As always, this is hideously long…
19th to 27th October 2008
This was a special trip for us as we were taking my husband’s parents for their first trip to Vegas (our 11th or 12th)…we’d given them the gift of the trip last Christmas in honour of their 40th wedding anniversary and retirement and finally settled on October for the trip. We like to go in November but as a trip to the Grand Canyon was on the cards we could see the risk of snow was less in October and also the week we normally go in November had a massive convention in town, so October it was.
Our flights were on Virgin out of Gatwick as normal and also as normal we stayed at the Gatwick Hilton the night before. This allowed us to take advantage of twilight check-in and get rid of the bags and get our boarding passes sorted out the night before. We had checked in online and managed to get 2 pairs of seats at the back of the plane – which was brilliant as we had had pairs at the back when we booked in April but had been shifted to other seats in June or so…getting the pairs at the back (even though they were on opposite sides of the plane) was the first win of the trip. The Hilton was nice as always and so convenient – it really is worth it to us to pay to stay the night before. We upgraded to the Euro parking right next to the hotel as well – so no need to wait for the Summer Special bus on the way out or back – it was £20 extra and this was worth it for us – especially on the way home as the last thing you want it so wait for ages for a bus that’s then full and have to wait for another when you just want to get home.
Flight was delayed only slightly which was a relief as several of the flights the week before had been delayed by a couple of hours or more – as we had to pick up Bette Midler tickets at least an hour before the show at 7:30pm, with our flight scheduled in about 1:30pm we had some leeway, but not a lot once you factored in customs, getting to the hotel, getting settled in the room, etc…so we were really relieved at only a slight delay. Flight was as expected on Virgin out of Gatwick – nothing great, but nothing tragic…pairs of seats made it much nicer though I can never believe how many people think it’s OK to lean on the back of your seat when you’re in the last row! So annoying to be relaxed and about to doze off and someone flumps against the back of your seat. IFE worked in all 4 seats and didn’t notice any problems at all with other passengers. I didn’t watch anything on the IFE as I had plenty on my Creative to keep me occupied. Food was typical airline food, flight crew were perfectly pleasant.
Landed, collected the bags and headed out to the taxi for the hotel (picking up the rental the following day). Taxi did take the tunnel which was annoying as my understanding is they are supposed to ask, but didn’t want to let it spoil the start to the holiday.
Arrived at Bally’s and headed to platinum check-in. Only my husband is platinum but they agreed to check us into both rooms. I was slightly nervous as I’d reserved one room in my name using my TR number and my husband had reserved another…it would be quite obvious at check-in that we were in one room and the 2nd was for the in-laws and I was worried that they would say we couldn’t have the rates we’d booked as I was not staying in the 2nd room. While it was suggested on Open Vegas that my husband and I check in and then later ask for extra keys and names to be added to the rooms, this seemed too much trouble after a long flight and we weren’t trying to do anything wrong so didn’t really want to get into any deception. We had a very nice girl who may have been training as there was another guy stood behind her who jumped in on occasion and who she referred to often…she was very pleasant…we had both booked south tower rooms and were hoping for a nice view for the in-laws…when it became clear that the only rooms she could find were on low floors (6th and 9th) were not the bed configuration we preferred (queens rather than kings), one was not ready and she mentioned that neither had a very good view, we swapped tactics to try for the north tower…they said that my husband had a free upgrade as he’s platinum (didn’t realise that was an automatic thing – had always thought we got lucky with an upgrade at check-in when we asked) but that I would have to pay $21something plus tax per night…said that was fine over the in-laws objections to us paying more for them and the girl went away for a bit…came back, said they would give me the upgrade for free and got us rooms across the hall from each other on the 21st floor, both with king beds and both ready then. Awesome! Tipped her $20 and thanked her very much for her help.
Rooms were great – standard North Tower rooms at Bally’s, gave the room with the semi-decent view to the in-laws as we’d had a similar view before. My mother-in-law said ‘I think this is the nicest hotel room I have ever stayed it’ even! Really glad we went for the north tower over the south after hearing that.
Only problems with our room were:
1) Issue with our internet connection which was sorted out by a technician very quickly – if you ever have trouble connecting, disconnect the cable from the little box with the retractable cable and plug it in directly to your laptop. The tech told my husband he’s been telling Bally’s for ages that the connectors are ‘crap’ and since they’re only there for advertising purposes are not necessary.
