Memorial Day/Week Trip Report

Memorial Day/ Week Trip Report...

First of all...thanks so much for all of the hints and knowledge I have received by reading this site! You guys are awesome!
Day 1 Sunday
I arrived Sunday of Memorial day weekend. The flight was uneventful and arrived about 25 min early. Picked up my bag then off to the rental car location. There was a long line at the dollar check in, but thanks to you guys I had signed up for their express check in program and went straight to the garage and had my car in no time. There were no compacts available...so was upgraded to a mid size. Headed off to the strip and down to Paris to check in. Since it was still before noon I was keeping my fingers crossed that they had a room available for early check in. The line for check in was HUGE! I waited well over a half hour to check in. I think everyone arrived at the hotel at the same time! I tried the $20 dollar trick and had the 20 with my ID and credit card. The lady said "whats this for".. I said it was for you if you can find a complimentary upgrade. She searched around and found a renovated P room on the 29th floor. The room was nice.
This was my first stay at Paris. In the past I had stayed at MGM, but this trip I wanted to be located further down the strip. I liked Paris for the fact that it is a somewhat smaller casino and the walk from the room to the casino, pool, or strip was not long at all. I really liked the convenience of that. I do however recommend when you are out and about to pick up water, pop, etc for your room instead of trying to buy in their gift shop or snack shop. A 20 oz bottle of water is $4 there. I was hungry so walked over to Planet Ho and had a sandwich at the Duke of Earl. It was quick and good but wouldn't go out of my way to go there. After some slot fun I went to the pool. I had an $18 bloody mary. It was huge and yummie. After shower I headed down to the MGM where I saw David Copperfield. It is amazing how he does the stuff he does. I thought he was good but I also thought he was a bit stuck on himself by getting the audience to clap for him. I enjoyed the show.
Day 2 Memorial Day..
There were definately alot of people in Vegas for the holiday weekend. I did notice alot checking out today though. I had breakfast at the Paris buffet. I am not a big buffet person but I enjoyed it. Then I was off to gamble a bit. I played some VP ended up at the Gold Fish machine. It was fun and I ended up about even when I walked away. Off to the pool I went for some sun and relaxation. The weather was awesome. After showering I was off to the strip to find a good place to watch the Stanley Cup finals. I ended up at the ESPN zone at NYNY. Even though my team lost it was fun. On a side note.... I had never seen so much garbage on the ground in Vegas. I walked down to nyny on the side of the road that the city center is being built. The garbage cans were overflowing with piles of garbage everywhere. There was also alot of garbage along the sidewalk too. I don't know if this is normal for this area or if it was because it was the holiday weekend. I didn't walk down that side of the road again so I don't know if it was cleaned up on Tues.
Day 3 Tues.
This am I had coffee and a blueberry scone from the paris bakery. The scone was delicious. After breakfast I walked up the strip a bit and played the Wizard of Oz machine at the Flamingo... it was really fun and I broke even. After my walk up the strip I headed out for a drive around Mt Charleston. I had never been there. The scenery was beautiful and I got alot of nice photos. On the top of the mountain I found a little restaurant. There was an indian lady there selling home made jewelry. I bought 4 braclets. She made some nice stuff. I ended up stopping in the restaurant and had lunch. Tomato soup and tuna melt. The tomato soup was delicious. This place had a neat feel to it and had a fire in the fireplace in the middle. I saw people eating everything from pizza to ribs. A couple people were raving over the onion soup. After lunch some more driving over to the ski area. Lots of nice scenery. If you take this drive/trip up to Mt Charleston make sure you bring a sweater as it was a bit chilly at the higher elevation. I had thought about walking on one of the trails but since I was solo I decided not to. On the way back I stopped at Freed's bakery and had some cake. It was yummie.
This evening I had ticket to see Danny Gans. He put on a good show. I wonder how his vocal cords have lasted all these years with all those voices he does during the show. When he did George Burns...you actually thought he was standing on the stage. It was an enjoyable evening.
Day 4 Wed.
Breakfast this am was in the cafe in Paris. 2 egg breakast. I don't know how you can mess that up. It was good. After breakfast I hit the slots for awhile. I ended up again at the Gold Fish machine. After putting about $40 in the machine and 2 hours of play I cashed out for about $640. Not bad at all! After my win I headed to the pool for some sun and relaxation. (relaxation was the purpose of this trip). After showering I had a late lunch at MonAmiGabi. Steak sandwich which was really good. I enjoyed this place and will be back. Some more gambling and then again watched the hockey game. This time I watched the first period in my room then down to the sports bar area in Paris for the second period. Their tv's sucked. You would think that a hotel with that much money could get some good plasma tv's in their so called sports bar area. I ended up watching the 3rd period in my room. After the game some more walking around the strip and gambling. The best win was investing $40 into a bar top vp game and cashing out for $177.
Day 5 Thurs... (last day)
Breakfast this am was just coffee. I walked the strip a bit checking out casinos and playing some slots along the way. I have decided that although I like the venetian that I can't spend a long time there or at the pallazo. Both of them have this sweet fabreeze sorta smell being pumped into them. I couldn't stand that smell and had to leave. Am I the only one that has noticed this? I ended up back at the Wizard of Oz machine at Flamingo and invested about $80 into the machine and after about 45 min of play I cashed out for $580. (I was playing max coins) It was awesome. I loved this machine. Lots of neat bonuses.
Again I ended up at the Paris pool for some relaxation and had a delicious fruite plate. After pooltime and shower I had dinner at Mon Ami Gabi. Seared Scallops. They were delicioius. After dinner I hopped on the deuce and went downtown. I had a good time but the machines were not good to me. The trip back on the deuce was bad with long waits and overcrowding. I have now made the decision that in the future I will drive downtown myself or take a cab. The savings on the deuce wasn't worth the time it took to get up the strip. (45-60 min from downtown to the Bellagio and that was after about a 20 min wait for the bus) I stopped at the Bellagio fountains and wanted to get some good photos... I caught the tail end of a show and noticed that the fountains were not very high. I waited for the next show and they cancelled it due to "high winds"... I waited one more time and again the cancelled the following show due to "high winds". I gave up and went to Planet Ho and back to Paris for some gambling.
Day 6 Last day....
Breakast was coffee and some french toast. A little gambling and then time to check out and head to the airport. The flight home was uneventful.
Overall I had a great trip and cannot wait to go back. This trip was affordable due to using freq flyer miles and the air was $5. I have gotten so many good hints from everyone here that made this a great trip. I am now hooked on the Wizard of Oz and Gold Fish machines. There were things I wanted to do this trip but ran out of time... but thats the fun of Vegas.... always something to do and always something new to do.
Until next time!
Cathy

