Previously: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

We finish up this series with the (way) lesser edge of the Strip, and a few things off-strip.

Circus Circus

Really does have circus acts.  Has an indoor amusement park, with a decent roller coaster.

On the whole, the place is cheap, and it shows.  For some reason we once thought it’d be okay to eat at the casual dining place here.  Let’s just say that it turned out to be the high school cafeteria of the strip.

Sahara

If you want to know what it was like to live in the Seventies, then run, don’t walk, to the Sahara.  The carpeting, the ambiance, the smell — it’s all original, as far as I can tell.

Has a connected Nascar Cafe, which has a decent roller coaster named Speed.

House comedian is Roseanne Barr.

Stratosphere

A rather dumpy Vegas version of the Space Needle.  The only reason to stop by, and you have to do it once, is to ride the three rides on top, 866 feet above the Strip.

Last time I was there, I took video of two of them myself…

Insanity:

Insanity

and X-Scream:

X-Scream

They might not look like much, but consider that both dangle you over the edge, again, over 800 feet above the Strip.  Highly recommended, at least once.  The third ride, Big Shot, catapults you over 1000 feet up — offers an excellent view of the mountains.

Anyway, that’s pretty much the strip in a 3000+ word nutshell.  Off the strip, I have some recommendations:

The Rio

Owned by Harrah’s, so you can catch a shuttle from Harrah’s or Caesar’s Palace, or it’s a very short taxi ride.

It’s an interesting place, with the Masquerade Village featuring the Show In The Sky, as well as a Lucky Strike Lanes bowling alley, an excellent buffet, and the two & only Penn & Teller.

We’ve seen Penn & Teller twice, and it was excellent each time.

Fremont Street

I don’t find any of the downtown casinos to be all that interesting, but it’s worth a taxi ride over at night to see the Fremont St. Experience,  a block long canopy slash video screen.

And that’s about what I know about Las Vegas.  As mentioned a few installments ago, here’s a quick “who owns what” for the 4 major companies that own most of the Strip.

MGM-Mirage: Excalibur, MGM Grand, New York New York, Monte Carlo, Mirage, Luxor, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Circus Circus.  They are currently building CityCenter, and they used to own but just sold Treasure Island.

Harrahs: Harrahs, Flamingo, Bally’s, Caesar’s Palace, Rio, Paris Las Vegas, Imperial Palace.

Wynn: Wynn Las Vegas, Encore, and the rumor is they might buy Bellagio from MGM Mirage.

Las Vegas Sands: Venetian, Palazzo

Happy Gambling…

(Start with Part 1 and Part 2.)

Mirage

The Mirage is the resort that kicked off the current era of the Strip,  what I’ll call the “How can we go bigger and more garish than the last one?” era.  (I tease because I love, though.)

It is home to the second-best Cirque du Soleil show on the Strip — Love, based on the music of The Beatles.  It’s also the home of Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat.  And, of course, the original free outdoor attraction, their volcano, which erupts hourly at night.  All of these are recommended.

Venetian

The first thing you are likely to notice outside the Venetian are the people getting gondola rides through the canals that snake through the inside and outside of the building.  Sometimes the gondola drivers sing.  I guess this is recommended for people who really want a gondola ride, and/or want to appear in random stranger’s vacation videos.

Venetian is home to the Blue Man Group, which we saw on our last visit.  It was good, but I’d recommend hitting at least Love and the soon-to-be-discussed Mystere, at a minimum, before you consider spending money on this one.  (On a side-note, during each performance they create a Jackson Pollock-style painting, and the one from the show we saw now resides in my office.)

Venetian is also home to a Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum which is highly recommended as a fun diversion.  Especially the horror exhibit, which is done as a bit of a show with a human actor.

The Grand Canal Shoppes are worth a walk-through if you aren’t shopped out yet.

The Venetian rivals Caesars Palace in terms of finding (or rather, not finding) your way around.  It does not have a buffet.  And I do not recommend staying here, because….

Palazzo

On our last trip we stayed at Venetian’s new sister hotel/casino, The Palazzo, and it instantly became our favorite place on the Strip.  Clearly, Las Vegas Sands took what they learned from Venetian and built on that.

We played plenty of slots and Blackjack here.  The dealers were friendly and efficient, and we even found some $5 games.

