First Time to Vegas - Few Questions

[Untitled]

Hey,

I know you guys get these questions a lot, I've already read several threads like this, but it's always easier to understand and get the questions answered when you make a thread yourself. Seems like a really helpful community!


I am going with a friend to Las Vegas for the first time (and for me, USA for the first time) in summer. We will be there from June 6 to June 20. So... two weeks. Staying at MGM. We're from Europe.

Our budget is probably around $4000 for the two weeks, and we're looking to have fun. We don't really gamble, but will of course try that. The clubs and pools are our first priority (and just walking around looking at places during daytime).


As I said... never been to Vegas before, so I have no experience with this. I am from Norway, so it's quite different.

So we're two guys only. He is 21, I am 22.
Can we skip line and all that by contacting a host, or do we need at least one girl?
There's no point in doing bottle service, right? Seeing as we're only two guys...

I guess being from Europe, our normal ID's won't work (the dateformat is different, can confuse Americans), so we will have to bring passports? What about driving license?

Being a single guy, there's no secret I will try to hook up with girls. If it happens, cool. If it doesn't, still cool.



And tipping... Norway don't really have the tipping part, so when in Vegas I will be quite new at that. I have read a lot about it, so I know to tip the maids, bartender, waitress, etc.

I am just unsure about how much to tip the hosts.


I appreciate the responses I get.

[OmarLittle]

if you jut buy pre-sales for your chosen nights you wont need to worry about tipping hosts.

[artedm]

Welcome to AMERICA!
generally:
1. dates matter-in the sense of whats going on in vegas generally- for example Electric Daisy Carnival is June 21, 22, 23
edc is a yearly event attracts over 120,000 people to vegas- so your leaving before the flood of people.
2. vegas is very accessible to all prices levels- income levels- for example you could spend $4000 in 1 minute in vegas or you can make it last 2 weeks- but there are many temptations in vegas to spend money.
3. look at all club lineups to get a sense of talent and cover charges

specifically on your trip:
1. I would change hotels to a non resort fee hotel- MGM Grand charges $25 a day resort fee- for your trip your looking at spending $350 for basically nothing. If you want to go European you could probably find a hostel for what your paying in just resort fee.

2. two weeks is a really longggggg time in vegas- most people go to vegas for the weekend or 2-3 days.
you should really think about side trips like spending some time in california and going to grand canyon.
check megabus.com for bus infomation on getting to los angeles maybe even san francisco

3. passport is best- the id check is very serious because your at a casino and they only want over 21s

4. with your budget I would do presale tickets. Tables and line skipping hosts are a lot more expensive.
If your trying for free entry you got to find some girls to even out your ratio. will work during the week but not going to work on Friday or Saturday.

5. tipping is not necessary for presale tickets- and you can keep tipping to a minimum if your not spending a lot of money

Have fun!

[Chris300zx6]

Is it 4.000 for both of you, or each? If so 4,000 can work and you can make it last for 2 weeks. But you won't be looking at BS if you have 4k for 2 weeks.

[Untitled]

Welcome to AMERICA!
generally:
1. dates matter-in the sense of whats going on in vegas generally- for example Electric Daisy Carnival is June 21, 22, 23
edc is a yearly event attracts over 120,000 people to vegas- so your leaving before the flood of people.
2. vegas is very accessible to all prices levels- income levels- for example you could spend $4000 in 1 minute in vegas or you can make it last 2 weeks- but there are many temptations in vegas to spend money.
3. look at all club lineups to get a sense of talent and cover charges

specifically on your trip:
1. I would change hotels to a non resort fee hotel- MGM Grand charges $25 a day resort fee- for your trip your looking at spending $350 for basically nothing. If you want to go European you could probably find a hostel for what your paying in just resort fee.

2. two weeks is a really longggggg time in vegas- most people go to vegas for the weekend or 2-3 days.
you should really think about side trips like spending some time in california and going to grand canyon.
check megabus.com for bus infomation on getting to los angeles maybe even san francisco

3. passport is best- the id check is very serious because your at a casino and they only want over 21s

4. with your budget I would do presale tickets. Tables and line skipping hosts are a lot more expensive.
If your trying for free entry you got to find some girls to even out your ratio. will work during the week but not going to work on Friday or Saturday.

5. tipping is not necessary for presale tickets- and you can keep tipping to a minimum if your not spending a lot of money

Have fun!

Thanks for long response!


About the changing of hotel... Can't do that now. Also, it was my friend who booked it, and he did it through some German travel agency (I wasn't so positive of it, but what's done is done). I think they said that the resort fee was included in the price. We've already paid, so I don't think we should cancel now, but I'll remember this for the next time

2. Yeah, I just kept it short, but we will definitely not just party for two straight weeks. We might rent a car and visit LA/GC one day, another we might just relax by the pool, etc.

