Another "When in Vegas" thread

^ I was wondering when/if you'd see this thread. What was the place that had all the beautiful flowers/gardens and such...there was some Chihuly work in that samee hotel, IIRC.

Chihuly rules...speaking of...was that the Venetian - would make sense (blown glass and all, LOL).... :)

*** Edited 2/16/2007 8:38:30 PM UTC by rollergator***

You're probably thinking of Bellagio. It has the garden and that blown glass arrangement on the lobby ceiling... largest in the world or something like that.

See Toni Braxton's show at Flamingo. Also, I think the Bellagio Buffet is the best...God bless Lobster tails. For some "mature" entertainment, you can check out Pure (Caesar's Palace) or Tryst (Wynn) nightclub. They rule Vegas right now and they have awesome DJ's.

A friend got food poisoning after eating at Bellagio's buffet, so I've avoided it ever since. I'm sure it was a one-time deal, but why risk it?

Because the great experience may be worth it. :)

I puked after my first ride on Ghostrider (well, technically it was after my second lap, but it was the first time getting out of the train ;) ) It was a one-time thing because I was suffering from severe sleep deprivation. In fact, it's the one and only time I puked after riding anything.

I haven't stayed away because I'm sure it was a one-time incident with other factors. In fact, at the time I just wiped my mouth off and went back in line since my stomach was now empty! :) The ride is still in my top-10 woodies, and I really enjoy it! To me, that's worth the risk to ride it even if I may be more than just a little tired. :)

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sws said:
A friend got food poisoning after eating at Bellagio's buffet, so I've avoided it ever since. I'm sure it was a one-time deal, but why risk it?

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Eating is ALWAYS a risk. Is everyone going to stop buying Peter Pan peanut butter?

I'll add another hearty "Blue Man Group!" suggestion. But then I'm the one who caught the Berlin show, just because... :)

The vegas.com powerpass is a good value if you can get all of that done in one day. It includes Start Trek, Madame Tussaud's, S&R Secret Garden, Adventure Dome, Manhattan Express, King Tut musesum, and a bunch of other stuff. Also you get a free all-day monorail ticket with your purchase.

Also check out restaurant.com for good deals on meals. We went in early January and saved a bunch by taking advantage of these deals. And we won money on the penny slots!

WOW! Thank you for all the suggestions. This is certainly going to help in planning. And there seems to be *just* enough other stuff to do that I would be forced to attend a Celine Dion concert ;).

Greg - BMG should thank you as it was y'all's discussion on the pocast that made me decide to go to their show around here. I liked STOMP so this at least sounds interesting.

BTW: Has anyone yet seen The Producers with "The 'hoff"?

2Hostyl said:

BTW: Has anyone yet seen The Producers with "The 'hoff"?

I think The Producers just openned this month at Paris. We stayed at Paris at the end of December, and there were advertizements for it all over the lobby.

A word of advice concerning tickets for shows. If you want to go to a particular show, buy tickets well in advance. We bought ours on-line, then picked them up at the box office on the day of the show. People were trying to buy tickets the same day and were told that shows were sold out for the entire week. Of course that was the week before New Years.

I really agree with Rob. It's fun to walk around and see all of the free attractions at each of the resorts/casinos.

We also got a free coupon booklet for various things from the taxi driving in from the airport. It'll save you a few bucks here and there.

Enjoy!

Each casino hotel kinda functions as a small amusement park because each one has something to offer, whether it be a free exhbit or two or something more elaborate that costs a bit of money. While I wouldn't recommend walking from one end of The Strip to the other (everything looks close but the buildings are a hike from each other), it is good to divide it into sections and tackle a new one each night by parking in a centralized location and using that as a start and finish point. For example, Caesar's lot is centrally located in between a lot of stuff. Same for The Venetian.

Am I the only one who finds the Blue Man Group shows overrated? They are alright, but way over hyped in my opinion. I really have a soft spot for many of the Cirque shows; O, KA, and Mystere being my favorites in that order. They are great for sub 18 year olds too.

GoliathKills said:
Am I the only one who finds the Blue Man Group shows overrated? They are alright, but way over hyped in my opinion. I really have a soft spot for many of the Cirque shows; O, KA, and Mystere being my favorites in that order. They are great for sub 18 year olds too.

