1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

Vegas, Zion and Southwest detour August 16th thru August 22nd

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by joesmom, Aug 23, 2015.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. joesmom

    joesmom Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2008
    Messages:
    139
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8

    My Trip Report

    Vegas, Zion and Southwest detour August 16th thru August 21st , well really August 22nd.

    The suspects, myself, my hubby, his brother and SIL. We were celebrating our anniversary (2nd got married in Vegas), BIL’s birthday and my surviving breast cancer. We are low roller each having about $300 per day for gambling so we play not more than $2.00 spins on slots, some VP and maybe a low minimum table game (did not do this trip).

    Not a great detailed trip report as I am horrible about making notes or keeping track of anything but will provide highlights, lowlights, the good and the bad.
    Fly Southwest had a direct flight going out and did Earlybird checkin for all flights. Going out got A26 &27 and ended up lucking out on the bulkhead seats – first and only win with Southwest this trip.

    Arrived at the airport in Vegas at 9:45 am got our luggage and got a taxi and was at Bally’s by 10:30 – checked in, room wasn’t ready but they checked us in, stored our luggage and said to check back around noon to see if room was ready. BIL and SIL arrived 30 minutes earlier and after we stored the bags we meet them at the bar to get a bloody mary (our breakfast of choice) and play a little VP. I have no idea which one I was playing nor do I know what the odds were cause I usually don’t play VP but I put my $20 in and by noon when my room was ready I cashed out $180 – I know I had one 4 of kind that paid $200 and some straight flushes, I also had two bloody mary’s and a vodka and soda so $180 and a nice buzz.
    The 4 of a kind
    4oak.jpg


    This ended up being my best day of gambling as I never opened my gambling envelope of that day. I played off that $180 and finished the night up $400. I do know that I had one good bonus on Biergarten for over $200. Half my winnings and first days budget went into my bring home envelope and the rest went into my other day’s gambling budgets. Bally’s room was nice – had the High Roller/Cromwell view in the Jubilee Tower – 66th floor and had no problem with noise. At some point the first day I ate a slice of pizza from Sbarro and we had a late sandwich from Guy Fiery’s which was very good. I would eat there again.
    The view
    view.jpg


    The plan for Monday and Tuesday was to rent a car and drive to Zion National Park, spend the night, do a little hike and return to Vegas Tuesday evening. So Monday morning DH and I got up early (we are always up by 5 am at home and Vegas was the same) and we walked over to Ellis Island and had the $6.99 NY Strip and Egg special – so good and such a bargain.
    ellis.jpg

    After breakfast we picked up the rental car from Westgate Enterprise. We had a reservation for noon but it was ready and they had no problem giving it to us early – such a civilized experience – no line and the whole process of picking up the rental car took 10 minutes. Drove across the street, parked in Bally’s garage and called BIL and said we are ready. We headed out by 11 am, stopped to pick up some adult beverages for the Bed and Breakfast and headed to Zion National Park. We had reservations for a Bed and Breakfast called Under the Eaves in Springdale, UT(the b&b) BandB.jpg –which is about a mile from the park entrance. Very nice place and right across the street from a little grocery store that had a great deli. They made fantastic sandwiches for $6.99 and had a great salad/soup bar. Just a heads up – they can’t serve you adult beverages without food in Springdale so if you want an evening cocktail – bring your own – we knew this hence the stop on the way. We got to Springdale at about 3:30 (time change) and checked in and took a drive through the part of the park that you can drive through. photo 2 (3).jpg
     
  2. joesmom

    joesmom Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2008
    Messages:
    139
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    Zion was fantastic and I will place a few photos at the end of this post. We ate a sandwich Monday evening from the supermarket across the street and drank the majority of the adults beverages under the stars of a beautiful Utah sky. It was very warm during the day this trip - over 100 every day, one day it was 112 and I don't care how dry that is 112 is hot. But the evening in Springdale was beautiful and the morning was in the upper 60's. We got up early for our hike so that we could do it in the cool of the morning and had breakfast at a little place in town that the B&B provided a coupon for - was free and was delicious - it was called a Horseshoe something or other photo (19).jpg

    Hike photos photo 1 (7).jpg photo 2 (7).jpg photo 2 (7).jpg

    Will update more of the trip thoughout the day as I get it typed up.
     
