TR for 11/2-11/9 Flamingo and Harrahs

This is my first TR, so please be patient if I ramble on and feel free to ask me any questions.
Day 1 Monday: Flight from CVG on Delta made for a long day with a layover in Salt Lake City. What made it even longer was that I was traveling with my husband, three year old son, and father-in-law. We get to LAS and had to wait for my husbands suitcase at baggage claim because there was no room left in the overhead bins for his bag. At least we didn't have to pay to have it checked. That got me thinking that would be a good trick on the way home if I had packed some "extra" things to take home. If you wait until everyone else has boarded the plane, there is a good chance all the overhead bins will be filled and they will make you check your bag, but they don't charge you. After a 20 minute wait to get his bag, we were off to get the shuttle to car rental facility. Of the 20-30 trips I have taken to LV, I have rented a car only one other time. I hate renting a car in LV. Not only was there a ton of construction on and around the strip, but once you got comfortable with an alternative route, they would start construction on those roads. Ok, back to the story, I told you I ramble sometimes. So, we get to Hertz and had to wait another 15 minutes or so to get to the desk. I ended up doing the prepaided fuel option which worked out great for me. I paid $2.44 a gallon, but the only hitch is that you have to purchase a full tank which ended up costing $40. It worked out fine because I used almost the whole tank and didn't have to stop to fill up. I was also pleased to see that gas stations were charging $2.77 a gallon during the week, so I think I got a deal. Finally we are on our way to the Flamingo. I knew you could take the back streets to the Flamingo, however, it would have been nice if there were some signs directing you to self-parking once you were on Audrie. Once I figured out where to go, we were on our way to check in to the Flamingo, finally.
Our first room was 19136. As soon as we opened the door, we were greeted with enough marijuana smell to give a contact high to everyone in the room. I said, "Ok, maybe it won't be that bad and I can go buy a can of febreeze or something." I went to set my purse on the desk and noticed that the people before us must have been so baked that they left some of their weed on the table. I also looked down at the carpet and noticed there were used matches all of over the floor. This room must have not even been cleaned. As I was calling to get a new room, my son looked under the bed and found some left over halloween fang teeth. He screamed. The bellman brought us up some new keys to a similarly located room one floor down. This room was ok, nothing to write home about. I am not that picky as long as it is clean. But everytime we would get off the elevator to our room, my son would act scared and say,"this isn't the room with the weeds and teeth is it?" Once settled in, we were starved and went to meet up with my brother-in-law at Hash House A Go Go. The meal was good and I had a Restaurant.com coupon but couldn't use it because it was only good for dinner and it was only 3 PM. I had the meatloaf sandwich and of course it was enough to feed 3 people. The child's hamburger was enough for 3 children. Since we didn't have a fridge in our room. Most of the food was left on the plates. My son wanted to ride the monorail so, when we got back, I took him on a complete loop back to the Flamingo. Everyone was tired at this point, so we called it a night.
Day 2: We started breakfast at the Flamingo buffet. The only reason we went here is because it was close and had $5 off coupons. Regular price was $14.99 and I don't know if it would have been worth it without the coupons. It had everything you would expect and it was nice to keep my son occupied since we sat next to the window where he could see all the animals. Since we were still on Cincinnati time, we were done eating and out the door by 8am. We walked the south strip, stopping at MGM to see the lions and the M&M store to get my son some goodies. The only problem with that is that none of these open until 10 or 11 am. No big deal, we hung out and visited those on the way back. Grabbed a pizza for lunch at the Flamingo next to the Burger Joint, it was pretty good and only cost $12 for a whole pizza. Deciced to take a trip to the Hoover Dam. I haven't been there in almost 10 years and was amazed to see the new bridge under construction. It was amazing to see how they could construct something so complex in the middle of nowhere. I'll find some pictures of this and post them later. For dinner, we went to Bahama Breeze because it was one of my favorite restaurants back home but they closed it over a year ago. Service was OK and food was great!! After dinner, went downtown and I always have a good time here. Husband and father-in-law had to get deep fried twinkies, I was happy sipping on $1 margaritas.
Day 3: Waiting in the long line for Denny's for breakfast today. It is amazing to see how fast they shuttle people in and out of this place. I couldn't even imagine how many eggs they go through in a day!! Everyone had Grand Slams and they were good all the way around. Had a $5 off coupon so that made it extra nice. My father-n-law took off to meet his son who lives in Vegas to hang out for the day. My husband and I took my son to the Leid Children's Museum downtown. My son was entertained for about 2-3 hours. The only thing he didn't like was the hurricane simulator which was my favorite. Stopped at McDonalds on the North part of the strip for lunch and back to the hotel for a needed nap. I don't remember what we had for dinner that night, but that evening we watched the Bellagio fountain show and the Mirage volcano. The Walgreens at the Venetian was so convienent and I think I must have went there a dozen times to get everything from bottled water to chapstick. Grandpa stayed with our son while we out to gamble a little bit. The Flamingo sucked our money so fast and we didn't see anyone winning anything the whole time we were there. My husband liked playing at O'Sheas because they had beer pong. I had a good time playing blazing 7 slots.
