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Published: February 28th 2012
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There's no place like Vegas...ha ha ha. And since most everyone has been there at least once, I am going to keep this short and just talk about the "new stuff" that we did. First off, we decided to stay at a new hotel called the Aria. That lasted one night! lol! It's a luxury hotel...the entire room is electronic and controlled with the remote control. I'm talking the shades, lighting, temperature...all with the remote. The bed was super comfortable (and you can purchase them from the hotel's website) and the finish was modern and sleek. Now for the bad part. If you just want to pay an arm and a leg for a fancy hotel, then Aria would probably suit you just fine. However, we chose the Aria over other hotels that we were looking at because it was "on the strip"...so it said. It is not any more "on the strip" than 3 other hotels that we were debating on. The driveway entrance up to the lobby is on the strip, and the front of the hotel faces the strip, but it is actually about a city block back from the strip and other buildings and a hotel are
in front of it. Next let’s talk about the price. I knew that it was going to be on the high end of our hotel budget, and I was prepared for that going into it. What I was not prepared for was the $200 in "other" charges that she told us we would incur at our check-in (also, check-in was ridiculous as we were standing in line for about 30 minutes and we were the next in line). One charge was something like $23/night for resort fees...which included Wi-Fi, use of the fitness center, and a morning newspaper that was not delivered and we would to go to the "news" shop to pick up. We didn't have a choice in any of it...we had to pay. Then the room had a refrigerator that was exclusively for the minibar. It was sensored so if you picked up something to look at it and put it back, the sensor would register that and automatically bill your room for the cost of whatever the item was. Sure we may have been able to fight the charge and get our money back, but should that really be necessary?? Uh, no. No other refrigerator in
Art exhibit made of canoes and kayaks
This is looking from our room in the Aria and the exhibit is in front of the Vdara the room. There is a notice in the literature that says we can request a refrigerator from housekeeping if we need one. So we did...request...$25/night for a refrigerator. Well I was already pretty short from our lousy check-in and this didn't help matters. When I got up the next morning and went to make coffee and realized that there was not a coffee maker in the room, I was sent over the edge and we decided to check out early and go to one of our other selections that was cheaper, maybe a little closer to the strip, and had a full kitchenette. Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but if I am paying nearly $200/night for a "delux king" room, then I expect it to have at least a coffee maker and not have to spend even more money going to the cafe to get some coffee. So we went to the PH Towers (at Westgate)...got the 51st floor (up from 19 at Aria), all the free coffee and refrigerator use we wanted...plus this room had a pull out sofa (not that we needed it) and a jacuzzi tub...both of which the Aria was lacking. Granted, the PH Towers
View from our room at the Aria.
Not sure what that nearest building is, but you can see the Rio (the blue and red one) and the Palms. are not as new and are a little rough around the edges, but they staff was wonderful and the location was perfect. In case you are wondering, the PH stands for Planet Hollywood. The Towers is their "time share" hotel so all of the rooms are studio suites or bigger. All have kitchenettes and the tower is connected to Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino by the Miracle Mile Shops. So there is a lot to do without even leaving the hotel. Oh, and two nights was only slightly more than one night at the Aria.
So aside from our hotel debacle, we did a lot of walking around and window shopping...the usual. We had been mulling over what shows we wanted to see. We decided on Cirque du Soliel's KÀ at the MGM Grand before we headed to Vegas. IT WAS AMAZING!!! From the time we first walked in I was totally amazed. The set is basically the entire theater. The walls are made up of 4 floor so copper pipe-looking catwalks that the performers use and swing from. I had read that KÀ had the largest stage of all the Cirque shows, but I had no idea it
View from our room at the Aria
Looking towards the strip...the Vdara and the Cosmopolitan with the Bellagio in between was going to be THAT enormous! It was multiple platforms that were hydraulically operated to move in every direction possible. And just when you thought the stage was huge, they pulled the back curtain and there was even more! Aside from the stage, the performance was awesome. They don't speak...or don't speak English, but you can somehow understand what is going on. It was fabulous and I would go again and again.
After seeing the first Cirque show, we decided to splurge and go see "O" at the Bellagio the next night. This is another Cirque du Soliel show, and is said to be the most popular one...it certainly is the most expensive at any rate. I was not near as impressed by this one as I was by KÀ. It is a water show with a lot of diving. It was really busy and had a lot of stuff going on. I didn't know where I was supposed to be watching. If there was a story behind it, I did not follow at all. It seemed more like a showcase of talent than anything else. The theater was pretty ordinary (for Vegas). The stage moved up and down
to allow different depths of water, or a solid surface. There were more acrobats and contortionists in "O", and again, the divers (and some synchronized swimming). I really don't understand why it is more expensive than KÀ because I feel that KÀ was a far superior performance.
Anyway...the majority of our time was just spent walking around and window shopping...the usual for Vegas I think. We tried to see the things that we hadn't seen before. So, the Forum shops was not in this trip, but we did go to the new Crystals at City Center, the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino, and the Miracle Mile Shops (it’s not new, but we never went before). We stopped at the new bridge over Hoover Dam to snap off a few shots on the way home. The new bridge bypasses the Dam and spans the canyon. It is a modern marvel in its own right! And it takes about an hour off of the drive! 😉 (So much for short! Ha ha!)
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Sis' Tammy
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Cool Pics
Hi, Jeremy & Lonnie! Hope everything is fine with you guys. Thanks for the great pics. Wish I could have been there with you, 2. Love ya, Sis' Tammy