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WARNING- G Rated report!

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by stacy67, Jun 13, 2004.

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  1. stacy67

    stacy67 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2001
    Messages:
    130
    Location:
    Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16

    My Trip Report

    I know there has been some discussion that there has been a lack of "naughty" or "wild" trip reports, but I am going to add one more G rated report. [​IMG] I go to Vegas to play slots, eat great food, people watch, and mainly just have some time to myself without someone needing something from me every two seconds. (I have a four year old and a seven year old).

    I went with my mom and sister on 5/31 - 6/4. This was my 6th trip and our second "girl's trip." My mom and I flew Southwest non-stop from Lubbock, TX and my sister flew Southwest from Houston. We rented a car (my sister's husband works for Enterprise, so we got a good deal) and made pretty good use of it. None of us had ever stayed downtown before, so we booked our first two nights at the Golden Nugget. We were in the South tower on the 14th floor. The room was very nice, big enough for the three of us, though the two double beds were a tad small. Check-in went fine- the woman at the front forgot to charge us for the third person in the room. She realized it after she had run everything through the computer, so she told us not to worry about it. I had booked us at $69.00 a night, so we felt like we got a pretty good deal. We didn't play a whole lot there, so didn't ask for any comps. It was quite a trek from the casino to the elevators, but we didn't mind.

    On our way from the Enterprise office to the Nugget, we decided to hunt down a Fatburger. None of us had ever eaten at one before, so we thought that might be a good way to start the trip. Went to the one on West Charleston because we didn't want to fight traffic on the strip. This is an older location but the restaurant and bathrooms were clean. By the way, does every Fatburger have their bathrooms on the outside of the building? :confused: We had to ask the girl at the counter for a key- kind of like at a filling station!

    We spent our first afternoon checking out downtown. As usual, saw lots of interesting people! :eek: We met back at the hotel to get ready for our 8:00 reservation at the Great Moments Room. I had read so many good things about this place that we thought we ought to try it. I had a "buy one entree, get one free up to $36.00" coupon, so that made it even better! We arrived early, but they went ahead and seated us because they weren't very busy. I have to say, that was one of the best meals I've ever had in Vegas. Not just the food, but the atmosphere and the service as well. Since there were only 3 or 4 other tables of customers, we got lots of attention! The filet mignon was incredible and we really enjoyed the "Great Moments Room Salad" and the "complimentary" after dinner aperitif. I can't wait to take my husband there on our next trip! Thanks to Hoya, David and all of the others who spoke so highly of this place. I wouldn't have tried it had I not read about it on this board.

    If you want lots of good gambling stories, this is not the report for you. We played mainly slots and none of us did very well anywhere on this trip. My mother almost always hits some kind of jackpot when she is in Vegas, but not this time. Most of our playing was very forgettable. I did absolutely NOTHING at the Golden Nugget (except lose). I could not hit enough to even keep playing for a while. My sister experienced the same thing. We did lots of wandering around downtown our first day trying to find somewhere to just play- not even to win a lot- just keep playing. I was able to play for a while at the Las Vegas Club after our dinner there, but still came out a loser. I played for a long time on a couple of Beverly Hillbilly machines, but ended up giving back everything I won. Played some jackpot party machines at the Fremont that I did well on last year, but they didn't seem to remember me. Oh well, called it a night about midnight (2:00 am Texas time) I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer.

    Day Two
    After getting kind of a late start our first morning in Vegas, we decided to do some driving around. We grabbed the car from valet (which was always very quick at the GN) and headed to Tuscany. We signed up for the slot club, then played (lost) for a while. The casino is not very big, but had a great selection of machines. Lots of fun nickel and penny machines! We ate lunch at the cafe there and it was actually very good. The cream of mushroom soup was great! After lunch and playing a little more, we asked if we could see a room for future reference. The woman at the counter was very nice and had someone show us one of their "suites." All of the rooms have a sitting area and kitchenette. This would be a great place for those who like to keep snacks in their room and who like to make their own coffee in the morning. Tuscany has been bought by Ellis Island, so I guess the name will be changing soon. We were told everything else will stay the same. Anyone have any more info.on this change?

