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24-Hour FLASH trip to LV!

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by spinette, Dec 17, 2014.

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  1. spinette

    spinette True Aficionado

    Joined:
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    My Trip Report

    Talk about impulse! Car and hotel reservations just made. Driving out of Los Angeles today and will be staying at Circus Circus tonight. I'll be microrolling and pinballing from place to place and from zone (Paradise/Strip) to zone (DTLV) in a rocket-quick 24 hours from beginning to end. Penny arcades! Tennis shoes! Buses! Details forthcoming. Suggestions welcome!
     
  2. Labeeb

    Labeeb Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Nov 30, 2007
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    Location:
    Glendale, CA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    My suggestion...get on the road and beat the traffic. Although it may already be bad out there. In all seriousness, enjoy! One of the perks of living in LA for sure.
     
  3. spinette

    spinette True Aficionado

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    09:30 Met rental agent at local cafe and went to pick up the car. Great! But since I wanted to book and pay with a debit card, the agency wanted a deposit. Thinking cash is still legal tender, I asked to pay the deposit in cash, and they said they'd have to put a hold on my account through my debit card. They asked me if I wanted to go to the bank since they would not take cash. Gee.

    So they drive me down to the bank and I transfer the money in. They gave me a free day and an extra hour for the trouble, which was very considerate.

    10:15 Went to McD's for two McMuffins and a coffee. "Sorry, we don't have any." Nonsense. Asked for a refund and they "suddenly" had McMuffins. Sorry, too late. Left with a free coffee.

    10:30 Hit the road after typical local LA traffic. Got in 5 hours later after binging on coffee and hamburgers. Chased the thunderheads the whole way and only got a few droplets from the sky.

    15:30 Got in. Checked in 45 minutes later due to directions snafu. Lady at front desk seemed upset that I would ask to have resort fee waived. She called me "curt," but I only asked and was prepared for a "no." But she said I was rude (for asking), and I said that I was a guest and that "guests needed to be nice too." Felt this wasn't the best customer service experience; asked to speak to a manager. Got resort fee waived.

    16:45 Wrote this post. Encountered some strange networking problems. For some reason, I was not going through the Circus Circus network and was connected "externally" without having to verify that I was a guest of the hotel! Weird, and potentially dangerous. But whatever...bell curves have two sides and I need to keep balance. So I use the network anyway!

    Okay. Time to feed the lion!
     
  4. spinette

    spinette True Aficionado

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    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    17:00 Left the hotel and headed south on LVB on foot. Went around with my tin can looking for FP and found a promotion at TI. Thought it a good deal and came out ahead after a round of quarter slots.

    19:00 After 2 cups of coffee, continued south. Played penny slots for amusement purposes only: some of these machines are very interactive, and others will make you think you're at an indian casino. Signed up for MLife at Luxor and came out ahead on FP.

    21:00 Went to Ellis for their steak dinner. Signed up for their players' club for--yes--more FP. Sat down at WoF and got a spin less than 10 rolls through, and came out ahead. Enjoyed steak, mash, green beans, salad, and drink for less than $10.

    00:15 Returned to the hotel. Contemplated going up to Fremont for some early-morning nonsense. But with glasses fogged and greased and legs tired, decided to retire.
     
  5. spinette

    spinette True Aficionado

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    04:15 Woke up with aches and pains. Drinking coffee at like 7 in the evening did not help, and I was awake for 2 of the three hours I was in bed. At least the room is clean...in fact, it's almost brand-new. I spent the extra $4 to get the deluxe room (with two queens) and ended up with a setting that makes it seem like the hotel was built yesterday. I'll head to Fremont St. for some final freebies and take breakfast beforehand.
     
  6. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

    Joined:
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    Flusherville, Canada
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    Cool trip! Wish I was striking distance to Vegas!
     
  7. spinette

    spinette True Aficionado

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    05:00 Went downtown to sign up for players' clubs. Did not realize nothing was open: Golden Nugget's northeastern-facing sign was turned off and a few men looked like they were uncrating new machines. It was pretty sad, actually, since nothing really opened up until 8 AM. The buffet at the D was closed, and since I didn't know where to go, I settled for McDeath.

    06:30 Leaving for LA at this time would mean hitting hours of rush-hour traffic back in California, so I decided to stay in LV and ended up going to the Palms. The place was a total ghost town and half dark. They had a FP promotion, but the players' club did not open until 8. Poor planning on my part resulted in an almost 1 1/2 hour wait to spin some crappy plastic wheel for 5 dollars in slot play. After all that anticipation, I left breaking even, modulo even more coffee at their McDonalds.

    08:45 Went back downtown to check on players' clubs. Four swings, four strikes: GN gave away a fiver with their card and it was gone in about 2 minutes. The D's promotion for $5/300 dollars was not worth playing. Fremont/Boyd would not honor their $25/$10 deal without the voucher from ACG. And Cortez was strange: they had a big banner outside advertising $10-$1000 for new member sign-ups, but management insisted this was only for hitting $200 jackpots or more. They would not honor the ad outside, probably because they were lazy.

    Summary: For me, having an itinerary would have helped make the trip very good, instead of "alright, not bad" on day one and <frown> on day two. So many things were shut down/not working, and people were really few and far between. It really seemed like the city was in hibernation mode during my time there.
     
  8. CaptainJack

    CaptainJack Low-Roller

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    It seems the one loyalty card you really could have used would have been McDonalds.
     
  9. spinette

    spinette True Aficionado

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    Quite true. I'll have to ask about their "frequent fueler" program :eek:

    This was just one of those haste makes waste situations, and it would have been a much better trip had I planned better.
     
  10. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    Too bad about your timing and having to live off McDeath. You know what they say though, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!

    Does The D have a buffet now or did you mean The Fremont?
     
  11. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Nice detail! To bad you couldn't stay longer!
     
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