April 17-22: I DANCED WITH A FREAKIN CLOWN!

Thank you all for your great advice you gave me. Here is the TR I wrote up for you. I also have some pics that I will post later. Sorry this is so long.

Wednesday 4/16: Wake up at 6AM, shower, get dressed, and start my morning drive to my 8AM class. About 7:30 I get a text message from Ashley (GF) saying that she’s dieing. Apparently she couldn’t talk and she wanted me to take her to the ER. I get to school and turn in a paper I had to write for my 8AM class, run to a computer lab and email my professor for my 12:30 class telling him I won’t be at the field trip that was planned for the day and then I drive 30 mins back to GFs house. I get her in the car and drive to the ER. When we get inside the nurse looks at her and says “ohhh you need to see a doctor don’t you sweetie?” She couldn’t talk so I had to give the check in girl all of her info. We get to a room and sit there for a little while and the doctor comes in. Apparently she had some extremely bad case of strep throat. Obviously, we didn’t tell them about our trip to Vegas we had planned for the following day. The doc offered her 10 days of antibiotics or a shot that will work instantly, she squeaked out “whatever is faster” and they gave her the shot. We hang out there for another 30 mins to make sure she doesn’t have a reaction and then we get to leave. The whole process took about 2 hours so it wasn’t TOO bad. I drive her back to her house and help her inside. Then I called Delta to see if it would be possible to switch her ticket from leaving Thursday to leaving Friday (just her, I was still going to leave the next day). I checked online and a one way ticket for Friday was about $600. I called them just to see and the woman on the phone said it’d be over $1000 to switch from Thursday to Friday for one person. I asked her about the one way only being $600 and she said “well we have to take the current value of your ticket and add it to blah blah blah.” Since we only paid $212 round trip for our flight it wasn’t worth it at all to switch and she was just gonna have to deal with it. I helped her pack since she was still feeling terrible (which she later said that I did a horrible job at. Hey, what do you want me to do here? I put the stuff you said to pack in there! Lol). We also got her some masks to wear on the plane and in the hotel room to try to prevent her spreading her germs and the doc said she should stop being contagious about 12 hours after the shot so we should be ok. I then make a run by the liquor store and pick up some Jack, Rum, and SoCo. Then I stopped by the bank and took out my gambling cash I had saved up. I went to my 6PM class and came home and then started to pack. I finally got to sleep after 1ish.

Thursday 4/17: Wake up at 3:45 – I slept terrible because I slept on the couch so Ashley wouldn’t get me sick. Drive to the airport and check in and get through security for our 6AM flight to Atlanta. We met up with my aunt and uncle at the airport (the reason for this trip was to celebrate my uncles 30th bday). No problems and the flight from Charlotte to Atlanta only takes about 30 mins in the air, as soon as you reach the cruising altitude you start your descent. The layover in ATL was a little over an hour and then onto Vegas. As soon as the flight attendants came around with drinks we started drinking. Every drink they had was $5 (which was a little much for a beer but the mixed drinks weren’t bad). I think we had about 5 or 6 on the flight and then we arrived at LAS. When we were talking to the tram to baggage Kyly from Presidential Limo called me saying he was about 10 mins away (I didn’t request for him to get there until 11 and it was only 10:10 or so) I told him to take his time. We got our bags and Kyly met us at baggage claim. We pile into the limo and drink the bottle of champage he gave us. We made a stop at the liquor store to pickup beer and a cooler (and I’m pretty sure Kyly just stole a 6pk of Mich Ultra). Then off to the Flamingo! We arrive and check our bags and Jennifer & Dustin (Aunt and Uncle) go to check in (at the instruction of the bellman, we thought it was too early). They had booked some expedia deal with a free upgrade to a GO Room. They check in and were told to come back in 2 hours to get the room keys. (We were sharing a room with them for the first night until the rest of our party arrived). We walk over to Osheas and eat at the food court there and then came back to get the keys. The GO Rooms are pretty nice, I LOVED the TV in the mirror. They were on the 20th floor facing BILLS and had a decent view of the fountains (but some of it was blocked with the BALLYS sign). Ashley and Bert (my roomate) decided to take a nap since they only got about 3 hours of sleep and Me J&D decided to go check out the pool. The water was a little cold and not everything was open but it was still pretty nice. We came upstairs and watched the fountains while everyone got ready for dinner. We ate at Margaritaville. I had a turkey burger and it was really good. Then we decided to go to VooDoo at Rio to watch the sunset. We decided to walk because it didn’t seem very far – BAD IDEA! We get there about 7PM and they were closed for some private party that involved Star Wars or something. The door guy told us to come back at 10PM. Dustin didn’t want to hang around the Rio for 3 hours so we decided to just go back to the Flamingo. We found the free shuttle to Caesars and jumped on that. J&D went back to the room to pass out (since they were on very little sleep too) and Me Ashley and Bert decided to go check out the Bellagio and watch the fountains for a while. We watched 5 or 6 shows and then walked back to the Flamingo. Ashley went to bed and Bert and I hung out in the casino and gambled a bit. I think I went up to bed around 12 or 1.




