"Magic, Music and Muscle" Trip Report

[Animaniac93-98]

From one Eiffel Tower to another...

From January 11-16 I had my first ever trip to Las Vegas, which included a "Gala Day at Disneyland" on the 13th. It was my first time to Vegas and I'm so glad I went. Even though I have no iterest in gambling, it was worth it to see so may shows, eat at nice restaurants and stay at a great hotel. I would not hesitate to go back at all since there's far too much to see one trip alone. The original subtitle of the thread was going to be ...A Wakko Southwest Adventure, but unfortunately I didnt have enough time to do any of the surounding canyon or Hoover Dam tours, so most of my time was spent in the city. But, it was still a great vacation.

Before I get around to telling the trip story, I'm just going to make some quick side-notes first that don't really fit into the overall narrative, but are worth mentioning:

- I got a brand new fancy camera for Christmas which is great, BUT I'm not at all an expert on using such things. I didn't even learn how to use the zoom function until I was in Disneyland . However, most turned out OK, so they should be good for this thread and the "Disneyland Pic of the Day".

- Vegas is kind of boring between 2 and 6pm, particularily when the pools are closed for 4 months of the year. After breakfast/brunch, there's not much to do beyond shop, eat and gamle (there's always gambling! ). However, after that point the city becomes a place with a million things to do and it's wonderful in that regard.

- Beyond gambling, "Sin City" isn't really any more "naughty" than most major North American cities. They just hype the idea of it. If someone really wanted to do a "family" trip here with kids aged 8 or up, they could probably find enough to do in and around the local area with so many built and natural attractions.

- What's up with DLR's Space Mountain? The outside still looks dirty and in dire need of cleaning and painting, even after they added the extra saftey feature on top. It's been like this for a while it seems. I saw some other minor effects not working elsewhere (and plain, unthemed napkins at Stage Door Cafe! ), but on average DL park is still a cleaner, nicer park than it's Floridian counterpart. With much better weather for touring.


I think that's it for now, on with the report!

 

[Californian Elitist]

Space has been filthy for years, now. Disney refuses to clean it.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Day 1

What better way to start a trip to Vegas with plane ride to...Pheonix? Apparently, there was an issue at McCarran aiport delaying ALL flights into Vegas so our WestJet flight was sent to Pheonix to sit there for awhile before being allowed in. In total, I spent 8 hours on a plane on Sunday, longer than it took for me to fly to France, and in a smaller airplane too. Good thing I'm not too claustraphobic...

However, the staff on the flight did the best they could to make us feel comfortable and when I arrived in Vegas I was able to change my dinner reservation and not be charged a no-show fee. Everyone seemed to be aware of the delays.

After a short taxi drive, I made it to my hotel Wynn Las Vegas. A beautiful hotel I don't regret for a second staying at (thanks to those who suggested it!), with a fantastic collection of shops, restaurants and very large guest rooms. This is not WDW pretend "deluxe", but a true 5-star property. Even though the hotel functions as a very large convention resort (adjoined with its sister property Encore), it's easy to navigate and does not reek of cigarette smoke like some of the other hotels I visited during my trip.

At 640 square feet, even the standard rooms are huge with features like push-button activated curtains, seperate tub and shower in the washroom and a large flat pannel TV. Best of all, even with the $25/night resort fee (for things like gym and internet access), I still got the room for a great rate. The perks of visiting during the off season and booking the right package.

With so much time spent on the plane, and just getting used to the time change, I really only had enough engery to go to dinner on my first night in Vegas, but it was the perfect dinner to start the trip!

The Stratosphere is a hotel/observation tower on the north end of the strip. It's main feature is the tower with a revolving restaurant, where I ate, called Top of the World in addition to a collection of midway thrill rides designed to take advantage of the building's height. I didn't bother with any of these or any other Vegas rides since I was going to Disneyland, but if you eat at TofW you can get access to the observation deck for free normally like an $18 charge) which made for a nice post-dinner break.

