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Vegas Virgins!!! April 10-18th

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by sweetcanadian, Apr 22, 2014.

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  1. sweetcanadian

    sweetcanadian High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2013
    Messages:
    874
    Location:
    Manitoba canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    1

    My Trip Report

    So we have been back from vegas a few days now. Trying to find time to write the report. I got one post up on my blog so now time for here. Vegas was everything i expected it to be! I am the type of person who gets excited over the tiniest of things so with that comes big huge disappointment if things aren't as i dream them to be.

    **pre trip info** I will do this as a day by day mostly. No pics as i really have nothing interesting that you have not seen before.

    I do nails as a hobby, so i ordered water decals that were poker chips & a Royal Flush. I did my nails as a french nail with purple tips with a creme background for these decals to show up. I also got a pedicure and my hair highlighted with an awesome shade of red. I was feeling pretty good. Checked weather and it looked great! Was going to be crappy back home so i could not wait.

    We had 4 nights at MB booked with myvegas, 3 nights gold coast (2 of them a marketing comp when i bought my blazer) and 1 night MC with myvegas.

    Our flights were direct with westjet out of wpg booked with airmiles. Leave @ 2:55 pm and get there at 4:11. I thought that would be a great time to land and still have lots of time in vegas for our first night.........not so much it turns out.

    Unbelievable we both only went with $600 :haha:I had 2 credit cards with me but didn't want to use them much. I only put 150 on it not including resort fees. We made it work and i came home with $48 still in my pocket! We had a blast as well.


    We both can only eat twice a day. There isn't a situation where we could ever eat 3 times a day. I can be up 20 hours and still only eat twice. Out of the $700 i used in vegas i had about $120 in souvenirs and spent at least 80 if not 100 on machines.

    We split the cab rides we used and also tips for bellmen etc. Now i will do this day by day.
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2014
  2. NickyDim

    NickyDim Hockey is life

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2012
    Messages:
    1,404
    Location:
    Lone Mountain
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    999
    8 nights/$600 apiece/$150 in CC charges. Wow, that's stretching your dollar.
     
  3. TheCanoe

    TheCanoe Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Apr 2, 2013
    Messages:
    256
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    5
    Wow. Last trip, between pre flight drinks and drinks on the plane, I think I spent $260. Forget about it once we landed. I have much to learn.

    Looking forward to this!
     
  4. sweetcanadian

    sweetcanadian High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2013
    Messages:
    874
    Location:
    Manitoba canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    1
    I added a bit at the end of the first report to finish it up now that i am home.

    Day 1

    Landed at the airport on time, plane was not full. They even had plus seats available but wanted full price for them so no one took it. I checked in at the 24 hour mark so i got ok seats. With canadian airlines you do not pay extra for early boarding and can pay for seat selection but at the 24 hour mark you can pick your seats so you do not have to worry about what # you get for boarding. You just board.

    I like to be one of the first to board to make sure i have space for my stuff, my medical equipment comes on board always. I took aisle and husband had window. We lucked out and had no one in between.

    Everything happens in 3s and our first little inconvenience (and that was all it was) is that i got SSSS so it took a bit longer for me to go through security. I also bought our booze and cigs (for my house sitter) at Canadian duty free as i do not like american brands at all. I am glad i did it that way. It did make customs question me a bit more but i already had the SSSS inconvenience so not much different.

    I had nothing in my pockets and while they tested all my bags it only took 10 extra minutes. No biggie. I was in a great mood knowing we were going to have heat soon. We were coming from a place that had lots of snow and was still below 0 C.

    I spoke with Dewey before we left and he guided me in the right direction to get a 15 day buss pass. We grabbed our luggage and there was a shuttle right away over to T1. I was worried about getting lost but didn't at all. 109 came in 5 minutes and there we were. I Put 2$ into the slot and away we went to the SSTT.

    I spend my teenage years in calgary so i am used to bus stations but that one is something else. The first bus machine you see does NOT sell the 15 day passes so i was a little worried. I went up to security for them to point me in the right direction. The lady was pretty rude but in all fairness she must see a number of characters in a day.

    Found the right machine and it would not take my Canadian credit or debit card even though my debit card has the visa attached. Before we left home i did an envelope for each day with the groupons/conformations #s etc that i would need for the day as well the money allotted to each day. I did not budget for this pass to be taken out of my ready cash. It was only $34 but that was inconvenience #2.