  3. abraxis

    abraxis Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2013
    Messages:
    448
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    6
    Awesome report so far! I love getting away from the neon, smoke, booze, and losing by going to zion for a day [emoji14]
     
  4. joesmom

    joesmom Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2008
    Messages:
    139
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    A few more Zion images just because I only have about 200 LOL. zion.jpg zion1.jpg and lastly from Zion hubby and I on the hike and although it looks as though he is choking me he isn't :) zionchoke.jpg

    We left Zion about 2:30 and and arrived back in Vegas about 4 pm as you gain an hour - so luckily we were just ahead a bad traffic although the short distance down Flamingo to return the car was long and frustrating. Got rid of the car - unpacked the side trip bag, took a shower and changed into vegas clothes and head for a beverage and a little gambling. Not sure what I played but I went through my entire budget for the evening and returned with about 5 bucks in my wallet and we didn't stay up late as we were all exhausted from our hike that morning. We ate at Guy Fiery's again as it was close and we knew the food was good and there wasn't a long wait. the food.. guyfiery.jpg

    Up early on Wednesday morning and had a gross breakfast at Buca in Bally's - bad food and lousy service and really hard to mess up breakfast but it was 3 times the cost of Ellis Island and barely eatable. Wednesday we wandered the strip playing a little here and there until about 3 pm when we returned to the room to get ready for a trip down to SLS to see it and then for a 6:45 reservation at Top of the World for dinner to celebrate the birthday and anniversary etc. We took the monorail down to SLS and signed up for the players card and I ended up getting $125 freeplay from their promotion - the rest of the group each got $5. I turned my freeplay into about $80 in real money. It was quiet in SLS so we didn't stay long and walked across to the Stratosphere to play there for a bit before dinner. No winnings and went up for our dinner res early and they were ready for us. They gave us a window table and the view was spectacular but he food and the service were just so so. In fact, the service was actually bad. Long waits, left our appetizer dishes on the table for over 20 minutes after we were done with them and they really weren't that busy. Only checked on us once for refills for our drinks. The food arrived lukewarm and my filet was a little tough. Will not go again but glad I went just to see the view - I may go back for a cocktail some day just for the view
    Us at dinner at Top of the world
    . dinner top of the world.jpg
    Me dressed for dinner (this photo is for Mrs. Furi :) mrsfuri.jpg
    Top of the world view
    vegas from top of the world.jpg
    waiter told us that all the fires in Cali, Wa and AZ were making it very hazy and not so great for the view although it didn't bother us
     
  5. joesmom

    joesmom Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2008
    Messages:
    139
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    Thursday
    Thursday we roamed the strip, played here and there, lost lost lost. Vegas was getting busy as all the weekend people were arriving and I swear they set the machines to “rob me” setting for the weekenders. I was down to about $100 left in my daily budget including some extra that I had placed in there from the first day’s win so I decided to stop until the end of the evening as this was our last day and we would be flying out at 2 pm the next day. I had two buy one get ones from the Wicked Spoon so we all had the buffet for dinner Thursday night. In general the food was very good and they had a good selection but the crab legs were pitiful – so tiny that it really wasn’t worth trying to eat them. We all ate too much and we were stuffed so we took a taxi back to the Linq as we had groupon’s for the High Roller Happy hour that we needed to use.
    High Roller view
    high roller view.jpg
    This was a lot of fun as we had a very entertaining car. We had 4 young British guys on a mancation with us and someone else deemed them the new beatles about midway through the ride. That immediately turned into these four singing Yellow Submarine at various times the rest of the ride. We had many group shots, new best friends and high fives for no reason lol. I had 3 very strong drinks but could have had at least 3 more if I wanted. There were about 20 of us in the car and our bartender was very fast and very generous with the amount of booze. By the time we were done we were ready to just sit so we went back to Bally’s and went to the room for a bit to rest up for the last evening. We took about an hour nap and went back down around midnight and I sat down at a penny Sun/Moon game and was playing 1.20 a spin and just maintaining my original 20 for over an hour. I cashed it out at $30 and put a new $20 in and got the 50 free spins and for the first time ever I got a retrigger of 50 free spins during those spins. It took almost an hour for those 100 spins and I cashed out at about $350 and that was the end of my night.
    The next morning we went back to Ellis Island for breakfast, checked out and sat at the bar talking to SIL and BIL until we headed to the airport about 11:30 and that is when the Southwest nightmare began…
     
