This was my first time to Vegas and same with my husband. We tried to do a lot of the attractions and were drop dead tired by the end. I always apoligize ahead of time for the length of my posts. I know I appreciate details, so I usually try to give them.
Arrival: We used a shuttle from the airport and were dropped off on the lower level (beach) of the hotel. It's a quick ride up the elevator or escalators to the main hallways where reception is.
General Layout: The hotel can be a little confusing in it's layout, but after wandering in some of the other strip hotel complexes, this is not unique. They do provide you with a map and it was useful especially in the beginning.
Check-In: This was a breeze! We arrived at the hotel mid-morning and checked right into our room without any hassle or problems.
Room: We were in what I assume are the lowest level of rooms (550; Room 28-208) because we booked through Southwest Vacations, but our room was lovely! It is a decent size room with a king bed, couch/chair, table, nightstands, and dresser. Nice features in the room include an Ipod docking station/alarm clock and large flat screen TV. The bathroom is good sized with separate shower and bathtub. There are 2 sinks, nice bath products, and a small flat-screen TV. The toilet is in a separate room/closet and has a phone although we did not use it! They do have one of the mini-bars where if you move something, you'll get charged so just beware. We avoided it at all costs and had no problems. There are a lot of TV channels and looks like a number of pay-per-view options, but we weren't in the room much to use them. Very clean! Much nicer than I expected.
Casino: Most of the strip casinos seem the same to me, as I'm not a big gambler. Lots of lights and noise. Didn't seem to smoky and I'm a non-smoker. Waitresses in the casino seemed to be on top of things, but not necessarily the friendliest.
Pools: We only went to the beach/pools one day and spend most of our time in the lazy river. Very clean and relaxing. We did go early in the morning when they opened and had no problem getting a chair where we wanted, but did fill up relatively quickly as far as the better seats/locations. There are numerous pool areas, but the lazy river and wave pool seemed the most crowded. They do have tubes available for sale.
Restaurants: There are numerous choices for restaurants, although we only ate breakfast at our hotel. We ate at Raffles two days. Their specialty items are yummy and large portions. Try the daily lemonades as they are delicious! The rest of the menu looked intriguing as well. The third day we ate at the coffee bar on the lower level. Wasn't too impressed there - no bagels and the danish were kind of stale. That was very overpriced for what you got.
Check-Out: If you wait till the check-out time, like we did, you will have a wait. And then there was another fairly lengthy wait to have our bags held, as we did not fly out of Vegas until that evening. Just be prepared time-wise.
Aquarium: We did visit the aquarium at Mandalay Bay. We are from Omaha where our zoo is one of the top in the nation, including our aquarium, so it was interesting, but perhaps not as intriguing to us as to other guests. And it too is pretty pricey.
Free Monorail: There is a free monorail that runs from Mandalay Bay to Excaliber. This saves you a fair amount of walking and gets you to one of the major corners on the strip. Beware that it does close at midnight (until 6am?).
Business Center: They do have a business center which is more like a closet with a couple of computers and printers in it. And of course you pay to use them. We had to in order to print out boarding passes. I think there's WiFi in the rooms for an extra charge, but don't quote me!
Misc. Las Vegas Tips: Carry lots of one dollar bills with you so you can tip the waitresses who get you the free drinks. I know people who don't, but a $1 drink is still a lot cheaper than a $7 one in the bars. Wear comfortable shoes because you'll do a lot of walking. Save the cute ones for the shows only. We did two buffets - Bellagio (good, but I don't like seafood so a lot of the stuff was wasted on me) and Paris (I loved this one especially for the French inspired items like crepes, creme brulee, etc.) Pick a show despite the cost - we saw Blue Man Group and it was amazing!! Hoover Dam (we did an express tour - about 4.5 hours long) is worth seeing once in your life!
It's been over a month since we were there so many of my details have been forgotten, but feel free to contact me if you want any more specific info!