2) Mid trip came back to the room (after a night away at the GC) to find dirty towels all over the sink and bathroom floor and a message to call the front desk. Apparently our sink was leaking (assume into the room below) and we had to move. This was annoying, but I can understand it happens and isn’t anyone’s fault…what I couldn’t understand is that they didn’t explain to us that a) the security guard meeting us at the new room would not be giving us the keys to the new room and b) that they didn’t offer any help to move all our stuff. In the end one of us stayed in the new room while the other and the in-laws loaded everything up onto a discarded room service trolley to wheel to the new room before I went down to get the new room keys. I did complain about how this was handled at the desk and the girl there couldn’t care less. That was the only bad experience we’ve ever had with Bally’s or Bally’s staff – so I won’t write them off because of it.
Had to pick up the car at Bellagio the day after we arrived (as there were 4 of us with luggage which would be an issue in a full size car and as we knew we would be tight on time opted for a taxi rather than rental from the airport). As we normally pick up the car at the rental car centre I knew we might get a bit screwed on actual vehicle as there would likely not be a selection. I was also worried as I normally rent with dollar.com but with the additional driver fees renting my normal way, dollar.co.uk’s inclusive package was a better deal. Very nice girl at Dollar counter outside Bellagio helped us and when she pulled out the keys to the car that had been allocated to me I could see they were Chrysler keys and thought ‘this might be OK, maybe I’ll be upgraded to a 300?’…I asked if I could be nosy and ask what kind of car I was getting and she said those terrible words ‘we’re out of full size cars, so I will give you a Pacifica’. I know the Pacifica is an upgrade but it’s an SUV (even though it’s a small SUV)…it’s much higher and wider than I am used to (and even the full size cars are wider and longer than what I drive at home) and so I asked if there was any chance at all of a different car. She did in the end find me a bright blue Charger that had just been cleaned so all worked out OK. My FIL couldn’t understand my concern as the Pacifica didn’t look much bigger on the photo on the counter – later in the trip we saw a real, live Pacifica and he got it. He drives a Volvo estate and even he was glad we didn’t get the Pacifica.
Bette Midler was great – only thing I think I screwed up here a bit was dress code…all the Vegas shows I’ve ever been to had pretty wide ranging dress in terms of those in the audience and I said that we’d be fine in shorts and pretty casual clothes (clean, no holes, no cut offs, no trucker caps, no wife beaters, but casual)…I felt underdressed immediately when we walked up and while my MIL made a bit more of an effort than the rest of us, I was immediately worried she would notice that the three of us were pretty much in the bottom ¼ in terms of dress code and worry about it…but it seemed fine. She was sat next to an openly gay couple who chatted with her quite a bit before the show and that was nice for her to make some friends in Vegas immediately. The show was very good, but we were soooo tired…I did close my eyes a couple of times and nearly nodded off – not because the show was boring, but because I was just so ready for bed.
Mac King - We had seen it before but I had forgotten some of the show so it was somewhat new to me too – in-laws really enjoyed it. Such a fun and inexpensive show (with voucher)…really think it’s worth doing.
Jubilee! – This was on the in-laws list. My husband’s platinum status meant he could get a 2-for-1. He didn’t really want to go to the show, I kind of did, so in-laws kindly paid for my ticket as well. We didn’t sit at the tables up front (I’d read reviews saying that they were not ideal as you have to turn to the side for the whole show)…so we got a few rows back pretty much in the centre. It was a fun, very old-school Vegasy show. Cheesy as cheesy can be in some places (the Sampson and Delilah part nearly killed me as the cheese factor was off the scales) but I am so glad I saw it – it was really spectacular in its own way and was a fun show. I thought it might be a bit weird seeing topless dancers with my in-laws but those people that say that you kind of forget they are topless (at least if you are female) is pretty true. I am glad we saw this before either of the Cirque shows though as in-laws were really raving about how spectacular Jubilee! was and all I could think was ‘wait until you see Love and Mystere’. Would I go again? No, but I am glad to have seen it once…and my husband is grateful as now he doesn’t have to go with me to see it in the future…and no, I don’t know why he doesn’t want to see boobies…I think it’s the high cheese factor that puts him off and not the boobies.
