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A Flamingo Thanksgiving 11/25-11/28

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by LA2VegasTrekkers, Nov 29, 2010.

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  1. LA2VegasTrekkers

    LA2VegasTrekkers High-Roller

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    My Trip Report

    THE FACTS
    Hubby and I made our annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage (tee hee) from Thursday through Sunday. We left around 0600 on Thursday and got into town around 1030. We left Sunday morning around 0800. Traffic sucked, even at that hour, so we didn’t get home until after 1330. It was pretty cold at night and windy, but the days were clear, sunny and beautiful.

    As you may know from my previous reports, we are not high rollers and a little past our major partying days. Our Vegas trips are much more about taking it easy. Also, we’re slot players (penny slots, at that), so if you’re looking for major action, move on to the next report. The gambling budget was $1,000, but we ended up doubling that. No great hardship for us, but unexpected.

    THE ROOM
    We were comped at the Flamingo for a GO Luxury with View room and to our amazement the room was ready when we got there. We had never stayed at Flamingo before, and I know the reviews have been rather mized. Room 25086 was very nice, about half way down the hall from the elevator. The elevators let out right into the lobby and very close to the casino which made for a very quick walk to our favorite games or to the outside when we wanted to venture to other properties. It’s actually surprising how nice this convenience was and may entice us to stay at Flamingo again in the future even if we can get a comp elsewhere. The view was great; we looked directly out over Caesars and just to the left we could watch the fountains at Bellagio from the settee in front of the window, which we did no several occasions.

    The room included a small refrigerator (we stocked with water and Gatorade) and a coffee maker, for those who keep track of that sort of thing. There was what looked to be a pretty nice sound system as well, but we didn’t actually use it. The bed was very comfortable with a large flat panel TV on the wall and a small TV built into the mirror in the bathroom, which seems like a nice feature, but really takes up a big chunk of the mirror at just the right level for my height (5’5â€). The bathroom has only a stand up shower, no tub, but that is not a problem for us. We really liked the retro-modern décor, the striped wallpaper, the white leather headboard and the pink and brown color scheme. I wouldn’t decorate my house like that, but it was cool for vacation.

    We had no problems with our room, but the “do not disturb†sign (it actually says “Go Awayâ€) kept getting stolen from our door and there seemed to be a shortage of them. We had to ask the housekeeping lady twice for a replacement. And the guy next door came in one night around 0330 and started playing video games with the volume at full blast. We called security, who came and talked to him, but he didn’t really stop until 0800, when we were getting up for breakfast anyway.

    THE FOOD
    We usually eat Thanksgiving dinner at the buffet at Harrah’s, but since we were staying at Flamingo, we decided to try it there. We ate at around 1430 and the line was minimal. The Thanksgiving food was very good, but there was little variety other than that. It worked out fine, though, since we were full from the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and such, plus several good deserts, although we didn’t see any pumpkin or pecan pie. There was another section with Asian food, but we didn’t try any of it. I’m not sure what this buffet is usually like when they have “regular†food, but it seemed very small compared to Harrah’s and Rio at least.

    We ordered room service for breakfast on one morning around 0830, it took about an hour to come up, but they told us that in advance and it was really good. We had continental breakfast and the Flamingo breakfast which is eggs, sausage, hash browns and toast. The quality was better than I expected with eggs cooked perfectly and fresh pastries.

    We had never been to Margaritaville, so we tried that one evening. We ordered the nachos, which were really good, we could not finish them, the pile was so huge. Highly recommended if you enjoy that sort of artery clogging fare. We sat for a few rounds of drinks and watched the beautiful-woman-slides-down-the-volcano-into-the-blender show twice. Luckily the blender does not actually seem to be working; that would be macabre. Her little dance ended right by our table and we chatted with her a bit. What a nice girl…or I was drunk…or both. We were too full to order anything else and I couldn’t listen to even one more Jimmy Buffet song so we left after that.

    We breakfasted at the Paradise Café on the second morning. For some reason, the food was not as good as what we had from room service the morning before. I got an omelet, which was massive and I couldn’t finish, but the eggs were overcooked. Hubby got French toast, which he said was fabulous, though, so maybe it was just me.

    We decided to go up to KGB at Harrah’s for burgers on Saturday night. We had the BOGO coupon, but when we got there, we just couldn’t deny ourselves the sliders. We ordered them (six come in an order) and the mac n’ cheese sticks, which were very tasty. Both are on the appetizers menu, but are plenty of food for two people to share for a meal. Those sliders are just so darn good. We ordered with caramelized onions and mushrooms added and ate every bite.

    That was it for the food, except for a coffee and very good croissant for the road from the coffee bar in the lobby on Sunday morning.

