Vegas 12/26 to 1/3: Part 2! (w/ pics)

Part 2!!
(part one found here)

Day 5
*We returned from LA on the evening on Jan 1st, new years day. The drive through the desert was constantly raining, a real strange sight for me. The traffic going in the opposite direction (away from Vegas) was jammed solid all the way from LA to Vegas. I'm really glad i missed even more crowds in town.

(Ps, no wonder everyone drives up to Vegas.. LA area was DEAD on new years. Plus thier downtown celebration was cancelled due to RAIN!!!! can you believe that?? coming from new england, it would take 4 feet of snow to cancel that here. I saw an LA news station story about the large amount of people making the exodus to Vegas. Plus it was a weekend, thus increasing the crowds. Oh, and we watched the New years celebration on TV in LA.. and guess what.. it was REPLAY of the NYC ball dropping. CRAPPY!!)

*Anyway, we arrived to the South Coast for 2 more nights around 9ish, and the place was JAMMED. Valet took 8 minutes just to grab my keys and no one offered to help with our bags (they where simply too busy). However there was no wait to check in. Asked for an upgrade, no dice.. and where given a room on the 8th floor. It faced the wall behind the uncompleted convention center. Gee, thanks guys. It looked like the main tower was half finished. So the hallways had a fake wall mid way down. But other than that the hallways where beautifully decorated and the rooms, wow. Almost as nice as our room at Caesars in the Agustus tower, minus a few things (mainly the bathroom). Large bed, very large flatscreen tv, nicely equipped bathroom. No safe however and no chairs on the table. Very happy, especially at the $59 rate I received.

*After we got ready, we went to eat a late dinner at the Pink Taco in the Hard Rock. We arrived to the HR being packed and hardly being able to find a parking space! Turns out there was a concert there that night so when we left the lot was empty. But the Pink Taco wasnt too busy and we where seated right away. I always like eating here, nice atmosphere, good mexican food.

*We decided to hit up Seamless, the new stripclub/nightclub combo since we had passes to get in. We where greeted by valet, and showed around the club. Very nice and modern plus the staff was very friendly. It was around 11 and they didnt seem to have many girls working. Not super hot chicks, but the place definetly showed some potential. After 2 hours, we where tired of seeing the same 7 girls that they had working so we left and headed down to good ol' Spirimint Rhino.
We got in there around 1ish, and the place was packed. This is my 2nd visit, and the last time was one of the best stripclubs expiriences i've ever had. So anyway, we paid the $20 cover each and then walked around for 10 minutes, and couldnt even find a seat!! So my girlfriend asked at the door if we could have our money back since theres no where to sit. They quickly found us a seat but it was very tucked away and far away from most of the action. We tried to move up but as soon as a seat became free, the bouncers snagged it and would only give it up to someone who was willing to pay a hefty tip. We only where getting the ugly girls venturing far enough into our area to even ask for a dance. And once we thought we had it bad enough, people where grabbing empty chairs and blocking us into a corner, so none of us could even get up, let alone have a dancer come over. Plus the staff was rude as hell to us. Defiently the worst strip club expirences i've had and unfortunatly that will be my last trip to the Rhino.

*We got home at 3:30am, and hit the hay pretty hard.


Day 6
*Woke up pretty late and actually went downstairs and gambled a little in the South Coast. The Craps table beat me up (as well as everyone there) but roulette treated me good for once.
We went to the Aladdin mall to get lunch. Theres this new place in there Max's Grille that has $3.99 lunch specials. (http://www.maxsgrille.net/lunchvegas.asp) And this is different than your typical steak vegas cheap food deal. These are fancy pasta dishes. Very good and tasty. However they screwd up my order several times, but other than that our bill wasnt over $10 for both of us!! nice!

*After eating, it was still raining in vegas (booo!) so we went to the Fashion show mall and did the shopping thing with the girl. Shopped for a while and worked up an appetite for desert. So we went to the Ghiridelli store between Harrah's and IP.

*I went to self park in Harrahs' garage and they wouldnt let me park there!! He said i had to show a room key or my total rewards card!. I was like, i have one of those, but just not on me. And he said "well i cant let you park here". And then i say, "well i have money, and i plan on playing here" and he still told me I couldnt park here. Now i realized how much I have a distaste for Harrahs. They will never catch me putting a red cent in thier crappy casino.

*We got our dessert, it was very delicious.. Ghiradelli is my favorite american choclate. It was just very cold! We attempted to watch one of the live bands at the carnival court but it was just too cold.
After that we warmed up back at the South Coast, got ready a bit, and did some more gambling. The Roulette table beat me up this time, but then Blackjack was my saviour and I stuck with that for an hour or so. The dealers and the pit crew here are very friendly so far and I really liked playing there, winning or not. I definetly might stop out there to gamble next time im in town.

*For dinner we hit the Coranado Cafe in the South Coast. We where seated quickly and got a chance to look at the menu. Your typical coast casino coffee shop menu, but the surroundings where very nice and the prices reasonable. We both got breakfast food and it was brought out very quickly and with a smile on thier face.