Day 4: Had McDonalds for breakfast and headed out to Bonnie Springs. This is a little western town where they act out a bank robbery, shoot out and hanging. They also have a "petting zoo" for the little ones, It costs $20 a car load to enter. It was mildly entertaining and isn't a "must do" but a nice morning trip to entertain children. Met up with my BIL at In and Out Burger for lunch. The lines were soooooo long! It took about 15 minutes to get our order and another 15 to find somewhere to sit. I think it was worth it because there was not a bite left between us. Took my son to the TI pirate show. I do miss the old show.
Day 5: Packed up my family and sent them to the airport in the morning. As they were boarding the plane, my girlfriends were getting off the plane to meet me. Once I rounded themup, we headed to Margaritaville for lunch. Two of us had fajitas and they were good. One of the girls had a mango margarita which she said was awesome. Regular margaritas were good too. Lunch for three of us ran $100 (including 4 drinks). Took them on a tour of the south strip and ended up having dinner in NYNY. I had the fish and chips and the girls had sandwiches from the deli place. It was tasty. We rushed through Excalibur but stopped to take a picture with spongebob grabbing our boobs. It was also entertaining to watch the guys trying to play blackjack while watching the girl dancing on the pole. We grabbed our drinks and took a taxi to the Venetian to catch 10Pm showing of Blue Man Group. We got tickets back home for $55. I thought that was a great deal until we saw the show. I had seen them two other times when they were at the Luxor and loved it. This show was a bomb. It was so slow moving and had no energy. The theather was only 3/4 full. I had talked to some people later in the week and they said there show was show bad that they came out and said they couldn't perform the whole show because something was broken. That was dissapointing because that was the only show we had tickets for that weekend.
Day 6: Had breakfast at Denny's with the girls. It was good again. We then made our way north on the strip. Hit the Mirage, TI, Forum Shoppes and Caesars, Venetian, Fashion Show Mall and Wynn. We stopped at the Wynn and had drinks at the Parasol Up bar. Had a great time here and was well worth the overpriced drinks. Had another pizza for lunch and headed over to the Bellagio. The conservatory was beautiful as always and we took lots of pictures. We went to the wax museum at the Venetian and had a really good time. We were laughing so hard at the pictures we took. At night, we headed downtown and had dinner at Micky Finz. We had some spicy steak tacos. They were really good. I had a restaurant.com coupon for here too, but didn't get to use it because you had to order $50 before alcohol to use $25 coupon. Our dinners were only $8 apiece so it was a deal anyway. The fremont street show was cancelled until 11Pm because there were some bands playing that night. It was really crowded this night and don't know if it was because it was a Saturday night or something else was going on. There was also a military ball going on and saw lots of young soldiers and their dates all dressed up. They looked great and we told them how proud we were of them and that they deserved to have a really good time. We finished our drinks, grabbed some gifts to take home and headed back to the Flamingo.
Day 7: Sunday, I took the girls to the airport in the morning. This was my day all to myself in Vegas. I love to gamble but I always end up playing tour guide so I like to have a day just to myself to gamble. I usually find a hold em tournament in the afternoon and hit the blackjack tables at night. This time however, I went to the taping of Let's Make a Deal with Wayne Brady in the morning. Had I known how long this would take, I might have skipped it. I got in line with my ice cream cone costume between 9 and 10am. In case you were wondering, I picked an ice cream cone because I own and ice cream shop back home. Go figure. The process was very long and had to fill out paperwork and stand in line a long time. I can't tell you exactly how long it took because they took your cell phones and cameras so I had no idea what time it was the whole day. You were shuffled from room to room and had to do group interviews before you were herded into the studio. I have never been to a taping of show and had no idea how planned out it was. Before the show started, they had to tape the audience doing different expressions. They would say, "Now everyone cheer and clap like she just won a car. Now everyone sigh like she got a zonk." You couldn't even cheer for which door you wanted them to open. They would say, "If your birthday is between Jan and April cheer for door number 1, May through August cheer for door number 2," etc. By the time the taping of show number one was over, they asked if anyone wanted to stay for the second taping. I said sure. I probably wouldn't have if I knew what time it was. I didn't get out of that place until 5pm. I wasted over half of my last day in vegas sitting in an ice cream costume an didn't even get to play. I left and checked into Harrahs for the last day. Harrahs is much better than the Flamingo. The front desk was quicker and friendlier, the room was better and had a much bigger bathroom. Table limits were good. Once checked in, I went to Flavors buffet for dinner. It costs $22 but had another coupon for $5 off. It was a really good dinner and I stuffed myself. After dinner, I ended up playing Pai Gow Poker for about 5 hours. Ended up a little ahead which is good since it is really hard to win a lot or lose a lot at this game. Called it a night around 2am since I had to catch a flight home in the morning.
Day 8: Breakfast at Flavors buffet and had enough comp points to pay for breakfast which was good. Played a little more pai gow and checked out. I had 5 nights comped but had to pay for the two cheapest nights at the Flamingo which were $55 and $75. Not too bad, but I don't think I will stay at the Flamingo again even if it was comped. Flight home was direct and uneventful. It was a long week and was glad to get home.
I ended up with a lot of restaurant.com coupons left. If anyone wants them, let me know. I send them for the cost of shipping and $5. They are: $10 to Cafe Ba Ba Reeba at Fashion Shop Mall, $10 to Tacone Grill and Daquiri Bar at Miracle Mile shops at PH, $25 McFadden's at the Rio (didn't get to use this one since Rio was packed this weekend for WSOP,) and $10 Hennessey's downtown. I also have $10 off $25 at Rainforest Cafe and some coupons from check in at Harrahs that expire November 30.
I will get some photos up as soon as I get unpacked and settled. Hope you enjoyed.

