Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Ongoing Las Vegas 'pro-tips' thread

Sinny Darino · 07-26-2011, 09:47 AM

Hey Everyone, My wife and I went to Vegas in March of this year, just a few months ago actually. That is about the perfect time to venture down there as it is a nice balmy 15-20 degrees and it is not too overly hot out.

We booked our trip with WestJet Vacations, and WestJet paid that stupid "resort fee" for us. We had direct flights, not the greatest of times flying in and out, but it was decent. We landed in Vegas at 10:00 am and could not check into our hotel till 3:00 pm, we also flew out at 9:00 pm so had to find somwhere to put our bags and luggage all the time.

We flew down there on Tuesday morning, and Flew out Saturday evening, so 4 nights 5 days, which was plenty of time to get entirely exhausted. Our flights and hotels were around $1100, which was a pretty good deal I found. We stayed at the Tropicana, which they were renovating the pool at the time, and from what I saw of it, it was going to look amazing when it was done.

We saw a few shows while we were down there (not really drinkers or gamblers), The Lion King, Blue Man Group, and David Copperfield, and let me tell you, do upgrades ever go a long way. The computers were down when we went to see the Lion King and we had the cheap $70 tickets up in the nosebleeds. We got upgraded to 5th row center $200 a piece tickets.

You can also spend a pile of money of Food down there, depending on where you eat. We personally chose to eat at nice restaraunts, and none of those "quick eats" places, and the food down there is phenomenal. If you are looking to eat on a budget, the "all day buffets" for $30 each are a good deal. We went to various buffets as well, one at the MGM, one at the Excalibur, one at Aria, Tropicana (ect). And you can basically find those in every single hotel. I think we spent more on food down there then on our flights and hotels!!!

We went to the Premium Outlet Mall (north one) and spent quite a bit of money, you can get amazing deals on clothes if you snoop around enough. We took the express bus (the bendy one that looks like a train) and it only took 20 minutes or so to get up there. Transit down the strip is definintely the way to go, and try to stay off the Deuce as it stops at every single hotel/bus stop. The express one stops at like every 5th, and it greatly cuts down the time.

We checked out all the hotels, and basically wandered around being "tourists" for the 5 days we were there, and we probably walked the distance from Calgary to Edmonton 3-4 times it felt like.

We avoided old vegas (strat, golden nugget) like the plague, you can see it when you take the bus to the outlet malls, as it is quite sketchy looking.

We also went to the Shark Reef tank, Hoover Dam, (ect). Did as much as we could in 5 days there.

07-26-2011, 09:47 AM	#59
Sinny Darino Farm Team Player Join Date: Jan 2011 Exp:	Hey Everyone, My wife and I went to Vegas in March of this year, just a few months ago actually. That is about the perfect time to venture down there as it is a nice balmy 15-20 degrees and it is not too overly hot out. We booked our trip with WestJet Vacations, and WestJet paid that stupid "resort fee" for us. We had direct flights, not the greatest of times flying in and out, but it was decent. We landed in Vegas at 10:00 am and could not check into our hotel till 3:00 pm, we also flew out at 9:00 pm so had to find somwhere to put our bags and luggage all the time. We flew down there on Tuesday morning, and Flew out Saturday evening, so 4 nights 5 days, which was plenty of time to get entirely exhausted. Our flights and hotels were around $1100, which was a pretty good deal I found. We stayed at the Tropicana, which they were renovating the pool at the time, and from what I saw of it, it was going to look amazing when it was done. We saw a few shows while we were down there (not really drinkers or gamblers), The Lion King, Blue Man Group, and David Copperfield, and let me tell you, do upgrades ever go a long way. The computers were down when we went to see the Lion King and we had the cheap $70 tickets up in the nosebleeds. We got upgraded to 5th row center $200 a piece tickets. You can also spend a pile of money of Food down there, depending on where you eat. We personally chose to eat at nice restaraunts, and none of those "quick eats" places, and the food down there is phenomenal. If you are looking to eat on a budget, the "all day buffets" for $30 each are a good deal. We went to various buffets as well, one at the MGM, one at the Excalibur, one at Aria, Tropicana (ect). And you can basically find those in every single hotel. I think we spent more on food down there then on our flights and hotels!!! We went to the Premium Outlet Mall (north one) and spent quite a bit of money, you can get amazing deals on clothes if you snoop around enough. We took the express bus (the bendy one that looks like a train) and it only took 20 minutes or so to get up there. Transit down the strip is definintely the way to go, and try to stay off the Deuce as it stops at every single hotel/bus stop. The express one stops at like every 5th, and it greatly cuts down the time. We checked out all the hotels, and basically wandered around being "tourists" for the 5 days we were there, and we probably walked the distance from Calgary to Edmonton 3-4 times it felt like. We avoided old vegas (strat, golden nugget) like the plague, you can see it when you take the bus to the outlet malls, as it is quite sketchy looking. We also went to the Shark Reef tank, Hoover Dam, (ect). Did as much as we could in 5 days there.