Vegas!!!!!!

[Teknik_DC2]

I've made many Vegas trips. Infact this trip was my 10th visit to the city in the last 5 years. I don't drink. I also don't gamble (much). So alot of people don't know how I can have such a blast in Vegas. Anyways heres the trip report of my most recent visit to the Sin city. My wife Kieras aunt and uncle go to Vegas each year over memorial day. They asked if we wanted to go to and since our next big vacation isn't tell October we figured we could use the break and take a short vaca to Vegas. It may sound weird we went with Kieras aunt and uncle but don't let that fool ya. I'm actually a year older then them. Kinda weird I know lol.

We booked our hotel at the Luxor. Our main reason why was because Kieras aunt and uncle were staying at the Mandalay bay. We couldn't afford to stay there as well so we chose to stay as close as we could within our budget. The dates of our trip was May 30th-June 2nd.

Day 1:

The first day of our trip consisted mostly of travel. Living in the Salt Lake City, Utah area we are only about a 6 hour drive away. We considered leaving the night before but with it being Memorial day weekend hotels were very expensive to find last minute. So we stuck to our original plan and after going to part of church sunday morning we found ourselves on the road by 11:30am.

Our first stop was in Beaver, Utah where we could grab some drinks and snacks for the drive. For this trip (and our upcoming cruise in October) we decided to buy a new camera. Most of the drive between SLC and Vegas is pretty ugly so there wasn't much to take photos of until we were outside St. George, Utah







Between St. George and Misquite, Nevada is the Virgin River Gorge. Its very pretty to drive thru and the photos really don't do it any justice.








The whole drive I debated with myself If I should get gas in St. George or in Misquite. Utah is one of the highest gas priced states right now so I decided to get gas in Misquite assuming it would be much cheaper. I was wrong. In fact Misquite was around .20 cents more per gallon then St. George. So keep that in mind if driving to Vegas.

Before we knew it we were in Vegas. We arrived in Vegas around 4pm and went strait to our hotel to check in. As I said before we would be staying at the Luxor where we booked a room in the pyramid. We found the self parking for the Luxor which was very packed with it still being Memorial Day weekend. We found a spot in the furthest corner from the hotel. Wich made for a long walk with all our luggage.





Once we entered the hotel/casino we found that check in was still on the opposite side of the building. One thing to keep in mind with Vegas Strip hotels that I recently found out. Vallet Parking is free. The only thing you have to do is tip the attendent when they return there car. I didn't know this tell the end of the trip or I would have used it more often. Also keep in mind that if your in vegas as a couple or with a significant other the timeshare people will swarm you. Which happend to us as soon as we walked in the door of the Luxor. I'm sure you can get good deals (like they wanted to give us free show tickets and dinner) for going and looking at there condo/hotels. Its just time consuming.



Check in was very quick despite there being a decent sized line. This was where we were in for our first suprise. While checking in the employee informed me that they would be giving us a free complemetry upgrade to the tower rooms instead of the pyramid room. This was great news as the tower rooms are much nicer and more expensive. Our room ended up being on the 13th floor of the tower and was a "strip" view. However nice our view was it turned out to be ubstructed. Overall though the room was very nice and we were happy with the room and the Luxor.










Our only complaint about the Luxor was the maid service. When we got to our room we found there was no toilet paper. So we had to call and get some. Other days they didn't put the comforter back on the bed or give us clean towels. I could excuss one thing here and there but to have something different each day is just unacceptable. However this minor issue wouldn't keep me from staying there again.

After getting settled in we decided we were hungry and we should find some dinner. We decided to head north down the strip to the fashion show mall where we could look around at the stores and have a large varitey of food in the food court or resturants there. It took us forever to get there though as the strip was very packed for the holiday weekend.









Once we got to the fashion show mall we were shocked to find that everything was closing up at 7pm. I thought the mall would stay open later but I guess not on Sundays. We were even more sad to see the food court was closing too and all the restaurants at the mall were very expensive. We debated on what we should do and decided we could head over to the Venetian to see if there food court was still open. So we crossed the street and cut thru the Palazzo to the Venetian's food court.





