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Day 1: 31 March - 5 April

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Shane, Apr 11, 2002.

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  1. Shane

    Shane Tourist

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2002
    Messages:
    190
    Location:
    Minnesota

    My Trip Report

    Finally my trip report, been back almost a week and just now getting to it, for that I apologize. Now I know why people take a while sometimes to get it in. Just to set this up for you all this was our first trip to Vegas. We (Keryl and I) have 5 kids at home and were really looking for some time away and to enjoy the city we have heard SO much about.

    Day 1 – 31 March (Easter)

    Well we were so excited to get there that we found ourselves at the Airport (Minneapolis Charter Terminal) at midnight for a 6 A.M. flight. We slept a bit in the van and around 4 a.m. made it into the terminal. We flew on a charter DC-10 and let me tell you I felt like a damn sardine in that plane. There wasn’t an empty seat to be found and if you were over 6 foot tool you got to spend the flight with your knees up against the back of the seat in front of you. That’s okay we were happy to be finally on our way. Great flight, arrived on time however it took over an hour for the bags to get to us, but hey we are talking about almost 400 people. For those of you that haven’t been there is no doubt you are in Vegas when you get off the plane. You immediately see slot machines and bright glittery advertisements EVERYWHERE.

    We didn’t bother with a shuttle; we wanted to get to our hotel so opted for a TAXI. Now we were warned prior about Taxi drivers wanting to take the freeway and charge you 6-8 dollars more for your ride. Well we got this seemingly nice lady in her 50’s and as soon as we got in she asked us “Have you been to Vegas Before?â€. Now I tried to utter “YES†but before I could my wife so “no first timeâ€, well guess which way she went. :rolleyes: Our trip to the Luxor was 14.00 which when we left to go home found out you can make it their in 8.00. Sokay we know it and figured what the heck, we are HERE. Our first “Jaw Dropper†was waking into the Luxor, what a site, everything was so huge. My brother (Bob) was there with his girlfriend (Jess) and met us at the door. We found out that checkout wouldn’t begin for 2 more hours so we took our bags up to his “tower†room. We caught up a bit and ate at the Nile Deli (pretty good foot with a GOOD price for the strip). Then I waited in line to check-in, it was a MADHOUSE, there were 10 or so lines with 10-12 people per line. Took about 30 minutes to check-in. We were given a Pyramid room on the 22nd floor. We headed for the inclinator and immediately started to worry about what we heard about them making people dizzy. Well let me put you all at ease, you hardly even know you are in an elevator that goes sideways, we looked at each other and went “what’s the big dealâ€. Well the big deal was that our room as at the OTHER corner of the pyramid from our inclinators. It was a little walk but we didn’t complain as there is quite a view from 22nd floor looking down.

    We met Bob and Jess downstairs and played a little blackjack, then went to the Craps lesson and I played a little craps. We didn’t stay long as we want to see more, we walked next door to Excalibur and play “pitch†and I started collecting my “Red†chips. I wanted to go to as many casinos as I could and get at least one Red chip from each one. The Excalibur was my first. On our way out we heard this commotion near a slot machine, two women were hysterical thinking they had just won a progressive jackpot that was over a million. But we noticed that the progressive was still moving, so we were a little confused. The slot person came over and explained that they were in “bonus†mode and had to spin to see where it ended up, well it ended up at 80.00 bucks, we couldn’t laugh because the woman was sure she had won and you know how that feels, and then get let down. Well we kept our hysterics until we were out of sight. We spent rest of the afternoon gambling at the Luxor.

    Bob and Jess were going to see “O†so we met them at Bellagio after the show. We made our way down from the Luxor using the monorails. We will say this about the monorails. They are kind of neat but for the Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur tram, you are better off just walking. The three resorts are close enough and have some moving walkways that you won’t be saving time using them. You won’t even save that much walking. However we rode the tram from NYNY to Bellagio and that did save us time and a good bit of walking. After we met Bob and Jess and they said the show was “incredible†we decided to watch the fountains. We watched one show from just outside the hotel and by the team we worked our way down to the strip it was time for another show, so that was okay because we didn’t realize at the time but the Bellagio fountains were one of the highlights of our trip. They are absolutely amazing, the volcano was no big deal and the Pirate Battle wasn’t worth fighting the crowd over (in our opinion) but the fountains, WOW.

