Trip Report - we came home with money!

So my wife and I are back from a week in Las Vegas.

We stayed at the Signature at MGM. Overall the trip was fantastic.

Thursday - We arrive around 1pm and take a cab to our hotel but not before the cabbie stops by a store so we could pick up a bottle of champagne.

The hotel room is beautiful. One bedroom suite with two baths, jacuzzi, balcony, full kithcen, comfy beds, ipod dock. We%26#39;ve fallen into the lap of luxury. We%26#39;re on the 32nd floor with a view of the strip in Tower 1. I would personally avoid tower 3 right now since it is too close to construction and probably noisy.

So after unpacking we head on over to the MGM Casino.

My wife wins $50 in the slots and I win $55 playing blackjack in about 30 minutes.

So we decide to walk down the strip and take in the sights. Everything is huge and impressive. Distances are deceiving. Buildings are much further away than they appear.

After a few hours, we head back to the room to change for dinner. We decide to try the Todai Japanese seafood buffet at Planet Hollywood. It was excellent. Lot%26#39;s of choices. Top notch food. I found out after that it%26#39;s a small west coast chain but we really liked it.

One of our goals was to eat at places we can%26#39;t get back home in Maine so Todai definitely fit the bill.

After dinner we walk down the strip for a bit but are both so exhausted from the trip, we go back to the room around 10pm. Jump in the hot tub and then off to bed.

Friday

Up early for a short flight to the Grand Canyon. On arrival, we jump in a helicopter for a trip to the North rim. Spectacular is all I can say about the GC. We take about 200 photos. After the heli flight, we get to spend a few hours walking around the South Rim. Did I mention the Grand Canyon is stunning?

So we get back to the hotel around 6pm. change for dinner and hop a cab to the Venetian. What a jaw dropping hotel. I was amazed at the scenery and beauty of the place. You must have a look if you go.

We eat at Mario Vitaly%26#39;s resturant, the San Marco. The food is very good and the prices are not too bad. Dinner for two with a glass of wine and appetizers coms to about $128. We walk from the Venetian south as far as bally%26#39;s, stopping to admire the fountain show at Bellago. Our feet hurt so we decide to hop a cab back to the sig. It%26#39;s 11pm by now and we have another early morning...

Saturday

Up at 6:30am for an hour bus trip to the Valley of fire where we spend a few hours just outside the park riding ATV%26#39;s with a company called awesome adventures. It%26#39;s about 80 degrees and we had a great time cruising around the desert. Our trip is cut short because we ended up waiting more than 15 minutes for three young ladies at the bellagio. We%26#39;re all upset at the rudeness of these girls. I would have left them If i was the driver.

We had two loudmouths from Cleveland on our trip who complained the whole way home about having the trip cut short and about the fact that the ATV ride wasn%26#39;t extreme enough for them. We personally enjoyed the ATV%26#39;s immensely.

Had brunch at the Bellagio when we got back. It was fantastic. The food was superb and I recommend a visit to anyone.

We go back to the hotel and decide to head to the MGM pool. We rent a couple of inner tubes and float down the lazy river while sipping margaritas. Life is hard!

That night we go to Freemont St. with some Friends. Dinner at Don B%26#39;s Steakhouse was very good. The light show is pretty awesome but I was underwhelmed by the rest of freemont St. Lot%26#39;s of skectchy people with really nasty casinos; I mean stinkier than most of the rest we%26#39;ve been in with an underlying sour smell from lack of cleaning. The whole place just seems kind of run down. The mermaid is a total dive but I won $90 playing blackjack in about 15 minutes.

Sunday

My conference starts at 9am at the Rivera. Avoid the Riv like the plague! It needs to be blown up. The staff acts like they hate their job and the food is awful. A friend had roaches in his room and got moved to another. A lady I met had a piece of the bathroom ceiling collpase from the wieght of the mold and mildew growing on it.

I enroll in a $50 NL holdem tourney this afternoon. I make it to the final table as the short stack and lose on the next hand with AQs. Oh well. First time playing in a live tourney so I beat out 30 other people and finish in 9th place. No money but it was a learning expereince.

Sunday night our region goes to the Treasure Island buffet for dinner. It was good. Cost was $33 per person. The food was good but not fantastic.

We walk outside after dinner for the ';Pirate'; show. Fairly lame but the women were smokin%26#39; hot and had all the right moves. Pyrotechnics and fireworks were pretty cool.

We walk over to the Bellagio after to see the fountain show again and head to the casino. This casino is very very nice and smells good. I am quickly up $200 on blackjack. It%26#39;s almost time for the 10:30 cirque de soleil ';O'; show. My wifes heads in to the auditorium and I should have gotten up and went with her %26#39;cause I end up going from up $200 to down $80 in no time flat.

O was spectacular. O was spectacular. I%26#39;m still in awe of it? At $170 per ticket, I not sure it was worth it but it certainly was a darn fine show and I would tell everyone to go see it if it didn%26#39;t cost so much.

Monday

My wife spends the day in the MGM spa getting pampered. She loved it even though it was, like most Vegas spas we%26#39;ve read about, real expensive. I skip the awards banquet that night and wife and I go to dinner at Mandalay Bay and eat Cajun food at the House of Blues (her choice). Food was just ok. the Casino at Mandaly Bay though is very nice. Doesn%26#39;t stink of cigarette smoke at all. Great ventilation system.

