what's going on everybody this is island
hopper tv and we're going to talk about
things to know
about visiting las vegas here
in spring 2021 but this will apply for
most of the time
headed forward let's do it
so let's talk about the reopening out
here in las vegas so
right now as it stands here in april the
buffets are closed
the nightclubs are closed there's only
maybe one
uh buffet that's open the nightclubs are
open on the weekend right all right
fine well here in june first they're
proposing the governor of nevada is
proposing that each county will be able
to
eliminate the social distancing rules
and allow people to
uh open up fully 100 the restaurants and
nightclubs and everything like that
now there are still going to be things
in place like mass
you have to wear the mask if you're
going to be in these areas
but at least they're going to open
things up starting in the summer time
as of right now things are limited here
in april and probably carrying over into
may
so because we're talking about what's
going on during the current
situation going on in the world with the
lockdowns and restrictions
we're talking about when is the best
time to arrive in las vegas and i'll
tell you right now it's the weekends the
weekdays are still really restricted
and limited for example the nightclubs
are not open
uh during the weekdays they're only open
during the weekends
and they're by reservation only in terms
of the buffets
there's a couple open but not all of
them so we're still limited there
now when it comes to uber trying to hail
an uber on the strip
very difficult so we're going to do our
best to give you guys the most
accurate up-to-date information so uh
right now the best time to show up is
still the weekends
let's go
let's talk alcohol you can see i've got
this beer here this was kind of
expensive it was 13 but i paid as much
as 27
for a drink here in one of these casinos
there is some tricks and work around did
you know that if you're
gaming and they have cocktail waitresses
you can actually get free drinks
while you're playing so you know you
push the
cheapest round you have that penny slots
and you just put the minimum bet and you
just kind of milk it while the
cocktail waitress comes and goes you can
save a lot of money and who knows maybe
even hit it big while you're
drinking beer or a cocktail so
i've noticed that alcohol in las vegas
can be really expensive and it can add
up
super quick
here's something that a lot of people
don't know but they find out when they
get here
these hotels when you're looking on
these websites their prices
they might be 56 for a really nice hotel
room at mgm
or one of the other properties around uh
the mgm or
on the strip even and then you get there
and you find out that it's a 50
resort fee so it's really not 56
it's 56 plus tax plus
a resort amenity fee so be aware of that
when you're looking online because when
you get to the property
you're going to be expected to pay a
resort fee and most of the time
it's per person
this is something that kind of threw me
off during the current situation where
we've had these lock down and there's
restrictions in place
you would have thought that las vegas
strip would have taken that opportunity
to revamp
rebuild a lot of the infrastructure and
repair things and even build
some new resorts or something
none of that appears to have happened in
fact what it looks like had happened
here
was the resort sat still collected dust
and basically got mothballed and then
they kind of just turned
them back on and open them back up and
you can see that all around vegas
it's still in pretty good shape but it's
not anywhere near what it should be
considering how much time was available
to really
revamp this place it looks like it
actually went downhill a little bit
let's talk money atms
some of these casinos have really high
atm withdrawal fees i've seen it as high
as
14 here recently but typically you get
hit with the atm
fee and then your bank charge is also a
service fee
so be aware of that so some of the
workarounds you can have is bring money
with you or go to a real bank but if
you're actually expecting to withdraw
here
at the casino or at the hotel be
expected to pay
a surplus in fees
here's another thing you guys want to
know is that when you come here you're
going to want to book
ahead of time to go see the attractions
for example here at the mandalay bay
they've got the aquarium but you've got
to book a reservation in a time slot
that's how it is from many of the
attractions up and down
the strip here so i found that to be
really irritating
but you got to plan ahead i don't plan
ahead if you're one of those type of
people who do plan ahead
it won't bother you at all
here's another thing his vegas family
friendly i would say
absolutely and so with many of the other
families who come here
with their kids you have the different
areas where marvel comics
you have the m m store you have water
parks
you have lots of pools really a great
place to bring your family so if you're
coming here
uh as adults with your family or
considering that i would say definitely
bring
your kids because there's plenty to do
here and then if you need babysitters
there's apps you can use or you can talk
to the front desk about getting a sitter
for your kids while you go out and have
a little bit of adult time
las vegas is one of the few places where
taxi cabs actually thrive and there's a
reason for that
number one they do have an app called
curb
it is slow especially if you don't have
internet connection
and it's complicated at first because
you have to pair with the code
in the cab but also uber and lyft
have been given like the secondary
benefits all across like at the airport
it's easier to catch a cab from the
airport to downtown
or to the actual strip uh even at the
hotels they always put uber and lyft in
the more inconvenient places
so do be aware of that but also i found
it
to be kind of difficult to hail an uber
and a
lift because taxis are always coming in
and out of here if you look around
behind me here you can see there's
plenty of taxis and not too many lifts
all right so here's something to know
about las vegas when you guys come down
to
the fremont strip you'll discover that
there's a lot of activity going on
if you look right behind me you can see
they've got a roof
that lights up at night a lot of people
when they come to vegas they think they
can only go