View from my table

"Stratosphere" may also be used to describe the prices of the restuarant, but it is a spectacular view of the city and the food is certainly not tourist trap quality. It was slightly raining that night, but there were hardly any clouds to block the view from the windows (expect, of course, right above the main Strip ). It takes about an hour to do one full rotation, so you don't really get motion sickness sitting there. They recommend though that if you are prone to that that you should sit facing the way it turns. It's also very dark inside to minimize the reflection in the glass, but the servers have small flashlights to help you read the menu. You also have to go through security before taking the elevator up, but it's no big deal. If you look fast you'll sometimes see the people bungee jumping off the roof. Fun to watch, but not something I would try myself. The restaurant was not too busy when I went which made for a quiet, relaxing meal.

After dinner I went straight to bed, but I was excited for all the things I was going to do that week.

 

[Figments Friend]

Space Mountain could really use a full repainting.
I vaguely recall some painting happening last year, but there was still a lot of markings visible.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

So glad you dug the Wynn! It's the BEST. Can't wait for the rest of your TR.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

So glad you dug the Wynn! It's the BEST. Can't wait for the rest of your TR.

Thanks. I'll post Day 2 tonight after work, and then Day 3 (Disneyland) tomorrow morning. I may have to do Disneyland in more than one post, since I crammed so much into that day!

 

[Animaniac93-98]

View from Hotel room

Day 2

My vacation package for Vegas included a daily breakfast at the hotel's buffet restaurant, simply known as The Buffet. Despite what it's simple name would suggest, the dinning rooms are very large and the full length of the buffet looked like a mile long. For breakfast there was just about every kind of food you could think of; from carved meat, to waffles and cereal (pre poured into bowls) fresh fruit and so much more. 2 kinds of french toast, a make-you-own omlet station and pancake station with 12 different toppings, a central desert area with gelato, cakes, candy apples, pastries (still warm and soft when you get there) pies, the list goes on. You could spend all day eating at this place, whose central greenhouse-like interior was very beautiful.

A tip for those who want to eat here, go after 9am. I was told the opposite in an online review, but there was a long line first thing in the morning when the place opened and by the time 9/9:30am came you could basically just walk in.

You can buy Popeye if you want to, but I didn't bother asking what the price was.

After lunch I decided to browse the shops of the Esplanade, all of which are high-end stores with high-end prices (in keping with the resort's luxury focus), most are chain locations, but a unique one is Wynn Lvnv (because spelling things wrong is very chic) a home decor whose best product is the bed sheets that they use in the room. I was very tempted to get a set, but I wasn't interested in carrying it home to avoid the non-US related shipping charges. If you ask, they'll give you an order form you can take home. No online catalogue since most items are unique.

After lunch at the resort deli ($20 + tax for a burger, fries and coke! At least it was better than Cosmic Rays) I went to use the resort's gym which is by far the best I've ever seen in a hotel. Really, the entire spa floor is as impressive as any other part of the hotel, even from just what I saw of it.

Not just a solid collection of machines and weights, but lots of space for people to use them. I've never seen carpeting in a gym, but I must admit it feels better on your feet, even if it gets worn looking quickly. The best feature IMO was actually the lighting. Most gyms have harsh overhead pot lights or other bright fixures that give you temporary blindness when lying face up on the floor or a bench. Here, the novel (by gym standards) use of lampshades prevents that while still giving the place enough light to not make it dark. Free bottles of water are available to those who use the facility.

After dinner a Allegro (the casual Italian restaurant), it was off to the Wynn Theatre to see the first of 5 ticketed shows I would see on my trip, Le Reve - The Dream...

So what's the show like? In the simplist terms, it's Cirque like. It's not one of their official shows, but it's designed by one of there key persons so it has a similar feel and set up. I've never seen a Cirque show before, so I don't have a point of comparison, but what I saw that night was very impressive.

The thread-bare plot that ties everything together is that a women is proposed to, and then she goes to sleep and dreams about what that means to her. Apparently, what runs through a woman's mind during the first night after seeing a ring involves tango dancing, doves, the devil, fire (lots of fire), divers, tables that spin in mind air, giant flowers, World-of-Color-ish fountains and some guy pretending he's Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.

