The Wynn "in"... GVR "out"...

Well gang….another Vegas trip come and gone and for the regulars here you know I was pretty pchycotic up to the end about where we were going to stay. All I can say is I love this place as much as I did the first time I set eyes on the town. I’m not real good at putting things in chronological order since I don’t take any notes or anything like that so I’ll do my best at piecing together the week and hope you enjoy.

We did the SW non-stop flight out of Norfolk that is about 5 hours there and 4 ½ getting back. Great flights both ways and w/ my boarding pass in hand we checked our bags at the electronic kiosk and were on our way to the security check (in Vegas) about 15 minutes after arriving at the airport. I sat next to an older woman on the plane (I’m guessing 80+) on the way home and she was a hoot.

We did the Presidential Limo RT deal for $108 and it was excellent. He loaded the bags for us, had cold champagne and a rose for my bride. I asked him to stop at the liquor store on the way to the Wynn and he said “no problem, I don’t have another ride for 2 hoursâ€. We picked up a bottle of wine and a liter of VO and we were set.

Check-in at the Wynn was about 4pm and there were 2 other people in the lobby. We were checked in, in minutes. I asked if we could get a panoramic view room… no twenty in hand by the way. He looked and said I have 2 and I asked him for the highest floor and he gave us room 5267. They are really nice but actually, I don’t think I’d ever pay the extra for that room. You have 2 chairs in lieu of the couch because of the wall of windows. Oh, yea… I did tip him for the room.

For dinners we ate at the Mexican place and Kahunaville at TI and both were very good. Another night we ate at the GVR at the Irish Pub and that was good too. We almost stayed at the GVR so we felt like we really needed to check the place out never having been there before. Now, it is a beautiful place but I just like the feel of the strip and all the action. It reminded me a little of the Indian Casino’s in Wa. When we lived there… lots of locals and the 10 yr olds watching the 3 yr old while mom and dad were gambling really turned me off. At the Wynn, we ate at the Clubhouse Grill, Corsa Cuchina, the Deli (Zoo Zaa Crackers) and room service. All of it was most excellent. We did have reservations one night at the Bartolotta (sp?) down in the shopping promenade area. We were seated and I could hardly make heads or tales out on the menu and really couldn’t decipher the crypto code on the wine list. All $100+ and a lot over $300 bottles of wine…yea, right. The waiter was getting down on Ca. wines and was all about the Italian wines and blah, blah, blah… I took a few minutes and said “you know, this really isn’t what we were looking for, I think we’re going to try something elseâ€. He wanted to know what the problem was and what he could do to change our minds. I said “for starters if you could bring me a wine list I could understand, that would be greatâ€. By this time I was getting a little obnoxious like I can do. It seems as I get older, I can cycle up pretty quickly when somebody is feeding me a line of bullshit. This guy was like the used car salesman of restaurants. He said he could get a Ca. wine list (you know the stuff he was disrespecting a few minutes ago). I said fine… but when he was gone for 10 minutes, I told my bride “we’re outta hereâ€. She said we can’t stiff em’ for the bottled water (she had ordered) and I said F-‘em, they know our room #, he can bill it to us if he wants to. They didn’t and we went and had an awesome meal at the Clubhouse Grill. It was really not that big of a deal, I just spun up for a few minutes and then things were great the rest of the night (as you will see later). I’ll just never set foot in that place again….but, everything else at the Wynn was top notch.

Gaming – We play mostly VP w/ some Roulette and Pai Gow for table fun. We stayed Sat to Sat and by Wed evening we hadn’t won a thing and were down about $2500. Now I love Vegas even when I’m not winning and I know you lose more often than you win but 4 days of it was wearing us down a bit so we decided to take a break and order room service, crack our bottle of wine and watch the lights of the Vegas strip from our room. We sacked out early that night… about 10 and got some much needed mid trip sleep. Thursday morning I got up about 6, went and got my usual large coffee w/ a little cream and fake sugar and headed out to find my destiny… or density. I normally play 50 cent and some qtr VP but saw a $1 progressive BP bank that was at about $5,900+ which is pretty high for them. I decided to run a $100 thru and see what I got. I hit a 4OAK for $125 which gave me about $200, so I figured I would play a while and see if I could win a few hundred and turn the tide on this trip. 5 hands later I was dealt AT of spades and 3 junk cards. I held the AT and took a nice swig of coffee and the thing filled in like a math equation for an Algebra teachers wet dream… as in the 3 faces to give me the RF for $5,976… sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet We pretty much were picking up a hundred here and dropping a hundred there after that but the bleeding definitely stopped. Friday night after we had our little fiasco w/ the car salesman/ wine guru, we headed to the Grill for a great dinner and bottle of wine at the bar. Afterwards, the lady BT that was helping us was really, really nice (tipped her very well) and she made us 2 Baileys and Coffee’s to go. We wandered back down the hall and into the casino just taking in the beautiful Wynn casino and the crowd and the music. It was a Vegas moment for sure. We decided to go over and play the 50 cent bank of progressive VP. We were having a great time w/ our wine and Bailey’s buzz. My wife was hitting 4OAK pretty good on her machine playing Bonus Poker. She says to me, “I hit itâ€. I’m thinking the 4 Aces for 400 credits (or $200). Noooo…. As they said in Oceans 11 “All Redâ€â€¦ a RF in hearts for $2,973. Let me tell you… right about now our vacation couldn’t have ended on a better note unless we were naked and had a full glass of CR rocks

