TR 6/18 - 6/24

6/18

Arrived in Vegas and checked into Luxor at around 6pm... got our room on the 28th floor. It was a huge jacuzzi suite with an upstrip view. We could see Excalibur, MGM Grand, NYNY, Monte Carol, Aladdin, Stratosphere , and even the top little dome bell tower thingy on Bellagio. (over MC) To the left we could see the Orleans, Palms and Rio. To the Right we could see the Hard Rock Cafe Guitar waaaaaaaaaay off in the distance. Can't forget about the In-and-Out Burger sign too! LOL. There was a sitting room attached with a couch, desk, 2nd TV and a huge 8 foot picture window. The view was great day or night. We went upstairs, unpacked and headed to the casino. We got our new One Club cards, since we lost ours last time. We played a few slots, and then went into Nefrtiti's lounge. We had a drink and watched the singer, went to the McDonald's on the 2nd floor, and then decided to try out the jacuzzi back in the room. The end came really early on this night, we were wiped out from the trip, and our bodies were still on NY time, so we crashed at about 9 O'Clock.

6/19

Woke up VERY early (for me) at about 8 AM, and decided to head to the pool. Managed to get a good spot near a mist sprayer, and spend a couple hours by the pool. Headed to the beginning of the lunch buffet, and was quite impressed. This would be a recurring theme. As we headed back to our room, we saw that a craps lesson was to begin at 12:30, so we decided to see what it was all about. After the lesson, us newbies got a $2 table for an hour to learn how to play. When the game went to $5 an hour at about 2 PM, I decided to go play slots, and left my girlfriend there. I returned about 45 minutes later to find my girlfriend up about $250 and the crowd cheering as she kept making everyone money! She went down to about $200 and then called it quits. We went walking around after that, and after about an hour of farting around at Luxor and Mandalay Bay for a couple hours, we went back to the same craps table. We bought in at $50 a piece and began to play. We got a really good vibe going at the table.... and my girlfriend throws $10 on the "horn" and tells me to do the same - so I do, just for kicks. She proceeds to throw 2 straight 12's, an 11, and a 3. The table went nuts and we win a lot of money. After she 7's out, it was my turn, so just to be a smart ass and not to be outdone, I throw $10 more on the horn, and she jumps in for $10 with me. So I go ahead and throw a 2, a 2, and an 11. So we hit the horn 7 tmes in the blink of an eye. After I 7ed out, I looked down, and we both had piles of chips. We looked at each other and said "run with it" ... we put our chips together, colored out, and when we hit the cashier, she handed us $1195, $425 from me, $770 from her. Not a bad start. We started throwing down the alcohol that night, and we jumped into the Black Jack head first. We ended up about $150 up, and we had a FUN table. It was a $5 table, but everyone was spazzing like it was for $500 a hand. We played with a guy from New Jersey who was a lot like us. He was there for his brother's 21st b'day. Eventually his brother comes along and we all throw down a $25 chip for him. Ends up with $125 - and he says "well I gotta gamble it with you then"! So he gets dealt a king, then a jack... then whole table is celebrating.... and the dealer pulls a jack....ace.... HOW CRAPPY! The kid was ok, but I think the rest of the table needed Prozac. As a group we all headed to Mandalay, and we played a bit there before splitting up. Never saw them again, but had a blast gambling with them for about 4 hours. Ended the black jack run with about $100 up between us. We made our way back to Luxor and fell asleep at around 1 AM after a loooooooooong day.

6/20

We woke around 10 (bodies starting to cathc up to the time) and headed to the pool once again. After a couple hours of swimming and lounging, we headed to the buffet once again. After gourging on the food, we went down to the blackjack tables and killed a couple hours, about breaking even, and then we went over to Mandalay Bay. Sat down at a Black Jack table and proceeded to donate $100 to casino. Then I switched tables and did the $100 donation again. Then I put about $40 in the slots before deciding that the Mandalay Casino just wasn't happening for me that night. We went to see Ziggy Marley that night at House of Blues, and he was excellent. He for about an hour and a half, he play mostly his stuff, but a few of his father's tunes too! It was a great show, we were about 15 feet from him, and we managed to get slightly inebriated during the show. After it ended around 11:00 we ate some food, played the slots for a bit, and then went to bed.

