I don't know what it is, but I never get sick of visiting Las Vegas. No matter how you view it, "Sin City", "City of Los Wages" or just a simple vacation--it's got something for everyone. It's my favorite place to go, and this sixth trip was no different.
Sunday, July 9, 2007: We arrived late, a little after 10 PM. We were thinking this was the way to go, less people and a quick trip to our hotel. Soon, we realized that was NOT the way this was going to turn out. The airport was busy, and by the time we realized that they had routed all the luggage for numerous incoming flights to only one baggage carousel I should have seen the writing on the wall, but I was just too excited at having finally arrived. I was even able to ignore the older woman standing in the front of the crowd who had CLEARLY had a huge can of beans for dinner!
Once our luggage was finally in hand, we made our way to the car rental area--only to find that since our last trip it has been moved what they call "one block" away. I’m sure that works if a block is considered a mile or two, but they are working on some special formula. On the bright side, their shuttle system is relatively fast with multiple shuttles working at any given time. After finally convincing the car rental clerk that we don't want to purchase their insanely high daily supplemental insurance, we were on our way!
We were staying downtown for the first time, which in the dark had its own set of navigational difficulties. Rather than experiment on the highway at dark, we drove down the strip. While insanely captivating if you've never seen this before, it's frustrating at night where lanes end abruptly and gawkers hold up traffic. It took us over an hour to drive four blocks, but once we reached Binion's we were on our way!
Checking into the hotel was quick, although by this time it was midnight. We quickly dumped off our luggage and headed downstairs to try our luck! I'd barely sat down at a nickel slot machine and it paid off time and time again. I kept printing out tickets for $20 and $30 and putting them in my purse and putting another five in. I figured this system was going to serve me well...provided my luck held out! My husband also was having some luck, and we wandered around the main area outside the casinos taking in the lights and excitement.
We finally had enough and wandered back to our room in the wee hours of the night, to the aging hotel that used to be known as Binion's Horseshoe. Its days of shiny beauty long past, it looks like an aging cousin to the newer and fancier hotels found on the strip. Despite gouges in the wall, marred tables, and an aging 30 year old television the room undeniably still had some charm of its own. Binion's is rich in history, and here we were staying there! The hotel staff was friendly, and the casino was much larger than it had looked to me when we had passed through previously. It was a great place to stay!
Monday: We wandered around the downtown area the next day, which is easy to do since it's all located so close together. Using coupons I brought with me after doing careful research, the only meal we paid for that wasn't a 2 for 1 buffet, was a quick breakfast at McDonald's. My husband hit $300 on a nickel Wheel of Fortune later that night, and Vegas was feeling like THE PLACE TO BE! I wasn't having the same amount of luck, but since I was ahead from the day before I was dead even by the time I decided to call it a night. My husband was feeling lucky, so he tried his hand at live poker in Binion's friendly poker room.
Tuesday was the time to switch hotels! I had obtained an enticing room deal at Binion's, and then we were off to the room deal I got at the Orleans. We were able to check into the Orleans early, and this would be our "home" for the next three days. Ahead of schedule, we just wandered around our favorite gambling establishment. We ate lunch at their buffet, with another of my 2 for 1 coupons also armed with more coupons for free drinks. Lots of slots, free drinks, and cheap food…it doesn’t get any better. Ok, it does get better if one wins money but clearly you can’t have everything all of the time! For information on obtaining room deals, visit here
Tuesday evening we went to Cirque du Soleil Mystere which was truly amazing. The women seemed to be singing live, with vocal performances so perfect I kept trying to figure out if they were lip syncing. Visually, it was something I've never seen on such a magificent level. The feats these people performed, including one that can only be described as homo erotic as two muscle bound men manipulated the bodies of each other using their muscles and contortionist abilities, were nothing short of spectacular. With just the right amount of humor injected throughout the performance, agile performers awed us with their gymnastic abilities. This guarantees that I will attend other Cirque performances whenever possible, it was truly magnificent. We had excellent seats, scored as soon as tickets went on sale and this paid off with a great view of things happening above us, behind us, and far below us. Without a doubt the best show I have seen in Las Vegas!
