Las Vegas Coasters

Just to chime in with my 2 cents - The coaster at NY-NY stinks. Save yourself $14 dollars.

I'll be staying at the "new" Planet Hollywood in a few weeks, and really looking forward to it. During our last visit (May 07), they we're putting the finishing touches on the remodel, so I'm anxious to see the finished product in person. We normally stay on the south strip (MGM, Luxor, Excalibur), so staying near the center strip area will be a nice change.

Jerry

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Jeff said:
The central strip (Bellagio to Wynn) is the hot area now, if you can ignore the blight that is Imperial Palace. Points south aren't going to decline any time soon, especially with that big city-in-a-city complex going up. Planet Hollywood got much needed love replacing Aladdin too.

With Frontier and Stardust gone, the empty lot across from Sahara, all the crappy little stores between Wynn and Riviera, more empty lots and parking garages, that whole half of the strip just kind of blows. The couple blocks between Stratosphere and Saharah are also shady.

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Yup, the shift in the "trendy and where it's at" hot spots tend to migrate every 5 of so years along the strip. It's actually really interesting to see.

I remember back in the mid-90's the best part of the strip to be was more towards the south, central to the MGM Grand's location where an explosion of the new themed resorts like Luxor, NYNY, Monte Carlo and MGM Grand were popping up.

Now, with the 2005 opening of the Wynn and this year's debut of The Palazzo (and upcoming Encore, Echelon and Fontainebleu filling up the bare lots between Fashion Show Mall and Circus Circus), the hottest place to stay, be seen, and play RIGHT NOW is center strip...but once the massive CityCenter has its ribbon cut, it'll all shift back down South again.

And Soggy...Circus Circus IS that bad. It's "okay" if you haven't stayed anywhere else. Once you spend a night in a hotel like The Venetian or Bellagio, Circus Circus is merely a dumpy roadside motel room with a Circus theme overlay. :)

And to stay on topic...ya. All the Vegas coasters are awful, with the exception of Canyon Blaster, IMO. Speed really does nothing for me, not so sure why it's so popular with the enthusiast crowd though.

My first Vegas Experience was IP. Yuck. After that Venetian, Caesars and Venetian again. Yeah, once you go four (or five) diamond, you don't wanna go back. I'm strongly considering Wynn next time, but I really love Caesars.

I was just there for a conference at the Sahara and decided it would be convenient to stay there. What a dump that place is. I've seen rooms at a Motel 6 that were nicer.

On the north end of the strip the Fountainbleu is making good progress. Also, construction has started on the Echelon. By 2011, the north end of the strip will be happening.

Jeff- Having stayed at The Hotel (at Mandalay), MGMx2, Bellagiox4, Paris and the Wynn the nicest by far was the Wynn. I've never liked the Venetian's lobby or style (saw my uncle's room there) and didn't like my grandparent's room at Cesars or Mirage. Wynn is definitely nicer than any of the others with only The Hotel coming close. *** Edited 4/15/2008 11:03:05 PM UTC by GoliathKills***

The redesign at Venetian is nicer, I think, than it was. It's just cleaner and brighter. And the redesigned rooms at Caesars, in the Augustus and Palace towers, are just beautiful. Remember that Caesars is old at its core, so they have like six different classes of rooms there. I assume the new tower will be like Augustus and Palace.

I suspect that I'll be staying at a Harrah's property next time, likely Caesars, because I've lost just enough money that they keep sending me ridiculous discount offers.

^ Ya, the updated rooms at The Venetian are styled more contemporary which should be extremely similar to the rooms at The Palazzo.

When it comes to accomodations, I personally prefer The Venetian to Wynn because you get a lot more square-foot per dollar without really sacrificing much luxury touches and detail. Just for comparisons sake: standard rooms at The Venetian are 700-square feet compared to Wynn's standard rooms at 640 square feet. The older Venetian rooms can feel a little bit outdated (but it's still VERY luxurious compared to 95% of the rest of the strip), but the remodeled rooms are on par with Wynn, if not better IMO.