To each his own. I certainly understand that BMG will not appeal to everyone. No show can do that. I was skeptical when I bought the tickets but was won over by the end. You have to see them live to fully appreciate the performance. Still I respect your opinion. Just read through this thread. Some people thought "Love" was great; others thought it stunk. I enjoyed it but liked some of the other Cirque shows better. Same way as one person will love one theme park and another will dislike it. Just read the Coke vs Pepsi debate going on in a different thread. (Personally I enjoy them both as long as it's diet). The thing I liked about BMG is that it was different from the other shows. We saw Mystere the night after Ka. Both were great shows but similar.

Rob is right about walking the strip. It's a couple of miles from end to end. Work one end one day and the opposite end the next. Make sure you have good shoes.

I think having a car in Vegas is generally a terrible idea. Between cabs and the monorail, you can get around pretty quickly. If you're cheap you can even use the buses. Caesars Palace is a nice location though, as you can walk as far north as the Wynn (nothing worth it beyond that, save for Stratosphere and Sahara, which you can't walk to), and south to Excalibur (which then has the free tram to get you to Mandalay Bay and Luxor).

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2Hostyl said:
Greg - BMG should thank you as it was y'all's discussion on the pocast that made me decide to go to their show around here. I liked STOMP so this at least sounds interesting.

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I'm a big fan of STOMP as well. They're certainly not identical shows, but I think there's enough overlapping appeal that fans of one show will enjoy the other as well. I personally prefer BMG (they just never fail to bring a smile to my face), but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the heck out of STOMP when I see it.

If you're staying on the strip, I definitely would not rent a car. Between Luxor and Wynn, the traffic is so bad, you can walk faster than you can drive. I was actually pacing myself with a specific car when we were walking the strip. It was a dead tie. The monorail works well for the extreme ends of the strip. The airport is extremely close to the strip. A taxi ride is < $15 to get to most resorts.

Keep in mind that the broadway shows are "cliff's notes" versions here, with the exception of "Mamma Mia". They have been whittled down to a lean 90 minute running time. It certainly has hurt some productions, with "Phantom" being the only one to still thrive (so far).

It's odd, actually. "Mia" arrived in town at it's full broadway running time, complete with intermission, and has been a huge hit for MB. It's leaving next year, but a five-year run in Vegas is unheard of, considering "Hairspray" and "Avenue Q" could barely eek out a year. I'm not sure if "Spamalot" is arriving truncated, but I'll bet it does get trimmed for time. I'll add that I am not a huge ABBA fan, though I like their songs enough, and I found "Mia" to be a great show.

Early word on "Producers" is that it suffers from it's original 2hr, 40 min (including intermission) run time being clipped to a trim 90 minutes (no intermission). Also, it's been written that the "Hoff" plays gay with such an over-the-top wink to the audience that it detracts from the inherent comedy written for his role. Hopefully, he settle into his part as time goes by.

I saw Phantom, and basically what they did is take the changes made for the film and applied them to the stage. To me, it actually works better, especially since the chandelier thing works better late in the second act than at the end of the first one. Every song was included, and the talent was frankly better than the original London cast (save for one of the two Christine's we saw... she's not as strong).

The "to car or not to car" depends on what you want to do. The monorail and cabs are good ideas if you want to stay confined to The Strip, but if you want to go out and explore other areas like Zion, the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam/Lake Meade, a car is absolutely needed.

We usually rent a small car- either a compact or an intermediate- for about $20/day. For us, it's a luxury worth paying for because it gives us the freedom to go out and do whatever we want, whenever we want. Parking in the garages is free so the only downside to having a car is the cost and the fact that Vegas traffic can get a little crazy at times. Then again, if you've ever driven in any metro area that's the leats bit populated, it's nothing out of the ordinary.

Like I said, depends on what you want to do. Are you fine being contained to The Strip, or do you want to go out and do other things outside the city limits?

About renting a car, when in Vegas I would say if you are not leaving the city proper use your feet or public transportation (buses, cabs, Monorail, etc) because as has been said traffic in Vegas can be like any other city. But if you want to go out in the surrounding areas more than 1/2 your time there rent a car for the full time, otherwise just rent for a few days and time your out of city stuff for those days.

The $20 car with taxes is more, and then you pay out the nose to park anywhere. Suddenly the value goes away. I'll rent a car when I plan to go out to the Grand Canyon or whatever, but it's going right back to the airport when I'm done. If I never have to drive in Vegas, I'd be OK with that.