Oooh you tease!!

More please

Oh Kevin, don't stop there! I can't get enough of Vegas trip reports and much prefer ones from Brits.

Hope you manage to do a review of the Imperial Palace as the last few have been from me. It gets a bad rap on the US sites, but it suits us just fine for price and location even though there are far better hotels in Vegas.

More please!

luci

kevin, do do do give us some more, read your Goa report and loved your writing style, you made me chuckle quite often. When You finish this report, where are you off to next? will look out for the next bit

hugs la

Hi, kevin we go to las vegas on sunday first time so, need all the help we can get, so more please!

goa6

While you are waiting for Kevin's next instalment you can read my recent trip report HERE

I'm sure I had another trip report from last year or the year before but I'm blowed if I can find it. Can you help Pippy? It could have been November 2006 or April/May 2007.

luci

That was just getting interesting.....I am looking forward to the helicopter bit, so hurry up

Hi Kevin ,enjoyed your Goa report[one of our favorite places]looking forward to more on L/VEGAS
Will be there on aug/16th for 8 nights our 5th visit,quite a change from Goa but love them both
ann

I'm still a bit jet-lagged at the moment but will add more soon,honest!

I did have a little chuckle when I saw you went to Denny's on your first evening in Vegas but sometimes after a gruelling flight (and that does sound very gruelling) a nice simple eating experience is just what is needed.

We tend to opt for the hotel's 24 hour restaurant on our first evening. Last year it was in the MGM Grand, the Studio Cafe which was pretty good but a tad expensive compared to similar hotels. Also good value and tasty are America (in NYNY), Sherwood Forest (Excalibur) and the Pyramid Cafe (Luxor).

Hello Luci, We enjoyed the Imperial Palace. The rooms were of average size and clean, and the hotel wasn't too large. I would certainly consider it again, and compared with others in the price range it was by far the best for location.

Goa6, If I don't finish my report by Sunday you MUST MUST MUST go and see 'Ka' at the MGM Grand - Get Category 2 tickets from 'Tix4tonite' (Cat 1 seats are probably too near the stage in my opinion - it's big!)
This was undoubtedly the most spectalular show I have ever seen in my life...

Just checked TravelZoo as they had Ka tickets at half price, but they're not on today. It's worth checking daily though as the offers constantly change.

HERE are today's show offers.

luci

Trip Report, Part 2

Woke early on Sunday morning (our bodies still on British time) and went down to breakfast in the Teahouse. Ordered a BLT, and very nice it was too. Discovered that ‘Bingo' was actually ‘Keno' but couldn't make much sense out of the instructions at first.
Had a quick explore of the hotel then wandered up past Treasure Island to ‘Tix4tonite' and were invited to Tony and Tina's wedding at the Rio (basic seating with about one third off). Returned to the IP via TI and the Tram to the Mirage, and rang Desert Fox, Papillion Helicopters, and Key Buses to confirm hotel pick-up times for our ‘tours' as per email instructions. We then made our way down to the Ballagio for Champagne Sunday Brunch at 35 Dollars. Quite a long queue due to being a holiday weekend and Jill took a Dollar to try her luck at the slots - Just about her first ever gambling attempt. Twenty minutes later she returned excitedly waving a slip of paper with over 23 Dollars on it! The reply to my obvious question was "I don't know, I just kept pressing buttons". Of course she has being pressing my buttons for years so I should have known she'd be good at it!
The Buffet was very good, and they certainly weren't stingy with the Champagne - we left at about four o'clock and I really felt light-headed! Rolled back to the IP via Caesars Palace and sorted out our change of room (they had given us a smoking room for the Saturday night) then popped out for a bit more local ‘splorin'.

