Hello. How Are You? Do You Speak English?
May. 28th, 2006 07:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
in_the_blueJust flew in from Vegas and boy are my arms tired. No, really, folks. I...
What an insane town.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kriscynical, I hope you enjoy the heck out of it when you get there.
We did fun stuff.
First of all, we stayed at the Luxor Hotel, which is a pretty funky place with its reproduction Tut's Tomb (to scale and allegedly historically accurate and everything). They have a ridiculous iMax Motion Simulator combination ride, which is still as silly as it was the first time I rode it a dozen years ago or so, and it's still got one of the quieter casinos. BUT it also has a great iMax theater and we saw (since we were staying at the LUXOR) "In Search of the Nile" which was one of the best iMax films I've ever seen. It was a great story and a great film and really, we all had a blast at those things.
Second: roller coasters. I like them. I like them just fine. We went on two: the Manhattan Express at New York New York with its two complete upside-down loops and one corkscrew loop, and the Canyon Blaster at Circus Circus (what is it with the word repetition word repetition?). The one at Circus2 had two upside down loops and two corkscrews. The track was smoother and less rickety. I liked it a little better just for the smoothness factor itself. However, the one at NY2 was both inside and outside, way up in the air above the Las Vegas strip, so it had that in its favor.
Still, 2 out of 3 of us voted for the Canyon Blaster as best. And females are always right about that.
Third: food. Man, I had the best damn Italian food last night at some place between the Luxor and the Mandalay Bay. Caffe Giorgio or something like that. Loved it. Loved it. The rest of the food report... well, other than last night, the best stuff was from room service. I about fell in love with the fire-roasted habanero salsa my first night. Maybe it wasn't that good; maybe I was just overly hungry. Whatever it was, I was satisfied.
Fourth: clothes. We saw some awful-looking people. Not personally, but because they had lousy fashion sense. Women in thong bikinis who had no business not leaving more to the imagination. Men in bad suits. Lots of glitter. Lots of bling. Lots of gaudy.
And that's about all I have to say about the sensory overload that's Vegas, folks. If I think of more details, I'll let you... OH WAIT!
We saw an amazing magic show. How could I forget? It's why we took Hannah to Las Vegas in the first place. It was at the Monte Carlo hotel; the magician is Lance Burton. He was way more fun than a barrel of disappearing monkeys. I guess he had the theater there built to his specifications. The whole thing was very cool. He made birds appear and disappear, made himself appear and disappear, turned into other people, did the usual coin-op ear trick, and so on. It was all very fun, and Hannah had a blast. It was worth it.
And... if people tell you theyr'e going to give you free show tickets, don't believe them. Well, yeah, you'll get the show tickets, but it won't be free. They want you to go to their time-share presentation in exchange for the rest of it. What a way to kill a day in the desert, right? And now I'm done talking about it all.
Off to catch up with all of you. And no, I didn't put a single coin or bill or credit card in a single slot machine, or do any other gambling. I did not see Carrot-Top and I did not see Hairspray-The-Musical. I'm pleased as hell at my self-restraint.
What an insane town.
kriscynical, I hope you enjoy the heck out of it when you get there.We did fun stuff.
First of all, we stayed at the Luxor Hotel, which is a pretty funky place with its reproduction Tut's Tomb (to scale and allegedly historically accurate and everything). They have a ridiculous iMax Motion Simulator combination ride, which is still as silly as it was the first time I rode it a dozen years ago or so, and it's still got one of the quieter casinos. BUT it also has a great iMax theater and we saw (since we were staying at the LUXOR) "In Search of the Nile" which was one of the best iMax films I've ever seen. It was a great story and a great film and really, we all had a blast at those things.
Second: roller coasters. I like them. I like them just fine. We went on two: the Manhattan Express at New York New York with its two complete upside-down loops and one corkscrew loop, and the Canyon Blaster at Circus Circus (what is it with the word repetition word repetition?). The one at Circus2 had two upside down loops and two corkscrews. The track was smoother and less rickety. I liked it a little better just for the smoothness factor itself. However, the one at NY2 was both inside and outside, way up in the air above the Las Vegas strip, so it had that in its favor.
Still, 2 out of 3 of us voted for the Canyon Blaster as best. And females are always right about that.
Third: food. Man, I had the best damn Italian food last night at some place between the Luxor and the Mandalay Bay. Caffe Giorgio or something like that. Loved it. Loved it. The rest of the food report... well, other than last night, the best stuff was from room service. I about fell in love with the fire-roasted habanero salsa my first night. Maybe it wasn't that good; maybe I was just overly hungry. Whatever it was, I was satisfied.
Fourth: clothes. We saw some awful-looking people. Not personally, but because they had lousy fashion sense. Women in thong bikinis who had no business not leaving more to the imagination. Men in bad suits. Lots of glitter. Lots of bling. Lots of gaudy.
