Las Vegas Regionals

[sanddrag]

For anyone who is 18 and has a drivers license and health and auto insurance, I HIGHLY recommend you go to the Sahara and do GM The Drive. For $10 you will get four laps around a track in a new Corvette. Or if you prefer, a Cadillac, Hummer (off road course) or any of many other vehicles. I'd call it one of the best entertainment values in Vegas.

For those under 18, there are Circus Circus carnival games (the ones you think you can win but won't then end up spending more money on than the prize is worth), but that place has kinda gone downhill in recent years. Excalibur has a similar thing that is a little better. The Caesar's Palace Forum Shops are pretty neat, as are the ones in the Venetian, and inside New York New York. There is also the wax museum at the Venetian. There is a pretty good coaster around New York New York, but it is a little scary (not thrilling scary but "is this thing built and maintained well?" scary). They close it down if wind gusts get over like 30mph. That tells you something. I've ridden it once. I don't think I would again.

For shows, the Pirates show at Treasure island is free but isn't so family friendly after they redid it a couple years ago. The Mirage volcano is also free to watch and is pretty neat, as is the Bellagio water show.

The main thing about Vegas is that like EVERYONE there smokes (how else would you pass the time waiting for the slot to win huh? j/k) So be prepared for that.

[Jon Jack]

For the last two years our team has gone to the Las Vegas Regional. We stay at the McCaren (not sure on the spelling) Inn. It's right across the street from the airport and a couple streets over from the venue. The rooms are cheap, the hotel is quiet (not that that seems to matter for our team... a few of us got a total of 6 hours of sleep over the 3 nights that we stayed there this year, but not because of the hotel...). The hotel's suites are also reasonably priced and are great for use as a storage/meeting/adult bedroom. Granted it's not the nicest hotel in Las Vegas, but for a team traveling on a tight budget, it's a cheap solution.

[Ken Loyd]

If for some reason you are unable to sign up for the Las Vegas Regional, you might consider the Arizona Regional. Many of the same teams attend both. The weather is just like Vegas. Motels are comparable. The competition is always lively. Many have said that Arizona is one of the best run regionals.

Ken

[Kristian Calhoun]

This past year Team 25 had a blast at the Las Vegas Regional. We stayed at the AmeriSuites Hotel. It was within walking distance to the Thomas and Mack Arena, across the street from a shopping center with a ColdStone Creamery, pizza place, and CVS, and across the corner from the Hard Rock Cafe. It was very nice, and they had free continental breakfast. A couple members of our team [about 8 including the 4 chaperones] did go to see the free Pirates at Treasure Island show [The Sirens of TI]. It was a good show, but the audience was crowded. However, on the walk to TI, we were able to do much sight seeing.

Another night we went to GameWorks, which is a giant arcade. For $10 we were able to get an hour of play. They way it works is that they give you one of those credit card like cards which you use to play the games instead of inserting coins, and from the first time you swipe it, it counts down one hour. Gameworks is also right next to the M&M World, so we stopped by there too.

The amount of smoke on the streets is comparable to that of a boardwalk, however, inside of the casinos, it can be much worse.

[mandraque]

thanks for the replies. theres like way to many gameworks and etc in miami so i know what they are. Out of the things pointed out i really want to see the belagio watershow and the museums, from then on probably most people in my team will want to do different things.