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March Trip Wrapup

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by kms9370, Apr 12, 2005.

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  1. kms9370

    kms9370 Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    My Trip Report

    I thought I'd finally get this done. After my weekday stay in Henderson, I was able to check in at the Venetian for 2 nights. Got there Friday around 2...the line was huge, there were probably 200 people in front of me...one of the hotel workers pointed the group in front of me and myself to the Venezia tower check in because there was nobody there. I had reserved a non-smoking view room. She offered me smoking and I told her I really would prefer non. She said she would see what she could do and left the front desk area...I was silently praying for a free upgrade (I was already paying 424/night so I had high expectations!). She finally came back and gave me a room..no upgrade. By the time I got checked in there was a pretty big line behind me... [​IMG] .
    Headed up to the room, 21st floor, awesome view of the north strip....room was incredible, I posted some pics previously. I had 5:30 reservations at Aquanox so I decided to hit the floor for some gambling...played some $10 craps for an hour or so, nothing exciting, then headed over to a Wheel of Fortune slot machine, droppped a 20 in..had several spins and had about $100 in credits, then had a spin for 1000 credits, cashed out for $370 or so. Decided to go back to the craps table until it was dinnertime. Had an ok run..I'm pretty conservative when I play, people around me were buying in with stacks of 100's, one guy did a $2500 marker (I'm in the wrong line of work).
    Scooted over to Aquanox for dinner, I had the sampler for an appetizer, shrimp, crab, and lobster cocktail. Wow, it was amazing, I've never had sweeter shrimp, for the main entree, I had a 2 pound stuffed (w/ stone crab) lobster...it was wonderful. For desert I had a bananna split I believe..it was 2 scoops of a bananna sorbet coated in chocolate, 2 carmelized bannnas and a scoop of vanilla ice cream....excellent finish to the meal. Service was awesome...price after tip $138...by far the most I've ever paid for a meal. Played some more craps after dinner, came out a hundred or 2 ahead...so it was a good evening. Retired up to the room and sat by the window and soaked in the view...I was able to faintly hear the Siren show at the TI and had a great view of the fireworks, but couldn't see the action.
    Got up Saturday AM, had breakfast at the Grand Lux..excellent meal..huge portions. Decided to check out the Gugenheim museum...they had an ancient Egypt exhibit...it was really cool..you could get right up to most stuff, a cpl were in glass. Wasn't a huge exhibit, probably took an hour to go through, but very cool.
    Did some walking around the strip..checked out TI, decided to get an evening ticket to Mystere..since it was last minute, I didn't expect a great seat..had section 203 (upper center), row GG. The ticket person was very short with me and rude...I told her that I knew what general area I wanted to be in, she told me that she would read off where I could sit...5 minutes later she came to the area I wanted..geez.
    Spent most of the rest of the day wandering the strip a little, had Dim Sum at the Venetian at the Royal Star, I love that place. Wasn't feeling real great in the afternoon, so I went back to the room and rested a while..walked over to the TI for dinner....most of the places were pretty busy, so I decided to try the buffet...almost $30 to get in. I was not overly impressed. The selection isn't that great, but what they did have was very high quality, the sushi looked pretty good. They do have some design issues, the lines really get bound up..you have to go through the asian/noodle line, to get to the american food..and some misc salad stuff...they should break it up into stations a little to save some congestion.
    Got seated for Mystere, the seat I had was awesome..I was very happy...I can't say enough about the show..best $95 I ever spent I think (I actually just bought tickets for when I'm going to Vegas with the wife in may..they've lowered some prices, they now have $75 seats that aren't too bad, I'm in row JJ then..still section 203).
    Headed back over to the Venetian, watched the volcano from the 2nd floor area outside...pretty good view still and no crowds. Plopped another 20 in a Wheel of Fortune machine...hit another 1000 credits..decided to cash out and bailed for the night..had to drive out early in the AM so I hit the hay.
    On the 17th I came back through, I originally had planned to meet some of the folks for the madness, but I didn't get in until a little after 7...checked into the 4 Queens...got a smoking room over Freemont Street, I was above the canopy by about 1 floor, room was really noisy, and the bed was like a rock..ick. I headed over to Binions to try out the cafe...had the $9 or so steak and shrimp....shrimp were awesome, steak was ok (it's only $9!!), huge baked potato and probably a half pound of green beans...a good value I think. After dinner I went back to the 4 Queens and played a little craps...OMG I've never seen a worse dealer..he was screwing up payouts all the time, at one point the stick lady was so fed up, she smacked him on the hand with the stick to stop him from paying out wrong again. Lost about $50 there...I needed a drink so I headed over to La Bayou. Had a full yard strawberry with the 151 kicker...pretty potent. Drinking that, in addition to a few beers from the 4 Queens had me buzzing a little. I hung out on Freemont and listened to the live band for a while...decided I needed more to drink so I stopped at Mermaids and got a brain freeze...yummy!!! Didn't do much after that but stagger back to the hotel (noticed a foul smelling garbage can along the way..hmm)...crashed out and got up the next AM and headed to the airport...plain was completly booked except for the seat next to me...score!! Flight back sucked, I was going through Minneapolis and the snowstorm was hitting, they had us circle for an extra 45 minutes or so...landed and found out my flight home was cancelled, talked to the folks at the gate and the soonest I could get home was Sunday..screw that! I booked over to the Hertz counter and rented a car 1-way for $180. Travelled a whopping 100 miles in 4 hours before I gave up for the night and got a hotel...finished the trip the next AM.
    Overall it was a great trip...came up several hundred from gambling which was pretty cool. Stayed at 4 new hotels this trip..looking at the Venetian for my vacation. Best part of the trip...except for my gambling...%100 was paid for by work... [​IMG]

    [ April 12, 2005, 04:34 PM: Message edited by: kms9370 ]
     
  2. East Coast Shuffle

    East Coast Shuffle Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Nova Scotia, Canada
    Great TR.
    Overall I'd have to say that despite the flight home
    sounds like you had an awesome excursion !. [​IMG]
     
  3. doctor_al

    doctor_al VIP Whale

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    Too bad you missed us, kms, but at least you caught a "whiff" of the action... [​IMG]
     
  4. kms9370

    kms9370 Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Glad you caught that Doc! Of course that part was all for you..it's not like I go around sniffing garbage cans!
     
  5. Vegas Tonya

    Vegas Tonya Margarita Connoisseur

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    Great report. Guess Doc left his mark in Vegas.
     
  6. Jer

    Jer “The Walrus has spoken”

    Joined:
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    Nice report!

    Doc is still catching heat...
     
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