Need some travel advice

[jnd4rusty]

Hey everyone,

My guy and I are going to Las Vegas in March and I was wandering what advice I can get from anyone who has been there. We are staying at the Sahara and we are attending the NASCAR race. We will be there for a week and I know that there are tons of stuff to see, but is there anything in particular that we should be on the look out for? Where is the best place for cheap eats? Cheap trinkets to bring home? This is our first real travel together and our first time on a plane so needless to say we are excited and a bit aprehensive. Are there any dangers to pay close attention to? Besides making sure my purse is with me at all times. Any bits and pieces of advice or guidance will be appreciated!!! THANKS!!

[irateguy]

ok,

I havent been there since 2000 but my opinions anyway.
My favorite places to gamble Harrahs Stratosphere and Rio at Rio every once in awhile they have a parade across the ceiling and they throw Mardi Gras beads from the floats. ya have to cross the interstate to get there from the strip but its worth it. Ive never had any luck gambling at MGM or Bally's but
bally's has some good shows.
Go downtown at night they have a dome over Fremont St and they show a light show on it also the buffet's are cheaper there. Back on the Strip ya can see the dancing water fountains at Bellaggio. They used to have a Pirate battle at Treasure Island too but Ive heard they discoed that.]
Harrahs has a good buffet the Mirage is good too. If ya get a players club card at Stratosphere and play slots or video poker long enough ya can easily get a free buffet there
One last thing if you play video poker dont play any machines that offer you less than 10-1 on a full house and 7-1 on a flush. dont gamble at the airport either those are all ripoff machines.

enjoy your stay

[Melxb]

The good thing about staying at the Sahara is that there is the monorail you can take all the way down to the MGM Grand and have stops in between to different hotels. BUT, it really isn't within convenient walking distance from the nearest, big glam hotel. It's about 3/4mile away from Treasure Island.
Vegas is all about what you want to do. Wanna gamble? Play table games downtown where the Blackjack odds are 3/2 and not the sucky 6/5. Trust me--it makes a different. Beer is pretty cheap at the Casino Royal which is an itty-bitty tiny motel/casino next to Harrah's and across from Treasure Island.
The great thing about Vegas is that you can go really posh or super cheap. There are deals everywhere. And take advantage of the fun book if you get one during check in.
And be wary of the guys on the strip slapping their hands with booklet advertisements of "escort services." Just walk right past them.
I got to Las Vegas pretty regularly, about 4-5 times a year, essentially every other month and I've stayed at some really nice hotels and some pretty, er, economical ones as well. If you want specific recommendations or have specific questions you can PM me and I'll get back to you.
Enjoy!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

As far as eats go, Las Vegas is all about the buffets. Excalibur's is expensive, but it's the best one I've eaten at. I'd recommend visiting it at least once. Otherwise all the casinos will probably have a McDonalds or Subway or some other form of fast food if you don't feel like visiting a buffet.

As far as cheap trinkets, every casino will have a gift shop with trinkets unique to that establishment. If you want to do some more serious shopping, there's Fashion Show Mall on the Strip, by Treasure Island, plus some of the larger casinos like Caesar's Palace and the Venetian have little shopping malls inside them.

For gambling, the casinos on Fremont Street will probably give you better odds than the casinos on the Strip will, plus the lighted dome over the whole street is really neat when it's lit up at night. The buffets on Fremont Street will be cheaper too (Main Street Station's is very good). I'd agree with irateguy on not gambling at the airport, because why throw away your money at the airport when there's so many other things to see and do?

Last time I went to Vegas earlier this month, I saw the Cirque du Soleil show "Mystere" at the Treasure Island. Pricey but well worth it. If you're thinking of seeing a show that would be a good one to see.

As far as dangers to watch out for, I'd say try not to be caught off the Strip later at night. The first time I went to Vegas, we stayed off the strip and walked to our hotel the first night. After seeing what kind of, ummm, "interesting locals" came out at night, we decided to take cabs back the hotel every night after that. And don't make eye contact with the "slappers"--the people who hang out on the sidewalk and try to hand you fliers for escort services. Just keep walking.

My personal favorite casinos in Vegas are New York New York, the Mirage, and the Luxor.

[DesignFox]

Wee Vegas! That's a great trip! You can do stuff whether you want to spend tons of cash or no cash. I went with my ex...at the time I had just turned 21, and he was only 20. Gambling was out of the question. But we had a great time just walking up and down the strip and visiting all the different stores and casinos. Almost every casino has a free show or some kind of free attraction to go to. And of course, they all have different and interesting pay-for shows.

Some that I liked (mostly what I saw was the freebies! I was a broke student when I went)-
The Mirage has tigers! Very cool! I believe this casino also has a huge fish tank behind the desk workers in the lobby of the hotel. Also, the volcano out front erupts every so often.

Bellagio has the water show- I think it plays every 15 mins in a four song set. Also, the ceiling in the main lobby is covered in beautiful blown glass flowers. If you appreciate art, and glass art especially, like I do, you should drop by and see that.

One of my favorite casinos was Ceasar's Palace. It is HUGE!!! Most of the inside is a huge shopping mall. They have an FAO Schwarz(sp?) or at least it used to be...that was shaped like a Trojan Horse. There is a huge fish tank somewhere in the mall, and they have an animatronic show with the Roman Gods.