I guess some people have really high standards. Having grown up in Southern California, Vegas was never a big destination vaccation for me. It was always a quick getaway that was done as much "on the cheap" as possible. At any time, Vegas was just a 4 hour drive away. Therefore a place like Venition or Belliago was not even on our radar to actually stay at. We'd gamble at the big, nice, newest places just to check them out, but dropping that kind of coin on a room was out of the question. We'd stay at somewhere cheap and have fun. We eventually found a nice middle of the road at Monte Carlo.

And if you think Circus Circus is 'the worst' place in Vegas, you don't know the definition of bad. I can rattle off a dozen places that would have you RUNNING back to Circus Circus, and thanking your lucky stars to be there.

Red Rock Station is a nice place to stay. They have extremely comfortable beds. The gambling is better there than anywhere on the strip. I would never gamble at Harrahs. *** Edited 4/16/2008 3:57:51 PM UTC by PointMan***

You mean Harrah's the casino or Harrah's the company, which owns most of the central strip?

I love the Speed and CB coaster. I also really like the rides on top of the Stratosphere. The NYNY coaster was not all bad. It was rough;but, the length of it is great.

As far as the hotels, I have stayed at Sahara,Stratosphere,CircusCircus, and Excalibur. I was happiest at Excalibur. Stratosphere and CircusCircus were okay. I probably would not stay at the Sahara again. I never had any problems as far as not feeling safe or anything like that. I don't want to spend alot on a room just because we don't spend that much time in it. As long as it is clean and the bed is comfortable, I am happy. That just gives me more money to spend on the things that are important to me.

^^ I mean Harrah's the company.

My first visit to Vegas was for the rides alone. In particular, the rides Insanity and X Scream on top of the Strat. I rode High Roller and also rode ME. Out of those I would ride the Strat rides again. My next trip I will try to include all of the others. BTW Jeff, I listened to your podcast a while back and heard your comments concerning the Venetian. I stayed there last year and stayed at the Wynn the year before. I would definitely reccommed staying at the Wynn in the future if the choice is between the two. IMHO...of course.

I've never been on any of the other coasters yet. I'll be going back to Vegas soon so I'll try the others as well. As for NY NY coaster...it wasn't a rough ride for me. I thought the ride was actually smooth. I didn't get a headache or neck pains with the NY NY coaster like I have with other coasters at amusement parks.

What do I think of the Vegas coasters?

Here's a hint: I just got back from my 4th trip to Vegas this year. Oh this last trip I FINALLY got on one coaster -- Desperado (and that's not even in Vegas).

I'd hit the others (including the now-defunct High Roller) in trips prior to this year. I didn't feel any pressing need to get back on any of them. Drove right by NY NY every one of those 4 trips, and felt NO desire to swing by for a ride... Speed and Canyon Blaster are good, but I was never near that part of the Strip, and those rides by themselves aren't enough reason to do so if you've already been on them.
*** Edited 4/25/2008 2:55:14 AM UTC by GregLeg***

Whenever I go to Vegas...I don't really think about jumping on coasters. I guess now I'll have to check out the other rides you all mentioned. I'll pull my "chicken" friends with me.

One of my co-workers who goes out to LV pretty regularly agrees with many of you about the CC/Stratosphere end. His comment was that he and his wife felt like they would end up on a future episode of CSI if they didn't get away from that end of the strip.

I have stayed at the Excalibur and the Strat. Staying at the Stratosphere was THE BOMB but the long "walk" along the strip is a lot easier when you are drinking those cheap margaritas. ;)

The only coaster I liked was Speed. I also LOVED the top of the Strat tower and pretty much wanted to stay up there forever, even though the only ride I really liked was X-Scream, and in the front seat.

Remember that Gator? ;)

Insanity was "open" but we didn't get to ride due to the high winds at the time.

The Tower peeps were VERY cool to us, though, and even gave us refunds since we couldn't ride Insanity.

-Tina

Very interesting. I rode Rollercoaster at NYNY and LOVED it. Me and my friends rode it 4 times ...back to back. Weren't the trains changed fairly recently as well? There was a little shuffle here and there, but nothing close to the old Arrow atrocites (Scream Machine / Shockwave)

As far as where to stay, since I go to Vegas for the nightlife, I would have to say Wynn, Caesers and Palms is where its at. I think my fav club / lounge on the strip is Pure with Rain and Tryst a close second. Huge sensory overload!