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Bally's - AC Thanksgiving trip

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Trip Reports' started by callahanha, Dec 10, 2014.

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  1. callahanha

    callahanha Low-Roller

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    My Trip Report

    Girlfriend and I decided to extend Thanksgiving weekend by spending 3 nights in Atlantic City.

    We arrived at Bally’s around 2pm on Sunday. There was no one in line to check in so I walked up and asked if it was too early to check in and they said it was no problem. There was no fee charged to check in early either. My girlfriend requires a walk-in shower due to nerve damage in her leg and she can’t lift her leg over the side of a tub. We were placed in the Garden Tower because of this. I am guessing this tower is not used much as it seemed we were the only people on the floor and never saw anyone else using the elevators during our stay.
    The room was okay. Nothing special but it did have a dual sink with plenty of room for all of the girlfriend’s toiletries. The king size bed was comfortable and there was an in-room safe and refrigerator to use.

    The casino at Bally’s was not busy. It really is just a room with tables and slots. There is no theme to this place. The part was you can order your drinks from the slot machines and as soon as they are delivered, you can order the next one. Since it was not busy the waitresses were dropping off the drinks frequently. I did not have any really big wins (biggest hit was $160 on a Family Guy slot) but I had many small wins where I would put $20 in a machine and double it. Monday and Tuesday nights I spent 2-3 hours playing video poker on $20 and cashing out after winning $20 - $30. If you want more excitement you can walk to Caesar’s to play without going outside.

    The only dining we did at Bally’s was the Sack-of-Subs for dinner on Monday night. They make a great sandwich for only $7-8 depending on what you order. We were going to eat at Buca-De-Bepa on Tuesday night but it is closed on Tuesday and Wednesdays.
    We did enjoy the buffet at Caesar’s Palace on Sunday night as it was the seafood buffet. There were plenty of seafood dishes and crab legs. It is pricey ($45 per person) but I used a comp coupon they sent me to pay for it.

    The first 2 days of the trip we had beautiful weather. It was I the 60’s and made walking the boardwalk enjoyable. We did walk down to the Trump Taj Mahal to go eat but the restaurant we planned on going to was closed. Rumor is the place will close on 12/20.
    Our next dining option was Shark Tail at Resorts. We sat on the patio overlooking the ocean and had a nice lunch. A couple of sandwiches and sodas came to $32.

    We spent a lot of time going in and out of the souvenir shops. There is a shop called American Owned Pier 21 that has a great selection of sports team shirts that you can’t find anywhere else. The owner is very nice and goes out of his way to special order something if he does not have your size in stock.

    Other boardwalk observations:

    We were not approached by anyone asking us for money during our stay. I hope this means security is cracking down on this as during previous we were asked several times.

    Due to slow mid-week business many of the restaurants are closed and dining options are limited.

    The Tropicana is easily the busiest casino on the boardwalk. Nearly every machine was being played and the place was crowded. The Quarter was decorated for Christmas and they have a music / light show every hour near the giant Christmas tree.

    While Atlantic City can’t compete with the Las Vegas experience, it is still a fun place to stay for a few nights. Even though 4 of the casinos have closed this year, Atlantic City is not as dead as the national news makes it out to be. The boardwalk is still fun to walk and the 3 casinos on the bay all seemed to be doing good business.
     
  2. Jerseyguy

    Jerseyguy MIA

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    Surprised you didnt take the free shuttle over to Harrahs .
     
  3. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    Thanks for the trip report, I like the Tropicana as well, plenty of dining options in The Quarter plus it always seems to have a good crowd.

    Agreed, the news out of AC is a lot of doom and gloom, but the remaining casinos will probably generate north of $2 billion in gaming "win" this year and while that is off 50% from the height of the market in 2007, it's not chump change. It can't compare to Vegas, but there are probably 40 million folks within 250 miles of Atlantic City.

    I am also a fan of the cocktail ordering system at Bally's, I had 4 Manhattans within an hour on my last trip. BTW, I think you were at the Landshark Bar and Grill in front of Resorts, this place is pretty fun when the summer wind is blowing in.
     
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