15 May, 2006 (Monday) Las Vegas, Nevada
'Glitz. Glamour. I wonder what the show girls do during the day cos they're definitely not on the streets!'
Somehow the brightly lit neon of the strip makes Vegas feel cleaner of an evening.
The temperature drops to a more tolerable 20 degrees, which means it isn't such a shock coming out of air conditioned casino depths. Nevertheless, between casino air conditioning and little sleep I managed to acquire air-con sniffles in 24 hours. Not fun. (Picture: Bellagio casino at night)
We spent our first night in town walking the main-strip casino hopping. Stratosphere, where we were booked ($42/night between 3), is at the northern edge of the strip. It's a long way to walk to mid-strip where the really swanky casinos are, but somehow we managed to make the trek, stopping at most of the bigger casinos along the way. Around 3am we caught The Deuce, Vegas' shuttle bus back up to our accommodation (some 4 or 5 kilometres back up).
The Casinos
The next few days followed a similar routine as we searched for the best freebies on offer. (Picture right: View from Stratosphere tower)
Flamingos - Flamingo garden with lots of birds. The Flamingos smell kind of funny.
Circus Circus - Free circus acts half-hourly. The little Russian acrobat-chick in the cat costume was hot!
We also got a feel for the casinos - each has a different theme and vibe attached to it. The top tier casinos (e.g. Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, Mirage, MGM Grand, Venetian) are all brightly lit caverns, with rich carpets and lavish displays. You can practically smell the money going into their coffers. These places usually have the most expensive shows on offer (there must be three versions of Circque Du Soliel going in town), and the best positions - central strip. Buffets are top dollar, offering steaks, seafood and rich confectionary.
Mid-tier casinos are still well appointed and huge, but are also starting to show a bit of wear
(e.g. Stratosphere, Excalibur, Sahara). They tend to be dingier than the top tier casinos, have lower betting limits and often offer a wacky theme to try and compensate. I was disappointed that the dealers in Circus Circus weren't in clown suits. (Picture: Excalibur castle)
The third tier casinos (e.g. Riviera, Casino Royale) tend to be badly lit, with poorly dressed staff and fixtures showing significant wear. I guess they've seen better days. These places also seem to be the ones offering the most freebies to get people in their doors. On the way through we scored a free pack of playing cards from Riviera - bonus! Casino Royale boasts $50 free play on the slots if you sign up to their inhouse club. Nice.
Below third tier casinos are what I refer to as budget. Places like 'Slots A Fun' do cheap food, cheap alcohol and lower betting limits. They're on the strip, but beyond the grimy light fittings they're just a little too cheap and tacky. It kind of reflects in the punters too, run-down looking white trash hacking away at the 1c slots.
(Picture: Sean under the lights of the Fremont Strip, old Vegas)
Somehow the brightly lit neon of the strip makes Vegas feel cleaner of an evening.
The temperature drops to a more tolerable 20 degrees, which means it isn't such a shock coming out of air conditioned casino depths. Nevertheless, between casino air conditioning and little sleep I managed to acquire air-con sniffles in 24 hours. Not fun. (Picture: Bellagio casino at night)We spent our first night in town walking the main-strip casino hopping. Stratosphere, where we were booked ($42/night between 3), is at the northern edge of the strip. It's a long way to walk to mid-strip where the really swanky casinos are, but somehow we managed to make the trek, stopping at most of the bigger casinos along the way. Around 3am we caught The Deuce, Vegas' shuttle bus back up to our accommodation (some 4 or 5 kilometres back up).
The Casinos
The next few days followed a similar routine as we searched for the best freebies on offer. (Picture right: View from Stratosphere tower)
- Mirage - Volcanic explosion from rain forest / water feature every hour from 8pm to midnight (**1/2)
- Treasure Island - badly scripted and acted story of Pirates being bested by a group of buxom sirens (**1/2)
- Bellagio - huge fountains playing in time to music (***)
- Venetian - Canals and soaring bridges
- Paris - Eiffel Tower reproduction
- New York New York - Statue of Liberty reproduction
Flamingos - Flamingo garden with lots of birds. The Flamingos smell kind of funny.
Circus Circus - Free circus acts half-hourly. The little Russian acrobat-chick in the cat costume was hot!
We also got a feel for the casinos - each has a different theme and vibe attached to it. The top tier casinos (e.g. Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, Mirage, MGM Grand, Venetian) are all brightly lit caverns, with rich carpets and lavish displays. You can practically smell the money going into their coffers. These places usually have the most expensive shows on offer (there must be three versions of Circque Du Soliel going in town), and the best positions - central strip. Buffets are top dollar, offering steaks, seafood and rich confectionary.
Mid-tier casinos are still well appointed and huge, but are also starting to show a bit of wear
(e.g. Stratosphere, Excalibur, Sahara). They tend to be dingier than the top tier casinos, have lower betting limits and often offer a wacky theme to try and compensate. I was disappointed that the dealers in Circus Circus weren't in clown suits. (Picture: Excalibur castle)The third tier casinos (e.g. Riviera, Casino Royale) tend to be badly lit, with poorly dressed staff and fixtures showing significant wear. I guess they've seen better days. These places also seem to be the ones offering the most freebies to get people in their doors. On the way through we scored a free pack of playing cards from Riviera - bonus! Casino Royale boasts $50 free play on the slots if you sign up to their inhouse club. Nice.
Below third tier casinos are what I refer to as budget. Places like 'Slots A Fun' do cheap food, cheap alcohol and lower betting limits. They're on the strip, but beyond the grimy light fittings they're just a little too cheap and tacky. It kind of reflects in the punters too, run-down looking white trash hacking away at the 1c slots.
(Picture: Sean under the lights of the Fremont Strip, old Vegas)
posted by the wastrel @ 10:30 PM
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