Day Williams Al-Mohamed » vacation

Cabana Day at the Luxor

Day — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:06:12 +0000

Today, we rented a cabana at the Luxor. Wow! They advertize it as an oasis and they aren’t kidding. It is our own little cabin tent with fan and misters. We lay on the padded lounges (there were four of them) and had water misted on us. And there’s more – towel service, stereo, flat screen TV, small dining table w/ 4 chairs, a fully stocked complimentary refrigerator, a gigantic bowl of fresh fruit, and 2 rafts. We also had cabana-boy Chris and waitress-Jess to take care of us. Their service was magnificent, complete with, on their own initative, getting a whole bucket of ice for Veni (making her their adoring, slobbering, happy puppy for ever). Veni even got a cool towel in the afternoon when we did! Well worth it. And the view was amazing.

Any complaints? Only that the pool itself is only 3ft deep and it closes at 7pm!!!!! This is Las Vegas and it is HOT. I don’t understand how a 3 ft. pool that closes early could be beneficial to a hotel. I’d sit out there all night! Hmm, maybe that’s the problem. We’d all be out by the pool instead of in the casinos!

View from Cabana #5 by the Luxor's pool

Eleven Hotels and Casinos in One Day

Day — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:31:09 +0000

My feet hurt far too much to go into too much detail. We actually did visit all 11 hotels/casinos in a few hours. Ouch! In no particular order:
Luxor
Mandalay Bay
Excalibur
New York, New York – with its fabulous roller-coaster
MGM Grand – we DID see the lions
Circus Circus – where the bride and groom proceeded to win a BAG of prizes at the midway. And Renee HAD to go there because it was in a James Bond film
The Mirage – with its indoor garden
Caesar’s Palace – where we managed to get lost and couldn’t find an exit
Harrah’s
Casino Royale – which is NOT in a James Bond film but had tiny $1 margaritas (I believe were virgin)
The Venetian

I LOVE the Venetian, thus multiple pictures there. I’m particularly proud of the photo below. Friends have photos of me laying on the ground in the grand hall of the hotel trying to take a photo. I believe it was worth it. What do you think?

The Grand Hall of the Venetian (taken from the floor)

And from the Arcade…

Day — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:51:39 +0000

I had to post this picture. Our friend Melissa is a marksman. Now lots of people claim to be good shots, but she really is!!! We were down in the Excalibur’s arcade and they had a crossbow shooting game. Basically, it uses a laser and you aim it at various targets. It is kind of like a giant diorama and when the laser connects with the target, it sets off various animatronics, sound effects and music. She played the game about 8 times. Each game, you get 10 shots, for a total of 80. She missed…twice. Managed to get a picture of her in marksman-mode with her first prize of the evening, the teddy bear. Totally impressive!

Melissa concentrating on a target

The Excalibur Hotel and their Fabulous Arcade

Day — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:10:23 +0000

Today, we had friends start arriving in Las Vegas for the wedding, although the bride and groom weren’t due in for another day or so. We headed over to the Excalibur to meet up. The Excalibur is another themed hotel. This time, designed with to look like a medieval castle. It was pretty cool, complete with Arthurian-themed restaurants and an actual feast with jousting. And in the basement, was a fabulous midway and arcade. Of all the casinos and hotels I’ve seen this is the only one that really seems to live up to the sales pitch of “Vegas for the whole family.” With the exception of EVERYONE (staff included) wanting to pet the dog, I have to admit, I enjoyed the atmosphere of this hotel best. And I just learned that the castle is actually modelled off of a REAL castle in France!

Excalibur Hotel and Casino - the ziggurats in the foreground are part of the Luxor

Melissa, me, Jen and Veni inside the Excalibur

The Luxor Hotel – Las Vegas

Day — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:25:18 +0000

It is HOT here! Renee was outside for less than 3 seconds before declaring that she would not be setting foot outside during the entire trip, particularly as her family is distantly related to polar bears and as such were not partial to temperatures over 100 degrees. Of course, there’s plenty to see inside too!

We’re staying at the Luxor. It looks like a giant 30 storey black pyramid with giant sphinx out front, it’s supposedly one of the city’s first fully-themed mega-resorts. It’s right between Mandalay Bay (where the wedding will be) and Excalibur (where some other members of our group are staying). AND it is all connected by tunnels and walkways and a tram. (Renee is much relieved).

Karen, the bell hop was telling us about how MGM had bought out the Luxor and it was now in the midst of renovations to make it a little less “egypty” and attract a “younger clientelle.” I thought that kind of sad. The old egypt-themed restaurants, the Isis and the Sacred Sea Room are gone. In their place…CatHouse.

As you may know, I love ghost stories about various places we visit. Previously, the Luxor had a Nile River Tour with a boat and a winding river inside the pyramid. It was removed as a part of the renovation but one of the rumors is that it was removed because guests kept seeing ghosts of the three workers killed during the Luxor’s construction whenever the river passed through dark tunnels. Cool, eh? Unfortunately, (or perhaps fortunately) no ghosts were seen by us.

But some of the original design is still very prevalent so I’m glad we were able to go and experience it before things change too much more.

Obelisk and Sphinx inside the Luxor pyramid

Aloha! Hawaii – Day 0 and Day 1

Day — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 09:10:34 +0000

Day 0

Whew! After 23 hours in transit, we had mechanical problems with our plane that lead to significant delays and rearranging of flights, we finally arrived in Oahu at about 10pm. That means it was about 4am in DC time. Unfortunately, Renee’s luggage didn’t make it.

We’re staying at the Wyland Waikiki Hotel. It looks pretty neat, but with the low ceilings and poor air circulation on account of being surrounded by other buildings, it is a bit warm. Although, let me just say, they have one of the MOST comfortable pull-out beds I have ever slept on.

Day 1

Today we visited the Iolani Palace. The short and sweet description (summarized mostly from Wikipedia – because it is too late and I am too tired to write up my own detailed description) is:

Iolani Palace is the only royal palace used as an official residence by a reigning monarch in the United States. The Iolani Palace structure that exists today is actually the second Iolani Palace to sit on thepalace grounds. King David Kalakaua dreamed of a royal palace befitting of the sovereignty of a modern state such as Hawaii. He commissioned the construction of a ”new” Iolani Palace to become the official palace of the Hawaiian monarchy. The building was completed in 1882 and cost over $360,000. It had electricity and telephones at a time that such a thing was so rare and that many had never even heard of it. And served as the official residence of the Hawaiian monarch until the kingdom was overthrown in 1893.

Iolani Palace

I have to admit, the inside looked very beautiful with a lot of decorative woods and carvings. And the building has an amazing history. Just as a neat note – On April 30th of this year, the palace was “overtaken” by a group of native Hawaiians called the Hawaiian Kingdom Government to protest what they view as illegitimate rule by the United States. Cool, eh?

This is us indulging in a limo to ride over to the palace. Actually, the limo was the same price as a taxi. Brenda was our driver and she absolutely rocked. The other photo is of the state seal in the ceiling of the entrance to the Iolani Palace.

Judy, Ron, Don, me, Renee and Rhonda

State Seal at Iolani Palace

And of course there is nothing to end your day like viewing a sunset. Although there are a lot of buildings around our hotel, we thought Waikiki still looked beautiful.

Waikiki at Sunset