More to follow....

 

Friday 4/18: I woke up at 6AM and was pissed that I was awake that early but I couldn’t fall back asleep. Dustin woke up and we started talking about where to eat breakfast. We decided to try Ellis Island because I had read good things about it on this board. Jennifer and Ashley both woke up and came with us and after trying to wake up Bert we left him there. We walked to Ellis Island and when we were almost there Bert called me wanting to know where we went. He grabbed a cab and met us over there. While we were waiting for him I played some VP. The breakfast was really good fro the price. The 5 of us ate for under $30. I had the eggs and corned beef hash (not the best hash I’ve ever had) and Dustin got a ham steak the size of his plate, it was HUGE. After breakfast we gambled a little more and then went back to the Flamingo for some pool time. All 5 of us took some beer down to the pool and drank, the water was a little chilly but you got used to it pretty quick. I went back upstairs to shower and change then I went and checked into my room. I had reserved a deluxe room but I figured I’d try the $20 trick and try to get as close to my aunt and uncle as possible (hopefully in a GO Room). I went to the regular line and the guy from the Gold Card check-in called me over (there really was no wait). I told handed him my ID $20 and CC and told him what room my aunt and uncle were in and how I’d like to be as close to them as possible. He started typing away and then turned the screen to me and said “every room on that floor is booked.” I explained to him how it was my GFs first time in Vegas and how I was hoping to get her a room as high as possible with as good of a view of the fountains as possible. He kept typing and searching and shaking his head and 5 mins went by and he said “you know what? I’m gonna just put you in an Executive Suite on the 27th floor. It’s not a GO Room but it’s bigger than the Deluxe you reserved and it has a coffee maker and mini fridge and it is right across the street from Caesars and you’ll have a pretty good view of the fountains.” So $20 trick = success. When I got in the elevator to go back up to the GO Room to move my stuff I met Angela and Jeff (my other aunt and uncle) in the elevator. We moved our stuff to the new room and I was very happy with it. It was actually bigger than the GO Room and had a better view than J&D’s room we stayed in the night before. We went to Osheas again to eat at the food court for lunch then most of us took a naps. Woke up around 5ish and started getting ready for dinner and O. We walked down to TI to see the sirens show at 7 but they cancelled it because of wind. We had 7:30 reservations at Kahunaville so we headed inside and got there a little early but they seated us with no problems. When we walked into TI there were girls handing out coupons for BOGO drinks so we all grabbed one. I ordered a Big Kahuna and it was massive, they brought it out and had dry ice in it and the thing was bubbling. For dinner I had hibachi chicken and shrimp, it wasn’t good at all, I’ll probably never eat there again.