3. I guess I will have to drag around my passport, then... it's the size of my hand, lol.

4. Omarlittle and you mention presale tickets. How does it work? Do I get them from each venue's website? And they just make able to skip line, and just pay the entrance fee, and that's it?

Is it 4.000 for both of you, or each? If so 4,000 can work and you can make it last for 2 weeks. But you won't be looking at BS if you have 4k for 2 weeks.

Oh, I thought I wrote it, but I guess I didn't. It's around 4.000 each. I don't think I'll spend much on food, and definitely not general shopping, so I think I can make the money last.

[renator]

Your good on your budget.
I dont agree with artedm...would spend easily 2 weeks in vegas (already did more then that). Vegas is not only parties, theres more stuff you can do...gambling is one of them but there are also good shows, alternative programs, etc.
You can also do BS one night at a tier 1.5-2 club...i dont know but i already got tables inside on xs for 1 bottle, so its doable...(specially if its not Friday/saturday)
And i believe the hotel is not included in the 4k budget right? Maybe only the $25 extra youll have to pay for resort fee...
Just arrive early or get presales and you should be fine.

By the way, Norway is awesome!! Vegas might be more fun, but nothing can top norwegian or swedish girls...

[artedm]

On presale tickets check the clubs websites for lineups and cover charges/ presale tickets
Presale is a separate line.
General admission at the major clubs can be a disaster- paying day of.

In terms of two weeks- Most everyone on here likes vegas and agrees there is a lot to do, a lot of attractions, a lot of sights, a lot of people, etc. Cheap food, cheap hotels, expensive food, expensive hotels.
I guess I'm just trying to say you got to be disciplined to make that money last.
Its just so easy to spend money in vegas. That's why I would say most people are there a weekend or 2-3 days because they go hard and have to go home.

[Untitled]

I've tried posting in here several times now, but I am getting the message that my post needs to be approved. It's been 20 days now, and nothing has happened...

Will this post work?


EDIT: it did work...

EDIT 2: but I can't post a response to the guys over me without getting an approval...

[msavard]

You will want to break out your budget properly... here's how I would do it... assuming hotel and airfare are both completely covered.

$4000 budget for 14 days / 2 weeks....Let's start with the basics:

FOOD BUDGET: $800
Assuming you'll eat 3 meals a day... you can safely eat for $15/meal in vegas if you're smart about it. We'll call it $50/day. Realistically you can hit Dennys or McDonalds for breakfast, In&Out, Earl of Sandwich or Subway for lunch and only spend $15-20 of that, leaving you $30 for a decent dinner. Or you can save up 10-20 of that each day during the week and do a nice dinner one weekend night each week. I'm going to add an extra $100 here toward a GOOD meal too. Vegas is loaded with amazing restaurants.... you should try to eat at one or two nice ones while you're here.

TRANSPORTATION: $400
Taxis add up. You can walk but it will be HOT. You can take shuttles/trams/monorail but those can be more trouble than they're worth sometimes. Regardless, I think $20/day (each) is a reasonable budget for two guys for taxis (splitting most of the time). Rounding it up to an even $300. If you want to rent a car for a day? Let's make it $400 to cover rental and gas.

Now that's $1200 of your $4000 to get you around town and keep you fed. If dining nicely is more important you'll want to maybe give more money to that part of the budget...

So, you've got a $2800 entertainment budget for 2 weeks. That's tight but not too bad.

PRESALES/COVER CHARGES: $600
Club's and or Pool Parties for guys in vegas are usually $20-60 or so... depending on the DJ or event. Let's call it $40 average. I figure you're here to party so let's plan on 15 clubs/pool parties while you're here. Some days you'll not want to go to one. Other days you might hit a big pool (like Wet Republic or Daylight) all day, then want to hit a club that evening. Either way this gives you enough cover budgeted for plenty of parties. IF you want to focus on quality not quantity and only go out a few times a week, you can probably cut this to 10-12 cover charges or about $400.

Now we're down to $2200. Let's pull out $200 for Room Supplies. Toothpaste, couple bottles of vodka and juice for the room. Box of condoms...Etc etc... that little stuff adds up. leaves you with a nice even $2000.

Here's where it gets hazy...

NOW you have $2000 of "party money", one thing you should know about Vegas is it's VERY expensive to drink there. Generally speaking, at a pool party or club, you're going to spend about $18 per drink and $10 per beer after tipping. You stated your preference for mixed drinks so you can assume a $100 tab for about 5-6 drinks/shots over the course of the evening. You're going out about 15 times (above) so figure on spending about $1500 on just a basic 5-6 drinks each time your out. That only leaves you a $500 cushion... which kinda sucks.

IF you're the type of guy who doesn't drink much... or you can get by with pre-gaming (having a few strong drinks at the room, then nursing 1-2 drinks at the club all night), then you're going to be MUCH better off. However if you're the kind who likes to drink all night then you might want to cut back and focus on 5-6 parties through the week (10 events) and maybe do Bottle service cheap one night while you're there.

