Las Vegas

[spman 0]

I've got some vacation time to burn off this summer, and I'm thinking of taking a trip to Vegas. The advice I've gotten so far is mostly stay in a hotel downtown and take the bus to the strip, as it's much cheaper. Travelocity is offering me a package for round trip plane tickets and 4 nights in a hotel downtown for 560, which seems like a good deal to me. Anyone have any advice on how to save money or stuff to do while I'm down there?

[Guest]

Save money? Shit, I'll be surprised if you don't go broke.

 

Stay away from the middle of every casino floor. Don't go to Mandalay Bay. Find coupons.

 

That should do it. Also, staying downtown is probably going to be a problem. Going up there from the Strip wasn't for me. If you don't have money to spend, Vegas is not the place for you. Deep pockets are a necessity.

[spman 0]

Save money? Shit, I'll be surprised if you don't go broke.

 

Stay away from the middle of every casino floor. Don't go to Mandalay Bay. Find coupons.

 

That should do it. Also, staying downtown is probably going to be a problem. Going up there from the Strip wasn't for me. If you don't have money to spend, Vegas is not the place for you. Deep pockets are a necessity.

 

Spending cash isn't too much of a problem, I just don't want to spend too much on the trip itself, since I know there are deals to be had.

[Guest Vitamin X]

King said it, but take it from another native Angelino when saying deep pockets are a necessity. Staying in downtown I found to be even more unsafe and unpleasant than the Strip, and too much time was wasted in getting to the fun part of town to let the savings affect me.

 

For me, Vegas only exists in the small area that includes the airport, and everything from Luxor down to Treasure Island. I haven't been much to Fremont Street, but I've found it mostly worthless. You'll find a trip's worth of entertainment in that stretch alone, 24 hours a day, trust me.

 

The only hotel/casino off the strip worth visiting is the Rio, although Palms has gotten good recently as well (I'm guessing due to the publicity on that one MTV show). The Rio buffet is great, as is Luxor's and Exaclibur has a fantastic breakfast/brunch buffet as well. I personally love staying at Excalibur- it's very cheap, and you're a short walk from Luxor, New York New York, MGM, and the Tropicana. Here's some tidbits I gathered:

 

-Start pre-gaming your alcohol skills now if you plan to drink in Vegas. Cheap drinks are easy to come by, and especially if you play near or at the bars, a lot of times the bartender will say they'll comp you some drinks if you feed a bit of money into the machine. It's devious, and fairly well known this is done, but I haven't seen it done so well as in Vegas. If you love a good drink, Vegas is maybe the best place around for that. I know I've stumbled around many a time on the Strip having fun, just walking around. I took a piss in every single casino down from Luxor to Treasure Island and back one night, not on purpose but just because I didn't really stop drinking. Great stuff.

 

-Gaming: FUCK the slots. The odds are strongly against you ever, EVER making any money from them- they're geared towards the fools who are just there to lose all their cash and give to the casino gods. Don't be one of them. If you're scared of the tables, go for video poker or blackjack. I once lost $80 playing slots, and gained about $120 playing strictly video blackjack later (I was way too drunk to deal with a dealer). I don't know too much about playing the tables with other games, but in my experience, Tropicana has to be one of the more underrated casinos there. To me, it felt a lot like old school Vegas, but nice enough that you weren't dealing with overly seedy or shady people there. And it's cheap! The best blackjack tables are either there or at Monte Carlo, which is another overlooked casino. It gives off a "very expensive" aura, but don't be fooled- it's got some pretty good tables, and it doesn't take as much to play as you'd think. Excalibur and Luxor are a ton of fun in other aspects- but I lost a lot of money playing there, especially at Luxor. New York New York is a great casino, too. I'm sure everyone has their favorites, though, so my suggestion to you is to just really explore as much as you can, then settle down and spend time in the casinos that you feel at home at. Caesar's is another one of my favorites, and Treasure Island used to be a lot more fun, don't know how it is now.

 

-Entertainment: Lots of shows and shit to do here, 24/7. If you're into it, I definitely recommend any of the Cirque du Soleil shows- I did hear, however, that the one "sexual" show at NYNY sucks. Mystique is one of my favorite shows, and I've heard a lot of good stuff about Ka and O as well. The Blue Man Group is fun shit too, if you check it out over at Luxor. The best shopping on the strip is at Caesar's, although the Aladdin, after renovating their casino, made a pretty good shopping district there as well. Luxor's is a bit overpriced and small, and Excalibur's is too kid-friendly. Oh, and since you're probably from out of town, go to the Fatburger on the strip, or In-N-Out. Two of the best burger joints from the L.A. area have a place there, and I know the Fatburger is open 24/7.

 

Finally, I've found that because there's so many things to do, you should just exhaust yourself silly in as little time as possible and come right home, planning for another trip later on. But don't plan a long trip- a week long vacation there can wreck you, and expose you to the really shitty part of living there. I could NEVER live there, and after visiting, you'll understand why. It's way too fake for me, and outside of those 5-6 blocks, there's not much else to do. The strip clubs are fantastic also, by the way, but that's just another way to lose even more money, you know? Talented dancers, though. I saw a girl climb a 15 foot pole there practically using only her snatch. Those are the kinds of things you'll only find in Vegas.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Don't gamble. Don't drink too much. Don't go to strip clubs. This is the best advice I can give you if you don't want to go broke as well as not getting yourself in trouble somehow (alcohol, you know?)