    Got on the bus and it was an easy 5 minutes to MB, then another 5 minute walk when we got to the bus stop across the street. I packed our luggage good including one of our carry ons in the big suitcase so it was really easy. It wasn't super busy and we got up to check in right away.

    Here comes inconvenience #3 and the biggest one yet. It only took about an hour to get from baggage claim to MB so we were doing good. We had 4 separate reservations because we used myvegas for the rooms. 2 were in my name and 2 in my husbands. Everything went fine with mine but my husbands were not showing as comped and his mlife # wouldn't attach to the ressie.

    She called down to mlife to make sure i didn't write his # down wrong and i had it correct and there wasn't anything they could do. At this point she had to go to a manager, twice. Now we were looking at the time and it was 6:30. I kept my patience, it wasn't her fault at all, but i was hungry.

    Finally she comes back and says they still can't get it but rather than keep us waiting they would just comp it as a comp and deal with it later. I didn't care how they did it as long as we didn't have to pay for it.

    She had put the resort fees on my card already but said for the inconvenience they were going to comp the resort fees and return them to me. Sweet! That made our night after all the minor inconveniences. I have mobility issues so i asked for a higher floor but close to the elevator. We got room 32307, it was a handicapped accessible room so it was a bit different in the bathroom. We were overlooking the pool. I was happy with it.

    We then emptied a suitcase and jumped back on the bus to the whole foods at town square (yes, i researched options first). I only budgeted 40$ for the first night but had to use most of it for bus so this is where i used my cc for the first night. We got my husband some beer, water and soft drinks for me to mix with my coolers that i brought from canada. I do not like american chips so we had no snacks other than some fruit for the room.

    We then went back and made a redneck cooler in the bathtub. I never use tubs in hotels so that worked out good. I was pretty hungry at this point at it was already after 9 so it was time to head across the hotel for Johnny Rockets. I bought us 2 groupons each so that is what i planned for supper. I didn't want to leave the hotel for the first night, i wanted to save my energy for the next day.

    I kept hearing how far the food court was from the rooms on this board and even at the front desk. Honestly though even with my mobility issues i didn't find it very far at all. Now i expected it to be expensive but i was wanting that milkshake ever since i heard about it when we went to Minnesota. It was good, but not $7 good. I really liked this place, i am picky with fast food and i liked their fries.

    We went back to the main part of casino and i wanted to play WOF. We found a bank of .25 machines and while i would have played just .25 before this board to make my money last i now knew better so played the 3 spin. Within my first $5 i had it up to $45 but since i just started i didn't want to stop. I lost it.

    That was pretty much it for our first night. With bus pass, drinks, JR above our groupon total and my first 30$ in i spent $108. That went too fast and had me a little worried. I did have $$ on my credit cards if i need too but i did NOT want to spend much on them.
     
  5. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2013
    Messages:
    31,300
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    Yeah sometimes things with myVegas get fouled up...it took 20 minutes to fix our Zarkana tix this past trip because the MyVegas person used the wrong price code and Aria's computers threw a fit...meh

    Hopefully things go better in Day 2!
     
  6. sweetcanadian

    sweetcanadian High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2013
    Messages:
    874
    Location:
    Manitoba canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    1
    Day 2-April 11th.

    I got us tickets for Tim & Faith for this night. It was a Friday night and i thought that would be a perfect end to the night. I got tickets to the 9:30 show.

    I did have plans for every day but unless we had tickets that was easy to change. I need to have a bit of a plan but i am not so OCD that things can't change.

    Part of the plan was to check out excal, luxor and NYNY. I was in love with the design of NYNY and had tossed around the idea of staying at excal/luxor so i wanted to get a feel for the places in case we ever came back.

    I set the alarm for 9 am to get some pool time in. Off to the pool from there. It got busy fast but didn't feel "over packed". I imagine it would feel that way in July/August. I looked out the window before going down and there were chairs still but by the time we got downstairs there were No chairs at the wave pool left, but we only needed one to hold our stuff anyways. We went to the buffet for breakfast after the pool. The food was ok (got the frozen yogurt too with warm butterscotch that someone mentioned) but the service sucked!!!

    We stayed there till about noon then went to get ready to go out for the day. I figured my husband could do the roller coaster as he loves roller coasters. We walked through the shops and i got some ideas for souvenirs. Off to the luxor. I like the pyramid BUT i did NOT like the feel of the luxor at all. Not sure why, but i would not stay there. I also hated getting accosted soon as we got out of the shop corridor.