Love – my husband and I had seen it before in previews (from the front row). He loved it, I thought it was OK (not a Beatles fan, me) but both agreed we were way too close. He really wanted his parents to see it so we bought tickets before the trip…I was slightly worried as Cirque is not to everyone’s taste, but my husband was adamant that he wanted his Beatles fan parents to see it…I had said to him that I didn’t really care if I saw it again so maybe just buy 3 tickets as they were quite expensive ($150 each)? He refused, bought 4 and I am so glad he did – it was a completely different experience from a bit further back (we were just at the edge of the big parachute thing that covers the lower audience at one point). Amazing show – and the in-laws LOVED it….it jumped up to possibly my favorite Cirque show, but I would like to see O again to be certain.
Mystere – this was one on the in-laws list compiled after they read the guidebooks we gave them. I found a 35% deal online so booked before we went. We’d both seen it before but thought that the in-laws would enjoy it. It was on our last night but was the only place we could fit it in. I think everyone enjoyed the show, but after Love it was a bit less impressive than perhaps it would be on its own. As it happens, my FIL meant that he wanted to see KA (he made reference to a big spinning wheel which we finally realised he meant Ka) not Mystere…so in the end, we booked the show they asked for (and they paid for it) – but NOT the show they wanted to see. Doh! Shame as Ka was also available on the 35% off deal.
Queen at Fremont Street Experience – we really wanted FIL to see this as he’s a big Queen fan. We saw it was showing at 9pm every night we were there and after putting it off once, we finally made it downtown at the right time. MIL knew why we were going but FIL didn’t. He loved it. He recorded it on his camera and still watches it regularly. Pretty cool – a lot better than the few we’ve seen before.
Bellagio Fountains – we only made it twice (so odd how that happens when you are staying across the street!) first time on our first night after Bette and on our way to bed. To be fair, I have to give credit to my husband as I could see from the time we would barely make it down to the street in time and there was a pretty big crowd – so I didn’t really see the point to have his parents first fountain show be seen at a bad angle…but as it happened, it was my favorite (Time to Say Goodbye) and my in-laws thought it was amazing even with the relatively poor view (I think there were tears). The last night we saw The Star Spangled Banner at midnight. In-laws thought it was really nice how Americans are (and are allowed to be) so patriotic as they don’t feel that that’s necessarily the case here – you don’t normally get such a reaction to the national anthem here.
Flamingo gardens - to show in-laws that there were relatively calm, tranquil places even on the strip – so if it all got too much, this was always and option to relax for a bit. ..I like this little oasis.
Venetian Gondola Ride - A gondola ride was one of their must-dos so we got them situated with tickets and were official photographers as they came and went. They seemed to really enjoy it (they did the inside ride as opposed to the outside version).
Stratosphere Tower – Didn’t ride any of the rides (I would have gone on X-Scream but didn’t have anyone to join me and were off for lunch immediately after – didn’t seem a good combo). My MIL isn’t keen on heights but she was a trouper – even went on the outside observation deck! 2-for-1 from the POV came in handy here (especially as we had 2!)
Las Vegas Mystery Adventures – I read about this at moneysavingexpert.com’s Vegas forum (thanks again Stew68)…sounded so cool to me, and as husband and FIL is a big fan of things like Bones, CSI, etc as we are, seemed a no-brainer to try it…we were slightly wary as we hadn’t see anything about this before and the few reviews at tripadvisor.com were all good – but it seemed a new thing so you never know. We loved it – it was probably my favorite thing we did all trip. LOVED. IT. Will go again if there’s a new mystery on next time we go. Absolutely fantastic fun – well run, really great people…nothing but good things to say about it. OK, so of our group I have no doubt that I was the biggest fan but I think that everyone had a good time and really enjoyed it. www.mysteryadventureslasvegas.com/ It’s currently ranked at Number 6 in the list of things to do in Vegas – gets very positive reviews. We didn’t have any kids in our group, but I think that older kids would enjoy it and it’s not too gory.
Shark Reef – FIL treated us to this, after we finally got there…people had said that it’s a looooong way from the casino floor. Personally I’m surprised it’s not in another county…it’s crazy…but there’s a Starbucks on the way, so it’s OK because there’s sustenance enroute. This was an OK attraction. I lived in Cincinnati and went to the aquarium there several times before moving here – it’s absolutely nothing on the Cincinnati aquarium or anything of that nature. It was OK, not necessarily great value for money as it was much smaller than I was expecting, we kind of rushed through thinking there was a lot more to it and were surprised when we were at the end – had we realised how short it was we would have taken our time (we had something else on the agenda so I was clock-watching). If you have a good aquarium near you, skip this…if you don’t and you like this sort of thing, it may be worth it…it’s much nicer than, say, the London Aquarium.
