3/24-3/27 The Comeback Queens

It's been a week and I drank alot so things are kind of a blur. This was a mother/daughter trip. I (daughter) inherited the Vegas addiction from my parents who make the trip several times a year. I'm up to about 3-4 trips a year. Last trip was in December(another mother/daughter) but it was a complete and utter disaster, so this trip was a make up trip.

Wed 3/24

Crap. At 1pm I get a notification from my Trip Case app that flight#539 from DFW-LAS was delayed 2 hours even though we had bright sunny skies in Dallas. Had the flight left on time at 6:15pm, we would have beat a nasty storm, and not been delayed yet another hour. We had 10:30 tickets to Zumanity that we didn't make. Original arrival time was 7:20. We landed at 10:54. The last two flights out of DFW had been canceled. There were ALOT of unhappy people at gate D23 that night. We almost volunteered to give up our seats in exchange for $200 voucher, hotel accommodations and transportation back to the airport, and confirmed seats on a 9am flight the next day. Had they upped it to $300 vouchers, we would have done it. These days $200 bucks will barely get you to El Paso on AA out of Dallas. I hired car service to/from DFW because I live in the sticks and the drive is an hour, plus it's nice to just kick back and relax, both going, and coming back home. I highly recommend Captain Limousine service if you are in the Dallas area.

We only had carry-ons this trip, so we made it out of the terminal and on the bus within 15 minutes. I had a premium car booked with Alamo for $135. Getting there that late, they were pretty wiped out. In that class, they only had a Chrysler 300, or a Grand Marquis. I asked the attendant if we could take an SUV instead. He was like, well sure, but I was going to put you in this... and points to a Black Lincoln MKS, brand new with 93 miles on it. Upgraded to the luxury vehicle. This car was beautiful. We had fun just discovering new buttons everyday. Our first stroke of luck, which I needed because I was really feeling bummed about missing Zumanity. Traffic on the strip was strip was light. We made it to T.I. and proceeded to check in. I was there as an invited guest, $49/49/99 room rate with $50 free play. Of course, that late there's never anyone at the Invited Guest line(hey, I like that little perk) so I proceed over with the regular folks. Some lady was bitching because they gave her a room with someone's stuff already in it. Another couple was fumed up because their room key didn't work. The check in clerk was doing his best. When it was my turn, he had a look of gloom on his face as he looked up my request and told me they had nothing available that was non-smoking. We got a smoking room, 35th floor, close to the elevator with a view facing the pirate show(which is shut down). He put us on the champagne list for our trouble(which really there was none, mom is a smoker anyway) Sweet! A bottle of Rouget was sent up to our room. Couple glasses of bubbly and a toast to a great trip, and Mom and I were on our way.

Thu 3/25

By now it's close to 1:00am local time, and we're inching closer to that being awake 24 hours point. Could either one of us feel it? Nope. Mom made her way to the bar. I don't know why she insists on playing the "minimum bet $20 to receive complimentary drinks" game, but hey it works for her. I start playing before I even realize that I haven't activated my free play. I asked one of the slot attendants if the players club was open. He told me no. So I kept playing, and when I went to the bar to tell Mom let's walk across to Venetian, wouldn't ya know it, the club WAS open. Lying little prick. So I wait behind a couple who are obvious first-timers and have to listen to them ask how the machines work, and how to put money in it, etc. It was a good 10 minutes. At this point in the trip, I've learned that a little patience will go a long way. So the attendant pulls up my info, and was like you already have free play on here. I said, "Oh, are they doing it when we check in now?" He was like, no.. let me look at something. Come to find out in December I managed to rack up 1000 pts, which gives you $25 free play back. So instead of $50, I had $75 to play with. I was happy with that, and it was unexpected free money. I'll take it. Didn't play in T.I. anymore that night.

