BLTN Boring! Feb 22nd-27th

Sorry this is so late. At the time I was writing we were in the midst of an epic BeeJay report, so my own report didn't even thrill me. Now in the midst of a dry spell, maybe it will provide some entertainment!

Mon- This trip was a promised trip for a gal that works with my husband. I had a Delta BOGO companion certificate and figured our odds of getting anything other than red-eyes was slim to none, however, we departed from Madison & got pretty much the flights we wanted. With a connecting flight we would arrive in LV slightly before 7pm. We had a slight delay for de-icing in Madison & RAN at MSP (we originally only had 35 minutes between flights). However, we arrived at our gate & they hadn’t even begun boarding. We boarded & proceeded to wait for the pilots who still had not arrived from Florida. Lucky for a couple of late arrivals who managed to get on the plane just minutes before the pilots arrived! Probably on the same plane as them, LOL. First adventure was for two gals (US) around 5 feet tall trying to get their carry-ons into the overhead bins. Use your imagination……. I got mine up but BB's was a bit odd shaped so she found a nice clean-cut young military man to hoist it for her. But we wanted to stick that $50 checked bag fee into a slot machine - not hand it to Delta. Figured if we won big we could pay $25 each & check the bags on the way home. For some reason even though I had selected seats nowhere near a ‘wall’, & on the right side of the plane, we were directly in front of the bathroom on the opposite side about 10 rows further back. However, luckily the seats did recline the normal amount so it was fine. No TV’s on either outbound or return flight. Evidently older converted NWA jets.
Arrived around 7 pm with brand new blisters on my feet from that race from NE corner of MSP airport to farthest SW corner. Normally these sandals are very foot friendly, but they couldn’t stand up to that run. HUGE blisters - but luckily I had stashed band-aids. Took the rental car center shuttle & headed for the Emerald Aisle. I still have Executive status for this year but normally choose from the Emerald. Emerald was empty – about 2 vehicles, neither of which I wanted. Headed to Executive & there were some bigger, jazzier vehicles but we selected a Ford Fusion which served us very well over the next few days. Quick easy drive to Paris, although I made a boo-boo because I was chatting with BB. I turned into the drive next to Planet Ho delivery area – Woops!!!! Had to go down & do a U-turn, then battle the 1.2 million bodies mobbing the sidewalk to get back out & immediately back into the Paris drive. That will teach me to gab instead of paying attention. And of course that was right about the time she was telling me how well I knew my way around…… But be proud of me!!! I didn't run over any pedestrians or porn slappers!

Check-in was via Platinum line as Diamond was closed. I had checked a few days prior to leaving & saw a pre-upgrade to a Red Room on my account. Was hoping for the upgrade just to see what all the fuss is about. Dropped all bags in the room & headed for food but absolutely NO recollection of much of the night. It’s as if hours of my night are totally missing from my brain - but considering it was 8 pm plus before we hit the room, I guess we didn't lose that much. We did end up eating at Café St. Louis. BB had a quesadilla & I had a Cobb salad that could have feed a starving 3rd world country. I tried to share my salad, however, she couldn’t even finish her Quesadilla – we were just too tired to be hungry. Compliments to Café St.L as they have added a wonderfully soft dinner roll to the bread basket. Previously just the hard crusted bread that did nothing for me, but these dinner rolls would have been heaven on earth with a small jar of honey. It is on my list of things for next trip – get a nice bowl of soup & a basket of rolls. We just gobbled them down like we were on day 22 of Survivor. Headed BB in the direction of the players club desk & I headed off to begin the slow drain to my entire gambling budget. Drink service ran at decent frequency however, I was extremely tired so I didn’t drink much at all 1st night. Drink service stayed at decent frequency during the week – I didn’t drink much at all – a few Pina Coladas here and there. A surprising MASSIVE tooth pain which started around late Tuesday or early Wednesday caused extreme heat & extreme cold to send me just about to the floor so I avoided my favorite frosty Coladas & Strawberry Daquiris.

The Red Room was nice. I have always been happy in a standard room but this was ‘prettier’ and the bed was MASSIVELY COMFORTABLE. However, the shower for some reason in this Red Room ran only cold water during middle of night. Tub & sink both had hot. Once morning arrived we had hot water again, but we couldn’t wash the smoky smell off us before bed. Forgot to report it 1st morning, worked that night, then didn’t work again after that. I did report it at check-out, so hopefully the next customer didn’t have to worry about it. And as long as we had hot showers in the morning we were ok. Just couldn’t stand even smelling ourselves when we crawled into bed! I believe we were on the 24th Floor or 25th floor?– had to wait for elevator at times, but there was a LOT of traffic - it seemed to be a very busy week around there.


