My Epic Vegas Trip - Day 6 (Pics Galore!)

Tuesday July 7 – Mirage, Venetian, Wynn, Sahara, Stratosphere

Moving to the Mirage

Day 6 was by far my favourite day of the trip.

We started the day by packing up our things and moving to the Mirage. Before we left for Vegas we had debated for hours what two hotels we should stay at. The Bellagio was pretty much always locked in so most of the time we were tossing up between the Mirage and MGM Grand as our second hotel. In the end we went with Mirage, mostly because of its better location, and in hindsight I’m pretty happy with the choice. In some respects I even preferred the Mirage to the Bellagio. It has a much younger crowd, a much more fun and happening pool, and all night room service. Unfortunately it also has a terribly small bathroom (and I mean tiny) and a very dim and dull casino. I didn’t think the latter would bother me too much since I’m not that big on table games, but I found I really did miss the atmosphere at Bellagio. It’s just so alive and it really makes you feel like you’re at the centre of Las Vegas.

Once we found our rooms we had a general look around before going for lunch. Here’s a picture I took of the pool from our window – as you can see it’s pretty damn enticing!

The Venetian and Palazzo

For lunch we had the buffet at Cravings, one of the Mirage restaurants. They had a pretty cool noodle soup kitchen thing going on and awesome guacamole. The crab wasn’t bad either.

Then we headed out to explore the rest of the Strip. Our first port of call was the Venetian, a hotel I was really keen to see and had seriously considered staying at in place of the Bellagio. Here are some pics of our walk to the Venetian.

Once inside we took the escalators up (note the cool fresco thing on the ceiling) and suddenly found ourselves in Venice! Well, not quite. I have to say I was a bit disappointed with it all – it definitely looked a lot better in pictures and videos. When you’re actually inside you don’t get that illusion of space that I was expecting at all – it’s all very small, narrow, fake and quite tacky. I was still glad to see it all, and the novelty of it all was definitely still cool, but I was glad I didn’t end up staying there. Here are some pics of the canals as well as of the ‘town centre’.

The Venetian joins onto the Palazzo and when we crossed the threshold it was like suddenly walking into another universe. Unlike the Venetian, the Palazzo was visually stunning and I actually wish we had a better look around (we basically walked straight to the exit). I took a couple of pictures and I think you’ll agree it looks amazing.

The Wynn and Encore

After leaving the Palazzo we walked down towards the Wynn and Encore. On the way we passed Treasure Island and saw Trump Hotel and some strange UFO-looking building (a shopping complex I think?). I also managed to take this snap of the two Wynn hotels side by side and was especially pleased.

Wynn and Encore are meant to be the two best hotels in Vegas so I was really keen to check them out and I was especially hoping that they wouldn’t be a huge disappointment like the Venetian.

Fortunately, I wasn’t let down – the place is simply sparkling! As soon as you walk in, you immediately think “damn, this is a slick place” – the floors are polished, the gardens are immaculate, the whole layout of the place just oozes class, even the casino slots!

The only problem with the place, as you can see in the photo above, was that it was nigh on completely empty! It was like walking into an empty building, there was no atmosphere at all. I assume that this was because of the recession and the fact that the Wynn hotels are the most expensive on the Strip. During peak times I imagine this place would be just buzzing.

Anyway we decided now was a good time to stop for a drink. There was a bar in the centre but we decided to head downstairs to the outside courtyard. On the way I pointed out to Julian the smoking hot waitresses and the ridiculously short skirts we had just forgone by going downstairs. He was not at all impressed at our decision, but fortunately the ones downstairs didn’t end up being too bad either!

At the door to the courtyard the girl told us that we had to buy at least one drink each. I thought this was probably just standard procedure but everyone else thought that because of our age and our clothes (thongs, t-shirts, shorts etc.) and the way she said it she probably thought we couldn’t afford a drink there and just wanted to take a photo or something. So we decided to show her and have TWO each!