    I took some pics and we continued on to excal on the tram. I liked the feel of this place. I could smell their air freshener and the smoke it was trying to cover but it didn't bother me horribly. Over time i am sure it would give me a headache. This place was really busy. Continued on to NYNY.

    NYNY was my dream place along with Mirage or so i thought. I LOVED NYNY, everything about it, except the kids. There were LOTS and lots, unsupervised ones at that so they were acting like kids do when unsupervised. Running around, talking stupid etc etc. I still love the look/feel of the place but not sure i would want to stay there with that many kids.

    My husband was too full so he did not want to go on the roller coaster yet but we did go find out where it was so that we wouldn't have to search when he did want to go on. We then took a stroll over to the MGM to get on the bus to go down to the venetian from there. I figured we would check the place out. Um, no. Place is too big for me, i walked right back out lol.

    We walked around the venetian for a while and got our tickets/found the theatre. Place is beautiful, but not really my style. Too fancy for me. We ate at the food court there, i like food courts. Some chicken place. Was ok, but not memorable. We loved watching the sculptor people though.

    We then walked off our meal until the show. Feet were a bit sore so once we were inside the theatre we took our shoes off. I have never been to a venue this small for a concert, ever, so i did not know what to expect. I also usually buy tickets on the floor with pre-sales unless i decided to go to it late so not used to being in the stands.

    I was wrong, at home in the stands it is pretty quiet for most artists but here it was buzzing from the moment they came on. I love their chemistry which is why i wanted to see them. Faith sang too many ballads though, i would have loved her to do more upbeat songs. It was a good show. We had 2nd cheapest seats and halfway through they moved us down 6 rows.

    When the show was over we left the venetian. I couldn't remember what time the volcano and fountain show ran till but i was pretty sure the volcano was done for the night so we hopped on the bus to the bellagio. Strip was packed pretty good. We got off the bus and it just so happened to be the last show of the night. We didn't make it. I was disappointed.

    The one thing my husband and i both said soon as we saw how crazy driving/drivers are/were in las vegas is that we are glad we did not rent a car. We were walking back to the bus stop at bellagio and all a sudden there is some bus stopped there and a van. The bus had the right of way but the van had hit it. They were blocking the turning lane. They took pics and info. The van then decided it was good to block the bus stop and had the bus pull in there as well so there was no way the duece could stop at that stop.

    My husband had the brilliant idea to keep walking instead of waiting for them to do their thing and leave. Ya, not so brilliant after all. We ended up walking ALL the way back to MB. By the time we hit the room it was after 2 am and we were beat. We both had good shoes but not for that long of a walk after being on feet all day. Didn't take much for us to fall asleep. I set the alarm.......
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2014
  7. VegasCandy72

    VegasCandy72 Tourist

    Joined:
    Mar 13, 2014
    Messages:
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    Trips to Las Vegas:
    11
    I really like your report! Thanks for sharing with us!

    Moni
     
  8. sweetcanadian

    sweetcanadian High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2013
    Messages:
    874
    Location:
    Manitoba canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    1
    Day 3

    So i had the alarm set for 9 am again so we could go to the pool. I wanted to soak up as much of this atmosphere as i could and sleeping in the room was not high on my list of priorities.

    We stayed at the pool for about 90 minutes and then got ready for the day. We went over to the food court at excal and got pizza hut for lunch. That is my fav pizza place and we do not have one anymore where i live. I wish they put the kind of ham like they do up here though. At canadian pizza joints it is "real" ham (not back bacon) where in the states it is like cooked ham lunch meat. Totally different taste. Anyways.....

    I had planned on checking out MGM and Flamingo on our way downtown. I wanted the energy of MGM on fight day before it got crazy. After seeing how big just a piece of it was i had no interest in going back. For whatever reason i did not like the look of the flamingo from the strip so i did not want to get off and explore there either. I do not regret it. I thought they would be high on my list but i guess not.

    We kept on going to downtown then. As we passed the area around MGM and HRC my husband asked if we were going to check the area out. I said of course, there will be a time or 2 that we will walk that area. Lots of interesting people around there.

    I wanted to go to MSS to play VP and have supper. We got there a lot later than i had planned. I thought we would eat first but after sharing a medium pizza both of us were still full 5 hours later so VP it was. I have been playing VP since i was 18. I do not spend much on the machines (9/6 in all the bars here) but sometimes people will hand me money and ask me to play for them. I will also throw in a 20 here or there if i feel like it. There are no players cards unless you go to the city to a casino. The one indian casino in my town does not have players cards either.

