Vegas on a Budget - March 31 - April 5

Especially since you have a car and can easily go off-strip- restaurant.com

Cross reference the places there with reviews on trip TripAdvisor and you'll get some really good, really cheap, meals.

also, if you like cheap hotdogs, google around online, you can usually find a buy 1-get-1-free coupon for Nathans hotdogs, and they've got locations in half a dozen food courts up and down the strip.


Beyond that some relatively inexpensive or free things to see/do:


Water fountain shows at Bellagio (free)

Volcano in front of Mirage (free)

Pirate/Sirens show in front of TI (free)

Sky Carnival thingy at Rio (free)

Some animatronic shows at Ceasars forum shops (free)

Penguins at Flamingo (free- I think the feeding is at like 3 or 4 pm?)

There's usually a white tiger or two on display in the entryway area at Mirage

There was lions at MGM but I think they removed em recently

Venetian shops area has free some performance stuff going on, mostly living statue/mime kinda stuff though

Imperial Palace has a really really nice (surprisingly nice given IP is otherwise a dump) Car Museum that is either cheap or free depending if you can get a comp pass for it.

Ceasars has one too, it's not quite as nice, but in a nicer location

Tropicana has (had maybe haven't checked in a while) a big slot machine outside you could pull to win something free, and some of the time (reasonably often anyway) you could win free tickets to some afternoon magic show they had


If you haven't been in a while you can also just walk around Citycenter, which is (relatively) new and pretty nice


anyway that's just some stuff off the top of my head, hope it helps

Thanks for the response!

I've done a few of those things, but it's a great list, and there are plenty on it that will be good options for me. It's going to be nice to be able to get outside and do some walking this time - in the past it's been over 110 degrees when I've been there. The last time I was in Las Vegas was maybe 6 or 7 years ago, so I'm sure there will be some new attractions along the strip to see.

I recommend Nathan Burton show at the Flamingo
http://vegas4locals.com/couponnathanburtoncomedymagic.html

the trick to seeing this show for free or $10 is to go to the ticket office at the Flamingo in advance (days)- the free tickets and the $10 seats sell out quickly.

also try some of the Half Price shows here (not free)
like Motown music - I recommend Human Nature - a white Australian group!
at the Imperial palace.

If you want to get half price tickets same day (most are more than 1/2 though),
get a $2 discount ticket here.
http://www.tix4tonight.com/Printable_Las_Vegas_Discounts_Coupon.pdf

I enjoy the Twinkeys free show at the Harrah's bar - see youtube like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8yI_4LIbyc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFT3QVPo2rE&feature=related

http://twinkeys.com/index.htm

Just got back from a trip from Vegas (stayed from the 17th through the 24th).

I also recommend the Nathan Burton show. We printed out the coupons for the Free balcony seating before arriving. However, we waited until the day of the show to redeem them at the Flamingo boxoffice. That was a mistake, as they often sell out days in advance (espeically in our case, as Spring Break traffic was picking up). However, we were still able to get the $10 seats (though it was for the next night). Advice: If you want to see Burton, go as soon as possible to the Box office to get your vouchers for the show for the best chance at free admission, or the $10 tickets. I thought the show was well worth $10. Lasted 1 hour 30 minutes, with entertaining side shows inbetween his acts.

Someone mentioned you could view the animatronic show at Casear's Forum Shops. Well, this is normally true, but as of last week, it was not operational due to maintenance. It looked like it had been out of commission for several days, and there was no indication as to when it might be working again. So, don't get your hopes up too high for this one, just in case.

However, while at the Shops at the Forum in Caesar's, we went to happy hour at the Palsm restaurant. It is located right at the start of the forum shops. They didn't have drink specials, but they did have a $5 food menu. There were several items to choose from, but most of them were some type of sliders. We got the lobster sliders (3 sliders, each with lobster salad that actually contained large chunks of lobster). They were excellent! We also got the steak sliiders (again, 3 sliders, with toppings). Also, top-notch. And we got the mini crab cakes. There were 3 mini crab cakes, served on Ritz (or similar) crackers -- with an awesome tarter sauce. For $5, the amount of food and the quality of it, was really good. (Do not buy the shrimp cocktail, as the price listed is $3.90 -- but that is PER shrimp). Our favorites, by far, were the lobster sliders.

