On what was day three of our trip we booked our very first Uber ever. They are much cheaper than taxi’s to get around Las Vegas so we ordered one to head to the Excalibur Hotel. It was so easy to use, and the Uber arrived promptly. Other than our initial taxi (when it’s a fixed price from the airport) we didn’t book a taxi again. It made economic sense because with the disruption of the Formula 1 you didn’t have to worry if you were caught up in traffic, panicking the fare is getting progressively more expensive! The boys were excited today as tonight we were booked in for Hell’s Kitchen!

Buffet at Excalibur

Our plan was to have the weekday brunch buffet at Excalibur for our breakfast. We had been playing the free games on myVEGAS to build up loyalty points we could exchange for offers (myVIP rewards) whilst we were in Las Vegas. Using some of our accumulated points my husband and I redeemed a 2 for 1 at the Excalibur buffet each.

There are mixed reviews about the buffet on TripAdvisor but we were keen to give it a try as it worked out quite affordable with our deal. Usually its $28.99 an adult (adults start at 12 though!), so for $57.98 (+ tax of $4.85) all four of us were well fed.

We ended up really enjoying it, there was plenty of choice of food. They even had a fresh omelette and pancake station, both of which looked fab! I tried a pancake it was delicious, but I wish I had seen the omelette station first thing instead of piling my plate with potatoes, scrambled egg and bacon. Although I did enjoy them! The staff at those stations have a tip jar out so its polite to tip something.

Our server was lovely, regularly bringing us fresh plates and a lovely smile. Don’t forget to tip your server, we gave him $20. I had read the going rate at a buffet was 10%. I wish that all these places gave you guidelines like on our Hoover Dam trip, so you weren’t at the mercy of googling articles trying to see what you need to give someone!

He really was so kind, he managed to find us after we just left and forgot to take my son’s Lactase Enzyme Tablets with us. We are very grateful he did that. Those tablets give my eldest son so much more freedom with his food.

Then on to Luxor

With our bellies full, we headed to Luxor to do the Titanic Exhibit and Bodies Exhibit. We ended up spending fifty minutes in the Titanic exhibition. Bodies we only managed fifteen minutes, so I don’t think that is as good value. We did have combined tickets so at least that brought down the cost slightly.

The Titanic Exhibit

My husband and I found the Titanic Exhibit to be very moving. On arrival you are given a replica boarding ticket and at the end you can check whether you survived the trip. Titanic made that fateful journey back on April 10^th, 1912. I hadn’t realized that as it was moving towards the sea she almost collided with another ship.

It was so poignant seeing artifacts from the ship, they actually have over 250 authentic artifacts there. I did shed a little tear; it was very emotional. Especially when we saw a part of the hull that had been recovered.

We paid for the photo package in the end, but it was the only way to have a picture on the recreation of the grand staircase. It cost $48, you got two printed photos from the choice and all of them you could download.

It was something else the splendour of certain parts of the Titanic. Hearing about the facilities and dining options available for the 1^st class passengers was very interesting. In third class they had two bathtubs between 700 passengers. The stewards had to schedule the once a week baths. Always such a contrast between the very wealthy and the poor. A third class ticket cost $40 at the time and $4,500 in first class. In todays prices that is $900 compared to $103,000.

The Titanic is slowly being consumed by metal eating bacteria. In a few decades there will not be anything left. So, it’s important that as much is conserved as possible.

The Bodies Exhibit

Although we got round this quite quick. It does help showcase the wonders of the human body. I thought it would be a good educational one for the teens. But I don’t think they were overly keen on seeing the bodies used in this way. They might have donated their bodies for research, but did they intend to be in an exhibition riding a bicycle? My eldest wasn’t convinced.

They have thirteen whole body specimens and plenty of opportunities to learn about skeletons, muscles, respiratory, nervous and digestive systems. We learnt some interesting things:

Children’s bones grow quicker in springtime.

Girls brains account for 2.5% of their body weight compared to 2% for boys.

Your brain activity produces enough electrical energy to power a ten watt light bulb.

The brain requires twenty percent of the body’s total blood supply.

There are 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body.

I did like that they had a box you could get rid of your cigarettes if you were a smoker. It said on average a pack of cigarettes takes three hours and forty minutes off your life. Imagine what you could do with all that extra time!

A Must See Shop

Then it was on to the shop we wanted to tick off.

Hershey’s Chocolate World Shop

You have to come in here. It’s amazing! So many interesting products and lots of varieties you might not have seen before. My boys bought lots of different things. But also, some incredible things to see for free*. Such as a statue of Liberty made from over 21,000 pieces of red Twizzlers candy or the one made from nearly 800-pound or 8,258 bars of Hershey’s chocolate.

*okay free is a bit of a stretch after seeing just how many varieties of Hershey’s chocolate bars my youngest bought!

Some cute photo opportunities to be had here too.

Checking Into Park MGM

Then having used myVEGAS awards again we checked in for our complimentary night in Park MGM. We still had to pay resort fees and tax (equivalent to £36.58), but it worked out not bad to try a different hotel. We could have a little rest before heading out for an evening meal at Hell’s Kitchen in Ceasars Palace. Plus, we wouldn’t need a taxi back to Virgin Hotels Curio Collection Hilton. Although I would say I think the room in Virgin is much more nicely decorated and modern than the one we had at Park MGM. It was quite noisy here too, we were missing our extra door that blocked out some of the corridor noise when we were in Virgin. But in terms of location Park MGM is in a great spot!

Hell’s Kitchen

First things first if you want to book Hell’s Kitchen make sure you do in advance. It is very popular. I think we did it about a month and a half (or even slightly more) before our visit.

We spent a small fortune here (£500), but it was well worth it for a once in a lifetime experience. My eldest is a huge fan of the show and wanted a taste of Hell’s Kitchen so he was in his element here.

I don’t normally eat my beef this red, but it was the only way you could have their beef wellington. But I enjoyed every single mouthful, I just tried not to look at the colour!

We also ordered a side of macaroni cheese which was delightful, more potato puree with crème fraiche and chives and heirloom baby carrots in hot honey.

The boys had filet mignon steak and my husband had the New York Strip and they all thought it was the best steak they had ever had. We finished it off with his famous sticky toffee pudding, but I couldn’t quite finish that. I thought it was a generous portion.

The service we had at Hell’s Kitchen was hand’s down the best we have had too. So very attentive and also understanding of my son’s lactose intolerance. Thank you so much Barbara H.

Bellagio

We were glad to go for a little walk to burn off some of our lovely meal at Hell’s Kitchen so it was off to Bellagio to check out the conservatory to see their magic of fall display. It really is gorgeous, but oh so very busy. You feel like you’re always trying to dodge walking into someone’s photo, it can be quite a challenge. But it’s a good free attraction we could tick of our list, with pretty fairies and woodland creatures to spot.

Then it was the walk back to Park MGM to tuck in for the night, whilst admiring seeing the strip lit up! Yes, it can be beautiful at times, I just wish we didn’t have to deal with the smell of weed and the “angry birds”.

It’s only now I am writing these posts up I realize just how much we packed into each day and also how much fun we had!