Everything is as opulent as Venetian, but here you can actually find your way around.  It has its own set of high-end shops, and a great show in Jersey Boys, which we did not see as we’ve seen the touring production back home.

If you want to go the luxury route, the suites here are amazing.  Nothing like heading back to your room, taking the few steps down from your bed area to the living room area, grabbing the remote control to raise or lower your blinds, and relaxing on your giant wrap-around couch.  About our only complaint was that at night our fabulous view was taken up by the worst free show on the strip, Sirens Of TI (more on that in a little bit).

No buffet here, either, but it’s a short walk to the Wynn Las Vegas, so that’s okay.

Treasure Island

About to pass hands over to its third owner, TI (as it’s mostly known) represents the best and the worst of the Strip.

The worst: their free night-time outdoor show, Sirens Of TI.  It involves a group of Pirates being lured in by a group of Sirens.  About the time the Sirens start disco dancing, unless you’re a teenage boy, you’ll wish they’d just given you some of whatever they were smoking when they designed the show, instead.

The best: Mystere, the best Cirque du Soileil show on the strip, hands down.  Maybe the best anywhere.  You want crazy acrobatic feats?  You want to fear for the safety of the performers?  This is your show.

Wynn Las Vegas / Wynn Encore

Wynn Las Vegas and its new sister hotel, the Encore, set new standards for over the top opulence on the Strip.  Owned and created by Steve Wynn, who designed Bellagio, you can see he’s trying to out-do that casino and everything else in Vegas by a large margin.

The buffet at Wynn Las Vegas, at least the brunch I was at, is amazing.  If you want it, they probably have it, and none of it came out of a box or a microwave.

For some reason, I have good luck with the penny Megabucks slot machines at the Wynn — well, not “won the $15M jackpot” good luck, but put in a $20 and walked away with more than $100, anyhow.

Wynn’s house show is Le Reve, a Cirque-like show designed by “Drago,” who designed many shows for Cirque du Soleil.  It was fairly critically savaged in its early months.  I presume they’ve improved it but I have not seen it myself.

Encore’s house show was Danny Gans, who unfortunately passed away suddenly this month.

And on that down note, that’s all for this installment.  The next and last installment will cover the north end of the Strip, and some notable off-strip properties.

Happy gambling.

[Update: Part 4 is now available.]

If you haven’t read it, you should start with Part 1.

Carrying on, then…

Monte Carlo

I’ve never even been inside this one.  I know that Lance Burton is their headlining act.  And once I turned on my television to see that a fire was raging on their top floor.  That’s all I know.

Planet Hollywood

We’ve played some slots here — slots are slots, though.  The ambiance is nice enough.

The Miracle Mile Shops are a good place to shop, except, be prepared for timeshare people at every point of ingress/egress.

My boss stays here sometimes and likes it — that’s a pretty high endorsement.  But I haven’t stayed here myself.

Paris Las Vegas

Has its own Eiffel Tower (not quite to scale) which you can go up to the top of for some $$.  I’ve never been, but I plan to on my next trip.  I believe there’s a restaurant up there, too.

Even excepting that, it’s a must see, just for the ambiance of the casino.  The ceilings are painted to resemble the sky (which is a trendy thing to do on the Strip, but it’s particularly well done here), and along the sides you’ll find replica Paris streets, including, natch, several places to get awesome pastries.

We’ve played Blackjack here, and found the dealers to be friendly and fun (and not just because we both came out ahead).

They have a buffet of French food that’s probably wonderful if you like French food.  I was once taken to this buffet by my boss, and he ate lots of food while I sat and watched him.  I ate some sort of potato — possibly French Fries.  And I drank a Coke, or something.  That was about it.  So I haven’t been back.

Ballys

Completely unremarkable.  It’s just sort of there.  No reason to go in that I’m aware of.

Trivia:  what is now Ballys was the original MGM Grand, and  was the site of a 1980 fire that is still the worst disaster in the history of Nevada.  87 people died.

Bellagio

Just a beautiful, beautiful place.  You must go see it.  And you must come back at night to see the fountains.  It has its own museum, and an incredible Chihuly glass ceiling in the lobby.

The house show is another Cirque du Soleil production, O.  It’s a little too tilted towards the pretentious side for my tastes, but the great use of water makes it worthwhile anyway.

Bill’s Gamblin Hall

You might find cheap Blackjack here, but really — there’s no point.  Just pass on by.

