Las Vegas - or, I Wasn't Expecting a Chicago-sytle Hot Dog

Jeff, that's what's happened to me, too. Once you start staying in Westins, it's hard to go back to the Country Inn and Suites.

I'm not 100% positive on this, but I believe the Golden Nugget downtown is a 4-diamond hotel. It's definitely the "classiest" joint on Fremont Street, and during any slow times of the year, you can get a room for under $80 a night (my parents paid $59 a year or so ago).
And I think the Four Seasons at Mandalay Bay and perhaps the Hotel at Mandalay Bay are the only 5-diamond hotels in town. Now those are some expensive rooms!

And speaking of craps, my favorite craps story came about at the Four Queens (not one of my favorite places, but they had $2 craps that day!). I was having a great run as shooter and was winning lots of cash for everyone at the table. I was at one end of the table when a rather attractive, well-endowed woman wanted to get in on the action at the other end (insert appropriate tasteless jokes here!:)). I was a bit distracted... so when I shot the dice, one hit the back wall and went flying up out of play and straight into her cleavage. We all shared a good laugh thankfully. Needless to say, everyone wanted to use the same dice.. and they ended up being just as lucky as I went on to roll about 25-30 times before sevening out.

Sorry for going off topic there. CPLady's story about craps just brought back some warm and fuzzy memories!

Ray P.

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Den said:
Jeff, that's what's happened to me, too. Once you start staying in Westins, it's hard to go back to the Country Inn and Suites.

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I'm afraid I fall into this category as well.

A great find on the Strip, in my opinion, was the Barbary Coast. Mid-priced (~$100/night), great rooms, and a really good central location on the Strip (across the street from The Bellagio).

Only bummer about Barbary Coast is that there's no pool. If it's a quiet time of year, you can always try to sneak into the fab pool area at the Flamingo, but they'll check for room keys if it's busy. Barbary Coast is also home to one of my two fave free lounge shows in Vegas...Big Elvis

The other "don't miss" free show is Purple Reign at the Boardwalk, which is a dive, but easily walkable from NYNY, Monte Carlo, and Luxor (all of which have really nice rooms and amenities for the price). Luxor has incredible deals if you watch the site. I stayed for $59/night in June with free spa admission daily.

Just an FYI...it's rare to find a better deal on Expedia (or travel website of your choice) for Vegas hotels than would be offered through the hotel directly. The other benefit of booking though the hotel is that you can change your reservation if prices drop, a package is offered, or you find a fabulous deal at another hotel.

The pool area of The Flamingo is a surprising find. Steph's cousin got married in there, and it really is beautiful (and shady).

That's true, Dawn, I forgot that there's no pool. I'm never one to go for the pool at a hotel anyway, so I didn't really notice.

The Nugget is a 4 star and it feels like "home" to us. Service is excellent there. We've been at the Luxor and Monte Carlo on the strip, and still prefer the Nugget.

Although since we have a slew of player's cards, we constantly got "comp'ed" at those hotels (and the Mainstreet although we like the Nugget better). $39 casino rate for the rooms (or free in some cases) can't be beat.

The Laser Show or whatever it is now called downtown is worth the stay itself, the screens are huge and they play a different "movie" every hour.

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ProgRay said:

Fashion Show Mall, which just added the big "flying saucer" thingie out front. I haven't seen it in action yet, but I guess it's a big LCD screen as well.

Ray P.

Edited for spelling *** Edited 11/12/2004 12:45:24 PM UTC by ProgRay***

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According to the mall its officially called "The Cloud" Its a very large UFO looking structure, but not an LCD screen. They have lights on the promonade that allow it to change colors and what not, but it doesnt do much itself but sit there...

There is a huge moveable LCD screen below it...well actually 5 of them. They can move independently or together along a very long track system.

You should definately check out the inside of the newly expanded Mall. In the new "Great Hall" they have a floor that rises up and becomes a runway for fashion shows complete with fog effects and lighting and more LCD screens that drop out of the ceiling. They actually made it snow in the mall the last few Christmas' and they made Santa fly!