Vegas + Disneyland Combo Trip

[Animaniac93-98]

Thinking of doing this sometime next year, and just thought I'd ask for some opinions here.

On the Vegas end, do the name hotels really live up to their brands (MGM, Bellagio, NY, Paris etc)? Are there specific shows and restaurants worth seeing, and ones to avoid?

For Disneyland, is it likely the dark ride refurbs (at least Toad and Peter Pan) would be done by February?

 

[wdrive]

Generally in Vegas I tend to eat off the strip, you don't even have to really go very far and you'll usually find reasonably priced, decent restaurants. The hotels are pretty interesting to even just walk around and look about. I'm not too sure on shows as it has been a couple of years since I was last there and I don't have a clue what is even on at the moment. You can get discount tickets though from some locations for shows that day so look around for the best price.

As for Disneyland, I've no idea about the dark rides really. I'm thinking possibly now since the 60th doesn't start until spring so while I think most dark rides will be done, there may be one or two that still need their refurb.

 

[Travel Junkie]

The good thing about the Vegas strip is that there they are all next to each other, so if price is an issue you can stay at one of the cheaper options and then walk around enjoying the more expensive ones. If you stay in the middle you can enjoy one side of the strip one day and the other side the next. If you haven’t been the entire strip is about 4.5 miles long. If you don’t want to walk, taxis and buses are everywhere if you don’t have a car. Some of my favorite casinos are Bellagio, Wynn/Encore, Venetian, and Aria. The Vegas casinos are large labyrinths designed to swallow you and make you forget what time of day or night it is and keep you gambling or shopping. They are fun to explore.

Some of the best free attractions are the Bellagio Fountains, Bellagio conservatory next to the main lobby, and Mirage Volcano. Most of the casinos have a Cirque show. My personal favorites are Love (Beatles music ), Ka, and O. Blue Man Group also puts on a good show and Rev is popular (I have not seen that one.) You can buy in advance or there are discount ticket centers all over the strip that will sell day of at a discount rate. If you do that the best seats go early, so you need to show up in the morning.

January and February are the 2 biggest refurb months at Disneyland. I imagine at least one of the dark rides will be down. If they are redoing all the FL dark rides for the 60th, you could get a pretty good indication what will go down once they release the fall refurb schedule. Alice is done. Whatever goes down this fall will be done. What’s left will go down January through March or April 2015 in a staggered fashion.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Some good tips above.

As far as the big name casinos go, Wynn is tops. It's stunning and I willingly pay to stay there. It's hard to go wrong with Mirage, Bellagio, Venetian, or Aria, though I prefer the Wynn-Mirage-TI-Venetian area of the strip vs. Aria-MGM-Mandalay and so on.

There are often great deals to be had at Mirage and TI - a couple Decembers ago we stayed in the top level suite at TI for $99/night. Smartervegas.com and other discount tracking sites are very helpful.

As far as shows go, my favorite Cirques are O and Love, in that order. Ka used to be spectacular, but it has been toned down considerably since the accident a couple years ago. I'd advise against Blue Man Group, but Le Reve at Wynn is excellent (a Cirque-like show that is not produced by Cirque).

Del Frisco's is just a few blocks off the strip and is the best steakhouse in Vegas. The "fine dining" at the big casinos is pretty oversaturated (and ridiculously overpriced), but the buffets at Mirage, Caesars, Bellagio and Wynn are faaaabulous.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The good thing about the Vegas strip is that there they are all next to each other, so if price is an issue you can stay at one of the cheaper options and then walk around enjoying the more expensive ones. If you stay in the middle you can enjoy one side of the strip one day and the other side the next. If you haven’t been the entire strip is about 4.5 miles long. If you don’t want to walk, taxis and buses are everywhere if you don’t have a car. Some of my favorite casinos are Bellagio, Wynn/Encore, Venetian, and Aria. The Vegas casinos are large labyrinths designed to swallow you and make you forget what time of day or night it is and keep you gambling or shopping. They are fun to explore.

Some of the best free attractions are the Bellagio Fountains, Bellagio conservatory next to the main lobby, and Mirage Volcano. Most of the casinos have a Cirque show. My personal favorites are Love (Beatles music ), Ka, and O. Blue Man Group also puts on a good show and Rev is popular (I have not seen that one.) You can buy in advance or there are discount ticket centers all over the strip that will sell day of at a discount rate. If you do that the best seats go early, so you need to show up in the morning.

