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Vegas October 13th - 17th

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by dko, Nov 2, 2014.

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  1. dko

    dko Tourist

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2013
    Messages:
    23
    Location:
    20 miles south of minneapolis
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    2

    My Trip Report

    I still can't believe 2 weeks have gone by since our trip. Sorry for the delay. I didn't realize how much time it took to recall all of this and put it in order. I need to take better notes.


    This was our 2nd trip to Vegas. We spent most of our first trip walking the strip, stopping off
    at most of the casinos on the strip. I'm in construction and was blown away by some of the marble and tile work at Wynn, Venetian, etc. And we both were amazed at the rest of the finishes too. We went downtown for a day, had a great time and saw the light show. We played some slots in most of the casinos we stopped in.

    Our meals are usually something quick while we're on the go. We're not big fans of buffets. We usually eat smaller meals throughout the day and then have a normal dinner.
    The only meal we saw last year that got our attention was at one of Gordon Ramseys restaurants, the beef wellington for two. (anyone have any reviews?) I know we'll get there, just not this trip. We had McDonalds for breakfast most mornings. They're right next to Harrahs and well... sausage and egg Mcmuffins are damn good at 7 am.

    We both start work early back home. It makes it tough for us to stay up past 9 Vegas time. I didn't sleep more than 4 hours a night, who the hell can go back to sleep when you wake up in Vegas!!! I was up before 3 every morning. ( would pay for this later) I'd get dressed and get out the door without waking my wife. I would head down to the casino and play some slots. She usually texts me by 5 a.m. I bring her up a coffee and we start our day. Walking down the strip around dawn is pretty nice. (Playing spot the hooker is REALY easy at 4 am lol. I did see several that were being ushered out the door by security. The rest were making the walk of shame or profit, depending on your point of view.)



    Monday 13th.
    We left MSP at 8am. Landing in Vegas at 9. Our cab driver seemed to be a doomsday prepper. He flew into work in a helicoper and lived up in the mountains with his family. They were very self sufficient, growing most of their own food. He seemed like a nice guy. Or he was lying and insane. Never know in Vegas I guess. We dropped our bags at Harrahs and headed over to the Flamingo to get a TR card from the desk at Margaritaville. Not an easy task. We stopped in at least 6 times during our stay. Never saw it open,lol. Ended up getting our cards at the front desk of the Flamingo. She told us they only send someone down if the front desk is slow. Stopped in the linq for a burger. It was closed last year and we thought it looked pretty good after walking down to the High Roller. We stopped in the Cromwell and really liked the Casino. We played slots for a while, no big wins but had fun on some of the newer machines we don't have back home. Paris was our next stop, we both like the casino. I had one of our few nice wins on buffalo. Sorry I didn't get a picture, it would have helped me. I wrote down $240 on an 80 cent bet which would mean older buffalo machine. My wife was sure it was on the new buffalo stampede version. So I think it was a 75 cent bet. Why? Beacause I'm married, duh. It was past 4 by now, so we went back and got our bags and went to our room. We had a sub at casino Royale and played some slots at Harrahs. We were in bed by 8pm. Long day for us.


    Tuesday 14th



    I was up and in the casino at 3:00. I had one nice hit on Willy Wonka, an oompa loompa bonus for 63$. We got an early start and went down to Paris before breakfast at Ellis Island . No luck on the slots and I took the long way cutting over to Flamingo blvd from Paris. We were pretty hungry by the time we walked the extra mile? Lol. We had the steak and eggs special for $5.99. The meal was great and we played a few slots. After breakfast we played a few slots. We slowly walked down to Cosmo. It was one of the ones we missed last year. We liked the feel of the casino, we'll be going back. My wife did well on The Willy Wonka three reel game. Nothing big but it kept her playing. Two employees came up and got our drivers licenses and came back a few minutes later with a players card for each of us. Everyone we talked to was nice.. After a while we walked through the casino and went over to the Aria. No luck on the machines there. At some point we stopped in the Hershey store and a few others along the sidewalk. We got over to the MGM and my wife realized she still had the $50 tito from Cosmo in her purse. Are you fucking kidding me. We laughed for half the walk back to cash it in. We got back over to MGM, We didn't stay long and started walking back up the strip. We stopped in a place and had some tacos for lunch. Don't remember the name, don't want to. Pretty bland.

