gift shop. Headed back to the strip and did some more walking and sightseeing. Went to Ellis Island for their food. Got their $4.95 steak special for the first time...it was also my last time. Service was horrible which I expected but the food was also horrible this time too. Steak was just OK but I wouldn't walk there just for that again. Baked potato was undercooked and soup and veggies were just OK. Felt bad for Buddy2 who had the $1.95 midnight breakfast special. Definitely not the same breakfast I've had in the past. Food looked small and pathetic and from he said, it tasted pathetic. Couldn't get out of there soon enough. We at least had some amusement watching the waiters/waitresses scramble around. They brought the wrong food to the wrong table at least 4 or 5 times (different servers, different tables). The table next to us asked for more bread and they came back with 2 steak dinners! Even when we paid the bill and were just finishing our drinks, a person from the back came out with a tray of more food to serve us. We quickly said it wasn't ours and he later found the right table. Made our way back to TI, stopping by whatever lounges or bands came in our way and called in another night.
Day3: Woke up about 9am. Out the door by 10:30am. We wanted to try the Mirage lunch buffet and tried to get in during breakfast and stay for lunch. Got into the Mirage line by 10:45am but didn't get to the front of the line until 11:20am. While in line, there was a hot mom behind us with hubby and 2 kids. Don't know what the kids (around 5 years old) were saying but they said something playfully and each one suddenly grabbed mom's boobs. Buddy1 immediately cracked up out loud and hot mom couldn't slap away both kids' hands fast enough. We joked later we should have said to her, "those kids must be a handful." Anyways, the Cravings buffet atmosphere looked very spartan and the food stations were very spread out along the room's walls. The layout actually works fine as having the food so spread apart also spreads apart any lineups. If you want pasta, you go straight to that area. The pizza is the one thing that I really remember. Some of the best pizza I've had. After lunch, we did some more walking and touring around. Had show tickets for KA at 9pm so we left TI around 6pm to make our way down to MGM Grand and stop for dinner somewhere along the way. I recommended Max's Cafe inside the Miracle Mile (formerly Desert Passage) as I remember the lunch and dinner specials were reasonable. Also remembered their 3 for $10 martini specials from last year. Restaurant looks the same except a little bit darker. Plasma screens are on the walls which I remember being installed during my lunch there last year. Ordered some martinis and the blackened chicken pasta. Sauce was very very runny for an alfredo variation. Server said it's actually a cajun variety so it's not supposed to be as thick of a sauce. I think it's just how they're able to serve it for $6.99. I didn't taste any cajun spices to it, just a lot of water in the sauce. Another place I won't go back to. We had to ask for the bill twice and it was a total of 25 minutes from when we first asked for the bill and when we finally got it. As a result, the waiter got about a $0.40 tip. Off we went to MGM. Toured around along the way and made our way into the KA theatre. The theatre looks very cool with all the platforms along the side and the fire breathing prior to the show. Seats were very comfortable and had lots of leg and elbow room. Show started off cool with the bad guys swinging off the platforms but that was about as good as it got. There were plenty of places where I almost fell asleep and found the show just plain boring. The martial arts sequences just can't compare in the wow factor as the gymnasts do in Mystere. Buddy1 felt the same way but Buddy2 thought it was a decent show. He's seen other Cirque shows before and has seen the acrobatic stuff. Liked seeing something else. Made our way back to TI stopping through a couple of bars and lounges and then called it a night.
Day4: Early wakeup at about 6:45am as we had Dollar car reservations at 8:30am. Wanted to check out of the hotel and get on the way to the Grand Canyon as soon as possible as we also wanted to get to the Hoover Dam by mid-morning. By the time we got the car, stopped for breakfast at McDonalds and onto the highway, it was about 10:30am when we got to the Hoover Dam. Parked in the free Arizona lots and walked down to the Dam. Took some pictures and then proceeded down the escalators to start the tour. Stood in line for the first movie for about 15 minutes and just when we thought we were getting in, they closed the doors on us, about 4 people too late. So we had to wait for another 15 minutes before we began. After the 10-minute movie, we got into another line to go down below. Bruce was our tour guide and everyone found him to be personable and knowledgeable. I personally didn't find the tour that exciting, although I know others find it fascinating. The views from the platforms and from on the dam itself were the best parts about the area. On a side note, the bridge for the new highway section to bypass the dam looks absolutely huge. That should be a sight to see in itself once its completed. Next, we continued the drive to the Grand Canyon. Got into the Holiday Inn Express at the Grand Canyon right outside the South Rim entrance by about 5:30pm. The forecast said it was to rain the next day so we immediately got back in the car and headed for the Canyon just to see as much as we could before it got dark and before it started raining. Incredible views. Walked along the trail for about 40 minutes and thought we might be able to squeeze in the Desert View as well. Drove back towards the entrance and headed along the Desert View road and then saw it was 25 miles away when the speed limit was 35! U-turn came pretty fast from our driver. Everyone was too hungry to go down that road so we stopped at the Quality Inn hotel for their buffet dinner. Buffet looked just a little bit smaller than the Vegas buffets but it was still decent and we were just looking for nourishment at that point, not anything fancy. Thought about hotel hopping along the strip (joke) but decided to just go back to the hotel room at the Holiday Inn Express. Ended up watching Frank Miller's Sin City on tv. Extremely violent movie but also extremely well done. I've seen it before in the movie theatres but it was cool to watch it again. Went to sleep after that.
