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The Water Cooler
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Going to Vegas next week - where to eat? What to see? Cohiba, you out there?
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<blockquote data-quote="Danny Tanner" data-source="post: 1940987" data-attributes="member: 10619"><p>These are my general Vegas tips I try to give everyone, so use what might be beneficial to you and ignore the rest.</p><p></p><p>If you're a cheap eater and you're strolling around on the strip, then, for the most part, stay away from the restaurants inside the hotels, including the fast food joints, as they're usually more expensive ($17 for 2 chili cheese dogs, chili cheese fries, and a drink at Nathan's inside MGM). There's a food court by the M&M store that has a Del Taco, DQ I think, and some other typical shopping mall food court restaurants that's affordable.</p><p></p><p>However, you can still find $.99 shrimp cocktails downtown as well as the $2.99 steak and eggs on the strip, but for the latter, there are specific restrictions. Like the price is only valid between 2-4 AM.</p><p></p><p>If you're going to spend a lot of the time on the strip and you want to eat a little bit of everything, buy the "Buffet of Buffets" 24-hour pass. Basically, you get free reign on all of the buffets in the Harrah's owned resorts. This includes Planet Hollywood, Rio, Caesar's, Paris, Imperial Palace, Flamingo, and of course, Harrah's. It's $50 for a pass, which is a bargain considering one dinner buffet at Planet Hollywood is like $25~/pp + drinks + tip. If you decide to do this, sign up for a free player's card at any of these casinos and you get $5 off the price ($45). The clock starts ticking as soon as you purchase it (bought at the buffet cashier), so I'd recommend dinner around 6:30 PM (though you can decide your own time, obviously, but I'm trying to allow time for your food to settle) at Planet Hollywood (my favorite buffet), then breakfast at Paris (best breakfast buffet by far), lunch at any of the others (they're all mediocre, so just pick whichever is closest), and then dinner the next night at Rio (for extra $$, you can do the seafood buffet. With or without the seafood option, this is a pretty good buffet). For $45 for 4 meals that will leave you loosening your belt, you can't go wrong. While the food here doesn't redefine culinary standards, it's much better than anything you'd find at Golden Corral or even most other casinos around the country.</p><p></p><p>For more upscale options on the strip, check out The Eiffel Tower restaurant or Top of the World restaurant atop the Stratosphere (900+ feet up). While the food is [only] slightly better at The Eiffel Tower, the view from the Stratosphere more than makes up for it. Included with your reservations, you get free access to the two observation decks. The restaurant rotates, so if you're bringing a significant other and want a romantic setting, make your reservations for about 45 minutes prior to sunset. That way you get to see a 360 degree view of the strip and the mountains in the sunlight, at dusk, and at night.</p><p></p><p>A Hoover Dam tour is a given. I've done two of these. The first was a typical touristy style trip aboard a big bus with a tour guide up front on a microphone giving us info and keeping us entertained the entire way there and back. On our way, we stopped by the Ethel M chocolate factory, which was amazing. I'm not a big sweets person, so my word might not be worth much, but this was by far the best chocolate I've ever had. We are also shown a few celebrity homes. Once at the Hoover Dam, we were escorted into a video presentation about the construction and general specs of the dam, and then escorted through the dam much in the same fashion as National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation, and finally left free to roam around the top for pictures, lunch, souvenirs, etc. On the way back we made an unexpected pit stop to get up close and photograph some native mountain goats, which was a nice touch.</p><p></p><p>The other tour was a Pink Jeep tour. This was more intimate in the sense that it was a Dodge Ram outfitted with a 8-10 seat shuttle bus shell, but it was just the 4 or 5 of us on this tour. The driver did talk to us, gave us general Hoover Dam info, but once we got the dam, it was basically a "here we are, see you in a couple of hours!". Our tickets did include a dam tour, so it's not like we were nickel and dimed for tour tickets.</p><p></p><p>The pros for the bus tour: Everything was taken care for us, we just walked in a line and didn't have to worry about where to go (typical of guided tours). The "touristy" aspect of it. Sometimes, in a place like Vegas, part of the charm of being there is allowing yourself to be a typical tourist.