Las Vegas - We're coming back!

[abiknox]

**Sorry for any missing photos here, Photobucket screwed me over The main trippy is all up to date!

Here I go again with another pre trippy! It’s overlapping with my other West Coast one but I have planned that one to within an inch of its life and I feel like a need respite

This visit is a celebration trip, a 7 night stay in Las Vegas with my mother in law!

We have been talking about it for about 3 years, it’s the only part of America she has wanted to visit and we said we would take her for her 50th. I don’t think she believed it would actually come to fruition but she was very excited when we went to visit her a couple of weeks ago announcing that flights were booked! She actually danced around the house for about an hour, chanting ‘Im going to Vegas, Im going to meet Elvis’ (that’s right, it is her 50th birthday, not her 16th!)
Since then, I have secured our hotels too. Exciting times.

So onto the cast

As usual you have…

Me, Abi – 29 at the time of travel!
Hubby, Aaron – 29 at the time of travel!

As you’re probably well aware, we have had a fair few US holidays in the last year, taking in Florida, New York, our last trip to Vegas in 2012 & we have our upcoming West Coast trip in 74 days! We purposely missed Las Vegas off that trip though, knowing we would be returning in 2015.

And in addition for this trip only, we have….
MIL, Laura – 49 and 11 months at the time of travel (although she definitely doesn’t act her age! Or look it for that matter!)

A fabulous mother in law, I honestly couldn't wish for better. Ask me again at the end of this holiday though

Onto the plans

After keeping an eye on Virgin/BA flights last year I knew we were looking at paying around £600-£700. We ummed and ahhd over March / May (April was out due to Easter ect) and finally settled on March. Mainly due to annual leave restrictions and wanting it to come around faster after Christmas!

I waited until the 11 month mark, and did book pretty much as soon as they became available. I used M&M and paid £618 pp. We will be flying out on 25th March 2015 & back into the UK on 1st April 2015.

Total price £1857.30

I know I probably could have got cheaper pricing If I waited for a sale, but I am seriously impatient and I wanted Laura to know it was all booked and have as long as possible to look forward to it.

We will be flying direct from Gatwick for the first time ever so that will be new, let me know if there is anywhere good to eat / stay nearby on the night before we fly!

Hotels

So, with the flights booked and the dates confirmed I could really get my teeth into hotel plans. I knew we most likely wanted to stay in a couple of hotels. There is so much choice and I feel like I want to try them all. It also allows us to stay on different parts of the strip & to finish off our stay with a nicer room / hotel.

Our last trip in 2012 was spent at the Mandalay Bay & the Venetian. We loved both the hotels but did agree that the Venetian wouldn’t be one we would stay at again, Mandalay was amazing and I was hoping to get another deal to stay there. I also loved the look of Ceasers last time and proclaimed that to be my ‘dream’ hotel So what have we ended up booking?... Planet Hollywood & the MGM grand

Mandalay bay is coming up at a ridiculous price, last time we paid £45 a night including resort fees, a bargain I know. At the moment they are wanting £100+ a night + RF and its just too expensive for a standard room. Again I do appreciate that if I was more patient and waited until a few weeks before we went we would get infinitely better pricing but I just can’t do it. I like to plan & envisage the holiday way too much.

I started checking Travel Republic on a daily basis waiting for good pricing and one day an offer at Planet Hollywood popped up. This hotel seems to fit the bill for the first 5 nights. A central strip spot, good reviews, recommended by dibbers & a great price that includes a $25 food & beverage voucher each day (since taken away, see update at the bottom). So I booked, paying a £2 deposit for the two rooms.

Total Price £518.04 (plus resort fees of approximately £200.00)





Next up was a hotel for our last 2 nights, I knew we wanted south strip, we liked the location of the Mandalay last trip, walking is half the enjoyment for us. So we narrowed it down to Mandalay Bay & MGM hoping for some good pricing to come up. If we could afford a suite even better! I have been keeping tabs on the costs, Mandalay as mentioned was just ridiculous, MGM wasn’t so bad. I found the Tower Spa Suite rooms, as recommended by dibbers for £85 a night, which seemed reasonable. I just wanted to try and hold out though for better pricing. And I did, if only for about 3 weeks. Last night I was browsing and up popped a 20% price with no resort fees! Bargain So we have secured 2 Tower Spa Suites for 2 nights.