Day5: Another early morning at about 6am. Holiday Inn Express's have those free continental buffets so we went down for that. Breakfast room was packed! There was even a lineup out the room starting to form. Had my bagel and fruits and went back to the room. We decided that since it was sunny (no, not raining), we should go back and take another view of the Canyon before leaving. Spent another hour there and then finally got back on the road. Slept most of the way back to Vegas, stopping for lunch at a gas station Subway that had showers in the washroom. The drive back to Vegas is very scenic. Although I live in a pretty scenic tourist area myself, it's always cool to see a different part of the world. Was dreading the Hoover Dam traffic but it wasn't so bad at all. Probably took about 20 minutes in all to get from one side to the next. Those security checkpoints work out well when they pull all the trucks to the side to be searched. Serves as a nice bypass lane. Very shortly after, we're back in Vegas at about 1:30pm and checking into the Paris hotel. We self-parked and made our way to the registration desk. Our plan was to check-in and then go shopping at the Premium outlet stores. I go to the check-in desk and ask if any of the renovated rooms are available. Clerk snobbily replied that renovated rooms are for diamond members only. Didn't try the $20 trick but wouldn't want to give her $20 anyways. Standard room was fine with me with a view looking out the left side towards MGM Grand and Planet Aladdin. Buddy1 was in the washroom so we decided to wait downstairs. While waiting, one guy came up and said he's got a free comped ticket to the Producers for the 2pm afternoon show (it was 1:58pm at that point). Told him there were 3 of us and he said all he had was 1 ticket and it would go to waste if it wasn't used. He actually went up to Buddy2 with this offer as I was off in a gift store somewhere. Think he saw him by himself and could use the 1 ticket. Anyways, Buddy2 took the ticket and told me what happened when I got back. Buddy1 came down shortly and heard the story. I thought about getting 2 more tickets so we could all see the Producers but they said for me to just take the ticket as I did all the organizing of the trip and they would go off exploring on their own for 2 hours. It was now about 2:03pm so I raced off to the theatre and quickly got seated. I was in the last row of the front section near the middle. Theatre was half-empty and at first, I thought it was only because it was the afternoon show. From other reviews on this board, it sounds like every show is half-empty. This was a show I almost booked ahead of time as I've wanted to see it for a long time. Buddy1 said his sister saw the Producers in another city and didn't like it so he wasn't keen on watching it, so I didn't book these tickets (went with Spamalot instead). Very professional show with good talent. The Hoff surprised me. He's very tall and has a huge prescence. He's about a head taller than anyone else on stage. Good clear voice as well. I liked the show but I'm glad I didn't pay full price for those tickets. I loved Avenue Q when I saw it last year so I wanted to see another play this year. Decided I'm not a musical theatre type of person so I probably won't see any more of these shows for a while. Plan was to meet the buddies in the room at 4pm after the show. I got in at about 3:45pm and they weren't in so I took a quick shower. They showed up at about 4:30pm and were all giggles. Turned out they had their own adventure at Monte Carlo. There was some Grand Prix race promotion outside the entrance where you could spin a big wheel and win a prize. Buddy2 got 2-for-1 Lance Burton tickets coupon. Buddy1 got a coupon for a small beer at the Brewpub. So with coupon in hand, they went to the Brewpub for the beers. Buddy2 ordered a draft and Buddy1 presented his free coupon. He was expecting a glass but instead got the Tower of Power! One of those big funnels of beer that holds A LOT of beer. They got hammered and could still only get through a third of it. They were begging people at other tables to pour themselves a glass. On their way out, another guy came into the pub with his free small beer coupon. He too was expecting just a glass of beer and wasn't even excited, but then Buddy1 told him this tower was THE small glass. The guy started to panic, going no no no no no, don't pour me that but it was too late...the small beer was already poured. He probably got hammered too. By about 5pm, we were off to the Premium outlet malls. It's located conveniently by the highway exit but the roads were all blocked for the Grand Prix race. Took us about 30 minutes to figure out how to get into the mall. Did some shopping and by about 7pm, we were off to Fremont street. Parking again was insane as many of the streets were closed or blocked off. Stopped by the first gift shop we saw and got some beers. Prices weren't listed but we took whatever we wanted. My tall can was $1.50! Cheaper than buying water! We took some pictures and walked around. Couple of bands were playing and we went through some of the casinos. Last year, I was downtown during NASCAR weekend. Lost in a sea of driver's jackets. Was wondering what this year would be like with the Grand Prix going on this weekend. Definitely not the same type of crowd. Don't even know if there were any race fans there. Walked around, saw the light show, saw 3 motorcyclists drive around inside a giant ball. Had the deep fried twinkie and oreos. The twinkie was pretty much all batter and tasteless but the oreos were pretty good. Can't be good for you but there's only 3 of the oreos. We then ate at the Golden Gate and I had the $6.95 prime rib dinner special. Buddy1 and 2 had the $4.95 chicken dinner special. My prime rib dinner was excellent. Wouldn't hesitate to eat that meal again. After dinner, we headed back to the strip and ended up watching some lounge acts.