The courtyard was like this little sanctuary and except for the heat you really couldn’t tell you were in Vegas at all. There were no buildings jutting into view, no sounds of cars rushing along the Strip – just a really nice and relaxing environment to chill, put your feet up and have a drink. I don’t remember what I ended up drinking but I remember it was nice and that I had a good time overall.

No Man’s Land and Sahara

After our drinks we headed back onto the Strip and made for our final destination – Stratosphere. Someone suggested that we should probably get a taxi there because it’s quite a long walk but we all laughed it off – “Look how big it is! It can’t be that far away!”

Ugh.

20 minutes later and the Stratosphere is not much bigger than it was when we left Encore. Damn, big things really do confuse your sense of perspective! By now we’re all exhausted, Fraser has a bleeding foot (dangerous, rocky terrain!) and I’m starting to think that we’re not going to make it out alive. Ok, that’s a slight exaggeration, but for some reason no one ever told me that the space between Encore and Stratosphere is like a super-dodgy, barren wasteland! There are flyers for prostitutes everywhere, dingy looking hotels like Circus Circus, and run-down stores and booths selling everything from fake sunglasses to cheap show tickets to Grand Canyon helicopter tours. We even got to see one of those stereotypical old-style Vegas wedding chapels and there was even a bride and groom leaving from it, both dressed in wedding attire. Julian also took a picture with some girls outside Riviera – I think it made his day.

We also passed Sahara and stopped in for a look. It was host to a giant burrito eating challenge which only like 3 people or so had ever completed. This was the sort of thing that Julian was born to do, but despite our universal encouragement he chickened out, saying that the buffet lunch we had just had would prevent him from reaching his full potential. Anna, Rosie, Pete and I then decided to give the Sahara’s rollercoaster a go. It was a pretty tiny one so we thought it’d just be a bit of harmless fun. Since we wanted to sit at the front we let another group go in before us and watched as the first batch of people left.

My god, it was like the scariest thing I’ve ever seen! The acceleration from the start was incredible – the people got ripped to the back to their seats and their faces opened up in horror. To make matters worse they returned in the space of what seemed like 15 seconds. Since we had seen the rollercoaster from the outside, we knew that for it to return in this short a time it must have gone damn fast. So we’re all scared out of our minds now but have no choice but to take our seats.

In the end, the ride itself was not scary at all. The acceleration at the start didn’t feel different to any other ride, the ride felt like it lasted a good minute or so, and there weren’t any heart-stopping moments at all. But whenever I look back upon this I always remember the horror of seeing the first people leave and return and I can’t help but smile.

The Stratosphere

At about 6PM, we finally reached our destination – the Stratosphere! It was good timing actually because although we hadn’t intended to get here so late it was starting to get dark and that meant the view from the top would be even more of a spectacle. The view did indeed turn out to be amazing, especially with this huge orange moon in the distance, but unfortunately I couldn’t get any really good photos – they were either blurry or didn’t do the view justice. Anyway here are two to give you an idea.

Fraser, Anna and Rosie decided to take to the rides as well (as soon as I saw the Stratosphere rides on YouTube before we left I was like no way in hell am I doing that!). Here’s a photo of one of the rides as well as some videos. The first video I think is pretty funny – Rosie is getting all confident and waving at the camera and then BAM!

Back to the Mirage

At about 10PM we finally caught some taxis and made our way back to the Mirage, just in time for the volcano show! It was a pretty hot show (haha!), although I would’ve liked some lava melting down the side or something. Here’s a sick pic I took of the volcano as well as a busy street shot to give you a general idea of the atmosphere.

For dinner we got Maccas or room service and munched away in our rooms. We even got treated to another volcano show (we realised we could actually see and hear it from our rooms; the latter fact became rather annoying). Eventually at about 1AM we finally retired to bed.

A very productive day I have to say, and a lot of fun!