Sidenote – our last afternoon my MIL won 2 tickets to Stomp Out Loud at PH…the show I really want to see and always hope I win tickets for on the daily free spin…figured as this was the night we were due to see Mystere so we couldn’t use them…they did give us 2 PH ball caps instead though.
Caesars Food Court - not the best example of Vegas dining for our first night, but given our time frame it was really our only option. The battered prawns from the fish & chip place were amazing as always, even if they took ages to order and receive.
Paris Breakfast Buffet (twice) - Hit the Paris buffet shortly after it opened, paid with TR credits (MIL argued she wanted to pay, we explained it was free, she was suspicious…both times)…they loved the Paris buffet (as we do)– thought it was such a nice atmosphere and great food.
Nosh at Bally’s – in the end the in-laws didn’t eat
here – there was one morning we were going to meet up a bit later and we
pointed it out as possible breakfast option for them the next morning. They ordered ham and egg croissants…after
waiting for some time, were told they were out of ham…fine, changed to
turkey…after waiting awhile longer and seeing how soggy the croissants were
coming out of the microwave MIL was somewhat relieved when they were told ‘we
have no eggs’ as it gave them an out to go elsewhere. How can they have no eggs at breakfast-time?
Peppermill - for breakfast as it’s such a Vegasy thing for us, good value too as the portions are enormous and food is pretty good – not gourmet, no, but tasty. Took some photos at the table and also at the fire pit. In-laws were suitably impressed with the place I think.
Mon Ami Gabi - We did wait for the patio (about 40 minutes) as we don’t see the point of MAG unless you’re on the patio and it was lovely as always – really great…good food, good value. I’m always surprised that it’s not more expensive here.
Ellis Island BBQ - I was slightly worried that the in-laws would find EI to be a bit too cramped, dark and slightly seedy…instead – they LOVED it. FIL still talks about how much he liked the place – he found it more comfortable than the mega- resorts I think. Excellent – so glad we took them there. We did have 2 BOGOF coupons for the BBQ and so the total for the 4 of us was just about $20 (2 of us had extra drinks). I think we left about that as a tip because, seriously, that’s a lot of really good food for that kind of cash. We opted to take them to the BBQ and not for the steak special as in our opinion the former is much, much better value. Everyone left full and happy.
Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar – my husband and I first tried this place on our last trip and loved it (again, credit where it’s due, hubby read about it in a trip report and pointed it out to me). For some reason, whenever we’re in Vegas we listen exclusively to country music in the car. We made a country CD for the in-laws so they would have some idea what was going on and they took a liking to the song I Love This Bar – so it all worked out well. This was one of my favorites from this trip…firstly because while we were waiting for our table to be ready we sat in the bar area and they did the free shots thing…seeing my 60+ FIL shoot off his stool over to the bar (after a quick nod of encouragement from us) and have some concoction poured into his mouth was priceless (a photo would have been brilliant but alas, no camera with us at the time). Then after our very good meal the band took a break and line dancing broke out on the dance floor while the house music came back on…I was so excited and dragged my in-laws next to the dance floor to see as you just don’t get that in the UK. Oh, and FIL had to order a mason jar full of beer to complete the experience…that was another great thing to see him swigging out of a massive jar. I love this place so much…it’s now on my must do each trip.
NASCAR Café (Sahara) – we’d never been, it was on the list the in-laws made after reading the guidebooks and both my husband and FIL are big motorsport fans (more F1, but still). It was a pretty cool place and I would imagine if you’re a big NASCAR fan it would be really fun. We got there quite early and got to choose our table…as my sister is a big Jeff Gordon fan we had to go with table 24. Food was general café food, good value, good service, VERY American (that Hormel chilli for the chilli dog brought back memories and some concern that I could identify canned chilli by brand just by taste).
ENVY Steakhouse (Renaissance Hotel) – we had a restaurant.com voucher - $75 off $150…it was unlikely that my husband and I could get to the $150 mark on our own, so this was the perfect time to try it out. The restaurant is very nice without being up it’s own behind…the steaks were awesome (MIL – ‘this is the best steak I have ever had’). One warning – I ordered mine medium-well…mistake…everyone else had theirs medium and mine was definitely overcooked (it was more well than medium-well). Still tasty, but others were much nicer. The truffle fries weren’t as awesome as I expected based on the reviews but were tasty. The other sides were very good. I would say skip the flavoured salts they bring out for your steaks – I only added a very little bit of one to try it and as the steak was already seasoned, it was a bit too much (and I add salt to almost everything that might need salt). This is literally right across from the Convention Centre monorail stop – so quite easy to get to even though it’s off strip.
