Have fun! We love vegas, sooo much to do!
here are some things i've posted on liw before - i cut and pasted...
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I'm a Vegas lover - been 5 times I believe.
For nice hotels that aren't cukoo price-wise, I would recommend Paris or Planet Hollywood - they are CENTER of the strip so you can explore to the North or to the South easily. They are both right across the street from the Bellagio.
DH stayed at MGM for his bach. party and when I saw the guys' room, it was very nice! I wish the girls had stayed there instead of Mirage (HATEDDDDD the old style room, but the Mirage hotel in itself is great). If you check out Expedia or other sights, I would stay away from the 3* rated hotels - go for a 4* hotel (5* would be more expensive like Bellagio, Wynn). The 3* hotels aren't the best - like Imperial Palace or Circus Circus... they're not horrible, but they're not very nice either. And check the prices for different weekdays and weekends - Sunday through Thursday are the least expensive nights to stay in Vegas and some weeks it's cheaper than others. So definitely look into that cuz it could make a huge difference pricewise.
We've stayed at the Wynn and THEhotel at Mandalay Bay for a fraction of the normal nightly cost by going when the rates were cheaper!
For shows, we saw O at the Bellagio - it's a Cirque show and it's all water based - DH LOVED IT and I thought it was great. We also saw Avenue Q at the Wynn but it's not there anymore .
Breakfast Buffet at the Mirage was fabulous and very good in price. I hear the Paris Brunch Buffet is one of the best.
I'll see if I can think of anything else!
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I've stayed at the following hotels - with my mini review:
TheHOTEL at Manalay Bay - this is the new all suites tower (not the regular Mandalay Bay hotel rooms). It's beautiful, modern - we LOVED IT. My DH says I spoiled him with this hotel (it was my pick) which is where we went/stayed for our first vacation together. Highly recommended. The 'rooms' are all suites - a living room, half bath, wet bar, with large flat screen tv, a master bedroom with a master bath (two sinks, shower, soaking tub, private toilet room, and bathroom has a flatscreen too!).
Paris - this hotel has a great location, center of the strip, right across from Bellagio. The room was big and spacious. We personally did not love the hotel because of the way the lobby/casino/walkways are set up. Basically they have a cobblestone path all around the ground floor and it's the main path to get to the entrance/exit, elevators, etc etc. The casino is in the center so whereas in most hotels you walk through the casino to get to everything, at Paris most people use the cobblestone paths and it's ALWAYS congested. It took forever to get to the elevators and up to our room or to get out of the hotel. Otherwise it was nice.
Wynn - this hotel just opened in 06 and it's VERY nice. We loved our bed - literally the BEST bed we've ever slept on and the room had modern things like flat screen tv etc. The rooms were great, the hotel was great. A little further up the strip, but it's across from Fashion Mall so if you want to go shopping, it's convenient. We really liked it, but we were only able to stay here because we got a $175 per night rate for when we went - otherwise it would have been way out of our price range.
Mirage - I stayed here last month for my bachelorette party. Loved the hotel and I heard the casino had recently been redone. The pool area was really nice. But the rooms - yikes! They were like a Days Inn room with the flowery bedspreads and curtains! And the bathroom was small with only one sink and not much room. I was staying with two girlfriends and they can tell you that I literally had tears in my eyes because of the room - I hated it after having seen such gorgeous rooms at all these other Vegas hotels in the past. We complained but were told that basically all the rooms were the same - the Tower rooms were different with a bigger bathroom, but they only have one king bed for those and that wasn't going to work for us 3 girls. But we did like the hotel!
MGM - I didn't stay here but my DH did for his bachelor party and I went over to the hotel and chilled at the pool and saw his room. The hotel is huge! It took forever to walk from the room elevators to the pools allllllll the way in the back - a serious trek. The pool that I went to was very basic although I heard there was another nicer pool in another area. The rooms were really nice though - the beds looked nice and fluffy and the decorations were modern - I was P.O.'d that the girls were staying in a crappy room at the Mirage and I had booked the guys in the nice room at MGM, lol.
Palms - I stayed here the first time I went to Vegas. The room wasn't huge but it was really nice and the bed was super comfy. Palms is not on the strip though so I know that's not what you're looking for. Butttt, the Palms is a really great young, fun hotel. DEFINITELY worth a trip over here one or two nights when you're in Vegas. For my bachelorette party we went to the new club, MOON, at the top of the new Palms' Fantasy Tower. It was fun! They also have the new Playboy Club there and the music was really good and the views of the strip were awesome.
I hope this helps a bit. We love Vegas - have fun!
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And here is my vegas bachelorette party review:
link here HTH!!!