The Venetians food court was open so we grabbed some food there. One thing to keep in mind is that the food courts in the hotels are much more expensive then the ones in the malls. And this one was no different. But oh well we didn't have much of a choice. After dinner we continued wondering thru the grand canal shops at the Venetian and stopped in a store called Brookstone. This place is kinda like the sharper image. They have alot of gadget type stuff in here. They even have the massage chair demos wich are very cool. The chair they had there was amazing. It scanned your body to see what areas needed the work the most. My message only was about 8 minutes but Kieras was like 15 minutes. I guess she had alot that needed to be worked.





After playing around in brookstone we noticed it was almost 9pm and decided to head over to the Mirage to watch the Volcano go off. I havn't been to Vegas since they remolded the Volcano and changed the show. We weren't able to get across the street in time so we watched the show from the Venetian but the show is a big improvement over the old one. I would diffenitly check this out.









After watching the Volcano we started making our way back to the car to head back to our hotel for the evening. Once we got to the mall though we weren't too sure how to get into the parking garage. We found one of the mall doors was still open so we went in and well its kinda creepy being in a big mall by yourself. When we went down to the parking garages we found the doors were locked though. So we went back out where we came in and figured we would have to walk around to get into the garage. Before we did that though we were lucky enough to find a staircase that goes down into the garage from the strip. So that saved us alot of time.






Once we got our car it took us a while to drive back to the south end of the strip to the Luxor do to it still being very busy. We were able to find a parking spot a little closer this time then when we checked in though. Before heading back up to the room for the night we decided to check out the atrium level of the Luxor. We got a smoothy and checked out what they had up there. Which unless you are going to a show or seeing the titanic or bodys exhibits there isn't really much up there. After walking the Atrium we then headed back to our room in the tower and went to bed.

[SnorkletsMom]

nice TR and good photos!

I like Vegas and I don't drink or gamble at all. In fact we bring the kid along. There's a lot do to there and we always have a good time.

Thanks for sharing.

[MsTiauna]

I was hoping to see some pics of the amusement parks

[Gino USMC]

I was in Vegas around the same time. We got there on Monday and left on Thursday.

[MagicWDI]

That's funny! I was in Vegas May 31 thru June 2 for my birthday. We stayed at the Mirage. Very nice pool! We scored a free trip to come back sometime next year for a 3 night/4 day stay at The Venetian!

Love the pics! Looks and sounds like a great trip you two had!

[SpectroMan]

Thanks for the nice report. I enjoy Vegas a lot, too and drink nothing and gamble maybe 5 bucks per trip. It's all about the shopping, food, exploring, neon (what little there is left), and beautiful casinos.

[WheresMickey]

Nice report!

[JMora]

Wow, the Fashion Show mall closes at 7pm now? When I lived in Las Vegas from 2005- early 2008, it closed at midnight on week days and 2am on Fri-Sat. Was it the same story for the Forum Mall at Caesars Palace? My Vegas buddies have told me too, that even the Strip looks like a ghost town on weekends, sad.

[JMora]

>>Once we entered the hotel/casino we found that check in was still on the opposite side of the building.<<


I was wondering, has Luxor completely torn down all the Egypt theme at the entrance? When I left couple of years ago, Luxor was in the planning stages of doing so, no more Ra night club, even IMAX theater was said to close to have the Luxor a modern look. I loved the main entrance, and be sad if the giant Egypt pharaohs are no more.

[BC_DisneyGeek]

Thanks for the report, I really ought to visit Vegas again.

[Teknik_DC2]

I was wondering, has Luxor completely torn down all the Egypt theme at the entrance? When I left couple of years ago, Luxor was in the planning stages of doing so, no more Ra night club, even IMAX theater was said to close to have the Luxor a modern look. I loved the main entrance, and be sad if the giant Egypt pharaohs are no more.

Yes theres very little of the egyptian theme left and its pretty much only visable in the phenix outside, the piramid shape of the hotel, and a few buildings on the atrium level. Its pretty sad actually.

[techskip]

Tinkmomma and I are thinking of making this a leg of our road trip next year. Essentially going to Grand Canyon, then a couple days in Vegas before heading to Calico on the way home. These days there is a lot of the kids to see/do, unlike when I was a kid and all you had was arcades.

