Las Vegas - MGM Grand

[Stevo985]

12 minutes ago, Wainy316 said:

Loved the Hollywood Hills hike.

Throughout my time in LA in general I did feel like I was in GTA.

I couldn't believe how similar it was when I got to Santa Monica.

 

But yeah the Hollywood Hills hike is great. My big regret is I didn't go as far as the sign. I looked it up when I got to the top of Mount Hollywood and it would have been a 90 minute round trip which I didn't want to risk with the daylight that was left.
But in the end I had plenty time and spent that long wandering around the trails anyway so I really should have done it just to say I had.

[Ginko]

I finally have better internet now @lapal_fan, no more dial up for me. Like to see you run me over now.

[Stevo985]

2 hours ago, Ginko said:

I finally have better internet now @lapal_fan, no more dial up for me. Like to see you run me over now.

Edit: coincidentally that was 4 years ago to the day

Edited April 4, 2019 by Stevo985

[Ginko]

To the day? That's a bit spooky.

 

Also I just cried watching that 

Edited April 6, 2019 by Ginko

[Stevo985]

5 hours ago, Ginko said:

To the day? That's a bit spooky.

Yep. Video was posted 4th April 2015

[Morley_crosses_to_Withe]

On 31/03/2019 at 20:58, Stevo985 said:

Omnia was amazing. Saw Calvin Harris there on Friday. But crazy expensive. Not sure if it was just because Harris was on or if it's always like that. Entrance was $160 on the door and the first round of 3 drinks cost me another 160.

Hakkasan was probably the best night. But again it's down to the DJ. Steve Aoki was on and he was incredible.

Intrigue at the Wynn was awful. Apex at the Palms was quite shit but probably worth it for the views.

Drai's was good, both the day club and night club. It was a lot more hip hop than other clubs though so depends what you're after.

Didn't go to XS but a few people said that was a good place too. 

I got back last week from LV. We should have taken your advice and gone to Omnia on Friday for Calvin Harris. We went on Thursday instead, but they only had the front terrace open. Drinks were still mental, even on a quiet night - $44 for a large vodka and lemonade.

We went to XS on Friday to see the Chainsmokers, but they were rubbish and played a mishmash of stuff and it was just weird. Also, we had to queue to get into the main club building, this was after we’d actually got in the venue (but via the entrance taking you through to the outdoor/pool area), and once we were in the main club area, we had to queue to get on the dance floor 

On the Saturday, we just went to the Beer Park & various hotel lounge bars - that was much better. 

We ended the trip with a night in Hakkasan, but they played hip hop and that’s not my cup of tea. It seems EDM isn’t ubiquitous these days, so we should have be more careful with our selections. 

I’m going back for a mate’s stag do next April, and I think better planning will be needed. I love Vegas, though, it’s got an aura about it that romantically nourishes me. 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2019 by Morley_crosses_to_Withe

[Stevo985]

I think if I went back I’d do ONE club, and just do bars and casinos for the rest of it. 

[Morley_crosses_to_Withe]

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

I think if I went back I’d do ONE club, and just do bars and casinos for the rest of it. 

Yep, agree 100%. 

[Seat68]

Wonder if a mod can rename this to just Las Vegas?

 

Booked flights for June next year for 9 nights. Got a good deal on premium economy so brought it a little forward from October, which would have been to celebrate a landmark birthday.

Will be staying downtown as the past 3 trips have been, looking at the Plaza this time.

I love the strip, my wife loves downtown and as it takes a bit to convince her to keep returning to Vegas, I am happy to stay downtown.

[Dom_Wren]

Booked in for 4 days over thanksgiving. Going with the missus (had too). Gonna walk the strip. Drink. Gamble. Walk the strip. Do the mob museum. Drink. Gamble. Do freemont Street. Drink. Gamble. Do a show. Drink. Gamble. 

Then fly home at 1:30pm, leaving from the airport to a stag do in Charleston till sunday. Battered! (hence why i had to take the wife.)

[KenjiOgiwara]

I went years ago. Stayed at a hotel that had just opened if I remember. Cosmopolitan? Any way, the bit I remember the most about that hotel was a club called Marquee. Was absolutely mental. The night club was alright, but what made it bananas was the day club. Just imagine a pool club in Entourage style. 