Returned to the IP at about five thirty and at this point discovered that our ‘tickets' were actually vouchers which we had to redeem at the Rio before six o'clock!
HUGE Panic, compounded by finding out that the Rio is not on the strip - Suggested to Jill that she should start to get ready and I'd go and get the tickets. Dashed out of the front of the hotel to find a long queue at the taxi stand so decided to run to the Rio (This from an unfit fifty four year old!). OK, so I jogged and walked, jogged and walked, and arrived at the Rio at about 6 o'clock a complete wreck. Unable to speak I thrust the vouchers in front of the girl - she must have thought I was so rude!
Eventually gasped out the story and, on getting the tickets took the girls advice about getting the Rio's shuttle back to the strip, jumping on the first one which happened to go to Caesars Palace. Took to my toes again and arrived back at the room with twenty five minutes to go. Went to completely douse myself in deodorant but Jill sensibly ordered me into the shower saying I stunk (she has a way with words), and we left the room at about ten to seven. Wonder of wonders - no queue at the taxi stand! The traffic was kind and we were eventually led to ours seats about ten minutes late just as Tony and Tina were exchanging vows. I won't spoil the show by talking about it too much except to say that we thought it was great fun, and the buffet was excellent - although I could have done without the sight of the priest with cake all around his mouth!

I had read up about the Carnival at the Rio but forgotten all about it so we were quite pleased to find that the show emptied out into the casino where the festivities were in full swing. Two ‘boats' circle above the casino with scantily clad young ladies throwing necklaces to the people below - lovely!
We returned to the IP via shuttle (back to Caesars Palace again) and Jill put two dollars into a 1 cent slot machine and we got a cup of wine each which I tipped the girl another two dollars for. I confess that this became our practice for the week - Need a drink? Twenty minutes ‘slot entertainment' and two glasses (or cups) of wine for about two quid represents good value to me!
Returned to the room at about eleven thirty and set the alarm for seven as we had an eight o'clock pick-up for the Grand Canyon.

Monday morning, off went the alarm, and Jill jumped out of bed and into the bathroom leaving me to reach across and cancel the buzzer. After easing my weary bones out of the bed and preparing some clothes I glanced back at the alarm clock - two minutes past eight!
I screamed at Jill to cancel the shower and started to leap into my clothes yelling at her to get ready too. She suggested I go down to reception, see if they could hold the bus, and she would follow as soon as possible so off I went like a shot, running down seven flights of stairs and once again almost prostrating myself in front of another poor young lady as I begged her to tell me where the bus stopped as we were late for our eight o'clock pick up. "But sir it's only ten past seven" says she, just as Jill appears.
Now some of you are probably wondering why Jill is still with me after thirty five years, but I believe I have a reasonable excuse for this one. Upon examining the alarm clock I discovered that the ‘hour advance', and ‘minute advance' buttons are on either side of the alarm cancel button and you don't have to hold another button down to change them - how daft is that!
Needless to say we made the bus, and our day out to the Grand Canyon will follow next time I get a minute.

Oh dear, I can just imagine you racing all over the place and in the heat too!

Walk to the Rio?!?!?! No chance and you have to cross the freeway too. Just for future reference, if you go back, there is a shuttle that takes you to the back of Harrah's and you can pick it up from there too. However you wouldn't have had time to faff about waiting for that as there is usually quite a queue.

Loving your report and looking forward to Part 3.

luci

kevin1841 wrote:

The reply to my obvious question was "I don't know, I just kept pressing buttons"

Love it!

This is like a carry on film maybe in the 3rd chapter i will get to the helicopter ride, lol, cant wait to go

Trip Report, Part 3

So off to the Grand Canyon"¦ We had read quite a few reviews on the various trips on offer and a number of them commented on the fact that there was quite a lot of waiting around, but we didn't find this so. There was a further pick-up and then a switch of coaches at the Mandalay Bay, but ten minutes later we were off for a pleasant drive to the airport at Boulder City taking about an hour. Having been dropped off at ‘Scenic Airlines' departure lounge there was time for a loo break and quick look around the shop before we were called forward to Gate 1. I had to laugh at this but a quick look around revealed that, sure enough, there was a gate 2!
If you're terrified of flying or get airsick then don't do this part of the trip! As we took off, both the pilot and co-pilot had to push and hold the throttle forward - I thought that only happened in films. One lady spent most of the time up at Grand Canyon airport trying to hire a car (she eventually came back in the plane but was very ill again. There was another young lady on the plane who was absolutely petrified. I was going to offer to take her mind off it but thought that Jill might object"¦
After about 10 minutes we flew over Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam - nice views of both. Then my geography let me down again as I thought that the Grand Canyon would be about ten minutes further on - it was actually about an hour! Breathtaking scenery though, with good views of the Colorado River and a continually changing aspect. Everybody had a window seat as the plane wasn't quite full so I counted up the passengers, bad move! Thirteen"¦

