BLAST! “Talk of the Town”
Did anyone mention Hoover Dam? If you’re into wonders of engineering and all that sort of thing, that’s well worth a visit. They actually take you deep inside the structure, and it’s a little unnerving, yet fascinating, to realize that you are walking about in corridors deep inside a dam that is holding back tons of water. The guides are pretty informative, too.
That would take you about half a day all told.
Ditto for the helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon for lunch and the Hoover Dam tour. The roller coaster ride on top of the casino(Landmark(?).
You can also rent and shoot 9 different kinds of machine guns at The Gun Store at 2900 Tropicanna ave. I was really disappointed in the performance of the Thompson and the M16. Surprisingly the Uzi was best of them all, although it was the ugliest.
There is some cool stuff outside of Vegas too. There’s a little Ghost Town (probably more than one, but I only visited one of them) whose name I can’t remember maybe 15-20 minutes outside of town? Really cute and fun.
Ditto on the Hoover Dam tours. However…
It’s too bad that they no longer do the hard hat tours. Between our current state of what is it now? Tangerine Alert? and liability issues of having people squeeze through narrow passages in the dam itself and being able to touch the actual generators, I can see why, but they were a lot of fun. I’ve still got my souvenir hard hat, complete with scratches proving the necessity of a hard hat.
Between drive time to and from the dam (roughly an hour each way) and touring the facility, plan on half a day.
Thanks for all the great ideas guys! You’ve truly given me a lot to plan around with, I appreciate your help.
I guess my last question would be is what hotel would you reccomend staying in? We can afford 200$ a night just to give you all an idea of our budget. Are there any hotels that you’ve grown to appreciate? Thanks again!
Well heck, if you can afford $200 a night, then stay in Paris or Bellagio - those are the newest ones. I like Hard Rock Hotel. Caesar’s Palace has some nice suites, apparently, but I’ve never been in one. The best hotel might be the Four Seasons at the top of the Mandalay Bay…
Good, affordable rooms I’ve stayed in: Tropicana, Treasure Island, Hilton, Flamingo, and Rio.
Very affordable but very small rooms are available downtown. Those are best if you don’t want to spend any time in your room, except to sleep and shower.
Oh, and don’t forget to check Cheapo Vegas for good deals.
One of the best restaurants I’ve eaten in in Las Vegas is Olio in the MGM. Absoultely fantastic gourmet Italian food. Not cheap, but worth it.
They are everywhere! Just grab the promo stuff that the very annoying people hand out on the street. I call them Flappers, you can’t miss them, as they stand there and whack their stack of papers on their hand to get your attention and then try to shove the stuff at you. Personally, I was ready to shove their little stacks up their bums by the last night I was there.
Incidentally, I’m going back next week.
The Monte Carlo is a good “middle of the road” hotel. Freebie stuff to see… the water ballet outside of the Bellagio; the volcano outside of Mirage; the pirate battle at Treasure Island. I believe Circus Circus still has a huge carnival-type game area upstairs, and an acrobat circus (no, I’m not thinking of Cirque du Solei.) If you’re flying, your flight attendant will have some good booklets with information, as well as some promos s/he can hook you up with right on the plane.
Legends in Concert at Imperial Palace is a good show. Impersonators who I thought were pretty damn good! I wouldn’t recommend staying at IP though. The buffet at Luxor rocks!
I don’t know if they have the white tigers (from Siefried and Roy) on display now or not, but that was free, as is the MGM lion habitat.
If you’ve never been there, check out as many of the hotels as you can, just because it really is cool what they’ve all done for themes.
Oh, and remember, you don’t have to get all sloppy drunk because the bars never close and you can take your drinks with you. No need to slam the drink you just ordered because everyone else is ready to go… Unless of course, you want to slam it. 
Star Trek at the Hilton and the dinner show at the Excalibur—you get to eat with your hands, yell for your favorie jouster and ogle the wenches…does it get better?
I can still hear the 20-something guy who sat next to us “You GO, King of Spain!! You the MAN!”
Star Trek museum and ride at the Hilton …you can have lunch at Quark’s bar with the Klingons.
The dinner show at the Excalibur—you get to eat with your hands, yell for your favorite jouster and ogle the wenches…does it get better?
I can still hear the 20-something guy who sat next to us “You GO, King of Spain!! You the MAN!”
Lodging and food in Vegas are relatively cheap, especially if you hit the off-season. We went in August a few years ago, and stayed at the Imperial Palace for some ridiculous rate that worked out to $10/night/person. It was a perfectly nice hotel, and a very good deal compared to the places we stayed on the way out there and back, and you can’t really beat the location if you’re going to stay on the Strip. You can get much nicer rooms at the Barbary Coast for the same money, though, and it’s much, much easier to get out to the street there.
One thing you’ll probably notice is that the rooms in the newer, fancier hotels tend to be smaller and often less luxurious than those in the older places. Smaller rooms at higher prices means more profit, unfortunately.
The dinner show at Excalibur is fantastic, but I don’t think you’ll want to stay there. It and Circus Circus were crawling with unruly children; the more child-friendly theming draws families in droves. As I recall, Treasure Island is a family draw, too. Just something to keep in mind if you don’t want to wade through kids every time you go back to the room.
I didn’t find time to go myself, but I’ve heard the Liberace museum is the best $6 you’ll ever spend in Vegas.
Go to Westward Ho next to Circus and get the 3/4 pound Mega-Dog. It’s only $ 1.49 and you won’t need to eat for the rest of the day.
Go to Fatburger next to the M&M place near the MGM. Good Burgers !
The Imperial Palace is a good place for the money. Flamingo is good too and they’re both in a good strip location. $ 200 is way too much to spend for a room in Vegas IMHO.
