Las Vegas Trip

[wrp96]

Well, I am back from my first trip to Las Vegas and had a fabulous time. I went out for a wedding so only got to see a little of Vegas, but enjoyed it enough to want to go back.


Stayed at the Flamino Hotel with several of the other wedding guests. The room itself was decent. Bed was comfortable, but the furniture was old and scratched and dented. The bathroom for example was missing a lampshade. The room was clean but we saw a few ants in the room. We did not smell any smoke in the room, but the smell was definitely there in the elevators and of course the casino.

We booked the Flamingo last minute due to a price drop on a third party website. We were originally at the Renaissance off strip which might've been a nicer hotel but we couldn't beat the Flamingo for convenience for our needs. As a result we ended up in a connecting room on the 6th floor overlooking the Strip (everyone else had rooms together in a different part of the hotel). We enjoyed our view of the strip.





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[wrp96]

The Flamingo has a habitat area with Flamingos, Black Swans, Waterfalls, and Flowers that we enjoyed walking around.

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[wrp96]

There are also 2 very nice pool areas, plus a water slide. We especially loved the lagoon pool.

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[wrp96]

We had dinner at P.F. Changs at Planet Hollywood. It's a chain many in our group enjoy and lived up to expectations.

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[wrp96]

After dinner we headed over to Paris to catch the free shuttle to the Rio.

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[wrp96]

At the Rio, we caught the free Show in the Sky while waiting for the groom to arrive.

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We also caught shows by their World Champion Flare Bartenders

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Once the groom finally arrived we headed over to the Gold Coast for the bachelor party - graveyard bowling.

[wrp96]

After a night walking around in high heels and then bowling, my feet were hurting Saturday morning so for Saturday lunch we opted for Margaritaville because it was at the Flamingo. The food was surprisingly good - I enjoyed the conch fritters and the turkey burger.

[wrp96]

Vegas was packed this weekend - there were several conventions, plus the PBR, and the World Series of Poker.

The casinos we walked through were crowded and being well used as were the shopping malls.

The airport in Vegas was fairly nice. Checked in quickly and got through security quickly. Unfortunately didn't get to leave quickly as the construction at the airport was delaying all Southwest flights (like it delayed our flights coming in). If I had wanted to, I could've gambled right their at the gate while I waited for the plane to finally showed up.

[stephen_s]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing, Wrona.

[amybhole]

Thanks for the pics -- they make me a bit homesick. Glad you had fun!

[wrp96]

I had a blast. The whole weekend was like a magical mystery weekend as all we were told is to be at the Rio at 8pm on Friday night and then outside the hotel at 2:30 Saturday.

The wedding itself was actually out at Royal Links Golf Club in front of the clubhouse and the reception was on the roof of the Platinum. So while we were dancing and partying we had a fabulous view of the lit up Strip.

[wrp96]

Some random observations from this trip:

You have to get a boarding pass before you go through security. I'm standing in line for security in Las Vegas and the lady behind me asks, "where did you get your boarding pass?" When I told her downstairs, she goes, "you mean I can't get it at the gate?"

And from the world does not revolve around you files... I used offsite parking as did many of the other people on my flight. When we got on the shuttle bus, the driver asks where everyone is parked and about half were in the deck and half were on the flat lot. When we get to the offsite location, the driver heads to the uncovered lot first. Well, the couple next to me start throwing a fit because THEY weren't being dropped off first saying things like "well I wouldn't have parked in the deck if I had known I wasn't going to be dropped off first." When the driver finally headed to the deck (after finding the cars for the 2 couples that didn't remember where they parked), the rude couple were the first dropped off. And of course, their silver Lexus was taking up two parking spaces and was halfway out in the pathway.

Always check to see what flight is boarding before getting in line. As I was boarding my flight home, I noticed the lady next to me and the man in front of me had the same number - which shouldn't be possible. I spoke up about it and the lady blew me off instead of checking it (I had been talking with the guy and knew he was on the correct flight). Well, the lady and her husband had walked up to the gate, saw a flight was boarding, assumed it was theirs, and just stepped in line - not paying attention to the monitor or the announcements that the flight was for Little Rock not Orange County.

[Annette]

Those are awesome Vegas pics!


Why is it that when some people enter an airport - or in some cases leave for one - they check their brains at the door? Or they forget how to read?

Almost every flight I take I see the same kind of things: people going up to the gate agent and asking which flight is there next (that's why there are signs), what time the flight is departing (that's why there are signs), just getting in line at the wrong gates, sitting in the wrong seats because they honestly couldn't tell which was row 11 and row 12 or because they don't know which ones are A, B or C. I saw one woman have a fit because she was told she was in a window seat and she was sure the little map at the row meant that A was the aisle seat.

ETA: Yes I know that the monitors aren't always right - I've been through that myself. But most of the time they are, and when you see a bunch of people lined up at the gate, and the monitor says "Phoenix", then what do you think they're going to say when you go to the gate agent and ask if this is the flight to Austin?

And every single flight SOMEONE has to go up and ask if the flight is boarding yet - usually when there's no plane there or when the incoming flight is obviously still deplaning.

[MagicHatter]

Those were great pictures. I actully went to Vegas on 10/20 to see a Cirque du Soleil show, Criss Angel Believe. The show was really cool and I enjoyed it. We stayed at the Luxor where the show is performed. Have you heard about this show?

[wrp96]

Those were great pictures. I actully went to Vegas on 10/20 to see a Cirque du Soleil show, Criss Angel Believe. The show was really cool and I enjoyed it. We stayed at the Luxor where the show is performed. Have you heard about this show?


Absolutely! I'm a huge Cirque fan. My original plan was to see at least one Cirque show while I was in Las Vegas, but Hurricane Ike sort of wrecked my budget (and my roof) so I was just glad to get to go to Vegas at all.

[tdew]

And of course, their silver Lexus was taking up two parking spaces and was halfway out in the pathway.

For some reason that doesn't surprise me.

[MagicHatter]

Absolutely! I'm a huge Cirque fan. My original plan was to see at least one Cirque show while I was in Las Vegas, but Hurricane Ike sort of wrecked my budget (and my roof) so I was just glad to get to go to Vegas at all.

Sorry to hear about the roof and Hurricane issues. There's some behind scenes videos of the show and of Criss talking about the show on Youtube.com/CirqueLasVegas. Its not the show but at least you can see something :)

[Gesualdo]

Great photos. Were you there with Janet? She seemed to disappear to Vegas (for a wedding) at the same time.

[wrp96]

No Janets in this wedding party. We did run into several other wedding parties while we were there so maybe we ran into each other.:p

[AaronK]

Multiple weddings, in Vegas???

Nah, must have been a once in a blue moon occurrence....