Vegas Trip

[Shrinky Dink]

I'll be traveling to Las Vegas later this week. Unfortunately, I planned my flight to arrive 5 hours before I can check into the hotel. I plan on having the hotel hold my bags while I wander around town. Any ideas of what to do in the meantime? I plan on downloading Lyft or Uber to get around, anyone have any experience with either?

[TheBlackSheep]

Hey there. I am a Vegas local, born and raised, and I live here now. Where is your hotel?

[Shrinky Dink]

Right by the airport/Sunset park

[Portia]

Uber's fantastic. Can't recommend it highly enough. Maybe try it out locally once though just to get the hang of it.

[TheBlackSheep]

Have you ever been to Vegas before? What's the budget? I can do cheap-as-free to, well, not, as far as ideas go.

[Shrinky Dink]

I've been twice. Once as a 12-13 year old and once on my honeymoon. Either way, I haven't really done a lot of stuff in Vegas. I'll be on my own for the first day, so I'd like affordable activities for then at least. Overall, I could see the entertainment budget for the weekend being close to $200+ for me and my husband.

Here are some things I think I might do or try to do:
Check out the pinball hall of fame and play a few games
Visit Hershey's chocolate world and M&Ms world
Wander around Bass Pro Shops
Visit the Bellagio conservatory
Do at least one "extreme" thing (rollercoaster, zipline, etc)
Bowling or mini golf
Find some great sushi/seafood
Try some virgin drinks
My husband is planning on shooting some intense guns

[Portia]

Once as a 12-13 year old and once on my honeymoon.

Definitely skimmed over important words in the middle there.

[TheBlackSheep]

Sorry, the week has gotten away from me.

I haven't been to the pinball hall of fame, but the mob museum (downtown), atomic museum (Strip-ish), and neon graveyard (downtown) are pretty cool. The first two have admission prices but I believe the neon museum is free. There's also the old Mormon fort that isn't too far from there (north of downtown) that does tours and is pretty cool. Bodies the Exhibition at the Luxor is also really fascinating but it can be pricey.

M&Ms world is fun. Coca Cola world is also fun. Just ask Cognoscente.

I have honestly never been to Bass Pro Shops.

The Bellagio conservatory is a must. Find the chocolate shop inside the Bellagio because the chocolate fountain in the storefront is pretty cool. Listening to the gondoliers and watching the human statue nearby at the Venetian is also pretty cool. You can also ride in a gondola if it fits in your budget.

Do not do the rollercoaster at New York-New York. It's a bumpy ride. I will always and forever recommend the Big Shot on top of the Stratosphere at night. My girlfriend says the zipline on Fremont Street is really fun. The Linq is also pretty cool.

I think we only have one mini golf place here and it's inside and... just don't do that to yourself. I went there on a date and it was okay but only because I was twitterpated. Most of the Station casinos have bowling alleys. Really everything is built around casinos here.

The best seafood I have ever had in Vegas was at the Wynn Costa Di Mare, but that place is very pricey. There is good sushi to be had on the Strip, but if you want decent AYCE you'll have to go off-Strip for sure. Yama Sushi is kind of near that part of town and I remember thinking it was pretty good. Most of the sushi I eat is up in the north where I live but I doubt you would have any reason to get up here. I'd probably go somewhere downtown or on the Strip and just not go crazy. There is finally (finally!) some cool stuff happening downtown between Fremont Street and Container Park. I bet there is somewhere down there by now.

I've only gone shooting outdoors here, but I hear good things about the heavily advertised places.

Be prepared for some potential ribbing from bartenders if you order virgin drinks. Vegas is a party town, after all. Drinks that can be ordered virgin: margarita, bloody Mary, white lady, mojito, Tom Collins. I was once with someone who tried to order a virgin martini. Don't be like them.

Like I mentioned above, there is FINALLY some decent local culture coming in between Container Park and the Fremont Street Experience. You might try Container Park. It's fun and largely family friendly, and it's a snapshot into how people manage to live here. If you walk along Fremont Street from there you'll pass cute restaurants, bars, and shops but, somehow, no casinos. Of course it's within spitting distance of the Fremont Street Experience so it is still very Vegas.

The Forum Shops and the Miracle Mile Shops plus the mall right on the Strip can be kind of fun to wander around. There are also a couple places on the Strip where you can go participate in a viewing of a TV show or something like that, participate in a focus group or survey, and get paid, which is kind of an interesting experience. The Mirage has white lions, and it is no longer too hot to be out walking between hotels to just see all the themes. The Mirage also has dolphins if you want to drop some money. The aquarium at the Mandalay Bay is also pretty cool.

Nothing else is coming to me right now. I'll check back if something does. If you want to do something on the more expensive side, maybe I can meet you and buy your stuff for you and you can pay me back. Most things are much cheaper for locals. If you might want to take a stranger up on this, email me at byublacksheep at gmail dot com. I promise I'm not creepy.

[Craig Jessop]

I live fairly close to the Mesa Bass Pro, so I have a little insight on it. I'm not an outdoors person, or camper, or shooter, or fisher, or hunter. Most people who shop there fit one or more of these descriptions.

They have an electronic shooting range (similar to Disneyland's but MUCH better). I'm not a big shooter, but I love this thing. It's 50 cents for 50 shots, and it keeps score. Very cheap, and really fun.

Twice per day they feed the fish in the streams and fish tank. The feeding frenzy is fun to watch.

(Black Sheep, you could easily make this a really cheap and novel date night.)

[Shrinky Dink]

I'm back and got to do about half the things on my list and wandered around a lot. We also made the mistake of drinking the bottled water at a restaurant. That was an expensive lesson...

Bass Pro shops is definitely an outdoor person kind of thing, but it can also be very fun/educational for other people. They had quite a few taxidermy animals including a giraffe and many of the mounts also had a map next to them showing what areas the animals are from. The Vegas Bass Pro shops has about 3 fish tanks/ponds and one of the ponds even had two turtles and four ducks just chilling in it. It's also connected to the Silverton hotel and casino which has another fish tank with a mermaid performing in it. It was quite adorable to see the kids enthralled watching her swim. We tried the shooting range and my husband and I were disappointed. The targets are more detailed that Disneylands, but the sensors weren't working well, the guns were in disrepair, and the counters didn't work so we didn't even know how many we did manage to set off. Overall, it was still very fun to wander around and could definitely make a good date night, but my husband and I can also wander around our local Sportsmans warehouse for an hour or two and be entertained as well so it was right up our alley.