Need help preparing for a budget vacation in vegas

May 11, 2009 9:31 AM

Need help preparing for a budget vacation in Vegas.

We are a couple in out late 20's going to vegas in end of may (Sat to Tue). Planning on staying on the strip and no car. Looking for recommendations on hotels, food, shows, bars, clubs, etc ... (not interested in gambling)
1. Guide book - Thinking of buying The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas 2009. Anything better?
2. Hotel - Currently I'm thinking of Luxor ($50 per night) and they have spa suites and I'm willing to spend the extra money to get it, but found some review on the internet saying that the Jacuzzi is small and it's kind of a rip-off. Any experience with that? Mandala bay seems to be good but $200 for a regular rooms seems little bit too much. suggestions on other hotels welcome.
3. Food - We would like to have one fancy (not super fancy) sit down dinner for a special occasion under $80 for two. is it possible?
4. Food - Other fun places, buffets to eat? Sometime back I saw a program on Travel Channel on $2 shrimp cocktails, $3 huge burgers, etc ... can we find any on the strip? or all these places out of the strip? if so can we get there easily without a taxi?
5. Shows - Any good shows that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? If dinner is included it's a plus. We've been to the Tournament of Knights in Excalibur and liked it. Thinking of going to 'Fantasy' at Luxor.
6. Bars & Clubs - Places where regular people hangout. Doesn't need to go to the hottest club on town with celebrities, just a regular place to have a drink/dance is ok. Doesn't like to stand in a line for an hour and take crap from a bouncer just because of my skin color(I'm a foreigner).
7. Bars & Clubs - What are some bars that are on top floors overlooking the strip? (If I'm correct no matter how great, bars doesn't have lines unlike clubs?)
Any other suggestions welcome.
P.S. - I have gone through most of the past AskMeFi threads.

posted by WizKid to travel & transportation (20 comments total)

Getting around: Monorailand The Deuce. The Deuce are double decker buses that travel the strip to downtown but often slowly and are quite crowded. But cheap: $3 a ride, $7 a day or $15 for 3 days.
posted by ALongDecember at 10:03 AM on May 11

Regarding #1

I like this site. Amusing and, in my experience, accurate reviews. Click on the hotels for more.
posted by cosmac at 10:07 AM on May 11

The Imperial Palace is generally decently priced and fairly centrally located on the strip. It's no-frills, basic accommodations, but the times I've been there the rooms have always been clean. Keep in mind that if you're spending much time in your room, you're vacationing in the wrong city. :) If you do want the in-room jacuzzi, I've no idea who to recommend.

The M Resort has a good buffet, but it's off-strip, so you'll end up paying for a taxi (or you could see if they have an airport or strip shuttle and ride that).

I enjoyed Trader Vic's at Planet Hollywood for a good meal. If you get drinks it'll be a bit over your price range. The Prime Rib Loft in the Orleans is always good and reasonably priced. However, it's off strip and would require a cab or shuttle. But the price difference may make it worth the trip.

Avoid the Burger Bar between Mandalay and Luxor unless you really want to feel like a tourist...

Bouncers generally won't give you crap for skin color here. They may give you crap for being poorly dressed for the venue you're trying to get into, but definitely not for skin color.

Try the bar/club at the top of the Mandalay. Also, the bar at the top of the M is really nice, overlooks the whole valley, and has reasonably priced drinks (reasonably priced for Las Vegas, anyway).

If you want a good place to chill, the Griffin, near Freemont, is nice. No gaming machines inside, it's usually not too noisy, and it gets the feel of an older pub pretty well. No dance floor, though - it's more of a good place to sit and relax over a few drinks with friends.

Too bad you aren't getting a car - there's a lot of fun stuff to do that's off-strip.
posted by krisak at 10:27 AM on May 11

Cheapo Vegas
posted by phatkitten at 10:31 AM on May 11

1) Do you really need a guidebook? It's Vegas--everything is either in your face or to be found online. In your hotel room, they should be providing you Las Vegas Magazine for free, which isn't the best solution but better than a guidebook.

2) Luxor is a very fun hotel, with a great vibe, though it's a little aged these days. I'd say that if you stay there, you should try to stay in the pyramid (inclinators! love them), but that may blow your budget. Oh, and I'd double-check your $50/night rate--I checked on vegas.com, but Saturday is definitely not going at that rate (M and T are). When I planned my last trip to Vegas, I definitely checked vegas.com pretty regularly.