Day6: Woke up around 7am to get an early day of hiking in at Red Rock. We were going to just grab McDonalds for breakfast along the way to Red Rock but when we saw that there was no line to get into the Paris buffet, we just went in there instead. Breakfast was good but I had built up very high expectations for the food after reading everyone's Paris breakfast buffet reviews. I like crepes but don't really care for the fruity ones which are the ones they have at breakfast. Rest of the food was good but nothing felt or tasted spectacular. I'd like to go back for the Paris lunch or dinner buffet in the future. By the time we got to Red Rock, it was about 10am and we started at the Calico Springs area, right before the park entrance. Did some quick hiking and scrambling up the rocks. I didn't go all the way to the top, only about half way, but Buddy1 and 2 both did. I just sat around admiring the view from where I was. We then went to the scenic drive entrance and paid our $5 fee. Chose another trail to hike - I think it was #5 Keystone Thrust. It was one of the shorter trails but still with a slight elevation. We went off the trail a bit and went up another hill. Very cool to sit at the top on the rocks and take in the view. Eventually got back on the trail and completed the scenic drive. Stopped off at Red Rock Casino to take a look around. I wanted to see the hotel this trip as it wasn't open last year. Nice looking casino and the slot chairs seemed really comfortable. Didn't spend too long so we left and Buddy1 want to stop for lunch at Baja Fresh, a Mexican fast food joint but not fast food as in Taco Bell. Food was good although I'm not a huge Mexican food fan. Had the burrito which seemed a bit dry so I poured on the hot sauce which in itself was very good. Made it back to the strip by about 4pm. Relaxed a bit in the room, then made our way to see Carrot Top at Luxor. I saw his show last year and couldn't stop laughing. Even if every joke was the same, I'd be willing to pay full price to see it again. Glad to see that at least half the show was different. I realize most of those jokes were probably created about 10 years ago but they were new to me. He had some current events jokes to put in to keep things fresh. He definitely likes showing off his body. Last year, he was wearing one of those tight fitting muscle shirts with his arms bulging out. This year, he was pretty much covered up which surprised me, but right at the end when he's going through all those different songs, he whipped off his shirt and is left standing there in full display with his muscles sticking out. Very impressive but there was no need in the joke to rip his shirt off. Just liked showing it off. Like the blonde in the Producers says, "if you've got it, flaunt it." Did a few more bars and lounges but nothing big happened. Eventually made it back to the Paris hotel and crashed.
Day7: Last full day in Vegas and we woke up at 7am to return the Dollar rental car at Treasure Island. Nothing but bad things to say about Chuck (the Dollar clerk). Took every chance he could get to rip us off. Everything from the daily rental rate (tried charging us $49.95 instead of $30), the car size (gave us a compact instead of the intermediate that we reserved), charging us for the full insurance coverage when I clearly remember Buddy2 declining it and then he tried blaming it on the fact that there were 2 reservations under the same last name. He went on to say that he knew about the mixup as the person with the same last name checked in about 15 minutes after we picked up the car and noticed the mistake then except he didn't say anything about the mixup until we brought it up with him first. Will never deal with Dollar again (and hopefully never again with Chuck). After returning the car, we ate breakfast at the Dishes at TI buffet. About $12 and the food was good. Again, doesn't take much to make scrambled eggs and sausages but they served some sushi and some dumplings as well. Even had a dessert table going at breakfast for donuts and cinnamon buns. We headed back to Paris and was deciding what to do for the rest of the day. Buddy1 and 2 wanted to go back to the hotel pool to relax. I wanted to do some more shopping at Ceasars Forum shops and then walk over to Hard Rock casino as I've never been inside. The walk to Hard Rock was long and boring. Nothing to see along the way and no $1 beer stops like Casino Royale. We probably spent the most time in Casino Royale in line for the $1 beers and margaritas. The line moves fast but the place does stink of something. Hard Rock was tiny compared to the other casinos. Cool to see some of the memorabilia but I didn't spend too much time in there. Was in the gift ship getting a coke and the guy in front of me was buying a beer. When the cashier said it was $3.50 for the beer, he freaked out and said screw this. He said he doesn't mind getting screwed over on the strip but not here. He put the beer back and quickly walked out. I paid $2.50 for my coke and didn't complain. Walked back to the strip and back to Paris. It was about 1:30pm and we didn't plan on being back in the room to meet until 2pm so I went to the pool area looking for them. Lots of people were out and I couldn't find them at all in the pool area so I just went back up to the room to wait for them. They came back just after 2pm and they said it was packed down there. Buddy1 said he went to the washroom at one point and when he came back, he had trouble finding where Buddy2 was because of all the people. Left for the Bellagio lunch buffet at 3pm. The items I remember from this buffet are the clam chowder soup, the flank steak and cheese tortilleni. All excellent items. The fish items were too dry and even the desserts weren't as good as some of the other buffets. Went back to the hotel room and relaxed for an hour before heading to TI to watch Mystere. We didn't plan on watching Mystere but KA was so bad, I said we had to watch Mystere so they wouldn't leave Vegas with a bad taste for Cirque shows. Both were impressed with Mystere and it was just as exciting for me to watch it the second time as it was the first time. On the act where they use that teeter totter to fling people in the air, the gymnast missed the landing when trying to land on 3 others who were stacked on top of each other and nearly fell about 20 feet from the air. There were spotters waiting for her and they caught her. She nailed the flip the second time around and the theatre burst out in applause. Buddy1 said just the fact she missed the landing makes the show that much better as it makes the stunts look more dangerous After the show, we went in search of food. Thought Bill's would be good after midnight but they had a 45 minute wait. We quickly left in search of another place. Kept walking and walking and walking. Eventually ended up at Hooters and got some wings. Their hot wings were tasty but the medium sauce is just disgusting. It has a buttery flavour and was just gross. It was just like smearing butter all over the wings. Headed back to Paris and called it a night.
