Las Vegas 2008 - Huge List Going

[Elessar]

I'M GOING TO VEGAS!!!

I just want to point out that this line by itself makes D sound like a giddy college girl planning her spring break

Hmmm. That must be the problem, then. I never did anything over "spring break" when I was actually in college except go home and use the time to catch up on homework and paper writing. My husband asked me WHY I wanted to go to Vegas since I just saw Connor and none of you are likely to be able to go, and I couldn't tell him. I just wanna see "The Star Trek Experience". Always have. Guess my inner college student wants a spring break.

There are way too many "mardi gras", "GGW", "Cancun", and "lay" jokes here to be made. All I can do is go all Quagmire and pass out, mumbling, "Giggety".

BUT in all seriousness. I have budgeted what it would cost me to go to the convention. I have several levels of luxuriousness, like, bare bones trip with nothing but attendance, and then one step up is with one Jolene autograph, then one step up from that is the Enterprise crew photos, etc. Here's what I've got:

Bare Minimum:



Flight - 400

Hotel - 135 x 3 = 405

Convention Tickets - 135



Food - 60 x 4 = 120


Total: $1060



+ Jolene: 60 Photo
65 Autograph

Jolene Package = $1285


+ Enterprise Lunch: 85

Jolene+Enterprise Lunch: $1370

+ Crew Photo Autographs: 149 Scott Bakula
65 Jolene Blalock (second auto - crew photo)
30 Connor Trinneer
25 Dominic Keating
20 Anthony Montgomery

Jolene+Enterprise Lunch+Crew Photo Autographs: $1660

+ DS9 Lunch: 89

Jolene+Enterprise Lunch+Crew Photo Autographs+DS9 Lunch: $1750

+ Bail in case I try to kidnap Jolene and find a 24 hour wedding service: $250,000


--this also assumes that nobody will be around to share a room with me, just since that's worst-case-scenario. I might be able to save some money off that number if I could though. Three or four would be AWESOME.

And if "food" seems high... "food" for me is also "drink"

[justTripn]

I just don't like sleeping with men if I can possibly help it: their not soft enough for proper cuddling... that, and they don't smell as nice

Bring your man JT... he'll love it... if only for the material

Ut-oh . . . I made a big mistake . . . I asked my husband if he wanted to go to the Star Trek con. He reminded me that I'd convinced him we didn't have enough money for him to go to his columnist convention this year . . . where last year he hung out with Dave Barry and argued with Bill O'Reilly. (I don't even remember saying that, but I probably did I'm horrible.) So now it comes back to bite me.

Anyway . . .

Oh, but then he goes. "I don't really care about meeting stars. I'm more interested in meeting other writers." I went, "EXACTLY!"



Well, now at least he understands this phenomenon.

Make sure and tell him that Brannon Braga and Manny Coto are both going...

AHHH!!!!! This makes me crazy . . . wanting to go.

[prisocisor]

K... so this hardly needs mentioning, but Dis pretty much has the best husband ever:

Hubby: So... why do you want to go to Vegas?
D: I don't know... Maybe the Star Trek Experience?
Hubby: good enough for me... Let's go!

Whatever you do: don't share your Wiley secrets with EK!

So we've got enough airmiles to fly to Vegas and back... now I just have to come up with cash for the hotel + food... where exactly is this hotel in relation to the strip? I don't want to stay at the airport again! There are a couple of deals right downtown, but I don't want to be too far from the con either...

I'm totally amazed at how many extras there are at this one... you could literally break the bank just trying to get photos and autographs of your favs here, let alone chat with them over lunch! ***Say, didn't we do that for free at NonConUSA?***

Too bad about your Trek Theatre Elessar: we sure enjoyed watching that late-night Lost with the surround sound... thanks again for that

[Elessar]

K... so this hardly needs mentioning, but Dis pretty much has the best husband ever:

Hubby: So... why do you want to go to Vegas?
D: I don't know... Maybe the Star Trek Experience?
Hubby: good enough for me... Let's go!

Whatever you do: don't share your Wiley secrets with EK!

So we've got enough airmiles to fly to Vegas and back... now I just have to come up with cash for the hotel + food... where exactly is this hotel in relation to the strip? I don't want to stay at the airport again! There are a couple of deals right downtown, but I don't want to be too far from the con either...

I'm totally amazed at how many extras there are at this one... you could literally break the bank just trying to get photos and autographs of your favs here, let alone chat with them over lunch! ***Say, didn't we do that for free at NonConUSA?***

Too bad about your Trek Theatre Elessar: we sure enjoyed watching that late-night Lost with the surround sound... thanks again for that

The hotel/con is not at/near the airport. The hotel is on "The Strip", as in, the World-Famous Las Vegas strip.

