As someone that would never pay $12 per drink and has a wife that would rather that money go towards some other kind of fun, thank you. The last two posting here are some kind of crazy.

You are right, he asked for ANY TIPS. I haven't been to Vegas but we have casinos right by us. There is no chance in hell I'd spend $12 per shot at a fancy bar just because the waitresses look better. Bottle service? Fuck off.

You see Robbie's suggestions as crazy but that is exactly how I see yours.

aria is good! they also have a tram to bounce from there to monte carlo(who has a cool pool area with lazy river and wave pool and modest room prices) or to bellagio. This will save time,energy or cab fares. Mandalay Bay also has an awesome beach style pool area.Cosmopolitan is a very cool place also,if you do happen to stay there pay for the fountain view room. They have balconies there and you get a great view of the bellagio fountains.There are only a few hotels downtown worth staying at. Most are old and feel/look as such. If it were me i would stick to the aria or somewhere on the strip. Its worth the extra cash and if you stick your wife somewhere dumpy on her bday to save some dough you will probably pay for that for a long time. Downtown is worth the trip to party though. Lots of small music bars for nighttime entertainment if you're into that,The freemont street experience is worth seeing once,slotzilla is there which is a giant slot machine with a hipline running out of it that shoots down the freemont street experience. a little pricey for what it is but can be fun. If i were you i would skip a rental car unless you want to go further away from strip or downtown. Cabs are expensive and if you're going off strip they will take you on the scenic route. Ive found for one end of the strip to another the bus can be effective but if its just that ride,the cab price won't be too bad either. We also have the newly built high roller,the worlds tallest observation wheel. Its at the Linq which is next to the Quad and The Flamingo hotels. Its Pricey but cool. Inside the Linq there is shopping and eating places one cool one being Brooklyn Bowl its a Restaurant,Music Venu and Bowling. Don't take the fools handing shit out on the street up on anything!! Especially the nightclub crap its all BS. If you want to go to any of the Night Clubs just go none of those guys are giving anything that you can't get if you just go except maybe 1 free drink or something but theres always a catch! The clubs are very expensive but can be fun if thats what you're in to. Most of the cirque shows are good but pricey,O is a great show but yes very expensive,if you're into the Beatles Love at the Mirage is good,Ka is OK and Mystere is a very interesting and fun show for a reasonable price.The Blue Man Show at Monte Carlo is a fun show at a reasonable price. Like somebody else warned drink lots and lots of water especially when drinking! Really the heat and alcohol can sneak up on you very quickly here,do not underestimate it!

The only problem with the "how much time are you spending in the room anyway?" approach is you don't want to end up in a total shit hole either. Which is exactly what a lot of the older places are. You want a nice clean place to rest your head with decent service if you need something and nice decent surroundings when waking up hungover. If you were a single guy just coming to raise hell for a few days it wouldnt be as much of a concern.Coming for the wifes 40th,be selective and get some reviews. There are a few downtown that are cheap but still nice because they've been redone recently or have kept a decent rep.. but you'll have more luck with decent rooms on the strip. My advice would just be to go for a median priced,non sweet room, to keep the price reasonable and still have a nice comfortable and clean stay. Nothin fancy but won't freak the wife out!

don't know if it still exists but I've visited Mandalay Bay's aquarium in 2005 and it was pretty impressive with white sharks !

Bottom line is...the OP now has plenty of ideas from both insiders in Vegas and tourists who have been here before and had a great time.

Do like I do...blend it all in and enjoy it all. :)

I can say that I'm also definitely not the type of guy to spend the money on a table and a bottle.
I'll take my beer to go, thanks.

No matter what I think I'm settled on the Aria or Venetian maybe. It's only like $200 more for the trip. And looks neat.?

I'm sure we'll wander over to fremont if nothing else but to see it.

I do have lots of great ideas from you guys.
I'm thankful for the tip " Don't talk to the street vendors"
I'm not into touristy places so much so I don't see that sort of thing.

We def want a descent place to sleep, but really we're not that picky.
It's about the adventure more than the places we stay while on that adventure.

Or buy those rooms yourself for that money you would lose gambling? :winkwink:

Or don't go to vegas if your worried about losing money gambling. :winkwink:

My grandpa bought a "gold ring" from a street vendor for $10 long ago. Pawned it for $250 one time, got it out and was told it was worthless when trying to pawn it again.

I bought a "gold chain" after a supercross event in Indianapolis about 15 years ago.

It was only $40 lol....