    We decided to head downtown to see what was cooking down there. We again took a taxi (I know not frugal) for 16 bucks from Bally’s to Binions. Once there we caught the Vegas Headliner Light show right away. We visited the La Bayou to get our famous daiquiri. Now my wife got the 99 cent mudslide variety and I got the “Yard†size sex on the beach. I not know how strong these things are paid the extra dollar for another shot (STUPID IDEA). I should have known, man did they have a kick to them. By the time I was through I was looking at amazement at people with the 52 Oz football shaped ones, especially the ones that had almost finished it and were still standing. My first recommendation, get them at 99 cents and try different flavors, you are never far away and can always get back there within minutes. That is one nice thing about downtown, unlike the strip everything is right next to each other, and yet it isn’t as crowded. Well we ended up at the famous “golden gate†casino and had an absolute blast playing single deck blackjack and 2 dollar craps. It was there that we were referred to as the parents of Bob and Jess; it actually came in handy at golden gate as one of the craps dealers was flirting with Jess. Of course I am not sure if they are telling me that Keryl and I are older than we look or Bob and Jess look much younger. Guess I better not try to speculate. ;)

    Well at 2 a.m. we finally decided it was time to call it a night. We took another taxi (see a pattern here) back to the Luxor with a very funny and entertaining driver that took us down the strip.

    Day 2 to Follow...

    Shane

    [ April 11, 2002: Message edited by: Shane ]</p>
     
  2. tracy144

    tracy144 Guest

    So far it sounds like you had a great trip. Just one question though. What is pitch? i have never heard of this game.
     
  3. Billy from TX.

    Billy from TX. Tourist

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2002
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    Location:
    Wylie, Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    6
    It sounds like you had a well deserved vacation. We went last month and left our 4 kids at home as well. We were ready to leave, but after one or two days we really missed them and was ready to get back home. Look forward to reading the rest.
     
  4. Shane

    Shane Tourist

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2002
    Messages:
    190
    Location:
    Minnesota
    <blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by tracy144:
    So far it sounds like you had a great trip. Just one question though. What is pitch? i have never heard of this game.<hr></blockquote>

    Pitch is blackjack "homestyle". Basically the dealer holds the cards rather than putting them in a "shoe", so they are always 1 or 2 decks. The dealer flings them to you FACE DOWN, so only you can see them. When it comes to you if you like your cards you just place them under your wager, if you want a card make a scratch on the table with your cards towards you. If you break you give up your cards. For double downs and splits you expose your cards and the dealer will deal your cards face up for splits and one card DOWN on a double down. We like it because it is less decks and we feel better holding our cards. More interaction other than just making two different hand movements (oh and the one where you keep diggin in your pocket).

    Shane
     
  5. Jimbo338

    Jimbo338 VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2000
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    5,543
    Location:
    Laconia, NH
    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    Shane:
    Nothing like getting to the airport early!First I thought it must be the kids (I have 3 - sometimes you just need to get away) but then you miss them awful as Billy said.

    "We flew on a charter DC-10 and let me tell you I felt like a damn sardine in that plane"
    I hate DC-10s; thought it was just me. I flew United for 3 years and would always get a DC10 from Chicago. Always had aisle seats but still was uncomfortable and wondered about all those 6' guys; it's the only time I think I was ever happy to be 5'8"! After being stuck in Chicago for 2 years in a row, and having missed connecting flights because they were not on time in addition to that, I tried Southwest 2 years ago cause they had better times. No assigned seats but have always had an aisle and the seats have more legroom.

    "Great flight, arrived on time however it took over an hour for the bags to get to us,"
    Another thing I like about SW is that bags come up quickly. Of course they fly all 737's and dont carry that many folks, but it's nice!

    Sounds like you had a blast; but a lot of that is your attitude. If you go expecting to have a great time......usually you do!

    Jim
     
  6. Shane-

    Sounds like you guys had a great time! Like Billy said we have four little ones at home so we definitely know the need to get away! (What better place could you ask for to get away to!) I can't imagine getting the airport that early though. I had enough trouble getting there 2 1/2 hours early when we went last month. I don't care for flying plus knowing that Las Vegas is on the down side of the flight...

    Jimbo-

    I'm with you - I love Southwest! We fly with them when we go places here in Texas, but unfortunately they don't fly from Dallas to Las Vegas. If we wanted to go with them we would have to go from here to Oklahoma City to Las Vegas and back the same way. Even with the "friends fly free" that still ends up costing more than other airlines!
     
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