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| - We timed it just right to take advantage of the half-price tour before the start of the summer season. Reserving the tour on the phone was easy and I received an email confirming my reservation soon after. Because of the high gas prices, the company added to each passenger a $7 surcharge.
On the day of the tour, Grand Canyon Tours picked us up at Bally's at 6:55AM and dropped us off practically next door at the Planet Hollywood Resort bus terminal area to pay for our tour. They gave each of us a coupon to receive 1 food item and 1 drink. Don't expect much except for packaged donuts, granola bars, cinnamon bun, coffee, water, ...etc. If you get hungry easily, bring some snacks to eat on the bus.
We then got onto another bus. Those horror stories you might have read about are unfounded. The bus was new (2007), clean, comfortable, has a bathroom, air-conditioning, and video screens.
The trip was long, but you can spend your time napping or watching the videos our bus driver, Lucious, played for us. Our first stop was a view of Hoover Dam from an outlook. I was disappointed that we didn't stop closer to the dam, but since this was not a Hoover Dam tour, I totally understand.
Next, we stopped off at Kingman, AZ for about 20 minutes for a bathroom break and food. For lunch, we stopped at Thelma & Max's Restaurant in Williams, AZ for a buffet. Not much food variety, but it was edible. We finally reached Grand Canyon at about 2PM and made two stops. One at Mathers Point and the other at Bright Angel Lodge. We had about 80 minutes at each location to look around, eat, or buy souvenirs. Believe me, the time goes by quickly.
On our way back, we stopped off at Valle, AZ for a bathroom break and food and then again at Kingman, AZ. Just as I had hoped, we passed by Hoover Dam at night, but we didn't stop. We got back to the Vegas Strip about 9PM and the driver dropped us off at our hotel.
All in all, this was definitely worth the money and l glad to leave the long drive to someone else.
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