Vegas bound. Any ideas?

I'm sure we'll try the Orleans sometime, depends on who I'm going with.
If it's my dad and brother, they don't care so much about the room and are more concerned with the ambiance of the casino. My wife and daughter, on the other hand, want the room to be nice. Thus, they loved it at the Venetian, Rio and Paris, liked Planet Hollywood, didn't care for the Flamingo.

 

It may have been covered in the 12 previous pages, but if you haven't seen Mystere, go do so.
Best show I've ever seen and the best 65 bucks you'll ever drop in that city.

 

KU got 25-to-1 odds to win the championship at Planet Hollywood. For a team that's likely to be ranked in the top 10 or 15 preseason, I had to jump on that. Highest odds I saw for KU anywhere in Vegas.

Also, my Vegas tip -- do the rip cord at the Stratosphere, from the 108th floor, 855 feet up. Very fun.

 

I have to agree. Saw Mystere a couple of years ago and when I booked TI last year got two free tickets to Mystere. It was just as good the second time. Thinking about going back again this year.

 

if you enjoy cirque shows -- or have never seen one -- i'd recommend 'O'. tickets are a splurge, but well worth it.

 

Got comped for the show at TI, myself. Dead-center seating. Terrific show.

 

Lines are often times really long. Get them before hand online, ebay has a lot of them.

 

schiezainc is on his way. Vegas, brace yourself ....

 

The wife and I (Yeah, weird, I know) are really excited. Taxi picks us up in 40 minutes and we're both DEAD TIRED.

What a day.

I think the first show we're going to see when we get out there (We arrive at 9:50 local time) is the world-renowned Pillow, starring my head and two queen-sized pillowcases.

Still, what a great experience. Thanks for the advice guys and since we're planning on having a lot of down time to just relax, especially in Vegas, expect me to pop on every once in a while.

Off we go ...

 

You motorboatin' son of a bitch ...

 

So, I'm officially back.

I debated updating everyone a couple of times while the wife and I were there. We had plenty of time (actually relaxed on this vacation, didn't do a ton of touristy things) but I just didn't feel like writing.

So, where do I begin?

First, it was hot. I mean, real hot. Temps were between 106-112 every day we were there. On our drive from Vegas to California, the temp hit 116 in the desert. Ouch.

Because it was hot, the wife and I spent the bulk of our afternoon time in the pool at the Flamingo, which was attached to our hotel. Speaking of hotel, we stood at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club and, apart from the whole shady timeshare aspect of things, it was actually pretty cool.

We had what I guess you could call a one-bedroom suite and it was awesome. Full kitchen, fridge, jacuzzi, big bed, big living room, two nice flatscreen HD TVs and it also had a private pool/hot tub area that closed at 10 p.m. and didn't attract too many people.

As for the week we spent itself, I'll give you the highlights.

The good:

* We saw Carrot Top at the Luxor once again and while it wasn't quite as good as the first time we saw him (a lot of the jokes were recycled), it was well worth our time. I know a lot of people here hate him, for whatever reason, but it's actually a good way to spend $39 and a hell of a show. Granted, he looked absolutely drugged out but I don't know if that's just his normal appearance or not.

* We checked out a hypnosis show called "Hypnosis Unleashed" at the Tropicana ... twice. The first night, we got half-price tickets at the Tix4Tonight stand and the wife actually went up and got hypnotized. It was an absolute riot. Something I'd recommend if you're into that sort of thing. They advertise it as an adults-type hypnosis show but they really don't do anything dirty, just use the 'F' word a lot. I bought a DVD of the show so the wife could see herself being hypnotized (She didn't really do anything too outrageous) and it came with two free tickets to see the show again so we went two days later so she could get the full experience. I'd recommend it if you're out there for a week and looking for some cheap laughs one night.

* Eating-wise, we went to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville at the Flamingo. Talk about a great place. The prices were cheap, the food delicious and the atmosphere (when we went) was top-notch. Nice place to go for a quiet meal (assuming there's no live music going on) and it seems like it'd be a blast at night when the bands are really going strong.

*Speaking of eating, we hit up the Paradise buffet at the Flamingo twice. I put this in the good category only because it's a cool place to go to once and has a good variety and you can get a good deal through Tix4Tonight. We went twice, though, and that's a mistake. It really loses a lot on a second appearance. Much better than the only other buffet I've gone to though (Excaliber).

* Since it's Vegas, we've got to talk gambling and, as such, I feel like I should brag because I not only won $20 playing .25 cent video poker at the Wynn, I also threw a $20 down on Black and the roulette table at the Flamingo on our last night (as a dare, really, because my co-worker told me I had to for weeks before my trip) and I hit. All in all, I left up $36 total and for a dude that doesn't gamble much, that's a pretty big accomplishment.

The Bad:

* First off, isn't it about time they get rid of all those fucking Mexicans passing out porn cards? The second night of our trip, we were running a bit late and I was trying to make it from the Flamingo to the Tropicana as quickly as possible so, naturally, I sprinted down the Strip in about 103 degree weather in order to get to the box office and exchange my Tix4Tonight voucher for a real ticket, which I had to do an hour before our show started. Anyhoo, those god damn bastards are everywhere and, of course, I tried to bob and weave past them only to do a split and bust the shit out of my knee. It still hurts. Suffice to say, the lesson learned is always run THROUGH the mexicans, not around them.

* I'd like to settle an age-old issue here. When you're in Vegas, if you've got the means, get a rental car. Just get it. Seriously. The wife and I booked one for the last week of our honeymoon, aka the last two days of Vegas and the five in California, and it was SO much easier getting around with it than without. Case in point: Since we had a kitchen, we obviously wanted to go to a local grocery store for some of our meals rather than spend $20 per person per meal every time. It took us, no word of a lie, an hour and a half total to get from our hotel to the bus stop to the Target about 1.3 miles down Flamingo Road. When we got the rental car, we did the same trip and it took us 20 minutes to get there and back again.

* Which brings me to my next point. If you're headed to Vegas for the first time, by god, go wild. Have a blast, explore every nook and cranny of the strip. If this is not your first time, though, you've seriously got to check other stuff out. The wife and I did minimal exploring outside of the main strip road and I really regret it. We could have done a shit ton more had we known about all the cool places just outside our line of sight. The next time I go back to Vegas, I'm going to spend as little an amount of time on the strip as possible.

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So that's it really. I'll update when I think of more things. Just wanted to get the highlights out there for people.

And, yes, I can't wait to go back. All in all, it was a very fun, very relaxing time. The only thing I'd change, and yes I will be changing this for my next excursion out there, is that I'd save up $500 bullshit fun money for gambling, save up about $200 for eating at nice places and another $300 for shows. But, regardless of budget, there's no place like Vegas. None what so ever.

 

Way cool, thanks for the report. Glad you had a good time. And congrats on your marriage.