And We Went To Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Sunday September 16 – Thursday September 20, 2007

Written July 27, 2023

The Planning

One of the earliest west coast trips I planned out was a 4-night stay to Las Vegas, Nevada during September 2007. ​There were so many options for hotels that offered unique experiences, I wanted to see all of them! I started to think about what I wanted to get out of our visit and decided to focus on trying to keep the price of the trip low. After some research I selected the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino (closed in 2016, reopened as Park MGM in 2018), it seemed to be near to other casinos, and the best price for my budget. Due to the distance, we opted to fly. Airline used for this trip was Southwest Airlines and we flew in and out of  MacArthur Airport in New York.  Since we were only staying four nights, there wasn’t really a need to check our bags. The flight from MacArthur to Harry Reed International Airport (it was called McCarran International airport during the time of this trip). Our flight was approximately 5 and ½ hours.

Arrival at the airport in Las Vegas and finding the hotel shuttles was very easy. Although Monte Carlo didn’t have its own shuttle, taking a general shuttle helped provide sightseeing opportunities in the area. I couldn’t believe how big each hotel was. All like individual castles! For reference, Monte Carlo was north of New York, New York Hotel and Casino and south of the Bellagio Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

Photo #1- New York, New York casino

Photo #2 - Tropicana casino

Photo #3 - Flamingo casino

The Goals

There were two agenda items for this trip, first was head to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville restaurant (this seems to have closed as per the Margaritaville website). The second, to visit Star Trek: The Experience (Wikipedia link) at the Las Vegas Hotel Hilton (now called Westgate Las Vegas). Dinner at Margaritaville, was to be tackled right after checking into the hotel. The way I looked at it, we’d have a planned place to eat, it should be entertaining AND we’d get to look at some of the casinos on the way! The check-in process for Monte Carlo and finding our assigned hotel room when smoothly. I was surprised at how much walking there was from the front desk to the elevators. Although I am not one to gamble, I was eager to see the casino area. Little did I know that most of my ventures out of the hotel would be through the casino.

We walked out on the street from Monte Carlo to Margaritaville (Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino), it wasn’t far, approximately ½ a mile away. The first thing I noticed was that it was hotter than I expected. The second was that there were sprinkler type machines spritzing water as we walked along the sidewalk. The third, was that walking past even one casino hotel seemed to take a long time. I was happy when we arrived at Margaritaville. It was very similar to the one in Orlando and that comforted me. I was also ridiculously thirsty! Two margaritas, please! We shared the volcano nachos, and each had a cheeseburger in paradise. Since Margaritaville was on the opposite side of the strip from the hotel, my traveling companion and I weaved in and out of the different casinos on the way back to our hotel. We didn’t have any urgency to return to the hotel, so this let us look around inside each place and helped keep us cool on our walk back. We walked past Paris and through Casino Royale. The rest of the evening we spent playing slots in the casino at Monte Carlo and deciding on how to plan out the rest of our trip. One thing we both agreed on, we needed to grab some water bottles. Neither of us were used to the dry heat.

Star Trek: The Experience

After that first walk, we utilized the monorail frequently. At the time, the monorail cost approximately $5 per round trip, and an unlimited for a few days could cost approximately $15. We chose the unlimited. Since the monorail system was on the east side of the Las Vegas strip and we were on the west, there was a bit of a walk to get there, but it was mostly in air conditioning through the casinos. Luckily, Las Vegas Hilton was along the monorail system, it was the second to last stop. This helped us plan out our next day, we’d visit Star Trek: The Experience and on our way there we’d hop off at each of the monorail stops and play the slots in each of the casinos along the way.

Star Trek: The Experience was fun. I don’t remember the price of admission, but I do remember that the drinks were a bit expensive. We did each have a drink at Quark’s, and I was able to take a photo with an Andorian. I was not a fan of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise when it first ran, but I streamed it several years after this trip and I am amused to share that my favorite character from that series would be Shran, an Andorian military officer. Unfortunately, the Star Trek attraction closed in 2008.

