Vegas, for non-gamblers, on a budget?
 

My wife surprised me on our anniversary with a trip to Vegas in October. We're going down to be part of a wedding, but will have 3 free days down there. As I'm in school and not working ATM, our budget is a bit tight. I've been told eating is cheaper just off the strip, and that you get free hooch at the slots, which is a cheap way to get your buzz on before you head out on the town.

I want to do some shooting down there, maybe some desert off roading or something along those lines.

Anyone have any other tips?

there is alot of Gun ranges to let off some steam.


I heard there is shopping too at vegas:thumbsup:.

I took the wife there aswell, and we rented a car, drove to hover dam.


Make sure you take the Dam Guide, dont wander off the dam tour, take all the dam pictures you want, let me know if you want any more dam questions?:haha:

you could go check out the grand canyon and hoover dam but that would take the whole day

How far away from Vegas is the damn dam?

is the GM driving experience still around?

thats the one where you get into a horrible car crash caused by faulty design/construction, and then find out you can't sue the new GM for liability?

When you heading down? Some of us are planning on a Turkey weekend invasion!

from the actual strip, i'd say it's about an hour with traffic and such

October 13th to 17th.

The dam is close eh? That's one I'd like to hit up for sure now.

We're staying at The Excaliber, which I'm pretty stoked about, as they've got one of those medieval tournament dinner show deals too.

I've found a few ranges now too, though they're a bit more pricey than I would have thought.

Unfortunately the GM experience was just a short run down there. That was my first thought too, as you could go beat a multi hundred horse car for a ten spot. Oh well.

Oh no not the Excaliber. My wife and I call that one the "Pukecaliber" because of the smell, but maybe something was off that day. :p No worries though as you are connected to the Luxor and Mandalay Bay (which is where I stayed) and they're a bit nicer. You also just have to walk across the street to get to New York New York and MGM Grand. If you guys like animals you have to go check out Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden at the Mirage and see the white tigers.

Also on the note of GM, Las Vegas is one of only a few places in the US where you can rent the Corvette ZHZ from Hertz. I think it was about $200US/day, but I ended up with a Corolla instead :(

Hoover Damn is definately worth it... awesome view. Another good view is from the top of the Stratosphere hotel. Some great rides up there too. :)
Hell, just walking around the different hotels will take up more than a day.

Hoover Dam isn't that far but Grand Canyon is unless you take a tour by air from Vegas.

Window shopping in Caesar's Palace is fun, especially the car store full of exotics and customs. When I was there I also checked out the
Imperial Palace Auto Collection (http://autocollections.com/), it's huge and touted as the World's Largest Classic Car Showroom. That's definitely worth taking a look at.

There's plenty of shows, might be able to snag some good deals online if you can see something you really want to catch. There's some theme park rides like in Circus Circus and the one on the outside of New York New York as well.

I went to the Mario Andretti Racing Experience at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (http://www.andrettiracing.com) which was amazing. There's a stock car experience one as well. Might be some racing events there going on when you're through too.

Fremont Street is awesome to check out as well, live music and lots of events.http://www.vegasexperience.com

I've been there twice, neither times old enough to drink or gamble and had a good time.

i remember when i went to see hoover dam, i didn't find it that great because we weren't allowed to stay on the actual dam. we had to see it from somewhere else. they said they had this 'rule' because of the whole 9/11 incident

If you want free booze go to the old part of Vegas. They come around way more with the free booze. We stayed at the Aladin (now planet hollywood) and I only got one free drink when I was playing a poker tournament.

^ isn't everything cheaper in downtown las vegas?

The biggest buffet, family feed bag style was in the Golden Nugget Casino over by Freemont st. Well worth the $10-12 bucks.
They are right in saying that the best, strongest, and most free flowing booze was on freemont st. as well. I'd start there for food and drinks, then hop a cab back to the strip.

my wife is from vegas and we go there quite often.
the dam is around 1-2hrs from vegas.. nothing much to see..but if u havent seen it.. go for it.. if u plan to drive thru the strip, it could take 45m just to drive thru it in busy traffic.

There are 2 outlets in vegas if u like shopping. they are really cheap.. i bought these puma ferrari shoes for like $20USD last time i went.. my wife went crazy at the COACH store.

eating in the hotels are expensive, but if you are a late eater.. there are lots of hotels that serve grade A steaks for a few bucks after a certain time (if i remember, pass 12am)

if u plan to spend most of your time in the strip, i dont recommend renting a car. parking is free at most hotels.. there are shuttles from hotel to hotel as well..
many shows.. Magic shows are quite interesting. i've seen most of them. dont recommend angel's.

I just went for the 2nd time in June. I have to agree I went to the Hoover damn last time and it isn't worth the drive IMO.

I also stayed at the Excaliber. Not the nicest hotel but the room was clean and updated and the gym is pretty nice. Really you won't be spending much time there anyway.

Buying souvenirs is really pricey in the hotels so walk the strip and look for the cheap convenience/souvenier stores. I wanted to rent the Gallardo or Viper that were available! But really if you are staying on the strip just walk or cab it. I got front row seats at a discount online to Cirque De Soleil at Treasure Island. Great show!

Vegas has all kinds of deals right now as their tourism industry has taken a beating.

Well that was an interesting place.....

Got to see a fair bit of Vegas by foot, and a bit more by cab.

The Excaliber was good for us. It's old and tacky, just the way I like it.

We saw the KA show by Cirque du Soleil. It's absolutely amazing, and apparently not rated as high as some of the others. I'll be checking the other ones out next time for sure. We also went to the Tournament of Kings in our hotel, were I proceded to get drunk and heckle my face off. It was great. Shouting down the French king, in French, was great, as was telling the midget jester to "stand up and say that again" after he trash talked our seating area made the night for those of us seated in the Russia section.

The show at Treasure Island was pretty good for a free show, same with the water show out front at the Bellagio.

I found that the food we have here back home is generally better and cheaper than the places we ate in Vegas. I wasn't expecting great chow at the buffets, but we had a meal at one of the Wolfgang Puck restaurants, and was sorely let down, especially by the price and service that came with the food.

All in all a good trip, despite the 3 hour delay in our flight home, and I'd likely go back again. Next time with more budget to see stuff outside of town.

you have to watch "O" at the Bellagio, it is the best show by far.

+1
Definitely my favorite out of all the shows i've seen

I also enjoyed Lance Burton @ the Monte Carlo if you like magic... and Penn/ Teller is really good as well...

We had tickets to Lance Burton, but gave them to the young son of the people we were travelling with. I'd like to see him, he's been compared to Copperfield by the people we got the tickets from.

wayne brady is really good at the venetian

When you check in to the hotel slip the clerk a $20.

http://www.thetwentydollartrick.com/