to the strip or that the strip is the
only thing that's the big ticket in town
and then they come down to fremont
street and they're like hey that's kind
of cool
they've actually renovated this whole
area at one point downtown was
considered kind of
you know no man's land for people with
money because everything was cheap
but they've really ramped up this area
here's another thing to know drinking
alcohol on the strip
is authorized
[Music]
now let's talk about casino gaming i
will definitely say from experience
having gone around from casinos to
casino
some do pay out better than others and
there's also a thing
with the time of the day and you you
know the old saying
play the machines the slots that are
closest to the door because they pay out
so the three factors that i would say
consider
is some hotels pay better than others i
will personally tell you the ones that i
one at consistently mandalay bay now
everything varies uh on time and day and
whatnot
but mandalay bay i also won
at the venetian but i've lost
at some of these other casinos
consistently one machine after another
basically they were just
taking money off the table like i said
it does depend on the time of day also
sometimes in the mornings i've noticed
you can win on a hot hand
at the front area of the casino that's
not
professional advice that's just been my
experience but also be aware
that uh some of these machines are going
to clean you
out left and right one after another and
especially when you're paying
for all those atm machine fees and
you're getting cleaned out like that
it creates a bad uh experience so with
that being said at least use those
membership cards you have a few
different rewards programs you
have the m life by mgm you have caesars
then you have win you also have grazie
and there's a couple others that you'll
want to look for but those four right
there
if you can get any one or two of those
and it just so happens to be
at the hotel you're staying at or near
the hotel you're staying at
you'll be in pretty good shape with
those reward programs
here's a heads up there are street
performers you'll see them sometimes
they're wearing feathers or dressed as
robots or
mickey mouse minnie mouse those people
work for tips
so when they come up to you and they
start asking if you want a picture just
be aware
that they're going to be working for
tips i'm not saying that it's a bad idea
i'm just saying that when they come up
and take the picture
be ready to pay a tip because they work
for that now sometimes they might even
say to you
that your five dollars isn't enough that
you should give them 20.
so just be aware of that so when you see
the street performers on the street
that's what that is
now when it comes to visiting the pools
in las vegas you'll see that there's a
lot of really cool pools that you'll
want to go to
but really you can only go to the pools
if you're with a guest there or you are
a guest at the hotel
so make sure if pools are important to
you that the hotel you're staying at
has the amenities and the facilities
that you
want in a resort this here is the mgm
park but lots of pools
lots of resorts but you want to make
sure that it's going to be what you're
looking for
all right let's talk about clothes when
you come to las vegas definitely always
wear
proper walking shoes you can bring
sandals for when you're down by the pool
but really if you're going to be walking
up and down the strip like everyone else
bring walking shoes because you're going
to be doing a lot of that obviously they
have
uber they have the taxis but i still
find myself
walking more than anything next when you
went
visit during the winter months
especially
december january february it does get
frosty out here so
bring clothes for 32 degrees 35 degrees
even below that in some cases during
january
in the summertime it gets well over 100
degrees
right now we're visiting during the
spring beautiful weather now
it is also beautiful weather in the fall
so those are the months when you get the
beautiful weather but if you really want
to get in the pool
you know dress the part you're going to
show up spring which is basically
april all the way until october in the
fall
that's when the pool season is really
good here in vegas
now i should make this from a restaurant
but there would be lots of music
and noise in that restaurant so i'll
make it here from the actual strip
restaurants can be overpriced let me
give you an example
if i wanted to buy a steak in phoenix i
would pay
40 to 55 for a high-end
new york strip and that would be a high
price
out here in las vegas it's easy to find
the cheapest steak price at some of
these
restaurants you know name brand
franchises you know your favorite chefs
i'm not going to name any favorite chefs
but at those restaurants 65 85
even over a hundred dollars for one
steak that doesn't even include
appetizers so they're not giving you
appetizers for 85 dollars they're just
giving you a slice
of steak and i've also got to say this
the steak quality
i don't know what it is but it's not
even that great i've had better steak
cooked at my house and i'm not even a
sous chef
then i've had some of these uh
restaurants here on the strip for 85
and i've tried them you would think you
would get something for it but anyway
my experience has been that some of
these other hotels that aren't name
brand
uh restaurant names good quality food
and you're gonna pay one fifth the price
so keep that in mind
i can say this with the experience from
before
the lock lockdowns and restrictions to
now
vegas is way cheaper during the weekdays
than it is on the weekends
here's an example tuesday i arrived here
hotel rooms at the new york for example
or any hotel
or about fifty two dollars yes you had
to pay the resort fee
but for under a hundred dollars with
taxes included
you are staying in your hotel now it's
the weekend
they've gone up about three times the
price just literally
going from the weekdays to the weekend
so
if you're coming out here do be aware
that you're gonna pay a lot more money
during the weekends for everything that
includes
the activities and events that are
taking place those prices go up to
restaurants the lines all that really
frustrating so
i wanted to point that out about timing
here in vegas
guys that's going to summarize things to
know about visiting las vegas in 2021
hope you guys enjoy this one and watch
some of these other videos we'll see on
the next one
you