Cafe Ile St Louis (Paris, twice) – had a late night meal here once and a lunch…really like this place – used TR points to pay both times. Good food and having a platinum card allows us to skip the queue which is always handy.
Wynn Buffet –this was dinner the last night…as it happened, both my husband and I had 2 free buffets left from a previous trip’s earnings so we used them up this time – we wanted to take them here anyway, and never knowing how long the freebies have until they expire it made more sense to use them than possibly lose them. Both in-laws were staggered at the size of it (their heads may have exploded had we taken them to Carnival World at Rio)…we were asked if you had ‘one shot’ at it or if you could go back…they seemed even more surprised when we said you could go back…the quality was great as always – we really like this one a lot…the desserts are not as great as some buffets we don’t think, but by the time you’re done with your main meal there’s little room for dessert anyway. I think my FIL had 3 slices of prime rib (3 trips) and some beans and that was it…he likes his beef, and this made him very happy. I tried little bits of loads of stuff and really liked it as always. I do think that the Wynn buffet’s Chinese is the best buffet Chinese around…and the fried chicken was delicious.
Grand Canyon Side Trip
We’d meant to make a trip to the Grand Canyon for years, but every time we ended up in Vegas, we just couldn’t tear ourselves away, so going with the in-laws meant it was finally time for us to take the trip –none of us having been before.
It did take us a lot longer than expected to get there, though we did stop for breakfast and again for gas and a pee break…so…I think all in all it took us nearly 7 hours…good thing I had us out the door at 7 am and that the expected time change wasn’t in effect.
We looked at accommodation options as we wanted to stay overnight, and while the rim lodges were more expensive than staying outside the park, it seemed that for one night it was worth the additional. We wanted to stay at El Tovar but it was booked for our dates and we settled on Thunderbird Lodge on the rim. We originally booked non-view rooms but swapped to view rooms when they came available online (have heard that calling you can often find more availability than online so may be worth trying). We knew that these were partial view rooms and from the reviews I knew that the roof of the ground floor extended out into ½ the view of the canyon from the window, but they were only $10 more a night to have SOME view of the GC from your room…$10. I cannot see people complaining about $10 more for a partial view – had you paid $50, OK, sure you might feel a bit ripped off…but for $10 being able to open your curtains and SEE THE GRAND CANYON – even if only a partial view? Worth it to me.
We knew parking would be an issue due to the reviews but did luck into a space at the parking area in front of Bright Angel…the very last space in the lot, but hey, take what you can get…didn’t plan to move the car after we checked in so felt we were lucky to get something reasonably close.
Rooms were fairly basic but perfectly accommodating…two beds in each room, TV, quite a nice bathroom. It was VERY cold at the GC when we were there so we were grateful that the heating worked well. One of the coolest things was the deer that graze on the grass out front of the lodge (opposite to the Canyon side)…there were at least 3 down there when we got to our rooms. So neat to see them so close up.
We did the standard things – stopped at the viewing points on the way in, took one of the shuttles to a few more on our way, got lost getting to the bus stop to get back to the car, etc. We did notice that the altitude ( over 8,000ft I think ) hit us quite hard in that we found our breathing to be a bit laboured…oddly, the smoker (me) and the asthmatic (FIL) were the last to be hit by this with my husband and MIL feeling it first. It was a bit of an odd feeling, really did feel short of breath quite a lot and we didn’t go hiking or anything…no, none of us are particularly fit, but we certainly don’t have this issue walking around at home.
The canyon itself was stunning – we got to see sunset and got up for sunrise the next morning. It really was amazing. But my favorite part was after dark – we had a completely clear night – the stars were incredible. Had it been warmer I would have brought a blanket out and laid down somewhere to look up for ages. As it was I found excuses to go back outside a few times after my husband had turned in for the night – it was the most amazing thing ever.
