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Harrah's Aug 5-8 - Chasing Platinum and Star Trek

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by LA2VegasTrekkers, Aug 9, 2010.

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  1. LA2VegasTrekkers

    LA2VegasTrekkers High-Roller

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    My Trip Report

    The Setup
    We were last in Vegas in May, so time for anther little vacation! We have plans to go to the Star Trek convention on Sunday, but spend the rest of the weekend just doing whatever we want and generally working toward getting to Platinum on the TR. Just me and the Hubs, as always.

    The Travel
    We hit some traffic between Barstow and Baker on the way out, but still made the trip in about 4 hours, getting into town around 1600 on Thursday. The trip home sucked. We usually get out of town on a Sunday by 0800, but after the convention, we left around 1500 and didn’t get back home until 2130. UGH! In the future, we are thinking about switching our weekends to leave mid-day Friday and then we can come home at any time on Monday, instead of leaving mid-day Thursday and having to leave early or fight traffic on Sunday.

    The Hotel
    We were at Harrah’s for three nights (Thurs-Sun). We were comped expect for $35 for Saturday night in a Classic room. We paid $10 extra at check in to upgrade to a Deluxe room in the Mardi Gras tower, room 1134. It was worth it. We were on the quiet side of the building looking out our window at TI and the Venetian. The room was very clean and relatively updated. The pillow-top bed was very comfortable and there was a flat panel TV in the room and in the bathroom. There was a safe, a coffee maker, blow dryer and minibar/frig. We did notice the motion sensor A/C, which was a bit annoying, but the room never got too hot. The only sign of wear in the room was that the glaze on the tub had a few spots where it had peeled away, but the water pressure and temperature were great.

    The Food
    We had dinner on Thursday at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill. It may sound strange, but we had the fried bologna sandwiches. A thick slice of bologna with cheese and sautéed onions on garlic toast. It was amazing! We ended up wishing we had only ordered one and shared it, because it was way too much food, but WOW, was it good!

    We had lunch at Quesadilla’s in IP on Friday because we had a buy one get one free quesadilla offer. The quesadillas were very good, but the service was pretty slow and the thumpy, club music was way too loud for the middle of the day.

    We ate dinner on both Friday and Saturday at KBG, the new gourmet burger place in Harrah’s, because we had that two for one coupon also, but we didn’t use it either night because both nights we ended up splitting an order of the sliders. These are really awesome. It’s supposed to be the recipe that he won the Iron Chef with and they are really good. Very tasty and well cooked, not overcooked. The only come with cheese and tomato, though. On Saturday, we asked if we could add some other toppings, which they did, but I think they should add that to the menu, like the rest of the “build your own burgers.†On Saturday, we also ordered the “waffle fry nachos.†These were also great. Waffle fried with cheese and sloppy joe pulled beef and salsa. They also come with jalapeños, but we ordered without. These are more like a variation on chili cheese fries than nachos, fork required rather than finger food, but the beef topping was really tasty.

    A decent sandwich for lunch on Sunday from the coffee bar at the Hilton and a stop at Starbucks for morning latte every day round out the offerings. Health food, it was not, but all very good meals.

    The Entertainment
    This trip we decided to see some shows, which we always say we are going to do, but then never get around to. It worked out this time, though. We played in the free slot tournament at IP on Friday (didn’t win anything), and got some two for one tickets to Matsuri for Friday night, so that was $65 for both of us. When we got there, they weren’t really seating anyone in the seats they had been assigned, so we ended up in a private booth, which was nice. It was a pretty good show. Very energetic and some very skilled acrobats – think super advanced Japanese cheerleading squad – lots of tumbling, chanting and elements of stomp. Worth the two for one price of admission.

    On Saturday night, we used a two for one to see Jubilee at Bally’s. We say the 10:30 “adult†show, because, really, why bother seeing a “family friendly†showgirls show? Again worth the two for one ($95) to have said we saw it. The theater was smaller than I imagined, so I’m glad we didn’t pay more to be closer to the stage. We could see fine and I think the people closer up could have missed some of the stuff going on to the sides. We were pretty close to center, next to the sound booth. It seemed pretty authentic for what I image a classic showgirl show would be – the costumes were SO over the top and the singers were really talented. The “filler†acts, however, that they used while they were changing costumes and sets seemed really out of place. It’s like you can’t have a show in Vegas anymore without that “Cirque†element. They had the two-man, strong man team, and the man who does the aerial acrobatics with the long curtain thingys. Also an act with three men with drums and a twirling Argentinean weapon/dance thing. It made the overall show about ½ an hour too long, in our opinion (1 ½ hr total), and just felt out of place.