    After leaving Tuscany, we headed to the Ethel M chocolate factory. None of us had ever been and we needed something to keep us away from the slots for a while! By this time all three of us were pretty discouraged. We got to the factory about 5:00. I believe they are open until 7:00. There wasn't too much happening. A lot of the workers had left for the day, but we did get to see big vats of melted butter and chocolate. [​IMG] It was way too hot to tour the cactus garden, so we left after checking out the gift shops. Even though there was not a whole lot of activity, this was a nice diversion for us.

    Since we were over on that side of town, we decided to go to Sunset Station. None of us had been there before, so we decided to check it out. We went to Green Valley Ranch last year, and the layout and decor of Sunset is very similar. It is very pretty and very BIG. We had fun wandering around. I discovered a Jeff Foxworthy penny machine. I hadn't played one before, so I plopped down and started playing. I kept hitting some pretty big credits (for pennies) so I was able to play for quite a while. I cashed out about $40.00 ahead and met up with my mom and sister for dinner. We ate at the Mexican food place (can't remember the name). Not a good experience. Since we live in Texas and New Mexico, we are pretty spoiled to great Mexican food, so we were pretty disappointed. After putting my $40.00 win back into the Jeff Foxworthy machine and promptly losing it, we headed back downtown.

    I headed down to Fitzgerald's to play for a while since I hadn't been there yet. There was a one-man-band playing keyboard and singing a lot of 80's music. (Perfect for me- I'm 37). I played at the machines where I could still hear him. He was actually very good. I left when I could no longer stand to lose anymore.

    Day Three
    On our second morning, my mother woke with a migraine, so we were kind of slow getting around. I got ready and brought up breakfast from Starbucks then went and wandered a while. I watched the vendors getting their carts ready for the day. I saw one, can't remember the name, with items for the "professional stripper." Saw an interesting set of pink sequined pasties with tassels for sale. Only in Vegas! (I started to get them for my husband as a souvenir, but thought I might have a hard time explaining them when my bags got checked at security! :D )
    Headed back to the room for our move to Paris. We checked out on the TV, loaded up, and said goodbye to the Golden Nugget. I liked staying downtown, but was ready to get to the strip.

    Paris is one of my favorite places in Las Vegas. I love the food, the casino and the shopping. I had never stayed there before, so I was really looking forward to this part of the trip. I got a mailer several months ago for $69.00 a night, so that's what we booked. When I was on the phone with casino marketing making the reservation, the guy said there was no extra charge for the third person. When we checked in, I asked if a "P" room was available, but was told that there weren't any available with two queen beds. "Jon" said he would take care of us though and gave us a room on the 32nd floor with a great view. It wasn't a "strip" view, but we had a great view of the mountains and the north end of the strip. For $69.00 I felt we got a great deal! The room was big enough for the 3 of us and all of our junk. I will definitely stay there again!

    After getting settled, we headed over to the Aladdin to play in the daily slot tournament. We realize that it is almost impossible to "win" in this tournament, but we do it for the $20.00 food credit and the $10.00 slot play. We were very disappointed to find out this trip that the $20.00 food credit has been reduced to $10.00 food credit and a "gift" :rolleyes: . But, since we had not heard about the change, they went ahead and gave us the $20.00. They said it was supposed to change over in April, but they still have advertisements circulating around that advertise the $20.00 so they are still honoring it when asked. We played our spins, collected our $20.00 food vouchers then hit the Zanzibar Cafe. Even though this restaurant is kind of pricey for a "cafe", the food is excellent. It is one of our favorite places to eat. Even with $60.00 in credit, we still owed about $18.00. My sister ordered the buffalo chicken sandwich. It had 3 huge pieces of chicken on it. My mom and I shared the tempura shrimp and ricotta ravioli and each ordered a salad. She ordered a regular Caesar salad, but ended up with the chicken Caesar, which was about double the price of the regular salad. It was good, but way too big. We all split a huge piece of chocolate cake and waddled out to spend our $10.00 in slot play.
    Last year when we did this, I ended up winning $250.00 on the Aladdin's $10.00. This year I wasn't quite as lucky. I ran through their $10.00 pretty quickly with nothing to show for it. I tried a Jeff Foxworthy again and lost pretty quickly. I decided to wander around and see if I could find the quarter machine that I won the $250.00 on last year. I found it in the same place as last year and it was open. It was a 10x, 5x, 2x machine. I put $10.00 in and was down to my last couple of spins and hit for $150.00! I played down to $125.00 and cashed out. That was my only decent win of the trip.

