Outside the Box: My time in Vegas

As promised everyone I'm recapping my recent stay in Las Vegas.

If you've never been before you definitely need to experience it at least once in your lifetime.  This is my second time there and I still haven't visited all of the places.

I'm just going to type this as a quick pro/con guide so that I can give you ideas on what works best and what doesn't while you're there:



Pros:

-  Visiting separate casinos still gives you a unique experience each time.  It's like visiting new malls, no casino is the same even though they all carry the same type of stuff.

-  There are literally dozens of shows to see in Vegas.  From comedies to magic to musicals to tours, about the only thing not available are plays.  So if you go as a group everybody can enjoy their own tastes no matter what.

-  Everything is literally within walking distance.  That's the beauty of Las Vegas, they purposefully keep everything close so that the money stays near.  Even when it's not, a quick 5 minute shuttle/cab/tram can take care of things.

-  Almost everything is open 24 hours.  Much like being on a cruise, if you have a case of the munchies or feel like entertaining yourself, 04:00 in the morning is just a number.

-  The service is pretty good at any place.  This is because competition is so tight with all manners of merchants all wanting your money.  From hotels to restaurants to shows to even taxis, all are fighting for your dollar and will provide the best service possible to make sure you're happy.

-  The slot machines are pretty fun.  If you don't mind losing every now and then the whole purpose of playing the machines is to have fun.  And they provide a pretty good basis of fun for hours at a time.  I haven't tried any of the card games because you can lose money there QUICK.

-  Do Southwest as your airline flyer.  They're the largest airplane provider in Vegas and have the best prices.  Also do Excalibur as your hotel as they have the best daily rates around while still being in the middle of the strip.

-  Play the "Lord of the Rings" three-ring feature machine.  It pays out the BEST.  I recouped nearly half of my losses on that machine alone and it is hella fun. Also play the "Gold Fishes" game, it always paid out too.

Cons:

-  Everything costs money, and I mean TOP money.  When you buy your first $4 bottle of water there you'll know what I mean.  Pizza slices are $6 each, sodas are $3 each, buffets are $20 each, everything ads up quickly.  And everybody has to be tipped so you'll be losing $5 here and there pretty quickly.

-  The shows are pretty expensive.  This time around the average show was starting at $50 up per ticket.  Some of the comedy acts I wanted to see were starting at $75 and up, and with service charges and "delivery" and tax they ended up being $95 a ticket, I kid you not.  That's more than Tom Petty tickets!

-  The slot machines seem to have severely tightened their winnings.  Last time I was there I wasn't losing out as much, now winnings were barely there.  It seems like Vegas is losing money at each casino so they're capping on winnings, but unfortunately that creates a bad cycle where the less people win the less likely they'll come back, which means tighter machines and less winnings and the cycle goes on and on.

-  Do not play any of those $1 machines.  I placed over $100 into them and didn't win squat.  Also avoid the "Superman: The Movie" machines and any of the rolling wheels video slots.  They pay nothing and when they do only award about a 1/10 of what you've spent.

As a special notice I wanted to mention that I finally played the "Godzilla" slot machine!

While it is everything that the YouTube videos promised unfortunately it was the tightest game around! I must've spent $60 there and won nothing back!  So play it at your own risk but it was still an all around pretty fun game.  When the bonus round kicks in and I got to fight MechaGodzilla...pure heaven!

Anyways I hope this guide helps.

If anyone has any questions be sure to leave any comments and I'll be happy to respond.