    I was teaching my husband how to play, but he still could not grasp it. We bought our own drinks downtown (again, not a fan of american drinks) but Jamie gave me a drink right away. Soon as he saw me put the 20 in. I shared it with my husband. Next 20 got a new drink. The best i got was a full house. I lost that 40 and decided no more. I was done for now. Husband wanted to play so we moved to the floor. He lost his 40 too but didn't have much luck in the drink department. I do believe he eventually got one though, took about 30 minutes of sitting in same spot first.

    Other than when i was at the bar we never found drink service to be good anywhere, some of those ladies would walk really, really fast while yelling out. Before you even blinked they were long gone. We also tipped, so that wasn't it.

    We eventually made our way over to 777 for supper. Neither of us super hungry yet. It was good, i tried to get him to have one of their brews but he didn't feel like drinking more atm. He already had a few drinks (we poured soon as we stepped off the bus, right at the bus stop lol).

    We then made our way over to FSE. Thanks to the suggestion of someone on this board we were going to check out the band ARENA that night. I wanted to see Bon Jovi under the canopy. Not sure what i was thinking it would be but i didn't realize it would only be a few minutes long. I think i thought there would be a song on every 15 minutes or so lol. It was ok.

    I REALLY, REALLY liked arena. I was having a blast drinking, dancing, singing. The vibe was awesome. Music is my thing, good music that makes you want to dance right away. I do not like mellow crap like Michael Buble (good singer, not a fan of easy listening). My husband though, can take it or leave it. He likes music too but he has to be in the mood. If he is really tired then there is no shaking him.

    His feet were really sore along with his back so he went and sat at a machine at the GG leaving me standing there by myself. I was ok with that because he could still see me and i can take care of myself anyways so i wasn't too worried. After their 3rd set though he was ready to go. I would have shut them down (stayed till the end) but i have respect for my husband and knew he really was feeling miserable.

    We found the bus stop but that bus was way way past full of people in line ahead of us. Soon as it became standing only i told my husband to go sit down and i would wait in line for the next one. It was not far behind that bus and we managed to get the very front upstairs. That was alright.

    Got back to the hotel about 2 am. Again we were both beat and sore. My mobility issues are twisted hips (can be about a 4-5 inch difference between the 2 sides when they really go out), a herniated disc at the L5, S1 region that leans to the left and also have major pain in my legs. Someone i met along the way says it sounds like a potassium deficiency and i do have low potassium so i am gonna go to my doc. It gets so bad i can barely walk, and i love to walk and run.

    Despite these issues this is my 2nd trip somewhere with lots of walking. While they suck, i will not let them hold me back from experiencing life. I do not complain much to others either, i stay pretty upbeat. I suffer in silence mostly. I do have my limitations though, and i will get to that in another post.

    We were down for the count. I had to take my pills (advil night and tylenol arthritis) and wait for them to kick in so i read for a few. I did NOT set the alarm this time........lol.
     
  9. sweetcanadian

    sweetcanadian High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2013
    Messages:
    874
    Location:
    Manitoba canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    1
    Day 4

    Was sunday. I did not have much planned for this day. I thought we would get up early and go to the pool. After my husband not getting on the roller coaster at NYNY yet we had said this would be a good day for him to go.

    So i did not set the alarm...........woke up and it was after 1pm, closet to 1:30 i do believe. I was like WTF. I guess we must be tired. My husband gets up at 5:30 for work and has NEVER slept that late long as i have known him. He had been off for 7 weeks for hand surgery before vegas so i guess he must have been real tired. he has slept till noon before very rarely but never past 1.

    I woke him up and was like come on babe it is too late. No pool time today i guess. We went over to NYNY and he went on the roller coaster a couple times. We then ate at popeyes (do not have at home). It was ok, but i got 2 wings in a 3 piece meal. Wings should NEVER be in a meal, they are just too damn small and i pay too much for chicken to get wings. I did not know that was 2/3 the meal or i would have asked for something else. At home i request no wings if i get chicken but didn't think of it there.

    It was good. People were complaining about how expensive the food court is (here, there and everywhere) but i pay 10 or more for a meal at home so it was normal to me. Heck when we hit up McDonald's in grand forks coming home from Minneapolis we paid $14 for a meal with 20 nuggets and 2 fries drinks and 2 burgers. At home the same meal but 10 piece would cost us over 20$ so i am not use to cheap.