Tuesday- On Monday night, even being very tired, it was well into the wee hours of the morning before we got to our beds. After a wonderful nap of about 4 hours of sleep, we were up and at ‘em. Decided to eat breakfast at Flamingo buffet & used the $5 off coupons from check-in. Chose Flamingo as I was playing in the Bingo Tourney there. I grabbed the early play session of around 10:30 (?) and headed there after breakfast. Flamingo buffet breakfast was as normal – filling with a decent selection but not as extensive as Paris. The corned beef at Flamingo is also canned vs. the nice, homemade has they have at Paris. Despite it being only Tuesday a.m. it was very busy when we exited the buffet there was a significant waiting line. Food stations emptied fast but they did keep refilling them, so no complaints. Making crepes in the area around the corner, towards the back area, which I don’t remember from the last trip at all. My g.f. just came back 3/11 & said that they now also have a chocolate fountain at Flamingo buffet, with fresh strawberries & did have it running during breakfast hours on their trip. She said her arm was literally coated with the chocolate running down it, LOL! I didn’t notice the Flamingo chocolate fountain, but may have just missed it. Headed to the Bingo tourney. I was confident of winning the grand prize, or at least some free play. They gave no gift for this tourney at all – if you went back Wed p.m. you could swipe your card & receive 1000 Great Gift Wrapup Points – should have but totally forgot it & I will regret that if I make it out for GGWU. The lady immediately behind & one seat to the left was the final blackout grand prize winner. I won nothing………..We skipped lunch & pretty much just played at Flamingo for the afternoon – wandered up to Harrah’s a bit. Stopped at IP for a couple minutes to pick up tickets for Human Nature for Wed pm using Diamond free tickets.
Used Diamond card for quicker seating @ Margaritaville for supper. I happened to spot somewhere on here you could use Diamond card (not sure about Platinum) also for Priority seating @ Margaritaville. She said not too many people do it and we only waited about 10 minutes tops for a seat. I ordered nachos & BB had soup – I knew the nachos would be more than enough for both of us & they were.



We each ordered a specialty drink. I couldn’t remember which was least favorite from last time – oops – picked wrong one! It was fine but I like others better – have to choose differently next trip. Nothing wrong with any of them but some are just better than others. Massively full – still tired from lack of sleep. Played a bit more at Flamingo & then headed back to Paris to play. Tried Wizard of Oz @ Flamingo but it just sucked me dry. Last trip I could get several bonuses & make my Oz time enjoyable. This trip it gave me 2 bonuses on about $140 of play & one of them sent me to the Emerald City on the 2nd pick. I was out of there before I even had time for a drink. Flamingo treated BB well this trip – usually it is my lucky casino however this trip it bled a slow death for me. BB took a nice liking to the reel slots with the bonus where you get to play the tic-tac-toe number game at the top. I couldn’t even get a bonus there. After I left a guy at end won the $800+ bonus on a .30 bet. Not sure what time we finally dropped but it was late again – 2 or 3 am I think – nearly dawn at home.

Wednesday – we both were still stuffed from the day before & a bit punchy from the ongoing lack of sleep. Isn’t vacation supposed to be for catching up on sleep???? We hit up JJ’s for breakfast. I had a bagel & latte & she just enjoyed a muffin & coffee. Should have probably headed to Nosh as JJ’s didn’t have wheat bagels – minor annoyance. Next trip I will just do the extra walk to get a bagel I really want. We slowly drug our exhausted bodies across the street to the Conservatory & the chocolate fountain at the Bellagio. First opportunity I had to experience Chinese New Year display & I enjoyed it, although it seemed much more simplistic than the other displays.



Made a stop to drool over the chocolate fountain & then strolled back to ride the tram to Vdara & MC. Just for the fun of it and to see CC from the inside. At other end we debated walking back up the strip or tramming it back. Took the lazy way out & trammed back to Bellagio. Spent a bit of time punching pennies but nothing exciting. Played some video roulette at a spin method to only lose me $2 per spin & rack up some points. I think I plopped 300 credits on my card in about 25 minutes. Not enough to garnish me any offers, but enough to keep me at least in their system. (APRIL NOTE: I have received a comp offer for summer from Bellagio – 3 free nights & $75 in free play. Not as good as the ‘birthday’ offer I received last time which also included 2 buffets, but maybe I can go again & maybe a better offer will pop up for birthday again!).