    Sunday, we checked out of Harrah’s and drove up the Hilton for the last day of the Star Trek convention. We’ve been going for years so didn’t feel the need to go for every day this year and see people we’ve seen a few times before, but Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard from The Next Generation) was going to be there on Sunday and we’ve never seen him and he is our favorite. He was on stage for about an hour and a half by himself and with Brent Spiner (Data). They had great banter and we were happy we went, bought some t-shirts and found out that Sir Patrick (recently knighted) will be reprising his one-man show of A Christmas Carol, which we’ve seen and is absolutely wonderful and we can’t wait to see again now!

    The Gambling
    Spent about $800 this trip on the slots, garnering 1,379 tier credits. This puts the total at 2,282 – only 1,718 more to get us to Platinum this year, with 2 to 3 more trips planned at this point. We finally wised up on Friday night and got a second card in my name for Hubs to play on, otherwise we wouldn’t have a chance in hell of getting there. We’ve been resisting for a while because, at heart, I’m a rule follower and I just have this vision of the Hubs hitting the jackpot with my card in the machine and them reviewing the tape and saying “sorry, you cheated.â€

    Anyway, we played the Goldfish Race for the Gold on Thursday and then moved over to the new Lord of the Rings games. These are super fun!! We were bummed that they seem to have replaced the Star Trek games at all of the Harrah’s properties, but still really, really fun games. There are lots of bonus games and you can collect trophies, so you set up a log-in when you play it and then the system remembers you when you play again at another machine. It saves it on the TR card. The drink service at Harrah’s was a little slow on Thursday night, but we played for a few hours and had more than enough to drink in that time. The CW’s slow returns probably saved us from overdoing it, actually. Friday morning we played Wizard of Oz at IP and just blew through $300 in no time. After that I was feeling pretty down because it was only Friday morning and I had blown quite a chunk of my bankroll between that and Thursday night. We licked our wounds and went back to the room for a nap. We returned to IP after Matsuri that night, however, and cleaned up at the Lord of the Rings games there, finishing up after several hours of play by winning back everything we put in plus $100. The drinks were pretty free flowing at IP, although I have come to hate their silly little disposable cups. Are we really so low class that we don’t even deserve a glass? Turned in around 0100 and up around 0730. This was our schedule all weekend and is pretty usual for us in Vegas. We played for most of the day on Saturday down at Bally’s, Wizard of Oz, after going down there to buy our tickets for Jubilee. Good drink service, including Mimosa’s, which were very nice. We went down to MGM and had a frozen drink at Rainforest Café, but didn’t play there at all, then went back to Harrah’s go get ready for the evening. We then went to the Heart Bar at PHo to use the free drink coupons we got at the IP slot tournament. Hung out there for a while and played a little Wizard of Oz before heading back to Bally’s for Jubilee. That was pretty much all the gambling and drinking.

    The End
    We had a great trip, ate way too much good food but managed not to drink ourselves sick, which is quite an achievement. We had fun playing the new games and some of the old and working our way towards that Platinum card! Thanks for reading.
     
  2. Sierra

    Sierra Low-Roller

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    Thanks for the Trip Report, your play is similar to R's and mine.

    Don't feel bad about working the TR points with both of you using one card. It's an accepted practice, we don't even try to hide it from our host, even when our daughter is using one of ours across the casino. They know it's all coming from the same wallet-so no big deal.

    What was the IP free tournament you speak of? Was it the Summerfest, or something else? Where is Quesadilla's in IP? Sierra
     
  3. LA2VegasTrekkers

    LA2VegasTrekkers High-Roller

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    Thanks for the kind words. It's good to know we won't be treated like criminals for using one account. We've had two accounts for ever now and I play a lot more than the Hubs does, so his card alone never amounts to much and my card could probably come pretty close, so we finally decided that we were throwing things away - like nicer rooms, skipping lines, etc. by dividing our points, when, like you said, it's all coming from the same bank account.

    So you say that you play at a similar level to us and you have a host? Is that normal? If we get to platinum will we/should we get a host? Thanks for the help!