Day8: Flights out were scheduled for 1:30pm so we had lots of time to pack up in the morning. Got up about 8:30am and planned on going to the Paris breakfast buffet at 10am. Nothing doing. The line up went all the way down the hall. Even the crepe takeout station across the buffet had about 30 people waiting to order. So we walked over to Bally's to their buffet but they still had quite the lineup. Had to get our stuff out of the room by 11am so we just grabbed a quick bit at Nosh's in Bally's right by the escalator to the buffet. Croissant turkey and egg sandwich was surprisingly OK. Got back to the room and checked out. Grabbed a cab outside of Paris and made it to the airport by 11:30am and just passed time until our flights left.
Thoughts on my 2nd trip to Vegas:
1. One week in Vegas is too much for me now. Was fine when everything was new but future trips will definitely either be 3 or 4 days.
2. First 2 trips were guys trips. Next trip will be a couples trip. Too early with the current gf to start planning a Vegas trip though. Want to do more clubs and ultralounges.
3. Buffets were nice but I'd like to try some nicer restaurants next time.
4. Will either go cheap or splurge on hotel rooms next time. Splurging would be Bellagio or Wynn. Cheap would be Luxor/Excal/Ballys/Flamingo, etc.
5. Probably won't see anymore musicals. Still want to see O, Anthony Cools and maybe even David Copperfield.
6. Red Rock Canyon is still an amazing place to hike around for a few hours.
7. April was a great time to visit. Weather was warm but not too hot. Only one cool night on the very last night.
8. Was there a race in Vegas over Easter weekend? Couldn't tell anything was going on except for the roadblocks.
9. Casino Royale and $1 beers. I don't think I passed that casino all week without getting at least one drink before continuing on my walk.
Hotels: Treasure Island (3 nights), Holiday Inn Express @ Grand Canyon (1 night), Paris Las Vegas (3 nights)
Shows: Jubilee, Spamalot, KA, Producers, Carrot Top, Mystere
Buffets: Wynn (L), Circus Circus (B), Dishes @ TI (B, L), Cravings @ Mirage (L), Paris (B), Bellagio (L)
Gambling: -$3.00 - only sat at the penny slots for the drinks
Pre-Day1: Night before leaving, I had a long day at work. Had to work until about 7 or 8pm with a 7:30am flight out the next morning. Still had things to pack and reservations/iternaries to print out at 10pm that night. Started feeling giddy as I was so busy at work during the day to even think about the upcoming vacation. Went to sleep at midnight and was deathly afraid I'd sleep through the alarm clock as it was set for 5am.
Day1: No problems getting up at 5am. Did some last minute work emails for about 15 minutes, then got ready to leave. Biggest dilemna was what to wear for the flight. Looking at the Vegas forecast, I knew it was going to be nice and warm but it was still below freezing at home. Would it be jeans and a sweater, possibly with a jacket, or shorts and T-shirt and freeze until I get into the airport...shorts and a golf shirt it was. Froze for a few minutes walking to the airport after parking the car but it would soon be over. I expected to be the only one dressed like that at the airport as it's a small commuter airport that I'm in, however I get in the terminal and there must be about 30 people dressed like that! Turns out there's a weekly flight direct to Hawaii from my airport. First leg of the flight was OK, then had a 2 hour stopover at the next airport. Met up with one of my trip buddies while waiting for our luggage at the US connections section. Although he arrived at this airport an hour earlier than I did, he said he'd been waiting for his luggage forever. Began to worry that I'd be waiting forever too, but once his bags turned up, mine came out about 5 minutes afterwards. Proceed to check in, ate a quick breakfast, and toured the airport (I always tour around as I can't stand sitting waiting for the plane to board). Everything was on time and we were off to Vegas. Arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule which for us, was actually annoying as we had to wait for another friend flying on a different flight to land. Originally, the flights were supposed to land 10 minutes of each other but with our early arrival, we waited that much longer. Very painful to be standing at the luggage carrasols looking at the sunny weather beyond the exit doors and just stand there waiting for the next buddy to land. Time went by and soon the the next buddy landed. His bag was the first one out the chute and we were off to the taxi stand with no lineups. Taxi tunneled us to Treasure Island and although I was pretty sure we got ripped off, I wasn't 100% sure as TI is pretty far down the strip and the highway exit was right at TI's entrance. So I didn't complain yet I still think we got ripped off. Fare was $21.00 for those of you who have gone from the airport to TI. Checked into the room. Was hoping to try the $20 trick but the hotel was sold out so I didn't even bother. Just was friendly with the clerk anyways and he got a cot delivered to the room for the 3 of us and off we went. View out the room was over the pirate ship looking out at Wynn. The new Venetian tower is going up fast. When I visited last year, that thing was barely a hole in the ground. All of us were starving and at first we went downstairs and eyed the Dishes buffet. At $15, I said, we might as well do the Wynn lunch buffet for a few dollars more. I only planned on doing 2-3 buffets at the most for the week so we might as well do the best ones. The buffet thing changed later on but I'll get into that later. Everyone was impressed with the Wynn buffet. Have one picky eater (call him Buddy1) who's into the whole health food thing...no beef or pork, just fish and chicken. He loved it and all the various seafood dishes. After this late lunch around 3pm, we just walked down the strip (keep in mind both these buddies are Vegas virgins and sightseeing was are primary goal). It was so nice outside, we just walked on the sidewalks and didn't even go into the hotels. Was walking by the Eiffel Tower and saw a showgirl outside posing for pictures. Buddy2 walked up for a picture and then realized she was handing out pamplets. He took one not knowing what it was for and we began walking away. He started reading it and it said, "Free Jubilee Tickets". We immediately did a U-turn and the rest of us got the free coupons as well. Had to sign up for a players card but had no problems with that. We backtracked to Ballys to get the free tickets at the box office and the lineup was incredibly slow. They had computer problems and we spent just under an hour in line. Finally got the tickets and continued on our walking tour. Can't remember what happened next or where we ate dinner so I'll skip to Jubilee. Tickets were for the 10:30pm show and the seats were towards the back of the theatre. Glad to see Jubilee as it was on my list of things to do...see one of the classic shows. Show was just OK for me. Nice to see all the costumes and sets but after 30 minutes of it, all the acts seemed the same to me. After that, we walked the strip a bit more and called it an early night.