January and February are the 2 biggest refurb months at Disneyland. I imagine at least one of the dark rides will be down. If they are redoing all the FL dark rides for the 60th, you could get a pretty good indication what will go down once they release the fall refurb schedule. Alice is done. Whatever goes down this fall will be done. What’s left will go down January through March or April 2015 in a staggered fashion.

I don't care as much for Pinocchio and Snow White (prefer the Paris version anyway), so as long as Alice, Toad and Peter Pan are all done, I'm good.

For Vegas hotel I was thinking either NY or MGM (which as I know now are across from each other) for the best combo of price/amenities, but I'm not sure if MGM's refurb is done or when was the last time NY was.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

I don't care as much for Pinocchio and Snow White (prefer the Paris version anyway), so as long as Alice, Toad and Peter Pan are all done, I'm good.

For Vegas hotel I was thinking either NY or MGM (which as I know now are across from each other) for the best combo of price/amenities, but I'm not sure if MGM's refurb is done or when was the last time NY was.

Would not recommend either one. For a similar price point, stay at the much nicer and better located Mirage or TI. NYNY is gross and MGM is just absurdly huge. Seriously, you can walk miles in there.

 

[Travel Junkie]

I wouldn’t recommend NYNY either. I like MGM but it is a monstrosity and has a funky layout. They want you to get lost.

TI is probably the easiest large strip casino in Vegas to navigate. The outside is undergoing renovation on its north side but it shouldn’t impact staying there at all.

 

[JillC LI]

Vegas is a lot of fun. We've been there 4 times from NY. Twice we stayed at Luxor (the pyramid) and really liked it, plus the prices were more reasonable than some of the others on the Strip. One of those times we were unexpectedly upgraded to a high rollers suite on the top floor which was likek nothing we'd ever experienced before or since. Once we stayed off the Strip which wasn't as much fun, and once we stayed at Vdara to attend a celebration there, and it was very nice but much pricier. Wear comfortable walking shoes as there is a ton of walking just from resort to resort - perhaps even more so than at DL or WDW. I agree with seeing the free shows like the Bellagio fountains, the Mirage Volcano, and the Treasure Island buccaneers. For mucho money, we loved Love (Beatles Cirque de Soleil) and O (Cirque de Soleil in and over water). We also enjoyed Elton John's Red Piano and Million Dollar Piano, although he may be gone now. There are tons of great places to eat.

Can't answer about the dark ride refurb at DL.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Forgot - if you're an MJ fan, the newest Cirque show, One, is incredible. It sells out in advance, so buy tickets before arriving if you choose that one. I don't think it's better than O, but it's tied for second with Love.

Don't go see Criss Angel Believe unless you are paid cash to do so, and a minimum of $100 per person (an unlikely scenario). It. Is. The. Worst.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

For shows I'm thinking of Penn and Teller, one Cirque show and then one other (not sure).

I can see national touring musicals at home, although Newsies is playing in Vegas in March.

 

[disney4life2008]

Vegas is severely overrated and ridiculously expensive (today) compared to the 90s and earlier. With that said - when looking for resort hotels on the strip (yep that is what they are called) - be mindful that nearly each one has a resort fee (which could be $10 or more a day). There are a few resort hotels on the strip that do not have resort fees which is best. In terms of where to stay: anything around Planet Hollywood is going to be ridiculously expensive that includes Paris, Bellagio, NYNY, MGM, etc. You can also go to the other end of the strip (older) and stay at Circus Circus or other cheaper places but the last time I visited Circus Circus the food made me sick. I want to say Imperial Palace on the strip has great rates and does not charge a resort fee - it is across the street from the Mirage.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

The Imperial Palace no longer exists, and Circus Circus is disgusting. With the various discounts online, there's no reason you can't get a nice room at Mirage or TI for $40-$100/night, plus some extras.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Staying center strip to south strip is more important than which hotel you choose since you'll most likely walk through all of them. If you are between the Wynn and Mandalay Bay you are within a couple miles of 90% of what you'll want to see, downtown and a few off-strip hotels make up the other 10% but will require a car from anywhere on the strip.

The Cirque shows are all good (with the exception of Believe) but O is still my favorite. The strip has everything from McDonalds to 5 diamond restaurants and Dollar Stores to a Ferrari store so there is something for everyone depending on what you can afford and just looking is half the fun of walking around the hotels.

The Link (the street with the ferris wheel at the end) is my new favorite spot in Vegas, mainly because it doesn't feel like Vegas.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The Imperial Palace no longer exists, and Circus Circus is disgusting. With the various discounts online, there's no reason you can't get a nice room at Mirage or TI for $40-$100/night, plus some extras.

