Spring Break, March Madness and Two Middle Aged Women

The day finally arrived! We had a flight out at 8:20 pm on Thursday night SAN to LAS. My friend, Flamingo Mo (FM), and I were driven to the airport by one of the bellmen from the hotel at which we work. With boarding passes in hand, we got to the airport at approximately 7pm. We checked the screens to determine our gate. All we saw were "delayed" after almost every flight. I was almost afraid to look at ours. Yikes! It's delayed until 10:15pm. I'm supposed to be gambling by 10:15 pm. FM and I are looking at each other with probably the same thought, since we share a brain, "How did we not think to call and check if the flight was on time?" That actually worked to our advantage, if you think about it. Turns out there was a 7:30 flight that was delayed only 1/2 hour. We ran over to that gate, which was only about 50 yards from the Southwest counter, and we were able to get on the earlier flight. Of course, with their delay, we arrived in LV maybe 10 or 15 minutes earlier than originally planned but it wasn't terrible. We had "C" tickets (standby) but we got on line really early and FM got an aisle seat, although it was about 5 or 6 rows from the back of the plane. While I realize that the back of the plane gets to Vegas the same time as the front of the plane, you have to wait so long to deplane. That's when my claustrophobia kicks in. I was very philosophical about this whole thing. I felt that the delayed flight was bad luck but getting on an earlier flight portended well.

Then I saw the taxi line. It was in full serpentine mode. I mean, it was probably six rows and very looooooong rows at that. When we finally got to the last row, it moved right along and we got a cab. Then, it occurred to me: we were so busy walking back and forth through the stanchions that we never stood still. I guess people only start getting angry and impatient when they're standing still so, although people were mumbling about the long walk to the front of the line, it never got ugly. More about ugly lines later...

Checked in at the Flamingo approximately 10pm. Room was beige. They really do have a good size bathroom there. I asked about an upgrade to a GO room but I didn't feel it would be worth the difference they wanted to charge. Room was clean and comfortable on the 4th floor of the building facing Caesar's. If we had been higher up, we would have had a rather enviable strip view. As they say, "If a frog had wings..." Instead, we overlooked the rooftop with the pink lights. Drapes stayed closed.

After a quick unpacking, we went to the casino. We ate dinner in San Diego before we left so food wouldn't be an issue on the first night. Nothing was working for us so we went over to Bill's Gamblin' Hall (formerly BC). Nothing was working there either. Apparently, my good luck began and ended at the airport.

We walked over to Ballys which I think is a pretty nice casino--relatively compact and easily negotiable. Alas, no luck there either. Finally, by 2:30, we gave up and left.

FM and I awakened about 8:30--that's late sleeping for us in Vegas. She jumped in the shower and I did the coffee run. Another good luck part of the trip. The coffee bar is right there off the elevator bank and so was our room--no big hotel hiking this trip.

We opted for the Paris breakfast buffet. We got there at 10:30. Line was too long. Went back over to the coffee shop at Ballys. Used my Total Rewards card to comp the breakfast. It was decent.

Back to Paris to gamble. We couldn't do anything except put money into machines so we went over to Aladdinwood. That was actually OK. We found some new machines that we liked.

First of all, there is a new Monopoly machine. It's kind of like the WOF super spin, except smaller. They have a bank of four machines with a community screen above. Every so often there is a bonus round that, it would seem, all can participate in. I was the only person playing (can't see this one lasting) so I can't be sure. Just like the super spin, this one has the little side bet thing you have to do, in order to participate. So, you think you're playing 20 lines at a penny a line (or whatever) but, if you want to be in the community bonus, you have to add another 10 or 20 cents. Another machine we found is called Gold Fish. It's pretty cool. It's a penny machine. It has a fish food bonus where you pick cans of fish food for extra points. Anyway, this one has the side bet thing too. I was playing 20 lines at a penny a line. If you want a fish bonus which is different than the fish food bonus, it's another 10 cents a pull. You can still get a fish food bonus but then there a whole bunch of other bonuses that come up. Honestly, you can't afford not to play the side bet. I'll take a guess here that a lot of the machines will eventually go this way. They're getting you to bet more than you normally would. If you like penny machines, Gold Fish is a lot of fun.

Well, I didn't bring any perfume with me because I didn't have any of those little sample vials they sometimes give you in the department store. I went into Sephora in the Aladdin shopping center, now called the Miracle Mile. I told the sales clerk that my perfume had been confiscated in the airport and asked if I could have a sample vial of something. She asked what I wore and proceeded to make me up a little spray sample of my perfume. I mention that because I know some of the women in these forums have run into the same dilemma and here's a wonderful solution.

After Aladdin, we went over to Bellagio to see the conservatory. They just did their spring theme. It was lovely. Best part: There's a greenhouse in the middle of it and, if you walk inside the greenhouse, there are tons of butterflies behind the glass. I could have watched that for hours. We played a little while at Bellagio. Even went over to the Fontana Bar and played the machine ending in 61. Nada....nothing...zippo. Apparently, it's particular about to whom it shows love.

Next stop at Caesar's since FM had never gambled there. We found some Gold Fish machines and played for a little while. We were starting to feel hungry so we went to the food court. I had a lobster chowder in a bread bowl. Very tasty. FM had a slice of pizza. She said it was good. We didn't win anything at Caesar's either.