As you can tell, the "plot" isn't really that important. What is is the talent of the dancers, acrobats and performers and how well the special effects all integrate to create an engaging multi-media experience. If you're staying at the Wynn, or can get a discount through Tix4Tonight, it's worth seeing. I also got a free souvenir program with my ticket, but I don't know if that's true for everyone.

The first few rows are the "splash section", where you can save money if you don't mind pretending you're at Sea World in your poncho. There's also a bar within the threater (of course!) where you can get some beer and popcorn that smells better than in any movie theatre I've been to. And yes, there were still people who took flash photos during the show despite being told not to.

After the show it was, again, straight to bed as I had to get up really early for my flight to LAX* the next morning.

*No, not SNA. I couldn't find any direct return flights that day.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

It looks so much better without the railings!

Day 3 (Part 1)

Most people in Vegas sleep in for the morning, but not me last Tuesday! I was up at 4:45am so that I could get ready to go to the airport for my short-haul flight to LAX that would leave shortly after 8:00am.

The flight itself is over pretty qucikly (you only spend about 45minutes in the air) but there's about 30 minutes of driving the smaller aircraft gate-to-gate. Prior to this flight I'd never had any really bad experiences with kids on an airplane, but this flight chaged that. OMG these brats were TERRIBLE! And I was stuck right ahead of them. Lucky me . The baby screamed the whole way, while her older sister kicked the back of my seat (the same one who had to be told twice by the stewardess to have her sealtbelt on for takeoff) for the same length of time . Was this some kind of ominous omen that would fortell the quality of the rest of my day?

Thankfully, not. Once I got to LAX it only took 35 minutes to get to the Grand Californian Hotel via the Disneyland Resort Express and I was soon after at the turnstiles in front of the RR station. As soon as I realized I was there (sappy as it might be to say), all my stress went away.

But where to first? I decided Fantasyland since it had the most "must do" attractions of any land in the park. There I did Alice in Wonderland (with it's wonderful new effects), Small World Holiday (much better than the minimal DLP overlay) and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

This shady, quiter area is one of my favourites in the park (Not my photo)

Then it was off to Tomorrowland to ride Subamrine Voyage. I know many people don't care for the retheme, but to be able to ride in the submarines is one of my favourite experiences in Disneyland. That kind of ride doesn't exist anywhere else, and as someone who never got to ride WDW's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, it means a lot to me. Also neat to have now ridden it during both day and night

I was making great time as I had done all four of these attractions within 2 hours, but I was getting hungry for lunch and I didn't want to wait until 2:00pm for my restaurant reservation. So I went over to Carnation Cafe to see if they could move it up. Not being ADR crazy WDW, they were able to accomodate my request and within a few minutes I was eating my tasty meal of meatloaf and milkshake and enjoying the fact that I was in a place warm enough to keep the doors open to the outside.


Part 2 to continue in the next post...

 

[Californian Elitist]

That theater is GORGEOUS. I'd love to see that show, I'm a fan of Cirque.

Great photos.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Why are you never open when I'm here?

Day 3 (Part 2)

After lunch I was off to New Orleans Square to ride Pirates before picking up a Fastpass (the good old paper kind) for Big Thunder Mountain on route back to Tomorrowland to go to Innoventions for the Marvel stuff.

Ironventions

Thor: Who thinks his hair is great

Captain America: Who does not think Thor's hair is so great (as he told me)

It's kind of amazing how many people (adults in particular) were getting in line for the Thor meet and greet without realizing what it was. Like, "hey look, a line! Lets get in it." Once I explained to them what it was, they left, but you'd think they'd at least ask the CM first.

I know some Disneyland faithful hate the idea of them being in the park at all, but given the context of what's there, I'm fine with it. It gives people a reason to go to Innoventions in the short term (The rest of the place is so boring).

After the meet and greets it was back to Frontierland to see Big Thunder Mountain and its new effects. They look even better in person! Looking forward to seeing them on the DLP version in the near future.

By this time I had done nearly all my "must do" rides so I decided to grab a quick dinner at Stage Door Cafe before going back to Main Street to watch the Soundsational Parade.