</p><p></p><p>The pros for the Pink Jeep tour: Less $ than the bus tour. Having free reign to do as you please. Since we had already been, we just wanted to do our own thing. </p><p></p><p>Of course, if you want to go balls out, there are helicopter tours (of the strip, too), but bring your $$$. Taking the Camry out there will be your most affordable option, though, probably.</p><p></p><p>If you decide to go downtown (which I recommend), there's the lighted canopy shows every hour (possibly every half hour) and they're great. If you're curious, check out some videos of this on YouTube. There's also a zip line down there that's $15/pp during the day and $20/pp at night.</p><p></p><p>Make sure to check out all of the free shows/displays outside of the Bellagio, Mirage, and Treasure Island hotels. In my ranking of least favorite to favorite:</p><p></p><p>1. TI's Siren Pirate show: A bunch of male and female pirates fighting and dancing and jumping in the water. The ships are pretty cool and it's not a bad show. My biggest complaint with this is the small viewing areas and especially the people within these viewing areas. Much like on Oklahoma roads where Yield signs mean "stop" and Stop signs mean "yield" to people, "No Strollers Please" means "park your ugly ass screaming kids right here to watch a show that's probably too loud for their developing ear drums any way". Not only that, but despite how tall you are, somebody taller than you will stand right in front of you, so close you can smell their shampoo. It NEVER fails.</p><p></p><p>2. Mirage's [whatever it's called] Volcano show. Pretty awesome fire show. Nothing to complain about here, it's just not my favorite.</p><p></p><p>3. Bellagio's Water Fountain show: The least manly of the 3 considering it's just dancing water squirting up in the air to Celine Dion songs, but still by far my favorite. Can't really say why, it just is.</p><p></p><p>There are also a couple rain showers inside the Miracle Mile Shop (surrounds the Planet Hollywood casino) and inside the Venetian (I believe). Both pretty cool. Thunder, rain, lightning indoors. Nothing that's in-your-face extreme by any means, but pretty relaxing to watch while taking a break from walking.</p><p></p><p>You say you've been before, but only on a layover. If you're going to spend an extended amount of time walking the strip, make sure to bring comfortable shoes. I'd even recommend some quality cushioned inserts. As you probably saw, every walking surface outside and inside Las Vegas is concrete, cement, granite, marble, and casino carpet, which is basically fuzzy cement. There's nothing soft at all to walk on, so your legs and calves will hurt.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Danny Tanner, post: 1940987, member: 10619"] These are my general Vegas tips I try to give everyone, so use what might be beneficial to you and ignore the rest. If you're a cheap eater and you're strolling around on the strip, then, for the most part, stay away from the restaurants inside the hotels, including the fast food joints, as they're usually more expensive ($17 for 2 chili cheese dogs, chili cheese fries, and a drink at Nathan's inside MGM). There's a food court by the M&M store that has a Del Taco, DQ I think, and some other typical shopping mall food court restaurants that's affordable. However, you can still find $.99 shrimp cocktails downtown as well as the $2.99 steak and eggs on the strip, but for the latter, there are specific restrictions. Like the price is only valid between 2-4 AM. If you're going to spend a lot of the time on the strip and you want to eat a little bit of everything, buy the "Buffet of Buffets" 24-hour pass. Basically, you get free reign on all of the buffets in the Harrah's owned resorts. This includes Planet Hollywood, Rio, Caesar's, Paris, Imperial Palace, Flamingo, and of course, Harrah's. It's $50 for a pass, which is a bargain considering one dinner buffet at Planet Hollywood is like $25~/pp + drinks + tip. If you decide to do this, sign up for a free player's card at any of these casinos and you get $5 off the price ($45). The clock starts ticking as soon as you purchase it (bought at the buffet cashier), so I'd recommend dinner around 6:30 PM (though you can decide your own time, obviously, but I'm trying to allow time for your food to settle) at Planet Hollywood (my favorite buffet), then breakfast at Paris (best breakfast buffet by far), lunch at any of the others (they're all mediocre, so just pick whichever is closest), and then dinner the next night at Rio (for extra $$, you can do the seafood buffet. With or without the seafood option, this is a pretty good buffet). For $45 for 4 meals that will leave you loosening your belt, you can't go wrong. While the food here doesn't redefine culinary standards, it's much better than anything you'd find at Golden Corral or even most other casinos around the country. For more