Back to the Flamingo. We had Barry Manilow tickets. Relaxed for a while and changed for the show. We took the Monorail over. It was $9 each roundtrip. I think a taxi would have been less expensive but FM had never been on the monorail and I kind of like it myself. You also can't beat the convenience since it stops right there at the Flamingo and the Hilton.

While I waited on line at will call for our show tickets, FM went over to the business office to print our boarding passes. We finished at the same time and well in time to get into the show, get a drink and get settled into our seats--15th row, center section.

Barry Manilow was great. I was in my early 20's when he first was popular so I know all the words to his songs. I wasn't a huge fan--never had any of his albums-- but the show was so worth it. FM is a fan and she liked it very much.

After the show, we went to Quark's for a snack. I introduced FM to their specialty drinks. Since I had already tasted a warp core breach, I chose another kind of drink called a Borg sphere. Same concept--different color. I think I like this one better--it had a melon flavor. We split a taco pizza and stayed at the Hilton for a couple of hours.

Now I'm fairly drunk and gambling. Not a good combination, you would think. Wrong. Finally, some luck. I got a dealt royal flush on a JOB machine. Second time ever! I was so stunned, at first, that I didn't even know what happened or how much money I had bet (couldn't be the alcohol causing that). Then the machine got really hot. I mean, I couldn't do anything wrong. I even pulled an inside straight and I almost never even try that. About midnight, we left.

We changed our clothes and went back to the Flamingo casino. I had a little luck on a penny machine. FM asked if I wanted to go anywhere else. I thought maybe O'Sheas sounded good. Bad idea. The street was teeming with college kids. Drunk frat boys everywhere. Between spring break and March Madness, they were unavoidable. I had been to LV about the same time last year and didn't remember it being that bad but then I remembered that we stayed at the MGM and had a car and hardly spent any time on the strip at all. The street was almost impossible to negotiate. We arrived at O'Sheas and we couldn't even get in. We went over to IP. I haven't been in the IP in, easily, 15 or 16 years. They're just letting it run down, it would seem. It doesn't feel clean any more. We stayed a little while and got out fast. Walking back, FM remarked that the reason it looked like there were so many kids on the street was because all the people our age were probably in bed. We got back to our room at 3am (this is becoming a bad habit).

8:00 came way too early on this, our last day. FM was still asleep so I stealthily got dressed and went down for the coffee. I stopped at the front desk to pay for the room since I had won some money on this trip. When I got back, FM was already out of the shower so I could get going. We went down for breakfast. While getting my coffee, I noticed the Italian restaurant, Ventuno, right next to the coffee bar, was serving breakfast. The menu looked good so I suggested it and FM was most agreeable. Food was good. I think her poached eggs florentine was better than my potato leek frittata. Service was fair. Paid for breakfast with my total rewards points.

After breakfast, we went upstairs to get our luggage so we could check it with the belldesk since our flight back wasn't until 7:30. The line for checking your luggage was hellish. There were all these people waiting and only two bellmen on. We waited for close to 1/2 hour, I'd say. Finally, the bell captain showed up to lend a hand. FM, the director of operations of a 1,000 room hotel in San Diego, had a word with him. All he could offer was excuses. It was an unprofessional situation and everyone in line was pissed.

Then, onto the Wynn. We spent the whole day there. It's such an enjoyable place to gamble. The drunk frat boys were pretty well localized in the sports book. I actually did ok on one of their $1 JOB slots. At 4pm, we had the buffet. That was my third time and it is still one of the best. It's not just the food, it's the service as well.

At 5:00, we headed back to the Flamingo to pick up our luggage and start over to the airport. While we waited for our luggage (not as long a line as the morning), I called the airline to check if the flight was on time (learned that lesson). It was.

At the airport, I got frisked. Apparently my underwires set off the alarm. Go figure. Since we were fairly early, we decided to try the standby thing on an earlier flight to San Diego. It wasn't a full flight but they wanted to charge us another $70. Turns out you can only do that for free if your flight is delayed more than 20 minutes. We politely declined and went back to our gate to wait for free.

I was home and in bed by 10pm

 

Lori the machine at the Fontana is 69 not 61, that is why it didn't show you any love. Don't take it personally!!! Sounds like you had a good trip though. Enjoyed the report, thanks for posting.

 

Yeah...I was wondering anout that too...I have always heard 69! LOL

Good report! Enjoyed it very much!

 

Nice report, thanks.
Are we talking (61) machine number or payout schedule?

 

Well I feel stupid. I will remember that next time. I should be back in June.
Thanks for letting me know.

LR

 

Great report

Great report! I stayed at the flamingo my last trip. The 20.00 incentive to the front desk receptionist worked for me. I was on a high floor overlooking Caesars.
I do like the the location, very convenient to a lot of other casinos.There pool area is pretty good too.

 

Nice score on the Royal. What was the reason for all the flights being delayed out of San Diego?

 

Gmoney,

You know, I didn't even think to write that in my report. Believe it or not, we were experiencing thunderstorms. We NEVER get thunderstorms--our mountains get them once in a while but not down here. I think most flights were being delayed because planes couldn't land for a while. I guess driving isn't the only thing Southern Californians can't do in rainy weather. From what we understood in speaking with the ticket agent, our particular plane had some mechanical trouble and they were waiting for another plane to come in.

Lori

 

thanks

I really enjoyed your trip report! Thanks...

 

Thank you alll for your kind comments. It means a lot.