California, Vegas & NYC - Dec 2008 - DAY 6

[kirst_al UK]

Day minus 1 & 0

Day 1 - Heathrow & Anaheim

Day 2 - Disneyland

Day 3 - Last day at Disney

Day 4 - Universal Studios Hollywood

Day 5 - Hollywood, Beverly Hills & a premiere for good measure!

Me - Kirsty (23) - planned, booked and organised the whole trip; itinerary boffin that loves America.

T'other half - Alex (23) - cause of my Disney addiction, planner of our Disney holidays, pretty much just left this one to me and just went wherever I told him to go... and oh yes... how can i forget - paid for the majority

DAY 6 - NEARLY TIME FOR VEGAS BABY !

December 19, 2008

Last day in LA today - despite the weather we’ve had I’ve really enjoyed it. I don’t think I would come in December again though – I’ve seen it all done up for Christmas which was lovely but the weather spoilt it a little.

Headed out about 9am – not liking these early mornings on my jollys but what’s the point in staying in bed when you have the likes of Universal on your doorstep ! Did a bit of packing for our afternoon flight to Vegas the night before and finished it off this morning. Checked out really early in comparison to the general checking out time but didn’t see the point in leaving our bags up in the room and having to trek all the way up there after our morning at Universal – got them stored in the Lobby. We also got checked in with Jetblue using the internet that Hilton had to offer. Didn’t cost much if I remember rightly but had to put our credit card in (oooooh just had a thought – perhaps that was the ‘Hilton charge’ on my cc not the ‘freebies’ after all) oh I’m one of those people who thinks it too good to be true to get something for free so you can't blame me

Again today the weather was lovely – dam you other days when it rained – oh well these things happen. Checked out the hotel and its gardens (in the sun!) and walked over to have breakfast at the restaurant just at the opening of Universal Studios itself. Wasn’t overly impressed – in fact we both thought it was the most disgusting meal of the whole holiday. The service wasn’t anything startling either – again time was controlling us again today and the slowness of the waiter didn’t help either ! A good hour later we were eventually in the park.

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Just took a nice stroll through the park today – didn’t go on much with the exception of Jurassic Park (yes it got me on it with a poncho though!) & the Mummy and don’t think. The first Waterworld show of the day wasn’t until just after midday and we planned to leave around the same time so unfortunately didn’t get to see that again. But we did see the Animal Actors show on its proper stage which was funny.


getting ready for NYC


Getting ready for Vegas










We were appreciative of the lack of crowds if not the weather !







Continued...

[kirst_al UK]

Imagine this to be packed in the heat of summer !






Seeing this upon exiting the park really made me wish we'd done the Backlot Tour again

The highlight of my day was just to be able to walk around without being wet ! Was lovely actually being able to appreciate the park more rather than making sure there wasn’t a hole in my poncho !

Headed out of the park about 1.30 as had to get back to the hotel to collect our bags, get down the hill to the subway station and jump on a bus to Burbank airport.



We got there with plenty of time to spare (3pm) – no problems on the subway, no problems on the bus but there was at the airport – we were delayed ! Delayed on a 1 hour long flight !? We’d had it all this holiday !

I can’t remember what time our flight was meant to fly (I have 4.30 in my mind for some reason) but we didn’t get in the air until 8-8.30pm arriving in Vegas about 9.30pm). Unfortunately it was the weather again – there were terrible snow storms over the west coast of America – Burbank, Vegas & NYC all use the same planes in a kind of round trip hence the delay – our plane was one coming in from NYC.

I started not to feel to good whilst in the airport – I think I was tired more than anything and felt really run down – the delays didn’t help.

Anyway we arrived at McCarran with a click on the fingers once we’d got on the actual plane ! It was amazing – didn’t have chance to take our seatbelts off – once we were up we were pretty much down. As much as the delay was a MASSIVE setback I wouldn’t hesitate flying again. Perhaps with Southwest next time though as they have a few more planes on the go that Jetblue do – although I will add there is nothing wrong with Jetblue… they were great (considering!)


view from the plane

We took a taxi – telling the Taxi driving to avoid the Tunnel at a cost of about $17 inc tip to our hotel – the Luxor.

Heres my TA review of the Luxor –

Arrived at the Luxor about 9.30pm (care of a $14 taxi + tip) having suffered a 3 hour delay from Burbank – was praying the check in line wouldn’t be as long as some people on here had said it can get. Was pleasantly surprised – after getting collared by one of the timeshare people on entering (but soon getting rid by telling them we’re only 22 FYI you have to be 25 apparently to get whatever they were offering!) we were only behind about 4 people that were already in the queue. Check in went smoothly – I asked the woman if we could have a high room with a view – she explained there weren’t any available but to come down the following day after 11am and they will move us – they put us in a tower room for that first night. Was a bit of a hike to the lifts but due to the sizes of the Vegas hotels I knew it wouldn’t be just around the corner – saying that I’m sure that the walk to our room was nothing in comparison to the walk in the much larger hotels.

