Vegas bound. Any ideas?

I love both downtown and the Strip. There just different.
If I have to pick one over the other, though, it's definitely downtown.
Bus pass works great.

 

We're also pretty big downtown fans.....for PART of the trip.

We tend to split the trip up. For example, for our upcoming trip in July, we're spending the 1st 3 nights at Mandalay Bay. That part of the trip...if for my wife. Shows, pool time, shopping, etc.. Any gambling we do, however, will be at the closest "locals" casinos. South Point, Silverton, Orleans.

Last 3 nights? Downtown....which is for gambling. Staying at the Nugget, but can just bounce around between the casinos. Better table limits, better rules (if you're careful & "shop" it, a bit), just a better time playing. It feels a little "rougher"....but that's the Vegas I grew up on.

By the way, HIGHLY under rated spot downtown is the Main Street Station. Boyd gaming property, located about a block off Fremont (but reachable, if you cut through LV Club & the California). In house micro-brewery, nice little sports bar / restaurant, will throw you REALLY nice comps, for pretty minimal play.

 

Never been. I'm filing this one for July.
Thanks for the tip.

 

Buck, I'm a pretty consistent level $5 blackjack player. Up my bets when things are running well, but mostly like to sit, drink a few, and play for a while. Marked MSS as my "preferred" casino, on my Boyd card & I get free 3 night stays (Sun-Thurs), w/ an add on food comp, pretty consistently. I've never had to pay for a meal there, even when I'm not staying there.

Quirky / fun thing about MSS. The urinals in the main casino mens room, are hung on a hunk of the Berlin Wall. May just be me...but this just get's funnier as the night goes along

Microbrews are pretty decent, as well...and (obviously) served at their tables. It can be a fun place!

 

Sounds like I need to go there. I played 10 hours of blackjack switch at Bills the last time I was there and got zero comps.

 

Lay, I'm all over MSS during my next Vegas visit, which isn't likely to be until the WSOP in July.
I will report back.

 

I made my reservations at the Stratosphere. I know it's a good distance from the Strip, but we're renting a car, so hopefully that won't be a big issue. It was cheap enough to make it worth it, I think, so we have more to spend on other things. Has anyone stayed there? Also, we were thinking about taking a trip over to Lake Mead. Does anyone know how far that is from the Strip?

 

The Strat itself is fine. Haven't been in 10 years, but they did have a lot of interesting "carnival" games like crapless craps and other oddball games going on. And the tower is definitely worth a look.

HOWEVER, and this is a big however, you DO NOT want to be doing any walking in the Strat's neighborhood, for it is not a nice one. North of the Strat is a very seedy area, and I don't mean that in a good way. That said, you should be able to get bus service to both downtown and the strip from the Strat.

 

the pool scenes are at hard rock (rehab), mgm grand (wet republic), and venetian (tao beach), but you wont be getting any hours baking in the sun there. in fact many places are turning their pools into daytime clubs.

that said, pools at mandaly bay are pretty nice, the mirage and bellagio aren't bad, and garden of the gods at caesars is supposed to be good too. usually you have to be hotel guest to get into the pools, but so many are now selling admission so maybe you can get in anyway. in any case, especially if you have a few buddies, i'd recommend renting a cabana.

 

I've stayed a Caesars a few times and can speak to two things:
1. The pool is tremendous.
2. Act like you are supposed to be there and they don't ask any questions. There have been times we've stayed at Paris, walked over to Caesars and walked right out to the pool, and no one asked a question. If you don't act like a knucklehead, and don't look out of place, I've found they don't ask you a thing.

 

The last time I was there we went to the Imperial Palace after a nice meal, just to see if we were missing anything. The dealertainers looked like they were on a coke bender -- Whitney Houston version looked shockingly accurate. Crowd was a real mixed bag, from cougars to frat boys. There was a crazy, loud, cheesy vibe that made for a surprisingly decent atmosphere, although it is probably the smokiest casino in the city. White Horse was blaring when we walked in, the place was jumping. If I was in my early 20s again I could have done a lot of damage.