 

Sounds so nice.

Thanks for sharing. I could read between the lines and actually feel you relaxing!
I agree with you on the hiking decision. When you travel solo, you just go with your gut feeling on what is safe.
Congratulations on your wins.

 

Great trip report! We are leaving in 18 days, so to say the least we are very excited!

A couple of questions - the Gold Fish machines, are they pennies? Also the Wizard of Oz, are they penny machines? We go every year, but I don't recall either of these machines and I do hear a lot of people mention the Wizard of Oz.

We take the deuce downtown also, but they use to have an express bus that would only stop at a few casinos on the way downtown so the ride was much shorter, do you know if they have this available anymore?

Again, thanks for the TR and any info!

 

Souette...it was definately a relaxing trip. I did what I wanted to do when I wanted and was never rushed to be anywhere.

Casinokrn.. Both of those machines I played were penny, although I do believe there are some 5 cent wiz of oz machines around. The max play on Wiz of oz was 3.50. I found that playing max you definately got great payouts. (Plus there is a progressive jackpot of 1.3 million or something like that). On one spin the good witch came out and made all of my reels wild except for one. I won 250 on that one spin. As for location...I saw them at Flamingo located near one of the exits... (if you are looking at the casino from the road the exit would be on your left).. I also saw them in Bills and the Golden Nugget... near the pool. The lady sitting next to me said that they also had it at harrahs and ballys...but I didn't see them there.
The Goldfish machine was also penny.... I think the max was 3.00 or it might have also been 3.50 I forget. Both machines had neat graphics. When you got the fish bonus the bonus was determined by what fish swam from the screen above to the screen below. There were lots of diff. ways the bonus could go. There was also a fish food bonus which was neat. I actually cleared it one time and ended up with golden turtles... kinda neat. The goldfish machine in Paris was kinda on the right side of the casino near where they have the lounge where there is live entertainment. I also saw it at various other casinos too.

Now that I am home I read about the star wars machine. That also sounds like a neat machine. I did not see it in Vegas...or if I did..I went right by it. I'll have to put it on my list for next time.

As for the deuce...I have no idea if they have an express bus. But I know on our way back from downtown to the strip our bus driver drove right by about 6 stops because we could not fit another person on the bus. Next time... its a cab for me.

I hope you have a fantastic trip!

 

Nice TR! Sounds like left on the plus side. The Wizard of Oz penny slots are also at Wynn. I still haven't noticed any smell at the Venetian or Palazzo. I forgot to check for it on my last trip. They're definitely not the only casino that does that though so maybe I've become immune to the smell.

 

They have Goldfish at Ballys also - up near the Nosh Deli area along the wall.

 

Thanks for the nice report! I don't mind the smell in Venetian, but the Palazzo smell bugs me. When I go DT I usually take the Deuce down there in the early afternoon, and at night to return I take a cab. A cab driver once told my sister to avoid the Deuce late at night, because the clientele can be a bit dicey (drunk), and now I have a new reason to avoid it. I just can't see paying almost 50 bucks for r/t cab fare.

 

actmurph... good idea of taking the deuce to town but the cab back. I'll definately keep that in mind.

I just got a flyer in the mail from a local casino and guess what! They now have the wizard of oz machine. I'll have to check it out.

 

Traveling1 - thanks for the TR. Seems as though you had a fun and relaxing trip.

later, GVJ

 

Nice TR!