Also, if you guys like steak, Fremont St. has some amazing steak dinner deals.
Take your camera to the Star Trek exhibit at the Hilton; the actors there are just amazing. Ask a Klingon to sing you some Klingon opera. They actually know some. It’s also the one souvenir stand I’d recommend; my favourite was the bumper sticker with a Klingon emblem that read MY CHILD HAS MORE HONOR THAN YOUR CHILD. And take the ride. Trust me.
Danny Gans is apparently a pretty good show, though pricey. that’s at the Mirage, IIRC.
And don’t reject the casinos out of hand. Casinos can be fun with your buddies. On the Strip and surrounding area, the Mirage and Hard Rock Cafe have the best casinos. Downtown I preferred the Golden Nugget. For cheap tables, try the Imperial Palace on the Strip and Fitzgerald’s downtown.
I’ve only been once, and it was a free trip, but I remember having fun going to the motion machine ride (can’t remember what they’re actually called) in the Excalibur. There was also a Coke exhibit, the NYNY rollercoaster, the Imax 3D in the Luxor, and visiting the Tropicana for free packs of cards. every day. We stayed at the NYNY hotel (like I said, it was free), which I recommend at least visiting. If I were paying for it myself and I could afford it, I’d probably choose the Luxor.
I think we only spent about $30 gambling.
Ack! It cut off my actual reply… I stayed at Excalibur my last trip out, and didn’t have any problem with kids. Some people who were on our flight home did comment on the ickyness of their room at Imperial Palace, however.
I stayed at the Luxor a couple years ago. Other than the novelty of the inclinators (angled elevators) and the outer wall of the room being sloped, it was nothing special. We were there for one night on off-season, so it was IIRC, something like $45 for the night.
I live there and there is lots to do…try Red Rock if you want to do some hiking or biking, although it will be a bit cool this time of year. You can actually go skiing up at Mt. Charleston - a 45 minute drive from the Strip.
But like the others said, just wander the Strip and check out the hotels and freebies…Imperial Palace has a great car show with some cool old cars. Also, you have to make it a point to be on the Strip in front of Bellagio to see the fountains - I know, sounds corny, but they are pretty awesome to see.
Best buffet is at the Paris Hotel, but it is not the cheapest…the downtown casinos are OK but the neighborhood is kind of dismal. Then again, a Hawaiian tourist just won $4million on a Megabucks machine yesterday at the Fremont Hotel downtown. Dowtown can be fun for holidays though (New Years, 4th of July, etc.) as they have live bands on stage on the main street and it is a party-hearty kind of crowd.
I had friends come visit me who had never been in Las Vegas…took me years to talk them into coming. She didn’t want to come cause she doesn’t gamble, he didn’t want to come cause he doesn’t like crowds.
They got here and went crazy…loved it. I barely could book a few minutes a day to see them. Just got their Christmas card with the note, “see you on our new, annual Spring trip to Las Vegas!”
So…do like a lot of tourists do…make lots of plans before you get here. But trust me, once you are in Las Vegas, all the plans are forgotten and then next thing you are asking is, “where did the time go?”
Let’s see…best Hotel for the money is the Hard Rock or the Las Vegas Hilton. They are just off the Strip on Paradise Rd. - translation, it’s easy to park and get in and out of them. If you stay on the Strip, you are looking at a constant traffic jam any time to want to drive somewhere.
Check out all the free shows first:
- The new show in front of Treasure Island that replaced the Pirates
- Volcano at Ceaser’s Palace
- Dancing fountains at Bellagio
- Free fish tanks at Mirage/ White Tigers at Mirage
- Free fish tank at Mandalay Bay
- Circus acts as Circus Circus
Best buffets in the city are, in this order:
- Aladdin - $20
- Paris - $24
- Bellagio -$38 (actually better than Paris overall, but not for the money)
Shows that are really good:
- Cirque du Soleil - There are 3 of them - Mystere at Treasure Island is by far the best of the them - $85
- If you are looking for Cirque du Soleil but still sexual for all the men, try to cheaper new erotic Cirque du Soleil show at the New York, New York casino called Zumanity… that’s hot!
- FX at MGM Grand - $95
- Blue Man Group at Luxor - $105
If you just want to see a show and don’t care if it’s the newest thing, they have a service called ‘Tickets Tonight’ that is located between the Coke and M&M buildings on the Strip that has same day half price tickets for older stuff. Still, Splash and Jubilee while very old, are still quite impressive to a newcomer to Vegas
Hoover Dam is o.k., and if you want to drive to the Grand Canyon, plan on leaving early in the morning because it takes about 4 hours to reach the South Rim from Vegas (plus you lose an hour when you cross into Arizona in the winter)
If you want to shoot submachine guns, most people go to the Gun Store on Tropicana because it’s very heavily advertised. I found American Shooting Supply and Gun to be a much better place with a larger selection of guns and cheaper prices. It’s in West Las Vegas on the other side of the 15 freeway.
If Strip bars are your thing, considering you are both a male/ female group, you might want to try Olympic Gardens which has both a male and female section to satisfy both sexes.
Another activity I really enjoyed that no one has mentioned is ‘Flyaway’ which is an indoor skydiving place just off the Strip near the Riviera. You are in a padded corn-silo type room with an enormous airplane propeller under a grate that blasts you up into the air where you float. I think it was about $60. Very noisy but very fun.
Shopping is everywhere so I can’t recommend anything specific. If you want to gamble, the best places are (predictably) off the Strip where there are lower minimum bets (important for things like Craps in my opinion) or in the seedier places like the Westward Ho. And whatever you do, DON’T GAMBLE AT THE AIRPORT - the odds are the worst around…and yet you will see idiots line up to play those machines…