Headed to Ceasar’s & kept the penny machines company for awhile. Had a coupon for 2 free items from Beijing Noodle#9 so we decided to be unconventional & actually eat lunch. They had a limited selection of about 4 items to choose from on the freebies so we selected 2 and shared them. The noodle dish was very good. Dumpling dish was so-so. Probably fine but wouldn’t try it again. But it was an enjoyable meal and what the heck-free! I would be willing to go there again, especially if I were staying at Ceasar’s. Played our way thru the food court end & spent a bit of time at the reel machines again with the Bonus TicTac style on top. Tooth was in MAJOR flair-up & just about fell off the stool when it hit severely. Actually left Ceasar’s with $100 more than I walked in with which is a first from there! Wandered through the Forum Shoppes & saw the audio animatronic display by the Cheesecake Factory. So sad to see the closed FAO store – even though I didn’t shop there! Spent a good amount of time in the Peter Lik gallery – very relaxing. I love to take pictures & I just loved wandering through & wishing I were even 1/100th the artist he is. Although, I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of pictures that actually came out of my new Nikon when I got home. Then wandered through a few more stores and pretended we had the money to actually buy something.

We were already 2 meals into the day. When I am in Vegas I just can’t eat as much as normal. So we elected to eat supper after Human Nature. Since I had so much trouble seeing my last HN show I decided to take the upper tier of tables as we could get the first two seats. Even being in the back, this provided us a great view of the show – no one blocking our view. I tried to pay for an upgrade when I redeemed on my Diamond tix, but they wouldn’t do that. Probably could have tipped into a booth when we went in, but we were great where we were. Again, we are in the 5 foot range so we really didn’t want to be stuck behind someone. This top table row at the front worked out very well for us to see well. BB kept apologizing later because she didn’t realize I had seen the show already. I kept telling her that I definitely wouldn’t have gone again if I hadn’t wanted to!!! The show was just as perfect as the last time I saw it & I wouldn’t hestitate to see it a 3rd time. I’m sure I will be checking to see if they are playing the next time I go!!



Wandered over to Harrah’s to eat at the buffet – it was late & Diamond/Platinum seating was very quiet. A bit more traffic in front area. I had a coupon from a mailer for 2 free buffets. Food was great. They had a chocolate fountain at Harrah’s – strawberries looked a bit pale & my tooth wasn’t letting me eat anything that wasn’t a bit ‘squishy’ so I did chocolate covered marshmallows. A nice treat! BB had steak, while I stuck to things like soft peel & eat shrimp. I could find fault with nothing that we chose on the buffet. I had some Cotton Candy for desert. Felt like a kid! Played our way back to Paris with no luck at all – a reoccurring theme of this trip. Again another late night with only cold shower water so went to bed smelling smoky again. I really didn’t sleep at all on Wednesday night due to finding out some irritating information that happened back at work. I had myself wound up & sick to my stomach & I just laid there.

Thursday – Finally had breakfast at Paris Buffet. Great meal as always but tooth still flaring so kept it to soft items again – eggs, corned beef hash, fruit crepe, etc. I really wanted to just be seated in the side room, but they put us in the VIP tables adjacent to the food. Personally I like the peace & quiet in the side room. Headed to Orleans for a few hours of play. They had a multiplier day so hoping that at some point I can get an offer from Orleans. Currently even though I play at MSS & Fremont I only receive 2 early week nights @ Fremont for offers. Wouldn’t mind staying at Orleans once to try it out or use it for arriving a night earlier. (APRIL NOTE – Still only offers from Fremont in same manner except for an offer to ‘buy-in’ to a slot tourney with rooms for a $1000 fee. So evidently no free rooms from Orleans.) We headed up the side street & over to RIO for a few hours of play. Went up to DL & grabbed some wings & water to keep my tummy from growling. Wow what a nice Diamond Lounge!