And that's about all I have to say about the sensory overload that's Vegas, folks. If I think of more details, I'll let you... OH WAIT!
We saw an amazing magic show. How could I forget? It's why we took Hannah to Las Vegas in the first place. It was at the Monte Carlo hotel; the magician is Lance Burton. He was way more fun than a barrel of disappearing monkeys. I guess he had the theater there built to his specifications. The whole thing was very cool. He made birds appear and disappear, made himself appear and disappear, turned into other people, did the usual coin-op ear trick, and so on. It was all very fun, and Hannah had a blast. It was worth it.
And... if people tell you theyr'e going to give you free show tickets, don't believe them. Well, yeah, you'll get the show tickets, but it won't be free. They want you to go to their time-share presentation in exchange for the rest of it. What a way to kill a day in the desert, right? And now I'm done talking about it all.
Off to catch up with all of you. And no, I didn't put a single coin or bill or credit card in a single slot machine, or do any other gambling. I did not see Carrot-Top and I did not see Hairspray-The-Musical. I'm pleased as hell at my self-restraint.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-05-29 03:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-29 03:10 am (UTC)Wow, you do have a lot of self-restraint!
Welcome home!
Funny note
Date: 2006-05-29 03:52 am (UTC)Cheesy, but we found it entertaining.
:o)
no subject
Date: 2006-05-29 04:17 pm (UTC)...funny you should ask (*coughcough*)...
I love vegas!
Date: 2006-05-29 03:50 am (UTC)Luxor - nice hotel. I love it on the inside with the rooms all along the outer edge. Really cool.
Free tickets - yeah. We did that. Took 3 hours of "no", "no" and "no" along with free sodas and snacks but we got tickets to Zumanity. Since we could not have gotten them any other way - it was worth it for us.
We also saw Penn & Teller, but those tickets were planned. I would think Lance Burton would have been awesome! I hope Hannah liked it.
We do not gamble either - I would rather spend my money on good food and good shows. We ate the Bellagio for brunch - heaven redefined by food.
Re: I love vegas!
Date: 2006-05-29 04:24 pm (UTC)We kept telling the guys who wanted to give us free show tickets that we would think it over and get back to them. Finally we let one of them give us the whole scoop and then we just gave them a blanket "no." If I had a free show ticket for everyone who ever wanted me to sit through their condo thing...
But just out of curiosity, did you ride the roller coaster at NY NY? If so, what'd you think, after hearing the screams every four and a half minutes all day long? And for the record, I've never screamed on a roller coaster. My preferred method of coping is to shut my eyes and pretend I'm flying.
Oddly enough . . .
Date: 2006-05-29 04:43 pm (UTC)Funniest thing - it rained for the three days we were there. It never rains in Vegas - yet it drizzled to light-rained the whole time we were there. The roller coasters kept getting shut down so our timing was never right for him to ride it. He was pretty disappointed.
You would probably like Rockin' Roller Coaster at Disney MGM Studios. I rode it once and I guess the look on my face was horrific enough that hubby has not asked me to ride it since.
I like small roller coasters. I would probably have heart failure on the new Shekra at Bush Gardens Tampa. 200 foot drop - 90 degrees to the ground?? No thanks. But nice ups and downs - Space Mountain or Expedition Everest I am fine.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-29 04:44 am (UTC)*hugs**hugs**hugs*
Welcome Back! Welcome Back! Welcome Back!!
(just going with the word repitition thingie ;) )
So glad you're home and that you had fun with the bearito and the Man.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-29 06:57 am (UTC)You didn't tell us about Hannah's reaction when she found out where she was going. I'd love to've seen that. ^_^
If I ever get to go, it's: Star Trek Experience, Cirque and staring at that fountain (Bellagio) for quitesometime. It is SUCH cool tech.
And... YAY, YOU'RE BAAAACK! [BIGhug!]
no subject
Date: 2006-05-29 04:29 pm (UTC)Hannah was a little overwhelmed at first, but she got into the groove of it and had a pretty good time, once the rides and attractions kicked in. She had a perfectly eleven-year-old reaction to the porn pamphlets, though (don't blame her), and I think I heard every kid visiting there say "this isn't really the best place for kids, is it, mum?" But during the day, it's a great place for kids. At night, we hunkered down in the room and read and watched TV and stuff like that. So the seamier side stayed away from us.
We did ride the double-decker bus (thematically called "The Deuce") up and down the strip, to get to Circus Circus. Traffic was horrendous. It took 45 minutes to get the six miles from end to end.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-30 04:57 am (UTC)They have been trying to become more and more family-friendly since the whole Sin City thing became blase and passe and all those other se's; guess they're not quiiiite there yet?
Gawd. Sounds like Coconut Grove on a Friday night.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-29 10:48 pm (UTC)We missssseeeed you!!!
no subject
Date: 2006-06-01 02:29 am (UTC)