[Seat68]

On 10/09/2019 at 14:41, Dom_Wren said:

Booked in for 4 days over thanksgiving. Going with the missus (had too). Gonna walk the strip. Drink. Gamble. Walk the strip. Do the mob museum. Drink. Gamble. Do freemont Street. Drink. Gamble. Do a show. Drink. Gamble. 

Then fly home at 1:30pm, leaving from the airport to a stag do in Charleston till sunday. Battered! (hence why i had to take the wife.)

I am in and gone before thanksgiving. Mob Museum was pretty good when I did it, apparently they now have a bar there too.

[Dom_Wren]

32 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

I am in and gone before thanksgiving. Mob Museum was pretty good when I did it, apparently they now have a bar there too.

Speakeasy at bottom of the gaff apparently. Supposed to be good.

[Dom_Wren]

three sided die

 

Meaning to write this up for a while!

Flew out the Sunday night before thanksgiving. booked using a flight voucher wed been given for being bumped from first class, so free direct flights return to Vegas was a bonus! (not the best times, but direct is key!). Flight was great had 3 seats between the two of us and free drinks, so was well oiled by the time we got there.

Stayed at Ballys, $27 a night rooms! threw our bags in and bosh straight down the linq for some drinks and late dinner at the ale house. Real chilled first night as i wanted to get up early on the Monday.

Monday up and in the sports book at 9am!? placed some bets on the villa game, and they gave us the free drink tokens. so we had a cocktail at the bar (5 o clock somewhere right!), well people who were gambling and not using there tickets were giving them to us! so we ended up getting pretty hammered, before going to beer park to watch the match.

My old college roommate lives in Vegas with his wife and 2 kids, and as luck would have it, they won a 2 night staycation on the strip, so they gave the kids to her in laws and came and joined us for 2 days! We watched the match, won some money on the bets and then went back to the sports book to put it all back on the ravens!

That night we did dinner and a comedy show at the tropicana, and then a few drinks afterwards,  but this was different than going with the lads, as we wanted to do stuff during the day, so early night again!

Tuesday we got up and did lunch at a lovely Mexican place downtown and did fremont street, then went the mob museum. That was awesome, then had a cocktail in the bar downstairs, really cool. Went to the container bar for more cocktails and then did a Brazilian steakhouse for dinner.

Weds we just chilled on our own as the weather was bad, and walked up and back the strip and had a quiet dinner as we had to be up at 3am for a 6am flight back!

Great trip and cant wait to go back!

[wedge]

I'd be grateful if some of you Vegas veterans could take the time to offer some tips for a first-timer like me. A few of my mates who have been a couple of times have convinced me to look into it (obviously for when COVID-19 is all but a distant memory). I've always viewed it (rightly or wrongly as the closest I've ever been to Las Vegas is watching Ocean's Eleven and The Hangover) as somewhere that is just designed to suck every last dime you own out of you whilst constantly telling you you're having the time of your life.

I guess you just have to accept that you are going to be paying $44 for an aforementioned large vodka lemonade and budget accordingly and not let it wind you up or else you won't enjoy it. Is it even worth going if you haven't got extremely deep pockets? I've been reading The Secret Footballer's book about going on tour and he says if you need to budget then don't bother?

I'm 26 so obviously want to sample the insane nightlife and day pool parties at Wet Republic etc. I'm not a massive gambler and obviously would have a bit of a go in the casinos but not bothered about spending hours on end in them.

We're looking at five nights, how much spending money (after flights and hotel are sorted) would you estimate to take (considering I'm a normal bloke not a Russian oligarch) so I can properly enjoy it all without worrying that I can't afford another drink or roll of the dice etc?

 

 

[lapal_fan]

1 hour ago, wedge said:

I'd be grateful if some of you Vegas veterans could take the time to offer some tips for a first-timer like me. A few of my mates who have been a couple of times have convinced me to look into it (obviously for when COVID-19 is all but a distant memory). I've always viewed it (rightly or wrongly as the closest I've ever been to Las Vegas is watching Ocean's Eleven and The Hangover) as somewhere that is just designed to suck every last dime you own out of you whilst constantly telling you you're having the time of your life.

