Vegas for my 50th - Day 4 - Tournament of Kings

[Sam_Smith]

So after the day we had yesterday you would think we would be having a lie in today

Well by 8:30 am we were walking here

To be honest this was the longest lie in we had actually achieved so far!


The plan today was to use the monorail to get back up to the other end of the strip, thus cutting out much of the walking. However, we soon realised that to actually get to the monorail station in the MGM Grand you walk as far in the wrong direction, as you would if you just walked up the strip!

1 Day on off tickets were $13 per adult, so really good value compared to the $5 for one trip we paid before. This is a great way to get from one end of the strip to the other, but the downside is that the monorail was built way after the strip existed, and it runs along side it, behind the hotels. This means you actually don't see anything whilst you are on it. The stations start at the MGM Grand and finish at the SLS station near the Stratosphere.

We boarded with the intention of going all the way up to the SLS and seeing if we could go up to the top of the Stratosphere, with a further walk up to Freemont Street.

So the first part was a success. We got off at the SLS and walked over the road to a small tat shop called Bonanza Gifts on the cross roads. I must emphasize here that the walk "over the road" is not as simple as you imagine. This is Las Vegas! The road is 6 lanes wide and there are 3 different pelican crossings to navigate to get there!

Once inside the tat shop I manage to spend $12.96 buying more ummmmmm... TAT!

It's 9:50 by now which might give you an idea on how long it takes to get anywhere, whether you walk or use the monorail!

We then carry on up to the Stratosphere and find the booking desk for the viewing platform.

Now I had no idea how much a ticket would be for this, but I did have a look at pre booking on Expedia, and I don't think it was too much - not so much it shocked me anyway!

$25 per adult PLUS $16 per adult admin fee!

Ummm I don't think so It just felt like she added the admin fee on as an afterthought to see if she could get away with it

Anyway suffice to say we did not go to the top of the Stratosphere!

So next on the list was Freemont Street. Now this was a bit of a compromise for us both. I really wanted to see it, but our friends who visited last year had told a tale of a bit of a seedy experience at night, so DH agreed we would go, but in the daytime instead.

We started to walk up towards where we thought it was, and we immediately noticed a change of atmosphere. This end of the strip is the original part, and it showed. The first thing we saw was a marijuana dispensary with a huge queue out of the door. The hotels were small roadside motels and the crazies were out in force.

I tried to ignore the obvious signs, but DH was clearly unhappy. I noticed a Denny's and we agreed to walk on up and have a late breakfast.

That was until we noticed the crazies in the carpark, who were walking around in circles talking to themselves, and shouting at their own reflections in the mirrored windows of the restaurant! There was one asleep in the bushes along the sidewalk and when we walked passed his arm flopped out onto the floor infront of us! I may have slightly weed a little at that point (pardon the pun!)

It was then we decided to give up on Freemont Street. A shame I know, but when I did look on Google Earth and saw just how far we would have had to walk, I was glad we didn't bother.

So moral of the story is to get a cab there and back!

Back to SRS station it was then and we got off at Paris. Another beautiful hotel which felt very similar to the Venetian inside.

Really hungry by now we spotted the Le Village Buffet restaurant that was about to switch from breakfast to lunch.

We paid $24.99 each for an all you can eat buffet with $12.99 for all you can drink beer for DH. $68.17 including tax

It was really nice and we had a choice of breakfast and lunch items too! Would definitely recommend.

We took our time and left around 12:45, and decided to see how much the Eiffel Tower was to go up.

Now I actually can't remember how much this was, but what I can say is that is must have been less than the Stratosphere because we bought tickets.

It was a lovely sunny day but oh boy it was breezy!

There was no time limit up there but the platform is quite small and there is no seating. I guess we stayed about 30 minutes or so.

Wonderful views

Once we had finished we caught the monorail back to the MGM Grand and back to our hotel for a rest.

We had tickets for a show tonight! Now there was plenty of choice for a show - well this is Vegas after all

We could have seen Elton John at Caesars Palace for $435 a pop, or Jennifer Lopez at Planet Hollywood for a much more acceptable $295 a pop! Or there was Donny and Marie in the Flamingo, or about 8 different Cirque du Soleil shows at various locations. Mind readers, magicians, burlesque and strippers were everywhere!

Then we noticed the Tournament of Kings!

Now I know it's not really Vegas, BUT it had a lot going for it. Firstly it was in the Excalibur Hotel so not far to get into bed It was cheap about $45 each if I remember correctly We have seen a few similar dinner shows in Orlando over the years so we knew it would be light hearted entertainment that DH would enjoy (very important to keep him happy!) and we would be fed too

So after a rest in the room and a freshen up we descended to the basement for the show.

OK so the food isn't Michelin star and there wasn't even any cutlery, but we ate it all!

Soup followed by chicken with potatoes and veg, and an apple pastry to finish. The entertainment was really good, and we all got into the swing of things. Even DH will shout at the baddies after a couple of beers!

We finished off with a bit of fresh air to catch the strip at night, even though we didn't walk very far

We are leaving tomorrow and have crammed in so much sightseeing, but also failed to see so much too.

If we do return we will have Freemont Street, more of the strip at night, Bellagio fountains day and night and maybe a headline show on the list.

There were also some events we didn't realise were on whilst we were there. The USA Sevens (rugby) tournament is held in the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas in Feb and some of the teams were staying in our hotel! We would have tried to catch a game if we had realised it was so close.

There was also a NASCAR event that arrived in Las Vegas with a convoy of all the trucks along the strip at night. We actually missed this tonight, but heard all the horns from our room, so watched it all going on outside on our TV in the room Not such an early night tonight, but at least it was after dark before we were in bed!

[keith1973]

Thank you for posting this