Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
at the box office, so you'll have to wait until you get to Vegas to buy. Still, you
could buy your tickets onsite several days in advance. You also don't have to con-
tend with a booking fee for this option.
For readers willing to pay for their access to coupons—and much more—the
Las Vegas Advisor
(www.lasvegasadvisor.com),
an excellent monthly newsletter
on everything Vegas, gives its subscribers an average of 20 two-for-one show
offers. Some exclude weekend shows, but all have the great advantage of allowing
the bearer to buy tickets either in person, or over the phone, speaking directly
with the box office (you read off the discount code, they deduct a discount).
Membership in Las Vegas Advisor is $37 per year for online access, though it
could be argued that you'll soon have that money back just in the amount you'll
save on coupons.
DAY-OF-SHOW DEALS
For variety, good prices, and a chance at scoring some of the top tickets in town
for less, Vegas' half-price ticket booths can't be beat. Formerly one company,
now divorced into two bitter rivals,
Tickets 2 Nite
(www.tickets2nite.com; daily
noon-9pm)
and
Tix 4 Tonight
(www.tix4tonight.com; daily noon-9pm)
have cor-
nered the market on day-of-show discounts, offering between 35 and 50 perform-
ances daily. They get these from the theaters themselves, as well as from other
ticket brokers who buy up popular show tickets well in advance and then some-
times find themselves unable to unload them (which may be why you'll occasion-
ally see shows that can't be purchased from the box office for full price selling here
at a small discount). As with the online discounters, there's a range of price cuts,
from 55% to as little as 10% off—all will depend on the date and time (though
to be fair, the majority of shows on the boards are reduced by half ). “We've had
every show on the Strip, every single one, up for sale at our booths,” says Kim
Simon of Tickets 2 Night. “You just have to hit it at the right time.”
Tickets 2 Night now has just one booth, right next to the large Coca Cola bot-
tle at Gameworks on the southern end of the Strip, and I've found it to have, on
average, four or five fewer offerings than its former spouse. Tix 4 Tonight, the
Jessica to Ticket's Nick, now has four booths, making it by far the more conven-
ient outlet. You'll find them at:
u
Fashion Show Mall (in front of Neiman Marcus)
u
The Hawaiian Marketplace (at the Polo Towers, South Strip)
u
On the North Strip, just up from the Riviera
u
On Fremont Street in the Four Queens Hotel
The shortest lines are at the Fremont Street location, but truth be told, the
booths only get truly crowded between noon and 2pm. Many buyers assume that
the best seats and tickets will be gone if they don't get to the booths early, and
therefore show up just as the booths are opening. In reality, tickets are released to
the booths throughout the day, so getting there early won't necessarily work in
your favor. I've seen Cirque du Soleil's
Mystère
go up at 4pm; those who dropped
by earlier had to make do with
Bite
(and that really bites, believe me). Come by
when it's convenient for you to do so; if the line's too long—and early in the day,
the wait can be up to half-an-hour—simply come back later. One other strategy:
If you're looking at the Tickets 2 Night booth, be sure to wander over to the
