Live from the Tropicana

No. Sleep. Til Vegas! Literally. I work overnights, 9pm-7am. Cut out of work an hour early on Thursday morning to finish packing and head off to the airport for a 1030am flight. My buddies never checked in until they got to the airport, so while I was Group A, they were in the back of group C. I ended up in a window next to two insanely large old ladies with terrible perfume. I slept for my own sanity until we hit Baltimore



At Baltimore I switched seats and went back to sleep until the flight attendants started making rounds. From there it was like our own little open bar as we threw drink coupons around like some kind of half-assed P. Diddy & co. By the time we hit the rockies the alcohol and lack of sleep caught up to me and I was out like a light til we hit Mccarran.



Met our driver from Presidential no problem. Something happened with the luggage and we ended up burning a good forty minutes waiting for it to reach the carousel. Regardless he still took us to the liquor store even though it put us over the allotted hour. Never would have known about that company if it weren't for VMB. Thanks!

Hotel check-in was a breeze. Got a 1BR suite on the 18th floor overlooking the strip. Lots of people say a strip view room is overrated but I think it's cool to wake up, roll over, and see the strip. Between the two rooms there's three walls with windows so you get a nice panoramic view. I'll get video on youtube sooner or later.



After that we went and did the "wander the strip" thing. The two guys I'm here with haven't been to vegas before... you know how that goes. We eventually made it up to IP to check in on my comped room there. I didn't know the IP rooms have a balcony. It'd be a lot cooler if you could fit a chair out there and it didn't overlook more hotel rooms, though. I made the call to check out the debatedly awesome Hash House a Go Go for dinner. I'd say it was around 530pm, and the place was absolutely empty. At most they had 4 other tables seated at a time. Food was good, and there was a LOT of it.



We did a little more wandering, saw the fountains at night and all that, and it pains me to admit that by 930PM I couldn't fight it anymore and went to bed.

Friday to come soon...

 

Great report so far sorry you were so tuckered out on the first night

How are the Trop's new renovated rooms? we need a description , please lol
I've seen pics on their FB page How is the new pool area ? and the Casino area?

Hope your two buddies are enjoying their first trip there , Looking forward to more

 

Great pics! City Center sure does change the look of the strip.

 

TGIF (and I got some sleep)

Woke up to a great view of the strip. Before the trip I emailed Trops facebook conceirge person (who up until this point had been awesome to deal with) to reserve a cabana for the day. Last I heard was she'd put the reservation in and get back to me ASAP. Well, I never heard back. I was going to call and see what the deal was, but the more I thought about it the more I wasn't really big on the cabana idea anyway. The fact she never got back to me kind of rubbed me the wrong way though.

We headed down to the South Beach Cafe for breakfast. Another enormous meal. I ordered "cinnamon bun french toast" and figured I'd get two slices of plain old Wonderbread french toast. Instead I got a french toast megalith. I didn't even bother with the apple danish I ordered... this thing was enormous. And stuffed with strawberries.



Three thousand calories later we found ourselves back in the room discussing what to do. The group voted to visit the Gold & Silver pawnshop, so we hopped on the monorail and hoofed it from Sahara. The walk wasn't bad given the 107 degree temps. We arrived to a mob scene as they were filming when we arrived.



Everyone around was pretty friendly and meeting all the line neighbors made the wait pass by quickly. We finally got in and wandered around a little bit. Chumley and the old man both made very brief appearances from the back room to relatively little fanfare.

We grabbed one of the cabs waiting outside and headed to a famous Vegas restaurant for some burgers.



After another thousand calories or so we cabbed it back to the hotel. Them to nap and me to gamble. Trop has $5 3:2 shoe games. There's also $5 continuous shuffle and $5 double deck pitch with 6:5. The shoe games seemed to be totally empty. I played the pitch game for a little while just to try it, but after getting paid $60 for my blackjack I got up and left for the shoe game where I looked like a mega High Roller playing $100 hands next to people playing $5 hands with $30 buy ins. And I got my butt kicked. I played for a solid six hours or so, but just couldn't get on a roll and eventually burned through my days gambling budget. At one point I noticed the pit boss taking my ratings sheet and wandering over to a phone, where he called someone and I saw my name mentioned a couple times.

We were going to head to Carnaval Court after those guys woke up, so I headed back to the room. They were gone so I hung out watching some TV when the phone rang. I answered it and it was a host I was introduced to before the trip by the facebook concierge girl, and he wanted to meet me down in the casino to introduce himself. After talking to him, I finally heard back from my buddies. It was time to go party.

I bought a new suit before the trip which I decided I was going to wear. Unfortunately none of us know how to tie a tie, so I spent some time watching youtube videos until I figured it out. I have a great photo of a terribly failed attempt at tying it but my friend hasn't uploaded it yet. I finally got it figured out and broke out the remaining champagne from the limo to celebrate



I hadn't been to Carnaval Court yet, but most people I've talked to said it was fun. We get through the line just in time for a table to free up, which we quickly commondeered and began to cover in empty bottles. Three Olives had some promo girls wandering around with shots of some new vodka, and after one of my friends tipped $40 we were pretty much fed an unlimited supply of free bubble gum vodka shots for the rest of the night. Things get pretty hazy from there... I woke up sometime this morning in true vegas style: hanging off the side of the bed in a suit.

First half of Saturday to follow!

 

First half of Saturday aka Learning from experience

Woke up very late, around 1130am. Headed back to the cafe for a nice greasy lunch to help settle my stomach. I had some free slot play so I burned through that on a VP machine, then headed back to the tables.

