25th Anniversary Sept-3-10

The wife and I have been to Vegas 6 times over the last 5 years and always have a good time and decided that is where we wanted to go for our 25th anniversary. We are pretty easy going and it doesn’t take much for us to enjoy our Vegas trips. Our previous trips have always been 7 day and this trip was no different.

This is going to be my first attempt at a trip report. This report is broken down by topics. Sorry in advance for the length.

Flight – Used points to pay for our round trip from LIT. Did early bird there and back which got use 25A,26A out and 24A,25A back. We were able to score the last row as we like these seats due to the fact they are close to the head which after a few beers at the airport and on the plane this is important. Also we are never in as big of hurry as everyone else to get off because we always check our bags so there really is no rush. By the time we get the carousel the crowd has thinned and our luggage is waiting. Get on the rental car shuttle to pick up our car for the week.

Car Rental – The only reason that we get a car is because my wife enjoys shopping and going to the outlet malls. The only time I spent in the car was getting from and to the airport and changing locations. I think after this trip we may just rent one from where we are staying for a couple of days instead of the whole stay. We have tried multiple rental agencies in the past but seemed to always get better services and less pressure from Enterprise so that is who we went with this time. We had booked with them before and gotten a free upgrade and was hoping this time would be the same. This was not the case. We had booked a compact but he said he could upgrade us for $9.99 a day. We talked it over and decided we were fine with what we had. He came back asking if we were sure that we would be happy with a 2 door without power windows or door locks. Told him it was just the 2 of us and as long as it had AC we were happy. Got out to the lot and get a 4 door Mazda 3 with plenty of room and power windows. Little disappointed that he tried to get us to upgrade on false information. The only time I spent in the car was getting from and to the airport and changing locations. She went shopping a couple of days but I think after this trip we may just rent a car from where we are staying for a couple of days instead of the whole stay.

Lodging – Over the years we have migrated from the Strip and off strip to Downtown and off strip. Not that there is anything wrong with the strip. We are just currently on a downtown kick and seem to always get an offer for a couple of free nights off strip. The first five days were spent at the Plaza and the last 2 were comped days at the M Resort.
We have stayed at the Plaza 2 previous times and have enjoyed their rooms just fine. As stated earlier we are pretty easy going and it does not take much to keep us happy. We got the 14th floor in the south tower and it was all we needed. I will have to say though that it seems that the Plaza is letting itself go. It just seems like they just remodeled and the rooms and carpet are already starting to show wear. Nothing major or anything to get uptight about, just an observation.
We also had some comped nights at MMS that I went ahead and booked just to see if we might want to give them a stay on our next trip. The last time we had stayed there the room was dated and the AC was very load. This time the room was updated and very nice. We tried to give them a lot of play so that we might be able to score some more comped nights on a future trip and just stay there.

The M resort was awesome from the resort to the people that worked there. I almost hate staying in a place like this because I have now raised the bar and seen how the other half lives. I like the way the other half lives.

Since this was our 25th anniversary I wanted to surprise my wonderful wife with a bottle of wine or champagne and some chocolate covered strawberries. I spoke with Janet at the M about a month before we went to see if could get me in contact with someone so I could get it ordered. She said just give her a call the day we were to check in to give her an ETA and she would have it delivered. After 5 days in Vegas and the move to the M I completely forgot about calling Janet and letting her know when we were getting checked in but Janet didn’t. After getting to the room and just relaxing after the weekend downtown we get a knock on the door and it is room service delivering a bottle of sparkling wine and some chocolate covered strawberries with a card from Janet wishing us a happy anniversary. I could not believe that she took the time to do this and to comp it was just even better. I guess this is the difference in staying at the Plaza and staying at the M. Since we are such low rollers and only budget about $300 a day we normally don’t try to get comped anything so this was a nice bonus. We even charged a few things to the room and when we got home they had removed those charges as will without us even asking. I am sure that we will be staying at the M again comped or not.

While we were there we used a concierge for the first time. We wanted to send Janet a thank you note with a token of our appreciation. Danyel was the concierge on duty and she was nice enough to help us write the note and then print it on a nice letter head and provide an envelope and have it delivered to Janet.

One other thing that is different about the M then the other places we had stayed was the printing of our boarding passes. I just went to the check in counter to see if he could direct me to a kiosk that we could have them printed off at. He said they didn’t have one but that he could print them off for me, which he did. I think I could start liking these types of places.

Food – When eating in Vegas we usually keep it pretty simple and did the same this trip. We normally eat twice a day, a big breakfast or early lunch, depending on what time we drag out of bed, and an early dinner with maybe a snack. I asked my wife if she would like to go out somewhere nice but she just wanted to do the usual. We stick with what we know and try to throw in a wild card every trip. Following are where we ate that we knew.

