Val Day Quickie (minds out of the gutter!)

We made a very last minute decision to fly out for Wed and Thur. We had a nice offer from Mandalay Bay a "free" ticket and some great air prices for second ticket from Delta so off we went!

We hadn't been since last Sept when we had a TERRIBLE trip from a gambling perspective. In fact it was so bad I quit visiting this board as I thought maybe I was over Las Vegas. Well in a word; HA! to that notion. But back to this trip...

I was using a Delta reissue ticket set to expire soon and we went from Columbus through Detroit to LV. We were late taking off and then circled Detroit quite awhile. Yes we missed our connection. We'd paid for an upgrade but after missing the connection on our rebooked flight we were in the last row. Ok not a problem...but they made an announcement halfway through the flight announcing a second beverage service and if someone wanted to go to the restroom they should do it now before the isle would be blocked. Well human nature took over and honest to God 2/3 of this full flight decided they HAD to go to the bathroom. It was a 45 min Pee Parade!! I haven't had that many butts in my face since high school wresting or a drunken visit to the local strip club! Truly bizarre and not in a good Vegas way. But I digress...

No line at all at MB--very quiet in fact. Asked about an upgrade while not so subtley waving a $20 bill around my person. It was the young man's first day and he consulted a paper and then a coworker without ever noticing my little dance. They offered a THE Hotel upgrade for $40 per night. The room was "free" anyway and I was fine with paying a little as we like THE Hotel. Fast forward to checkout and we weren't charged the $40/night OR a resort fee. Wins! Additionally re checkout the deal included $100 f&b and coupled with my express comps we had no fees for nice meals at Border Grill and Olives plus coffee/Danish each morning.

I seem to have gravited away from cards to more slot and video poker play during the past year or so. The first night we spent most of the time moving from slot to slot. A few small wins here or there. Then off to bed.

Great room; I know they're going to revamp this property but it still seems in good shape although we hadn't stayed there for about 5 years.

Thursday morning I hit the place in the lobby for coffee and pastries and it was nice not to have to walk far for this. After cleaning up I do my most favorite (well almost favorite) Vegas activity; cards and Mimosas. My wife moves a tad slower in the mornings so while she's getting ready I do this. I LOVE this routine. It was a great table (Crazy Four Poker) and I had a nice run of flushes and trips. Some nice folks and dealers at the table as well as those sissy Mimosas and my morning was off to a good start. Up about $300.

When my wife came down we walked over to Monte Carlo. I have a credit line there and thought I should exercise it to keep it active. I don't know if this is necessary but I try and do it every so often. So took out a little money from them and played over there. Quiet there too. We were playing some WOF penny machine and hit for a couple hundred. Left there and headed up to Bellagio. We put a couple hundred in on slots and left maybe $20 up. Great lunch at Bellagio then worked our way back down to MB. I played VP and had some nice little runs. By now up about $500 on the day. Short nap then out for VD dinner.

Cabbed up to Palazzo--the site of my horrible trip last Sept. We normally choose MLife properties but were at Palazzo for a conference and stayed there as I was hosting--long story. Anyway the only good part of V/P for us are some of the restaurants. We dined at B and B and it was great. After dinner we actually won about $80 and it was SO satisfying as we never won there last year.

We walked over to Wynn to watch the watershow and have a drink. Again we've never done very well at Wynn but like the restaurants. We put a hundred in a penny machine and left about 45 mins later up $400! Never did have that drink as the outside terrace bar was closed.

Headed back to MB. Played a bit more then off to bed.

Flight out at 11 am on Friday so we played a bit of VP and won about $250.

Overall about break even on gambling (yes I only wrote about the wins!!) but still a great trip. With room free and some free play and f&b very little cost to me! And compared to last year it was marvelous. LV very quiet though. Lots of short dresses on Thursday night but I guess overall a midweek feel to the town (and since it was midweek--duh!).

Back out in May and August so I guess I'm over my LV sadness from last fall and will be reading here regularly again!!

Thanks for reading and good luck.

 

Nice post, I really enjoyed reading it. Sounds like you left LV with better memories this time!

 

Yeah, my mind went right to the gutter... kerplunk

Great trip report! I'm glad everything went much better this trip.

 

Thanks! Very enjoyable.

 

Nice report! Thanks for taking the effort!

 

Leaving Vegas even is a success in my book (and has yet to happen to me). Great TR! Thanks for sharing!

 

Vegas is redeemed!