    We went over to mirage and picked up the tickets to LOVE we got with myvegas. We then got to finally see the Volcano show and went over to the fountains also for that show. It was pretty cool.

    We went to bed early but i had a heck of a time sleeping. I guess getting up after 1 then trying to go back to bed at 11 will do that to a person. My husband can sleep earlier than i can as he is used to that. I am more of the go go go person so i was still hyped up.

    I still had a few $$$ to carry over to Monday. Every day it was a different amount. I did spend the $75 i slotted for saturday because i bought some stuff at the ABC store before we left downtown.

    Monday was our check out day of MB. I was feeling sad about that. I LOVED MB and everything about it practically. I would definitely go back there in a heart beat. With the bus pass i did not feel like it was far from anything. Matter of fact i liked that we were NOT in the heart of everything but could be there with a hop, skip and a jump.

    I also found the resort to be the perfect size and easy to get to everything. We had a late check out of 1pm which they gave me without hesitation because i had to go back down to the front desk 2 more times. Once to get new keys made and that took 20 minutes for them to get them for the other 3 days and another time to get printouts of the proof of the refund each day. Once again, i set the alarm.
     
  10. sweetcanadian

    sweetcanadian High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2013
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    874
    Location:
    Manitoba canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    1
    Day 5

    This trip was going to fast. We got up at 9 so we could hit up the pool again. It was tiring going to the pool every day then coming back to get ready but i know i would have regretted not enjoying the heat & water.

    We were feeling a bit rough (tired) so we didn't stay as long as i thought we would. We had tickets for the early show (7pm) of LOVE and i had won a Restaurant.com GC for stripburger and we had to find it.

    We were moving to the Gold Coast today. I really felt sad leaving MB as i loved,loved,loved it there. We hopped in a cab and off we went. I told him which way to go (I15 to flamingo) and the guy who gets the cab said at this time of day i don't think it matters if you go on the strip. Um, i'm far from dumb. I spent the last 4 days going up & down. I see how long those cabs have to sit.

    The driver went the way i told him and he got a 3+ dollar tip on a 12 something cab ride.

    Check in at GC went fine but i was a tad pissed off that i could not give them my cc but pay the deposit in cash. I had 2 nights free with the marketing offer i got from home and one night that i paid for in advance. I had the space on my cc but i wanted to roll the deposit over. They said it can not be done, i know for a fact it can, with any software. I didn't make a huge stink, it wasn't going to kill me, but she knew i was a tad perturbed.

    I booked a premium room (just a step up from the basic room) for the first night and asked to keep that room for the remaining days. It was only a $10 difference. I was willing to pay that and i said so. I asked for a room close to the elevator due to the limited mobility. We got that........on the 2nd floor facing a wall. Whatever, we weren't going to have time to look out the window anyways.

    Once we checked in it was back to the bus stop. They do have a shuttle but i did not want to wait for it, plus we had the bus pass anyways. |

    We found strip burger with just a little bit of confusion. Wasn't too hard. It was nice to sit outside and not get tons of bugs like we do at home. Mosquitoes and flys everywhere in the warmer months here. We had to order $35 worth of stuff to get the $25 off.

    That was hard, husband had to have a couple beer to make it (just had to twist his arm lol). It was happy hour so the beer was only $2. Food was good, we were full. Pop was $4 though, ouch. Of course we tipped decently. Even without the GC i tip decently, especially since my 2nd job is a server in a diner.

    We tried to kill as much time as we could there but we were just too early so off to the mirage it was. Now when i first started looking at places to stay Mirage was my dream place. It just seemed cool and like it had everything i would want. When we stepped in this place the 1st time i did not like the vibe. It also was way smokier than most of the other places we had been too.

    We walked around for a bit then sat on a bench in the walkway area to the shops and pool area. After watching the crowd for about 30 mins i decided i definitely would not stay here. Nothing wrong with them, just not my kind of place or people. Could have been the day but they were just acting really immature. I am middle 30's, even in my let loose state i still prefer to be around people who act normal, not stupid. There is having fun, then there is acting like an idiot and over 1/2 the people we saw were real young and acting really stupid. If that is your thing that is fine, or if you are like that then that is fine too. I am just way past that stage and have been for years.

    Finally it was 6:30 and the theatre was open. We found our seats. We were in section 204 or 205 row O. One of the end ones right at the stairs. I did NOT like the drapes beside me. I felt closed in. If we were up a row or 2 we would not have been able to see beside us at all. I am claustrophobic and that for some reason sent me into a bit of a panic attack. i kept having to calm myself. I didn't understand why i was feeling that way.

