Al3xis Park Reservations

[converge]

i think our basic plan is to pretty much stay elsewhere... a place to get away from the con when we want (assuming the con is still at alexis)

prices of better places are comparable or cheaper from what I've researched, and I'm thinking we'll get an even better deal by shopping packages at travel agencies... especially considering we having about 8 people going so far, flights rooms etc to book in tandom

[Contrarian]

Dude, in the middle of the summer you'd be nuts to walk the couple miles from the strip to the Alexis. $5-$10 to take a cab is well worth the cost.

[encieno]

all your cabs are belong to us

thats for sure, man the cabs will cost the different in the room. *cough* seriously.

[encieno]

Re: all your cabs are belong to us

uh, my bad for the spelling mistake. i was pheering the b33r while typing.


-encieno

Originally posted by encieno
thats for sure, man the cabs will cost the different in the room. *cough* seriously.

[Contrarian]

I ended up booking at the St. Tropez. They have rooms for $70 a night for 2 people max via Yahoo Travel. It was $156 including tax for both Friday and Saturday night.

Heh, considering how far in the back of the Alexis Park my room was last time, I'll probably end up having a closer walk to the conference rooms if they put me up at the front of the hotel.

[BRaTaX]

questions

I'm from Belgium (small country in Europe) and I would like to come to Defcon10..

I've got a few questions:

1. What should I bring with me (is a laptop necessary? or can I just come to listen, dig up some information,...?)
2. Can you guys give me an exact address of where it is plz?
3. An address/phone number of a nearby hotel is also welcome :)
3. Does Las Vegas has an airport? (I suppose it does) and how is it called? coz the site of my local airport sux and I can't find it..
4. How much money will I need? (hotel, defcon itself,....)

sorry for all these questions but it's the first time i'm comming to defcon.. (I want to be sure I arrive at the right place, and I have a place to sleep,.. :)

thx in advance!
BRaTaX

[Zardus]

Answer to Belguim dude

Answers to the dude from Belgium:

1. What should I bring with me (is a laptop necessary? or can I just come to listen, dig up some information,...?)

A laptop isn't neccessary, but you might wanna bring one to be able to do stuff in between visiting various presentations.

2. Can you guys give me an exact address of where it is plz?

Its supposedly at Alexis Park, but I don't know where that is or whether its totally confirmed yet.

3. An address/phone number of a nearby hotel is also welcome

Vegas.com can get you info on hotels there. You might wanna consider Big Rock or something else in the area of Alexis Park.

3. Does Las Vegas has an airport? (I suppose it does) and how is it called? coz the site of my local airport sux and I can't find it..

Ooh yeah. LAX.

4. How much money will I need? (hotel, defcon itself,....)

50$ for defcon itself, and anywhere from 80$ up per night for a room. If you're gonna take a taxi or plan to eat, bring a bunch more.

[d0gcomplex]

LAX is in Las Angeles but you were close

first of all sorry for the spelling in this post i spell like a drunken chimp with broken fingers!!


Answer 1: No laptop or other devices needed, maybe a pen and paper to take notes, there is plenty to do with out any type of laptop or device to play with.

Answer 2: Alexis Park(as yet unconfirmed)
375 East Harmon Ave
Las Vegas Nevada
telephone 1-800-582-2228
Fax (702) 796-3354
webpage www.alexispark.com

Answer 3(a): check vegas.com for hotel rates the hotels closest that are not the con hotel is the St. Tropez or the Hard Rock Hotel. The MGM Grand and Alladin hotels are also close enough to walk but it will be quite warm outside. (if you are not 21 or older you will be forced to get a room at a non gambaling hotel, this usualy means a higher cost but not nessaceraly)

Answer 3(B):McCarran Airport
McCarran Airport is the primary airport serving Vegas. In 2000, 36.9 million people flew through the airport.
Address
5757 Wayne Newton Blvd.
Las Vegas, NV 89119

Main Phone Number: (702) 261-5211
Lost and Found: (702) 261-5134

Answer 4: money Hmmmm....
depends
Hotel Cost ($200.00-$1100.00) depending on accomidations, or if you split the room with someone, and location, or as little as $50.00 if you can find someone to let you sleep in the floor or on the couch in their room

Food($30.00-$300.00 or more) Varies depending on how much you eat, where you eat, what you eat, etc.

DefCon admittance($50.00)(Price last year)(as yet unconfirmed for this year)

Travel(taxi,rental car etc.)(walking=Free(but hot) (0- $300.00 or more)

Booze(Tasty Bevrages)(Alcohol) (0-$200.00 or much more)(depending on if you drink or not, and if you do in what quanities)

Gambaling (games of chance)(0- $300.00 or more) (depending on age 21+ to play )

DefCon Merchandice(0-$500.00 or more depending on what you want and your budget)

Non-Convetion related entertainment (0-$500.00 or more )(depending on what you do, where you go, what you buy, etc.)

Other/emergency( 0-$150.00)not neede but recommended.

You can go light and spend less than $100.00 after hotel and con expenses but I don't recommmend it. It is very hard to do.

Or you can go balls out and spend rediculous amounts of money.

It is all up to you and your budget.


Also forgive the punctuation, grammer, phonic, or sentence/paragraph miss takes I am really bad at these things when i drink.

[Contrarian]

Umm..

2) www.alexispark.com is where it's held at. The next closest hotel is St. Tropez right next door, and the Hard Rock Casino ($$$) across the street. It's a few miles west of the strip. If you search hotel's in Yahoo Travel you will find plenty. If you're going primarily for the Con, stay at the AP or ST Tropez. If you also want to enjoy the glitz and glamor of vegas, stay at a swanky strip joint and take a cab to the show.