    [​IMG]


    Made it back to Harrahs, played some slots and relaxed in the room for a while. We went down . We hit Paris after that. While my wife and I wandering around we noticed a Megabucks machine for $3 max bet. I threw in $50 and it started hitting right away. No 13 million obviously but we hit a few small progressives and played for half an hour or so, cashing out at 225$. We headed over to the Bellagio after that to see the conservatory.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    We ended the night watching the fountain show. We thought last year was better. Lucy in the sky with diamonds was a very good show. This years song was kind of dull for us. Back to the room and asleep by 10.


    Wednesday 15th

    Up and in the casino by 3am. I didn't do well this morning. I think Konami means “we hate you” in english. And cho sun doa means “ you win 0$”. Anyway, today was our day to go downtown. I was excited. We took the express bus last year and decided to take it again this year. We got our passes out front of Harrahs and walked up to Wynn to the stop. When we got close I noticed yellow caution tape across the sidewalk. It seems that the best place to park the crane that was pulling up huge palm trees from the front of Wynn was the bus stop. SHIT. My back was a bit sore from straining it before we flew in. I was also feeling a bit run down from lack of sleep, too much walking, etc. I did NOT feel like walking any further. We had to detour through the Wynn and I stopped at the bell desk and asked where to get a cab. ( If a casino has a $25MILLION DOLLAR FUCKING POPEYE IN ITS LOBBY and they're going to shut down the bus stop/sidewalk for several hours, it might want to put up a sign at the bus ticket station before the one at the Wynn. we could have walked down to Paris for the express instead). No big deal we had a nice cab driver. He was a war vet and he got us downtown pretty quick. We thanked him for his service and gave him a nice tip.

    He dropped us off at the Plaza and we ducked inside to play slots and relax for a bit. I was feeling worse now. I needed to get some water in me right away. We crossed the street onto Freemont and went into the first store we saw. I got a couple of powerades and drank those down pretty quick. A few more waters and I was feeling a lot better. We hit Binions and played a few machines. It didn't feel the same in Binions as last year. It seemed like something changed but we weren't sure what it was. We saw a few people zip lining over Freemont. That wasn't open last year. The top line looked like fun. Just not $40 worth of fun. We walked up to El Cortez . We met a nice couple on their first trip out from Mass. Talked with them for a bit while we played. We were in a few other places, never won much. We hit the D and I won a quarter on sigma derby betting the favorites. We had fun on a few slots in the D but the music was too much and we had to leave. We were both pretty tired, and had a burger at Binions about 2 and decided to head back to Harrahs about 3.
    We met a couple from Missouri and talked with them on our way back to the strip.


    [​IMG]


    I was still feeling rough so we spent the rest of the at afternoon at Harrahs playing slots. We had a good run at max bet on Lord of the Rings. We both like the game. Nothing huge but we did cash out up $100 after playing for a long time. Lots of bonus rounds with those big $$ amounts out there is fun. We had a pizza at Fulton street food hall inside Harrahs. It was pretty good, better than we expected. I'm sure we would have it again. After dinner we walked back to Paris and played for a few hours. Buffalo and Lord of the rings were pretty good, letting us play a while before taking our money.
    We decided to play the Megabucks again to see if it would hit. It was in a giving mood again. We hit the smaller progressives several times and the $100 progressive once. We even hit the free games feature. Another half hour plus cashed out at $225 up $125. We played a few Pompeii and Buffalo with no luck. Headed back to the room about 8.

    On the walk back to Harrahs we walked past the guy with the megaphone at the bottom of the escalator. He had a big wooden cross with him this time, and nearly hit me in the head while we were getting near the escalator. My wife saw me duck, stop and then she saw the look in my eyes lol. She grabbed my arm hard and yanked me forward. Saved me from doing something stupid. Again. I don't think I would have hit him. But I might have taken the cross and thrown it over the fence into the Bally construction site. Stopped by the desk at Margaritaville and got our TR cards. Just kidding they were closed again. In bed by 10. Tomorrow is our last day. Early friday flight for us.




