Super Bowl at Bally;s Ups, downs and all arounds!

Its Britney Bitch, UFC viewing, Superbowl betting, Wailers concert at Brooklyn Bowl and Rio Zip Line.

So this year its just the GF and me headed to our fair city for 5 nights. We had a COMP Jubilee Premium room booked and its just the two of us on this trip. We were flight delayed two hours leaving Cols, OH. All was going well until we started to board then a flash ice storm hit. No worries, we were leaving at 725am so not like we were missing anything.

I did the online check in while sitting on the plane and paid the extra $20 for the pleasure. Once we got in the air the flight was smooth and we landed about 1055am. I checked my email on the way to the baggage claim and saw that our room was ready and waiting. I told the cabbie the route to take and we got there w/out incident (unlike last year). We walked up to special area of the check in desk for those who pre-registered and almost immediately got our keys. The lady at check in was kinda odd. I asked what type of room we ended up with and she said "The one that was available." We had booked a King but saw upon entering room that we had two queens. No biggie. We were absolutely starving so we headed down to the elevator to eat. But first a quick stop at the VP bar!



I have been teaching my GF basic strategy VP the last couple trips and we were very happy she hit her first monster hand, a straight flush. So after a couple or so drinks we decided to soak up some sunshine and head to Mirage and hit the buffet. The buffet includes all you can drink beer and wine and actually has a full bar inside now. We had a great lunch that may have been more liquid than solid. The bartender invited us just to sit at the bar for 10 hours and as tempting as that may have been we hit the strip!

We did some casino hopping, checked out the LINQ, we have not been since March so there were some new additions. We checked out the Cromwell, the GF loved it. She has assigned me to track down what the fragrance is they pump in! Back to the room it was getting dark now so we freshened up and did our usual first night ritual....... a trip to Ellis Island. We hit some VP but had zero luck. I have never had much luck here on the bar tops. We drank a few beers and were honestly getting pretty buzzed so we decided to shut things down and eat. Typically we would do the steak dinner, but I didn't feel like sitting down and shutting things down so we just grabbed 4 huge slices of pizza. It was 2 for 1 so four slices of pizza came to just over $6.00! We walked back to Ballys and decided to slide into Cromwell one more time for another drink. We noticed a group marching with these huge signs emblazoned with religious propaganda. We were mildly entertained when they got into an exchange with a group of homeless guys drinking their forties who started a "hail Satan" chant just to get a rise out of them. It worked! We had a night cap at the VP bar in Bally's and I think we asleep before we hit the bed. We did enjoy the view from the room for a brief moment.




We awoke Friday morning and this would be the worst weather of what would be a beautiful stretch of weather for the time of year. A bit cloudy, a bit rainy, but hey, we're in Las Vegas!!





We hit the Miracle Mile Mall and PH and decided to find a place for breakfast. We found Ocean One and had a really good breakfast for the $$$$. $24 bucks for the two of us with coffee and orange juice and they even had a photographer come around and snap a pic. My GF is a sucker for these and always buys if the pic is nice. The girl wanted $30 for two buy my GF bought one and she just gave us the other.



We walked around a bit and about mid-day met up with Chess. We shot the bull with him and played some VP, Chess is a great buy and meeting up with board members was one of the highlights of our trip. We would share drinks and gambling stories with Chess many more times this trip! I tried to talk him into heading to the UFC weigh in with us, but he had some things to take care of so off we went, just me and the GF. We took the Tram from Bally's to MGM and within mins we were seated. The weigh in goes really quickly, so don't be late.

Back to Bally's, this is the night the GF has been waiting for. Its Britney Bitch! As I have said, one our Super Bowl trips I always let my GF pick absolutely anything she wants to do on Friday night. I take up Sat and Sun with UFC fights and the game, so Friday is hers.



We got to Axis Theater and noticed there were some folks going in quite early. I asked a staff member what the deal was and he said the "Gold Circle" ticket holders enter early to stand in line. Well that was us so in we went. Drink prices were what you would expect. $12 per glass of wine and I paid like $16 for a couple of vodkas that were "doubles" only in name. We ended up right up against t he stage and I must say it was a great "show". If you are going to hear a vocal performance you will obviously be disappointed. If you go with the intent to be entertained by a really well done stage show and amazing dancers then you will have a good time. The GF loved it and that was all that was important to me. I had a great time as well. We stopped in for a drink at Liason and found it to be a good time, but really small inside. Its more like a room than a club. The drinks were great and the staff was super friendly though. A rarity in the night club scene!





Saturday was the day I had been waiting for. The UFC fights! We had purchased a table at Blondies in the Miracle Mile mall. This turned out to be an excellent decision. But first we hit the Brunch at Paris Buffet. It is now $65 for two for the bottomless champagne brunch. I had some RC's to burn so figured what the hell. We waited in line a good 20 or 25 mins before being seated, so not too bad. Once seated it was another good 20 or 25 mins before the waitress appeared. She brought us our drinks a good 10 mins later. We were basically tired of waiting and nearly done eating before our first drink arrived. Others in our room (we were stuck in one of those back rooms) we getting quite irritated. One girl had been there longer than us and didn't have silverware. The other table was in the same boat as we were and were through eating before their drinks arrived. The place was not nearly as busy as I have seen in the past so this was odd. The waitress showed back up and 30 mins after she dropped our first drinks off and I requested more champagne. She said she didn't have any and would have to get more. ???? We were not one hour into our brunch before we got our first refill. The whole room was upset at the service. On the way out I did something I really never do. I asked to see the manager and explained the situation. The manager was awesome and said this is her trouble waitress but she can't fire her. She said the waitress is a constant complainer (we heard her complaining about her section) and can't keep up. She apologized again and again.