7)The Voodoo Lounge at the Rio is at the top with a great view of Vegas ("At VooDoo Steak and Lounge, you can surround yourself in ambiance and take in extraordinary views of the Las Vegas Strip from comfortable inside seating or outside on our terrace... Situated high above Las Vegas on the Rio's 50th and 51st floors, VooDoo provides a breathtaking view of the city!"). The view is great, but the drinks aren't that cheap.
posted by librarylis at 11:06 AM on May 11

Any physical guide to getting the cheapest vegas experience is probably a little out of date now. All of the places are getting more desperate for clients. From what I hear, you can get some amazing deals by simply calling the hotels and bargaining directly. Like rooms that used to go for $300/night, for only $85 amazing.
posted by nomisxid at 11:17 AM on May 11

Thanks for the replies.

@nomisxid: If getting a car is worth it I'm not totally opposed to the idea. I think most hotels offer free parking, right?

I've heard that there are these small show ticket shops that sell them at the last minute for cheap. any thoughts on that?
posted by WizKid at 12:06 PM on May 11

oops sorry, the earlier reply about the car is @krisak :-)
posted by WizKid at 12:11 PM on May 11

1. Don't need one. Just troll the web for a while.

2. Hotel - assuming you have scanned Expedia and Travelocity. If not, do so. In any event, Luxor is fine so don't fear.

6. I can't imagine having a problem because of your skin color. In all honesty, you won't see a more multi-hued crowd that the Vegas strip. (Especially various Asian ethnicities.) However, clubs are picky in that bouncers will almost always give priority to good looking women, especially if there are multiple good looking women in your group. If you are a pack of guys, forget about it, or be ready to slip the guy some serious green. In any event, clubs are best avoided, they are uniformly loud, overpriced, and stupid.

Bars are better choices. In fact, one of my favorite places is the Carnival Court bar, which is outside near Harrah's. It's just a big circular outside bar with lots of seating and live music. Nothing pretentious about it. Not expensive. Lots of activity. Great on a warm evening. For more class, and a higher price, the Petrossian bar in the lobby of Bellagio is nice and swank and great for people watching. There is a dueling piano bar and a high energy Irish pub over in New York, New York (names slip my mind). Virtually all the hotels are peppered with bars. You shouldn't have a problem.

7. Mixx at the top of THE hotel at Mandalay Bay is my favorite rooftop lounge. Great views. But it's definitely high-end (cover charge, expensive drinks, and there is often a line).
posted by dzot at 12:16 PM on May 11

IMHO For cheap hotel deals check out the hot deals section of harrahs.com. We stayed in flamingo "go rooms" for $39 a night / $79 sat night. For a fancy suite with huge spa tub check out The Signature at MGM. Jr Suite (very pimp) around $89 a night.

For nice meals and entertainment go to the red and yellow booths on the strip called "tickets tonight" or "half price tickets" (don't remember). And you can get dinner reservations for $2 that give you half off your main course and you can also get half off the shows. However the show tickets are usually the good ones up front that hotels reserved for their own guests then were not used. They are usually around $80 a person for great seats in a popular sold out show. Reg price would be $120 or more.

I gamble a little (pai gow poker, slots, horse races) and are regular vegas patrons. I believe that drinks maybe free but the cheap eats (2.99 steak dinner) is a myth unless you have low food standards or like waiting for an hour at 4 am for a table to get the deal.

The husband and I spend $100 per person per day on everything but shows and hotel. About half is food and drink. This keeps us happy, fed, entertained and intoxicated.

Oh we get around by walking (lots of walking), the deuce, and cabs. We did the monorail thing the first time but found that the stations were such a walk from the strip it was not worth the effort. YMMV. I would never bother with a car because there is nothing I want to visit or see other than freemont street ($15 cab) that is off strip.

I love vegas!
posted by saradarlin at 12:51 PM on May 11

On second thought Luxor seems to be too far away from everything. Something between Bellagio and Wynn seems like a goo location.
posted by WizKid at 1:01 PM on May 11

If you enjoy a bit of 70's cheese, don't miss the Peppermill! Crazy neon-filled diner with lots of fake plants. Fireplace bar in the back. Huge, relatively inexpensive portions. It's the only reason I look forward to going to Vegas.
posted by Gortuk at 1:13 PM on May 11

I go to Vegas every summer and enjoy it tons.

