Las Vegas - first timers with questions

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wild_turkey

250+ Posts
So this is our first time going to Vegas and we could probably use a little help. It will be myself, the wife, and a couple other people, staying for only 3 nights. The wife and I liked the looks of Caesar's or Bellagio, but I think they are both a little more expensive than the other couple wants to spend. That said, we've narrowed it down to Treasure Island, The Flamingo, MGM Grand, or The Mirage.

1. Are any of these significantly better than the others? Is location on the strip important, or will we be taking a cab most places anyways?

2. Which hotels have the best casinos? I'm assuming you can gamble in places other than your hotel, but is there a benefit to hanging around the one where you are paying for a room?

3. If we wanted to see some shows, should we book tix in advance or just look for a deal once we get there?

4. Anything else we are missing? Any can't miss attractions?

Thanks for the help.
 
The Mirage is pretty nice, so if you all are happy with the rates you get there I'd suggest it. It is well located on the strip. I personally believe location is important, especially for first timers. Others will disagree, but I like being able to head out of your casino and walk down the strip. You can cab it back if you'd like, but for the first time nothing's better than walking down the strip in and out of every casino.

2. You can gamble at any casino. Some have better gaming conditions than others. Some are fancier than others. Some are more crowded than others, etc. I prefer to not gamble in the lower-end casinos so I stay away from Osheas, IP, Tropicana, Excalibur, Luxor, Circus Circus, Stratosphere, and pretty much all casinos downtown aside form the Golden Nugget. With all the others, you should just check them out and see what sort of atmosphere you like. One thing to keep in mind is that if you're looking for cheap tables (i.e. $5 min BJ) thats going to be hard to find at the mid-range casinos and impossible to find at the high end casinos such as CP, Venetian, Wynn, or Bellagio. If you're ok with $25min, then you should be able to find that anywhere, or if you're a slot-junky then those too are everywhere and in every denomonation.

The benefits of playing where you stay is to try and get comps. Again though if you're a $5 BJ player, don't worry about it. If you play $25+ or slots though it could be benefitial. For thsi trip though, I'd suggest checking out all the casinos. Get a "Players Card" at each one, and use it when you gamble. For future trips you should start gettin offers for room rates, etc. if you do gamble a lot at your home casino, ask to speak with a host when you leave. They may be able to take some $$$ of the room or food if you've gambled enough. Again though don't bother if you're only gambling $5 per hand BJ.

3. I'd book tickets in advanced. This way you know you have them. There are times when you can find good deals at places called 1/2 tickets (I believe) which sell tickets for shows that are that day at discounted rates. These are located at the Fashion Show mall (near TI, across from the Wynn) and down at some sort of outdoor shop area next bwteen MGM and Aladdin (it had some hawaiin theme, but I forget what it's called). if you really have no preference of show, then you might gamble and do this. Then just pick the show based on the cheap tickets they have. If you really want to see a specific show (such as a Cirque show) then I'd recomend buying tickets in advanced. If you have any specific show questions let me know. I've seen a handul of Cirque shows, Blue Man Group, and Carrot Top.

4. Just enjoy yourselves. There're lots of things to do and see in Vegas, and I'm sure you'll see plenty, and miss plenty. If you want check out some Vegas based message boards for some other ideas. I peruse one called:The Link They have a ton of food/hotel/show reviews. Just one word of warning, the people on there tend to be older and thus tend to prefer video poker, and tend to stay off the strip. These aren't things I'd recoment for y'all.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I got to Vegas very frequently, and am actually planning a trip in a little over a week (thus the reason I'm jonesed up and wrote such a long reply).
 
Halstead has some good advice. We just got back from a girls only trip (6 of us) and ended up doing much of what he said, before he said!

1) We stayed at Bellagio because we got a deal. But we did walk a lot from hotel to hotel. It was nice and pretty easy to catch a cab back to wherever when we got tired of walking.