Back to the strip & headed for Legends in Concert at Harrah’s. Had 2 free tickets to this from a mailer & decided we would give it a try. Legends was probably a decent show but I just didn’t really enjoy it that much. It just doesn’t compare to Human Nature – although the performers were talented. I’m not sorry I went but I don’t have a desire to return. I could tell a lot of the audience really enjoyed the show, so I would recommend it if someone did ask me. We just headed to the café at Harrah’s for supper. They had a $9.99 Steak & Shrimp special on the menu boards (same as I had last year although I think it’s a bit higher $ now). I was finally able to chew again as long as I kept it on the left side. The steak is an inexpensive cut, but it actually tasted very good. BB had iced tea at buffet night before & I decided to brave the cold ice & it just really tasted awesome. Sometimes the weirdest things just hit the spot. It was a great meal at a reasonable price & BB paid as I had provided the room & cheap airfare. (She bought Margaritaville too - what a great companion!)

Friday – The week is ripping away from us. Can’t we just back up to Monday & start again? Since we felt like we had been eating our way thru vacation, we just decided on Café St. Louis for breakfast. I had a yen for French Toast & BB had eggs, bacon, etc. Stopped at MGM to put $100 through the Lion progressive – didn’t get really anything more than about 33 spins. I think I won $15 twice. Would have stuck a bit more thru however my debit card wouldn’t scan at their ATM & I neglected to take a draw from Paris cage before we left in the morning. (Still playing off last of Thurs’s money) The Sigma Derby had a completely shattered top which I read about on tripadvisor? through a link from here. Took a stroll to M & M store trying to find 2 keychains for 2 sweet little boys (no luck on their names) then watched the lions for a long time. They just fascinate me.



BB wanted to visit Palms since she had heard good things about it. I found my fav Life of Luxury and proceeded to lose enough in an hour time period that I should be comped the Hugh Hefner suite on my next trip. I was SO glad to be out of there. They were running a gift promo & I decided to see what I could acquire. I did get a super warm sweatshirt & a double size blanket with the Palms logo. Most expensive sweatshirt I will ever own, lol. My only plan if I ever receive an offer from Palms is to book it for whatever promo they offer (if they do) and not drop a dime of my cash into a machine. (APRIL NOTE: Palms offer has arrive – standard room for 2 or 3 nights plus $100 in Free Play – divided up by each day you are there – if I go in July I will definitely play the Free Play, eat at Food Court & that is IT – probably take a bus to RIO & walk across to check-in).

Drove back to Paris & valet dropped – then took a short stroll to Earl of Sandwich at Planet Ho for lunch. NUMMY. I love Earl of Sandwich & again we went out of norm & ate lunch. Back to play at Ballys for awhile. Finally won a Mr. Woo tent bonus so the afternoon was not a total loss. However, I would have needed to really WOO – WOO – WOO to win back the Palms losses. Was freezing in there & finally went up & just burrowed under the blanket for awhile until BB was ready to head downtown. Didn’t sleep but it was nice to just be somewhere warm & quiet for awhile. Goal was to go to Fremont Street for the evening. We had hoped for warmer weather so we had put this off till later in the week. And we were also too tired after our shows to wander too far away from home base. As Nascar fans were now in town full force, we were walking in mobs of people on Fremont. The line at MSS buffet was horrendous & the same at 777. Finally decided to just wander & play later. We did see a light show & played a bit at Fremont. We were getting used to a 9 pm supper (11 at home!). Landed then at 777 Brewpub for Prime Rib. Didn’t find out till food came out that they were out of baked potatoes so we had fries – but we were so hungry we just devoured everything. They were still massively busy – but we had a very charming server. She even went and got me Splenda from her locker in back because they didn’t have any out front at that time – brought me extra & told me to stick it in bottom of my purse because not a lot of the restaurants have it. I thought that was A+++ service.

Sat- Paris Buffet Breakfast. Dang – it’s time to go home. Back to the breakfast buffet as we figured it would be a long haul to supper at the MSP airport. No problem – we filled up, packed up & headed back to the car rental. I had checked out in the Diamond Lounge – had about $135 in food charges (BB had paid me cash for some of her meals & I just charged), about $101 in comps & they cleared it all except a couple of dollars tips that I paid in cash. So evidently they have some lee-way over your charges vs. comps in the Diamond check-out area. I know I never received anything extra off the top when Platinum. They had computer problems at the airport & virtually no one had a seat assignment. We tried to get a bump but they wouldn’t take us first as we had a connecting flight. The desk agent didn’t want to bother with anyone except direct flights which I felt was VERY unfair. I was even madder when we encountered a 3 hour wait in MSP because the pilots were still in Detroit, then still in Milwaukee. We ended up on a plane that had sat with no heat for hours & they didn’t get it warmed up until we had sat on it for about 35 minutes while they did their pre-flight check. Time to make use of the double size Palms blanket! We were warm under that. If we had just been given the bump we volunteered for we would have been sitting somewhere warm or snoozing in a bed at Ballys. (I had checked to see if HET would give me a discount anywhere while we were trying to get the bump & they offered a comp night at Bally’s even though we just had stayed 5 at Paris – tried Paris but it was sold out.). So consequently we were 3+ hours later than planned & home around 1 in the morning vs. 10pm.

