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Golden Nugget Trip Report

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by holleybob, Apr 9, 2010.

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  1. holleybob

    holleybob Tourist

    Joined:
    Mar 20, 2010
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    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    My Trip Report

    Ok so I am new to this board and have never written a trip report before. However I recieved so much helpful info on here before my trip last week that I thought I should give back. LOL

    I will start with some basic info,, We went to Vegas on somewhat of a budget. We aren't big gamblers in general.

    Flew out of Oklahoma City with Southwest non stop to Vegas on Sunday April 4th-7th. Stayed at the Golden Nugget Downtown.

    Purchased a Landry's Select Card from their website before trip.
    Purchased the American Casino Guide Coupons from Amazon for $13
    Booked Flight Directly though Southwest as they were the only ones offering non stop.
    Booked room directly though the Golden Nugget (better rates than online travel sites)
    5 people in travel party.

    1st Day...
    Flew from OKC to Vegas arrived in Vegas at 2:45 PM. Splurged on Limo to hotel as a birthday gift for my sister. (We are twins and turned 26 on 4/5)
    Limo seemed to be a pretty good deal $70 dollars per hour with Presidential Limo. Limo driver was excellent took us down the strip and had roses and champagne waiting. Although our flight was a little late and we went a little over the hour, we were still only charged for an hour. We checked in at the Golden Nugget on Sunday afternoon. I had booked rooms in Carson tower but had a Landry's Card for a free upgrade and vip check in. Vip check in was nice as there was a deep line for regular check in and we were first in the vip room. The room upgrade was for a new Rush Tower room. The majority of my party are smokers so we asked if we could get rooms in the Gold Tower since Rush is non smoking. The lady at the desk called her manager and got us side by side rooms overlooking the pool in the Gold Tower so that was nice. Gold Tower rooms were very nice for downtown, beds were fabulous, 42 inch flatscreens and very clean. Bathrooms were a little small but always had good water pressure and hot water (for those that worry about that) On the first day we just hung out at the hotel and walked around a little. Husband played poker at the Nugget, the poker room is a little wierd they play 10 handed normally and will make it 11 if they have an extra player. He didn't like this so we didn't play much poker at the Nugget. I wasn't overly impressed with the shark tank. There were only 2 sharks that we could see. Still neat but not as big as they make it out to be.

    2nd day...
    Got up early and walked to the Plaza for McDonalds(budget lol). Then went to the Las Vegas Premium Outlets for some shopping. This is a great alternative to the Fashion Show Mall on the Strip as it is way closer to downtown (about a 6 dollar cab ride), and they have a ton of shops that are always having sales. Some examples are Banana Rep. Perry Ellis, Reebok, Nike, Levi, Coach all sorts on any budget. Seems like the place the locals go. We went down to the strip at night to eat at the Rainforest Cafe at the MGM.
    Since my sister and I both had a landry's card and $50 ($25 signup and $25 b-day) the $212 only cost us $112 for 5 people. Food there was excellent and reasonable we had 2 app. 5 entrees and a bottle of wine. I had a steak that was cooked perfectly medium. The decor is pretty neat there as well. After dinner we wanted to go the House of Blues at the Mandalay Bay. Apparently they don't have live music during the week so we went to the Foundations Club on the roof. The cover wasn't bad at 10 dollars but was totally wasted. Not our type of place. Very dark, loud music, hard to get a drink. More of a younger singles place. The view however from the roof was pretty neat.

    On the third day we walked down the strip. The Bellagio fountains are always my favorite. I could stand out front and watch them all day. This is by far the best free show on the strip. We walked down to Ceasars to see the statues and gardens and on down to the Wynn, we took a cab to the Stratosphere to go up to the top. The tickets aren't that bad at $15 and the view from 1100 feet is pretty cool. The rides were $12 apiece which we skipped, I guess we are a little chicken lol.

    We decided to go see Gordie Brown that night at the Nugget. I had a coupon from American Casino Guide for 2-1 but there were 5 people in my party, I asked the lady at the ticket counter if I could use it more than once and she said sure, lucked out there. Paid $140 for 5 tickets with coupon. We got the back row seats because I knew the theatre wasn't that big and it wouldn't make much of a difference, however we arrived a few minutes before the show and the usher found us empty seats on the second row. So a good tip would be to show up just before a show begins to possibly get better seats.

    Gordie Brown was hillarious. I would definately recommend this show. It was very clean by vegas standards no nudity or cussing lol. By far the best money we spent in Vegas. As a side note I checked with the Tickets4Tonight booth at the 4 queens to see if I could get a better deal first. The tickets were actually going to be twice as much there, about $80. This booth might be more helpful with shows on the strip. After the show I went to all the downtown hotels to get my freeplay courtesy of the American Casino Guide Coupons. I had to sign up for players cards but I didn't mind. I got about $60 dollars free play and match play.

    On the Final day we just walked to the big souvenier shop downtown to get trinkets for family and friends. Although I have a 24 karat card I don't play enough to be rated so I skipped trying to get any room comps for the stay during check out. When we went to get a cab for the trip back to the airport the cab attendant couldn't find a van that would hold 5 people and luggage, so he made a call and scored us a limo at a $35 flat rate. Lucky for us. Overall we got lucky on service but not on gambling. In my opinion you get better service downtown anyway.

    *Tipping we are poker dealers so we tip fairly well. Tipped cocktail watresses 2-3 bucks and never had a dry glass. We just drank beer or cokes so would probably tip more for mixed drinks.

    *Favorite machines at the nugget were the community penny powerball machines next to the poker room, and the nickel monopoly machines on the back wall next to starbucks.

    *Played a lot of 50 cent roulette at the fitz and 4queens.

    *People watching downtown is the best entertainment. The light show is so cool. They also have live performers on stage, and someone is always filming a show downtown.

    Budget breakdown (for 2 people)
    $520 on flights
    $150 for rooms (Carson Tower price got Gold Tower Upgrade with Landry's)
    $700 on Gambling
    $150 on food (not big eaters)
    $200 on gifts
    $100 on cabs and limos (split by 5)
    $150 on tips and misc.
    $1970 total for two people not bad.

    Could have been less with cheaper gambling and less souviners. But I guess it could have been more too. lol

    Let me know if this helped anyone. Sorry so long. Had a great trip LOVE VEGAS!!!

    Holley
     
  2. thecarve

    thecarve Misanthrope

    Joined:
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    Happy belated birthday! Good report. Sounds like you packed a heck of a lot of fun into that two grand. Well done. :thumbsup:
     
  3. texas_aggie_girl_93

    texas_aggie_girl_93 VIP Whale

    Joined:
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    Enjoyed your report. Thanks for posting.
     
  4. Jinx

    Jinx VIP Whale

    Joined:
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    Nice report, and no apologies needed for length, as it's your report so make it as long as you want. Great perspective on a downtown trip though.
     
  5. gotavegasjones

    gotavegasjones VIP Whale

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Very nice first TR. Thanks for posting.

    later, GVJ
     
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