    LOVE was ok. I am not a beatles fan but i liked the music. I would never pay to go see it though. I still wish O had been available as a reward. It disappeared shortly before i could buy rewards.

    We had a real early start to the next day as we were doing a bus tour to the grand canyon so it was time to go back to the hotel.
     
  11. kps

    kps High-Roller

    Joined:
    May 2, 2013
    Messages:
    840
    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    Great report so far.

    Sad to hear about your experience at Toby's. The $35 for $25 off during happy hour and twisting your husband's arm to drink extra beer must have been rough on the guy...lol.
     
  12. sweetcanadian

    sweetcanadian High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2013
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    Location:
    Manitoba canada
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    1
    that was at stripburger. I double checked, i said stripburger lol. It was in someone else's report i mentioned toby's. that is coming up.

    It was a real twist to his arm! ha ha. We both loved the open container aspect. Honestly i think there would be a lot less problems and a lot more respectable drinking if that was normal everywhere. You would still get the drunken idiots but you do now so that doesn't stop anything (no, i do not believe all drunks are idiots lol).
     
  13. sweetcanadian

    sweetcanadian High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2013
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    Location:
    Manitoba canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    Day 6

    Today was our grand canyon day. I woke up feeling really sad because now we were not even close to the middle of our trip. We were more on the other end of closer to going home.

    I had the alarm set for 5:35. We needed to be at Bally's by 6:55. I get really anxious when it comes to having to rely on alarms. Before we left i set 2 alarms and one i set for pm and i have done that many times in my sleepy state so i just don't trust them or myself. I also do not trust wake up calls. It was about midnight when my husband was snoring and i was still laying there awake. So i continued to read a book hoping to sleep soon. I use a small light and read until i fall asleep every night. Having the smaller light keeps the room dark so my brain registers as night (those issues are for another day lol).

    I left my sleep aids at home because as i stated before i didn't want to waste my time in vegas sleeping. This night i wanted sleep though! Good sleep at that. I wanted to feel rested as i planed to do the 2.2 mile walk from one spot to the other. In total i ended up with 3 hours at most. I was extremely restless (i also have restless leg syndrome so legs ache and kick) the rest of the night so i felt like crap in the morning. I was excited for the trip but tired and sore.

    I had checked times for the 202 online before leaving home as being canadian i kept phone in airplane mode and did not wanna have to rely on wifi.

    We got to bally's by 6:30. It was only about a 15 minute wait for the shuttle as it got there early and left at the 6:55 time it said on the ressie. As we were pulling away a couple people ran up so he stopped to let them on. I do not get it, they were the 2nd set of people that were real close to the time. If you are to be picked up at 6:55 you should be there no later than 6:45 IMO. Anything after that is just asking for something to go wrong. I am almost always early (unless for work lol) so i just can't fathom it. Why pay all that money then take the chance of missing it?

    We had to wait about 20 minutes in line to check in and our bus was almost filled up. Time to leave said 7:30 but soon as it was full he left. It was an ok ride, took 7 hours to get there though with 3 stops. We stopped at the hoover dam and one person called in sick at the store so lines were long.

    Lunch was ok, only about 6-7 items so that sucked for a buffet and service was non existent for drinks. You would think with the amount of people that come through there they would have enough on. It seemed there were more people directing people to tables than servers. 45 minutes is just not long enough with the lines. 4 buses got there with in 5 minutes of each other.

    After 60+ minutes we were back on the road and everyone was anxious to get there. I have to go to the bathroom lots, there was a couple sitting right at the back who started talking to me. I ended up talking with them for almost 30 minutes. We are now Facebook friends, so that was cool, and passed time lol.

    My leg was acting up that morning bad. I really wanted to do that walk, but i also have sleep apnea which gives me some breathing issues and i have had a sinus infection since October. Soon as i stepped off the bus i had a bit of trouble breathing. I told my husband there was just no way i could do it. He was disappointed. My brain wasn't functioning at that point but a bit later i said you should have done it by yourself. He said he thought of it but then i would be bored. Um, no. Not a chance. I would have just taken in the beauty of it all. If he had been by himself he would have done it in an instant. After 7+ years together you would think he knows i can occupy myself by now lol.

    I still feel bad that he missed out on the vastness of it but what can ya do.
    Obviously the ride back was much faster. Only about 4.5 hours vs the 7 there. He played 2 movies and that took us back to the city. I loved driving through it both on the way there and on way back to see the different areas.