6/21

We slept a bit later and got up around noon, we headed to the pool, but since it was a Saturday, it was very crowded. Highlight of the pool this day was the girl who got up to adjust her lounge, and had forgotten to retie the top of her bikini. She fell out in all her glory, but her apparently drunken state hid this fact from her for a good 7-8 seconds. Suddenly she realized and screeched and covered herself. I was more than happy to take in the view. We had an uneventful afternoon, and went to play slots at around 5PM. We sat down at a 25 cent Wheel of Fortune game, and I hit it for $150.00. Whenever I get a big win, I pick a point, and only gamble to that point. When I got to exactly the 600 quarter mark (150.00) I cashed out. But it jammed. And they fixed it. And it jammed. And they fixed it. Well the third time it jammed I had been waiting for 20 mins, and the called a mechanic. As we're waiting for the mechanic, a woman walks up and says "I got these tickets for free, but I don't want them, you can have them" and she gives us 2 tickets priced at $98 for Black Eye Peas/Christina Aguilera/Justin Timberlake Concert. I'm not a big fan, but I'm not going to turn down a free concert. We also got VIP passes, but Luxor wouldn't let us use them since they weren't in our names. The VIP person also said she would have to take the passes and the tickets. I said "Yeah, right" and walked out. So we walked over to MGM, and gambled for a bit, ate a burger, and went to the show. The Black Eyed Peas were really good, we didn't know they were the opening act. Christina came next, and was surprisingly good. She also was very nice to look at. By now, it was nearing 10:30 PM, and we had had enough of that. We ditched during the intermission before Justin, and gave our tickets to 2 little kids so they could move up closer. We went back to NYNY and gambled for a bit, ate at ESPN Zone, and then went back to Luxor for some sleep!

6/22

Got up, pool, buffet, same deal. Then we decided to do something different, so we went shopping at Caesars and then on to Bellagio. We shopped a bit there, and then we toured Bally's, Barbary Coast, and Paris - playing a few slots at each place and getting a drink here and there. We brought our bags back to Luxor, changed, and went back to Bellagio to gamble. Bad idea. We managed to get very drunk and blew about $500 on blackjack. I've never had such terrible luck! We had fun though, and our whole table stayed toegether for like 3 hours. I tried to get a couple of buffet passes after, an the pit boss told me no! I was slightly irritated from giving them so much money so I believe I said "thank you short little man" and we walked out. We went a little ways down the strip and then jumped into one of the little bike wagon taxi things. That was kind of fun, and he brought us all the way to NYNY. After we got out, I we continued towards Luxor, and we approached 2 porn slappers. One tried to hand me one as I'm holding hands with my girlfriend... then the 2nd tried to hand one to my girl friend... the alcohol and the lost money and then no buffet all got to me at the same time... and I snapped! I grabbed the one who was trying to hand his porn to my girl and slammed him into the concrete at the bottom of the escelator. I held aganst the wallhim by his shirt collar and screamed into his face "DON'T HAND YOUR GARBAGE TO A LADY, IT'S RUDE......AND GET A REAL JOB!" ... and then I let him go. He just stood there with a shocked look on his face - people clapped, I'm glad there were no cops around, but I hate those stupid people. The Black Jack Gods apparently appriciated my maneuver and began to reward me.

We went back to Luxor and sat down with "Burt" one of the best dealers I've been around in Vegas. He was much older than the average dealer, probably in his late 60's. He was quite funny. We ended up playing for a couple of hours with 2 brothers and their mother, one of the brothers was getting married the next day. Everyone at the table won pretty big, and I walked away with about $300, recouping some of the Bellagio mugging from earlier. By then, I was completley spent, and we went upstairs and passed out.

6/23

I couldn't believe this was our last full day in Vegas. We did this pool. The Buffet. Then decided to try something new, so I said, lets play Video Poker. We were still smarting from the Bellagio the night before, so we put a $10 in and sat together and played. We went right down to 15 credits, and then we hovered there. I don't know much VP strategy, so we were just winging it.... then I see ACE, ACE, 7, ACE, ACE.... the credits start to go up, and I saw "That must be good".... then I read the payout.... 800.... translating to $200 dollars! Not bad for not knowing how to play very well! We cashed out, got a whole bunch of quarters, turned them into real money and decided to play Black Jack... and I caught on fire again, played for a few hours, and walked away with $275... we realized we had completley made up for the Bellagio incident, and headed upstairs to get dressed up, and went to the Sacred Sea Room. I had Filet Mignon and Lobster, and my girlfriend had Alaskan Crab Legs... it was outstanding. So we went upstairs and changed and came back down to have one more night in Vegas! We sat down at a Black Jack table... and just blew the place up again. We sat with a guy who was betting $300+ a hand (at a $5 table!) and once again I could do no wrong! I went away up $375 and my girlfriend was up over $200! I would have kept going at the table, but we had Blue Man tickets for 10 PM. As we were walking towards the theatre, I see a familiar face out of the corner of my eye. I walk, do a triple take, and then realize it is Pro BodyBuidler/BattleDome/Pro-Wrestler/Actor/American Gladiator/Romance Novel Cover/Midijah from WCW's husband/Mr. Universe/3 Time California State Judo Champ - Mike O'Hearn. I stopped to shake his hand, he turned out to be super cool, got my picture taken with him, and spent a couple minutes talking to a celebrity. We went into the show, it was our third time seeing them, they were excellent once again, we had a lot of fun, and we had our pictures taken with each of them at the end! My girlfriend asked one for a kiss on her ticket (their form of autograph is a blue kiss!) and then a kiss on the cheek... the Blue Man looked at me shyly like "am I allowed" and I yelled "LAY ONE ON HER" and he grabbed her head and planted a huge one on her forehead! It was hilarious! We then saw Mike O'Hearn on the way out, and HE STOPPED US, and introduced us to his brother and his girlfriend, asked us how we liked the show, and chatted for a few seconds before we went on are way. We decided to push are luck one last time with Black Jack and it happened again! I walked away with $275!!! We cashed out, said goodbye to the casino and went to bed around 3 AM.

