Personal impressions of Las Vegas Strip casinos -- from a former Vegas resident still with ties to Sin City...
Mandalay Bay -- nice hotel, caters to the upscale Gen X/Gen Y crowd.
Luxor -- Not bad, kind of appeals to all.
Excalibur -- Appeals more to the family crowd.
Tropicana -- nice hotel
MGM Grand -- Big f*cking huge hotel and casino, easy to get lost in.
New York New York -- Appeals to the family crowd and the Noo Yawk natives who miss 'Da City Dat Doesn't Sleep'.
Monte Carlo -- Upscale crowd, tries to pretend it's like almost going to the real thing in Monaco, except this one doesn't require tuxes/evening wear or passports for entry.
Aladdin -- Big-time Middle Eastern theme, caters to a lot of tour groups.
Bellagio -- In your face ostentatious; caters to upscale clientele and security guards shoo away families with young kids (unless they are staying at the hotel). If you ain't got a fat bankroll, don't play there.
Paris -- Not bad, though the in-your-face assault of pseudo-French culture can get a little unnerving sometimes.
Bally's -- When it used to be the original MGM Grand, it was the victim of the worst casino fire in Vegas history. Not bad, caters to upscale clientele.
Caesar's Palace -- Used to carry the in-your-face ostentatious label until Steve Wynn built the Bellagio, upscale clientele.
Flamingo Hilton -- If you're looking for the Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel memorial rose garden, fuhgeddaboudit -- it's long gone. The casino appears to feel kinda cramped compared to others.
Imperial Palace -- Tacky Oriental decor, older casino.
Mirage -- Upscale along the same lines of Mandalay Bay.
Harrah's -- caters to lower-limit gamblers, somewhat friendly place.
Venetian -- Upscale; if you can't afford to travel to Venice, go to Las Vegas' reproduction.
Treasure Island -- Not as upscale as the Mirage next door.
The old Desert Inn no longer exists -- plans are underway for another megacasino called the Reve by Steve Wynn.
Frontier - caters to low-limit gamblers and tour buses
Westward Ho -- ditto.
Stardust -- not bad.
Riviera -- Tacky decor, Pia Zadora's husband owns the place.
Las Vegas Hilton -- Technically not on the Strip (it's on Paradise Road) -- caters to megaconventions.
Hard Rock -- Caters to the young rock and roll crowd; the casino chips are worth collecting (If you don't gamble you need $131 at the cashier's cage for a $1, $5, $25 and a $100 casino chip, each one has a different design for different rock groups. And that doesn't count commemoratives.) Like the Las Vegas Hilton, it's on Paradise Road.
Circus Circus -- For the family and those young at heart.
Sahara -- Even though it has an Arabian theme, it actually caters to NASCAR fans.
Stratosphere -- AKA 'Vagrant's World' (a play on the name 'Vegas World' which it was before the Stratosphere Tower was built). No amount of gimmickry and the tallest structure west of the Mississippi will ever erase the image of a nice hotel in a sh*tty neighborhood. Technically not on the 'Strip', even though it is on Las Vegas Boulevard, though it is the only megacasino wholly within the City of Las Vegas proper -- all the other casinos are in the unincorporated township of Paradise. (The Strip begins at Sahara Avenue and ends at Russell Road, from the Sahara to the Mandalay Bay.) Back when I was living in Vegas and it was still Vegas World, it was the only place that actually gave me a case of claustrophobia... casinos don't make it easy for people to get out once they're in, but this one was egregiously so.
Your mileage may very, this is my opinion; you might like a casino I don't particularly care for. It doesn't matter... just have FUN!
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