Photo #1 - space drinks from Quark's inside Star Trek Experience

Photo #2 - Star Trek Vulcan teddy bears from Star Trek Experience

Photo #3 - Quarks Bar & Restaurant sign from inside the Star Trek Experience

To the North

Now that we’ve been out and about on the Las Vegas strip, we were feeling a bit more familiar with the area. By this time, we had visited 10+ casinos south of our hotel. So, on this day we ventured north. To the north we visited Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay. There were others further than Mandalay Bay but that was as far as we walked. I wanted to ride the elevator in Luxor because I’ve read that the elevator doesn’t go directly up and down but sort of diagonally because of the shape of the building. We did spend some time looking, but ultimately my companion and I were unable to locate the elevators. It was this day that my partner decided to pick up tickets to a show. I mean, we were in Vegas, we had to see a show! The ticket booth was across the street from our hotel, we stood in line for a little while, and voila! David Copperfield tickets for our last night in the area.

The Food

I realize now as I re-read my entry, that I have only written about food once so far. The first morning I wanted to eat in New York New York, so we sat in an indoor cobblestone street and had an egg sandwich on a roll with coffee. There really is food everywhere! Frequently it’s tucked into a corner of a casino or down a corridor, but the restaurants are large. Almost all the casinos/hotels have buffets, and we hit two of them on this trip. We ate dinner at the Monte Carlo buffet and breakfast one morning at the MGM Grand. Our third night we ate dinner at House of Blues which was in Mandalay Bay. On our monorail trips, we passed by Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar in Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino so often that I wanted to eat there too, but it was always very crowded. I am not big on crowds. It looks like Toby Keith’s in Las Vegas closed in 2020.

Photo #1 - inside Excalibur casino

Photo #2 - Excalibur casino

Photo #3 - roller coaster outside of New York New York casino

So Much Left to See

On Wednesday, our last full day in Las Vegas, we went south again in hopes of catching some of the events that we’d missed the past two days. One of which was The Fountains of Bellagio. The first two times we tried to catch the show it was cancelled due to high winds. This time, we arrived early but the show never seemed to start. As an alternative, we explored inside the Bellagio which was beautifully decorated with a fall harvest theme. We also visited Madam Tussauds wax museum. One of the other things we wanted to see was the Sirens of TI (Wikipedia link). This was an event put on by the Treasure Island casino, it seems to have closed in 2013. We caught the tail end of the show. Later that night we saw David Copperfield at MGM Grand Hotel and Casino. I’ve never seen his performance and he did not disappoint. After the show we headed back to our hotel and ate at a fancy restaurant with white tablecloths. I wish I remembered the name of it. It was a bit more upscale than I am used to, plus we were the last patrons to enter. The wait staff were very attentive, but we felt out of place so we finished up our meal as quickly as we could.

The Wrap Up

Last day in Las Vegas! Our flight was mid-afternoon and check out was 2 hours before we needed to leave for the airport. Concierge agreed to watch our bags so we could do something nearby. It was a bit sad, there was still so much to see and do. Our last hours on the strip were spent across the street from the hotel to see the M&M Store and Coca-Cola store. The two hours we had went quick! We took some last-minute photos. Went back to the hotel to collect our bags and onto the airport we went.

Photo #1 - Eiffel Tower outside Paris casino

Photo #2 - display inside Bellagio casino

Photo #3 - inside NY, NY casino - it's where we ate breakfast as mentioned above

Things I learned from planning this trip: Each casino is huge. Plan your day accordingly because it could take an hour or so to get from one hotel to the one next door. Hydrate! This was my first experience with dry heat.

Things I keep in mind when organizing a trip for myself: always leave something to go back for, this trip would be seeing the Fountains of Bellagio. It’s too bad some of the other things like Toby Keith’s restaurant and Sirens of TI are no longer active. Also maybe having a car to travel off the strip.

Some information, such as walking distances and name changes was sought by using ChatGPT.

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