After dinner Ashley and I grabbed a cab to the Bellagio to see O. We picked up our tickets and gambled a bit. I played a dollar video blackjack machine and automatically hit max bet – WOAH $50 down the drain lol. 9:30 rolled around and we headed over to the O Theater for our 10:30 show. We had front row wet seats in the middle, they were GREAT seats. I asked the guy when I picked up the tickets if I needed to go buy a raincoat and he said “no it’s only a splash” but I did get pretty wet.
[clown dancing]
Halfway through the show a clown came to me and pulled me up on stage. I just kinda went with it and we were waltzing around the stage. He looked at me and said “This is fun” – YOUR FACE IS PAINED WHITE CLOWN, YOU AREN’T SUPPOSED TO TALK! He stopped dancing with me and we both took our bows and I went to sit down. The clown pulled me back up on stage and started hugging me. Once that ended I went to sit down again and he pulled me back and hugged me again (this happened 3 or 4 times). Once I finally sat down he pointed at me and mouthed “CALL ME.” It was really funny. Ashley said she barely saw anything because she was laughing so hard. The show itself was THE BEST Cirque show I’ve ever seen.
[/clown dancing]
Once the show ended Ashley and I walked back to the Flamingo to meet up with everyone else (who was supposed to be going back to VooDoo but they were at the Flamingo because someone forgot their ID and they didn’t wanna go back). My cousin Nick had arrived and he was sitting at the penny slots with Bert. Ashley went up to the room and passed out and I went back down to play some penny slots with Nick and Bert. I stayed down there until about 4AM just drinking and playing the same Blazing 7s machine for hours. I ended up winning about $40 and finally went to sleep.
Saturday 4/19: Woke up about 7AM (I don’t know why I couldn’t sleep) and talked to Nick for a while. We finally got everyone up about 8ish and headed down to the Tropicana for the champagne brunch. I was happy with it and our waitress kept the champagne coming. We stayed there until about 12 or 1 just drinking and then headed over to MGM to pickup our KA tickets. We saw the lions and gambled a bit until the box office opened and then we just hung out in the MGM for about an hour. Then we hopped the Deuce back to the Flamingo to take another nap. We woke up and got ready for KA. We were gonna stop at that food court that overlooks the ESPN Zone but we ran out of time waiting for the deuce (we shoulda just walked). KA was pretty cool, but I didn’t dance with a clown so I don’t consider it better than O. We were in the $99 seats in the middle. The guys sitting next to us said they paid $170/ticket, we had gotten the tickets for $50 thanks to Nicks 50% off Military discount. After KA we went to the food court overlooking the ESPN Zone and NYNY and ate some Wendys. We went back to the Flamingo to drop off some stuff and then we hopped on the Deuce to go to the Stratosphere for Polly Esthers $40 all you can drink. The line was fairly short (less than 20 mins) and they were offering a VIP All-You-Can-Drink for $50 with a VIP Table and bouncer but the people with me didn’t want to do that. It wasn’t extremely crowded inside but as it got later more people came in. They only had 2 of the 4 rooms open because there weren’t enough people but I didn’t care, as long as I could keep getting free drinks I was happy. We left shortly after 2 and rode the deuce back to the Flamingo and passed out.

 

Very nice TR, really enjoyedit, hope Ashley wasn't too miserable! I guess the saying "clowning around" will always have a new meaning for you! :evillaugh

 

Sounds like you had a pretty good time. Nice score on the upgrade. What exactly is a BOGO drink? The $40 all you can drink at Polly Ester's was that premium alcohol (Jack, SoCo, Stoly, Ketel, etc.) or bar brands? Dancing with a clown on stage....where else but Vegas Lol.

 

She started feeling better by mid thursday but I got a little sick on Fri/Sat because of her.

BOGO = Buy One Get One (free). I never actually tried to order Jack or SoCo at Polly Esthers, it included their speciality drinks that they have for each room but not shots, most of the specality drinks were made with UV brand. I had to pay $3 to get a Red Bull and vodka sincie redbull wasn't included. Shots aren't included either.

I'm still workin on 2 more days (almost done). And I'll post a few pics too.