Day2: Woke up around 9:30am. With 3 guys in the room, I knew it could take a while to get ready, but I didn't think it would take this long. Every morning, it took us about 1.5 hours before we could start our day. Walked north towards the older hotels. Had the breakfast buffet at Circus Circus. We got in just before lunch so we paid $9.99 instead of $10.99! Had a plate of breakfast and a plate of lunch. Although not overly impressed with the buffet, it exceeded my expectations. Breakfast was definitely better than the lunch portion and like everyone here says, how hard is it to screw up scrambled eggs. Did some more walking...saw the big tent at Circus Circus, walked up to the Stratosphere and Sahara. Buddy2 wanted to go on the rides at the top of the Strat but we chickened out on him. Continued walking back towards Wynn. Ran into a guy asking for directions to the Sahara. Told him it was a 20 minute walk up the street. He nearly fainted...said he's been walking for over an hour already and someone else told him the Sahara was only a 20 minute walk further, but that was 20 minutes ago! Told him we weren't lying and it was only 20 minutes more. Don't know if he made it to the Sahara but we saw him later that night walking through Wynn. We walked back to Wynn and had a drink on their Parasol Up bar (think that's what it's called - the bar right by the registration desk). Good to just sit back and relax after a couple hours of walking. It says there's a 1-drink minimum purchase to sit on the deck but we already had drinks in our hands and there was only 1 bartender who was too busy to even notice we were taking up precious seats on the deck. No problems with just sitting back and relaxing. We eventually got up and went back to TI. Sat by the pool for an hour or so. Had the Dishes lunch buffet around 3:45pm. Actually had wanted to go to the Mirage buffet but as it was already 3:45pm, didn't think we could get to Mirage and pay before 4pm when dinner starts.Generally impressed with the quality of the food. I remember the sushi sticking out in my mind as being very fresh, even tastier than the sushi at Wynn's buffet although I'm sure it's just as fresh. Overall, pleased with this buffet. After this early dinner, we went back to the room to relax and prepared to go see Monty Python's Spamalot at Wynn. Got to the theatre with a few drinks in hand. No glass allowed in the theatre but they allow you to pour your drink in a plastic cup before going in. As I already had a few drinks in me and was in a hurry to get inside as both buddies were already in, I quickly poured my drink into the cup, assuming that the cup would hold a full bottle of beer.....no. The cup overflowed and everyone in line starts looking at me like I was some drunk. Even with the overflow, still had about a quarter of the beer to polish off in the bottle. Wynn - get some bigger cups please. Off inside the theatre, we were up in the balcony, dead middle, about the 3rd last row. Seats have definitely been changed since it was Avenue Q but that's been said here before. Less legroom and less elbow room. Overall a good show. Musical theatre isn't really my thing but for $49, this seemed like a relatively cheap show to see. It was a packed house and judging by the audience's laughter, everyone had a good time. For the person sitting in seat D101, we all thought you were going to have a heart attack when asked to go onstage. Don't know if they change the seat gimmack from show to show, but for those of you not afraid of going up onstage, try to get D101 seats up front. After the show, we went to the New Frontier for some bikini bull riding. Wasn't much going on at that time, just after 10pm, so we decided not to pay the $10 cover and use it towards getting some beers at their gift shop. Headed back to the strip and did some more walking and sightseeing. Went to Ellis Island for their food. Got their $4.95 steak special for the first time...it was also my last time. Service was horrible which I expected but the food was also horrible this time too. Steak was just OK but I wouldn't walk there just for that again. Baked potato was undercooked and soup and veggies were just OK. Felt bad for Buddy2 who had the $1.95 midnight breakfast special. Definitely not the same breakfast I've had in the past. Food looked small and pathetic and from he said, it tasted pathetic. Couldn't get out of there soon enough. We at least had some amusement watching the waiters/waitresses scramble around. They brought the wrong food to the wrong table at least 4 or 5 times (different servers, different tables). The table next to us asked for more bread and they came back with 2 steak dinners! Even when we paid the bill and were just finishing our drinks, a person from the back came out with a tray of more food to serve us. We quickly said it wasn't ours and he later found the right table. Made our way back to TI, stopping by whatever lounges or bands came in our way and called in another night.
