I'm in Vegas now. I've actually been to Vegas about 20-30 times. In the US I live about 400 miles away so it's easy to get over here. I'm visiting the US now so I always include a trip. Vegas used to be the ultimate bargain, but it's turned more into a resort town than the old gambling pit stop. In college in LA I could have $300 cash and hit the road on a Friday afternoon. You'd have $100 covering the gas and hotel, and $200 to play with. That's pretty much impossible these days. Everything is bigger now. And bigger is pretty cool. But their ability to handle crowds and direct traffic hasn't kept pace with the increase in traffic. You have hotels that were built for 3,000 to 4,000 rooms expanded to 5,000 to 6,000 rooms with the same size registration area. Checking in to my hotel today was a 30 minute wait with a line that was about 100 people long. I just called the front desk to ask a question and I finally hung up after being on hold for 3 minutes. When we left the MGM Grand earlier today it took the valet 25 minutes to get our car. WTF? Driving somewhere now means you have to add on 30 minutes before you're in your car and on your way. The restaurant we went to was about 5 miles away but it produces a 45-minute trip with the hotel exit and driving through traffic. You can use a taxi, but the rides have become longer over the years due to traffic. After the Penn & Teller show last night the taxi line took about 20 minutes to get through. The taxis arrive one after the next in a line, so it's not like anyone was waiting for the next one to show it. It just took that long to load everyone in front of us. Some of the casinos have built a monorail to get from one hotel to the next, but the monorail stations are so far towards the back that it's usually faster to just get a taxi. Once you arrive at your destination you have to walk from the station back to the heart of the hotel. Everything is now a very long walk away in Vegas. Getting from my room to the swimming pool at MGM took about 15 minutes of walking. Through the casino, through the shopping mall area, etc. In the new casinos your almost guaranteed to walk past a Starbucks, McDonalds, Souvenir Shop, etc, before you can actually reach the pool. I checked in to the Luxor tonight and accidentally used the valet for the new section they just built. Apparently they have two completelly different valets. The problem was that I was staying in the main pyramid area and not the new tower area so that makes a 15 minute walk to the right front desk. That's when I got in the line for 30 minutes. When I check out I have to walk back to the new tower to get my car from that valet. And the bargain? Gone. Vegas is now one of the most expensive cities I've ever visited. We arrived and when to the cafe, a casual restaurant on the casino floor. Club sandwich? $17. Meatloaf? $17. Eggs and corned beef hash? $15. Appetizer? $10. Drinks? $20. We spent $79 at a friggen cafe. In the old days the rookes would go to Circus Circus to get the $1.99 buffet. Good buffets were about $10 maybe 8 years ago and now they're over $20. In my room? Internet connection: $13 for 24 hours. Cola is $2 in the machine, or $2.25 in the shop. Cigarettes? $7.50 per pack. The most I've ever paid in my life. Some casinos in Vegas used to give you free cigs like they did drinks. Now they're the most expensive I've ever seen. Room service? $6 delivery charge. A hamburger? $13. $19 to have a hamburger delivered to your room. Not including tip or tax. I used to pay $19 for the entire room in 1999. And it's the same room. The Luxor used to run $49 specials. Now I'm paying $99 but it's the same room. Literally. The fixtures, carpet, curtains, etc look like they've never been changed. The AC unit has one of those top panels but the panel has fallen off and the knob for the temperature is broken off. The room key, which you need to insert to access the elevator, doesn't recognize my key. New casinos are building all suite rooms and there's a gap forming between the new and old resorts just like in the 80s. The place I'm in now obviously has a maintenance problem and it's hard to believe they'll be able to compete in the future. This is the new budget hotel in Vegas, where even tho the quality is slipping they can still charge $100 on a Sunday night. So now compare all of that with a college kid with $300 cash in his hand. Anyway, I just had to vent. ------------------------ Off the point, but Penn & Teller were good. At the end of the show the crowd funnels through a large hallway to exit, and Penn & Teller hang out there and let you shake their hands and take picture with them. They answer questions and sign autographs. Really old school.
Like any city that was once dead in the U.S. The prices go down. It's like how there cheap housing in temecula, the second it becomes really populated, then more business and things show up there driving up the price. As for food, the price has sure as hell gone up.On average a cheap meal to eat out is now $7-12. Hell if I get a meal that costs $5.00 I now consider that a real good deal. It's what happens when inflation occurs.
Wow. Im heading to Vegas this September..surely during the week if prices are like that! >_<! Any hints btw? Im a poor Italian boy on a US trip so Vegas tips are wellcomed!
Wow. I was last there in 2001 (I think) - sounds like it's gone considerably downhill since then. That time, I stayed at the Sahara & walked to the strip/took bus rides to the places I couldn't walk to. I managed to keep the overall trip cost down that way. The most expensive thing was getting the trip in a light aircraft over the Grand Canyon - well worth it, but I wish I'd owned a better camera back then...
You should be very numb to that now after living in Japan. Once I realized I couldn't have much fun in Tokyo w/o at least $150, going back to the states I just laughed. After living in Hawaii? Vegas is a bargain. Nice rooms for $150 a night (at the Belagio of all places) and assuming you don't piss your money away at the tables, you can have fun for a while on a few hundred. I have no clue what the shows run. The clubs are joke...both in price, music selection, and clientel.
I never had an interest in going to Vegas. In the middle of the desert, 120 degrees celsius year round, big n crowded, too expensive, and gambling only works for a very select few. And if you know some tricks to winning at Blackjack or whatever, they kick you out.
It burns!!! I can't drink as its all evaporating away! Try 120 fahrenheit - That actually won't kill you..
Are you kidding me? Screw that man. Actually, I just quit smoking last month. Not as hard this time as the twenty-five other attempts I've made. True, back in the day one used to be able to eat extremely well in Vegas for very small amounts, like $5.99 steak and lobster, buffets with Alaskan King Crab, etc. It's still sort of like this if you stay off the strip - then again, it's not really smart to leave the Strip in the first place. Outside of that small section of land Las Vegas is an extremely ghetto city.
Yo kammedo, I never been to italy but several friends have and believe me las vegas is still far from being as xpensive (for tourists) as italy is. Of course, the city is entirely fake, while italy (and specially rome) is one of the greatest monuments to the achievements of mankind...
I was in vegas around may and had a blast; also thanks to the exchange rate it was very cheap over there. I especially enjoyed all the nightclubs, the Palms one was the best (also has the playboy casino with crazy minimum bets, min. 1500$ roulette etc)
