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Unexpected and Cheap Trip

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by tnkc, Jan 23, 2009.

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  1. tnkc

    tnkc High-Roller

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    My Trip Report

    This was an unplanned trip that came about due to some cheap tickets from Southwest and comps from Bally’s and the Fitz. I’m glad we went; I was ready to get back to Vegas.

    Saturday, 1/17/09

    Oops; I forgot to check in with Southwest until Friday afternoon; our flight was set for Saturday morning! I got B60, my wife C1…ouch. I felt sure we would both get middle seats far from each other. Luckily, we were able to score some back row seats right beside each other. The flight attendant told me that the back row seats are actually slightly smaller than the ones in the middle, just FYI. But the flight was fine.

    Landed in Vegas, right to baggage claim, and there was the bag waiting. Perfect. We were at the rental facility in no time flat. It did seem less busy than the past, but not dead. We got a Dodge Caliber for $9 / day from Dollar. Alamo had $10 for any size, but only on the weekends, and we were staying ‘til Tuesday. The car was fine, but had roll-up windows (yes, they still make those) and non-powered locks! But hey, it was cheap. It was the last economy car on the Dollar lot…no upgrade, lucky me!

    Headed to Bally’s and thought we’d try to check in. It was 11 AM, so we were unsure. We found that they had two options: north tower with two queens for $20 more per night (“renovated room”) or South tower “suite” for $25 more per night. I wanted the chance of at least a partial Bellagio fountain view, so I opted for the suite. We get to the suite, and it is hilarious! I call it the “80’s porno suite.” It hasn’t been renovated in years. It has a bathtub on a platform next to the bed, a bidet, toilet, shower, two sinks…pretty big room but just seriously out of date. It is just fine for us, and the South tower is close walking distance to the Strip. We had somewhat of a view of the fountains, but an even better view of the Eiffel Tower. The worst thing, though, was that the windows were extremely dirty, clouding our view a bit.

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    We drop our stuff and head out to eat. We try “Burger Brassiere” at Paris; it was good, not great…a little pricey. The gambling isn’t the greatest at Bally’s (blackjack and VP for us), so we head south.

    Along the way, we ran into a guy with some sort of giant lizard. He hands the thing to my nervous wife and we take some pics. Of course it is for "tips."

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    (PS: Not the wife in this pic; she didn't want her pic posted :) )

    We settle into Planet Hollywood, where we find some decent tables. We play for a while, but I don’t win much. I find some multi-hand VP machines (my favorite), and the wife and I play for a while. I don’t recall if we won or lost, but it was fun anyway. I really like P-Ho.

    We make our way back to Bally’s for a bit, then off to the Mirage to pick up our tickets to Love for that evening. While there, we decide to take in the buffet, which was a bit expensive and underwhelming. It just wasn’t our kind of food, maybe, but the food that we do normally like wasn’t that good. I wouldn’t recommend the Mirage buffet.

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    We have some time to kill, so we first walk up to TI because we've never seen the Sirens show. Ugh...that show is terrible! It was humorous when it probably wasn't supposed to be. Oh well...it's free!

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    (The show, burning in flames)

    Over to Casino Royale. We have a very profitable session of blackjack there. It was a great time, and the drink service was fantastic (maybe too good, you know?). We stumble out of there and cross the street to the Mirage, in time to catch a volcano show. It looked pretty good to me…I like the changes. I tried to take pictures, but I think I had too many to hold the camera still.

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    We go into Love and buy a big Pina Colada in a souvenir cup, then take our seats.

    As many have said, there doesn’t seem to be a bad seat. We’re in section 201, row P, and the seats were great. The show was something to see. Visually you can’t keep up, and the sound is great. I wasn’t aware that there were speakers in the seats until about halfway through the show. If you’ve had a few drinks, it makes it even crazier. Cirque is phenomenal. I’m not even a big Beatles fan, but I really liked the show. Weird, but good.

    Afterward, we stumble out and back to Bally’s to pass out for the evening.

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  2. lvchic80

    lvchic80 Low-Roller

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    Nice trip report! Great pics! That lizard looks familiar.. lol here he is in Feb. 2008..