Since you're staying at Paris, you might want to check out their Piano bar they have there. I believe it's called Napoleons. We went there one evening, and they had the dueling pianos. There's no cover charge and no drink/purchase requirement. It was really good entertainment, and the piano players were really talented. Of course, we ordered some drinks, which were not cheap. But you could easily bring a drink with you, or stick to ordering beer or the non-specaility drinks to keep the tab down. (The speciality drinks didn't have prices on the menu, but were around $15 each.)

If you don't have a players card at the Harrah's properties (which Paris is a part of), you should get one. We got ours a couple years ago, and they gave us a coupon book that contiains (believe it or not) actual useful coupons in it. (Mainly for drinks or appetizers.) We asked for one last year but was told they were only for new members. Didn't check this year to see if they exist or not. However, some restaurants offered slight discount prices if you showed your card when requesting your bill.

We also bought some Restaurant.com coupons before going. At the time, Restaurant.com had the promo where $25 gift certificates were $2. So the price you actually might have to pay will vary denpending on what crazy promotion they might be running. But they had gift certificates for Hash House at Imperial Palace (if you buy a meal there, you'll probably be able to eat left over for days); Fleurs at Mandalay Bay (expensive place, but using the coupon made the experience almost enjoyable -- food was good). Mizuya (shusi place) at Mandalay Bay. The food was okay, but there's much better shusi to be had.

If you like live music, you might want to check out House of Blues restaurant - also at Mandalay Bay. We basically just sat at a table and watched some decent band perform for quite awhile -- without really ordering more than a couple beers to sip.

We also bought some show ticket vouchers from eBay for some really good prices. But since you're leaving so soon, you probably won't be able to get those shipped to you in time. But worth checking out in the future.

One other thing if you're interested in some shows (but maybe not too picky about having to see the top headliners) -- is a website called halfpriceshows.com http://www.halfpriceshows.com/
We didn't use this site, but did plenty of searches about it -- and it seemed legit. We were going to use it until we bought some vouches off eBay instead. It's worth taking a look at their listing though. Also, since they use an instant code/voucher system, you can actually just buy the tickets while you're out there, and can show the verification number on your phone to the person at the boxoffice (at least, that's what I've read).

There's a place called Casino Royale, right near Flamingo. They have $1 frozen margarittas all the time (though, they aren't exactly the best you'll ever have), and $1.50 beer (miller lite, I think). If you sign up for a players club card there, they give you $50 in free play on slot machines. But only a seclect few machines, which don't seem to payoff anything -- but it's still free.

And - if you're into gambling, but can't find decent table limits for most places on the strip - we had the best luck at some black jack tables right beside Margarittaville (restaurant attached to Flamingo). If you walk from the restaurant back into the Casino, there's a beach-themed section set up with about 8 table games there -- that nobody seems to pay attention to. We played there several times, because the table limits were almost always less than in the main casinos of the other places we went (typically, limits were $5 or $10, depending on the time of day). And often, we had the table to ourselves (which we liked).

Anyway, these are just some ideas. Doing some searches for happy hour deals or other type of specials will yield lots of other results, too.

Have fun!!

Thanks for the great ideas everyone! I'm printing off this thread to take with me when I head out there tomorrow.

Hard Rock Hotel, Mr. Lucky's 24/7 restaurant

Unadvertised $7.77 Steak and Shrimp dinner. Comes with potato, vegetable and a salad. Order it medium-well, with the garlic mashed potatoes. It's fantastic.

I sent my buddy over there and he ate that same meal 3 out of 5 nights!