upscale options on the strip, check out The Eiffel Tower restaurant or Top of the World restaurant atop the Stratosphere (900+ feet up). While the food is [only] slightly better at The Eiffel Tower, the view from the Stratosphere more than makes up for it. Included with your reservations, you get free access to the two observation decks. The restaurant rotates, so if you're bringing a significant other and want a romantic setting, make your reservations for about 45 minutes prior to sunset. That way you get to see a 360 degree view of the strip and the mountains in the sunlight, at dusk, and at night. A Hoover Dam tour is a given. I've done two of these. The first was a typical touristy style trip aboard a big bus with a tour guide up front on a microphone giving us info and keeping us entertained the entire way there and back. On our way, we stopped by the Ethel M chocolate factory, which was amazing. I'm not a big sweets person, so my word might not be worth much, but this was by far the best chocolate I've ever had. We are also shown a few celebrity homes. Once at the Hoover Dam, we were escorted into a video presentation about the construction and general specs of the dam, and then escorted through the dam much in the same fashion as National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation, and finally left free to roam around the top for pictures, lunch, souvenirs, etc. On the way back we made an unexpected pit stop to get up close and photograph some native mountain goats, which was a nice touch. The other tour was a Pink Jeep tour. This was more intimate in the sense that it was a Dodge Ram outfitted with a 8-10 seat shuttle bus shell, but it was just the 4 or 5 of us on this tour. The driver did talk to us, gave us general Hoover Dam info, but once we got the dam, it was basically a "here we are, see you in a couple of hours!". Our tickets did include a dam tour, so it's not like we were nickel and dimed for tour tickets. The pros for the bus tour: Everything was taken care for us, we just walked in a line and didn't have to worry about where to go (typical of guided tours). The "touristy" aspect of it. Sometimes, in a place like Vegas, part of the charm of being there is allowing yourself to be a typical tourist. The pros for the Pink Jeep tour: Less $ than the bus tour. Having free reign to do as you please. Since we had already been, we just wanted to do our own thing. Of course, if you want to go balls out, there are helicopter tours (of the strip, too), but bring your $$$. Taking the Camry out there will be your most affordable option, though, probably. If you decide to go downtown (which I recommend), there's the lighted canopy shows every hour (possibly every half hour) and they're great. If you're curious, check out some videos of this on YouTube. There's also a zip line down there that's $15/pp during the day and $20/pp at night. Make sure to check out all of the free shows/displays outside of the Bellagio, Mirage, and Treasure Island hotels. In my ranking of least favorite to favorite: 1. TI's Siren Pirate show: A bunch of male and female pirates fighting and dancing and jumping in the water. The ships are pretty cool and it's not a bad show. My biggest complaint with this is the small viewing areas and especially the people within these viewing areas. Much like on Oklahoma roads where Yield signs mean "stop" and Stop signs mean "yield" to people, "No Strollers Please" means "park your ugly ass screaming kids right here to watch a show that's probably too loud for their developing ear drums any way". Not only that, but despite how tall you are, somebody taller than you will stand right in front of you, so close you can smell their shampoo. It NEVER fails. 2. Mirage's [whatever it's called] Volcano show. Pretty awesome fire show. Nothing to complain about here, it's just not my favorite. 3. Bellagio's Water Fountain show: The least manly of the 3 considering it's just dancing water squirting up in the air to Celine Dion songs, but still by far my favorite. Can't really say why, it just is. There are also a couple rain showers inside the Miracle Mile Shop (surrounds the Planet Hollywood casino) and inside the Venetian (I believe). Both pretty cool. Thunder, rain, lightning indoors. Nothing that's in-your-face extreme by any means, but pretty relaxing to watch while taking a break from walking. You say you've been before, but only on a layover. If you're going to spend an extended amount of time walking the strip, make sure to bring comfortable shoes. I'd even recommend some quality cushioned inserts. As you probably saw, every walking surface outside and inside Las Vegas is concrete, cement, granite, marble, and casino carpet, which is basically fuzzy cement. There's nothing soft at all to walk on, so your legs and calves will hurt. [/QUOTE]
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