Flew virgin from gatwick, about hour late leaving but arrived on time then held on tarmac whilst arrivals hall emptied.
Flying home was late, airport was hot, slept much of the way back.
Took shuttle to and from hotels, no problem.
Hotels
First part of the week stayed at the mgm in a normal room, was pretty big, guess it had been recently renovated only signs of wear were door handles and towel pictures on the walls.
Check in and out had queues but not too long a wait. Was able to check in early no problem.
Rooms wasn't too far from the lifts, though there was often a wait for one to come, it was very busy
for the weekend as it was 4th July holiday.
Pools were great though bit of a scrum to get loungers when the sections opened, one pool opened at 7 and the others not til 10. Still towels provided and lots of shady areas.
Second part of the week moved to the Wynn.
Had been enjoying the mgm and was a bit concerned about moving as had heard of the
massive costs at the wynn, the cabbie on the way over said all the taxi drivers had been
given a night, dinner and show for 2 at the wynn and he thought it was perfect, not just due to the free night.
Check in was fairly painless, bit of a trek through the casino to get to the lifts,
Was booked into resort room, the cheapest sort. Had ummed and ahhed about booking a panoramic view
room but was glad I hadn't as the view was superb over to the mall and TI and could see down to ceasers
and a bit of bellagio. Also could see some of the wynn waterfalls and over to the mountains and
over to where the frontier was and the new trump towers.
The pallazzo is annoyingly large next door and spoils the view a little (also noticeable from other parts of the hotel grounds).
When entering the room classical music was playing on the giant flat screen tv, which
could be swung out from the wall to watch tv in bed or from the sofa.
There are controls for the curtains by the bed, and a cd layer/clock.
Bathroom was HUGE(I've stayed in hotel rooms smaller) 2 sinks with vanity and stool in-between, very deep bath - could have done with stepladder to get in and out separate shower with a bench from the end of the bath, bathroom scales
and the loo was through another door.There was a night light which was basically lights under the sinks.
The location was great, with all the construction the strip really feels split into two
and despite the heat it was easy to get around, there's a bridge to the mall from where its easy to get to TI and on to the mirage, ceasers etc. Also a bridge to the palazzo so can get easily to the venitian shops and onwards that side of the road.
There is a shuttle to the monorail but I didnt use it.
Pools, it was great to be able to relax around the pools, towels and bottled water were provided, loungers all had cushions on, the main pool was lovely and cool, fair amount of shady areas, could sit on the steps of the pool and read out of the heat which was lovely.
The 'european' pool wasn't as good, most of the loungers around the pool edge, and the tables in the pool are reserved for cabana users. Still there was always loads of space available. Didnt eat at the cabana grill but the staff came round regularly to take drinks orders.
The cabanas looked fantastic, with mist coming out of them and flat screen tvs and fridges inside.
Food
MGM
Studio cafe- havnt been to states for about 3 years and had forgotten just how massive portions can be.
Had the pulled pork burger thing, was great but left a full plate, also went for dessert and coffee one afternoon.
Seablue - returned to my fave vegas restaurant for 3rd time was fantastic as always,
the free bread was fresh baked naan with hummus, lemon butter and feta cheese and was sooo yummy I'd have eaten that and not ordered and been happy.
Had salad and oysters and salmon - could have done without the salmon.
Most the MGM dinner restaurants have price fix summer menus on. The couple next to me had gone with this option and had steaks the size of the plate (bit odd to have steak in a fish place when there are so many steak places, but they certainly got their monies worth).
Buffet - for breakfast as was cheaper than eating in the studio, wasn't very good apart from the fresh waffles, was better off getting an egg mcmuffin in studio walk for couple of bucks.
Wynn
Terrace cafe for breakfast lovely food very very slow service. Nice to sit outside before it got super hot and overlook the waterfall.
Buffet for lunch - great ceviche but nothing else to make it stand out, terribly slow service for drinks, also was a real muddle to get seated, no lines to pay but queues to be seated, but there's not much space between the pay stations and the hostess so people were backing back into the pay
queues which lead to the cashiers shouting at people to move forward and the hostess telling people to move back, most unpleasant.
Daniel Boulud - WOW - was really really great, terrific food, amazing service and prime seats for the lights and music show over the lake which was bizarre in a way only vegas can be, one time it was giant flowers dancing above the waterfall, another was a disco singer rising from the water and a giant glitterball appearing.
You get a free bi of tuna on horseradish crème on a bit of toast, I ordered oysters (again) and had steak frites for main course, would have loved to try the cheese but was stuffed. Family at the next table had desserts and the sorbet selection looked really good. Table the other side
was a big party and had a lot of starters including the charcuterie which looked amazing too.
Elsewhere
The usuals, california pizza kitchen at mirage, ok pizza very very very slow, cheesecake factory at ceasers terrific and was there for the atlantis show - good timing, dennys
, Salsa cantina (soft tortilla tacos w/ fish were delicious) and the red white and blue cafe at mandalay bay where I had the best oysters of the trip, great service, real find, shame its so out of the way.Shows
Mamma Mia at Mandalay bay, ticket from tixfortonight $48, great seat view wise but the seats tip back like in some cinemas and it was a weird and not altogether comfortable angle.
Show was dreadful, the book and score are fine but the acting was just dreadful.
Phantom at Venitian - ticket lots from box office (had tried at tix but after saying no to dinner reservations for the 8th time I gave up) great seat in row f on side section(middle is even more $$$$) its a shortened version of the show at 90mins no interval but was terrific, particularly good chorus, the theatre is amazing, the visuals with the chandelier and the phantom appearing and disappearing all over were
fantastic. Felt it was much more worth the money and very glad I went.
Gambling
Didnt do that much, did okay on slots at mgm, was sad to see no family feud or I dream of Jeannie machines sob, but won a bit on deal or no deal. At the wynn won 2, yes 2 progressives on wheel of fortune, unfortunately only the red and purple level so 18 and 32 bucks
, had not a lot of luck at TI or Mirage other than at blackjack.The Wynn has $1000 dollar min tables on the main floor - goodness only knows what the minimums are in the side rooms, there are some $15 tables too though.
Shopping
Had prebooked shuttle to las vegas outlets, hadn't been before, wasn't too impressed, prefer the ones downtown, except they had my fave handbag shop and there were extra holiday discounts and boy did I melt the credit card. Only my worry about space in my bag prevented me from buying the whole store.
Lots of sales on in the mall too and stocked up on work blouses and skirts. Also wondered through canala and pallazzo shops, nothing out the ordinary for vegas, hit up sephora to stock up on cargo.
Shops at the wynn are a bit OTT ferrari dealship
showed great self control as there is a manolo shop which was having a 50% off sale and I didnt even go inside. Weather
HOTHOTHOT 45+ every day real killer heat, I'll never go in summer again (til next time), glad I hadn't planned any sightseeing tours as I wouldnt have managed. I always seem to get the extremes in vegas - the first time I went it snowed, this time even the locals were vocal about the heat.
Cant wait to go back, cant imagine going to the wynn again but would want to stay anywhere else
Thanks for the help in the pools thread. looking forward to hearing about the august/september trips.