 

Nice Tr so far, thanks for writing

 

Sunday 4/20: Jennifer and Dustin and Angela and Jeff all went home Sunday morning. Nick and I woke up about 9AM and decided that we’d go get some breakfast at Ellis Island. Our feet were sore from the night before so we grabbed a taxi. The taxi driver was pissed he had to drive us a block down the road and only got a $5 fare – hey buddy, $5 is better than sitting in line and not driving anyone around! We walked back after we were done eating and started to pack our stuff because we had to be out by 11. It was time to move to IP. We checked out on the TV and walked down the strip with all our luggage next door to IP and checked our bags. The checkin line was extremely long so we decided we’d wait and do it later. We went down to the Wynn to sign up for Red Cards and get our free buffets. I was delt a straight flush on a nickle video poker machine and won $50. I played through that $50 on a slot machine to rack up the 50pts to get 2 free buffets. Then we went down to Circus Circus for a bit and went back to the IP to check in around 4. The line was still EXTREMELY long and I waited over an hour to check in. I tried the $20 trick and the girl wouldn’t take the money. I asked for something high up with a strip view. We got up to our room and it was a HUGE downgrade from what we had the past 2 nights at Flamingo. The beds seemed to be smaller than double beds and we had a fantastic view of the air conditioning units and a parking deck. I called down to the front desk and asked how much it would be for an upgrade to something a little bigger with larger beds and she said “well that would be a suite†I asked if the room I was in was recently remodeled and she said yes. She then told me that she was wrong and I was in a Classic room. It would be $20 to upgrade to a “recently†(2 ½ years ago) remodeled room with queen beds so we did that. I asked her for something high up with a strip view. The bellman came with our keys and directed us to our new room. Once we get to the new room I open the door to check out the view and we have the giant A from IMPERIAL right over our balcony so we could barely see anything. Also it was right over top of where they play really loud music until 3AM every night (which I had no idea they did). We decided to deal with it and we got dressed for our free buffets at WYNN.
We walked down to WYNN and waited in line for about 40 mins for the buffet. I was really happy with the food, it was all very fresh and the prime rib was the best I’ve had. After this we headed downtown (since 2 of the 4 people with me had never been to vegas before I figured I should show them Old Vegas). We walked around Freemont Street. Stopped in Freemont for some $.99 Margaritas and went to the Golden Nugget and stayed there for a few hours. We rode the deuce back and went to sleep (but it was before 3AM when the loud music outside stopped).
Monday 4/21: Woke up around 11AM and went to the Burger Palace in the hotel. The burgers were pretty good, I also got a pretzal which wasn’t as good. Ashley headed to the spa for a hot stone massage and me and the guys went down to the casino to gamble. I won about $300 on Blazing 7s then I headed to the dealertainers pit for about 4 hours playing Rapid Roulette and 6:5 8 deck Blackjack. I lost all I had won on on the blazing 7s machine and then some more, but that’s alright because I came in with the mindset of I’m gonna lose it all. After getting killed at the tables I went upstairs to change for Mamma Mia! Ashley and I headed down to Mandalay Bay, picked up our tickets and then went to the Shark Reef. The shark reef was a waste of money (in my opinion, ashley loved it though) and we went thru the whole thing in less than 20 mins. We stopped by some deli in Mandalay Bay and ate dinner and then went to the show. I didn’t like Mamma Mia! at all. I was bored and it wasn’t all the great things that I had heard about it. Ashley wasn’t even impressed with it either. After the show we went by the food court next to MGM to meet up with Bert and Nick. It turns out they drank almost an entire half gallon of vodka while we were in the show and they are just sitting there completely trashed. We started walking back down the strip and I had drunk Nick talk to the guys handing out the hooker cards on the strip to see if I could buy one of their shirts. Some guys wouldn’t sell, others wanted $50-100, one dude wanted $40. I tried talking him down some more and could only get to $35. I paid the guy, he took off his GIRLS DIRECT TO YOU IN 20 MINS shirt and gave it to me. I made Nick put it on and all the guys handing out cards up and down the strip were cracking up. This was the funniest night on the trip hands down. Ashley stops into Margaritaville on the way back to buy a glass and me and bert stood outside watching nick hand out hooker cards to people. One guy said “naw man, I can’t afford it†and nick yelled “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT? IT’S A $35 SPECIAL!†lol I couldn’t stop laughing. We also took some pics with nick and the guys handing out the cards, he’d walk up to them and say “COME ON GUYS, TEAM PICTURE!†I’ll post those pics in a few mins. We finally got back to the IP and I made 2 big bets on the roulette wheel and obviously lost them both and decided it was time to go to bed. Finally got upstairs and packed up my stuff and tried to sleep since we had to be up at 3:45AM since our flight was at 6 but it was really hard to fall asleep with all the loud music going on outside.
Tuesday 4/22: Woke up at 3:45 and checked out. Went outside and grabbed a cab. I was half asleep but noticed that the driver was taking a really weird way to the airport. We were at IP, it’s 4AM, there’s no traffic, go down the strip and turn around and go to the airport, that’s what I woulda done. But noooo this taxi driver wanted to get a big fare and decided to take us through the tunnel on the way back, when we went through the tunnel I was pissed. My roommate paid her the $26 fare and asked if just giving her $30 was ok and I said THAT’S TOO MUCH, SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE TAKEN THE FREAKIN TUNNEL, I’m sure she heard me but I don’t care. We get checked in and through security fairly quickly, it seemed like the line got REALLY REALLY long as soon as we got in it so we made it at the right time. Flew back to Atlanta, ate at Chili’s, and back home to Charlotte.

