Check your park map for the attractions that have FP marked next to them. In Disneyland these attractions are:-

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Splash Mountain
• Indiana Jones Adventure
• Autopia
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Space Mountain
• Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin

So decide which of the attractions you want to get a fastpass for and do this first.  Either check the Times Guide located in Main St for a list of the waiting times for the Fastpass attractions or simply go to the attraction and check out the clocks that show what time you need to return to take the ride.

There is a clock that shows the time for the regular queue to reach the ride from a pre-ordained entry point  and sometimes you may be lucky enough to find that there is only a 15-30 minute wait in which case it is just as easy to join the queue.

However, if you find the wait is going to be too long, find the FASTPASS kiosk for the ride you are interested in and make sure each person in your party who is going on the ride, inserts their Park ticket into the Fastpass kiosk. A green light will come on and a FASTPASS ticket showing what time you need to return by, will be dispensed.  Now you can go and play in the Park instead of waiting in line.

You will find that the FASTPASS ticket will give you an hour in which to return to take the ride. You may obtain the FASTPASS ticket at 10am and it may show a return time of between 2:00pm-3:00pm, so this is the time you need to get back to take the ride.

On your return to the ride you go to the FASTPASS return line and hand over your ticket. Now you walk into the ride with little or no waiting, right past all the people standing in line and once you are at the head of the queue you board the ride before the people in the regular queue.

On the bottom of the ticket will be a time printed that lets you know when you can obtain another FASTPASS ticket. This is so easy and convenient and allows you to get the most out of your time in the Park.

Before you head off to the Disneyland park check if your hotel is on one of the bus shuttle routes, if it is then one of the first things you should do is purchase a shuttle pass from the hotel before boarding the bus.

You cannot purchase a shuttle pass ticket on the bus and if you don’t purchase a pass it will cost you $3.00 for a single trip for adults and $1.00 a single trip for children 2 years and over.

An Anaheim Resort Transport (ART) pre-purchased Day Pass allows you to travel on any of the shuttle buses. This means that once you reach the drop off point at Disneyland you can then board any of the other shuttles to visit other points of interest such as one of the many shopping areas such as Target or the Block at Orange, the Convention Centre or Crystal Cathedral. 

A pre-purchased shuttle pass gives you unlimited travel on the shuttles for as long as the pass is valid and will cost you the following:-

Adults                              Children 2 and over
1-day        $3.00               1-day   $1.00
2-day       $6.00                3-day  $2.00
3-day       $8.00                5-day  $4.00
5-day       $12.00

Children under 2 years of age travel for free.
Chilren 12 years and under must be accompanied by an adult.

If you do not have a pass remember that trips to the Disneyland Park will cost you for each time you travel on the shuttle. Drivers do not carry change so be sure to have the correct fare when you board.

The shuttles are all painted in different colors and themes. There are also Disneyland Cast Shuttles for transporting the many, many staff.

There are buses and the MT Trolley which will get you to all the main attractions, there is also a hop on, hop off sightseeing bus and the Old Town Trolley Tour - not to be confused with the MT Trolley system.

We decided to start with the MT Trolley which meant leaving our hotel and turning right into El Cajon Blvd. Walk up past the Howard Johnson Hotel and the Fitness centre and turn right into College Ave and walk to until you come to the San Diego State University (SDSU) which will be straight ahead.  The walk is 1.5 miles from the hotel to SDSU and it is a nice easy walk. When you get to the Transit Centre go down the escalator or stairs and purchase your ticket from one of the vending machines.  We intend to be out and about so we brought a 4 day pass for $15 each. Go through the doors to the left of the vending machines and go downstairs to the platform.

The trolley’s run every 15 minutes and it’s not too long before ours arrives. The transit center and the trolley are extremely clean and there is no graffiti anywhere. It is such a nice change to find a place where the people take pride in public property.

Another thing I noticed is that when an elderly or infirm person hops on the trolley, the young people stand up and offer their seat straight away. None of this ignoring them or looking the other way as is often seen in other centers.

We are on the Green Line trolley which takes us to Old Town.

The Plaza del Pasado or Old Town in San Diego is a historic town that captures the festive spirit of Mexico and where some of the old buildings have been turned into restaurants and shops and others such as the old courthouse and the dentist rooms are preserved so todays youth can see how things were in the past.

It is a beautiful day to spend time strolling around the shops and outdoor markets and we take our time enjoying the exotic aromas and colorful decor of the plaza. Old Town is considered to be the birthplace of California and in 1769 it became the first permanent Spanish settlement in California.

In 1846 the population numbered 250 and had grown somewhat and it was incorporated as a city in 1850 with the government activities centred around the Plaza Viejo.  After the business district of Old San Diego was burned down in 1872, the business centre moved to the present day site of Downtown San Diego.

Some of historic buildings still standing are the Casa De Machado which was built in the adobe style of construction by Corporal Jose Manuel Machado for his daughter Maria Antonia Machado de Silvas, The Temple Beth Israel which was the first synagogue built in San Diego in 1889. Most of the other buildings are recontructions such as the Brick Courthouse and the George Johnson House. But all are worthy of a visit.

Then it is off to catch the Blue Line Trolley, which leaves from where the Green Line ends, and head off into the Civic Centre in Downtown San Diego.

By now it is lunchtime and we head over to Anthony’s Seafood Grotto which is right on the water of San Diego Bay. The food is absolutely delicious and our waitress is friendly and chatty. Once again our accents cause comment, most seem to think we are English and are pleasantly surprised when we state we are Aussies. This generally leads to conversations about how long it took us to get to the US, where we have been and how long we will be in town.

After lunch we head off down to the USS Midway Museum which has a 4 acre flight deck and gives visitors the opportunity to explore the ship with the aid of an audio presentation.  The tickets are $15.00 and the ticket office suggest making sure you have 1.5 to 3 hours to complete the tour.  We decide that we will return another day and do this tour.

By now we have picked up a number of maps and public transport timetables and routes and it turns out that we have a bus that stops right outside our hotel which will take us to the trolley transit station.  Before we discover this piece of information we decide to hop of at another stop, other than the SDSU to see if it is closer to our hotel.  So we hop off at the 70th Street stop, and turn right from the carriage and set off in what we hope is the right direction. The No.1 bus (which runs past our hotel) goes by, so we figure if go in the same direction we will at least be heading the right way.

We turn left into 70th Street and walk up a rather steep hill until we reach El Cajon Blvd.  Here we turn left and continue. It is simply a matter of walking along El Cajon Blvd. We are at number 6900 when we turn onto the Blvd from 70th Street and our hotel is numbe 6474 so we have a way to go.  We pop into Ralph’s on the way and pick up some groceries and a Ralph Card that gives us some excellent discounts on our items.  I am a sucker for saving money and will join just about anything if it gives me a bargain.

Our feet are getting tired - thank goodness we brought good quality ARA walking shoes before our trip because we have walked many miles since we arrived in the States, and we are very happy when the hotel looms into sight.

After a nice hot cup of tea we head out to do some washing at the laundromat which is almost next door to the hotel. Turn left as you leave the hotel reception area and walk  just past the Chicken Rotissere store where there is a block of shops with the laundromat.  After putting the washing into the washer we go back to the hotel to watch some more Stargate episodes. Our hotel has more stations than any other we have stayed in so far and one is a sci fi station so this makes us very happy.

Paula also spends time on the phone to the internet company as we have been unable to connect to our hotel’s internet, which is included in the price of the room. It turns out that we have to update the drivers in our Acer notebook before it will connect to the right service. 

Once the washing and drying has completed and we once again have nice clean clothes, we set off for dinner.  We had intended to  eat at the buffet at the Howard Johnson hotel that is just up the road, but it is closed when we get there.  We continue up the road and come to a Mexican restaurant.  The food turns out to be awesome and of course way more than we can eat.

Tomorrow we are going to head off to Tijuana on the blue line trolley.

Our flight to San Diego is with US Airways. We were unable to book in at the booth as our trip ends in Vancouver so we have to go to the counter to be booked in and the lady behind the counter puts us in different rows. So once we have gone through the necessary checks to get into the airport lounge, I go up and ask at the counter if we can be seated together. The trip seems to go quicker having someone to talk to during the flight.

So they print out both tickets in my name, when I sat back down I said to Paula “there is going to be a problem here”.

And sure enough once we board there is a lady sitting in Paula’s seat and she has a ticket with the same number. So after some discussion it is decided that the other lady will be moved and Paula and I will sit together. Then there is a call for Paul C. which of course is meant to be Paula. With both tickets now in my name they were unsure if she had boarded.

So we settle down for the flight when the good looking young man next to me says “Are you married?”. Well after recovering myself from such a forthright question I answer in the affirmative and add “But Paula’s not”. Now where is this leading to I wonder.

It turns out that Eric, as the young man’s name turns out to be, has a friend, Sheryl Jo Harris who has written a book named ‘The Guide to Getting Your Man’ The MAN-ual, which he hands to Paula for an opinion. The book is all about how to obtain and maintain a relationship and the manual is separated into sections to assist you to identify what catagory, such as ‘Mama’s Boy’, the Jealous Guy, the Controller, the Married Man etc and how to identify and deal with your relationship situation. So check out her website where you can buy a copy.

The time flies by as our new friend keeps us entertained with anecdotes of his travels, with his employment in the golfing industry, to Hawaii, Hong Kong, Thailand, Europe and he even spent a year in Melbourne.  Paula and I have also visited these places so we have much in common to talk about when it comes to travel.  His stories are funny and entertaining and we tell him he should document his experiences on a blog for others to read. Eric is charming, engaging, articulate and very talkative and before long the plane is ready to land. We part company and Paula and I set off to find a shuttle to the Best Western Hotel.

So here we are in San Diego at the start of another adventure. Our hotel turns out to be miles from anywhere, it is ideal for someone with a car but otherwise it is out in the sticks. We go for a walk to find something to eat as it is now 4pm and we haven’t eaten since breakfast.  The only thing that is open is the Pizza Hut, a big comedown from the buffet meals we have been having in Las Vegas and it costs the same price.  There doesn’t seem to be anything in this area in the way of restaurants so we brought some snacks at a garage until we can suss things out a bit more tomorrow.

As soon as we are packed and ready we head down to check-out and then make our way to the airport in a cab. As it was so early we have no problems with traffic and we arrive at the airport by 5.30am. The taxi cost us about $35. Nowhere near as cheap as a shuttle bus but we wanted to be sure that we were going to get to the airport on time as it was so early and shuttle buses can be slow as they generally have to go via various hotels to pick up other passengers before they head on to the airport.

We got a great deal through Hotwire for this trip which included return airfares from Las Vegas and 5 nights accomodation at Holiday Inn Express in San Francisco for only $376 each.

The flight only takes an hour and 10 minutes and then it is time to negotiate the airport corridors to the baggage claim area. San Francisco airport is huge and it takes us about 10 minutes to get to where we need to be. Only three passengers are waiting to collect baggage so we assume that the other passengers have gone on to other connections.

Once we have collected our bags, we head out to find a shuttle bus to take us to our hotel in Fisherman’s Wharf. For some reason, we have been finding this difficult in the US as signage for the buses and shuttles is not very good and we wander back and forward trying to figure out where they are. After going up and down in the elevator we see an area where we think we need to be and head that way.

We finally make our way over to the Super Shuttle company and ask the driver how much it will be to our hotel. We find out it will be $16 each so we hop into the van and wait. The driver has no other passengers and decides to wait a little longer to see if he can grab a few more before he leaves. Fifteen minutes later he realises he is out of luck and after making a round of the airport he reluctantly  heads off to our hotel. So we are lucky enought to have the shuttle to ourselves and we get a direct trip to our hotel.

We arrive about 30 minutes later having driven past what we thought was the Golden Gate Bridge only to find out later that it is the Bay Bridge. We also drive past the piers at Fisherman’s Wharf including the famous Pier 39 where the seals hang out and the many tourists wandering up and down trying to keep warm.

We really have no idea as to where our hotel is in relation to the main sights but are pleasantly surprised when we realise we are close to just about everything in fact The Holiday Inn Express - Fisherman’s Wharf is in an ideal location.

We initially decide not to do too much today as we are quite tired after the early morning start but we can’t help ourselves and decide to take a walk up to the Crookidest Street in the world which is within walking distance of the hotel. Mind you, it is all up-hill but it is a pleasant walk all the same and we just take our time. This is a definite must see especially watching the cars try and navigate their way down the hill.

On our way back we stopped at Denny’s for dinner as we hadn’t eaten since breakfast that morning. This was our first visit to this chain of restaurants and we really enjoyed the food.

We then head down to the water to walk along Fisherman’s Wharf. This area is full of tourists but also obviously some locals as we see them jogging along the walkway. We end up at Pier 39 which as mentioned before, is famous for the seals which inhabit the area for most of the year.

 We take a few photos and then head to Boudins which is a famous old restaurant that has the best clam chowder which is served up in a sourdough bread bowl for $6.95. We bought a bowl each along with some black cherry soda. The meal was delicious and really warming as it was very cold outside.

For some reason we weren’t expecting San Francisco to be quite so cold.

Whether you are having breakfast, lunch or dinner at the buffet it is always the same price at only $7.77.

We decided to give it a go after heading to the Golden Nugget buffet and finding that because it was a Saturday we could only partake of the Champagne Buffet Breakfast which was $17.99 each. We really didn’t want to pay that much for breakfast so off to the Plaza Hotel we went.

The Plaza doesn’t have a breakfast buffet as such but instead there is a Brunch Buffet which encompasses both breakfast and lunch and runs from 6am to 4pm. I loved this as it meant I could sleep in and didn’t have to rush down to get breakfast.

Because this is a popular buffet each time we visited we had to queue to get in. Even so, we never had to wait more than 10 minutes but usually it was less than 5mins.  As you would expect, the weekend was busier than weekdays so keep this in mind.

Once seated we immediately wandered up to the buffet to see what was available. I noticed that the selection wasn’t as extensive as some of the other buffets we have been to, but the quality of the food  provided was excellent.

In the main meal service area for the brunch there are a range of breakfast items including scrambled eggs, omelette’s, fried potatoes, bacon, sausage patties, cereals, fruit, fried chicken, sliced meats, roasts and salads. There is a smaller meal service area where the buffet consists of mainly Asian style meals and desserts. So make sure you check out both areas because when we went there on the first night we did’nt realise that there was another buffet area around the corner.

Drinks are free (as long as they aren’t alcoholic) and are provided by waiters who will top your glass up as often as you like.  We both had orange juice and a cup of green tea with breakfast.

We found the breakfast foods to be just delicious. The eggs were cooked perfectly and the fried potatoes and sausage patties were very tasty. I loved those fried potatoes and went back for more.

For dinner the menu changes to include lasagna, pasta, fried chicken, roasts, baked ham, salads, mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, corn, lemon chicken, Chinese noodles, soups, spring rolls, sweet and sour pork and more.

Again, the variety of foods at the dinner buffet is not as extensive as you might find at some of the other buffets in Las Vegas but everything is tasty, well presented and the quality of the food is excellent. We absolutely loved the fried chicken and always had a piece at each meal.

The desserts included chocolate pie, apple pie, coconut cream pie, cheese cake and sugar free desserts. There were also cookies and fresh fruit. We did find that the desserts weren’t always replenished and at one point we had to ask for a particular pie from the chef as there was only apple pie and some cookies left to choose from.

Overall this buffet is great value for money. So if you are on a budget but  still want a great tasting inexpensive meal then this is definitely the place to go when you are in Downtown Las Vegas.

The lobby houses the largest gold nugget on display worldwide. It weighs  61lb 11 ounces and is called the “Hand of Faith”. The nugget was found just inches below the surface near Wedderburn in Victoria Australia.

As usual getting to our room required a packed lunch. This hotel is huge so we had to go quite a way to get to the hotel lifts. We pass by the pool area which has as its main attraction a huge aquarium filled with sharks and other smaller fish. We find out later that a 3 storey clear waterslide travels right through the middle of the tank.

We also pass by a Starbucks, clothing shop, restaurant, some slot machines and a gift shop.

The hotel lifts are separated into two sections, one set of elevators service floors 2 to 9 and further along there is another set of elevators that service floors 9 to 22.  This definitely speeds up the time it takes for the lift to arrive.

Fortunately our room on the 22nd floor (#2281) is quite close to the lift so we don’t have too far to walk.

Our first impressions of the room are positive. This is a big room with nice décor in muted warm earth tonings with flowery curtains and bed coverings, there is also a beautiful aroma in the room that  is very refreshing and welcoming.

We have a double room which has two double beds, a table with two sofa chairs, a TV cabinet with what looks like a 26in (68cm) TV and a desk with a stool. The desk is more of a vanity area where you would put on makeup rather than sit and work at your laptop as the internet cable is actually over on the table. This makes working at a computer a little less than comfortable since the table has low sofa seats so we found ourselves sitting a little low in the chairs to make it the ideal for computer work.

The beds in the room are quite comfortable with a padded mattress and clean, fresh linen. Each bed has two pillows.

There is plenty of storage areas in the room with four drawers in the TV cabinet and a closed wardrobe with hanging space near the bathroom.

Lighting is okay although as with the majority of hotels we have stayed at in the US there are no ceiling lights but instead a series of lamps scattered around the room.

The view from our room includes the mountains, buildings and various carparks. As with most Las Vegas views it is usually better at night when the lights turn on and this one is no exception. We aren’t talking The Strip here but even so we enjoy the night view of casino lights from our room.

The bathroom is a reasonable size and has one hand basin, the toilet and a bathtub with shower. The toiletries include shampoo, conditioner, lotion and two bars of soap. There are plenty of towels although we found them to be a little worn and rough. I think they should consider replacing their towel collection.

The wardrobe contained two cottonweave bathrobes which neither of us used, and these are available for purchase. We noticed a lot of people wore these down to the pool area.

The closet also contains a hair dryer, two fold up luggage holders, an iron and ironing board.

The room has a safe but it is very small. We could only fit our passports and cameras in it. It is way too small to fit a laptop.

One fault we found with the room was the air conditioner/heater which was very noisy. We had to turn it off at night so that we could get to sleep. Howeve  the air con  unit in the next room was so loud that we could hear it churning away day and night.

And speaking of noise, we could also hear noise from the street even though we were on the 22nd floor. It wasn’t constant however and it was mainly police sirens, cars beeping horns or cars revving their engines loudly.

Another fault was the lack of a coffee maker in the room.  This was the same problem we had at Caesars Palace.

The room has a wired internet connection which cost $12.99 for 24 hours. We found the connection to be reasonably fast and stable.

Overall we enjoyed our stay and found it good value for money. If you are looking for entertaiment on The Strip then we advise you to stay away from this end of town as you are at least a $20 cab drive away and there is no way you would want to walk it. You can get on The Deuce bus which will take you up to The Strip for $2.50 or if you pay $5 you can get an all day pass. However, there is plenty to keep you entertained without the need to go to the Strip.

If you are on a budget we would recommend the buffet over at The Plaza Hotel and Casino.

Our Rating of the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino:

Checking in and out 4.5/5
Room 4/5
Position 5/5 (For Downtown location - right on Fremont St)
Price 4/5
Cleanliness 4/5

Booking this hotel is easy through: Expedia.com!

The hotel is located in an absolutely prime position on The Strip. You really can’t get much better than this.

Yesterday we checked in and it was an interesting experience. The gentleman at the front desk offered us an upgraded room. He told us it would be an extra $180. We declined the offer as we thought that even a basic room at this hotel would be pretty good and we would be happy with that. He then said we could have it for $120. We declined again. He proceeded to type away into his computer and then finally told us that we could have the upgrade for nothing!

We have now learnt that if someone offers us an upgrade at an extra cost then we shouldn’t take it as what it probably means is that they don’t have available what we paid for anyway and we are likely to get the upgrade for nothing. Read our Alamo Car Rental review for another example of this.

So now we are quite pleased with ourselves as we head up to our room as we realise we got the upgraded room for nothing.

As with most Las Vegas hotels, it is a major epic finding our room. We almost need a packed lunch to get us to the elevator which in themselves are as ornate as everything else in the hotel.

We are on the 25th floor in the Palace Tower and we make our way to our room (#2505) with high expectations thinking that the upgraded room must be something a little more special than what we originally going to get. On entering the room however we were a little disappointed as it looked like just any other hotel room in many respects. Perhaps our expectations were just a little too high but I know that I would have been very disappointed if we had paid extra for the upgrade. I think we were expecting our room to be a little more like our room at The Rio Hotel where we had a lounging area.

Having said that however, we think we got a great deal for our $150 per night rate.

The room is large and easily accomodates the two double beds, a desk with one chair and a TV cabinet with a mini-fridge which is stocked full of food and drinks - at a cost of course.

The cabinet also has a collection of goodies including a digital camera for $50, cell phone charger for $20, golf balls for $18 and a cocktail shaker kit for $16.

The TV is a flat wide screen with remote control and sits facing both beds. There are 30 or so channels plus the usual paid movie channels - $12.99 each for the latest releases.

There is plenty of storage space including 2 deep drawers and one half drawer in the TV cabinet and shelving and hanging space in the closed wardrobe.

The bathroom is quite large and includes a separate toilet with a lockable door and a walk-in shower which is separate from the bath. It also has a pair of side-by-side sinks and a jet bath which is probably just large enough to accommodate two people. The jet bath is just lovely to soothe aching muscles after a long day of sighteseeing.

The toiletries in the bathroom include the regular shampoo and conditioner - a skincare bar of soap and another bar of soap for the wash basin. There is also a box in the middle drawer that contains a shoe mitten to shine up shoes, a sewing kit, vanity pack and a shower cap.

There are three phones in the room - one by the bed, one sitting on the desk and one in the toilet.

The room contained a safe large enough to fit out 14in laptop.

The noise level between rooms is very low. I didn’t hear any noise through the walls although it may be that the rooms are empty or we have quiet neighbors. Because we are so high up we have no trouble with street noise.

The lighting in the room is adequate. We are yet to find a hotel in the US with good lighting. They seem to all use lamps scattered around the room instead of ceiling lights. When we first tried the lights in the room we couldn’t believe how dark it was but later we realised that each lamp has three levels of brightness - we just needed to turn the switches a bit more. That made a huge difference.

What we didn’t like about the room was that there was no coffee maker. We aren’t coffee drinkers but we use the machines to boil up water for a cup of tea. We couldn’t get over the fact that this caliber of hotel didn’t have them. We rang down to the front desk to ask about this and they told us we could have one for a small fee. It seems the more expensive the hotel, the less you actually get.

We were able to connect easily to the wired internet connection which cost $12.99 for 24 hours. The connection was reliable without any disconnections.

The view from our room was pretty spectacular at night. We could see up The Strip towards The Mirage and Treasure Island.

Overall we had a lovely stay at Caesars Palace. The room was restful and relaxing but we missed the free added extras you get at some of the cheaper hotels like coffee makers, newspapers, free internet and free local calls. These were all at a cost at Caesar’s.

Everything else is also more expensive here like the meals at the restaurants, room service and spa treatments but this just goes with staying at a place like Caesar’s Palace. Just don’t do what we did and buy an icecream at the small cafe in the Forum Shops area - one scoop was $7.95!! …and it wasn’t that great.

Our Rating of the Caesar’s Palace Hotel and Casino:

Checking in and out 4/5
Room 4.5/5
Position 5/5
Price 4.5/5 (based on our $150 per night rate)
Cleanliness 5/5

Booking this hotel is easy through: Expedia.com!

The Holiday Inn hotel is situated on Highway 64 and there are a number of other hotels in close proximity as well as a few shops and foodmarkets within walking distance. The IMAX theater  where they show an excellent movie about the Grand Canyon, is also only a few minutes walk away.

We got the best deal through the Holiday Inn website for about $70 a night. If you walk off the street and book this room direct with the hotel (which we did for another two nights) it is $99, which is still a bargain considering the amenities and conveniences that you get for your money.

We stayed a total of 4 nights at this hotel on two separate occasions in March 2008. The first two nights we were in room #332 and for the other 2 nights room #324 . Both of these rooms were marked “Priority Club” as we are both members.

Membership is free and entitles you to earn points for staying at any of  more than 3,500 locations. The Priority rooms were all overlooking the front of the hotel so I assume this meant a better view although I can’t really compare as we didn’t get to see any of the other rooms.

The beauty of having the room at the front of the hotel is that we could see our car parked in the parking area below. And speaking of parking, this is a great hotel if you are bringing your car along. Parking is free and there were plenty of spaces right near the entrance making it easy to get our luggage into and out of the hotel.

Check-in was quick and easy. We found during our entire stay that the staff at the front desk were just a delight. They were all very friendly and went out of their way to help whenever they were approached.

Our room was on the third floor which was the top floor and we got there via the elevator (which we always found to arrive quite quickly). We also found another elevator down the other end of the hotel which  didn’t seem to be used very often so this is worth keeping in mind during busy times of the day.

On walking to our room we noticed that the hallway had a wonderful smell as did the room. I am not sure what they use but it was always a nice feeling to walk to our room after being out all day.

We had the twin room which had 2 double beds and the room was large enough to accommodate two people comfortably.

The beds themselves were very comfortable and each had four pillows which were marked with the words ‘Firm’ and ’soft’ which we thought was a great idea and not a luxury that you would normally see in a three star hotel. The linen on the bed was fresh and clean.

The facilities in the room included a TV, table and two chairs, an alarm clock, a mini fridge (which was empty), a microwave and coffee maker.

The wardrobe area, which was to our right on entering the room, contained an ironing board and iron.

The room was made up of four separate areas - the entrance way which had the open hanging wardrobe, the main area with the beds, the bathroom with the bathtub and toilet and finally the dressing room area which held the sink. This bathroom had a lockable door but the dressing room area was open. I prefer bathrooms where the sink is included and don’t really like the open dressing room arrangement but this is just a personal preference.  An open dressing room doesn’t really work where friends are travelling together, so changing meant going into the bathroom.

Overall both rooms were in great condition and were clean and well maintained and we felt comfortable in the rooms.

All was not perfect however as we did find a few faults. The first was the minor chipping on the toilet seat in the first room we were in and again in the bathtub of the second room. We also found that the second room didn’t have a plug for the bathtub. These were all very minor problems however and didn’t affect our stay in any way. If either of us had wanted to take a bath we could have easily rung the front desk and they would have brought up a plug.

Now to what makes this hotel such great value for money. The first is the free internet connection. We connected via a wireless connection and with just a few clicks we were on the net. We did find the connection dropped out quite often until we connected the laptop to the blue cable which we found in the TV cabinet. It seemed to work fine after that with only minor drop-outs.

The second value for money part of this hotel is the free breakfast. This is held until 9.30am. Wish it was held until 10am but it’s free so I am not complaining. The hotel advertises this breakfast as being a Continental Breakfast but we would have to say that it is better than that. It includes omelettes or scrambled eggs (depending on the day), sausage patties, muffins, bagels, danishes, boiled eggs, yoghurt, whole fruit and about four different juices and of course coffee and tea. The eating area had plenty of seating and room to get around.

A nice finishing touch was the free newspaper which was outside our door in the mornings.

We really enjoyed our stay at the Holiday Inn at the Grand Canyon and would have no hesitation staying there again.

Note : If you need somewhere to wash clothes there is a coin operated laundry at the next hotel and you don’t need to stay at that hotel in order to use it.

For a 26 minute load it cost us $1.50 and the laundry powder was $1.25. The dryers cost 75c for 30 minutes and 25c for each extra 10 minutes.

Make sure you have plenty of quarters before you head on down there as the coin change machine wasn’t working when we were there. Wanda went to the reception area of the neighbouring hotel to get some change and this involved a long walk and conversations with various staff with limited English. However, she finally got change from a machine in the sportsroom. 

We actually went and bought a bottle of liquid washing soap at the shop across the road from the hotel which was much  cheaper than buying from the soap dispenser at the laundromat.

Getting to the laundromat was a bit of an act, we had to go out the back of the Holiday Inn and walk through the car park until we came to a retaining wall which we had to jump down from.  Someone had thoughtfully placed some rocks to make this easier, however Wanda still had a struggle to get up and down the retaining wall because she is so short.  We then walked through a short pathway to get to the second building on the right, behind the hotel.  There is no signage to tell you how to get to the laundry or even that you have arrived until you get right up to the laundry door. So as silly as this might sound - you don’t know you are there until you arrive.

 Our Rating of the Holiday Inn & Suites - Tusayan:

Checking in and out 5/5
Room 4/5
Position 4/5
Price 5/5
Cleanliness 4.5/5

We booked this hotel through the Holiday Inn website

The hotel is situated at:

4000 W Flamingo Rd
Las Vegas NV 89103

Although the hotel is not on the strip it is not too far from it and there are always the shuttle buses which run every 20 minutes.

Check-in was quick and the gentleman behind the counter was friendly. We were given the keys to room 857 which was on the eigth floor.

Our first impression of the hotel lobby and casino was positive. We did notice that a good majority of the clientele were mature aged or couples with children.  This hotel is definitely not as up market as the Rio Hotel which we stayed in earlier in the week.

The decor is Spanish/Mexican. I personally found the carpet which runs through most of the casino to be a little gaudy, however Wanda found it fitted well with the theme. The carpet in the hotel area was much more appealing in my opinion.

Our hotel room was a long way down the hall. It seemed to take us forever to get to our room especially after a long day of walking. Las Vegas hotels are just huge!

On the way to the room we pass an ice machine and a drink machine with Pepsi, Mountain Dew and other soda drinks.

Our room has quite a nice decor. It’s slightly outdated with it’s wood veneer finish but overall in excellent condition. The room is not huge but has plenty of space and is a comfortable size.

The room has a view of the the Palms Hotel and at night there is quite a spectacular view of the lights of the city. You can also see the surrounding mountain range from the window.

The lighting in the room is quite dark, however we found the same problem at the Rio Hotel across the road. There are no ceiling lights but instead a series of lamps located around the room. This makes the room a little dark for working in.

The room has two double beds with wood veneer headboards. The beds are quite high off the ground so if you are short, like Wanda, you may find yourself having a little difficulty climbing into bed. The beds are comfortable with a nice padded mattress topper. What we found annoying was the fact that there were only two pillows per bed, which is not a major issue, however the pillows were about three quarters the size of normal pillows. We heard someone else mention this in the lift.

There is plenty of storage space including a six drawer cabinet, a luggage rest which will hold one large suitcase or two small and an open wardrobe in the dressing room area.

In the corner of the room is a table with two chairs which holds the one cup coffee making machine.

Facing the beds is a flat wide screen tv. We don’t the size of the tv exaclty. Wanda thinks its a 32in but I think it might be a 26in. The picture is excellent and there are something like 32 channels to choose from. In-house movies are also available for $10.99 each.

The room has an air conditioning unit that is a little noisy. We found that we really didn’t need to have it on much at all anyway, as the room had a comfortable temperature.

As with most US hotels, there are no facilities for making tea so we have to use the coffee maker to boil water. Tea bags are not usually available unless you specifically ask for them. It took a long time for us to clean the coffee grains from the machine so that the water was drinkable for tea.

The room has a dressing room area which is quite small. It contains a sink which is separate from the bathroom and an open wardrobe to hang clothes. It also includes a hair dryer and a iron and ironing board.

The bathroom is quite small and includes the toilet. The bathtub itself is a moulded plastic unit with a shower. The water pressure in the shower is quite strong and it was easy to control the water temperature. The bathroom doesn’t have a fan but instead has a small window that opens out.

The toiletries in the bathroom included Ecoessential products including a massage bar of soap, nourishing shampoo, conditioner, body lotion and a shower cap.

What I didn’t like was the fact that the sink is separated from the bathroom. The bathtub and toilet are in one room which has a lockable door. The sink on the other hand is in the dressing room area and does not have door.

The bathroom lighting was very dark and once the shower curtain was pulled across it got even darker.

There is no safe in the room. We carry a laptop and like to store it during the day while we are out so we missed having this feature. There is also no mini-bar or fridge if you have any food or drinks that you want to keep cool.

The room has both wired and wireless interent connections. We went for the wired connection which was $11.99 for a 24hr period. Connecting was a little confusing. We plugged in the laptop to the cable and it came up with a page that said ‘You will be charged $11.99′ and after we confirmed payment it went to another page that said ‘you have been granted access to the internet’. However when we tried to open up google.com, a page was returned linking to the Cheetah network which asked us to register again for $10.99. This process was confusing as we thought we had already paid and connected so had we continued to complete the Cheetah registration we would have paid twice for this service. A quick call to the service desk resolved the issue. Apparently we were automatically connecting to the wireless service so we had to disconnect the wireless connection and then everything worked fine.

The sign on the table states that the wired internet connection has five times faster speed. We found the speed to be excellent with no time-outs.

We ate a number of times in the casino restaurants. The buffet is fantastic value at $7.95 for lunch and $11.95 for dinner. These rates are for if you stay at the hotel or are a member. We signed up for the membership rewards card which was free and it took less than 5 minutes to register.

We also ate at the Monteray Restaurant for breakfast which cost us only $5.95 for two eggs, bacon, 2 sausages and two flapjacks which were huge. They came with syrup and creamery butter. It was way too much for us to eat.

The hotel also has a bowling alley and a pool although we didn’t get the chance to see either of these.

Our overall view of this hotel is that it is great value for money. We paid $59 per night online via Expedia.com. The food at the hotel is the cheapest we found during our stay in Las Vegas and there is excellent variety and quality for the money. This hotel is rated 3 stars and we would agree with this rating.

We would definitely stay here again.

Our Rating of the the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino:

Checking in and out 5/5
Room 3/5
Position 3.5/5
Price 4/5
Cleanliness 5/5

Booking this hotel is easy through: Expedia.com!