We (partner, friend and myself age 20’s-30s) went to visit a friend who is working out there temporarily. Lodging/accommodations were free as we were staying with our friend, TY friend, so I am mostly commenting on the Vegas strip as well as the Hoover Dam. I generally give tips in what order to do things, but there weren’t any lines or wait times for any attractions we saw (free or not).
The Hoover Dam is about a 30-40 minute drive from the strip and was well worth the drive. There are different admissions depending on what you want to do. We chose the $11 vs $30 admission and felt it was worth the money. They took us down to the power plant, which was a little interesting and through some of the mountains which resembled caves. Then they took us up to an observation deck where you can really take in a great view of the hoover dam. Its pretty amazing and the surrounding views are beautiful. The Colorado river is gorgeous against the mountains. Also fun to stand on the border of Nevada and Arizona.
OK so little reviews of hotels and/or things we did at said hotel…
Bellagio- one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever been in. First of all, you walk in (and I had a cold the whole time I was there) there is an aroma of fresh flowers, instead of the smoke smell everywhere else. It has a very grandiose feel to it. The conservatory inside (apparently) changes per season and was decorated with a huge glass flowers, a ferris wheel, animals etc. Almost everything was made entirely of plants/ flowers.
There is also a chocolate shop around the corner from the conservatory with a chocolate fountain and outrageously beautiful cakes and designs. There is also the famous Bellagio fountains, which dance to a different song, I think the majority of the day every 30 mins during the day and every 15 minutes at night. I think over the course of our trip we saw about 4 or 5 different displays. Theyre really beautiful. Also a great spot to take pictures with the Eiffel Tower from Paris in the background. Everything here was free, so definitely stop here.
Caesars Palace- first of all ENORMOUS. Tons of stores with a sky painted ceiling. Lots of Greek statues all over. Searched around on all 3 days looking for a gladiator to take a photo with and were told different things each day we stopped by, annoying but oh well. Saw Bette Midler’s show here “The Showgirl Must Go On.” Excellent show, pretty sure we were the youngest ones there. Her jokes were hilarious and just her stage presence in general was comedic. I wasn’t expecting to laugh so much. Her voice is still great. She actually cracked during one song and made the musicians do it again lol. Only one part of her show I thought was sub-par from the rest; her “mermaid montage”… which after talking to my mom realized was a bit from her older stuff, so oh well. Also worth seeing.
Excaliber- Medieval castle themed. I stayed here 15 years prior and loved staying here. We did Tournament of Kings here which is a knight/horse battle show- it’s a dinner/theater deal. I think it lasted about 90 minutes. We asked for the vegetarian option which is all the same except instead of the Cornish game hen, it’s a vegetarian lasagna (you have to ask your server though… or else they just give you the normal platter). Some people complained about the food (in other reviews), its not spectacular but for dinner and a show for the price theyre charging, its fine. The show overall is definitely cheesy but fun. Go have fun and do something different in Vegas. Also did a Spongebob 4-D movie. $10.00.. a little much for 1 ride but they have a 11.95 deal for 3 rides, so at that price its worth it, though we only wanted to do the one. The actual ride was a little outdated too.. like you had to open your own door to the ride, vs automatic (comparing to places like Disney or Six Flags).
Flamingo- FREE flamingo habitat. Very small, but also very free. Nice sized koi pond as well with massive koi’s.
Luxor- a nice spectacle from the inside and out, with the pyramid and the sphinx. Got a nice discount for the Titanic Exhibit and though we have one in NY, the discount made us check it out there. Wasn’t expecting much from this exhibit and was pleasantly surprised. Youre given a passport card of a real passenger, which includes their name, who accompanied them, their class system, and some information about them. Through the exhibit you look for mention of them and at the end you see whether they survived or were “lost.” It helped give you some additional attachment to the different rooms by class and different accommodations to put it into perspective. There were some great replicas and some interesting displays as well as a ton of pieces recovered from the ship. Worth checking out, also I think it would be boring for kids, just as an FYI.
Mandalay Bay- Plannned on doing the shark reef but saved the money for something else. Heard its good though. There is a “Lion King exhibit” upstairs near the mall, mainly showing mini versions of the costumes of the characters. It would have been enhanced with color but FREE all the same. Had drinks at the House of Blues, pretty cool atmosphere, drinks are average city price. Had the Black Magic Woman, pretty good.