Off to the Venetian we went. It's now somewhere around 2:30am Thursday morning. As soon as we hit Venetian, of course Mom went over to the bar to do her routine. I started walking around and found a Monopoly game called "The Grand Hotel"( penny slot) I put in $5.00, hit "repeat bet" from the last person and I got the bonus. First bet. Which netted me this:




Not bad! I have my own little ritual(call me crazy if you wish) I'll cash out when I hit something, then pull out from my cash stash. So I pulled out a $20, fed the machine, played, and played, and just when I thought, okay that luck ran out quick, I hit another bonus and got this:




Cashed that out and ran to go find Mom. She couldn't believe that quick I had those hits. I've never seen her hop off a barstool so quick.. LOL So she goes over. I told her I was done. This was the first time I started a trip off AHEAD by almost $300 bucks.. wasn't pushing my luck. She feeds it $20(the machine next to the one I was at) and after a few max bets, she got the bonus too. Her win was $201. She does the same ritual as me, so she cashed out, then pulled out another $20. By this time, a couple of employees came over and pretended to be cleaning machines. The place was DEAD. It felt awkward, and made me uneasy to be honest. She said, watch tomorrow these machines will mysteriously be out of order. Her second investment of $20 netted her $80, cashed out and we were done. It was like 5:30 or something like that, so we decided to grab a bite to eat at Grand Luxe. Since their portions are so huge, we decided to split fish and chips w/coleslaw. We walked back to the room as the sun was rising and crashed.

Up at 9am, we decided to head out to Eastside Cannery and check out Sam's Town. Hopped the freeway to get there. Didn't feel like all the lights and stop and go. Eastside is Mom's favorite new joint. I admit, I like it too. It's nice to get away from the strip, and visit the other strip..Boulder Highway. I gambled in here a little.. had a few nice hits on a $1.00 blazing 7's, but played it all back. Enjoyed sitting at the bar. Here they don't care about your play in order to get comped a drink. Hector, the bartender was like what do you want, pointed to the machine and said "I don't care". Sweet.. had a couple daquiri's. We milled around for a while. Mom has stayed there before and she was telling me how nice the rooms are. For 29 bucks average during the week I may check them out when I go back in July. After we left there, went to Sam's Town. My first time in there. I didn't realize they were part of Boyd Gaming, so I wasted 10 minutes standing in line for a card. I felt like such an ass. My B-Connected card was in my purse. We decided to grab a bite at TGIFridays before we started playing. Okay food, typical causal fare. The waitress brought our drinks out WITH our food instead of before. I HATE that. I asked her for a to-go cup for my margarita. I was shocked when she said yes...lol So off the floor we went. No need to wait around for a cocktail waitress(never saw one while I was in ther anyway) The nickel machines against the wall by the restrooms is where mom wanted to play. I went in another direction and ended up on a 180 coin max bet penny machine. I believe it was a butterfly 7's. I only gave it 5.00, max bet twice and did something magical because the machine went crazy and kept cha-chinging away. By the time it stopped I was up 83.00. Cashed out. Fed it one more $5.00, max bet and came up with nada. So it was time to go. I don't think mama did anything on the nickels, but boy did her luck end up changing.

After we left Boulder Highway, we decided to use a 2-for-1 coupon for the Eifel Tower. While we were upstairs waiting on our turn to go up, we were checking out the casino floor and I spotted the Sex and the City Machine. There's only 4 of them there, and they were all taken. I watched, and it seemed fun enough that I wanted to try before we left. So up we go and we had an entertaining ride with the attendant Charles. Here's a few shots from the view. Absolutely amazing to see Vegas 50 stories up. I can't imagine being in the real deal.