*After dinner we needed a good strip club expirence, so this time we opted for the Crazy Horse Too, because Jenna Jameson used to work there! $20 cover, very friendly door staff and we found a seat without a problem. Very pretty girls, for the most part, especially it being a monday night. However we found that strippers hate approaching young couples, but will jump on any old couple coming in. After 2 hours i finally had to get up and approach a dancer on a smoke break for a dance. But the dances we both had where VERY good..
Again, we got in very late so hit the hay early, as we had to check out in the AM.

Day 7 - last day
*Woke up early, asked for late check out, the latest they could give us was 1pm. We took the morning to pack our things and checked out via the TV. Loaded our bags out to the car and gambled a bit more at the BJ tables. I was up and down and up and down and ended up losing a little. But I got alot of play for my money.

*Ate lunch at the Rio buffet. It took us a good 45 mins to get there because vegas traffic was horrible for no reason at all. We got in there 5 mins after "dinner" had started (3:30) so i got to pay $8 each more for no more extra food. ugh. The buffett was good as usual, lots of variety but it seems like theres almost less out for dinner than lunch.

*After that we watched the show in the sky at the Rio, I dont think i've ever actually watched it. Pretty entertaining, killed a good hour.

*We had a few hours to burn before getting to the airport so we went back to the Desert Passage mall at the Aladdin. We had our caricatures drawn by one of the artists there (near the enterance near the paris side). it was $45 for a color one, which is kind of steep but it ended coming out really awesome. After that I tried to gamble in the casino but it cleaned me out. Plus the Aladdin has moved all there tables around in wierd positions to make room for some construction. I think its getting even worse over there.

Leaving-
*Headed to the Alamo car return, did the quickie drop off and they gave me a recipt. Of course the recipt was for $100 more than my reservation was for. So i had to go into the building, wait 30 mins in line and then wait another 20 while they gave me the run around and eventually credited me back. What a pain.. I might not go with Alamo again because of this mix up.
Got through check in and security with no problems and long waits (unlike last time!) and of course our red eye flight was delayed. We ended up leaving at 1:30am instead of 12:30. and they had us move to a new gate across the other side of concourse D. Got on the plane, sat next to another 300 pounder that had to jab elbows with me again the whole flight. ugh. well you win some and lose some.
Arrived into boston around 9am, tired as hell!!

THOUGHTS;
-Vegas around the holidays is a nightmare, so busy and cold. I will never do that again.
-Half price tickets in the coke bottle is a must see for me next trip.
-Caesars is really the nicest hotel i've ever stayed in. A+
-The South Coast is one of the best vegas hotels i've been too, a nice little place they have down there. And considering they just opened, they deserve my praise.
-Spirimint Rhino sucks, sorry.
-Hitting the spa is a new vegas tradition for me, I highly recommend the Elmis Spa at the Aladdin
-The Hooters hotel and casino still looks like the San Remo. The signs are still up, looks no different. Only some painted on palm trees are new. I dont know how they are gunna be ready for next months opening.
-the Aladdin looks still the same, only a few signs of construction into Planet Hollywood.
-Seeing the closed down Ho was a really upsetting sight. RIP
-Didnt bother checking out the Boardwalk before its demise. I never really liked it..
-The Algiers sign is still up even though the hotel is long gone..
-Next time i need to check out the new Scores club in Vegas.
-Paris buffet was almost as good as the hype.. a tad overrated, but still really good.
-I hardly gambled!! oh well i guess judging from my '05 losing streak, its probably a good thing.

 

photos!

Caesars Room: Augustus tower room 3725












Our view from the Augustus tower:





the downgrade to Fitzgerald's





View from the 23rd floor at the Fitz



South Coast room 639









Our south coast view



the Hallway



Me in front of the Barbary Coast in the rented convertable



My girlfriend with big elvis

 

Great report and loved the photos... Thanks!! Your girlfriend is a doll!

 

Thanks for the report and photos tvon. Big Elvis is looking downright fit and trim!

 

Great Report, tvon. Sounds like you and the gf had a great time 99% of the trip.

Personally I wasn't too thrilled with Scores......

 

nice report .... great pics ... Where is BIG ELVIS playing these days ?? Is the show worth the time and money ??

 

Forget about the trip report, I would go see BIG ELVIS just to look at those POWERFUL THIGHS, OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We had the same view from our room at the South Coast. I wonder when they’ll get their full furniture delivery… the rooms will be quite nice, once they’re fully furnished. The Augustus room looks great. I’ve wanted to try Max’s, good to hear the food was tasty. Ghiradelli is a favorite of mine, as well. Great pics!

FWIW, Harrah’s has limited parking in the garage to Total Reward members (Diamond & 7stars only at Peak times) and hotel guests (employees have to park elsewhere, too) because they’re building a new parking structure in the old overflow lot, behind the parking garage. The overflow lot was huge, with those parking spaces eliminated there’s currently a major parking shortage. It sucks, but it’s only temporary.

 

Are you sure those are his thighs????

 

Nice report and great pictures. I think I'll have to stop at South Coast on my way up to Vegas next time.

 

Great pics tvon. Looks like someone put Big Elvis's head on backwards. Outstanding view at Southcoast!! The rooms look really nice though.

 

"How do you think he rides a bike?"

-Judd Nelson as John Bender, The Breakfast Club

 

One word, Terry: Adhesive.

 

and That, is why You, are the Doc.

 

Or velcro, depending on the fabric