  6. llestrange25

    llestrange25 Tourist

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2009
    Messages:
    30
    Location:
    Ireland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    12
    Great trip report we ate at top of the world a few years back and thought it was overpriced for what we got. We are going to do the view at Christmas but go to the deli instead
     
  7. joesmom

    joesmom Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2008
    Messages:
    139
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    So we get to the airport about 11:30 for a 2:15 flight - I hate being stressed about time so I am always early. We had baggage to check and although I had checked in on my phone we needed to get our boarding passes and check out luggage. There were only about 15 people in that line and it was moving great until we were about 5 people from the front when check in came to a virtual standstill and all the southwest people had an attitude with the people in line. I am not exaggerating when I say that it took 30 minutes to do 4 people and the line behind us was about 200 people long because of this with people get VERY upset and no one from SW doing anything to fix the situation except yelling at people to just be patient. One poor man obviously needed a wheelchair and was asking for one and the lady just kept yelling for him to get back in line. I saw an empty one and ran out of line when she wasn't looking and got it for him. Finally got out of there got on board and flight was only a little late but we only had about 40 minutes in houston for a change so I was a bit nervous about it. We were about 20 minutes out of Houston when the plane made an obvious south turn and that is when the pilot came on and said Houston airport was closed due to weather and we were being diverted to San Antonio. They told us that it shouldn't be a problem because all flights were going to have the same delay so we shouldn't have a problem with our connections. WRONG.

    First, Houston was not closed - Southwest had decided to divert SOME plans because the weather had caused a back up. Now - when we got to San Antonio they told us we would most likely be there less than an hour but they let everyone get off anyway. After about 30 minutes there they said reboard which took over 45 minutes cause they had to check everyones name off a list with IDS cause we didn't have boarding passes. THEN we couldn't take off cause a couple of the flight attendants had decided to go eat dinner at San Antonio and we had to wait for them to get back - NOTE they told us to stay at the gate area while we were there.

    So now our 30 minute delay at San Antonio turned into about 2 hours. We arrived back to Houston at about 9 PM and when we got off the plan the reps told to get to our gate cause our flight was boarding. We got there and no one in line and door closed (I didn't look to see if the plan was there). They rebooked us for 8:30 the next morning and told us we were on our own for hotel/food as this was a Weather related problem. What I found out was that we were at that gate at 9:15 and our plane was there and did not depart that gate until 9:55 pm and our luggage made that flight!!! So 12 hours and $100 later for hotel and a sandwich we were reunited with our bags and finally home. I can assure you that I will be in contact with Southwest on this incident. Oh and I didn't even mention how rude and unhelpful their reps were through all of this.

    This sure put a sour ending on a great trip. We did have a fantastic time, I loved Zion, the drink service and people in general at Bally's was by far the best of anywhere all week. In fact we had great difficulty getting drinks at any MGM property. Spent almost 90 minutes playing at the Mirage without seeing one cocktail waitress. I will stay at Bally's again as I love the location, the casino just feels good to me and the service was great. The food at Bally's is not so great and not alot of choices but many things close.

    I left as what I consider a winner - I went with $1500 for my gambling budget and came home with $600 and that is after the diversion and the overnight in Houston. Can't wait for my next trip!
     