So… as one of the great T2V’ers said to me before we left …. “just maybe the Wynn is the replacement for your beloved Mirageâ€. Thank you Mrs. Hoya… you are so right!

The rest of the trip was pool time, an evening at the Bellagio Fountains and drinks and a tour of the MB. We had also been thinking of staying there too but had never set foot in the place so we needed to check it out. It is nice and had a good vibe but I do have to say for VP players, it’s pretty much a waste land. A beautiful property though and I think in the spring or fall when the kids are in school, it would be a great place to stay. But as you might guess…. I’m thinking we’ll go back to the Wynn

One other thing.... one day when we walked from the Wynn to TI, there was this guy about 35 sitting on the ground at the end of the walk-over w/ his hat out for money. He really loooked poor and hungry and was not obnoxious at all. We made eye contact for a second and he kind of hung his head like he was a little embarassed and nodded. We went on down to the landing by the Fashion Show mall and I told my wife. "I just can't do it". I said, "We've been blessed w/ a great life and we've won some money and for whatever reason, he has a life that pretty much sucks right now". I turned around, went back up the escalator and put a generous amount in his hat. He smiled and said, "thank-you sir" and I said "you get yourself something to eat buddy". I told my wife that I hoped he went and got a few meals but you know what... if he spent it on booze and that's what he really needed then so be it. Sometimes you just feel like you gotta "pay it forward".

Thanks for staying w/ me to the end… Man I love that city ~ Dino

 

Nice hits, nice trip. More power to you on getting the restaurant experience you want, even if it means leaving.

 

Nice read Gino, congratulations on your nice hit.

 

Your right Dean sometimes you have to "pay it forward" that was a good thing you did. I haven't been to the Wynn yet. I must go and play VP there. Those were some real nice wins you and your wife hit.

 

Wow!

I see you loved Wynn as much as I did, unfortunatly the hubby couldn't do anything but loose there but the hotel is amazing.

Sounds like another great trip and I hope the guy went and got something to eat, you did a nice thing.

Glad you had a good time.

Sammi

 

I'm jealous.

 

Great TR Dean and congrats on the hits by you and your bride. I'm gonna have to try out Wynn's VP when we are there in a couple of months. Oh yeah, it was nice of you to "spread the wealth", just next time send it my way ........ lol.

David

 

Thanks gang... it was nice to hit a few jackpots. We've only had one other trip like that and it was about 2-3 years ago. They don't happen often but when they do, it sure makes it fun.

Al - you know, I'm really not one of those obnoxious people that always sends food back or expects some kind of presidential treatment but this wine list was really something to see. I couldn't tell what was a merlot or cab or?? Plus there were many more bottles over $300 than under..it was pretty ridiculous. I'm no wine expert but I doubt very seriously that for the avergae Joe (or Dino), there is much difference between the taste of a $75 bottle of wine and $300 bottle.... even if Lucy and Ethel did stomp the grapes themselves!


One other thing we did that was a 1st for us was get a massgae. I've had a few before (there's a lady that does a sweedish massgae at my chiropractor) but my wife had never experienced one. She said she always felt a little uncomfortable about somebody touching her and I convinced her it was not like that (unless she got lucky of course...lol) and to just relax and enjoy it. But seriously, she has a pretty stressful job and puts in a lot of hours so I have been encouraging her to induldge herself once in a while here at home for a while. She was like a new person afterwards.... I'm thinking I've just incurred another monthly bill in the budget...lol

Oh yea, something else I was going to mention for those that don't know (I didn't), if you're staying at the Wynn, TI, Mirage, Venitian or in that area... there is an ABC store in the Fashion Show Mall where you can but wine, beer, liquor and snacks for the room.