I was impressed Mickey really did drum and not just pretended to (Not my photo)

Though Festival of Fantasy has some stand-out floats, I like this parade better for having more enegery and a catchier theme song.

Finally, it was off to Adventureland to go on what I think is the best ride in the park, Indiana Jones Adventure. At 30 minutes it was the longest line I waited in that day, but that shows you how it wasn't too crowded.

As night began to fall I went back to Main Street to look in some shops and take a few more pictures. Once there I also went to see Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and look at the Frozen gallery in the lobby.

"As night falls, a new kind of magic takes over Disneyland"

But now time was getting late, and since I had to go back to the airport I took my last pictures and headed out the gates to Grand Californian so I could get back to the airport. Not bad for 7 hours of park time.

Bye Walt

As silly (Wakko? ) as it might have been to fly into LA and back in the same day, I don't regret doing it at all. I was able to see nearly all the rides I wanted to, except Cars Land, but not have to pack, cart the lauggage to the aiport or pay for a multi-day ticket and overnight hotel stay. Going to Disneyland just made the trip that much better.

And we're only half-way through the report!


Parts 4 and 5 to follow, probably on the weekend.

 

[tirian]

I experienced DL's updated BTMRR a few weeks ago, and was shocked at how convincing the new FX are. I hope the plan to bring it to WDW stays on track.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Further Adventures on and off The Strip

Part 4 - The Part That Follows 3. The Part That Comes Before 5. Twice After Part 2. The 4th Installment. Kuzco's Part. The Poison for Kuzco...

Anyway, Day 4 began as Day 2 did with breakast at the Buffet, then it was off to explore the city before my scheduled evening entertainment.

Since it was only a short walk away across the street, I decided to check out one of the more famous shopping locations on The Strip, The Canal Shoppes at the Venitian.

Beautiful, isn't it? Now just imagine the smell of chlorine...

If you've never been before, the Canal Shoppes are a kind of EPCOT-like replica of Venice spread across a number of corridors with a canal with longboats running along it that you can ride and have your picture taken in. It's pool water full of pennies and coins, but it makes for a amusing (if cheesey) bit of faux romance. The shops themselves are all chain locations, so nothing extra special, but the standout is the main "courtyard" with its high painted ceiling, four corner restaurants and live entertainment. I sat there for an hour watching the shows and people go by, while eating a suprisingly good pizza (with gelato for dessert of course) and the enjoying the atmosphere of it all. Even if you detest the thought of Vegas and gambling, any WDW fan would feel right at home here.

(Not My Picture)

After my mid-afternoo lunch, I went back to the room for a nap before heading over to Belagio to see their fountain show at 6pm.

The Belagio fountains are one of the most famous attractions in the city, and something everyone enjoys, so I had to see it for myself. However the first time I watched it I couldn't hear the music at all, and even when I went a second time and stood next to a speaker, the audio still kept cutting in and out. They're nice fountains, but the show pales in comparison to World of Color (which is getting its own technical upgrades) and I think it could do with some updating (like fixing the speakers).

I just popped into the hotel for a moment before leaving, but I couldn't believe how beautiful it was, even just from the parts I saw. While it shares an Italian feel with Venetian, this is not a plastic looking copy, but a truly luxurious feeling, Italian inspired property. Would love to stay here in the future (especially for its central location on the strip). Some shots I made of the interior and Asian garden display:

Pretty much impossible to take a pic without someone in it, this display was very popular

After Belagio I hopped into a cab to get to the Rio where tonight's entertainment was going to take place.

After seeing 3 different high-end hotels, Rio was...interesting. The dark, smokey casino was certainly a change of pace, as was the more loud decor and atmosphere, but it's part of the feel they're going for ("keeping Vegas wild" is their slogan). The all-suite hotel has lots to do, including a zip-line experience and a rooftop club, plus two popular production shows so it may be worth your time to take a cab over and see the place if you're in town.

The show I saw that night was Penn & Teller, which may have been my favourite of all the shows I saw during the trip. This is one where I'd like to keep spoliers to a minimum (I'll let them do that!), but it was an excellent show with a wonderful mix of magic and comedy that I had a great seat for (5th from the front) that I thought was worth the extra price as it allowed me to seem them and their tricks better. There was plenty of audience participation too which helped to make the acts more interesting and funny.