Day3: Woke up about 9am. Out the door by 10:30am. We wanted to try the Mirage lunch buffet and tried to get in during breakfast and stay for lunch. Got into the Mirage line by 10:45am but didn't get to the front of the line until 11:20am. While in line, there was a hot mom behind us with hubby and 2 kids. Don't know what the kids (around 5 years old) were saying but they said something playfully and each one suddenly grabbed mom's boobs. Buddy1 immediately cracked up out loud and hot mom couldn't slap away both kids' hands fast enough. We joked later we should have said to her, "those kids must be a handful." Anyways, the Cravings buffet atmosphere looked very spartan and the food stations were very spread out along the room's walls. The layout actually works fine as having the food so spread apart also spreads apart any lineups. If you want pasta, you go straight to that area. The pizza is the one thing that I really remember. Some of the best pizza I've had. After lunch, we did some more walking and touring around. Had show tickets for KA at 9pm so we left TI around 6pm to make our way down to MGM Grand and stop for dinner somewhere along the way. I recommended Max's Cafe inside the Miracle Mile (formerly Desert Passage) as I remember the lunch and dinner specials were reasonable. Also remembered their 3 for $10 martini specials from last year. Restaurant looks the same except a little bit darker. Plasma screens are on the walls which I remember being installed during my lunch there last year. Ordered some martinis and the blackened chicken pasta. Sauce was very very runny for an alfredo variation. Server said it's actually a cajun variety so it's not supposed to be as thick of a sauce. I think it's just how they're able to serve it for $6.99. I didn't taste any cajun spices to it, just a lot of water in the sauce. Another place I won't go back to. We had to ask for the bill twice and it was a total of 25 minutes from when we first asked for the bill and when we finally got it. As a result, the waiter got about a $0.40 tip. Off we went to MGM. Toured around along the way and made our way into the KA theatre. The theatre looks very cool with all the platforms along the side and the fire breathing prior to the show. Seats were very comfortable and had lots of leg and elbow room. Show started off cool with the bad guys swinging off the platforms but that was about as good as it got. There were plenty of places where I almost fell asleep and found the show just plain boring. The martial arts sequences just can't compare in the wow factor as the gymnasts do in Mystere. Buddy1 felt the same way but Buddy2 thought it was a decent show. He's seen other Cirque shows before and has seen the acrobatic stuff. Liked seeing something else. Made our way back to TI stopping through a couple of bars and lounges and then called it a night.
Day4: Early wakeup at about 6:45am as we had Dollar car reservations at 8:30am. Wanted to check out of the hotel and get on the way to the Grand Canyon as soon as possible as we also wanted to get to the Hoover Dam by mid-morning. By the time we got the car, stopped for breakfast at McDonalds and onto the highway, it was about 10:30am when we got to the Hoover Dam. Parked in the free Arizona lots and walked down to the Dam. Took some pictures and then proceeded down the escalators to start the tour. Stood in line for the first movie for about 15 minutes and just when we thought we were getting in, they closed the doors on us, about 4 people too late. So we had to wait for another 15 minutes before we began. After the 10-minute movie, we got into another line to go down below. Bruce was our tour guide and everyone found him to be personable and knowledgeable. I personally didn't find the tour that exciting, although I know others find it fascinating. The views from the platforms and from on the dam itself were the best parts about the area. On a side note, the bridge for the new highway section to bypass the dam looks absolutely huge. That should be a sight to see in itself once its completed. Next, we continued the drive to the Grand Canyon. Got into the Holiday Inn Express at the Grand Canyon right outside the South Rim entrance by about 5:30pm. The forecast said it was to rain the next day so we immediately got back in the car and headed for the Canyon just to see as much as we could before it got dark and before it started raining. Incredible views. Walked along the trail for about 40 minutes and thought we might be able to squeeze in the Desert View as well. Drove back towards the entrance and headed along the Desert View road and then saw it was 25 miles away when the speed limit was 35! U-turn came pretty fast from our driver. Everyone was too hungry to go down that road so we stopped at the Quality Inn hotel for their buffet dinner. Buffet looked just a little bit smaller than the Vegas buffets but it was still decent and we were just looking for nourishment at that point, not anything fancy. Thought about hotel hopping along the strip (joke) but decided to just go back to the hotel room at the Holiday Inn Express. Ended up watching Frank Miller's Sin City on tv. Extremely violent movie but also extremely well done. I've seen it before in the movie theatres but it was cool to watch it again. Went to sleep after that.
Day5: Another early morning at about 6am. Holiday Inn Express's have those free continental buffets so we went down for that. Breakfast room was packed! There was even a lineup out the room starting to form. Had my bagel and fruits and went back to the room. We decided that since it was sunny (no, not raining), we should go back and take another view of the Canyon before leaving. Spent another hour there and then finally got back on the road. Slept most of the way back to Vegas, stopping for lunch at a gas station Subway that had showers in the washroom. The drive back to Vegas is very scenic. Although I live in a pretty scenic tourist area myself, it's always cool to see a different part of the world. Was dreading the Hoover Dam traffic but it wasn't so bad at all. Probably took about 20 minutes in all to get from one side to the next. Those security checkpoints work out well when they pull all the trucks to the side to be searched. Serves as a nice bypass lane. Very shortly after, we're back in Vegas at about 1:30pm and checking into the Paris hotel. We self-parked and made our way to the registration desk. Our plan was to check-in and then go shopping at the Premium outlet stores. I go to the check-in desk and ask if any of the renovated rooms are available. Clerk snobbily replied that renovated rooms are for diamond members only. Didn't try the $20 trick but wouldn't want to give her $20 anyways. Standard room was fine with me with a view looking out the left side towards MGM Grand and Planet Aladdin. Buddy1 was in the washroom so we decided to wait downstairs. While waiting, one guy came up and said he's got a free comped ticket to the Producers for the 2pm afternoon show (it was 1:58pm at that point). Told him there were 3 of us and he said