After we came back down to earth, I went over to the Sex and the City Machine. I didn't really "get it" . Max credit is 6.00, but it's 4 separate games. I did manage to get a bonus , which was neat. Got to pick a new pair of shoes for Samantha. I cashed out with half of my initial investment of $20. I wasn't finished with that machine though. I actually wanted to learn it, so I decided I'd look for it at T.I. and use my free play on it if they had it. We had tickets for Lion King at 7:30, and by now it was like 4 so we decided to go back to the room and chill for a while. We had only had 3 hours worth of sleep so we were running off pure adrenaline. We noticed on the way back from Paris that traffic was starting to thicken up. There was alot going on that weekend... March Madness, Jay-Z, John Mayer, Lionel Richie, David Spade.. people were really starting to come in. We decided to avoid strip traffic and took Spring Mtn behind T.I. to 15-N ,then exited Russel Rd to go to Mandalay Bay. This proved to be MUCH easier, and we got there quick. But valet at MB was way backed up. And let me just say, they make picking UP your car such a hassle. You pick up your vehicle at the Beach Level downstairs, and when we left Lion King, we ended up getting lost and I had on uncomfortable shoes, so I got grumpy. Other than that, the show was great. I can see how some wouldn't enjoy it, but for us, this is probably the closest we'll get to being in Africa, and being Black, it was nice to see "our people" in a production that size.. in Vegas. I was 12/13 when Lion King came out, and it's always been one of my favorite Disney movies. We were both famished and the best option seemed like The Coffee Shop at T.I. Made it back to the hotel and grabbed that bite to eat, which IMO is grossly overpriced and not worth the money. It's basically room service food, at the same damn price. We almost went to Kahunaville but it was way too loud in there with a less than average band playing. I found the Sex and The City Machines up against the wall by the front entrance. Put in my card, and turned my $75 free play into $162 bucks. We decided to go back to the room and crash for a little while, with the intention of getting up around 3, 4ish and walking back over to Venetian to get back on that machine.

Fri 3/26
I set the alarm and we got a few hours of much needed shut-eye. Up at 4a, we get dressed and hit the street. Get to Venetian and guess what? Mom's prediction was right. Our machines were roped off and had someone "working" on them. Tightening them up for the weekend. I was pissed. Oh well, didn't drop another dime in there, and headed back to T.I. On the way back, security rushed out of the door chasing after some dude. We were gonna go back to bed, but decided since we were up and the sun was about to come up, why waste precious Vegas time sleep? Makes no sense. So we decided to head back out to Eastside.Before we got the car from valet, we picked up our tickets to see Sinbad that night at T.I. We took the long way this time going up Tropicana Blvd, making a detour in the WalMart to get a few things. Got out to Eastside and sat at the bar chatting with mom's favorite bartender Louie. Enjoyed a few drinks, then I hit the casino floor, getting lucky on a leprechaun penny machine cashing out at around 80 bucks after a $5.00 investment. Hung around at Eastside for a while before moving on. I had to pick up the kids something and time was starting to run out, so we ended up across from the Galleria to pick up some books at Borders for my daughters, and ran in Gamestop to get my son an Xbox game. I swear they love sending me to Vegas because it's like a 2nd Christmas for them. If I come back empty handed, I'm, in trouble. Headed back towards the strip, decided to stop in NYNY. It's always been a party atmosphere in here but wow it was really loud. We ended up staying for about an hour. Mom had a penny machine give her a bonus of .1 That's ONE penny. We both got a hard laugh out of that, as well as the girl dancing on the table. Noticed the same thing at MB as well. Is this the casino's new way of keeping guys from leaving the casino and venturing out to strip clubs?? I guess it's working because at both places there was a very large crowd of men with crooked necks looking up at the girl. Left there, headed back to the room to get ready for Sinbad. I really enjoy having a show to go to AT the hotel I'm staying at. No rush, no valet, no traffic. Just head downstairs. Sinbad didn't sell the place out, but there was a nice sized crowd. I missed the opportunity to meet him. Earlier in the day he sent a DM to my Twitter that said he'd see me after the show, to just tell security I follow him on Twitter and they would know. Well, they didn't know. Mom and I never went back upstairs after the show. I found a nickel machine, fed it $20, and cashed out at around $190. I quit, because at this point I knew my luck would have to run out soon. I know my wins have been small compared to some, but I always end up just breaking even, so to be ahead at this point, I was extremely giddy. I got off the machine, mom got on, and this is what she won off her total investment of $40:





I'm glad she was playing on my card I went to go try my luck onnnne last time on the Sex and the City machine, and it quickly consumed my twenty bucks without one lousy hit. I was starting to feel the affects of an entire bottle of Moscato, so I left Mom downstairs, and headed up to the room. I was officially sick. Around 5:15 I finally crashed. Mom came upstairs shortly after and crashed too.