 

trip reports are almost as good as being there!!!! thanks for the report! glad you enjoyed yourself!

 

Thanks for the trip report. I appreciate the heads up on Blue Man Group. I've been contemplating checking out next month. Also, thanks for the "let's make a deal info" This is another something I had on the agenda for next month. They take your camera's and cell phones??

On the luggage thing, I can tell you that many people are doing that already(overstuffing their luggage and waiting until the last possible minute to board so they can get checked for free) On two flights in Sept and Oct(non-Vegas trips) going and coming my flights were delayed 15-20 mins because of this very thing. Now, granted maybe it wasn't intentional but I wouldn't doubt too much that it wasn't. I know the luggage fees bite, but an entire flight shouldn't have to be delayed because of someone wanting to save a few bucks.

Looking forward to seeing your pics!

 

Great TR! You packed a lot in and it sounds like you had a ball! I don't think I will be stopping by the Let's Make a Deal taping though!

 

"this isn't the room with the weeds and teeth is it?"

Aw...poor thing! That is the saddest thing I ever heard!

Where were your $1 Margaritas downtown?

Thanks for the great report!

 

OK. I have some pics for you guys.

This is the new bridge they are building over the Hoover Dam.

I thought these trees at the Bellagio Conservatory were cool because it rained from the branches.

This is what my standard room at Harrah's in the Carnival tower looked like. The bathroom was twice the size of the one at the Flamingo.

These are me and the girls waiting for the water show at Bellagio.

I ended up drinking quite a few margaritas that weekend and had a few tipsy conversations comparing them. The $1 margs at Casino Royale on the strip were basically like slush puppies. Little alcohol in them, but they were very convienent and easy to double fist for walking. The best were from Margaritaville, but for $8.50 for a 12 oz. they should be. The biggest bang for the buck was downtown. I can't remember exactly where they were at, I'm thinking Freemont Hotel but there was a big banner outside saying 99 cent margaritas. Here the bartender actually puts a shot of tequila in the bottom of the salted cup and then pours the slushie part on top. These were actually stronger than the ones at margaritaville.
As for the comment on the flights and checking bags at the gate. There were absolutely no delays with Delta. Actually it was the opposite. All three of my flights left early. Since all of the flights were overbooked, once everyone was checked in and standby passengers filled non checked in flyers, we took off. Every flight was completely full and left early (checking bags and all, since all flights are full, the crew was ready to check bags.) Delta did a really great job this trip.

 

Very detailed and fun report
Sounds like a grand time you had, be it with the family, with the g/f's or even on your own Thats the way vacations should be!

 

Thanks...I will locate those Margaritas downtown next trip!

 

thanks for the enjoyable trip report!

i like how you mixed in the family time and then the friends on one trip.

 

Very good trip report. Thanks for posting.

later, GVJ

 

Good report, I've been curious about the Flamingo Rooms and the comparison with Harrahs helps!

The blue man show at Luxor rocked 8 years ago, I won't waste my money to see them at the Venitian!