all he had was 1 ticket and it would go to waste if it wasn't used. He actually went up to Buddy2 with this offer as I was off in a gift store somewhere. Think he saw him by himself and could use the 1 ticket. Anyways, Buddy2 took the ticket and told me what happened when I got back. Buddy1 came down shortly and heard the story. I thought about getting 2 more tickets so we could all see the Producers but they said for me to just take the ticket as I did all the organizing of the trip and they would go off exploring on their own for 2 hours. It was now about 2:03pm so I raced off to the theatre and quickly got seated. I was in the last row of the front section near the middle. Theatre was half-empty and at first, I thought it was only because it was the afternoon show. From other reviews on this board, it sounds like every show is half-empty. This was a show I almost booked ahead of time as I've wanted to see it for a long time. Buddy1 said his sister saw the Producers in another city and didn't like it so he wasn't keen on watching it, so I didn't book these tickets (went with Spamalot instead). Very professional show with good talent. The Hoff surprised me. He's very tall and has a huge prescence. He's about a head taller than anyone else on stage. Good clear voice as well. I liked the show but I'm glad I didn't pay full price for those tickets. I loved Avenue Q when I saw it last year so I wanted to see another play this year. Decided I'm not a musical theatre type of person so I probably won't see any more of these shows for a while. Plan was to meet the buddies in the room at 4pm after the show. I got in at about 3:45pm and they weren't in so I took a quick shower. They showed up at about 4:30pm and were all giggles. Turned out they had their own adventure at Monte Carlo. There was some Grand Prix race promotion outside the entrance where you could spin a big wheel and win a prize. Buddy2 got 2-for-1 Lance Burton tickets coupon. Buddy1 got a coupon for a small beer at the Brewpub. So with coupon in hand, they went to the Brewpub for the beers. Buddy2 ordered a draft and Buddy1 presented his free coupon. He was expecting a glass but instead got the Tower of Power! One of those big funnels of beer that holds A LOT of beer. They got hammered and could still only get through a third of it. They were begging people at other tables to pour themselves a glass. On their way out, another guy came into the pub with his free small beer coupon. He too was expecting just a glass of beer and wasn't even excited, but then Buddy1 told him this tower was THE small glass. The guy started to panic, going no no no no no, don't pour me that but it was too late...the small beer was already poured. He probably got hammered too. By about 5pm, we were off to the Premium outlet malls. It's located conveniently by the highway exit but the roads were all blocked for the Grand Prix race. Took us about 30 minutes to figure out how to get into the mall. Did some shopping and by about 7pm, we were off to Fremont street. Parking again was insane as many of the streets were closed or blocked off. Stopped by the first gift shop we saw and got some beers. Prices weren't listed but we took whatever we wanted. My tall can was $1.50! Cheaper than buying water! We took some pictures and walked around. Couple of bands were playing and we went through some of the casinos. Last year, I was downtown during NASCAR weekend. Lost in a sea of driver's jackets. Was wondering what this year would be like with the Grand Prix going on this weekend. Definitely not the same type of crowd. Don't even know if there were any race fans there. Walked around, saw the light show, saw 3 motorcyclists drive around inside a giant ball. Had the deep fried twinkie and oreos. The twinkie was pretty much all batter and tasteless but the oreos were pretty good. Can't be good for you but there's only 3 of the oreos. We then ate at the Golden Gate and I had the $6.95 prime rib dinner special. Buddy1 and 2 had the $4.95 chicken dinner special. My prime rib dinner was excellent. Wouldn't hesitate to eat that meal again. After dinner, we headed back to the strip and ended up watching some lounge acts.
Day6: Woke up around 7am to get an early day of hiking in at Red Rock. We were going to just grab McDonalds for breakfast along the way to Red Rock but when we saw that there was no line to get into the Paris buffet, we just went in there instead. Breakfast was good but I had built up very high expectations for the food after reading everyone's Paris breakfast buffet reviews. I like crepes but don't really care for the fruity ones which are the ones they have at breakfast. Rest of the food was good but nothing felt or tasted spectacular. I'd like to go back for the Paris lunch or dinner buffet in the future. By the time we got to Red Rock, it was about 10am and we started at the Calico Springs area, right before the park entrance. Did some quick hiking and scrambling up the rocks. I didn't go all the way to the top, only about half way, but Buddy1 and 2 both did. I just sat around admiring the view from where I was. We then went to the scenic drive entrance and paid our $5 fee. Chose another trail to hike - I think it was #5 Keystone Thrust. It was one of the shorter trails but still with a slight elevation. We went off the trail a bit and went up another hill. Very cool to sit at the top on the rocks and take in the view. Eventually got back on the trail and completed the scenic drive. Stopped off at Red Rock Casino to take a look around. I wanted to see the hotel this trip as it wasn't open last year. Nice looking casino and the slot chairs seemed really comfortable. Didn't spend too long so we left and Buddy1 want to stop for lunch at Baja Fresh, a Mexican fast food joint but not fast food as in Taco Bell. Food was good although I'm not a huge Mexican food fan. Had the burrito which seemed a bit dry so I poured on the hot sauce which in itself was very good. Made it back to the strip by about 4pm. Relaxed a bit in the room, then made our way to see Carrot Top at Luxor. I saw his show last year and couldn't stop laughing. Even if every joke was the same, I'd be willing to pay full price to see it again. Glad to see that at least half the show was different. I realize most of those jokes were probably created about 10 years ago but they were new to me. He had some current events jokes to put in to keep things fresh. He definitely likes showing off his body. Last year, he was wearing one of those tight fitting muscle shirts with his arms bulging out. This year, he was pretty much covered up which surprised me, but right at the end when he's going through all those different songs, he whipped off his shirt and is left standing there in full display with his muscles sticking out. Very impressive but there was no need in the joke to rip his shirt off. Just liked showing it off. Like the blonde in the Producers says, "if you've got it, flaunt it." Did a few more bars and lounges but nothing big happened. Eventually made it back to the Paris hotel and crashed.
