Just got back from my Vegas trip. It was my 4th trip there, but that's over a 25 years span, and about 6-7 years since my last one.
We stayed at the Luxor. it was my second time at that hotel. I do like Luxor for its theme and decorations, but I also noticed some drawbacks. There is no bus stop and no easy way to get to the mono rail. Even a pick up point for the bus tour we took was at Excalibur, and not at Luxor. We enjoyed the free tram rides between the 3 hotels though.
Being at south strip is usually not an issue for me, but my sister has some health issues and we were limited by how much she can walk or how much energy she has (not much, in each case). I had no idea how weak she was when I made those hotel reservations. A strange thing was that years ago when I took my mother to Vegas, we stayed at the Luxor and my usually healthy mother became very ill. I had to use a limousine and a wheel chair for her, throughout our stay. She still enjoyed the trip.
It was a major mistake on my part to reserve the Luxor at this time. I needed to pick a hotel on central strip. We wasted a lot of time just going to the Mono rail station (bus was out of the question because it was too hot: 108-110 deg.F), walking through casinos to get to the strip, and finally taking taxi from MGM grand (3 times in 2 days) because she was too exhausted, so we couldn't use the walkways. I had many regrets because she was able to see far fewer places than she would have, had we stayed at one of the center strip hotels. Despite everything, she and her husband enjoyed the trip. They had never been to Vegas, and they were happy with what they saw (Bellagio, Venetian, Statue of Liberty at NY2, Eiffel tower at Paris, and Mirage when we went to see the Beatles Love).
We did use the walkways/trams between Luxor and Mandalay Bay/Excalibur/New York 2, but everything involved walking which was not something my sister handled well. We had to stop at many times and I was very worried for her throughout.
The highlight of our trip was the Cirque du Soleil- Beatles Love (I posted in the other thread about this). Next time I want to see the Michael Jackson One.
We took an evening tour by Grayline, to see the lights of Vegas. We got to see the Bellagio from the inside (Chihuly chandelier at the entrance, the garden, the fountains, etc.) Unfortunately we didn't get to see the volcano at the Mirage because it was a windy day, so they had canceled the volcano. The Fremont street show was a bit tiring because we had to wait for almost 30 minutes before the show began, which meant 30 minutes of loud music. We finally went inside a casino to escape that. The wait time was due to the cancellation of the Mirage Volcano.
I didn't like the downtown area much. Not sure what draws people to downtown hotels. It seems like the strip has just about everything.
I can go to Vegas again, since I live in Phoenix and it's a one hour ride plane ride (6 hours drive by car). Next time I want to see the Cosmopolitan, Aria, Wynn and Encore. I may stay at the Wynn since I have heard so much about it, or at Mandalay Bay if I am going to the Michael Jackson One.