    My sister and I left my mom at the Aladdin and headed over to the World of Coke and the M & M's store. I just love getting an ice cold coke in a glass bottle! We shopped for the kids and husbands then headed back to Paris to pick up Mom. We then drove over to the Mirage for dinner.

    We had all really been looking forward to "Cravings", the new buffet at the Mirage. As I posted in the Restaurants section, we were pretty disappointed. It did not live up to our high expectations. After dinner, we gave the Mirage some of our money then headed back to Paris. We stayed up and played for a while there then headed to bed.

    Our last full day
    We got up and ready and headed to the Paris buffet for breakfast/lunch. We got there about 10:45 and only waited in line a few minutes. This buffet has been excellent every time I've eaten there, and this time was just as good, if not better. As we were eating they began putting out lunch items. We filled up on breakfast/lunch then decided to wander over to Bally's. Played there for a while then picked up the car and headed over to Mandalay Bay. My sister wanted to check out the Shark Reef. While she did that, my mother and I wandered around. I went in the Chocolate Swan (beautiful desserts and chocolates by the pound) and bought a few items then went a played for a while. Once again, couldn't get much going. My mother had the same experience. We grabbed the car from valet and took off to the Bellagio.

    One of the things my mother and I really wanted to do this trip was see the Monet exhibit at the Bellagio. Monet is one of my favorites, so this was a treat for me. The exhibit was beautiful and very informative. I believe there were about 20 of his paintings displayed, a couple of which I had not seen before. It was definitely worth the admission price. After going through the exhibit and browsing around the gift shop, we went to see the conservatory. It was full of hydrangeas which happen to be my favorite flower. There were sculptures of children playing, their clothing made entirely of flowers. We spent quite a bit of time wandering around and admiring everything. By this time our breakfast was wearing off, so we decided to go ahead and eat at the Bellagio buffet. It was still fairly early (6:30 or so) so the line wasn't too long yet. I have eaten here several times and just like the Paris buffet, it didn't disappoint. We stuffed ourselves and took a long time doing it! We just sat and enjoyed being with each other and called my father (who treated us to this trip, by the way! :D )and told him how good everything was. He loves this buffet as well, so he was pretty jealous. My sister literally made herself sick on crab legs. She was fine when we left, but by midnight was feeling it pretty hard! When we left the buffet about 8:15, the line was longer than I had ever seen it. It went down past the restrooms close to the buffet entrance and just kept going. The wait had to have been over 2 hours. We went outside and watched the fountains which were beautiful as always. I can't seem to watch them without getting teary eyed.

    The last few of hours of my last night in Vegas were not spent the way I had intended. We decided to drop off the rental car our last night rather than try to do it early on the morning of departure. We all had to be at the airport by about 8:00 am, so thought the evening drop off would work out better. WRONG!!!! My sister and I left my mom at the Bellagio and took the car back to the Enterprise office. We realized on the way that we needed to get gas, so we drove on past the turn in to the E. office and found a gas station. I wanted to pay cash for the gas but had to pay in advance. Well, I knew I had to fill up the tank, but didn't know how much it would take. I stood there and debated with the clerk for what seemed like an eternity until I finally said "Can I give you $20.00 and if it doesn't take that much, come back in and get a refund?" "Sure" he says. Well it took exactly $20.00 to fill up, so I at least I didn't have to go back in and start again with the clerk.... Once we found our way back to the E. office, we saw they were very busy. This is 9:30 in the evening. We settle the bill and ask the guy behind the counter how we can get back to the hotel. He told us to wait outside for a couple of minutes and an employee would take us back. Well, a couple of minutes turned into about 30. We could have called a cab and been back in the time it took to wait. There was another family and a man by himself who also needed rides. We dropped the family off first at the San Remo then headed to Paris. We had to tell the driver how to get to Paris the back way so we could avoid strip traffic. After all was said and done, it took almost 2 hours to take the car back.