The MGM Grand has lions on display- and it's a really cool walk-through enclosure- the lions literally sit on the ceiling, or on the sides where you would normally see them. Ever seen a lion from the underneath? If they are sitting above, you can!

The Aladdin has a FABULOUS buffet! Don't know if it was cheap (our host took us out to dinner that night) but it was GOOOOOOD. and they had almost every type of food you can imagine, there. Also, a really neat themed shopping mall.

The Venetian- very cool themed mall. Offers gondola rides (but you have to pay for it, and it just rides around the mall).

Living where I do, and having been to New York City many times- New York New York is nothing to write home about. And it is NOTHING like New York. (if you've ever been to NYC you know what I'm talking about)

The Luxor is really neat (huge pyramid with a beacon light out the top- very cool egyptian themed)- but I don't remember anything in particular being offered there. Same with Excalibur, but they have neat souvenirs if you are into dragons and other fantasy things (I loved the dragons!).

I don't know for certain, as we were just passing by and peeked in the doors, but I believe the Tropicana offers some free dancing shows (normal ones, not the naked ones; though you can find those anywhere- almost every casino has a strip club inside or a strip show of some kind; and yes, walk away from the guys handing out escort flyers- they are EVERYWHERE FYI).

And did they really stop the Pirate show at Treasure Island? cause that was damn cool! If they did, I'm sorry you won't get to see it- but if not, make it a point to stop there, too.

All the casinos are neat just to walk around and take in the themes- walking around the strip on your first day (just outside!) will give you information overload! I was exhausted our first day and we really didn't go to the insides of places until the next day. I know we didn't barely do everything we could have- nor did we visit all the casinos.

AND- THERE'S MORE- If you get a chance, you absolutely MUST go out of your way to go to the Hoover Dam. THAT is the coolest! Quite a marvel of engineering and construction.

Vegas is awesome! I had such a great time when I went- I really hope you enjoy your trip! Are you by any chance landing or taking off in the evening? The view from the plane is fantastic at night! Make sure you peak out the window!!!

:) Safe trip ;)

[Greenday]

Never been on a plane before? Well, make sure to get to the airport early as security can take long depending on the airport. Anyone who has been through Newark Airport knows what I'm talking about when I say long. No liquids, no nail clippers(my cousin had his pair taken away when we were 15), etc. Seems like it's become more of a question of what CAN you bring with you.

[Cia]

So are you flying out of Rapid or driving down and flying out of Denver?

If your flying out of Rapid give yourself an hour to hour and a half extra time for winding your way through the security line. Wear shoes that are easy to slip off since they will make you take them off and send through the scanner. Have your ID/Passport out with your boarding pass for the officer at the beginning of the line. I've never spent more than 15 minutes in line here but that didn't include getting wanded - which is interesting. Since the RCRA only has 6 gates you wont get lost.

Denver on the other hand - whoa. Don't know how long it takes to get through security there since I've always puddlejumped from Rapid.

Have fun in Vegas!

[jnd4rusty]

We are flying out of Rapid, I was a bit frustrated with the airline as I made reservations in early November and paid for the trip..they sent me a confirmation e-mail and itinerary. Everything seemed cool and then just last week I happened to be browsing through the Rapid City Airport website and came upon a news release from Allegiant, dated in Nov that says they are changing the flyout dates. So instead of Wed and Sat in the AM, they are doing Mon and Fri in the PM., but still having a Wed flight for March. Well I remembered that they sent me another confirmation but I never bothered to read it because I just assumed it was a reminder. I checked it and they CHANGED the date of my flight but NOT the date of the hotel!! Well that sucked so I called them and finally found a real person, yes I hate those automated things!! They reconfirmed that I had the original dates but the time changed from AM to PM. I was nice and actually was laughing about it. It was nervewracking but yet very funny!!

[irateguy]

they replaced the pirate battle w another show caled sirens of treasure island. its more adult w some gorgeous women:)

[digilight]

What to do in vegas really depends on what you are looking to do. Are you a drinker, if so you can get free drinks pretty much anywhere you gamble. Also you are allowed to drink out on the strip in vegas, so its ok to carry your big ass sovenour cup around full of rum.

Do sign up for the casino's players card before you put a nickle in a machine. You usually get a coupon book with all kinds of deals, usually some buffet coupons (at least 1 sometimes 2) maybe something for a normal restaraunt, some type of table games (usually a play $5 of your own money and the coupon is worth $5 - making it a $10 bet for 5 bucks), something for the giftshop, and usually a buy-one-get-one free coupon for a casino bar.

If you are flying into McCarren are you renting a car or just taking a taxi to the hotel, if taking a taxi, there is a monorail type shuttle train bus that goes between the strip hotels (I don't know if it extends all the way to downtown or not though). I have heard that you can either pay by the ride, or get a all day pass or a multi day pass.

We stayed at the Sahara when we got married almost 8 years ago, We enjoyed it and they have a racing experience (kind of like mini cars) that you can take drive on a inside track if I remember right. And there is also some type of a roller coaster.

As far as buffets go, they aren't the cheap deals that they used to be, there are some kick ass ones though awsome food, but a little on the pricier side for vegas buffets (I remember going 15 or so years ago and it was still like 5 bucks for a dinner buffet).