Another successful trip complete with my very own GIRLS DIRECT TO YOU IN 20 MINS T-Shirt!

 

Pictures

Me and Dustin drinking at 9AM on the way out there


Drinking in the Limo


My Big Kahuna from Kahunaville


Ashley and her giant beer at KA


Ashley and I as Bradys at Polly Esthers


Dustin and I at Polly Esthers


Angela and I at Polly Esthers


Ash and I outside of NYNY


Our great view at IP - notice the giant A over the balcony


We ran out of cups so nick had to improvise


Bert, Nick, Myself, and Ashley waiting for the Deuce to go downtown


Nick handing out hooker cards in my shirt








Nick and Bert with a Pro


And....it was 5AM at the airport and I saw a giant lizard...what else would I do?

 

Great report! Love the pictures. Looks like all of you had a great time. I can't wait to be out there next week!

 

Great report - the pics are classic! Tara - we are on the countdown!!

 

Loved the whole "Girls2U" thing; I was cracking up. Thanks for the pics and report it really sounds like you had a blast. Too bad about the room at the IP.

 

Love the pics Mike!

 

Great report and pics! I gotta say, though, I think that's the first time I've ever heard of anyone getting long-tripped TO the airport. Weird.

 

So just call the number and ask for the "Nick Special" and wait for the doorbell huh? LOL:banana:

 

I loved reading your trip report. I have my FIRST ever trip to Vegas in May, and your trip report is one of the best that I've read. I have a few questions if you don't mind... what is Polly Esthers in the Stratoshere? And can anyone go? And not that I'm old, but being 42 would I feel old and out of place there? Thanks for the help.
Betty

 

Polly Esthers is a club in The STRAT . They have 4 different clubs in 1 big club, a 70s room, an 80s room, a 90s room, and current today stuff in the 4th room. Each room has it's own bar and speciality drinks for each decade. You probably wouldn't feel out of place there, when i was there i saw some people in their 40s. Their website is http://www.pollyestherslv.com/ the dresscode there is pretty lax compared to the other clubs in town, people got in wearing sneakers.

 

Excellent stuff..nice report – thanks.


Wouldn’t catch me behaving like that

 

Thanks for the quick answer.

 

Nice TR Mike. hmmmm. Anyone think Polyesters might be good place for T2V meet?

 

Nice pix! Ash sure has a huge, er, cup of beer.