Total price £282.00 bringing us in under budget! Wooooo Hooooo!

The rooms look lovely and spacious and I’m sure the spa bath will be much appreciated on the achy legs.







Well, that’s as far as we have got so far, I’ll be updating in the coming months with must do’s, restaurants, shows ect….

Updates:

Re Visits & New Visits!

UK Hotel & Airport parking

Daily plans

Ka Tickets booked using MyVegas

More restaurant choices!

More MyVegas rewards

No $25 Food & beverage voucher

More MyVegas rewards

[DapperDisNY]

Great pre-trippy!
Those Vegas rooms look awesome.

Picture sizing on here is confusing, lol. My pictures always come out big as well.

Looking forward to reading your updates

[Nesbits]

Exciting, love Vegas.

The rooms look amazing, may have to consider one of these hotels for our next trip whenever that will be

Looking forward to the updates.

[Guest]

Exciting to have something so fabulous to look forward to after west coast! No holiday blues for you x

[Bubble123]

We stayed at the Planet Hollywood on our first visit. Beds are so comfy!
We booked with Travel Republic also & same when we stayed at NYNY, for some reason though we didn't have to pay resort fees at either. I thought we did but when we got there they said no other charges!
If you like Illusionists you should check out Criss Angels show Believe at the Luxor. We saw it both times we visited.

[abiknox]

Originally Posted by DapperDisNY

Great pre-trippy!
Those Vegas rooms look awesome.

Picture sizing on here is confusing, lol. My pictures always come out big as well.

Looking forward to reading your updates

See more...

Thanks for reading, i don't know hat happened with that pic, its on steroids!

Originally Posted by Nesbits

Exciting, love Vegas.

The rooms look amazing, may have to consider one of these hotels for our next trip whenever that will be

Looking forward to the updates.

See more...

They look fab dont they!?

Originally Posted by princess_chazy

Exciting to have something so fabulous to look forward to after west coast! No holiday blues for you x

See more...

I know, we are very fortunate to have so many holidays. Trying to get them all out oft he way while we are childless

Originally Posted by Bubble123

We stayed at the Planet Hollywood on our first visit. Beds are so comfy!
We booked with Travel Republic also & same when we stayed at NYNY, for some reason though we didn't have to pay resort fees at either. I thought we did but when we got there they said no other charges!
If you like Illusionists you should check out Criss Angels show Believe at the Luxor. We saw it both times we visited.

See more...

That happened to us with TR at the Mandalay Bay, we were all ready to pay the resort fee but then they said it was covered. Bonus.

Thanks for the Believe tip, ive read about it before but never considered it. Its a maybe

[LRMD]

Sounds good, I can recommend the Premier Inn North Terminal at Gatwick, if flying with Virgin from the South Terminal you can hop on the monorail, it takes two mins! We always do twilight check in, go to Giraffe for tea, then get the monorail to the Premier Inn (got a room for £29 in Oct), then go back to the South Terminal in the morning, easy peasy! Less than four months for our trip to Vegas!

[Guest]

An exciting countdown for your MIL We stayed at MGM last August and we loved it! It is a bit of a trek to the pool though!

[lovedisney89]

Sounds like another amazing trip! Look forward to reading more of your plans

[abiknox]

Originally Posted by LRMD

Sounds good, I can recommend the Premier Inn North Terminal at Gatwick, if flying with Virgin from the South Terminal you can hop on the monorail, it takes two mins! We always do twilight check in, go to Giraffe for tea, then get the monorail to the Premier Inn (got a room for £29 in Oct), then go back to the South Terminal in the morning, easy peasy! Less than four months for our trip to Vegas!

See more...

Premier inn North termianl, noted. I love a £29 bargain

Have a great time in Vegas! That will come around quickly now!

Originally Posted by Mrs_Potatohead

An exciting countdown for your MIL We stayed at MGM last August and we loved it! It is a bit of a trek to the pool though!

See more...

Ooh thats good to know that you enjoyed it! Nightmare about the trek to the pool though but i think all the pools are like that aren't they. The hotels are just so huge!

Originally Posted by lovedisney89

Sounds like another amazing trip! Look forward to reading more of your plans

See more...

Thanks for reading again