I guess you just have to accept that you are going to be paying $44 for an aforementioned large vodka lemonade and budget accordingly and not let it wind you up or else you won't enjoy it. Is it even worth going if you haven't got extremely deep pockets? I've been reading The Secret Footballer's book about going on tour and he says if you need to budget then don't bother?

I'm 26 so obviously want to sample the insane nightlife and day pool parties at Wet Republic etc. I'm not a massive gambler and obviously would have a bit of a go in the casinos but not bothered about spending hours on end in them.

We're looking at five nights, how much spending money (after flights and hotel are sorted) would you estimate to take (considering I'm a normal bloke not a Russian oligarch) so I can properly enjoy it all without worrying that I can't afford another drink or roll of the dice etc?

 

 

The thing with Vegas is, you can make what you want of it. 

You want to spend $500 on a bottle of vodka with a couple of mixers, poured for you by a woman in stockings and suspenders?  You'll find it if you want it.

You want a $10 sandwich which is so filling, eat one at 11am and you'll be full until 7pm, you can find that too. 

If you just want a taste of "the high life", you can walk into any hotel and wander around - they're huge.  And going to a specific hotel and looking around it is a reward in itself for me.  

Bedrooms are cheap in vegas, even on the Strip you can stay somewhere like Luxor or Bally's for $30 a night (+ tax), or you can stay in Caesars/Aria/Palazzo etc for $400 a night. 

There are people who visit vegas who hate gambling, who hate guns, who hate shows, and they still find something to love. 

You can get a heli trip of the strip for $60 I think I saw, I took a heli rider over to the Grand Canyon for $300 each, it was great. 

Just walking down the strip of an evening drops my jaw, regardless of how many times I do it.  I still don't understand how.. or why.  The whole place fascinates me. 

If you're worried you won't have much to spend to do stuff - again, just walk the strip.  There's a volcano every hour from 7pm at Mirage.  There's incredibly beautiful fountain shows every 30 mins at Bellagio.  I wandered around the Paris for 2 hours, Caesars for 3 hours - don't have to spend a penny. 

Think about what you're going for, and cater to that.  I took $100 spending on gambling - can't even get chips on a lot of the more expensive hotels, but you can find somewhere, where that $100 would last you 2 days. 

If you want it, you'll find it in Vegas. 

[wedge]

1 hour ago, lapal_fan said:

The thing with Vegas is, you can make what you want of it. 

You want to spend $500 on a bottle of vodka with a couple of mixers, poured for you by a woman in stockings and suspenders?  You'll find it if you want it.

You want a $10 sandwich which is so filling, eat one at 11am and you'll be full until 7pm, you can find that too. 

If you just want a taste of "the high life", you can walk into any hotel and wander around - they're huge.  And going to a specific hotel and looking around it is a reward in itself for me.  

Bedrooms are cheap in vegas, even on the Strip you can stay somewhere like Luxor or Bally's for $30 a night (+ tax), or you can stay in Caesars/Aria/Palazzo etc for $400 a night. 

There are people who visit vegas who hate gambling, who hate guns, who hate shows, and they still find something to love. 

You can get a heli trip of the strip for $60 I think I saw, I took a heli rider over to the Grand Canyon for $300 each, it was great. 

Just walking down the strip of an evening drops my jaw, regardless of how many times I do it.  I still don't understand how.. or why.  The whole place fascinates me. 

If you're worried you won't have much to spend to do stuff - again, just walk the strip.  There's a volcano every hour from 7pm at Mirage.  There's incredibly beautiful fountain shows every 30 mins at Bellagio.  I wandered around the Paris for 2 hours, Caesars for 3 hours - don't have to spend a penny. 

Think about what you're going for, and cater to that.  I took $100 spending on gambling - can't even get chips on a lot of the more expensive hotels, but you can find somewhere, where that $100 would last you 2 days. 

If you want it, you'll find it in Vegas. 

Thanks so much Lapal, that is an absolutely golden write-up! Superb Sir 

 

Yeah I suppose it's a place where you can do/see/have done to you pretty much anything you want providing you've got the money to pay for it.

I'm torn between pushing the boat and doing Vegas but I'm also thinking, think about what $500 a day spending money or whatever would do for you in say....Prague or Budapest for a long weekend, both of which I've been to before whereas Vegas I haven't. 

 

On average, how much do you think you spent per day on drinking/gambling/attractions etc?