As soon as I caught back up with my friends they were ALL... "You know that's fake right?"

Def got suckered there. That was my first lesson on being hustled. :thumbsup

Fremont is getting so popular you have to hang out on the Boulder strip? :1orglaugh :thumbsup

Robbie you know you and I like the same kind of places, I just don't think the average tourist does...

Vegas is the cheapest place ever to vacation. (If you dont gamble).

Im waiting for my youngest to turn 21 so we can go there for christmas.

I wanna see britney spears.

Look into groupon dealfind or travelzoo before you book. Dont live your life around them but they might have something for you.

I like travelpoo.... :2 cents:

Ok that was funny.

Toilet humour when all else fails.

No, that was definitely not a recommendation for the average tourist. lol

I was just pointing out that I'm not snooty.

I've had a $1,700 a night suite at the Bellagio and a $29 room at The Plaza and had a great time at both. :)

I've been going to the Boulder strip a bit just to have a good time on the weekends. Cheap prices and extreme craziness.

By the way just got back from The Riviera partying.

Had 4 drinks and came out of the casino $150 richer than when I went in. Not bad!

That's something else to consider when you visit Vegas. The newer, shiny casinos have the slot machines real tight. Hard to win.

The old school ones are much looser and you have a better chance of winning on slots.
Card games and dice are different of course.

Though there are differences in the way BlackJack is dealt at different casinos (again, some of the old school places have the newer places beat in that dept. too)

So if you are staying at a newer casino and don't mind traveling 10 minutes by cab down the street...you can save a hundred bucks a night on drinks and have a much better chance of winning if you are going to try your hand at gambling.

Just some free advice. :)

One of the best shows I ever went to though. Totally worth it :thumbsup

One of my favorites as well. That one and The Beatles Love are my two favorite Cirque shows.

Absinthe at Caesars is fucking hilarious. I highly recommend it.
The Million Dollar Quartet at Harrah's is a cool show.
Penn & Teller at The Rio is awesome.
Raiding The Rock Vault at The LVH is a fun show.

I'm gonna finally go check out Carrot Top's show on Tuesday night at The Luxor.

Chris Angel's show at The Luxor sucks. It was one of the most disappointing things I ever witnessed. :(

I haven't seen David Copperfield's show yet. Seems like every chance I get is on one of the "dark" nights. But I hope to see it soon.

get blackout drunk bang hookers with your wife and stay away from the tables

try not to fuck your sleeping schedule up and time your return flight meticulously so it isn't extremely unpleasant i.e. sleep deprivation and hangovers met with unforgiving bright sunlight

vegas can brutalize you if you let it, so it's best to be the dom in the relationship

do throw caution to the wind and enjoy yourself, but only to a certain degree

vegas and i have issues if you couldn't tell. awesome city though

So Robbie was offering an alternative and suggesting considering avoiding tourists raps, yet he got ripped apart by 2 posters by doing so?
I understand those 2 point of view about bringing wife to bling bling for her b-day, but Robbie's advice was not THAT bad to deserve such a bashing.
After all to avoid tourist traps is universal advice for any traveler worldwide.

I wouldn't call it 'ripping apart'. I'd call it respectfully disagreeing.

The OP's situation needs to play a part in the suggestions. Robbie is suggesting things that a local might do, not what a first time visitor to Vegas on his wifes 40th birthday would want to do.

I mean Boulder Hwy? Give me a break. :1orglaugh

Theres also a difference between cool/iconic and just cheap disgusting. Double Down and Atomic are in the former. Riviera, LVH and Boulder Hwy are in the latter.

And lastly, I guess he just hit a pet peeve of mine when it comes to comparing drink prices. Sure you can get a $2 screwdriver at Riviera and that same screwdriver will run you $10 at Aria. Hell that same screwdriver will run you $14 at The Rhino. If you're only drinking on price why not just stay home? You're visiting Vegas. Great off the hidden path bars with cheap drinks are one thing, disgusting shit holes just so you can save a few bucks are another.

I was in Vegas a couple months ago visiting a girl I see that's a dealer at the Eastside Cannery. I got a room there (it was during the week) for $40 a night and I was stunned how nice it was for what I paid. I've done my fair share of blowing huge money on strip hotels over the years, but unless it's your first trip to Vegas I just don't see the point.

Back in 2002 when I was more involved in the sportsbetting industry I went to a sportsbetting convention that was held at the Palace Station. I think I paid $19 a night for the room and it was better than any nice Marriott or Sheraton you'd stay at in any other part of the country...