It's going to be tight fit to party for 2 weeks in Vegas on that budget. You'll need to reel it in and take it easy some nights if you're going to want to have a blowout night or two. Most folks likely budget $500-1000 per day in vegas when they go to "party". That said you can definitely stretch your dollars and make it work.

[kp3205]

2 weeks is crazy!!! A couple of things my group and I have found and done over the years that may assist you during your 2 weeks in LV. We're actually doing a few of these while there 7/11 to 7/18.

1- 24 hour buffet pass which gives you different options over 24 hours: http://www.harrahs.com/casinos/plane...ew-detail.html

2- Coming in 6/6 I would suggest Ditch Friday at the Palms on Friday 6/7 with Ludacris performing. $23 for guys, you can go to the Palms website to order.

3- Happy Hour Special--Todd English Pub inside City Center at Aria: 3:00-6:00PM & 10:00PM-Midnight
½ Price Pints, ½ Price Wines by the glass,$1 Wings, $2 Oysters*, $3 Sliders (*Oysters are $2 All Day Everyday) The 10 to mid is great to load up before going to the clubs.

4- Another Happy Hour Special at: the Pub in Monte Carlo. Try to sit outside on the patio next to their hotel pool: HAPPY HOUR 3-6 PM, MONDAY - FRIDAY $1 Wings, $1 Sliders and buy One Get One well drinks and selected domestic drafts. Tons of IPA's here.

5- Definitely do Fremont Street one night. Crazy cheap drinks and gambling. You can buy the 24 hour bus pass for $5 and go up and down the strip for 24 hours. Pretty steady flow of buses running. Partied one night at the Golden Nugget, hip hop inside club, EDM on the outside patio looking over Fremont Oct.2012 and rolled back to the room at 6AM. No clue, heard the EDM and the rest is hazy. Got free entry with 2 of my boys, my fiancé and her girlfriend. Some guy had passes and it cost me a $10 drink. Good trade off I would say.

6- Make sure you take the round trip service from the airport to drop you off and pick you up to bring you back to the airport. Think it's $18 round trip. Can buy the tix right outside where you pick up your luggage.

7- If you want 1 cheap bender night of drinking and are willing to step down from the Tier 1 clubs and can do well drinks, the Gallery nightclub in Planet Hollywood has an online special only $80 all you can drink open to close well drinks. They also sell online or at the door $60 all you can drink wells from 11P-1AM. Ensure you have tons of aspirin etc. for the next day because hangover will hurt on something like this.

8- Like msavard said, stock up and I highly recommend pre gaming before making your runs. Our group limos from the airport to the hotel so we have the driver stop at the Walgreens first where they have an entire liquor store and load up to bring to the rooms. Saves a ton of cash due to the pricing at the pools and clubs. You can also buy at the hotel and there are liquor stores close by.

9- Carnival Court by Harrah's. Outside party area on the strip, usually has a dj and night. Was very low key in regards to spending wise and a very good crowd10

9- Maybe others can tell you since I never stayed at MGM, does MGM allow free entry for peeps staying there before a certain time to their pools? Definitely inquire about that.

Hope this helps. Cheers.

[Untitled]

Wow, that's great, guys. Thanks for the responses!

msavard, I will read through your "walkthrough" several times. Will deff plan few stuff out based on your post!

Yeah, budget is a little tight, but I am not a heavy drinker or partier. There will probably be few days where we don't really do anything except checking out the streets, shops, hotels and other stuff... like girls, haha. I also thought of sitting in the casino, playing cheap slots machines and get the "free" drinks where I just have to tip the waitress. We will also try to get some of the pre-drinking done in our room.

I've also been playing a game on Facebook called myVegas where you can win real life rewards for Vegas (without using money), so I have around two-three "2-for-1 frozen cocktails" rewards, so that helps as well (it's a legit game).

Maybe I'll win 2.5 million in the casino, so everything's covered. Haha, just kidding!

Food isn't a big issue for me, I wouldn't mind eating cheap food everyday, like McDonalds or from other fastfood chains (but also "real, but cheap food). But surely I will have one or two days/nights where I spend some money on really good food.

I have credit card as well, so in case the money gets really tight, I can use it.


Thanks for telling me about Ludacris, kp3205, will definitely go there!

Sorry for the general response, and not a in depth one, but I am truly thankful for your posts, and will check out some of the points you guys mentioned.

[Untitled]

I wonder why I was never able to make a reply to renator and artedm

[Earlr]

I'd go with presale tickets or just get to the club early.

[Untitled]

I've been playing the myVegas game for a while, and have enough points to redeem a reward for complimentary entry for two to LAX.

Should I do it? We are two guys, and it seems its harder for guys to get in for free in general.

[bigsi26]

my uk driving liscense worked at clubs and even at the tables the one time i got asked