    The original plan was to use our groupon for Toby Keith on Wednesday but i changed my mind. If we used it Tuesday we could do the prime rib buffet at gold coast on Wednesday and just have a relaxing day off strip. It was settled then. We got dropped off at the mirage, tipped the driver and cross the street we went. We got there about 30 minutes before the restaurant closed.

    Service was HORRIBLE, took 10 minutes for a server even to come to us. We got our food in a decent time but being a server myself that was just unacceptable. When she did come she was ok. The people that came after us never did get service so they walked out. Band was good, people were drunk and dancing and generally having a blast. That is my kind of scene so i was enjoying it. Husband, not so much.

    I tried getting him to go to casino royal for the 1$ beer but he didn't want too. He just wanted to get back; so off we went to the bus stop. Bus was 45 minutes late. There should have been 2 in the time it took to get 1 as they go every 20 minutes on flamingo. Construction delayed them i guess but still weird how it could delay them that long.

    There were some real shady acting characters that everyone was leery of so people kinda piled into groups as they arrived to have safety in numbers i assume. Anyways we started talking to some locals. This older Asian lady was the one i was talking too. She was telling me how much she spends gambling in a month. I think to get anywhere living in Vegas you have to not gamble. Anyways, not my money so whatever, i kept my mouth shut and let her tell her story. She then says with so many places to stay why are you at the gold coast.

    I started laughing. It wasn't my first or 2nd choice but was better than the riviera. I liked the gold coast. It has a good vibe. It also seems full of a lot of average folk and that is what we are. Average suits us just fine. MB would be about as high end as i would feel comfortable.

    We could have walked there and back in the time it took the bus to come but it was after midnight, with crazy drivers and no real walking path that i could see close to the junction of I15 so i told my husband no way. We could have taken a cab too but the thought just didn't occur to us. On that side of Caesar's it sunk like sewer real bad. Being so close to VIP entrance one would think they would do something about it. There were also these huge cockroach kind of bugs. Grossed me out. I couldn't believe that a high end hotel like that had them on their walls. Here exterminators would be there every day!

    Finally got to bed about 2 am. I had alarm set again, for 11 am this time as we decided to forgo breakfast for that extra bit of sleep after the really late nights. I still didn't wanna waste much time sleeping though which is why i set the alarm. I knew if we didn't it would prob be 2 or 3 before we got up. We were beyond tired.

    *it is the end of my work day almost so next couple days will be up tonight. I will have company for a while but will get this wrapped up tonight i hope, latest tomorrow at work*
     
  14. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

    Joined:
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    It doesn't sound like you play much VP back home, and I think that's a good thing. I'm pretty sure Manitoba is a place that doesn't offer "Vegas Style" video poker where all cards are equally likely. When places like bars all offer 9/6 that's a big clue. I think that VLTs in Manitoba have predetermined wins and are probably set to a poorer return closer to 92% instead of 99.54% like 9/6 JoB at Boar's Head Bar. I think Alberta is the same way. Ontario has video poker like Vegas. Stupid government laws.

    Thanks for giving such a detailed report though!
     
  15. sweetcanadian

    sweetcanadian High-Roller

    Joined:
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    I knew the odds were not the same, just same coin return lol. Our machines are monopolized by the government not private sector so that is a huge factor. I just meant it as a way to show i do know the game and how to play it. I don't like playing here at all, i think the odds are horrible on all games.

    Anyways, you are canadian? I did not know Ontario had better odds, my family is from the fort francis/emo/rainy river area but i have never played over there. I stopped in at Mahnomen North Dakota once but only threw $10 in and made 10 so i took it, wasn't my money so i was happy having a couple $$. Came home and $ was so bad that $10 was $15 lol. I was 21 and broke so i felt like i was rich.
     
  16. techie223

    techie223 High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Thanks for taking the time to write a trip report. Happy to hear you enjoyed your much-anticipated trip :thumbsup:
     
  17. sweetcanadian

    sweetcanadian High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Manitoba canada
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    Day 7

    Company is coming after they eat (we eat later, husband don't get home from work till least 7:30) so i can do day 7 now.

    I had to set the alarm so that we wouldn't sleep all day, and we slept till it went off. We had a big day planned thursday and needed that rest.