Downtown
Du-Pars at Golden Gate – We love this place for breakfast and late night “sober up a little before going to bed” snack. We ate here for breakfast twice and one “sober up” snack.
Triple 7 at MSS – Had 2 dinners here. Another place you can’t go wrong. Just good bar food at a reasonable price plus I love their home brews.
MSS buffet – We had a comp offer for the buffet so we did breakfast here one morning. We usually try to avoid buffets but this one isn’t bad.
Pop-Up Pizza – This is another good place for a late night “forgot to eat before I started drinking” snack place.
Downtown wildcards (for us).
Café Cortez - $7.95 prime rib special – went here on recommendation of this message board. This is an off menu item and was first disappointed when we did not see it but the waitress said it was available so we got it. Very happy we tried this. Will be another “go to” place for downtown.
Aloha Specialties – Had to try something with Spam other then fried spam sandwiches, a staple when I was growing up. I can’t remember exactly what we had but my dish consisted of rice and span rapped in seaweed with chicken teriyaki and hers was rice with I believe was a teriyaki dish and fried spam. Pretty good and would try it again.
First Friday – One thing we wanted to try while we were in Vegas was some of the food trucks. Since we were there for first Friday we knew it would be the best chance to find a concentration of them within walking distance and get to try multiple items. The only one I can remember the name of, because he gave us a card, was wa da pho, asian fusion, had a couple of Pho-licious tacos that were very good. Spicy and sweet and probably our favorite. We then had a lobster grilled cheese sandwich which was pretty good. We followed this up with some Venezuelan food from Rika Arepa Express. We had the Pabellon - Black Beans, Shredded Beef, Sweet Plantains, and Cheese which was pretty tasty.
Honorable mentions – Salad from the Plaza coffee shop, this was a good lunch for a day we slept in and didn’t want to have to rush to go somewhere. Just took it back to room. Snack bar at the Fremont – We had to get a snack to tide us over until we could get to first Friday. Just split a hotdog and a soda pop.

Moving day from plaza to the M - We love the Firefly. We stopped there on Sunday when we moved to the M. Did I mention that the M is awesome? Anyway we always get the bacon rapped almond stuffed dates with blue cheese and a red wine reduction. We also shared a few of the other tapas but the bacon rapped dates are still our favorite.

M-resort
Hash House a Go Go – I think everyone is familiar with this place and if not just do a search.
Vig Deli – Split a Reuben. This is one thing we are always looking for, a good grilled Reuben. Since the snack bar at Binion’s has closed this has probably been the best Reuben we have found in Vegas so far.
Burgers and brew –split a Micro Burger with sweet potato fries and white cheddar bacon fries. This meal was also good and even splitting the burger it was too much food.

Now the important part –Gambling
We mostly like to play video poker at the quarter level and will throw in a slot machine just to take a break. We always take what we feel comfortable losing and hope to make it home with some of it which is what we did even though it was not much. We still had a great time though.

Downtown - The mornings would start with me giving the Plaza enough play to enter their daily slot tournament. After that I would move down to the Four Queens where I found a video poker machine that I just couldn’t get away from. It is a three play video poker with a bonus spin if you get a natural 3OAK, 4OAK or a full house. The bonus spin allows you to spin a wheel that gives a starting hand and a certain number of plays. The first time I got to spin I hit a 3 play with 4 to a royal. I hit one of the royals and I was hooked. I was only playing nickel but still exciting to hit for 4000 of them. I also was playing DDB on it when it hit with a flopped 4OAK, fours, and redrew with one of those hitting the kicker. It is a very fun game. Our nights usually ended up at the MSS bar playing video poker and drinking the High Roller.
After 5 days downtown we still had almost half our bankroll left so we felt pretty good going to the M with half our bankroll and a day and a half to play through it. We knew we weren’t going to see the same odds at the M and new it would take a little more cash to gamble. Plus since they were generous enough to comp us 2 nights I wanted give them as much play as I could.
The M - Pretty much went the way I expected but we did get a lot of play and the first night went back to the room with a little more then we arrived with. But the next day after a full day of playing and tipping we played it down to just a couple of hundred and called it a day. The biggest mistake I made was playing some table game I had no business playing. I can’t remember what it was called but after a couple of hands the “nice” lady also playing informed me I better have deep pockets if I want to continue playing. I looked at the dealer and he nodded in agreement. I then looked at the pit boss as he handed me my card back and he also agreed. Figured I am in for a penny in for a pound. They took the whole pound and the penny. I think I heard them laughing as I walked away but was too embarrassed to turn around and look.

Probably the highlight of the trip was getting to meet the famous Royal Flusher (http://www.royalflushervegas.com/)!!! He was leaving the day after we got there but was nice enough to bring me one of his business cards while I was playing VP at the Four Queens. I had to make up some story about how I knew how to play Keno and was considered an advantage player and was barred from playing Keno at multiple casinos. He called me on it and I had to come clean and admit I had never played Keno before but he still came down and gave me one of his cards which has been framed and hanging over the fire place. Thanks again Royal F’r!!!




In short it was another great trip to Vegas and we are looking forward to the next.
Thanks for reading.

 

Happy Anniversary! And thanks for the informative trip report. Sounds like you had a nice time. I like the ambiance of the M Resort, although I've never stayed there. I've played there a few times, but have never won there. It was nice of them to comp you the champagne/strawberries. Those little things mean so much. Congrats on your royal. Sounds like you did OK on that Wheel Poker game too.

 

Now didn't I tell you to go and git a royal! So glad to hear that you actually did!!!

It was nice to meet you, and sorry I missed the Mrs. M.

Love your Royal Flusher Art! That is truly savvy!

 

I have my Flusher Business Card framed and hanging over the toilet in my barn!

I thought RF would be impressed... well impressed that I had a toilet in my barn anyway?

Great Report! Stay at MSS next time!

 

Squid, I can say that you always make an impression.

 

Belated Happy Anniversary; congrats in the royal and meeting our own Royal Flusher! Nice touch at the M delivering the bubbly and strawberries...excellent customer service!