 

 

[lapal_fan]

3 hours ago, wedge said:

Thanks so much Lapal, that is an absolutely golden write-up! Superb Sir 

 

Yeah I suppose it's a place where you can do/see/have done to you pretty much anything you want providing you've got the money to pay for it.

I'm torn between pushing the boat and doing Vegas but I'm also thinking, think about what $500 a day spending money or whatever would do for you in say....Prague or Budapest for a long weekend, both of which I've been to before whereas Vegas I haven't. 

 

On average, how much do you think you spent per day on drinking/gambling/attractions etc?

 

 

No problem bud, that's what this forums for.  So we went in November for 5 days (2 of those we travelled obviously) and we spend about a grand (2 people).

That said, we booked stuff before we went, like Penn and Teller (got cancelled and refunded), an ice bar, neon museum, high roller big wheel and a couple of others, so most of our expenses were food/drink presents etc.  We didn't go to top tier restaurants (of which there are plenty) and we didn't do bottom tier, somewhere in the middle really.  

Pizza rock off freemont street

Median cantina in golden nugget (freemont)

A nice Chinese place in New York New York

And some others I can't remember now.

Freemont for example (especially on a weekend or US holiday is absolutely brilliant.  Great atmosphere, live music, the world's largest TV screen covering the entire 1/4 mile street and people zip lining over your heads in an iconic Vegas location.. the drinks here are cheap and you can find decent places to eat (on my wedding night barmen were giving me free drinks all night).

Then obviously you have the strip.  We stayed Caesars palace and in some of the hotel bars there you can pay $40+ for two drinks.  

We stayed in luxor too and it's cheaper there, but still more expensive than freemont.

 

[wedge]

15 hours ago, lapal_fan said:

No problem bud, that's what this forums for.  So we went in November for 5 days (2 of those we travelled obviously) and we spend about a grand (2 people).

That said, we booked stuff before we went, like Penn and Teller (got cancelled and refunded), an ice bar, neon museum, high roller big wheel and a couple of others, so most of our expenses were food/drink presents etc.  We didn't go to top tier restaurants (of which there are plenty) and we didn't do bottom tier, somewhere in the middle really.  

Pizza rock off freemont street

Median cantina in golden nugget (freemont)

A nice Chinese place in New York New York

And some others I can't remember now.

Freemont for example (especially on a weekend or US holiday is absolutely brilliant.  Great atmosphere, live music, the world's largest TV screen covering the entire 1/4 mile street and people zip lining over your heads in an iconic Vegas location.. the drinks here are cheap and you can find decent places to eat (on my wedding night barmen were giving me free drinks all night).

Then obviously you have the strip.  We stayed Caesars palace and in some of the hotel bars there you can pay $40+ for two drinks.  

We stayed in luxor too and it's cheaper there, but still more expensive than freemont.

 

That's brilliant mate thank you so much, been a massive help!

[lapal_fan]

12 minutes ago, wedge said:

That's brilliant mate thank you so much, been a massive help!

No worries.

The first time we went we got limo's everywhere as part of our wedding package.

When we stayed at Luxor last November, we got the bus up and down the strip.

You can buy a 3 day pass and hop on/hop off.  It's a bus, nothing flash, and other people get on and off (we saw some real "characters" on it at some points), but it's cheap and effective and takes you from the very tip of the strip, all the way up to Freemont Street.  So if you're going on a budget, I'd really recommend the bus.  

That said, you're in vegas, grab a limo (they aren't that expensive because there's so many of them) - just google it and book it (if you're going with the lads, it'll cost $20 each probably).

Good fun! 

You've made me wanna go back now. 

Oh, one last thing.  The Oakland Raiders NFL team's new stadium was being finished off when we went for the new season, the franchise moved to LV, so if you're into that and wanna see an NFL game, they have options. 

They also have a half-decent NHL team called the Las Vegas Knights, some of the gear is cool.  We were having a drink and watching some live music outside New York, New York one night and they music went off for a break.  We heard some drums from afar, getting nearer - about 3 mins later you had a massive marching band of hockey fans, followed by THOUSANDS of other fans, all walking to the arena/stadium (which I think is by the new MGM Hotel/Aria) - that was a very cool moment!  

Ah ****, you've made me wanna go again now