Travel

[dawg lover]

I would recommend staying in one of the hotels in the middle of the strip, so you don't have a long walk back to your hotel after a show, or dinner.  The heat there in summer is quite oppressive, but I imagine it's nice in the fall.  Also, we got a dirt-cheap price at the Excaliber Hotel, but it was awful; a smell of sewage, broken furniture, and lots of little children screaming and slamming doors.  I would never stay there again.

[Mz iMac]

@Bridgegal 

Yeah, the Riviera is no more.   I loved that place because it was next door to a water park that we visited sometimes.  The implosion was shown on tv.  I shed a tear.

Thanksgiving week, I will be at Cesears, another favorite of mine & my mother.  As someone else mentioned, you do not have to leave the hotel for anything!

[Mz iMac]

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@dawg lover wrote:

we got a dirt-cheap price at the Excaliber Hotel.

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@dawg lover   Did you go their Middle Age dinner show?  I did & had a great time.  You eat your meal w/your hands.  No utensils.

Yes, there were more children & babies in attendance at the show than adults.

[patbz]

@Mz iMac :  Unfortunately, the Water Park was also demolished (my family really misses it).

[dulwich]

MGM Grand love the pools, can see a show, great dining all in the hotel.  Plenty to do love it.

[gabstoomuch]

It has become so expensive there. People also don't realize that "the strip" is now 4 miles long, so you have to decide what you are going for.

That freeway they put up and over the strip to get the traffic off the strip (that didn't work out very well) really makes the strip two sections.

One end has the MGM, New York New York, Aria, Park MGM (and lots of others, plus shopping stores etc). T-Mobile center, lots of shops, mostly fast food unless you eat in a hotel. That, to me is one end.

Because of the freeway you have to be on the correct side of that or you have to Uber or Taxi to get over to the strip. You cannot cross the highway. An 8 lane highway with a high fence in the middle so no one can cross it I might add! So if you stay "off strip", it is easier to be on the correct side of the freeway or you will spend lots of transportation money.

Then what I consider "the other end" of the strip is Venetian, Cesears, Bellagio, Cosmopolitan, Linq, Harrah's, Treasure Island, the big Forever 21 mall. So much to see, and so busy. Lots and lots of walking so choose where you stay carefully.

When you look at a map it lools like the hotels are close to each other, but they are not at all. Some of them can be a mile or more away. I was standing at the M&M store and could see Mandolay Bay and it didn't look very far. I wanted to get to the Vegas sign because that is still the original. I wanted a picture Turned out Mandolay Bay was almost 2 miles, and then another 2 miles to get to the Vegas sign! Not walkable at all so I still have not gotten to that sign LOL.

I was there in the Spring and it cost a fortune in Uber rides. I won't even take a taxi. I took one from the airport because I had not mastered using Uber yet, and I only went 2 miles and it was $50.00! The taxi's intentionally take long routes to run up the tab. I learned how to use Uber real fast. They are very quick to pick you up, and a ride is usually only 7 or 8 dollars. (but beware, there are specially designated spots to get an Uber ride, and they are usually on the side or behind the hotels. Not out in the open like a taxi stand). It can get confusing to just find the Uber pick up spots.

So, long story short, you really have to have some sort of idea what you wish to be doing. If gambling then all hotels have that so area of the strip doesn't matter as much. See shows? Get within distance of show venue. Just want to wander and people watch? Either end is good for that.

The thing that aggravates me the most now is the resort fees. Every hotel has $40-50 PER NIGHT resort fee! That is straight up cash for the hotel. It feels like robbery to me. Even if you have no car, do not use their pool, do not do or use ANYTHING on their "list" of what the resort fee is about, they refuse to take it off your bill. That adds a lot of money to some already very expensive hotel charges. I have only found 2 hotels (strip/close strip) that do not have a resort fee. One is not somewhere I would stay, and the other is on the other side of the freeway so you end up paying for rides that equal what a resort fee would be.

Any memory of great buffets and lots of cheap fun is long gone on the strip. Buffets can be costly now. Many people know how to "work Vegas" and get comped rooms or food freebies, but I don't go enough to know how they do it. I do know the people who fare the best are the ones who gamble a LOT, and/or Drink a LOT. I don't do either.

I am going back in a few weeks because it has grown so much and there is so much to do, or just wander around to "people see". My Spring trip I ended up mostly at the Aria end of the strip. I barely got 1/2 a day at the Venetian end, and those hotels are so MASSIVE it can take up time if you like to just wander, sit, browse the stores at a relaxing pace. There was so much I still want to see.

Never even got to Freemont Street (the old Las Vegas strip). I also wanted to go to the mob museum, didn't get to that either.

It will be hot in July, but I want to go back and see all that I missed. Honestly, you can go back over and over and find something new. It is fun.

ONLY downside is that it is quickly becoming a 25-40  year old party all night place to go for that generation. There are many hotels that have pool parties that start at 11pm and go all night.  DJ music blaring, so much drinking. Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock, Linq, Cosmos, they have all night partying so if you stay there you might hear music all night.

There are a lot of You Tube video's to watch. That is how I got a feel for what was where, lots of tips and tricks to get 1/2 price show tickets. Most hotels have a magazine in their lobbies that have meal coupons, drink coupons. I spent a lot of time watching You Tube before I went and I was still overwhelmed at the expanse of it all.

There is also a website Las Vegas dot (you know the rest). LOTS of good info there.

Also, Trip Advisor has thousands and thousands of reviews of anything you want to know about, just remember to sort it by "newest first" because there are reviews back all the way to 2003 soare not relevant.

Good Luck!

[Travone]

It's night right in the middle of the action, but it isn't far.....my choice is Mandalay Bay.  I would not reccommend the Venetian.  I stayed there for a conference....while the rooms were nice, the pool area was disgusting.  Tables and chairs were never wiped down at night......they would be sticky and trash on them at all times of the day and night..  I won't stay there again.

[Tyak]

Be sure and find out what the hotels charge for resort fees.  Some of them are outrageous.  And if you're going to rent a car, they'll get you for parking, too.  It sure has changed  and not in a good way.  (I live there.)

[Tyak]

@gabstoomuch 

I guess the freeway you talk about is I-15 which has been there forever.  It doesn't separate the strip, it's west of the strip.   

[patbz]

@gabstoomuch :  Maybe you misstated what you meant: while there are still many great buffets (Wynn, Caesars,Rio, Ballys etc) they are definitely not cheap.  IMO many of them are well worth the money.  There are also terrific inexpensive restaurants (Batistas, Firefly, Lotus of Siam) that I personally recommend.