 

If you want to get laid, go to a nightclub. There's a lot of them. You might find a decent gal that might have a nice one night stand with.

 

I'd tell you more, but I'm too tired at the moment.

[CanadianChris 0]

Don't play blackjack at any table that only pays 6-5 for a blackjack. That's become way too prevalent in Vegas.

[C Dubya 04 0]

If you stay downtown, you'll spend the money you're saving by paying for cabs. You don't want to take the bus and a cab from downtown to the strip is over 20 bucks each way.

 

You can get as good of a deal at one of the not as nice strip hotels, so pony up and do that.

[CanadianChris 0]

If you stay downtown, you'll spend the money you're saving by paying for cabs. You don't want to take the bus and a cab from downtown to the strip is over 20 bucks each way.

 

You can get as good of a deal at one of the not as nice strip hotels, so pony up and do that.

QFT

 

Imperial Palace, Excalibur and the Tropicana all have pretty decent rooms for reasonable rates. Anything north of Spring Mountain Rd. does as well, but that area's not as nice and farther from all the good spots on the Strip.

[Gary Floyd 0]

My roomates been to Vegas. He says he never wants to go back.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I'm heading down again this weekend for a bachelor party. Any suggestions on good strip clubs? I was unimpressed with the Spearmint Rhino last time.

 

Staying at the Tropicana because I heard they have a good pool scene and decent tables.

[CanadianChris 0]

I'm heading down again this weekend for a bachelor party. Any suggestions on good strip clubs? I was unimpressed with the Spearmint Rhino last time.

Try Olympic Garden.

[spman 0]

Thanks for the advice guys. I brought it up to my father tonight, and now he wants to come along, which may be a bit of a bummer for the trip, but it'll probably save me money in the long run.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Yeah Olympic Garden, and the aforementioned stripper riding up a 15 foot pole with her snatch was at Crazy Horse Too, a little bit off the strip. Spearmint Rhino is a chain strip club, and what some people in that industry call a "lap factory"- They just get girls to hustle customers for $20 dances, and move on. There's a bunch of them in L.A., and they all suck, even if they do have extremely gorgeous women.

 

I personally dig the ones where you can have a drink and hang out with your buds and/or just watch a naked chick do some acrobatics on a pole.

 

I think next time I might stay at Tropicana as well. I had some good times there.

 

Also, I like that douchebag went and gave the exact opposite advice I gave. Now, is he really someone you want to listen to? You're in Vegas to fucking party. Drink, gamble, and fuck to your heart's content.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I can't for the life of me think of any reason to go to Vegas if you aren't going to gamble, drink and go to strip clubs. That's everything that makes it special.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Yeah seriously, what kind of dipshit would tell you not to gamble. You don't always LOSE when you gamble.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Douchebag lives (or least lived) in Vegas. He kinda has the inside scoop on Vegas.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Every machine you touch will shock you (so get used to that) and people hand out inappropriate reading material on the streets. It's hot in the summer.

 

Any Star Wars penny machine is awesome. The original is fun because of all the classic music and changing pictures based on your bet, but Dark Side has a bonus round that actually pays even on a x1 bet.

[Fökai 0]

If you're scared of the tables, go for video poker or blackjack. I once lost $80 playing slots, and gained about $120 playing strictly video blackjack later (I was way too drunk to deal with a dealer).

 

Where are the blackjack machines (or better yet, where's the highest concentration you've seen in a casino)? I would've made my living doing those instead of the tables or the slots.

 

If you want to save a load of money, get buzzed off of cheap drinks and comps at the casino, THEN head to the club. Vegas is the only place where $7.00 for a Heinken is standard fare.

[CanadianChris 0]

Usually, you can find video BJ on the multi-game machines that also have video poker and video keno.

[Guest]

Every machine you touch will shock you (so get used to that) and people hand out inappropriate reading material on the streets. It's hot in the summer.

Haha. You just put the sound of those Hispanics (I don't think that they're all Mexican, so I won't generalize) smacking those damn cards into my head. After I went to the fight on the night that I went, I folded up my tickets and walked up to them and started smacking them like they were. They didn't like that at all.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Douchebag lives (or least lived) in Vegas. He kinda has the inside scoop on Vegas.

 

I highly doubt he actually did live there, and even if he did, all the more reason. "Inside scoop"? Please. I'm a Vegas veteran. All you need to do is be from the Los Angeles area and not mind the 4-5 hour road trip to get there. That's what Vegas is mostly compromised of anyways- bored Californians going to have some fun over the weekend.

 

My ex lived in Vegas, and a couple of my other friends have lived in that area as well. They all hated it, and got bored of the Strip quickly because of the oversaturation. The novelty wears off I guess, and then life outside of it becomes increasingly boring, so you could see how the fun stuff would be minimized when they do go to the Strip.

 

That said, from everything I know, and I do know a lot about this, the best way to enjoy Vegas is 3-4 days at a time, and just go balls out till it's all over.