2) There was one $5 BJ table at Bellagio, and 3 or 4 $10 tables. We usually looked for those and found them without too much trouble. We were so reckless in our gambling!
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The dealers at the $5 and $10 tables are nice to those of us with training wheels still on, too!

3) We saw "Love" and got tix in advance. It was an amazing show. We did find the two half price ticket outlets Halstead mentioned and used them to find tickets to a second show. The bigger shows were not available, but we did get tickets to see "Menopause the Musical" and it was an absolute blast for half the cost. As he said - you can't be picky if you want cheap ones.

4) There is a ton to do. Make sure to go downtown one night and see the video show on Fremont Street. It is quite a different feel than the strip and was really great for people watching. Fremont Street VivaVision

Also, if your wife is into spa experiences, check those out online at your hotel of choice as well. Bellagio's spa/fitness center seemed a bit pricey at $25 per day. But that was money well worth it for one or two of the four days we spent there.

Have fun!
 
Some pretty good reviews here (with a little humor):

The Link

Here's a Las Vegas message board:

The Link

And another message board:

The Link

Every question that has been asked about Vegas has been posted there....and most of them have been answered. Lots of good advice here on Hornfans too. However, there are a lot more forums concerning all kinds of Vegas topics on those last two links, from the $20 tip trick to strip clubs.
 
We were there this month in the Bellagio, and of course it is very nice. I was walking across the street for $5 craps tables, though. Also, we ate brunch one day at the Flamingo, and I really liked the feel of that place--very unstuffy.
 
All the advice on here so far is great and I won't repeat it. But I will second checking out lvtalk.com. There is a ton of info there.
If you haven't gotten a hotel, you may want to think about priceline. You can tell them you want a 3 or 4 star hotel on the strip and you'll get a good place. Of course my theory on Vegas is that the hotel room is a place to sleep for a couple of hours and shower, so I've never cared too much where I stay.
As far as shows go, we tried to do the half-price ticket thing one time and were very disappointed with the selection of shows offered. Bottom line, if you want to go to a big-time show, you won't find tickets there. Figure out what show you want to go to and order it from that hotel's website. I was there with the wife two weeks ago and we saw Love. If you're a Beatles fan (or even if you're not), it's an amazing show. Each seat has speakers built into the headrest and there are speakers on the back of the seat in front of you. I need to find chairs like that for my house! If you get tickets to it, I would suggest getting tickets away from the stage. 3 reasons:
1) A lot of action takes place above the stage and if you're sitting down low, you'll be craning your neck a lot.
2) There is so much happening on the stage at one time, it would be very hard to take in if you were sitting close to the stage. It would be like sitting in the front row at a movie theater.
3) Tickets up high are much cheaper.
 
The wife & I are going out on the 4th of July for a meet with about 30 members of another Vegas board.Have 4 free nights at Bally's and two at Wynn's ($119/night).

We'll be meeting up on a craps crawl Saturday, 7-7-07. & will wind up at Carnival Court.
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I have become a big fan of New York, New York. Never stayed there, but like to hang out there.

Good choice of bars and food. ESPN the zone is there if you are a sports fan at all!

A couple people from my group did the rollercoaster and loved it.

Half-price tickets had some good options for the non big shows. We also were there during the week so there may have been more options than during the weekend.

Have fun!
 
I tried one of the Las Vegas forums and the 1st thread that I clicked on had a horn fans poster pimping "Dripping Springs" Vodka.
 
Thanks for all the feedback, it will really help. On the subject of In 'N Out, I make a point to eat there every time I'm out in Cali, usually multiple times in one trip. Even though deep down I knew there are In 'N Outs in Vegas, I wasn't thinking about it in terms of this trip. Now that you guys reminded me, I will definitely be stuffing my face with some of that.
 
If you're looking for a real deal on entertainment, I highly recommend The Comedy Stop at the Tropicana. It's $20/head and 3 stand-up comics do their routines. We always laugh our collective asses off there. One time Ray Romano showed up and did his Stand-Up because he was going back to touring. We'll be there next weekend.

Hook'em!!!
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