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  3. Jimbo338

    Jimbo338 VIP Whale

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    I LOVE cheap

    Jimbo
     
  4. tnkc

    tnkc High-Roller

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    Sunday, 1/18/09.

    Wow…did I sleep well! A big, comfy bed and a whole lot of alcohol assured a good night’s rest. Time to check out and head north to Downtown. Our plan is to check out Encore along the way…gotta see the new digs, you know?

    We park in the Wynn lot and enter through there. Encore is beautiful. Lots of red, lots of butterflies. Very nice place, as expected.

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    Boy does this place feel “rich.” Extremely nice, but we felt a bit out of place. I have to give Wynn credit; he’s done well with Encore. Time to head Downtown to hang out with the “riff-raff,” where we fit in a bit better!

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    We park in the parking garage of the Fitz, which involves turning many, many corners until you get to the 7th level. Check in goes just fine. The Fitz seems to appeal to seniors, as there are many checking in at the same time we are. Perhaps that was just timing. The elevators are pretty slow, but not horrible if you have a bit of patience. The room was fine, not great. We’ve stayed at the Plaza a few times due to comps, and it is better than the Plaza, but pretty average. Once again, though, it was free.

    We move on out and head west to the Four Queens. We’re hungry and up for something quick, so we try Magnolia’s at the 4Q. It was pretty good, actually; I had a burger (not sure why I keep getting burgers) and it was just as good as Le Burger Brassiere. The wife had some breakfast food and loved it.

    After lunch, we settle into a nice double-deck game of blackjack. We both do quite well, which will prove to be a good trend on this day. There are many double-deck games downtown at $5, with the only bad rule (other than the dealer hitting soft-17) being no double after split. We spend quite a bit of time here before heading out into the early evening and the Fremont Street Experience.

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    We’re wanting to gamble some more, so we check in at the Golden Gate. Wife wasn’t happy to see that strippers are standing on platforms between the dealers at the tables. Well, I guess they weren’t stripping, but they were scantily clad anyway. This is a trend, too…at P-Ho, Ceasar’s (I hear), etc. It seemed kind of out of place at the Golden Gate to me; a bit forced. We play some VP for a bit until we get hungry.

    We decide to eat at the buffet (we like buffets while in Vegas) at MSS. We had eaten brunch here before and we really liked it. The line isn’t bad. We pay $11/per here, as compared to $27 at Mirage, and it was fantastic. Very good variety and taste to everything. I like MSS, too, and wouldn’t mind staying there someday. I was pleased.

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    After a wonderful dinner, we settle in to play at MSS. The dealers and pit bosses were extremely nice. We can’t find a good open BJ table, so we decide to try “Super Fun 21.” Not the greatest of odds, from what I understand, as BJ pays even money, but you can double on whatever, split forever, etc. Probably just the luck of the cards, but we cleaned house here. At $5 per hand (and more, depending on how “good” the deck was looking) we both left with about $150 or so.

    We continue on down Fremont Street and stop at Binions. We’re not so lucky there, as they take some money from us at the blackjack tables. I threw some money in a 50 cent VP machine and grab a quick 4 OAK, though, to help ease that a bit. I pry the wife away from the tables and we head back to the Fitz, but she talks me into playing at the multi-hand machines before we head up to the room to call it a night.

    She sits at a five hand “times play” machine. This one will give you a 2X – 10X bonus from time to time on whatever hand(s) you are dealt. Not too long after sitting down, she gets a 10X card, and then four kings…$1,250! We’re both delighted. Our first tax form in Vegas. Hooray!

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    That’s a good way to cap an evening. She wants some fries for a snack so we hit the oh-so-elegant McDonald’s at the Fitz, head up to the room, snack, and sleep.

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    View from our room at the Fitz.
     
  5. tnkc

    tnkc High-Roller

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    LOL...I'm glad to report he's (or she's?) still doing well.
     
  6. tnkc

    tnkc High-Roller

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    Monday, 1/19/09

    Did you know they have an MLK parade Downtown on MLK day? Neither did I, until the police sirens and horns woke me up! It was time to get up anyway, but we had a good view of the parade outside our window. I didn’t forget to check in at Southwest this time and scored some mid-A passes. Checked in through my smartphone.

