Vegas Ladies Weekend - May 2008  

By Anne Larison

Las Vegas is a good destination for a short trip, especially with the ladies! I traveled to Vegas with my mom and 3 of my 5 sisters. One of my sisters hadn’t been to Las Vegas for 18 years! We had a lot to do to show her all the changes and how the strip had grown in the last two decades.

It is possible to get very reasonable room rates at hotels off the strip, but this trip we were able to find a very good rate for a package at the Paris Hotel & Casino!

Our group of 5 arrived in Las Vegas Thursday evening about 9:00 pm.

We had no problem finding transfers to our hotel. There are several options from cab to shuttle to private limo. We chose to use the CLS shuttle service. You can pay for a roundtrip transfer and you receive a chip to use for your return trip – if you gamble/spend all your money, you still have a way to the airport (ha).

We checked into Paris, with very little wait. We did notice during the peak times the following few days there were times the line to check in was very long and we were glad we had come in late in the evening. We spent the evening getting acquainted with the slot machines at our hotel, which we would come to know very well over the next few days. We decided to have a late snack at the café. The food was great. You are never far from your next meal when in Las Vegas.

On Friday morning we ate breakfast at the buffet in Paris. This is a very large buffet with so many choices you would have to eat there several times just to try everything. After breakfast we made our way up and down the street visiting each of the casinos in the vicinity.

Tip – I would recommend applying for a Players Club Card at each of the Casinos that you visit. Each casino either has its own players club or they belong to a shared club. As you gamble you can accumulate points toward merchandise, free play, bonus spins, etc.

Eventually we made our way to Caesars Palace. We spent time going through the Forum Shops. This is an incredible complex of retail, dining and entertainment options. After a few hours we were ready for a drink! We went to a little Mexican restaurant in the Forum called La Salsa. We all had a margarita (and a couple of us had a margarita by the yard!). This 3 feet tall drink is available several places around Las Vegas. We enjoyed our drinks and our nachos, chips and guacamole.

Tip – La Salsa is at the far end of the Forum Shops. It is out of the way, but worth finding. There were no crowds and the food and drink were fabulous.

On our tour of the strip we made it as far as The Venetian before we decided to head back to our hotel to get ready for the evening. We had tickets to Rita Rudner at Harrahs.

Tip – Book your Rita Rudner show tickets in advance. We had the satisfaction of knowing we were not at risk of a show selling out and the seats are usually better if you book in advance versus last minute.

Rita Rudner has been appearing at Harrah’s for several years. She is wicked funny. The men in the audience were laughing as hard as the women, but her humor has special appeal to women. I would highly recommend her show – to both men and women.

By the time we got out of the show we, of course, had to eat again! We went to the café at Harrah’s. Even though it was after 10:00 pm in Vegas (early by Vegas standards) the café was pretty crowded.

On Saturday our plan was to enjoy some sunshine around the pool.

Tip – if you want a particular spot around the swimming pool, get up early and go down right when the pool opens. Lay a pool towel on your chairs for the day.

We arrived at the pool right at 9:00 am when it opened and placed our towels on our chairs. There were many other guests who had the same idea. We then headed to a pastry shop for breakfast. Everyone in our group found something yummy from the various pastries, rolls, muffins available. Seating was very limited but we were able to move chairs around to get all 5 of us a seat. We enjoyed our quick breakfast and headed back to the pool.

The pool water was chilly, not a heated pool. We assumed that later in the day as the air temperature went up the water would feel good, but this early it was just too cold. The pool at Paris is nice but not too exciting -- just a large octagonal shape with stairs on each side. There is a poolside restaurant which included cool mister as the day heated up and there were cool misters located in various areas around the pool. The very attentive wait staff was available to offer you food and drink. We ended up enjoying shrimp cocktail and strawberry daiquiri’s after a few hours in the sun. Fabulous!

We had tickets Saturday night for Mamma Mia at Mandalay Bay. After we had enough sun and pool we made our way back to the room to get dressed for our big night at the show.

We walked down to Mandalay Bay, stopping at a few casinos along the way. Prior to the show we had a quick meal in one of Mandalay Bay’s restaurants. The food was very good with very large portions. The sandwiches are definitely large enough to share. My mom and I shared a prime rib sandwich and the chef split the sandwich for us and gave us each a side of coleslaw. The Mandalay Bay Theatre is extremely large. We had seats in section G – left of center, just above the middle of the theater. Mamma Mia is such a fun show. I had seen the national tour of Mamma Mia in Denver, but no one else in our group had ever seen this musical. Everyone loved it. If you are a fan of Abba or any of their songs, this musical production with have you dancing in your seats. The songs are fun and moving and the dialogue is very funny.

After the play we made our way back down the strip. My sister who hadn’t been to Vegas in almost 2 decades really wanted to ride the roller coaster at New York New York. Some of us gambled while 2 of my sisters rode the outdoor twister. They loved it and said it was even more fun at night with all the lights of the strip.

When we got to the Bellagio Hotel & Casino we waited just a few minutes to see the famous dancing fountains. It is impressive at night with the lights, music and water fountains performing across the lake in front of the hotel.

Tip – the street in front of the hotel gets very crowded with all the spectators waiting for the dancing fountains. We walked up the walkway and found plenty of room to see an unobstructed view of the dancing fountains show from the side.

We didn’t plan to gamble at the Bellagio, but we did go inside to check out the lobby and the seasonal display. The lobby is adorned with 2,000 hand-blown glass flowers on the ceiling. The Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens is just off the lobby. The current display is the “Spring Celebration Show”. Amazing plants, flowers, and trees overwhelm you as you walk through the displays. Truly worth a visit!

Sunday was our check-out day. We ate breakfast at the Café in Paris – again the food was very good. Check-out is a breeze. They offer easy check-out via phone or on your television. We used the television and it took only a few minutes. No more waiting in line! We had a few hours until our scheduled pick-up (if you do use CLS shuttle service, call them the day before to schedule your pickup). We brought our luggage to the bellman and he would hold it for us for a few hours and bring it to the shuttle pick-up door in time for our scheduled pick-up.

One of my sisters and I walked over the Bally’s Hotel & Casino. These two casinos (Bally’s and Paris) are connected via a walkway, so you don’t even have to go out into the heat to enjoy both casinos.

Finally it was time for us to head for the airport. Our scheduled pick-up was 12:45 and CLS was right on time. It is good to get to the Las Vegas airport with time to spare. This airport generally has very long lines to get through security so allowing a few extra minutes helps.

We very much enjoyed our ladies weekend in Las Vegas. Everyone agreed that this special trip was everything we had hoped and we plan to make this a regular occurrence.

Anne Larison

 

return to all vegas reviews