Flamingo

Has a wildlife habitat with some Chilean flamingos (natch).  Has a gift shop with lots of Flamingo novelty items, which comes in handy if your Mom happens to collect flamingo-related stuff.

It’s relatively low priced, and in the center of the strip — we’ve considered staying here for those reasons, but as of yet, have not.

The house show used to be Toni Braxton, but now it’s Donny & Marie.  Seriously.  Also has a show with fake psychic (yeah, redundant, I know) John Edward.

Caesars Palace

We stayed in a deluxe suite here and it was, as you’d expect, very nice.  Of the Harrahs owned properties (I think at the end of the last post in this series I’ll add a “Who Owns What” list), it’s by far the nicest.  It has a nice food court, and lots of restaurants.  It has fine gambling of any type you could probably want.

It’s also a Byzantine maze that I get lost in every time I enter.  And that’s a bit irritating.

Caesars is home to the Forum Shops, which offers the best shopping on the Strip, complete with spiral escalators and other fun stuff (like a three-floor FAO Schwartz, and one of the Strip’s 2 Apple stores).  Forum Shops is also home to the moving statues, in which the Roman statues in the middle of some concourses come to life every hour and try to bore you to death with a “show.”

Restaurants in the Forum Shops include Planet Hollywood and Cheesecake Factory, if you’re in to eating at chain restaurants.

Fashion Show Mall

It’s a mall.  It actually does have fashion shows multiple times per day, but, otherwise, it’s a mall.  It has the Strip’s other Apple store.

The only reason I’m noting it at all is because of the outdoor restaurant Stripburger.  If you like burgers (even if only, gag, veggie burgers) and/or milkshakes, eat here.  Just do it.  Thank me later.  They’ll even put a shot in your milkshake if you like, because, you know, it’s Vegas.

Harrahs Las Vegas

I don’t really like this place, because, even more so than most casinos, they try really, really hard to make you wind your way through everything when you are trying to get somewhere (particularly to the Monorail stop).  It’s all very crowded and not that nice.

The buffet is okay — if you’re there and you’re hungry, it’s an okay enough place to eat.  Even better, go out the side into their outdoor Carnaval Court and head to Ghiardelli’s and gorge yourself on chocolate and ice cream.

House comedian is the always very funny Rita Rudner.  Her, I can recommend.  Harrahs, not so much.

Casino Royale, O’Sheas

See what I wrote about Bill’s Gamblin Hall above, and ditto & ditto.

Well, O’Sheas does have a Burger King (mmm, chicken fries), and Vince Neil Ink, if you’re looking for some hair-metal-endorsed tattoos.

And that’s about all I can stand to write for right now.  It’s looking like this series might stretch to four parts, as we still have a decent amount of the “good” part of the Strip to go, plus the leftovers to the North and the off-Strip properties like the Rio.

Happy gambling…

[Update: Part 3 is now available.]

My cousin will soon be making her first trip to Las Vegas, and while I got to talk to her briefly about it, as usually is the case I didn’t remember everything useful I might have.  That and the fact I needed a post to kick off this blog gave me the bright idea to take on the Strip casino-by-casino, giving my experiences.

The level of detail will vary wildly based on how much I know about any particular place.  ”Gambling” to me means slots and Blackjack only, so if you’re in to poker there’s nothing here for you.  I’ve eaten at lots of buffets and seen most of the headlining shows, though.  My taste in food is “ordinary” so while you can get just about any crazy speciality food you want somewhere on the Strip, I can’t help you with that, either.

One more thing to say upfront: just about everything in Vegas costs 2-3 times what it should.  Accept it in advance, budget for it, and then just let it go — you’ll have a much better time.

And so we begin at the South end of the Strip…

Mandalay Bay

Never gambled nor stayed here.  I’d imagine it would be annoying just because of the distance involved with going anywhere else on the Strip.

I have, however, been to the Shark Reef.  It was fairly interesting, and somewhat of a good value (remember, again, that any discussion of costs here is relative) at less than $20 per person.  Nevertheless, on a first trip I’d skip it.  Better stuff to see and do.

The Mandalay Place shops are somewhat interesting, with a small independent book store and a fairly cool toy store, if either of those things interest you.  But there’s better shopping to be had further up the Strip.