I would have stayed within budget had I not gone to Palms – and as I said it left a bitter taste in my mouth – I won’t go back there except possibly on the offer – play the free play, play off the win from that & they get none of my own pocket money.

PROS:
Madison Airport – easy in, easy out & cheap parking @ $10 a day in the ramp. I’d rather go out of LaCrosse, but when the price is ½ out of Madison, I’ll drive 2 hours instead of 1.
Red Room – Size same, layout same. Bed was super comfy. Room faced towards City Center.
Flamingo, Paris & Harrah’s Buffets – nothing to complain about at any of them. Good food – good service. Glad to see the Best of Buffet offer & hoping it’s still there on my next trip.
Margaritaville – awesome food as always – great atmosphere. Too cold for balcony to be open but great music inside.
Earl of Sandwich – I’d kill for one right now!
Café St. Louis – food was just awesome this trip & service was better than usual.
BB not realizing just HOW bad saying 'do you want to go to my floor' sounded when she said it to the guy on the elevator until he told her he was married. (She really only wanted to know what floor button he needed pushed!)
Going with a great travel companion - lots of fun!

CONS:
Red Room - NOT happy with no hot water in middle of night, but hopefully that was a fluke. If it had been just me, I would have probably asked to move, but we were ok & it just seemed to much work to pack up & move.
Tooth Pain – I should have just started drinking shots of something to kill the pain………..
Palms – Money hungry B**TARDS!
Wizard of Oz – Just didn’t love me at all this trip!
Lazy Delta worker who didn’t want to bother to rebook a connecting flight & thus cost us a voucher & 3 hours of sleep.

 

Good stuff. Good pics. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sorry about the tooth.

 

haha @ your friend saying 'do you want to go to my floor'

fantastic report and I agree, the right travelling companion makes for a fantastic trip

 

Great report and excellent pics!

Still can't figure out what BLTN Boring means.....

Edit: Aaaah Better late than never.....yeah I googled it. LOL

 

Pictures

Love your report! Your pictures are very well done. I love the one of the goldfish at Ceasars!

It sounds like you got in a lot of good gaming. Do you mind if I ask what your daily bank roll averages?

 

To be honest I plan on $400 per day. Normally that is plenty as some days I don't spend it all & sme days I run a bit short. However that side trip to Palms bled a day or more of my budget out. Usually this amount at HET props will provide ne with enough base & reward credits to cover food. And room is free of course. And if I am lucky like November I can come home with part of it!!!

 

Thanks for the TR! Human Nature is on my must-see list.

 

BLTN = Better late than never?

Loved your report.

I felt your pain about trying to do the Uturn and back out of the PHo driveway. We encountered the same problem trying to turn into the Bally's driveway. What's with folks?

We had to inch our car through the mob of pedestrians.

I also understood what you meant about late dinners, which at home would have been two or three hours later than the Vegas time and think that I'd never eat that late at home. But it's vacation and I'll still be up sightseeing and playing the tables late anyways.

Madison : )

 

Wow-fantastic pics and just loved your report--sounds like you had a really great time----thanks for sharing
Carol

 

Yes! Better late than never! I was just accused earlier tonite of abbreviating too much lol!

 

Haha once I got to Flamingo and had the shitty time that I did, they got NO more money from me... so I guess i definately didnt play enough for them to comp me more but hey its ok when we go back in summer we will stay at MGM properties..

 

Very good TR. Thanks for posting.

later, GVJ

 

Very interesting TR... Thanks for sharing

 

nice report, just curious, what type of denominations and games are you playing on your daily budget at HET? .25 slots, penny? I tend to find my budget dries up at HET properties like yours at Palms, so I'd love to change that streak.