My VIP seating actaully included the souvenir program, which I got both of them to sign. After the show they let everyone who wanted to take pictures and get autographs which was great on their part, plus you got to hear the novelty of Teller actually talking.

They've been in Vegas for over 20 years now (14 at Rio since their Ballys theatre got torn down for Paris) and when you see the show you undertsand why. They are a great and talanted team who are always looking to improve/change up their act and anyone who goes to Vegas should really make a point of seeing these two.


Part 5 to follow...

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Another busy knight in Vegas

Day 5

All the shows in Vegas seem to be scheduled at the same time, making it difficult to see more than one a night. The concierge staff at Wynn says they typically don't recommend doing so anyway because then you also don't have much time for dinner inbetween performances. But since I was seeing a dinner show first anyway, this time I was able to pull that off.

Before dinner, I had a chance to tour some hotels first. The main two I visted for picture taking and shop browsing were Excalibur and Luxo. The castle and pyramid hotels.

Now the interiror of Luxo is kinda neat when you first walk-in, but neither of these are standout properties. The casino at Excalibur in particular was probably the worst from a smell and general appearence standpoint. Once you go upstairs to the food court things get better, but what an ugly first impression of the hotel. I'm sure if I were still 7 years old the Fun Dungeon (not the Fungeon?) an arcade on the lower level of Excalibur would have been a hit with me, plus the first castle-like impression you get when you walk through the front door is kinda interesting, but beyond that? Not much to go on about.

What is worth seeing at Excalibur is the dinner theatre attration, one of the few in Vegas and one that's fun for kids too: Tournament of Kings

If you've seen any of the Medeival Times shows across North America, then you probably have a good idea of what this show is like. There's fewer animals and tournament games, but there's more "show" like elements (dancing, singing, pyrotechnics) that differentiate the experience.The finger food they serve you is not extra special, but it still tastes good and makes this one of the better entertainment options for value in the city. Cheesey? Yes, but if you're into medeival nonesense and sword banging, this is a fun way to start an evening on the strip.

On a side note, in the section next to where I was sitting (Dragon, so we got to cheer for evil!) the whole thing was filled with rowdy college kids who all wore those silly light-up viking hats and cheered and banged on their tables for their champion the most. It was amusing to watch to say the least. Also, no picture or videos during the show as they have "not been invented yet". However, some of the cast posed for pictures with the kids after the show.

I had about 75 minutes from the time Tournament ended before my next show started so I hopped into a cab ASAP and got over to Rio. If you've been wondering for the last week what they heck I meant by "muscle" in the thread title*, well...there you go:

The Rescue Rangers, not all of whom were featured show, but their replacements were not exactly "bad" either

Now in keeping with the moderator's wishes for family friendly content on the forum, I'll keep the review for this on brief:

The show was good. The boys were hot.

The End













OK, I'll go into a little bit more detail here.

Our host and MC for the evening, Jaymes Vaughan (Or at least that's his name on the calendar)

What you see on shows like Ellen is basically what you get here (heck, the first 4 minutes is nothing but stock footage). It's an hour long dance show with guys in different costumes and some games with audience participation thrown in. Is it really super risque? Honestly, for the most part no. It's like PG-13 naughty with some more overt references thrown in. This is not a strip club/show, but more like a party for women (and fanbois) over 18. Seriously, the old ladies were having the most fun of them all. Paying extra to get a front row seat is worth it IMO since there's no point in watching this kind of show from 50+ feet back.

After the show you can take your picture with the guys (for $20) and then have them sign stuff and pose for photos (with shirts on) in the pre-show lounge area (where a bottle of water costs $5).

And as with everything in Vegas, you exit through a gift shop where you can spend even more money. It really is "Disneyland for adults"!

Cippendales: The Lunch Box, Chippendales: The Coloring Book, Chippendales: The Breakfast Cereal, Chippendales: The Flamethrower...