    Thursday 16th


    I was in the casino by 3am. I was betting lower, wanted to make sure we had enough for our trip to Rio, gold coast and the Palms. I finally hit a couple ravens on WWII. I also had my second biggest hit on Buffalo. Other than those two, not much of a morning for slots.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    After another quick Mcdonalds breakfast, we caught the westbound bus on Flamingo down to the Rio. It was still early and the casino was pretty empty. The machines were pretty cold, so we walked over to the gold coast. I don't remember exactly why but we didn't stay long. On our way to the Palms we talked about going back to the strip for the afternoon if we didn't want to play there. Other than the air freshener smell being heavy we liked the feel of the Palms. I was officially done with Buffalo for now. I must have played 70 different ones, with little to show for it. We wandered to the back of the casino near some sports book odds boards to see what we could find. We sat down at a couple of 25 cent quick hits machines. 10 minutes later I hit this.

    [​IMG]



    I took me a bit to convince my wife I hit 380$$. Nothing was on the payline lol. I put the ticket in my pocket and threw in another 20.
    We played for an hour or so and my wife ended up $50 ahead. We went outside to get some fresh air and decide what to do for the afternoon. I think the quick hit win gave us a bit of energy, we decided to ride the bus to the end and hit up Sams town. We got off the bus and stopped in a store. While standing on the corner waiting to cross the street we saw a car lock up his brakes and stop in the road. He got out of his car and opened the trunk. I didn't see anyone on the corner and wasn't sure why he stopped. He reached into his trunk and pulled out a 3' long pipe and started running up the sidewalk. A couple of kids must have said or thrown something. The were running wayyyyy ahead of him. You could see how pissed off he was when he was walking back to his car, throwing the pipe back in the trunk and speeding off. The kids kept running as far as I could see them. We both thought he was pulling out a shotgun when we first saw the pipe.

    We had registered for our B-connected card at Gold Coast earlier, but only got one card. The people at the desk couldn't find our info in the computer and had to redo our account. Everyone we dealt with at Sams town were great. We enjoyed the casino quite a bit. I even played a few buffalo machines. We had one nice hit on a Pompeii. $80 on 5 shields I think. My wife did okay on Pelican Pete. No big wins but a lot more paybacks to keep us playing. One of the promo offers for new sign ups was a 2 for 1 on the buffet. We decided to have dinner and then take the shuttle they have back to the strip. At about 4 I was playing a machine and noticed my feet. I had been wearing flip flops for 13 hours and it showed. I swung into the bathroom to clean them up a little. While I was wiping15 miles worth of crud off my feet I noticed a guy standing to the side. He appeared to be texting. I finished my foot clean up and stepped over to pee. Someone walked up next to me. I glance over and its the texting guy. No big deal except he's holding his phone at an angle thats pointing at my dangle so to speak. WTF???? I turn away a bit just in case. At this point my wife and I are both pretty wiped out from the trip. It took me a while to convince myself but I'm 99.9% sure I was standing next to the Sams town perv. The buffet was good but nothing special. Prime rib lacked seasoning. We walked out back and waited for the shuttle back to the strip. We want to go back again. We may go there instead of downtown next time. I hope the perv has moved on lol. We went back to the room and relaxed. Mission accomplished, we both wanted to go home.

    We found the only bench in Vegas. It was nice to sit outside for a bit. Not telling you where it is lol.

    [​IMG]


    We checked out, got our deposit back and were informed we earned a staggering $18 in comps. Fuck yeah, lol. It got us 2 free shuttle passes to the airport. Not bad considering I wasn't expecting anything. ( I did want to mention that we were able to put up a $200 deposit instead of having to tie up funds on our atm card. I know I read this question somewhere on the board.) We tipped the driver and stood outside enjoying the nice weather and talking about the trip. We both decided we couldn't do it anymore. No not coming to Vegas, walking all over town. Holy shit were not doing that anymore. We're glad we did it, but it's time to settle in a bit more on our next trip.