    We slowly awakened and head down to the Fitz casino to play a bit. Today is the opposite of Sunday; we tend to lose all day long. You know, it just isn’t quite as much fun!

    We decide to eat at the Café on the 2nd floor at the Fitz despite hearing that it isn’t very good; I think it is called the Courtyard. Well, for me it wasn’t very good. I got a fish sandwich with fries. The wife got the soup, salad, and potato bar, though, and liked it. I decided to check my Fitz player’s card when paying, though, and found out I had enough comps for a free meal for the both of us. I really hadn’t played all that much, so I was pleased. Again, I like free.

    We spent the afternoon playing at the Fitz and at Four Queens. After a while it was dinner time, and we headed to the Golden Nugget for the buffet (notice a theme?). It was closed for renovations! Begrudgingly, we headed across to the Fremont. The buffet here is okay, but really the best choices for buffets on Fremont Street are MSS and the Nugget.

    After eating our last Vegas buffet for the trip, we head down Fremont. The scantily clad dancers were now gone from the Golden Gate, so we settled in and played a bit. Like MSS, the dealers and pit boss were extremely nice here. We were only playing a $5 / hand table, but the pit boss kept asking us how we were doing, and even asked us if we wanted anything from the café. We were both stuffed, so we declined, but I thought that was pretty nice for such low-rollers. Probably indicative of the economy. The dealer told us that many in the industry were worried about layoffs and the like. She said that she was glad to see the dancers because they brought in business. She was an extremely nice dealer, but she slowly took my cash.

    We tried to find a game with no success at the Fremont (they always seem to have busy tables while we’re there), then the Vegas Club, and finally found a good table at the Plaza. Despite an entertaining dealer, I lost and she lost.

    Headed back to the Fitz and played some VP and just broke even before we both retired for the night. Unfortunately, we had a plane to catch in the AM.

    Tuesday, 1/20/09

    Our plane is leaving at 10:55, but we manage to squeeze in some VP play before our check out. I took about $50 more from the Fitz; she took about $20. I picked up a t-shirt from the gift shop (I like t-shirts from various Vegas casinos), went to pay and checked my comps again. I only had to pay 85 cents for the shirt (it was $15.99). The comps seemed to come pretty easy at the Fitz, or maybe as a low-roller I’m just easily impressed.

    We run a bit late to the airport, but check in and security aren’t too bad. Not super-quick, but not bad. Flight is uneventful (which is fine!).

    Had to go in late to work on Wednesday for a little “recovery time.” Work stunk for the rest of the week. Boy do I love Vegas!
     
  7. blackjacknut

    blackjacknut VIP Whale

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  8. Thor

    Thor Beer Drinker

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    nice tr!!! the view from the fitz was very cool! do you know anything about the hennessey tavern? :beer::beer::beer:
     
  9. tnkc

    tnkc High-Roller

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    No, other than I had eaten at one in Manhattan Beach (Ca.) just a few weeks ago, and it was a pretty good place. I'd assume that this one is pretty similar, but probably bigger. Standard bar and grill type of food. My dad and I had an "Irish Margarita;" I don't know what made it Irish, as it tasted like a normal one, but it was delicious!
     
  10. gotavegasjones

    gotavegasjones VIP Whale

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    Thanks for posting your TR. Enjoyable read.

    later, GVJ
     
  11. ghetto71

    ghetto71 Tourist

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    nice TR and congrats on the handpay.:peace:
     
  12. DonD

    DonD VIP Whale

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    Great report and pictures . . . :nworthy:
     
  13. tvon

    tvon VIP Whale

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    good report, thanks for the pictures too.. you pretty much followed the spots I go to in Vegas.


    PS, dancers in the Golden Gate?!? oh man :vomit:
     
  14. tnkc

    tnkc High-Roller

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    Yes...we called it the "skantification" of Vegas.
     
  15. Thor

    Thor Beer Drinker

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    thanks....so it's a typical chain type irish bar....

    i might pop in there...who knows! :beer::beer::beer:
     
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