After the show the night was getting late, and as much as I would have liked to have gone to one of the nightclubs, I was checking out in the morning and I hadn't even packed yet! So it was back to the room to get some sleep while I still could before my late flight going home the next day.



We're almost done! Just Day 6 left to report on.

*It sounded better than "Magic, Music and Measels"

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Day 6

Not too much to tell for this day, since it was mostly waiting for the flight to leave. I had until 1pm (official check out time is noon), but after that I just spent the time hanging out around the hotel until my last show which was going to start at 7:30pm. I sat outside for lunch at the Terrance Point Cafe next to a closed and therfore quiet, pool. I dragged out this lunch as long as I could because I knew that night I'd be going back to ice and snow and this would be my last chance to enjoy a sunny afternoon for a while. So I leisurely drank my milkshake while watching the wait staff get attacked by pidgeons (they were all over the food trays).

I also walked across the street to Fashion Show Mall to get my discounted show ticket at Tix4Tonight. It's a big mall, but just chain stores, so nothing really to go on about. I went into the Disney Store there, but having just been inside the Emporium at Disneyland 3 days prior it of course looked lame by comparison. I seem to remember Vegas once having a major Disney Store like the one in NYC, is that true?

Back at the hotel I wanted to go see the Ferrari Dealership which they have on site (because why not?), but unless you're 12 and under you have to pay $10 to get in and you're not allowed to take pictures. However, you can have your picture taken in one of the cars for an additional charge.

Needless to say, I did not do this, but I did go into the gift shop to see all the Ferrari branded items for sale. My favourite? The luggage. That would be something worth having IMO.

Fantasy Waters, er I mean, The Lake of Dreams

Dinner was something special though. At Wynn they have a body of water called the Lake of Dreams, which doesn't look like much during the day, but by night it becomes the stage for a series of small scale shows using inflatable puppets, lights on and in the water, music and more. They do a show every 30 minutes and each one is different. If you're lucky to get a seat like the one I got, it makes for a great example of pre-show or pre-evening entertainment.

My table for dinner at SW, a stakehouse kind of restaurant

After dinner was my last show in Vegas, the brand new Steve Wynn's ShowStoppers. At the time I saw it the show was less than a month old and when I first booked the package there was nothing about it, but now the marketing is in full force and everywhere you go in Wynn and Encore they are pushing this show.

"Razzle dazzle 'em" is clearly the Steve Wynn approach

The good news is the show is really good. So good in fact it may rival Penn and Teller for being my favourite show of the trip. A Broadway revue show may sound very 80s-Cruise-Line but leave it to Mr. Wynn for doing it as best as he can. A 30 piece orchestra and 36 singers and danncers go through 75 minutes worth of songs from hit Broadway shows throughout the street's history.

Besides the cost of a ticket for a show of its legth (again why you go to Tix4Tonight), the main criticisms have come from some of Steve Wynn's direction of the show. There's a reason his name is on it. He's both narrator (a decision that seems widely disliked) and was the principle person in charge of picking the playlist. It's all HIS favoruites and very heavy on Chicago, Cabaret, Annie Get Your Gun and Jerry Herman. There's no British songwriters like Andrew Lloyd Webber*, and barely any Rodgers and Hammerstein, Sondheim or Lerner and Loewe.

My response to that would be, "so what?" It's his show, and honestly it's still a solid collection of tunes preformed with a cast and production that's clearly above regional theatre and amusement park quality. It also fills a void in Vegas' entertainment scene that's been missing since Phantom left The Venetian, a true "Broadway" style show and not just another jutebox musical like Rock of Ages. If you're into this kind of entertainment, it's worth seeing.

Bye Vegas! I'll be back soon!

After that I was quickly taken to the airport where I was glad to have spent more time at the hotel than just sitting at the airport for hours. Nothing eventful on the flight home, just people snoring.


And that's the trip report! In short I had a wonderful time and I'm already thinking about my return trip to Vegas and what else I'd want to do there. I may have some final thoughts, but that's the main overview of the trip for now. Hope you enjoyed reading it.



*That's not a bad thing IMO.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

There was a fancy schmancy Disny Store at Caesar's. I don't know if it's still there - I don't think it is.