 

Joe... you gotta be kidding me... I've only scratched the surface of the Wynn-esque experience that you have....

 

Dino..Did you get to see the sound and light show at The Lake of Dreams? I didn't know about it till I got back, when I was there the week of labor day. I must have passed it a hundred times and had no idea it was a show!!

From what I've seen on the Internet, I may have to go back to The Wynn and see it.

The ABC store in the fashion mall was a big convience. Who would have ever thunk, there would be a store like that in the mall!

 

Thanks for the report, Dino. Congratulations to both you and your bride on the hits...what an awesome feeling that must have been!! Sounds like you put another great Vegas trip behind you. I was hoping you would mention more about the pool at Wynn, I know you two are pool freaks like me. So how was it?

Thanks for the tip on the ABC store in the mall....as if I need another excuse to go there.

 

Thanks for the write up Dino. Sounds like it was the perfect trip. Good job on the VP hits. Nice!!

It's a tough gig, trying to figure out which hotel and all to stay at in LV. With all the choices, you probably are not the only one who wavers back and forth as to which place to stay at. From the TR, though, it looks like you made the right call.

Were you up overall for the trip?

The "paying it forward" situation, those I think will reap rewards for the "payer" down the road.
It's good to help out a fellow human every now and then.

Well Done.

Ross

 

What a great trip--so glad you enjoyed it! I LOVE going to the spa--that's now one of my vacation traditions (I don't get massages at home--just vacations--to keep it "special")

 

Ron - the lake show is actually kind of bizarre IMO... but good. My favortite part is when the huge frog sings... I won't say anymore

Beach - the pool there is awesome. We hang out at the adult pool as Mrs Dino has shed enough of her inhibitions to really enjoy leaving her top in the pool bag. The crowd turns pretty young on Fri thru Sun and they have a DJ those days playing boom-boom music. I prefer the Mon thru Thurs atmosphere but that's always entertaining watching all the young guys trying to impress the girls hoping to score... gawd I'm glad I'm 50 sometimes...lol

Ross - we ended up paying the hotel bill, covering the air fare and put all of our gambling $$ back in the bank plus $2,300. Now that is a good trip! Seems to me, we should be planning another one huh?

 

Sounds like a blast Glad to hear you came out ahead. We are starting to get the itch again. Keeping an eye on those offers coming in now.

 

I hear GVR is nice, if you don't mind being off-strip.... :evillaugh

 

Very very nice! Glad you enjoyed Wynn so much (less the experience at Bartolotta). Kinda makes up for the pre-trip stress of "where do I stay?".

Kudos on sharing the wealth. Winning big feels good. Paying it forward feels great.

 

You know... I've learned alot from this board. I never knew about tipping the maids or that the majority of the dealers income relied on tips. I always thought I was a pretty good tipper but I discovered that you really need to get in a different mind set when you're in Las Vegas if you want the good service and more importantly if you want the good service to "still be there when you come back!" I believe everybody is hired for minimum or close to minimum wages and expected to provide a level of service that will get them tips. I even tipped the people wiping down all of the machines one morning. The Wynn is always so spotless and I was thinking how much I enjoy coming down in the morning and having everything look brand new again so I thought what the heck.. why shouldn't those ladies get tips too!

 

Thats what I like to see... Sweet trip Deano!

Props to you for walking out of that place. I'm with you on the Grill, that place is awesome. And the Room Service is pretty damn good as well.

I hate to thread jack this(it still is on topic a bit though) but I'm sooo pissed off that the MB is taking a turn for the worse. It used to be one of my favorites and considered my self lucky to be one of the first people to stay in the hotel. It has sooo much potential, and just isn't there...

My buddy Jesse is having a conference there in a few weeks and he really is thinking about ditching the free room and staying somewhere else.

Errr... back to the normal programming. EVEN MORE PROPS to "pay it forward." It just feels right to do things like that.

 

Awesome hits!! Sounds like the two of you had a great trip!! I wish you had been there at the same time we were, but then you would not have had room 5267 because it would have been occupied by us. Yes that is correct, you were in the same exact room we were. I actually liked the chairs and we did Room service one more morning while sitting at the window, it was awesome.
I am floored that you were in the same room. At first I wasn't sure when I read the number, but when you said you had a corner room on the 52nd floor I was shocked it was the same room!!! Of all the rooms in the Wynn, you had to walk into mine!