3a) see www.alexispark.com for full details about the hotel.

3b) McCarron International Airport. The airport code is "LAS" (LAX is LA's airport). It is very very close to the famed vegas strip.

4) I just booked 2 nights at St. Tropez for $156 plus tax (which is the cheapest you'll find). Alexis Park is asking for $120 a night. The town is loaded with hotels with rates ranging from $60 to 400 a night. Expect to get what you pay for.

If you really want to slum it, go to the Western just north of the downtown area gambling area where rates were $20 a night... just ignore the street gangs, crack dealers, hookers and other gambling degenerates. The other downtown hotels are all prety cheap. It has gotten hit hard with tourists going to the strip. The hotels are decent, but not spectacular. If you do stay downtown, Golden Nugget is recommended. Gold Spike and Las Vegas Club I hear are good too. Note though, downtown is pretty out of the way of the con - you will definetly need to take a cab to get there.

There is also the Stratosphere, stardust, Sahara, Circus Circus, Westward Ho on the north end of the strip (about 4 miles from the con). They are the cheaper-end hotels and kinda dumpy in my opinion.

If you want swanky, go to the Bellagio or Mandalay Bay on the strip. They will be $250ish a night, but damn fine hotels. Or even the Four Seasons (which is the creme de'la creme).

Middle of the line resorts include Luxor, MGM, Flamingo, Bally's, Harrahs, etc. All decent resorts with nice ameneties and located right on the famed strip.

You can also find a bunch of non-gambling hotels outlying the area. The ones I mentioned (outside of The Western) are the famed mega-resorts.

If you want to spend extra nights, expect your hotel costs will be reduced by about half for weekdays (vegas doubles their rates on the weekend cuz of everyone that comesin from LA and surrounding cities). I am going to probably come in 2-3 days early and stay at a moderate strip hotel for a few days (about $60-80/night weekdays that week). Then move to spend the weekend at the St. Tropez next door to the convention.

Expect to pay another $50 for the convention. Unless you want to go in true cracker style and try to maneuver around without paying. Expect to get busted by one of the goons though if you don't have a badge.

As for spending cash. You could slum it on $20-30 a day if you just want to eat and maybe buy one or two cheap souveneirs. But this is VEGAS BABY!! VEGAS!! If you drink, drinks are pretty cheap. They are free if you are gambling - but you end up paying far more in gambling losses (sure, you may win. But they don't build billion dollar resorts because people win). Strip Clubs - expect to spend $25 just for walking in and depending on how wild you get... Yea, i've been known to blow a hundred or so in a bar - you'd be surprised how quick it goes. Also if you want to go see a vegas-show expect to pay $40 to $100 for the ticket. If you wanna go to a fancy restaurant with a group (and vegas has tons of great chef's), expect that to cost afew bucks more than a hot-dog and soda.

In all, if you want to slum it and only go to the convention, expect to spend $300-$400 (not including airfair) for a decent hotel for 2 nights, cost of entrance, and minimal spending cash. If you want to enjoy vegas and spend a few extra nights, figure an extra $100 a day for the hotel and anywhere from $50-200 on up spending cash.

And if money is no object, Vegas can accomodate pretty much anything you damn well want.

[BlakeM]

You will regret not bringing a laptop..most people find 3-7 talks they want to go to, the rest of the time is sitting around the pool, in the halls or at the tables..basically, bring a laptop if you've got one.

[octalpus]

Sure... if you have no friends or the social skills required to make some, you'll need something to do. I've never regretted not bringing a laptop, even before I knew people. There's always something to do... it's Vegas. And if you rent a car, you'll make friends fast, LOL!

The only regret I've ever had with my laptop is *bringing* it. I was surfing in the lobby, and end up meeting up with people and deciding to go to a casino. I didn't want to hike back to my room, so I ended up carrying it in my backpack all night. It was one of those really old 80 lb. Toshibas, too.

Really, it's not a big deal.

[converge]

hmmm.... geeks meeting with other geeks... and not doing geek things? what kind of a conference is this? surely not the defcon I imagined. Ya, partying, gambling etc are fun, but I can do these activities with anyone at any given time. I guess social skills were never something I expected questioned for a geek gathering

[astcell]

Laptops

I took my laptop to DC8 and almost wore out the batteries, I also got hacked beyond belief. Best to not have anything critical on the computer, and don't check your e-masil without a secure connection. At DC9 the laptop stayed in the room, and the parties were the rule that year. I hope they get some of the stupid stuff under control.

[Eclectic1]

I'm going to check into reservations soon myself.....last year I stayed at my mom's house in Vegas just to save a few bucks, but this year I'm going to get a hotel room hopefully where the conference is being held.

I think I slept 4 or 5 hours the whole weekend. I didn't bring a laptop - I plan to this year. I hung out at CTF for most of the conference, and man those guys are good....I've been reading damn near everything about hacking like crazy so I learn more this year. I figure if I take a hardened dual boot (*nix/Win2K) laptop - I'll actually play CTF this year. I was so intimidated last year. Everyone was so friggin good.

I think if you really want to DC experience you've got to stay there at the hotel, go to the talks that interest you, meet people, drink, and most important LEARN, LEARN, LEARN, LEARN, LEARN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[astcell]

I'm tempted to bring a Cisco Pix 515 firewall for my personal network connection, but I bet that'll be like hanging out a side of beef for hungry coyotes. :p