[Teknik_DC2]

First let me say sorry for the delay on the trip report. I actually had Day 2 wrote up and ready to post. However once I hit post I guess I hit a time delay and lost everything I typed. So being kinda upset about that it delayed me from wanting to rewrite it. Anyways here I go though with day 2.

Day 2:

Our second day in Vegas fell on Memorial Day. Knowing that the town and resorts would still be very busy we decided to relax and sleep in. We finally woke up around 11:30 and Kiera texted her aunt Crystal to see what they were doing. They were already at the pool at there Mandalay Bay with the kids and asked if we wanted to join them. We said sure so we quickly got ready and headed down to the casino.

We were in somewhat of a hurry to get over there since Crystal told Kiera that RJ would meet us outside the pool area with a room key so we could get into there pool. Me thinking it would be the quickest route based on where our room was located figured it would be quickest to take the Tram from the Luxor over to the Mandalay Bay. So thats where we headed.





Going to the Tram station ended up being a big mistake. There isn't a tram that goes directly from the Luxor to the Mandalay Bay. You have to take it from the Luxor to the Excaliber. Then from Excaliber back to Mandalay Bay. Seeing as how this now set up back even further and we were in a hurry to meet RJ we decided to get off at Excaliber and pretty much run past the Luxor and to the Mandalay bay. This ended up being faster then the tram turn around would have been.



Although we were pretty much running past everything that was the first time I had actually walked that part of the strip. If you've never entered the Mandalay Bay from the strip before I highly recommend it. I didn't get any photos due to the rush we were in but it is very pretty and well landscaped.

We finally made it to the Beach area of Mandalay bay. RJ wasn't out there yet so we wondered around for a little bit only to find a sign at the enterance to the beach. "All guests 14 years or older must show room key to enter". This kind of made us worry. We would only have 1 key for the 2 of us. RJ finally came out and brought us the key and we figured we might as well see what happens. We walked up to the gates and we got in without any problems. The 1 key worked for the 2 of us.

Upon seeing the Beach at Mandalay Bay I diffenitly could see why so many people rate it the best pool in Las Vegas. It is gorgous. The main big pool is actually a wave pool. And its not like a typical wave pool where they turn on the waves for like 5 minutes strait each half hour or so. Here its one huge wave every minute. Theres also an outdoor stage seperating the wave pool from a small kiddy pool area. Theres also a lazy river which possibly has the strongest current i've ever felt in a lazy river. All this is surrounded by a sandy beach area. It is very pretty and alot of fun.










The Beach was very packed because of it being Memorial Day. however this did not stop us from having a good time there. We played in the water and relaxed in the sun. The little girls had a blast playing in the water too. Especially when some small waves from the wave pool made there way into the kiddie pool.










After about 2 1/12 hours at the Beach we started to get hungry and discussed what our plans were for the rest of the day. Crystal and RJ mentioned they were planning on going to the Premium Factory Outlets and since that was also on our list of to do's in Vegas we decided to join them. We left the Beach for the day and made our way back to our room at the Luxor. This time instead of trying the tram again we decided to go thru Mandalay Place. This turned out to be much quicker then the tram would have been. However due to the Atrium layout where Mandalay Place drops you out in we found the quickest route back to our room in the towers as to cut the the pool area. The luxors pool looks so bland compared to the Mandalay Bays.







We were soon changed and ready for the rest of our day. So we headed down to our car and were soon on our way. We left a little earlier then RJ and Crystal because we still needed to get lunch. Originally the plan was to grab Jack in the Box (my favorite fast food place) however with the strip still pretty packed we decided just to head to I-15 and go strait to the factory stores and eat there.







If I thought the Strip was crowed then I was shocked to see how crowed the Factory Outlets were. We go every time we head to Vegas because we always get such good deals. Well so does everyone else obviously and with Memorial Day sales going on the place was jam packed. We went and grabbed some lunch at the food court while waiting for RJ and Crystal. They finally showed up right as we were finisihing lunch so we spent the next couple hours doing some shopping. The quicksilver store took alot of our money as it always does but it was worth it. We got a lot of stuff for a great price. If your in Vegas and like to shop the Factory Outlets are a do not miss. You will get better deals there then anywhere else in Vegas. Thats why we always make sure we go.