MGM Grand- Came here solely for lunch and for the Lion Habitat (again FREE). Lunch at the Rainforest Café, atmosphere is awesome, food was like all the rest of their branches. Lion Habitat was small but extremely entertaining. We had good luck with all the animals on our trip. They were really active. There was a male and female lion in this exhibit, jumping around and at some points just laying around and chewing on things. The display has glass on your sides and above you so you can look up, really close views of the lions. There was ALSO a lion cub section, with 2 cubs and they were still smaller than your average house cat. So adorable. The display is FREE but they were selling 5 minutes of play time with the cubs (aka canoodling and taking pics with them) for $200. All proceeds go right back to them and the trainers who take care of them.
The Mirage- Also one of the most beautiful lobby’s ever. You feel like youre in a tropical heaven after being outside in 105-110 degrees of dry heat. We spent a good amount of time here. They have two outdoor exhibits. The Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat (one exhibit) and the Volcano. The Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat is one admission, I believe it was $15. These again are habitats so no shows just watching the animals and if youre lucky there will be a trainer interaction when youre there. One tank had 2 dolphins and the other had 3, the 3 were in the same family, different generations, the oldest being 35 and the youngest just 11 months. Again the money goes to the animals and trainers. The Secret Garden was mostly white tigers, but also lions, jaguars, leopards etc. Also really active which the exception of a couple of cats, one was sprawled on his back, passed out and it was pretty hilarious. I would check it out. The volcano is FREE, starting at 8pm outside the Mirage, look for the biggest rock/mountain, and it turns into a “lava” spewing volcano… for about 5 minutes. Its on the hour from 8-12. A must see, FREE thing to do. We also saw the Beatles: LOVE Cirque du Soleil show here and we all LOVED it. Far surpassed our expectations and we had all seen at least 1 cirque show before. Effects, lighting, staging, acrobatics, dancing etc, amazing!
New York, New York- outside of the hotel is a replica of parts of the city: empire state building, Brooklyn bridge, statue of liberty etc. I think that the buildings were an actual third of the real size… pretty nice. Inside there are “streets” made to look like the village, also cute. We checked out the New York, New York coaster ($14.00). It was a good coaster, but extremely rough. It had a nice length, good inversions, a barrel roll etc, but the restraints were weird, as the shoulder restraint felt more like a neck restraint and hurt a lot.
Stratosphere- Way up at the north end of the strip, I believe this is the last hotel on the new strip. Went here solely to ride “Insanity” at the top of the hotel. I think the ride was $23.00, which includes the ride up (hello? Ridiculous…. How else will we get up there?) Anyways, there was no wait when we got to the top. There are cubby’s to put any of your stuff. The ride leans off the side of the hotel (which is 80 something stories in the air , woo hoo) and spins around. I usually cant do rides that spin and towards the end I was getting dizzy, but the thrill of the ride is definitely being that high and hanging off the side. Photos were 2 for 20.
Treasure Island- Free pirate themed show outside “Siren’s of T.I.”. Lots of families there and found it totally corny and inappropriate for kids unless you want your child to watch Pussycat Doll wannabe’s tie up pirates and then grind in their faces with their butt’s hanging out of their shorts. Waste of 20 minutes. Also saw Cirque du Soleil’s “Mystere” here and it was beautiful. The original cirque show: beautiful acrobatics, costumes, and amazing use of color.
Venetian- Again beautiful on the inside. Just watched the gondolas here as I read in previous reviews that the ride really isn’t worth the money. It was nice to watch, really calm. Also had live performances going on near the gondolas, which were just ok. We only watched for a minute or two.
Be sure to get a photo toward the south end of the strip with the welcome to vegas sign. We also checked out Ethel M’s Chocolate Factory about 10 minutes off the strip… a place where you can watch them make chocolate. Its free but it was pretty small and boring, I wouldn’t recommend it . We were also going to check out the Freemont street experience and opted not to (though I did this as a kid and remember so many really bright lights, I would still recommend it, though I haven’t been there in 15 years. That end from what we saw is really seedy.
Overall the feel of Vegas is kind of strange. The sound end is very over the top and has a big wow-factor, while the north end is very run down and looks abandoned. There are lots of amusements and attractions to experience, but as youre walking to those attractions there are men and some women who are flapping little business cards advertising prostitutes. People don’t just get wasted, they buy GUITAR sized drinks and drink all day. The casinos are filled with smoke, which if youre from a state where indoor smoking is outlawed, its hard to get used to that again. The air is dry inside and outside so its hard to breathe. Things are either free or very overpriced. If youre looking to be wasted at all hours of the day- walk around a hotel, where the average person drops 300 a night for a room, in your bathing suit top- go see gladiators in one place and 10 feet away see the pussycat dolls pirate show- then get married to one of those pirates, vegas is for you. Vegas lives up the “Sin City” tag and yet has made efforts to be family friendly. Definitely something to experience in your lifetime, but it will be a while before we head back.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