  8. Elf70

    Elf70 High-Roller

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2013
    Messages:
    764
    Location:
    South Carolina
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    Great trip report. Sorry about your flight problems. Hope SW offers you some compensation.
     
  9. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 6, 2008
    Messages:
    17,816
    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    130
    Sorry to hear about the trouble on the return flight. Sounds like you had a very enjoyable trip with lots to celebrate, especially being a survivor!! Loved seeing your Zion photos; I never seem to drag myself away from the strip.
     
  10. Johnzimbo

    Johnzimbo VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Sep 19, 2010
    Messages:
    2,856
    Location:
    DFW
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    100
    Glad you came home with some of your bankroll. Wife and I heading to Vegas in 3 weeks and are going to Zion for the first time, so really appreciate the pics you posted of that.
     
    Annual me and Pete
  11. smartone

    smartone VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Jul 17, 2011
    Messages:
    9,889
    Location:
    Northern Nevada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    248
    I'm pretty sure this was in direct relation to the well-prepared, organized and knowledgeable traveling American public.
     
  12. joesmom

    joesmom Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2008
    Messages:
    139
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    It really wasn't - it was the Southwest people. They were not taking anyone up to the desk at all. I think it was a very poor shift change or something but I have been traveling for almost 40 years for business and pleasure and I have NEVER seen anything like it. What got me was how rude they were being to people asking simple questions or the guy asking for a wheel chair - he was about 90 and about to collapse and she yelled at him to get back in line.
     
  13. picklz

    picklz Tourist

    Joined:
    May 7, 2011
    Messages:
    29
    Location:
    Minnesota
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    2
    Sorry about the travel woes, I hate connecting flights for exactly that reason but sometimes they're a necessary evil. Surprised how poorly it sounds like SW treated everyone though, hopefully they will do something to make it right. I've had a couple so-so experiences with them but the vast majority have been favorable.

    Thanks for the pictures of Zion too, have not been there yet but I think that might need to be on the list for sometime in the near future, looks beautiful.
     
  14. joesmom

    joesmom Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2008
    Messages:
    139
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    I am the same about connecting flights but I couldn't get the non-stop one going home - oh well - was still a great trip and for anyone that is thinking about Zion then I would highly recommend it. We usually only do 3 days in vegas so we actually added a couple of days so that we could do this side trip. I would like to go back in the fall when it would be a little cooler and spend a little more time there - we only did one small hike on Monday afternoon and a few hour one on Tuesday. They have a shuttle that you takes through the park to all the areas for hikes and views.
     
  15. 6Mermaids

    6Mermaids Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2015
    Messages:
    174
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    30
    Sounds like an awesome trip. Your pictures make me want to go to Zion. It is beautiful and your bed and breakfast looked so charming! I am sorry about the problems with Southwest. :(

    And you looked so pretty in your picture the night you went out! I am sure MrsFuri would approve! :cool:
     
  16. joesmom

    joesmom Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2008
    Messages:
    139
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    Just adding some additional random photos beer.jpg
    a win.jpg
    almost top.jpg
    ballys.jpg fountains from highroller.jpg
     
  17. nfajgmbr03

    nfajgmbr03 MIA

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2015
    Messages:
    839
    Location:
    Oklahoma
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    5
    I've heard the food at the Top of the Word isn't that great. If you're just wanting a decent meal there you can check out the steakhouse on the casino floor. I believe it's McCalls. Last two ribeye steaks I have eaten there have been really good. Price was $30-$45 a person for food depending on what you order.
     
  18. marcianofan

    marcianofan High-Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2009
    Messages:
    841
    Location:
    portland, or
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    50
    Great photos, I really liked the ones from Zion, I hope I can make it there someday. Also, I'm glad you beat the dreaded cancer, it runs in my family and it's horrible for everyone in the family!
     
  19. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2013
    Messages:
    31,301
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    Nice report! Great pics! Love the Ellis Island "balanced diet" ad!
     
  20. Ty

    Ty ?

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2013
    Messages:
    8,796
    Location:
    Mid Ga
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    22
    Enjoyed your TR, thanks for sharing.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.