Sat 3/27
Last day in Vegas was not starting out as I had hoped. I had a migraine/hangover and nothing was helping. The constant thought of having to pack and be out by 12 wasn't helping matters. Asked for a late checkout, T.I. quickly said NO. Sinbad sent me another DM asking what happened the night before. I told him security was being dumb. He apologized and said he hates when security messes it up. He said he and the Twitter group hung out at The Coffee Shop until 1am. Ugh.. I was right THERE. Also missed the opportunity to meet Chris Tucker as he was backstage as well. Mom brought me some coffee and a BC Powder and that perked me up enough to get my shit together to check out. Our flight back to Dallas was 6:20pm. After we checked out, we went and had lunch at Bahama Breeze on Paradise. First time trying it. Pretty good food. By this time it was 2, still had a little time to kill so we went down to South Point. First stop was upstairs at the bar across from Baja Miguel's to get a margarita. It was happy hour, and the big ones were only 2 bucks. Played in there until about 3:45, lost around $60 bucks. Gased up the Lincoln, and made the dreadful drive back to the rental car return. I swear that ride on the bus back to the terminal is the most depressing feeling ever! Check in was a breeze, shortest line I've ever seen at McCarran. Basically no wait. But then again it's Saturday afternoon.. whose LEAVING Vegas on a Saturday. Oh yea, us Our plane was delayed nearly an hour.

We had a great time. Definitely more highs, than lows this time around and that's all I wanted after our December Disaster. Next trips for me are July(30th bday!) and November. Don't shoot, but we're carefully considering taking the kids this summer, probably in June. Still on the fence though. Thanks for reading

 

wow you gals really kicked some ASS on those slots!!!!!

congrats on a winning trip and very entertaining report. I would have been so frustrated by just missing Sinbad and Chris Tucker. I love those guys!

 

Nice Report!!

Sounds like you guys packed a lot into your trip...and won often!!

Looking forward to the next trip report from you!

 

Queens

Great report - felt that I was there with you.
Glad you had some luck. Hopefully you'll repeat in July.

 

Thanks for posting your report, I really enjoyed reading it. Glad this was a better trip for you than the last one.

 

Thanks for the trip report. My husband and I liked the Eastside Cannery as well in Dec. The staff were really friendly and the casino was very clean. Glad you enjoyed your trip.

 

Good job on those slots!

Enjoyed your report very much, thanks for posting it.

 

Some nice hits on the slots....it's always good to go home a winner! Did you attempt to see if they would rebook you for Zumanity? On one blonde moment in Vegas we got the time confused for Blue Man Group and arrived late and they were able to switch our reservation to the next night (you don't want to walk into that how late).....seats in the same row we were originally booked in, the dreaded Poncho row.

SATC machines are my new addiction, of course that is because they were my personal ATM on my December trip....sure hope that holds out for April's trip as they are a blast when the bonuses are hitting. Sorry you missed the chance to meet Sinbad; I met him once years ago when he was staying at the resort where I have a timeshare in Aruba.

You and your Mom sure packed a lot into your trip and it sounds like you had a blast.......nice ride too!

 

Great report! Nice to see you had a much better trip than in December. What great memories you will have of spending time in Vegas with your mom.

 

Love your report. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

 

Thanks for writing. You seemed to have a ton-o-luck on the pennies.

 

Sounds like a great time! You did well on those penny / nickel slots!

 

Thanks guys!! Yes, the penny machine gods were on our side this trip. I always have just played them for fun, never really expecting any kind of return.

 

Great trip, way to get some wins. That truly does suck about missing the chance to hang out with Sinbad, especially since Twitter still being in it's early stages affords people the chance to do something like that.

 

Very fine TR. Thanks for posting.

later, GVJ