Visited Las Vegas in August for son's wedding

[armymom]

My husband and I were in Las Vegas for my son's wedding on August 3. I had been there 20 years ago, hubby had never been there. It was a great trip overall. We stayed at the Excalibur, not the greatest, but the price was good. Our first day was somewhat frustrating. We walked miles and miles and both had blisters on our feet! Once we got acclimated and figured out how to get around, things were much better. Use the monorail system or busses. We spent a lot of time checking out hotels, not a lot of gambling, went to a show (Tournament of Kings in our hotel - it was ok), went to Shark Reef (somewhat of a rip-off), hubby rode the roller coaster at New York, New York. My son got married at Cupid's Chapel north of the strip. It was actually a very nice ceremony, much different than I had expected. We went to Fremont Street that night, it was awesome! Highly reccomend taking the time to check it out. I was somewhat disappointed with the lack of neon at the new hotels, also cheap eats are hard to find. Things have changed in the last 20 years! The weather was surprisingly cooll for August. It was raining when we arrived and temps were in the 80's/90s the whole time we were there - we lucked out! We were amazed at the enormity of the hotels. It was a great experience, hoping to go back in the near future.

[Essential]

Originally Posted by armymom

My husband and I were in Las Vegas for my son's wedding on August 3. I had been there 20 years ago, hubby had never been there. It was a great trip overall. We stayed at the Excalibur, not the greatest, but the price was good. Our first day was somewhat frustrating. We walked miles and miles and both had blisters on our feet! Once we got acclimated and figured out how to get around, things were much better. Use the monorail system or busses. We spent a lot of time checking out hotels, not a lot of gambling, went to a show (Tournament of Kings in our hotel - it was ok), went to Shark Reef (somewhat of a rip-off), hubby rode the roller coaster at New York, New York. My son got married at Cupid's Chapel north of the strip. It was actually a very nice ceremony, much different than I had expected. We went to Fremont Street that night, it was awesome! Highly reccomend taking the time to check it out. I was somewhat disappointed with the lack of neon at the new hotels, also cheap eats are hard to find. Things have changed in the last 20 years! The weather was surprisingly cooll for August. It was raining when we arrived and temps were in the 80's/90s the whole time we were there - we lucked out! We were amazed at the enormity of the hotels. It was a great experience, hoping to go back in the near future.

hey armymom, it was cool reading your experience in Las Vegas. i've never been over there before, but would love to. but not real soon. rather in the coming years. for the moment i'm planning a vacation in Brazil :)
but seems like you had a real nice time overall, even if there were certain setbacks?
how was the wedding? glad to hear that you enjoyed it :)
just for future reference, was it really high costwise? or sort of alright?

take care! :)

[armymom]

Glad you enjoyed my post! Costwise it wasn't bad. We flew from Illinois, air and hotel was total of about $860 for 2 of us for 3 nights. Food was astronomical, in my opinion. First day lunch at Sbarro's pizza - one slice of pizza and a soda $9. We ended up eating at McDonald's once a day off the dollar menu. If you drink, that is high too - 12 oz draft beer $6. My son drank Crown and Coke - $12.00. We bought a 12 pack of beer (almost $20 on the strip) and kept it in the room. We're not huge drinkers, so didn't affect us that much, but still when you're on vacation, kind of nice to have a drink and relax. The wedding itself cost my son and his wife $1200 for not much, but as I said the ceremony was really nice and they had a little reception afterward at the chapel with veggies, cheese and crax, chips and such, punch and cake. We plan on going back sometime in the future. If you are flexible about when you can go, you can check rates and get some really good deals. Example, we found a package for air fare and staying at the Sahara for 3 nights for around $200 a person! Of course, not when we were going. Depends on what is going on out there, I guess, i.e., conventions, shows, etc. A cab to the airport from the Excalibur was $11.00 plus tip. Not bad. It's a different world everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime.