I don’t think we ever left the complex, except to venture over to the Bellagio’s sportsbook and a “gentlemen’s establishment”. Seemed like we got a pretty good bang for our buck. Oh, and before you ask them…it isn’t REALLY one of Caesar’s palaces.

Wherever you stay, make sure you put your money down on a Royals World Series bet. Hopefully you get better odds than I did.

Ceasar’s is prob my fave of that group. All of the big casino’s are extremely nice, but the newer ones are a little themey. If you are on a tight budget, stay at a dive, it’s really only a place to crash. You spend your time bopping around from casino to casino. If you are a foodie, there are some pretty awesome choices, do a little research. Lots of hotshot chef’s have sold their souls and opened up restaurants in Vegas (just like Steinbeck going to Hollywood back in the day) Hell, the breads and pastries they sling in the shops in the Venetian are delcious. I’d love to hear what the over/under is on wins for the Royals. Have fun.

However, when looking at the prices there is often a 10-12% “resort fee” and an additional 9ish% tax. Has anyone used Groupon’s for travel and have they noticed significant savings or do the fees negate a fair amount of it?

But check around for better rates. Depending on the days of the week and time of year, you can do OK even at some nice places on the Strip. About 3 years ago we got the Hard Rock for 69 a night just by watching rates. I like Vegas a lot more than I thought I would and have been a few times, but after 3 or 4 days the magic starts to wear off, especially if you’re losing.

from $1000 for 4 nights at Paris to around $1300 for caesers. I assumed it wasn’t worth the extra $300 when the location was the same, but thought it might be worth $100 more to stay at the venetian.

Even if the bill for the hotel and plane is higher, I’d say the extra night would cost me at least the difference in meals and losses alone.

How long is the drive from Vegas to Surprise if I ever wanted to plan a trip to hit both?

For like $400-500 I got airfare and 4 nights at the MGM Grand…pretty sweet all around facility…close to a lot of things…my downfall was the Fat Tuesdays with the $1 extra 151 or everclear or whatever the hell…pretty nice pool area with a little a flowing stream thru the middle to get drunk and float around in…I had the best damn breakfast I’ve ever had at the restaurant there (can’t remember)…it was corned beef and hash and it will never be that good again

I think they have a tram and rolls to Mandelay and a couple others that connects…

my thoughts are this:

1. it doesn’t really matter what hotel you stay at…I mean sure the MGM had like marble floors and sweet as showers for really cheap, but big whoop

2. the absolute best thing we did was go to the art shop at Caesar’s Palace shops (the shops that have a big aquarium in the middle)…the shop literally has real Picasso’s and Dali’s and was just righteously cool…act like your looking to buy and the staff will give you a little tour with all sorts of cool info

3. remember (at least when I went) that if you wanna go clubbin’ you need dress slacks and a nice shirt…no jeans, no shorts

4. check out Grantland for Bill Barnwell’s columns on Vegas sportsbooks

5. I would make damn sure to check out the area ahead of time to potentially avoid hazards like a topless pool area (if your married and/or practice what Sweeney preaches)

as a side note…not many people have a story like this, but…I married my wife out there (after dating for 2 months) without us telling anyone we were with, or any of our relatives…we planned on having a ceremony on 7/7/07 and when that kind of fell thru and she got pregnant, it was like, uh, well, I’m your son-in-law!…much heavier burden than I had ever thought it would be…worked out for us though…everyone still thinks we are weird for it