The food in the park, however, was one of the least amazing things ever. We ate at the non-posh restaurant at Bright Angel. My FIL did have something off the posh restaurant’s (Arizona Room, I think) menu…some sort of prime rib which was, to me, inedible. The lasagne I had was barely edible – I am not a gourmet, but I expect at least as much effort as I would make at home when dining out – soggy lasagne sheets with cheap jarred tomato sauce between them covered with melted cheese does not really count as lasagne to me…my husband couldn’t really eat the sour cream chicken he had ( I tried a bite and didn’t blame him for barely picking – nasty) and based on how little she ate (she would never say it was bad) my MIL didn’t care for her chicken sandwich either – from where I was sitting I could tell the roll was totally stale and hard. The only good thing was the (canned) southwestern corn chowder. The waiter was dire as well – my FIL didn’t have any cutlery and despite asking twice, the waiter never brought any – so we just grabbed some off a neighboring table…not difficult, but not the point. He never came with drink refills when requested either. If we did ever overnight at the GC again I would go out to one of the fast food places outside the park instead of eating here again….really was one of the worst restaurant meals I have ever had – and I am not terribly picky…I am quite happy at Denny’s.
We are slot players and that’s all we (and the in-laws) played all trip. MIL is a slot genius – we had to keep ourselves from rubbing her for luck. It wasn’t a great trip for us gambling but we did bring back about 25% of what we took to gamble, so not terrible – we look at the gambling budget as entertainment money and are prepared to lose it all. I had a $250 win and a $200 and those were the biggest wins anyone had the whole trip. MIL had a real knack for putting in a $20 and winning $60 or $80 though so she had much better luck than me as the wins I had came after a lot of losing! Some new slots were played but can’t remember too much detail now. I do remember Bellagio had some new Hitchcock slots which had very frequent random bonuses which made them fun (and made your money last longer, even if you eventually lost). We did play our slot golf game (18 ‘holes’ over 18 casinos, $20 stake each) and (you guessed it) MIL wiped the floor with the rest of us…by a wide margin she was crowned the slot golf queen. We did actually spend more time gambling than I thought we might – we weren’t sure how into it the in-laws would be but I think with MIL’s winnings they were both pretty keen to keep playing…FIL had as much luck on slots as he does horses (he had one die in the stall once – seriously) but he seemed to enjoy himself. He had a nice win ($90 or so I think) on Coyote Moon our last night at Wynn and was so excited…so that was cool.
We knew we were going to have a delay when we saw online the night before our flight home that the LGW-LAS flight was delayed by over 4 hours… a quick call down to reception the next morning extended check out on both rooms until 4pm for a nominal fee (also paid with TR credits) – totally handy to know before we checked out that the flight was delayed! Dropped the bags off as normal the next morning just to get rid of them and get checked in, and it wasn’t a surprise to be told that the flight was delayed when we got to the airport…at least we were prepared for it. What we weren’t prepared for was the stroke of luck to get pairs at the back again – this time those being sold for $30 each as they had extra leg room…only found this out as another man was arguing loudly with the check-in staff about how he had reserved a pair months ago, etc…they did try to explain to him that the plane had been reconfigured to allow for more legroom in those seats so they were now for sale – he wouldn’t pay, we asked if they were available and there were 4…snapped those up immediately and practically (OK, actually) danced away from the counter. Headed back to the strip for awhile and ended our Vegas experience with all 4 of us playing the Big Ben slots at Excalibur – I had a good win – up about $150…MIL and FIL also had wins…only my husband didn’t , but he played for ages on $20, and we all had loads of bonus rounds so.
We did get $15 meal vouchers at LAS when we finally arrived…used these for pizza and bottles of water (former to have a bit to eat before we boarded in the hopes we might sleep through the meal service and latter to have on the plane). I think I watched most of Iron Man on the way back but fell asleep shortly before the end so my husband had to tell me what happened. Flight home was fine – extra legroom was fantastic to have and made it much less uncomfortable. Arrival was smooth – hubby and I had signed up for IRIS previously and got straight through (brilliant for me travelling on an American passport, though with a significant delay in the flight departure there was almost no queue at immigration. Seemed to take forever to get our bags and the wonderfully careful folks in baggage had managed to rip an entire handle off the in-laws bag – they did make a claim for it. Getting to the car was very easy, straight to the Hilton, out the front, turn left and a few minutes walk – much easier than waiting with the throngs for the Summer Special bus.
The in-laws loved Vegas – we were so glad as we had worried we had hyped it too much over the years, but they really did enjoy it. They said that they hadn’t realised the scale of the place – how big it was and how much there was to do in addition to the slots. They did not venture out on their own too much but I think a second trip would see them being a bit more independently adventurous.
We’re back in April – cannot wait! Very much looking forward to it as always.