Vegas vs. WDW

[Chef Mickey]

Vegas is far more expensive than Disney, even if you don't gamble much. The entertainment prices in Vegas make Disney look like peanuts. I saw Copperfield and paid something like $325 for 2 tickets for a meh 90 min show. I saw "O" and paid like $300 for awful balcony seats and didn't even think it was that great.

I stayed at the Wynn and while it was a decent hotel, it was around $340/night. The food is extremely overrated and expensive.

Not to mention the incessant smoking and overall dregs you get in Vegas make it an overall beating.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

A photo I took when I was at The Venitian.......Seeing no SE made me feel down...

And St Theodore & The Lion are flipped in Vegas....

 

[ABQ]

A photo I took when I was at The Venitian.......Seeing no SE made me feel down...

And St Theodore & The Lion are flipped in Vegas....

Well obviously you were standing with your back to Spaceship Earth when in Vegas, as St Theodore and the crocodile are looking at you, not away toward SE.

 

[ABQ]

Of interesting note, btw, is that the Vegas hotel got it wrong and the Lion of Venice statue should be looking away from the stature of St Theodore, as it does in Epcot.

 

[twag1]

As discussed, two very different experiences, so a bit of an apples to oranges. Aside from that, I would say the biggest difference between the two is that you're able to "play" Vegas to a larger degree than you can "play" WDW.

Vegas is going to be as expensive as you want it to be; but it doesn't HAVE to be. If you WANT to stay on the strip in the best properties and if you WANT to see select high end shows and you WANT to eat at the celebrity restaurants - - yup - - you could out-price The Mouse.

We don't even come close to matching our Vegas cash outlay to what we spend to go to WDW. Not even close. And we're not within ballpark view of high roller status.

It's all about watching for deals that are, in fact, legitimate deals. More so there than Disney Deals.

You go to Vegas the first time, you sign up for every player's club card you can whether you gamble or not to get on mailing lists. You pick up every freebee magazine you can when you're there because there are coupons in them. There are different newsletter member sites you can sign up for that may include coupons that will more than recoup what the membership cost.

We've seen a lot of shows and I doubt that I've paid rack rate for any of them. Between coupons or package deals I had going in, tix4tonight, or online discount sites, we've been able to save significantly. And quite often, a well placed Andrew Jackson or so will upgrade you out of the discounted seats into "prime time".

For example, we stayed at Encore once and did virtually no gambling. I've remained on the Wynn mailing list and continue to get room offers. This last one was for rooms in midweek for a price just slightly above what it would cost me to stay at an All Star. True they tack on a resort fee, but the deal included two free dinner buffets (a meal significantly different than a Disney-style buffet) and a free night if I came back in December.

Everybody that does Disney well plans quite a bit. You can do Vegas well (and cheaper) with the same planning effort.

But yes - it is an adult destination when you boil it right down - which is not going to be palatable for all.

 

[Robbiem]

I like both but I've not been to either for a decade so can't comment on current prices etc.

I think in the past both were more similar, early 'Vacation kingdom of the world' WDW had lots of fancy dining, a showroom with named entertainment at the top of the world and adult activities were promoted like tennis and golf. I always think the contemporary was based on vegas style resorts of the era. Later addition like pleasure island and the boardwalk added more adult options to the resort.

Similarly vegas actively copied Disney in the 90s Steve Wynn was an open admirer of Walt and hired several imagineers, including Roly Crump, to design various attractions in his resorts, the original treasure island was basically a POTC hotel, the mirage loosely tropical like the Polynesian, MGM had a wizard of Oz theme park, circus circus more basic one, Mandalay bay a typhoon lagoon water park etc

Nowadays things have separated more WDW is marketed as a kids place rather than for everyone and vegas plays up its naughtyness rather than pretending to be a family resort

 

[DfromATX]

I pick Disney over Vegas any day. I've been to Vegas and I have no desire to go back ever.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I always think the contemporary was based on vegas style resorts of the era.

Never really thought of that before, but it makes sense. Prior to WDW, Disney had no experience designing their own hotels (Disney wouldn't even own Disneyland Hotel until the 1980s). As such, they hadn't found their niche in the industry yet and likely copied what they enjoyed in other American resort properties. Supper clubs, lounges, multiple shops and restaurants etc. Besides a lack of gambling, the only major difference between the two would have been the exterior architecture.

 

[GoofGoof]

Vegas is great...especially if you like to eat, gamble and drink heavily I miss Vegas, but it's no place for kids and I have kids now so I don't get to go much. I also think the cool, old school dive type places are being weeded out too heavily. I enjoyed the dollar craps tables at Sahara and Casino Royale and the $.50 tacos and foot long hot dogs at O'Sheas and that's not even getting into the stuff off the strip. I can still get a $30 hotel room at Excalibur on the strip, but a nice room at a high end resort is a little pricer these days. Nothing like WDW prices though. I'd say it's hard to compare the 2 since they are not very similar. I love em both though.

 

[bjlc57]

the Main Difference between Vegas and WDW, is that in Vegas you have a chance ( slim at best ) to get your money back. At WDW there is no chance.. you leave your wallet at the hotel.. and when you run out of money , they send you home and say see you in two years..

 

[GoofGoof]

Vegas is far more expensive than Disney, even if you don't gamble much. The entertainment prices in Vegas make Disney look like peanuts. I saw Copperfield and paid something like $325 for 2 tickets for a meh 90 min show. I saw "O" and paid like $300 for awful balcony seats and didn't even think it was that great.

I stayed at the Wynn and while it was a decent hotel, it was around $340/night. The food is extremely overrated and expensive.

Not to mention the incessant smoking and overall dregs you get in Vegas make it an overall beating.

You need to know where to look for values. I've never paid that much for a show there. There are several discount ticket places that sell show tickets for the same day at a steep discount. You have to be flexible going in and take what's available that day, but you can get headliner shows for a fraction of the box office price. I only stayed at the Wynn once when it was brand new, but I still get E-mail offers from there for rooms for $99 or $109 a night. I usually stay at a Harrahs (Caesars) property since I have a reward card and generally can get rooms pretty cheap. Their rewards program doesn't require you to gamble heavily either. A few well placed bets and you will be getting offers non-stop. At their lower tier resorts I can still get a free room a lot of nights, at their nicer properties I still get a steep discount and I haven't been to Vegas in a few years now.

 

[Chef Mickey]

the Main Difference between Vegas and WDW, is that in Vegas you have a chance ( slim at best ) to get your money back. At WDW there is no chance.. you leave your wallet at the hotel.. and when you run out of money , they send you home and say see you in two years..

That really isn't the "main" difference between the two, particularly if there is almost no chance you'll get your money back in Vegas.

a) You almost assuredly won't beat the house
b) There are other major differences between them

 

[yeti]

Vegas is high-roller ostentation, it isn't about anything. Everyone except Alan from The Hangover is in on the joke that none of it is real. It never suspends your disbelief. Let me be clear, I'm saying this as the only person I know who would ever go back...but Vegas is a circus act, Disney is a Magic trick. In Disney you play along and allow yourself to be dumbfounded by the illusion, in Vegas you play along and laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.