    Neither of us were hungry when we woke up so we just decided to have supper a bit earlier than normal for us. That was alright, save a couple $$. Husband went to grab another 6 pack and i got ready to go to the pool. He didn't want to go but there was no way i was going to waste the gorgeous day sitting in the room so down i went.

    After a while he came out to join me. I was reading but i still like knowing he is near by. My plan was to soak up the sun for a while, take a dip, hit the muscles in the hot tub and repeat. He doesn't read but he decided to do the other activities with me. He only came in once though and i did 2 rounds of the above. When i was soaking up the sun for the 3rd time he decided to go back to the room. Told him i would finish drying up and reading that chapter than i would be in.

    It was +30C that day so i needed to take advantage of it. It also was awesome being at a pool where there were no children. There were all sorts of different people there, young ins (20s) drinking beer, older grandmas in hot pink bikinis not afraid to show the world they had wrinkles and i loved it. I loved it that people felt comfortable to be themselves and not afraid to wear what ever swimsuit they wanted. I felt completely at peace out there. It was quiet & comfortable. This world has become so focused on looks it was nice to have that change.

    We then got ready for the buffet. At home i do not wear much make up. My husband prefers the natural look even though i hate it. I just can't be bothered but in vegas i had to do my make up every day. The only day i was not done up was the day we went to grand canyon. I just had this thing that i wanted to look my best.

    Off we went to the buffet. $10 for supper is pretty awesome in my books. We got a great server that i was very pleased with. I am not a beef person by any means. All my roasts and steaks are pork at home but i need meat and potatoes so i got a piece. I don't know much about buffets at all. I like my meat medium well done but if the person before me hadn't asked the chef to put his slab on the grill i would have never known i could do the same. It was a good piece of meat. It went well with the baked potato i had.

    My husband didn't know that (again, not familiar with buffets) and he was like "how come your's is cooked more" lol. I was quite satisfied with this buffet. I am sure not the best but you can't get much better for the $$. I did notice though that barely anyone tipped and that really bothered me. If you have an attentive server that should be appreciated, especially if the meal is cheaper. I have a hard time believing those people couldn't leave a $. I tried REALLY hard not to be judgmental in Vegas and i did pretty good at having an open mind but i just don't get that. We left a 20% tip each and you could just tell the server appreciated it! I liked the fact he didn't even open the pile to see how much it was, just put it in his pocket and thanked us.

    I had allotted 75$ for this day as i wanted to play electronic bingo. My husband played 1 session with me but chose to play slots when i played the evening session. I played at 1 & 9. Both of them were double/triple payouts. I was the 1 away queen. The second session i was one away at least 9 times. 1 of those times 2 numbers later and my # was called. That sucked, payout was $300 and that would have been nice at the end of our trip. Ah well, wasn't meant to be.

    We had a great relaxing day, even so it was still least midnight before we got to bed lol.

    There is only 2 more posts left before this is finished. Last full day, then partial day and notes. I will probably finish those up tomorrow as company just text that they will be here in 20 and then husband will be home and it will be supper time.

    I know i can get wordy and this is all by memory but i hope you guys are enjoying my details :)
     
  18. zoey11

    zoey11 Mid roller and Vegas fanatic

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    Thanks for the trip report!!
    I have mobility issues also, and my feet were so swollen and hurt every night last week, but I was determined like you, to keep going!
    I am fighting using one of the electric carts, but thought about it a time or two, haha.
    Sounds like you are having a great time!
     
  19. weluvvegas

    weluvvegas Casino Countess

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    Love the report, you two sure get around! Gutsy to walk all the way back to MB...I have issues with my right hip that has gotten much worse since last year so we'll see how I hold up this time around.

    Had pretty slot service at Toby Keith's both times we've been there. I don't think we'll be going back this time. not sure what's going on there!
     
  20. sweetcanadian

    sweetcanadian High-Roller

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    Manitoba canada
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    There was a time or 2 i thought of it but i am only 34 and it would have been a real kick in the teeth. The bus was a lifesaver, i tell ya. Best 34$ we spent on the trip and we both think that way.

    I have had issues with my hips for years, but i thought it had something to do with the herniated disc. I only found out in early march that my hips actually twist. I finally had chiropractic x-rays. We went to the chiro the morning we left but i could feel them sleep about day 3 or 4.

    I won't go back there for a meal, the music was good though.

    We did get around. Being the first time i didn't want to come home and regret something. So far the ONLY thing i regret is not walking the grand canyon. I had forgot all my pills at the hotel that morning that may have made it slightly possible :(
     
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