    After getting back to the hotel, we went up and packed then headed back down and over to the Aladdin again. I wanted to try my 10x, 5x, 2x machine one more time. I walked by and some man was playing MY machine and had over 1600 credits on it. [​IMG] Oh well. I went and played some Jeff Foxworthy again and this time did pretty well at first. I had about $40.00 - $50.00 in credits built up, so I decided to start playing more credits per spin. Well, by now, knowing my luck, you know what happened. Yes, I lost it all in a matter of a couple of minutes. I went back over to check MY machine and Mr. 1600 credits was gone so I thought "surely there is a little left for me!" WRONG. My sweet little machine promptly ate my $20.00 and gave me nothing in return. One of these days I will learn when to just take the money and run! I headed back to Paris with my tail between my legs, dropped a few more dollars there then headed up for the night. I forgot to mention that the NFL Retired Players Assoc. was holding their convention at Paris while we were there. I didn't see anyone that I recognized, but saw several people who had to be attendees.

    The alarm rang way too early Friday morning and it was time to get ready to go. We caught a cab to the airport and the cabbie says "You want curbside check-in?" Before I could answer, my mom says "sure!" The line didn't seem all that long, but when you are standing in the Nevada sun waiting with the luggage while your mother goes through the line (in the shade), 20 minutes seems like FOREVER! Then, the guy checking us in says "I'm going to send you to a new security checkpoint. It will be a lot faster for you. See that woman walking up there in the white blouse? Follow her, go around the building and in those doors." Well, sounded great til we realized it was quite a distance, outside, in the sun hauling our carry ons to get to this magic security checkpoint. Once inside, the line was short for security, but then we still had to haul it quite a distance to our gate. Oh well, at least by now we were inside!
    The flight home was uneventful. Spent a good part of it visiting with a guy who had sat behind us on the way to Vegas. It was the first time for him and his family to visit Vegas, so it was interesting hearing all of his "first-timer" impressions.

    As much as I love Las Vegas, it was good to get home to my husband and kids. Of course, the first thing the kids wanted to know was "what did you bring me?" It was good to be with my sister and my mom. My sister and I only get to see each other about once a year, so these trips allow us some quality time together (even if we do have to share a bed again, just like when we were kids!) I can't wait to go back, next time with my husband!

    A few last minute thoughts:

    - I love Southwest's "A" boarding passes
    - Downtown is fun, but I still prefer staying on the strip.
    - When you are losing, you find lots of other things to do to take up some time!
    - Use the back way to get to and from Paris. Traffic makes it almost impossible to get from Paris onto the strip.
    - I will miss the Aladdin.
    - Tuscany is pretty cool.
    - It is nice having a car, but you miss a lot by not walking from casino to casino.
    - Funniest sight- Saw a woman have a "flip-flop blow-out". Poor thing was crossing the street in front of Paris and her flip-flop fell apart! The part that goes into the shoe between the toes came out. Here she was, on hot asphalt and concrete, 100+degrees outside and no shoe. We wondered the rest of the trip what she did after that.

    Thanks for taking the time to read this. I know it wasn't the most exciting trip report, but it was fun for me to go back and try to remember everything!
     
  2. boxcars

    boxcars High-Roller

    Joined:
    May 19, 2004
    Messages:
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    Location:
    North Dakota
    Stacy,

    Nice report! I stayed downtown June 7-11 (I have a G-rated report too!)

    Anyway, I stayed at Tuscany in January for 4 nights and really enjoyed it. I was alone that trip, but nice to know the rooms were large for future reference. The casino is small, but never a crowd. Great dealers too.

    I'm still destined to make it to the Bellagio for the Buffet. I guess next time.
     
  3. chef

    chef Resident Buffetologist

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    boxcars and stacy,
    I enjoy reading a g-rated trip report as much, if not more, than the down and dirty ones (those are bad either).
    You can still provide the Vegas flavor by keeping things somewhat tame.
     
  4. bigdogmom

    bigdogmom VIP Whale

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Prescott Valley, AZ
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    33
    Thanks for the great report, Stacy!

    Where did you get the 2/1 coupon for the Great Moments Room? I'd consider going there if I had a coupon... [​IMG]
     
  5. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

    Joined:
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    Location:
    North Carolina
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    Stacy--so glad you enjoyed Great Moments Room! Sounds like you had a lovely trip, despite the gambling losses :(
     
  6. stacy67

    stacy67 Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    Bigdogmom-
    I got the 2 for 1 coupon in kind of a round about way. Right now at http://national.citysearch.com/best_giveaway/select/ they have a contest going. You vote for your favorite restaurants in different cities. Of course, I picked Las Vegas! After voting, I received an email that gave me the opportunity to print 3 coupons from the "Entertainment Book" website. The catch is, you have to print the coupons within 2 weeks of "winning" them, and then they are only good for a short time. This happened to work great for me since we already had our trip planned. :D I believe the contest ends on June 20th. You can also just buy the Entertainment Book. I think it is about $10.00 right now. You can go to their website- www.entertainment.com -and see all of the restaurants offering coupons. Mainly fast food stuff, but a few nice ones thrown in. [​IMG]
     
  7. jenaphir

    jenaphir Well-Known Member

    Joined:
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    Messages:
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    great report - i love the detail.

    i will miss the aladdin too, its my favorite strip casino. im hoping to get in one more stay before it turns into Planet Hollywood.

    thanks for sharing your report!
     