The first year I went, I went with my whole family (sister and mom) in 2005, and the coolest thing we did the whole time was seeing George Carlin in the Sands, on the very same stage where Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra used to perform. They demolished the Sands like a few months later. It was awesome to see and experience history before it was destroyed.

Are you not wanting to stay at the Hilton?

[prisocisor]

So here's where we're at right now:

Friday-Sunday tickets: $105 each
Hotel: $270 + tax for two nights, $405 + tax for three
Food: $300-$500 (What?!)
Extras: The-sky-is-the-limit!

So... drum-roll please:

for two nights: $780 + tax
for three nights: $1,100 + tax
plus say $300+ in extras... so let's call it a $1,500 weekend!

Anyone want to buy a nice little house on a lake?

PS. how much is the Star Trek Experience??? 'Cause that is a must

[Elessar]

Are you planning on staying at the Hilton or somewhere else?

[TPoptarts]

Dude!! How much do you guys eat?? $300?? That's enough to feed me for like 2 years!!!

[Distracted]

K... so this hardly needs mentioning, but Dis pretty much has the best husband ever.

I second that! Totally. He's the ultimate best... at many things.

The "Star Trek Experience" is two 20 minute 4D "rides" and a Trek museum. Online tickets are good for a month after purchase and for only one round of each ride (but you can stay as long as you want in the museum.) They're 38 dollars a head. I think they're a few dollars more if you don't get them online. Or you could see if there are any tickets left to either one of the private parties on Thurs or Friday night. Those have dinner and Star Trek stars AND you can ride the rides as many times as you want. They're 200 dollars apiece. I passed on those because I can't wait until 9 pm to eat and if I ride those rides more than once I'll throw up everything I already ate anyway.

Here's a link: The Star Trek Experience

[Reanok]

Trekmovie has a new article about the Startrek experience and a final decision hasn't been made if the Hilton will sign another contract to keep it or not.With all the buzz about the new Trek movie it would be nice for trekfans if they kept it. The site said the'd know by the first of July what the final decision is and report what they find out soon.

[prisocisor]

So long as it's not by the airport, forcing my undeniable "need to be free" from spending $350 on an utterly useless car rental... yeah, we'll be staying at the Hilton ***of course, this is assuming that we pull-off some financial miracle and are able to go at all!!!***

Oh, and as for food cost:

And if "food" seems high... "food" for me is also "drink"

[Elessar]

So long as it's not by the airport, forcing my undeniable "need to be free" from spending $350 on an utterly useless car rental... yeah, we'll be staying at the Hilton ***of course, this is assuming that we pull-off some financial miracle and are able to go at all!!!***

Oh, and as for food cost:

And if "food" seems high... "food" for me is also "drink"

Ooooh, I see, yeah, no you don't want to rent a car. Not in Vegas. Anywhere you want to go, like to explore the strip, you can take a cab.

[TPoptarts]

Dude. Do you guys realize that while you complain about your financial issues your drinking budget alone could cover the whole trip for me and then some??

[Elessar]

Dude. Do you guys realize that while you complain about your financial issues your drinking budget alone could cover the whole trip for me and then some??

So... are you saying you're just going to drink instead of coming to the convention?

[Distracted]

I don't think it matters much with this convention. My budget doesn't include a penny for alcohol. It's still expensive. Have you priced hotel restaurants lately, T'Poptarts? Dinner for two without booze can easily run 100 bucks if you get something besides burgers. My food budget for this thing was assuming cereal for breakfast and cold sandwiches for lunch except for the one at Benihana's, and only going out to restaurants for dinner. It still came to 170 dollars. I don't know if I'm gonna be able to stick to that, though. The ambiance at Quark's Bar and Grill may overcome my penny-pinching.

[Elessar]

I don't think it matters much with this convention. My budget doesn't include a penny for alcohol. It's still expensive. Have you priced hotel restaurants lately, T'Poptarts? Dinner for two without booze can easily run 100 bucks if you get something besides burgers. My food budget for this thing was assuming cereal for breakfast and cold sandwiches for lunch except for the one at Benihana's, and only going out to restaurants for dinner. It still came to 170 dollars. I don't know if I'm gonna be able to stick to that, though. The ambiance at Quark's Bar and Grill may overcome my penny-pinching.

$100 for two is a little extreme! You can go somewhere mellow and spend $10 a person on a meal.

But we could take a note from JT. She bought all kiinds of little snacks that we all survived on for like 3 days - save special dinners together - in Jersey!