I stayed even for a couple hours, but then something happened which both the pit boss and the dealer couldn't recall ever seeing before...

I had a hundred bucks out plus a five for the dealer. I was dealt a pair of sixes and the dealer was showing a six. I drew another six on the first card, and I split those. I forget what I drew on the first card, but on the second I drew an ace for a soft 17 which I inexplicably decided not to double down on. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Third I drew a six. Let's split 'em again! First hand I forget, but the next was a 10. I doubled on this one for a 16. Everyone at the table's going nuts, passerbys are stopping to see what the commotion is, the pit crew is standing behind the table watching. The dealer dramatically flips his card and he's got the 16. He hits and draws a freaking Ace. A 17.

The dealer showed me the next card in the shoe and we figured out that if I had doubled on the first opportunity he would've busted and I'd have all winning hands! That's why they call it gambling, I guess. From there it was just a slow burn until I ran through my alloted bankroll. Headed back to In & Out to drown my sorrows in some greasy burger goodness. It's strictly basic strategy for me from now on...!

I'm typing this up while I wait for the other guys to get ready for tonight. We're off to the FSE to check that out and do some ultra low roller gambling.

I've been getting absolutely beat down on this trip so far but am still having an absolute blast!

 

this is fabulous!!! can't wait for the rest!!!

did the host do anything for ya or was it just a meet and greet for future use???

 

Rooms are super nice. Casino looks great too, nice, open, and bright. There's still tons of construction going on but it's all walled off and aside from an occasinonal hard hatted worker walking through you don't even know they're there.

I posted a more detailed review in the trop renovations thread in the "LV Strips & Casinos" section. Will try and get a video of it uploaded tomorrow!

 

Just a meet and greet and he gave me his card. He kept asking if there was anything I needed but I couldn't think of anything. He said to get in touch with him before I leave so hopefully he can do something with the room rates. Never dealt with a host before so I wasn't really sure how to handle it

I was tempted to call today for the heck of it and ask for a house limo to take me to in & out, but wasn't sure how that would go over.

 

Great report so far, hope you had better luck down town! Also kudos to you for wearing a suit in 100° heat

 

Great report.
I like your honesty about not knowing how to knot a tie.
Geez, i had to wear a tie to school everyday from 5th grade on....ugh.
.
I will be in a Tropicana, Paradise tower room in 2 weeks !
I wanna view like you posted !

 

lol @ not being able to tie a tie , yay for you tube lol

will check out the other thread about the Trop

Great report ~

 

Thanks for the report

I can tie a tie. I am much older than you.

From the picture, MrUBS, well you know, uh, well, uh, you look sort of geeky.

I will not be going to that pawn shop. No way would I ever wait in a line like that.

 

My first win

Downtown didn't go much better. We decided to take the monorail to Sahara and catch a cab there to Fremont. Except when we got the Sahara taxi line there were no cabs, apparently the cabbies are like the tourists... they just don't bother with Sahara. A group behind us was also heading to FSE and we ended up splitting a limo after the driver offered a ride for $5 each.

I played some VP and wound up winning $10 slot play and $25 in promo chips at Binions with their players club promotion they have going on. Took the chips over to an empty $5 craps table where I turned it into $10 in real money. I decided to walk, and finally left a casino with more money than I went in with. A whole $2 after figuring in the VP losses and a hefty tip for the craps dealers, but at least I didn't lose!

I felt like Clark Griswold when he pushed at the BJ table.

Have no idea what we're going to do today. I wanted to do a trip to Red Rock canyon but I don't feel like hiking in a 100 degree desert. Might go hit the pool for a bit, and head up to Harrah's domain to get some play.


JoeStrummer - I'm not sure which towers are which, but whatever one I'm in, the odd numbered rooms are the ones that face MGM/Hooters. The room next door here is '03, so a low, odd numbered room is your best bet. They seem pretty receptive to specific room requests at the front desk, and they're so anxious to make people happy here I wouldn't be surprised if you could upgraded into one of the end suites if they're not booked up.

BackinVegas - I don't know if i'd say I'm geeky, but I am pretty far over on the opposite side of the spectrum from the mid 20's ed hardy wearing clubgoers types you see all over the place here

Once they stopped filming at the pawn shop, the line moved really fast. When we left there was barely a line at all, and they were letting people in pretty steadily. The question is: is it worth the gamble to walk all that way/pay for a ride down, in hopes you catch them when they're not filming?

 

Nice report so far!

 

Geeks < ed hardy d-bags any day in my book!

I'm enjoying your report as it is holding me over until our Labor Day takeover. Keep on posting!

 

I saw on the MGM marquee thing that Tone Loc and Young MC are going to be performing at MGM on Labor Day weekend, if you're into that sort of thing.

I know I'd brave the club crowd to go see that show! Talk about some corny fun

 

Enjoying your TR ..keep posting...thanks for the info on the Tropicana

 

Without a doubt you are the only guy to ever be weening Carnival Court wearing a suit! Nice!

 

They would give you the limo, but it would cut into some of your other comps. Also, if the Trop doesn't have a limo, it would be a hard comp.

I stayed at the Horseshoe during one of my first trips to Vegas. I ended up playing a lot of blackchip BJ at the Excal, and they never had a problem with my limo requests, but I never asked for anything else from them on this trip.

Nice trip report, BTW.

 

"Wild Thing" and "Bust A Move" performed at the same concert, nice!