  8. YoungGun

    YoungGun VIP Whale

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    Thanks for the report. It is nice to hear that you still got the food credit at Aladdin. I too will miss the place. I have a soft spot for it since that is where we stayed for my aunt's wedding. I think deals will be harder to come by there once it changes hands (if it ever does).

    Just wanted to ask... did you get the denim jacket for playing the Aladdin Slot Tournament? I'm thinking of playing next time, but without the food credit it doesn't seems as great of a deal. Their website no longer mentions the food credit.

    http://www.aladdincasino.com/gamingpromo.html
     
  9. mgreeley1

    mgreeley1 Tourist

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Jacksonville Florida
    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    Stacy,

    That was an excellent "G-Rated" trip report. LOL
    Glad you had fun despite the losses. I am curious to hear your thoughts on the new Mirage buffet. Most folks on here are not big fans.
     
  10. NEON

    NEON Tourist

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Santa Fe
    great report Stacey,

    I had the same question about the moments coupon! I went to vote for all categories, spun the wheel and nothing! Oh well. Then I got the E-mail for the 3 Entertainment coupons! Thanks again, Great timing! [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] We are looking for a good downtown place to eat as we will be there next Monday till Friday and have Casa Di Amore for Monday, Delmonico's for Tuesday, but need something for Wed, Thur when we move to the MSS...
    We will use the 2-1 at Great Moments and we also printed the same for Hofbrauhaus and Harley Davidsons!.
    Thanks again, Now we can eat great food at half price! [​IMG]

    T-6

    [ June 15, 2004, 07:02 PM: Message edited by: NEON ]
     
  11. stacy67

    stacy67 Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Texas
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    YoungGun-
    No, no denim jacket- just the $20.00 food credit and $10.00 slot credit, but that is why we played- wanted it to spend at the Zanzibar! [​IMG] The info. we got when we were there said $10.00 in food credit and a gift, but the link you have is now only showing the gift. Hmmmmmmm [​IMG] I guess no more food credits?

    mgreeley1-
    You can see my comments about the Mirage buffet under the "Restaurants" section http://www.travel2vegas.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=000730
    I was really disappointed. [​IMG]

    Neon-
    Glad you got the coupons! [​IMG] They were really nice at the Great Moments Room- 3 of us eating, 2 ordered filet mignon at about $32.00 per dinner, 1 ordered pork tenderloin at about $28.00. They gave us $32.00 off the bill. They could have gone with the cheaper entree as the "free" one, but let us have the full $32.00. It was just a great experience all the way around! [​IMG]
     
  12. NEON

    NEON Tourist

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    Again thanks Stacey!
    Thats the great thing about this board, there are so many things you can learn to help out on a trip! [​IMG]
    Does anyone know if we will need reservations ahead of time for Great Moments on Wed or Thur the 23rd or 24th of June?
     
  13. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    We've gone to Great Moments twice--without reservations the first time (we walked in around 5:30, they said they'd be able to fit us in around 6:30 so we went back to the casino to gamble and got in when they said we would) The second time we were with a large group (8) but one guy was very well known at the restaurant--he made reservations the night before and we got a large table in the middle of the room (it's a small room--U-shaped booths around the perimeter and a handful of tables in the center of the room) On a weekday night you're probably fine making your reservation when you get there--I don't know how far in advance they accept reservations anyway (at Redwood Grill I think you can only make reservations a week in advance)
     
  14. NEON

    NEON Tourist

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    Thanks Hoya,
    We will just show up and put our name in when the time is convenient and your point about playing in the Casino if you have to wait is a good one. It's not like Outback at home where you have to wait an hour and the only thing to do is buy the 6.75 Margaritas while you wait!

    ;)
     
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