Luxor

Home of the much-maligned Criss Angel Cirque Du Soleil show, Believe.  Haven’t seen it, but I have a long-standing plan to take another cousin to Vegas, and she’s a Criss Angel fan, so, for better or for worse, someday I will.

Haven’t gambled in the casino, except maybe once to play some slots.  Seeing the pyramid structure of it all from the inside is pretty cool, though.  And they have an IMAX theatre, if you’re looking to kill 90 minutes.

Excalibur

I’ve stayed at Excalibur several times, and highly recommend it as a discount place to stay.  The rooms are cheap(er) and clean.  The buffet is fairly good.  The food court has a Krispy Kreme.  The only negative, and it is a big one, is that they position people at the entrance/exit to the room towers and relentlessly hound you about signing up for a timeshare tour in exchange for show tickets.  I really hate that.

The gambling at Excalibur is fine.  They have your usual assortment of slot machines.  You can always find $10 Blackjack and sometimes even $5 Blackjack, though those tables are always crowded.  The dealers are polite, if not bursting with personality.

For the kids, there’s a fairly decent arcade on the lower level, complete with the chance to collect tickets for small, junky prizes.

The house comedian is Louis Anderson (it’s a budget place, see) and the house shows are a medieval dinner show thing and the male stripper revue, Thunder From Down Under.  Yeah, I’m not linking that one.  If that floats your boat, you can Google it yourself.

As far as getting around goes, you can walk from here to anywhere in the heart of the Strip, if you are in okay shape.  And though it is a hike itself, you can head over to the MGM Mirage and get the monorail to reach just about anywhere.

Overall, I recommend Excalibur highly.  Just be prepared to keep your head down and march past the timeshare people.  I make a game out of it, using other hapless guests as human shields to slide through.

Tropicana

I don’t believe I’ve ever been inside.  I can only say that they have annoying timeshare people planted on the walkways outside of the place.  They seem to feature traveling exhibitions — at various times I’ve seen they had Bodies, and the Titanic artifacts show.  We’ve seen both of those in Pittsburgh, and so had no interest.

New York New York

I stayed here once, way back in 2000.  It’s a step up from Excalibur, but not a huge one.  A little bit nicer, and a little bit pricier.  Has an even nicer arcade for the kids, too.

As far as food goes, we like the restaurant America, as well as the ESPN Sportszone (which has some cool but frequently out-of-service games as well).  Several places around the casino have Krispy Kreme donuts.

Here we find our first rollercoaster of the Strip.  I’d say it is exciting in that it has plenty of twists and turns and loops.  And I’d say it’s painful, especially if you have long legs.  I’ve ridden it twice, and gotten a headache each time from getting knocked around.  If you like rollercoasters, might as well ride it once.

House show is Zumanity, the “sensual side” of Cirque Du Soleil.  Along with Believe, its the only Cirque show on the Strip I haven’t seen yet.

Same deal with getting around — just go across the walkway into MGM Mirage and you can reach the Monorail.

MGM Mirage

MGM Mirage is unfathomably gigantic.  The casino goes on and on for what seems like forever, leading into an area of shops and restaurants that is just as big.  And if you want to get to the Monorail, you’ll walk through it all.

The Cirque Du Soleil show here is Ka.  Saw it.  Didn’t care for it.  I classify Cirque shows by their ratio of artsy pretentiousness to crazy acrobatic feats.  I prefer more of the latter, and Ka provides the former in spades.

Other shows — you can see the Lion Habitat for free.  David Copperfield performs here frequently — we saw his show and it was good, but no Penn & Teller.  They have lots of visiting headliners — we’ve seen both Dennis Miller and Robin Williams here, for instance.

Only played slots here.  Once, in 2000, I found myself with time to kill and only a $100 bill.  I put it into a slot planning to cash out at $90 or so.  For some reason, though, a small crowd gathered around me and I felt compelled to keep going.  I left with $0.  Not the MGM’s fault, though.  Remember to gamble responsibly.

Haven’t stayed here.  I see no real advantage to it over the cheaper NY NY and Excalibur.  The buffet is okay, but not spectacular.  They have a Rainforest Cafe, which is what it is.  Worth a trip if you’ve never been to one.

End Of Part I

And that’s about enough typing for me.  In Part II I’ll tackle the middle of the Strip, and in Part III I’ll finish up with the North end of the Strip and the noteworthy off-Strip properties.

Happy gambling…

[Update: Part 2 is now available.]