Yes, most or all the strip casinos have plenty of covered free non-valet parking. (They want you to stay inside gambling as long as possible)

1) I enjoy guidebooks for the fun of reading them and the unofficial guide is a pretty good one. I would also recommend http://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/ (some members only content but a LOT of good free stuff too)
2) I love Mandalay, so I am biased. Look for deals, though because LV is hurting. If you can avoid a big convention weekend, you may be able to get a sweet deal. Luxor is a decent hotel, but I have heard that you want to be at least several floors up. Think about what you want from the hotel - a place to crash, a good pool scene, lower-limit gaming tables, etc and choose on that.
3) Depends on how fancy and if you like run up the tab with booze. You can go to your local bookstore and browse through the Zagat's (what I did until I broke down and bought it) If you rent a car, I recommend Rosemary's (off strip, many locals).
4) Las Vegas Advisor and many LV sites discuss the cheap eats. I have not been there myself but many tell me that for the love of all that is holy, avoid the CircusCircus buffet. (I did like Burger Bar well enough, unlike Krisak but as I am from back East, I prefer an off strip jaunt to In and Out Burger as well!)
5-7) I can't be much help here, alas but Mixx has a good rep. I'm past the prime clubbing age but the guidebooks seem to have some good suggestions about the scenes and costs. Zagat's also has a nughtclub section. My oldish (38) self likes Red Square and RumJungle in Mandalay for drinks.

On preview: mid-strip Paris has good deals and a friend stayed there recently and liked it. The pool scene was not great but she cleaned up playing craps! I also hear good things about Mirage and TI.
posted by pointystick at 1:13 PM on May 11

This may seems like a dumb question, sorry :-)
In a beach resort type place you can get in to your swim shorts and walk to the pool. But in these big casino type hotels walking through the casino with swim shorts doesn't seems practical. So what's the normal process? do you go to the pool with street cloths and get changed at the changing room?
posted by WizKid at 1:18 PM on May 11

Here are my favourite links:

Harrah's Hotel Deals (Month of June for all 7 Hotels)

Vegas Hotels Online - All Las Vegas Hotel Deals

Cheap-o Vegas - Cheap Vegas Tips

Rands In Repose on Vegas

Bodog Casino - Practice your gambling before you go!
posted by saradarlin at 1:21 PM on May 11 [1 favorite has favorites]

We did a budget long-weekend trip to Vegas last year, and stayed in the Luxor. The rooms were pretty standard, nothing fancy, but as mentioned above, we were hardly ever in the rooms anyway. The location of the Luxor wasn't really a problem - we bought tickets to the Monorail, which stopped nearby, and used it for transportation if we really didn't feel like walking.

For shows, we did the Knights of Excalibur and Fantasy. Fantasy was your basic low-end vegas show - mostly-naked girls dancing with some singing thrown in. My husband and I both enjoyed it though, and it was a decent substitute for the larger shows which cost way more.

Our biggest expense was food/booze. We didn't venture off the strip (where I hear the good deals are) and everywhere we ate was expensive. Alcohol was pricey at all the hotel bars. We did sit at a $5 blackjack table for a few hours and played, mainly to get the free drinks (which worked out well, we ended up losing about $20 and got at least 15 cocktails).

Overall, we ended up spending way more than we had hoped for, but we tend to overspend on food and we are huge boozehounds.
posted by tryniti at 1:27 PM on May 11

Depending on where you stay, you may not be crossing the casino floor to the pool. At Mandalay Bay, for example, the MB hotel tower elevator goes straight to the pool entrance level. BUT if you are staying in the THEhotel tower, you will have to walk across the casino floor where you are required to wear a shirt. Most people change in their rooms and wear a t-shirt or cover-up of some sort; I don't think the Mandalay pools have changing rooms apart from the regular restrooms.

Not sure what it's like at other Strip hotels but, for me who loves Mandalay, not only do I save by staying in the MB tower and not at THEhotel, but I don't have to cart my pink doughnut pool float for the lazy river past the high limit room!
posted by catlet at 1:29 PM on May 11

The only place that charges for parking in Las Vegas is Neonopolis. And you don't want to go there anyway. :) Well, that and the airport... But even downtown most hotels won't charge for parking. If you're going to Freemont at all, park at Main Street Station. They also have a pretty good pub/brewery/eatery place with reasonable prices.

If you're going to be in town on Monday and have a car, I'd recommend Death Valley (fewer people there on weekdays). It's a nice day trip. Zion is close, but a longer day trip. Hoover Dam can be fun. Lake Mead is cool if you intend to rent a boat, otherwise I wouldn't really bother.

If you're into auto racing, there's usually something going on at the raceway. And check to see what's at the various stadiums for the weekend you'll be here. Keep in mind, though, it gets hot at the open air places, so be mindful if you're coming in summer.
posted by krisak at 1:37 PM on May 11

The VooDoo Lounge is great in the sense that you are one (long) block off teh strip so your view of the strip skyline is tremendous. Keep in mind that there will be a cover charge to get up there that can easily be $20+/person and the drinks won't be cheap but the views are impressive.
posted by mmascolino at 9:01 PM on May 11

Oh and I will say that friends stayed at the Imperial Palace and had a miserable time due to entertainment that was outside on the street playing well into the middle of the morning. However the casino at street level at the Imperial Palace was fantastic for being cheap and accessible.
posted by mmascolino at 9:04 PM on May 11