    IP has evidently been running a free slot tournament on the weekdays for a few months now. Basically you go up there between 1100 and 1400 on a weekday, you get to push the button one the stot machines for 5 minutes and then at the end of the day they find out who got the highest score and the top five split a Real Rewards pot of $1,500. I thought I did pretty well, but it turned out I was about 31 and Hubs was about 117 in the end. Of course, it's all pure luck, but the show and drink coupons they handed out made it worthwhile.

    Quesadilla is on the 5th floor (I think), where the restaurants are - the Pizza Place, the steak house. It's where the seafood restaurant used to be.

    A final note that I didn't remember to add - we're really coming to like Harrah's. It's a nice sized casino and the croud is very mixed. Walking through MGM and seeing the major ******baggery, reminded us why we don't stay there. PHo is just on the verge of being too much, but we sure would love to stay there at some point. Hope the Platinum will make that happen.
     
  4. kel3420

    kel3420 VIP Whale

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    Great report, thanks for posting!
     
  5. Sierra

    Sierra Low-Roller

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    We actually had the host contact us when we were at our Platinum level. It was from a our local Harrah's in Reno after a weekend stay. She thanked us for staying (we usually stayed in Tahoe at Harvey's) and sent her card.

    Later when I made Diamond (grinding away monthly, last year, mostly local) I tried to get a Host at Harvey's in Tahoe, which is actually considered my "home" casino with most of my play. I was denied. I don't think you can obtain/choose a host in the HET system, they have to find you. Our ADT is lower at Diamond, than it was at Platinum, since we played/visited more to get to Diamond. I don't find a HET host to be much help anyway; the on-line process is pretty much what you got coming. Twice she got us rooms comped when the system said we had to pay. Sierra
     
  6. LA2VegasTrekkers

    LA2VegasTrekkers High-Roller

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    Thanks for the info, Sierra!
     
  7. jpw711

    jpw711 Is that your cat?

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    I likes me some fried Bologna, good stuff.:thumbsup:

    thanks for the entertaining trip report.
     
    No reason to go home yet.
  8. abileneblues

    abileneblues Low-Roller

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    Thanks for the TR. We had a blast at the convention Friday and the party on Friday night. Maybe some year we'll manage to run into each other at the con.
     
  9. LA2VegasTrekkers

    LA2VegasTrekkers High-Roller

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    Sure! Can't wait to read your trip report.
     
  10. Jinx

    Jinx VIP Whale

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    Great report, thanks for typing it up looking forward to the next 2 or 3.
     
  11. Blonde_4_ever

    Blonde_4_ever LasVegas4ever.com

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    Thanks for the info regarding the free IP slot tournament. Good to know!
    Enjoyed the report.
     
  12. VegasDiva

    VegasDiva VIP Whale

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    Great TR

    I stayed at Harrahs almost 2 yrs ago with a g/f ~ 9th flr of MardiGras tower and the quiet side , was perfect size for two ladies and very comfy
    no coffee pot tho lol

    Fried Bologna sandwiches sound interesting lol
     
  13. tracyvansmith

    tracyvansmith Newbie

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    Thanks for the trip report.

    This will be DH and my first trip to Vegas. We will be staying at Harrah's Sep. 12-17. I am new to the boards what does PHo stand for?
     
  14. tracyvansmith

    tracyvansmith Newbie

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    Also with Lord of the Rings what is the cost of playing this slot?
     
  15. 4Vegas

    4Vegas Low-Roller

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    Thanks for sharing the TR.

    The fried bologna must be an Oklahoma thing. I spent some time in Tulsa for work years ago, and went into a restaurant the first day I was there. One of my co-workers from the area ordered fried bologna, and I thought it was a joke. It was on the menu in lot's of places. Those Okies......
     
  16. LA2VegasTrekkers

    LA2VegasTrekkers High-Roller

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    Tracyvansmith: PHo stands for Planet Hollywood. You'll see it that way all over these message boards.

    The Lord of the Rings slot machine is a penny slot. I believe it has 40 lines. Technically, I guess you could just play one penny on one line per spin, but most people want to at least play one penny on all lines, so that would cost you $0.40 per spin. You can also play multiple pennies per line per spin. I don't remember what the max is, but you can end up betting multiple dollars for every spin. I usually play 2 to 3 pennies per line per spin, so $0.80 to $1.20 per spin.
     
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