Landed safely at Grand Canyon airport and found to our surprise that it was freezing! There was us in Shorts, T-shirts and open toed sandals, and everybody else had jackets and long trousers"¦ We were directed to a coach for the five minute transfer to the Heliport. Things got a little complicated here as only four of us were going on a helicopter, the rest being whisked off to view an IMAX representation of the same views that we would be seeing, with the promise from Bob the driver that he would return in half an hour for us. We were weighed in only to discover that there were more passengers waiting to fly than there were helicopters! The other two were ushered forward and we were left to one side with the promise of an ‘upgrade'. After about fifteen minutes we were chauffeured to another Heliport nearby and suddenly we were ‘Kevin and Jill' instead of Mr and Mrs Sutton so I guess we'd gone ‘up market' somehow.

I mentioned about not taking the aircraft if you get airsick etc, but if you've not been up in a helicopter this is a completely different motion and is really quite smooth and sedate. After about five minutes flying over level ground we were over the Canyon to the Theme from Star Wars - we each targeted a Womp Rat and in we went (sorry, just added that last bit for Shaun who's a Frequent Flyer over Beggar's Canyon back home).
Spent about 20 minutes over the Canyon and was worth the 330 Dollars alone - Fantastic!
Returned to the Heliport to discover that Bob the Driver had been backwards and forwards between the two heliports about four times trying to find us and we were now half an hour late for lunch which we had to eat rather hurriedly. This was a bit of a shame really as the buffet style meal was very good.
One o'clock saw us back on the coach for the drive to the Grand Canyon National Park and we spent about one hour at Mather Point (ample) and a further half an hour at Bright Angel Lodge (not long enough - there was a bar!). I finally bowed to the inevitable and bought a jacket.

The return journey was a little quicker as we by-passed the Hoover Dam - this had an added advantage as the scenery was completely different. There was a short wait at the airport for our transport back to Vegas but we reached the IP with enough time to get ready (at our own pace for a change!) and get a taxi down to Mandalay Bay to see ‘Mamma Mia' - for our second time. If you've seen this before you will know what it's like when you come out - "When you're all alone, and the pretty birds have flown" etc. Nobody minds as they're all doing it too - of course ten minutes later when you ARE all alone, and giggling away singing "Yes, I've been broken hearted. Blue since the day we farted" everybody looks at you like you're a loon!
We got the Tram to the Excalibur, walked across to 'New York, New York' and had a take away Pizza which we ate ‘outside' in the ‘street'. This was the only time we felt apprehensive as there appeared to be a lot of inebriated young people wandering around this hotel, sadly a fair proportion appeared to be British - there was no trouble though. Popped into the ‘Nine Fine Irishmen" (Jill loves Irish Dancing), and then returned to the IP. We debated whether to walk back or take the monorail and opted for the latter, however after making our way to the back of the huge MGM Grand to find the station I'm not sure it made any difference in time. Used our ‘2-dollar slot' trick to get a nightcap, and went to bed.
Here endeth day three - I hope you are all still awake!

Kevin, i think your reports are very funny, i am not sure that they are meant to be, but thats what makes it a pleasure to read Reguarding the plane flight, i agree with you on the motion sickness. last time we were in LA we bought tickets to fly over to Vegas with Virgin holidays, but got a refund as everyone then decided to tell us about the air sickness. When we fly normally i can feel giddy and abit motionless etc. But as you say the helicopter is completely different. We tried it out in NYC and loved every minute. So thank you for telling us all about it.

Just for reference, can you do the helicopter trip without the plane included?

Thank you

Michelle x

Hello Michelle,
Yes you can, although I guess it might be a little more expensive. Thanks for the compliment, if I can make people smile then that's great!

Great report.

We did the plane over the Grand Canyon many moons ago and it's not an experience I want to repeat. It was in a Cessna and was so bumpy I hated every minute of it.

I have been in a helicopter, not to the GC, and that was a far better experience.

luci