By the way...the Riviera is a nice place. Very clean, and a cool iconic vibe. The history of that casino is fascinating to me.

The standard rooms there are very clean. The jr. suites are okay. And the Penthouse suites are very nice.

They have the world famous iconic show "Crazy Girls" (topless), they have the new "Pawn Stars" show there, they have a male strip show (for you ladies), they have a couple of magicians shows.

They also now have a Motown show playing on the stage behind the main casino bar.

And if you saw the mob movie "Casino"...it was based on the old Stardust. But it was all filmed in The Riviera.
It's not bad at all.

As for the LVH...it is most certainly NOT a "shithole" in any way at all.

It was the Hilton until a couple of years ago when the Hilton family moved their assets out. It's where Liberace performed for many decades (and they shot the scenes for that HBO movie with Michael Douglas on the stage there). It's where Elvis Presley did all his Vegas shows.

It also has some of the most expensive and decadent suites ANYWHERE.
You want to see nice and see rooms that the newer casinos don't even have...the old LVH has them:
http://www.thelvh.com/Hotel/rooms/villas

That's some CRAZY decadence there. These things are 2 and 3 times the size of my big ass house!

Again, I have fun everywhere up and down the city. But people who think that I'm promoting staying at "shitholes" are way off base.

The hotel/casinos on the strip and Fremont are all very, very clean and well maintained.

And of course I wasn't suggesting that anybody make their first trip to Vegas and go to the Boulder strip.

But there is nothing wrong with Boulder Station Casino or East Side Cannery Casino.

Boulder Station is HUGE and I have stayed there a few times partying and had a nice suite with a big master bedroom, seperate living room and dining room and two bathrooms for $170 a night.

At EastSide Cannery you can get their very nice little suite with the jacuzzi tub for a $109

I was just saying that as a LOCAL, that's a pretty good deal if you want to go out one night and get drunk and not have to drive home.

That's all I was saying about that. Some of y'all kinda misunderstood what I was saying.

I think the OP made a nice choice by staying at The Aria.

The first 5 times I came to Vegas, I stayed at The Venetian. And I never left the property the whole time. lol

I wish someone back then had told me about some of the other casinos that were close by. I thought it was "normal" to pay outrageous prices for a drink or a bite to eat. So I blew thousands of dollars needlessly.

So the ONLY advice I'm giving to the OP is to have a great time at The Aria. Go see "O" at Bellagio or the Beatles "Love" show at Mirage.

Maybe go down and check out the Riviera and have some cheap drinks and gamble a bit one evening.

Definitely go down for a few hours of fun on Fremont (trust me on that one).

And then next time you come to town...stay at The Golden Nugget on Fremont. Super nice (Steve Wynn himself owned and redesigned it a few years back), great restaurants, and you're in the middle of a giant street party when you step out of the door of the Casino.

And have a good time! :)

I shot an entire paysite at the Palace Station... Good times :thumbsup

Stay at The Wynn and try to go to Ghost Bar its at the top of the Palms Casino.

Or as some of the ballers on here call it: "a shit hole" :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Now you got me wanting to stay at the golden nugget. :1orglaugh

I think doing the Aria hotel is cool for your first time in.

You kind of have to see everything for yourself. Then some of the stuff I'm telling you about will start to make sense for your next trip.

Hopefully you guys will have a blast and be able to return in the future.

If you want to stay at Palace Station go right ahead. But it's a shit hole. It's not $22 a night on a Wednesday for no reason.

Some recent Yelp reviews:

First impressions of the courtyard. Looks pretty ghetto and it smelled and the halls are way too long and was pretty hard to find our room. And on top of that. The courtyard has no elevator so if you have a lot of stuff and luggage Gluck taking it upstairs.

WHAT THE HELL. Our stay was pretty good until we finally checked out, except for the fact that the hallways in the courtyard reek of weed!

Man, does it reek in here!! Yes, many people smoke and thats part of the whole casino atmosphere but the smell is just horrendous! It just hits you as soon as the door opens.

I've never felt so bullied and never had a hotel EMPLOYEE treat us like we were dirt under her shoes. We vowed to never stay here again! WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!!

I hate this hotel!! The beds are like sleeping on straight springs, there are only two tiny pillows, and the blanket is super thin, might as well be a top sheet. The elevator is no where in sight. The room is non-smoking, yet it reeks of cigarette smoke!


But again, knock yourself out. I hear the center bar has $1 margaritas that come in a plastic cup and the slots are loose. :1orglaugh