    THE GAMBLING
    I don’t know what it was, but this trip we spent some marathon sessions in front of the machines and, as I mentioned, doubled past our $1,000 budget. The upshot is that we finally made Platinum. We played Goldfish Race for the Gold and Lord of the Rings at Flamingo a few times and we wanted to play some other games we saw there, like Bombs Away, which looked really fun, but for some reason the Flamingo casino floor was super busy and we rarely got to sit down at anything we wanted to play there. Likewise at Harrah’s, where we waited for a bit trying to get seats at Lord of the Rings and when a chair finally opened up, some guy pushed past us and sat down, so we left there also.

    We played Lord of the Rings at Caesar’s one evening. The drink service as spotty and the bathrooms are so far away in that casino. We had great luck getting seats at Lord of the Rings and Wizard of Oz at IP, however. For some reason, the games just didn’t seem as busy there. We were trying not to play there as much because it is our “home†casino and we want that to be switched to somewhere else so we get more offers from a different property, but that’s the way it worked out. We had great fun, the drink service was good (except I hate those plastic cups) and talked to some really nice people.

    Absolutely no big wins to speak of (hence the major budget adjustment), but a great time anyway. We also spent a little time on two nights playing video black jack at the Geisha bar. I feel like you don’t see video blackjack in most of the casinos very much anymore. It was fun after we had a few drinks, but it gets boring pretty fast, I think. Talking to drunk people at the bar and listening to the Dealertainers sing is much more entertaining at that point. Anyway, that’s about it. Thanks for reading.
     
  2. Jinx

    Jinx VIP Whale

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    Very nice report, sounds like a fun trip. I've found that Caesars area for lord of the rings has great service for drinks at night and maybe late afternoon otherwise, as you said very hit and miss, although it sounds like it was still a miss for you in the evening there, which does make it less fun.
     
  3. blackjacknut

    blackjacknut VIP Whale

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    Nice report, thanks for posting.
     
  4. vegasmacker

    vegasmacker Canadian Ambassador for Sully's Bar

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    Great report, thanks for sharing! I have a Go Luxury comped on my upcoming trip and looking forward to it.
     
  5. ronc

    ronc VIP Whale

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    Thank you for the report--glad you had a great time!!
     
  6. lithelady

    lithelady Low-Roller

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    it's been interesting to me that during all three of my trips to Vegas this past year the Harrah's casinos have been really busy. If I didn't keep reading about how Vegas revenues were down I'd swear it weren't the case based on how full the slot areas and walkways are.

    i'm with you on how nice it is to be directly on the strip at Flamingo. I like that about Harrahs too.

    But talking about noise level in the room reminded me that when I had a GO room in the spring there was a noisy party going in somewhere - either beneath me or a room over and down one - and the noise really took over my room. They definitely didn't so any sound proofing when they redecorated to GO.
     
  7. evoni

    evoni High-Roller

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    Enjoyed reading your trip report, especially about the GO room. I've been wondering what the GO rooms with a view were really like since I have a comp in February for one that I'm giving to a friend while we stay elsewhere and was concerned they might not like it.
     
  8. LA2VegasTrekkers

    LA2VegasTrekkers High-Roller

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    Thanks for the kind words everyone.

    Macker & evoni: I think you'll like the GO rooms. I can't think of anything bad to say about them, especially on a comp and especially if you get a good view.

    I also forgot to mention that we tried scotch for the first time. After reading so many people here who really enjoy it, we wanted to give it a try. We always stop by Bellagio because we got married there and just love to look around, so we sat down at the bar near the front where they have the piano player. We told the bartender we had never tried scotch before and wanted to. He was really nice and poured us just a bit of two different ones. I only remember one of them, it was the Maclellan (sp?) 18. After sitting in the glass for a minute it developed this really awesome caramel scent and I thought I would just love it. We both took a sip and both hated it. No matter how nice it smelled, it still tasted like turpentine, as far as I'm concerned. The other one even smelled bad, like muddy grass. So sorry connoisseurs, clearly this is an acquired taste that we have not acquired. It was a great experience, though. The bartender was really nice and tried to educate us and didn't even charge us for the little tastes. We tipped him well.
     
  9. pass line man

    pass line man VIP Whale

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    Thanks for the report, I will be there soon!
     
  10. Rick1323

    Rick1323 Low-Roller

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    We like the Flamingo. In fact we pass on comps at some fancier digs because my wife loves the strip convience. Sounds like a great trip...thanks for sharing!!
     
  11. gmoney590

    gmoney590 VIP Whale

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    Nice report and sorry that the gambling wasn't good; and, scotch is an aquired taste.
     
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