The room was a two queen bedded room with a bath and shower and a view looking up the pyramid and overlooking the other tower building. The beds were very small – my partner and I actually had to sleep in separate beds that night because they were that small which wasn’t all bad because I wasn’t feeling great so it gave us both a good night’s kip. Rang down the following morning asking if it would be possible to bring out bags down and keep them down there until we could change room. We were heading out and wasn’t sure where we were going to be around 11 - didn’t want to have to come all the way back to the room to collect them to move elsewhere but they wouldn’t let us and then got told it was noon we had to come back at not 11. We came back about 12.30 and headed straight to check in before we went for our bags. The lady, again very helpful, put us on a pyramid floor this time I think on the 20-something floor with a view over looking the rear of the property (could see the pool and both the Palms and the Orleans) BUT it had again two queen beds. Not sharing for one night wasn’t the end of the world but we didn’t want to sleep separate for the remainder of our stay. Off we went again down to check in – this time a gentleman served us – had no probably swapping AGAIN and put us in a king bedded room on I think around the 12th floor. This was ideal – had a king sized bed with a view that overlooked the Excalibur and our original room in the tower.

Very bizarre going up the pyramid in an ‘inclinator’ – took me a while to realise we were going up side wards. It gets your head/stomach the first couple of times but it’s pretty cool.

Overall, I would say that there aren’t many differences between the Tower rooms and the Pyramid rooms. Yes the Tower rooms are newer with a few more pictures here and there, the corridors are definitely more modern and quite smart but realistically the rooms are pretty much the same – who’s going to sleep out on the corridor?! The bathrooms in the tower buildings are slightly more modern to those in the pyramid too. The only thing drastically different was the fact it didn’t have a bath – it didn’t bother us as we have showers but should a bath be a must for you I would make it clear at check in. The tower rooms are a little further walk than those in the pyramid too which I didn’t like. Also we found it to be a little more noisier in the Tower room – I don’t know if its because the walls are thinner or it was the corridors. Unlike the corridors in the pyramid which openly overlooked the ground level (check in/entrance etc) re-directing the noise, the corridors in the tower buildings are just regular corridors which probably creates an echo and just like many other hotels emphasises the slightest bit of noise. All in all though I probably wouldn’t pay extra to stay in a basic tower room – no way. If you get the ‘upgrade’ for free then fair enough but being in the pyramid was all part of the fun and I preferred being there instead of being out on a limb in one of the buildings that look like they have just been ‘added on’.

One thing I disliked (as many others I imagine) is why you get charged $2 p/n just for having a phone in your room – I asked this to the lady on check out and she just gave me a grin and a shrug of the shoulders as if to say ‘do you realise how many people ask me that a day’?!

I too don’t understand the negative reviews on here to be honest – I loved it and for the bargain of a price we got it at made it a great hotel.

Lastly, just a couple of things I’d like to clear up with regards to previous reviews – the smell of the place is all part of the pyramid/Egypt effect. If you’ve ever ridden the Mummy ride @ Universal Studios you will understand what I mean – I think it’s quite cool. Same with the darkness of the rooms – it adds to the effect – it has nothing to do with the blacked out windows the lights are intentionally there just to give off a small amount of light.

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Unpacked what we needed for that night and decided to nip downstairs and just check out our hotel. As much as we wanted to start as we meant to go on and go to Planet Hollywood for tea and see the Bellagio fountains – obviously the delay didn’t do us any favours and with me feeling not so good we went back up not long after we went down so I could get my head down.

Day 7 - Vegas baby !

[Sarah84]

another great report and more fab photos glad to see no rain again for you, shame about the delay though.
That coke soak zone was on when we were at universal a few weeks back, seemed great fun

[donnakirby]

another great day - shame about the delay at the airport though - your hotel sounds really cool.

[Guest]

Another great report with lovely photos.

[Guest]

Looking forward to reading about Vegas!

[Mazzy]

Ooooh don't know what's happened, but most of your photos are not showing.

[kirst_al UK]

Photos fixed

:pop:

[Mazzy]

Thanks for fixing the photos, they're great! It's really weird to see Universal so empty, as when we went in August it was really busy. Shame about the delay on the flight, and the messing about changing rooms, but sounds like you're all settled now, so looking forward to reading the next one!