    This was the most fun we've had together in a long time. Lots of laughs and nothing bad happened.
    The bus stop closing, the perv and tight slots are within the range of normal from what I've read from others on here. If the machines are hitting we'll sit and play for hours. When they're not we'd rather be outside, my wife especially. The fall weather doesn't help, it was great outside all week.
    We both never really felt the same way about downtown as we did last year. I'm not sure if it was us or if downtown changed? I will be down there next trip playing craps. That's on of the one things I didn't do that I wanted to. Part of it was bankroll, part timing. My original plan was to spend a few hours playing 1 or 3$ craps downtown, to get used to the game. Then play some $5 early in the morning at Harrahs. One of the mornings I came down one table was having a great time. I wanted to hop in but it was $10, too much for me. I want to thank everyone for sharing, tons of info and stories here. It made both our trips much more fun. Thanks for reading.

    Some random pics.


    I still have not seen the movie this phrase is from. I've been saying it to the Mrs. for a while lol.


    [​IMG]

    From the Wynn. [​IMG]

    Sunrise. Sorry it's a little blurry, 5 cups of coffee before dawn does that.

    [​IMG]

    Morning oompa loompa bonus on Wonka

    [​IMG]
     
  2. concretekid

    concretekid Tourist

    Joined:
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    nice report on the 8am from msp in a couple weeks
     
  3. macwjp

    macwjp Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Nice report, thanks for posting. We are heading to Vegas on the 19th and will also be staying atHarrahs
     
  4. clr

    clr Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Really enjoyed your report. It seemed you both just relaxed and enjoyed your vacation and each other
     
  5. da1chifan

    da1chifan High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Glad you had a great trip! :thumbsup:
     
  6. Ade87

    Ade87 Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Enjoyed the report, thanks for posting!
     
  7. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    Nice report!
    Just a tip for next time since you don't seem adverse to a little walking. To get downtown in a hurry, walk over to Tropicana and outside NYNY, catch the Westcliff Express (WAX) bus. $2 pp no ticket needed, just pay on board. It really is a quick ride. After catching it outside NYNY, it heads onto I-15, makes ~3 stops and drops you off near Walgreens downtown.

    For the return trip, catch it outside Binion's and exit on Tropicana, outside the Trop.
     
  8. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Good report! Hopefully you found the Margaritaville TR desk open at some point. I love my Margaritaville TR card! If they are closed you can nag the main flamingo TR desk to give you one.
     
  9. dko

    dko Tourist

    Joined:
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    20 miles south of minneapolis
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    Thanks Joe, That sounds great. Putting it in my notes for next trip. You're right we don't mind walking, we just want to keep it under 15 miles in 4 days next trip, lol.
     
  10. dko

    dko Tourist

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    My wife had not seen them, I just told her they look nice. She still hasn't seen them. We did get our standard cards at the main desk, I should have asked. I will next trip for sure. Thanks for the help.
     
  11. dko

    dko Tourist

    Joined:
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    concretekid-- Hope you enjoy your trip. Gotta love terminal 2. Good luck.

    macwjp-- We enjoy Harrahs. Had nice rooms both trips. Biggest thing we like is not having to walk to get to the strip, right outside the door. Casino is okay. Let us know if you try the fulton street food hall. We enjoyed the pizza. Wondering about the rest of the options they have. Good luck and have fun.

    clr-- Yes we did have a great time together. We didn't take any vacations without the kids while they were young. Now it's nice to be able to pay attention to each other, not the kids.

    - - - Updated - - -

    concretekid-- Hope you enjoy your trip. Gotta love terminal 2. Good luck.

    macwjp-- We enjoy Harrahs. Had nice rooms both trips. Biggest thing we like is not having to walk to get to the strip, right outside the door. Casino is okay. Let us know if you try the fulton street food hall. We enjoyed the pizza. Wondering about the rest of the options they have. Good luck and have fun.

    clr-- Yes we did have a great time together. We didn't take any vacations without the kids while they were young. Now it's nice to be able to pay attention to each other, not the kids.
     
  12. Boxcars1212

    Boxcars1212 Tourist

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    In case you don't know they have a free shuttle that runs to all of the Harrah's properties including the Rio. Keeps you off the bus that way.
     
  13. REELmoneySlotFan

    REELmoneySlotFan High-Roller

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    Great TR. You guys sure did a lot of walking. Love the Willy Wonka pics. Can't wait to play that machine on our next trip.

    Thanks for sharing!
     
  14. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    Sounds like a fun trip!! The restroom perv was creepy!
     
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