If I can get Venetian for $200/night, do you think it would be worth it? Or does it not make sense to spend so much on a room when I'm going to be out and about most of the day?

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

If I can get Venetian for $200/night, do you think it would be worth it? Or does it not make sense to spend so much on a room when I'm going to be out and about most of the day?

Venetian is always on the higher end pricewise - it's a nice hotel, but not as nice as Wynn. If you're willing to pay that much, I'd check and see if you can match or get close to that at Wynn. I wouldn't pay that much for the Venetian, but I would for the Wynn.

Personally, I prefer to save my budget for shows/restaurants, so I'll usually find a deal to get at Mirage for $60/night or so. The surplus of 4 and 5 star hotels on the strip drives prices down for the most part, as they rarely fill up unless there's a convention in town.

You will be out and about a lot, but I still like coming home to something nice. It depends on your priorities. Even if you go to the Mirage or TI, it's not like staying at Pop Century - those are 4-4.5 star hotels and would cost much more per night if they weren't in Vegas.

 

[TP2000]

You can also stay at Planet Hollywood for reasonable rates in a reasonably stylish newer hotel. But right across the street via skybridge from Planet Hollywood is The Cosmopolitan, the ritziest, most avant-garde, and most glamourous of all the Las Vegas mega-hotels. It's jaw-dropping just to wander through the Cosmopolitan and its shopping mall after dinner; like you landed 10 years in the future with an unlimited credit card.

No trip to Las Vegas is complete without at least a long stroll through The Cosmopolitan and its various attached shopping and drinking options.

As for the Fantasyland dark rides, we just don't know.

I'll remind folks here that these "upgrades" have never been announced by Disney. The only knowledge we have of this rumor came from several Miceage Updates back in early to mid 2013 as they leaked the plans to upgrade the dark rides for the 60th. Then Alice finally reopened a month ago and had a dramatically upgraded interior and higher level of crisp new showmanship throughout, but was still lacking several of the key elements Miceage had mentioned back in '13; notably the projected face animatronics that were to populate the ride. Then more silence from Disney as July 17th passed and Miceage said they were majorly scaling back their planned 60th Announcement on July 17th.

Disney didn't even really tout or publicly acknowledge that anything had changed at Alice In Wonderland; it was just a case of a ride closing for refurbishment and then quietly reopening without any mention from Disney's massive Social Media machine that it easily kicks in to high gear for a new line of t-shirts or new menu items or chunks of Chinese vinyl for sale. That tells me something is up since they are pretending nothing happened with Alice In Wonderland. But what exactly, and when? That's still a mystery.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Booked for February! Staying at the Wynn in Vegas and the HoJo Anaheim for DLR, both at discounted rates.

 

[seahawk7]

For shows I'm thinking of Penn and Teller, one Cirque show and then one other (not sure).

I can see national touring musicals at home, although Newsies is playing in Vegas in March.

Penn and Teller is very good. We stay at the MGM and really like it. It is big but it is also has everything you need in one place. I like Wolfgang Puck and Tom Colliccio's restaurants there. The problem with MGM is it is on the far end of the strip, but there is a monorail you can ride (it is not free) that takes you the length of the strip. I would not recommend NYNY.
For shows, you have to be careful for content if you have kids.
Sometimes going off the strip can be dangerous so be very careful.
We also enjoy the shark reef at Mandalay Bay, the rollercoaster at NYNY, and the sports exhibit at the Luxor. These hotels are close together so it's easy to do all three activities and if you go on the MGM website you can get a deal where you pay for two but get the third for free. (there are also other activities available for this deal including a CSI experience in the MGM).

 

[TP2000]

Booked for February! Staying at the Wynn in Vegas and the HoJo Anaheim for DLR, both at discounted rates.

Yay! You'll love both places.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Starting to lose interest in the Disneyland portion of the trip. Having so many things closed, including the Matterhorn (which would be the second time for me that's happened) is a disappointment to hear. Plus, none of the 60th stuff will be up by then, not that that was ever a given when I booked.

AND I'm going to DLP this week, after having been to WDW 2 months ago, so I'm not exactly starving for a Disney trip.

I dunno, it seems like a lot of money and trouble just to go on a handful of rides. I'd still have to arrange the city-to-ctiy transfers, and it may be more expensive to get an open jaw flight, vs a direct to and from LAS.

Should I still go? Help me decide Disneyland fans.