6/24

We woke up at 7:30 AM, were at the airport by 8:30 and in the air at 9:30.... landed in Burlington, VT at 8:30ish local time, got in the car, drove to the ferry, got taken across the lake and were back in good old Plattsburgh, NY by 10 PM Eastern! What a trip. After all of our Vegas expenses, I ended up coming home with $800+ .... couldn't be happier about that!!! Now to plan when to go back!!!

 

J--

What a great trip, man!! Don't ya just love it when you're on fire?!?!?

Ten dollar horn bets...that's a beautiful thing to hit.

When ya going back?

Mikey

 

Holy cow JustJ2k, sounds like you had an amazing trip. I don't think I've ever had someone just GIVE me tickets to a concert for that night. That's cool. Too bad it was for a teeny-bopper concert, but Christina is a nice view.

I'm glad you had such luck at the Craps tables. Never heard of anybody hitting so many horn bets. Nice hits!

I was wondering, after all of your play at the Luxor, did you get any comp return after you checked out? It sounds like you definitely must have gotten at least room and hopefully RFB.

Paris

 

"Nice Hits!"

Hee hee...oh yeah, I believe that one has a place in the HurricaneMikey trip lexicon...

Mikey

 

Thanks for your trip report, sounds like a gas.

Never heard raves for the Luxor buffet before; any details on the food or service that impressed you?

 

Hey all, good to hear from ya!

Mikey, I'm not sure when we're going back, but I'm hoping to hit Vegas one more time in 2003! It'll definitley be at the Luxor, since we get our reg. room bumped to a Jacuzzi there!

Trojan, I'm pretty sure that what we did defied the odds quite a bit! The dealer who taught us craps - "Guy" - was going nuts, as was the whole table. He kept yelling "I didn't teach you to do that!!!!" It was a blast! Christina Agulera and Justin Timberlake was defnitley Teenie land, but I'm 25, and my GF is 23, so we didn't really feel out of place, since there were a lot of people our age too. Black Eyed Peas were great, and we left during the intermission before Timberlake, so it was definitley tolerable!

As for comps - I'm not sure we really gamble enough to qualify. We get our room upgraded to a Jacuzzi Suite, which was a 28th floor strip view, and I felt fortunate to get that. I probably should have asked for more, but we went so Vegas crazy the last 24 hours that we never even thought about it!

Deb, here's what I can tell you about the Buffet. The first time we went, we were waited on by "Hong"... we were super nice to her, and she gave us a full pitcher of Mountain Dew - might sound like nothing, but it was hot as hell, and we were the only table that got a pitcher. Everyone else had to reorder their little glasses constantly. We tipped her $5 for her generousity. The next time we requested her table and she gave similar service, but this time was bringing us matches and saying "souveneir for you". Ofcourse it's just a book of matches, but the good vibe goes along way. She made us feel good, and we appriciated that. We asked for her everyday, gave her $5 each time and $20 at the end since we were doing so well. She started off so many of our days with a smile. Then I enjoyed the food as well! Now I'm no gourmet connaseur, but I enjoyed the Fried Clams immensely. Turkey Breast or slices of ham each day, potatoes, fajitas, clam chowdah and a million other things that kept me coming back!

In fact, at the buffet, I stuffed myself to the gills, and just ate and ate becasue it was so good. Then we went to Excalibur and on the way decided to play the "guess my weight" game.... Now I usually way somewhere between 240-250, but I wear it fairly well, so it's a bit deceptive. In March, they weren't even close at this game. So I decided to play again, and this time she goes....240....I step on, knowing that it would be close.... she has to get within 3 pounds.... and it settles on 244! I won thanks to the Luxor Buffet! My girlfriend got a stuffed animal out of it, I got indigestion! HAHAHAHA!