Day7: Last full day in Vegas and we woke up at 7am to return the Dollar rental car at Treasure Island. Nothing but bad things to say about Chuck (the Dollar clerk). Took every chance he could get to rip us off. Everything from the daily rental rate (tried charging us $49.95 instead of $30), the car size (gave us a compact instead of the intermediate that we reserved), charging us for the full insurance coverage when I clearly remember Buddy2 declining it and then he tried blaming it on the fact that there were 2 reservations under the same last name. He went on to say that he knew about the mixup as the person with the same last name checked in about 15 minutes after we picked up the car and noticed the mistake then except he didn't say anything about the mixup until we brought it up with him first. Will never deal with Dollar again (and hopefully never again with Chuck). After returning the car, we ate breakfast at the Dishes at TI buffet. About $12 and the food was good. Again, doesn't take much to make scrambled eggs and sausages but they served some sushi and some dumplings as well. Even had a dessert table going at breakfast for donuts and cinnamon buns. We headed back to Paris and was deciding what to do for the rest of the day. Buddy1 and 2 wanted to go back to the hotel pool to relax. I wanted to do some more shopping at Ceasars Forum shops and then walk over to Hard Rock casino as I've never been inside. The walk to Hard Rock was long and boring. Nothing to see along the way and no $1 beer stops like Casino Royale. We probably spent the most time in Casino Royale in line for the $1 beers and margaritas. The line moves fast but the place does stink of something. Hard Rock was tiny compared to the other casinos. Cool to see some of the memorabilia but I didn't spend too much time in there. Was in the gift ship getting a coke and the guy in front of me was buying a beer. When the cashier said it was $3.50 for the beer, he freaked out and said screw this. He said he doesn't mind getting screwed over on the strip but not here. He put the beer back and quickly walked out. I paid $2.50 for my coke and didn't complain. Walked back to the strip and back to Paris. It was about 1:30pm and we didn't plan on being back in the room to meet until 2pm so I went to the pool area looking for them. Lots of people were out and I couldn't find them at all in the pool area so I just went back up to the room to wait for them. They came back just after 2pm and they said it was packed down there. Buddy1 said he went to the washroom at one point and when he came back, he had trouble finding where Buddy2 was because of all the people. Left for the Bellagio lunch buffet at 3pm. The items I remember from this buffet are the clam chowder soup, the flank steak and cheese tortilleni. All excellent items. The fish items were too dry and even the desserts weren't as good as some of the other buffets. Went back to the hotel room and relaxed for an hour before heading to TI to watch Mystere. We didn't plan on watching Mystere but KA was so bad, I said we had to watch Mystere so they wouldn't leave Vegas with a bad taste for Cirque shows. Both were impressed with Mystere and it was just as exciting for me to watch it the second time as it was the first time. On the act where they use that teeter totter to fling people in the air, the gymnast missed the landing when trying to land on 3 others who were stacked on top of each other and nearly fell about 20 feet from the air. There were spotters waiting for her and they caught her. She nailed the flip the second time around and the theatre burst out in applause. Buddy1 said just the fact she missed the landing makes the show that much better as it makes the stunts look more dangerous After the show, we went in search of food. Thought Bill's would be good after midnight but they had a 45 minute wait. We quickly left in search of another place. Kept walking and walking and walking. Eventually ended up at Hooters and got some wings. Their hot wings were tasty but the medium sauce is just disgusting. It has a buttery flavour and was just gross. It was just like smearing butter all over the wings. Headed back to Paris and called it a night.
Day8: Flights out were scheduled for 1:30pm so we had lots of time to pack up in the morning. Got up about 8:30am and planned on going to the Paris breakfast buffet at 10am. Nothing doing. The line up went all the way down the hall. Even the crepe takeout station across the buffet had about 30 people waiting to order. So we walked over to Bally's to their buffet but they still had quite the lineup. Had to get our stuff out of the room by 11am so we just grabbed a quick bit at Nosh's in Bally's right by the escalator to the buffet. Croissant turkey and egg sandwich was surprisingly OK. Got back to the room and checked out. Grabbed a cab outside of Paris and made it to the airport by 11:30am and just passed time until our flights left.
Thoughts on my 2nd trip to Vegas:
1. One week in Vegas is too much for me now. Was fine when everything was new but future trips will definitely either be 3 or 4 days.
2. First 2 trips were guys trips. Next trip will be a couples trip. Too early with the current gf to start planning a Vegas trip though. Want to do more clubs and ultralounges.
3. Buffets were nice but I'd like to try some nicer restaurants next time.
4. Will either go cheap or splurge on hotel rooms next time. Splurging would be Bellagio or Wynn. Cheap would be Luxor/Excal/Ballys/Flamingo, etc.
5. Probably won't see anymore musicals. Still want to see O, Anthony Cools and maybe even David Copperfield.
6. Red Rock Canyon is still an amazing place to hike around for a few hours.
7. April was a great time to visit. Weather was warm but not too hot. Only one cool night on the very last night.
8. Was there a race in Vegas over Easter weekend? Couldn't tell anything was going on except for the roadblocks.
9. Casino Royale and $1 beers. I don't think I passed that casino all week without getting at least one drink before continuing on my walk.