Wednesday we made several side trips. We went to Liberace's museum armed with a coupon I purchased on eBay for $7.50 which entitled us to two free admissions (normally valued at $26). Unfortunately my husband didn't see the value in this and still tried to talk me out of going. Not one to forfeit something I've paid for, I drug him there kicking and screaming. Despite his reluctance, he had to admit the over indulgence of sequins and jewels embodied the very essence of Las Vegas. Flashy jeweled cars, flashy jeweled clothing, and flashy jewels...it was hard to decide if my mouth was hanging open in humor, shock, or awe. While I have only vague memories of seeing Liberace on television during my childhood, it's impossible not to smile at what was the persona he built for himself in addition to his undeniable talent.
On Wednesday we took our first trip to Ethel M. Chocolates in Henderson, which I've long wanted to do. It was a disappointing trip for me, while you can see the chocolates being made it was a limited area to look at with just a few people working (despite it being 10 am on a week day) and not much to look at. We toured the very pretty cactus garden, and then made our way back into Las Vegas and ate lunch at the Lotus of Siam. They offer a delicious Thai buffet, and are located in a strip mall off of Sahara. The walls are filled with photographs of famous patrons, many local but others including Al Roker.
We spent Thursday walking along the strip. My favorite thing that day was going to Studio City inside of the MGM grand and participating in the test groups, where they show you show pilots. We got to see some of the upcoming shows, including the upcoming Big Bang Theory. We were sat in front of computers which monitored our response to what we were seeing. It was something different, free, and most importantly FUN! We set out from the MGM after purchasing a very expensive, very large, Pina Colada which turned out to be completely void of alcohol--much to my chagrin. It was good to have something to drink as the temperatures was 117 degrees Fahrenheit on that particular day! It was a great cooling feature as we wandered down the strip, shopping in the Miracle Mile Mall and at M&M World.
On Friday, with out departure imminent, we just gambled in the Orleans. I stuck to nickel slots and managed to get the payout up to $20 a few times--always losing it quickly. At least I managed to only lose a short amount of money that last day. Of course, all I had was a short amount of money left to lose! We had lunch at their buffet and took off for the airport.
We did a fair amount of gambling throughout the trip, unfortunately it just went in and didn't come back out after the first few days! Even the trip home looked like it was going to be set on bad luck, we got there to see a notice that our plane was delayed. Then it turned out that the notice was incorrect! While it said our flight was delayed it turns out it was actually on time. I imagine some may have missed the flight because of this--luckily we stayed put in the airport and were sitting there when the pilot let us know it was wrong and the flight was on time. So, maybe it was our lucky day! I was even good this time around, I didn't put so much as a quarter in a slot machine at the airport! Ok, you got me, I lost all my money at the Orleans Hotel before I left for the airport...I had to charge a warm Diet Pepsi that was overpriced at $3 just to be able to take it on the plane!
Once all was said and done, this was another fabulous trip to a truly fabulous location. Las Vegas is without a doubt one of a kind!
The main part of this trip, what makes it unique to me, is the great deals I got on it. This is my fifth trip to Las Vegas, but the only one where I truly got killer deals. Some of those deals I found are as follows:
Hotel Deals:
2 Nights at Binions, normally $120 plus tax--I paid $40 total (no tax). Saved $80
3 Nights at the Orleans, normally $59 a night plus tax--I paid $49 for the first night, the 2nd night free, $49 the third night plus a coupon for a free breakfast buffet. Saved $79
Meal Deals:
3 buy one get one free meals at the Orleans Buffet, with a three free meal savings of $45
1 free seafood buffet at Terrible's, savings of $15
1 free breakfast at Binion's (comp) $6 savings of $6
1 free lunch buffet at Main Street Station savings of $10
2 free breakfast buffets at the Orleans (booking coupon), savings of $16
Things to Do:
Admission for 2 to the Liberace Museum, regular $25 plus tax, paid $8 with no tax. Savings of $17
Total Savings of $268
I've written down what I did to find these deals (and more) that I used to cut the price of the trip drastically. It's actually pretty easy to do, there are lots of deals out there (not many for the really major strip hotels, but lots for everything else). Anyone interested in a cheap--but fun--trip to Las Vegas should check out these hints:
