Contrary to popular belief, there is WAY more to do in Vegas beyond gambling, boozing, hookers, & getting whacked by the mob.
**Warning- lots of photos after the jump**
I obviously won’t be talking about everything you can do in Vegas, just the stuff we did on our trip this month. But trust me, my list is a drop in the bucket!
Shows: the obvious alternative. Shows aren’t all cheap. Prices for show tickets range from around $25 to hundreds of dollars for a seat. All depends on the show you want to see. They aren’t all topless showgirls either. There are family shows, Cirque du Soleil, magicians, comedians, the works. On our honeymoon we saw Cirque do Soleil’s O and it was amazing. I was literally on the edge of my seat the entire time. We also saw Blue Man Group at the Luxor. On this trip we decided to see Blue Man Group again. They moved into a gorgeous, huge, theater at the Venetian. 
We’re big BMG fans and have seen them in Charlotte and NYC as well. It’s hard to describe a BMG show. Part percussive music, part art, part interactive theater is the best I can come up with. All I know is that CSP is NOT a Broadway type show fan. It about killed him to sit through the shows on the cruise last November. He’ll tolerate Cirque do Soleil. But at a BMG show my man grins from ear to ear for the entire show. He LOVES it. 
I do too. And I especially love that he loves it so I was incredibly happy to see the show again. Their show changes a good bit each time we see it, so it’s not like you’re paying a ton of money for re-runs. This show is the only entertainment we pre-booked. I called to order tickets and saved $40 on each ticket through my AAA membership. We got fantastic seats too and saw the show on my birthday. So fun!
The Pirate Battle at Sirens Cove : Location: Treasure Island. Price- FREE! Show times: 8:30 & 10:30 each night. 
Crowds start to gather at least a half hour prior to show time. We took a cab to the Mirage then the free tram to TI. It was hot and super crowded. 
We ducked out with 10 minutes left of the show. We lined up next to the siren ship and had a really obscured view of the boy pirates’ ship. Shame, that. I’m definitely more of a boy pirate fan. There’s a margarita stand conveniently located next to the siren ship. One extremely strong 32 ounce mango margarita in a souvenir skull cup cooled me down during the show, but wound me up- much to CSP’s chagrin. His fault though. I just asked for a drink. He’s the one who came back with a tankard of fire water!
The Secret Garden of Siegfried & Roy: 
Location- Mirage. Price: $15 for adults. We toured the garden on our honeymoon and it was one of my favorite things on that trip so it was back at the top of my list for this trip. It’s seriously a bargain at $15 too. They let in groups of 10-15 people at a time to help control the crowds. Then you’re on your own self guided tour. 
I love that. 
I love that I can spend as much time as I want looking at the tigers
or watching the dolphins. I’ve never been anywhere else where I can stand 3 feet from a beautiful white lion 
or sit on the low wall surrounding the dolphin pool while they swim within inches of us. Sometimes they’ll even let you pet them. The Mirage has a baby dolphin that was born right there on site! 
Her name is Bella and she is just gorgeous. 
You forget that you’re at a hotel and not at some amazing animal park! They have underground viewing of the dolphin tanks as well. I’d allow at least an hour to 90 minutes for your visit. We went at 5 
when they were closing at 7 and were lucky to see a dolphin feeding. There are no shows but the trainers will go through some tricks 
with the dolphins and the dolphins will play on their own as well.
Next time we go we might try for a dolphin view room at the Mirage! 
The hotels, DEAR LORD, THE HOTELS! You could seriously spend a solid week just walking through all the hotels. Seems like they each have their own shopping malls, and rows of restaurants, and just tons and tons of things to see and photograph. But I’m saving that for another post. And of course the people watching! No better people watching on Earth. Even better than the state fair, I tell ya.
Next up: Dining!
Bless Your Heart 
Those are some fun things to do! We saw “Peepshow” at Planet Hollywood – tht was awesome. Very cool stuff. Even Terry liked it. But that may have been because of the boobies. LOL!
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I never got to see the animals.. that was one hotel we didn’t go through! 🙂 Saw the volcano erupt and of course the pirate show! 🙂
So fun!
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We are going to Vegas for Thanksgiving (yah, cuz that’s how my family rolls). After being in Vegas before, I have found that you can actually get some show tickets for free. Often, they want to fill the seats because a particular show didn’t sell out. Note: these are not high profile shows, but if you are on a budget and want to be entertained, look for these opportunities at the front desk. We are going to see Cris Angel (his shows do tend to sell out, so we bought ahead of time). Also, they have a dueling piano bar (I think in the Harrah’s Casino entrance) and it is pretty cool to watch. We did the “Price is Right” — tickets were about 30 bucks, and it was fun (I forget what hotel that is in). We stayed in the Venetian, so we really didn’t want to go look at the other hotels as much (The venetian has so much to do, like the gondola rides, etc).
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