I win $190 playing $2-$4 limit holdem. Kathy loses $60 in slots. We like Mandalay Bay. We head back to Venetian for our Gondola ride and lucky us we have an actual Italian crooning us down the canal. $60 price plus tip was a little steep for a private ride but we enjoyed it. And I got to see the Venetian again.

Tuesday

Last day in Vegas. Spent all day at conference. The conference held their closing event at the Sahara%26#39;s NASCAR cafe followed by the Elvis show. The food at the NASCAR cafe is awful. Wings taste like salt. The restaurant is open to the casino which is certainly one of the stinkiest on the strip. Avoid the NASCAR cafe.

The Elvis show was great but I%26#39;m an Elvis fan. I do recommend it. Lot%26#39;s of fun. He did a great job impersonating the King.

Went up to the top of the Eiffel tower. Very nice. Great view of the fountain show from there. Rode the Manhattan Express roller coaster at NY NY. Great coaster. If you like coasters, this one is not to be missed. brace yourself though %26#39;cause it ends to jerk you from side to side at times. Head to bed far too late and get only four hours sleep before heading to the airport for home.

Summary and tips

Arriving in Vegas on a Thursday afternoon is great because the airport wasn%26#39;t that crowded. Departing on a Wednesday is the best day because the airport is the slowest of the week so we moved through security quickly.

The Signature at MGM is everything the reviews said it was. Service is impecable top to bottom. The rooms are incredibly comfortable. Didn%26#39;t mind the walk from the sig to MGM, esp with the moving sidewalks. One of the few hotels if not the only in Vegas with a kitchen, a balcony, AND jucuzzi tub. No smoking allowed in the sig is great and so is the fact that there%26#39;s no casino but you%26#39;re only a few minutes from the MGM. You have access to all of the MGM but they don%26#39;t have access to the sig. The sig has it%26#39;s own pools and a couple small cafes too.

Casinos.

I liked the bellagio. I was surprised to see $10 blackjack tables at night there but they have %26#39;em.

If the rank smell of stale tobacco smoke is an issue for you, the I strongly reommend the Bellagio or Mandalay bay casinos. They each smelled fine. The Venetian was also not too bad. Stay away from Slot%26#39;s O fun. It is a total dive and filthy too. It reeks of smoke, sweat, sour alcohol, and desparation.

Transportation.

We pretty much tried everything. the double decker bus was cheap but slow esp if the strip is busy. The monorial is good. Depending on where you%26#39;re going though it could still be quite a walk from the station to your destination.

Taxis are what worked best for us. Quick and easy but not cheap. I%26#39;d say budget a bit more for transportation so you won%26#39;t have to waste valuable vacation time waiting for a bus and then cramming inside with a hundred of your closest friends or walking a fair distance to the monorial station and then a fair distance to your destination. Like I said depending on where you%26#39;re going the monorial can be the best option.

One final note. In my humble opinion, Las Vegas is the last city on the planet I would take my children. If you%26#39;ve never been and are thinking about going, do yourself a favor and leave the kids at home or go to disney. It%26#39;s unfair and selfish for you to drag your children to an adult playground just because YOU want to go. Unavoidable prostitution and cards with naked women on them are everywhere. Drunks everywhere. Rank smelling casinos that you almost always have to walk though with your kids to get anywhere. Rolling billboards with scantily clad whores going up and down the strip. Casinos filled with serious looking, unhappy people. Not a lot of smiling faces. Family friendly, NOT! That%26#39;s my opinion. I didn%26#39;t see a whole lot of kids but enough to make me wonder why parents would bring them to such a place.

We ended the trip up a couple hundred bucks in gambling. We spent a little less than we thought for food (surprise) but a little more for transporation.

We can%26#39;t wait to go back.

Trip Report - we came home with money!

Awesome trip report...we are leaving in 2 days and now I have to add the Venetian to my must see list. I think you have also swayed me to using a taxi a couple of times :)

Thanks!

Christine

Trip Report - we came home with money!

You%26#39;re welcome Christine. Have a great trip.

Sure is a whole different world, huh? Aren%26#39;t the fountains amazing? I can%26#39;t wait to go. We are planning on August. I hate going home though....that%26#39;s the worst part. Especially considering us East Coasters have to endure a 5 hour flight to come home to our boring bathrooms and yard work!!!

What a well balanced trip report - lots of info and I tend to agree with most of your opinions. Glad you won.

That was a great trip and a great report, it sounds like you are very organized, packed a lot into those days!

Great Trip Report with lots of information and suggestions.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Yeah. We had a blast. It ain%26#39;t no Emerald Coast ( I grew up in Niceville) but we did have a great time.

Incredibly helpful report. Thank you thank you thank you!

Very good TR glad you had a great time in Vegas.

We like the Sahara and the NASCAR Cafe. I guess that%26#39;s why they make more then one thing in the world, people like different things. We didn%26#39;t care for House of Blues food either. I didn%26#39;t expect the pools to be open this early in the year.