Our original plans for the evening was to go back to the Venetian and go check out the Wax Museum there. But upon talking to RJ and Crystal before we left the Outlets the said they were gonna take the girls to the Rain Forest Cafe at the MGM Grand for dinner and asked if we wanted to join them. Since we had never been there ether we decided what the heck and would go to dinner with them. If we still had time afterwards we would hit up the Wax Museum. They said they were just gonna drive over to the MGM Grand. We decided to head back to the Luxor though to park our car and walk back to meet them at the Rain Forest Cafe.

With the town pretty empty now from so many people heading back home with the holiday over parking was easy to find at the Luxor. We then cut thru the Excaliber and out onto the strip to get over the MGM Grand. Suprisingly we beat RJ and Crystal there.








I must admit the environment at the Rain Forest Cafe is pretty cool. The restaraunt is themed to a tropical rain forest with main animatronic animals thruout. Every few minutes theres even a thunderstorm that passes thru making it actually rain on the bar area. However the food is average at best and very expensive. This is one of those places where your diffenitly paying for the atmosphere more so then the food. I don't know if i'd go out of my way to eat there again but if you've never been before its worth checking out.



















After dinner we realized theres no way we could make it down to the wax museum and have time to enjoy it before they closed. So instead we decided to walk down the the Showcase mall and go to the M&M and Coca-cola stores. One thing I noticed being in Vegas with a significant other compared to being there with a bunch of guys is you get attacked by timeshare people. They swarm you like crazy. I came up with a simple solution that worked well for us. Tell them your leaving town in the morning. Once they here that they leave you alone immediatly. Anyways there were many between the MGM Grand and the Showcase mall so thats why I mentioned that.

We spent alot of time and had some fun in the M&M store. They have anything and everything imaginable with the M&M logo on it. They also have a 3d film they play there but since we'd seen it before we decided not to watch it this time.








After finishing at the M&M World we headed over to the Coca-Cola store where you guessed it everything is Coca-Cola related. However the thing we really went there was to "Taist sodas from around the World". For 8 bucks (they give you cups to share with others too) you can get 16 differnt cups filled with Soda thats not sold in the United States. Its something I always wanted to try and since I was going to cut carbonation out of my life soon I figured now was the best time to try it. Some were pretty good. Some were pretty good. Some were just alright. And some were down right Nasty. Theres one called Beverly that is possibly the worst thing i've ever taisted. Infact it was so bad that it ruined the taist of some of the others that I went back to try again. Diffenitly check this out if you like Soda while in Vegas.









The Showcase Mall in general is a pretty cool place to check out while in Vegas in General. In addition to the M&M's World and Coke Store theres also a Giant GameWorks arcade, the only movie theater on the strip, a giant food court, the Hard Rock cafe, and some gift type shops.

We next decided to head over to the New York, New York since RJ had never been inside of it. This is another Hotel thats sad to see. Thats because it too is following the detheming trend in Vegas. The Casino use to be like central park. However they recently removed all the trees and street lights and carpet and made it look like another bland casino. Its kinda dissapointing but I guess as long as they don't remove the rollercoaster i'll be fine with it for now. There is still alot of themeing thruout though.










After exiting the New York, New York we decided to call it a night. It was getting kinda late and we were exhausted from being out in the sun all day. We said farewell to RJ and Crystal and the kids and made our way back to the Luxor where we pretty much fell asleep as soon as our face meet the pellow.





Well thats it for now. Hopefully i'll update this a little sooner next time. Were half way done with this trip.

[DisneyFan28]

Awesome TR!


I didnt know the Coke area was still doing the around the world samples..
I thought they disappeared years ago
Definitly going to have to try this when i go back to vegas

[Starshyne]

I have never been to Vegas (well I did have a lay-over on my way home from Anaheim last summer, but never left the airport so that doesn't count) but it is on my list of places I would like to go. I REALLY would love to see the Beatles Love show and see the Beatles shop and Revolution Bar.

It is good to know that Vegas is a place that can be fun for those of us that don't gamble (much) or drink (much). I think that is one of the big reasons why I have never gone.

That M&M store looks totally fun! And I would like to try the different sodas from around the world. That was one thing I enjoyed doing in England and France this summer...tasting different sodas. I was just sad to see that Fanta Citron wasn't on the list.

Great report! Thanks!