We went on about our business. The next morning the manager phone our room and invited us down for a free breakfast! I thought this was very nice


It was a great time. We had this super little waitress that never let my glass get more than half empty. The place was absolutely packed! It was a rowdy but fun group Affliction shirts were def on display as there were at least 20 guys to each girl in attendance.

I made three underdog bets. I bet on Thiago Silva, (WIN) Tyron Woodley (WIN) and took a flyer on Diaz when it was plus 450. (LOSS) So I went two for three and made a nice little profit. I really don't much recall what we did afterwards, but I know Bayou Bengal met us at Bally's and we hit some VP Just slow playing for drinks and chewing the fat. Another great time Jason and Jennifer who we would later meet later in the trip are great people and very enjoyable to spend time with.


Game Day. I intended to sit down and go over the betting sheets and place a ton of prop bets. The vacation just went to quickly though so I only placed a few bets. I was certain of a Patriot victory and I honestly thought they would win by 10 to 14. I bet them at plus 4.5, 7.5 and 10.5. needless to say this would take a dig out of my UFC winnings. The morning started out great however, I hit this gem while enjoying an Irish coffee.



We headed to Ellis Island for their Big Game Party. Admittedly E.I. is low rent and that is part of the charm for us. We had a great time last year and scored some great prizes. The GF who isn't really into the game enjoyed the party because we had a nice table and she enjoyed the frequent prize drawings. We have two sons who are way into football and they enjoyed some of the swag we scored last year. This year would be different. This was the ad they placed on Facebook with a link to but tickets.

What better place to watch The Big Game than at our Bigger Game Party? Tickets are going fast, get yours today. $40 for All You Can Drink and our Game Day Platter, giveaways, slot tournament and the chance to win a big screen TV!

Upon arrival it was highly disorganized. Apparently locals were able to buy just a ticket for $20 as we did last year without the all you can drink option. This is of course a good deal because unless you can drink 10 beers in three quarters of football you lose out as beers are only $2 for 16 ounces of draft. The waitress initially told us we didn't have the all you can drink option and disappeared for 20 mins while she figured it out. The beer drinking was timed and was to start at 3pm. at 258pm she came to our table to check our wrist bands again. She started to take our order then looked at my phone and said "Oh, I will be back, it's not 3pm yet". WTF??? She came back about 320pm.

There were a ton of good prizes, footballs signed by GRONK and BEAST MODE, jerseys signed by Brady and Wilson, etc. We were really disappointed when told that those who bought the all you can drink option were not eligible for the prizes. THe only folks eligible were the locals who had purchases the cheaper tickets, and they would receive a prize ticket with each beer they bought. We asked if we could just buy raffle tickets, the waitress told us no, we could not. The table next to us asked the same thing and were told no. We saw two other couples from last year and they were super disappointed as well. I can't believe someone intentionally set it up this way that in a private party setting half the party is locked out of the fun?? I emailed the promo director and I am awaiting a response.

With that said the game was a good time and you can't really ask for more out of a Super Bowl.

The rest of the trip went off pretty well. I take a bankroll with me and out of that I pay for drinks, tips, small meals, etc. I brought back over half of it so that is a win in LV all day, any day. The room was COMP so that added to the value.

Monday we hit the Rio Zip Line and I highly recommend. I am not at all a fan of heights, but had a great time as its not bad at all. The worst part was the elevator ride up. The Rio has an outside exposed elevator and was a bit of thrill itself. After the Zip Line we walked back to the strip and met up with Bayou Bengal and Mrs. Bayou Bengal. We had a great VP session in which I witnessed them both catch fire!! I think Jennifer hit two 4OAKS nearly back to back at one point. I was not so lucky and got killed!! It would not be a total loss. The next day COSMO sent me an email with an offer of $30 free play. We went back and retrieved the offer as our flight was delayed and I hit $60 on a slot so I got some of my money back!!

I can't say enough how much I enjoyed the VP session with Bayou Bengal. I def got a bit drunk on those strong Cosmo drinks!

That night we went to Brooklyn Bowl for the Wailers reggae concert. Once again we ended up stage side for the three hour concert. The venue is great, really impressed. Mixed drinks only $8 and they were good, especially for a concert setting. The concert was a celebration of Bob Marley's 70th birthday which is actually on the 6th of this month. The Wailers are excellent performers and gave it all they had for sure! I got to wear my 2005 Limited Edition Adidas Reggae shoes, so I was happy about that as well! One of the Wailers actually had the same shoes only in white. I have black.

In closing, wow this got super long. We had our best trip to date. I hit about 6 4OAKS, the GF hit a straight flush and I ended up slightly to the good on my sports bets. Even with all the problems with CET we loved our room and loved Bally's.

We actually were in The Tequila Bar for its final moments on Sunday night as it closed for good. We loved this place and hate to see it go. It went off without any fanfare, just some diehards like us that wanted one last experience there. By Tuesday they were already tearing it out.




We walked an average of 9.7 miles per day! The weather was beautiful. I actually had to buy some shorts at PH Mall as I hadn't expected it to be some warm. While I really hate to see some classics like The Tequila Bar go from Bally's, I do appreciate the new venues such as Brooklyn Bowl. Like everything its good with the bad. The bartenders at Bally's were great to us. Billy, Javier, etc. All gems. We are already booked for 5 nights next year for Super Bowl week and already looking forward to it.

Wish I could have met up with Broncofn and some others, but its LV and we all know how it goes. The only city where you can walk downstairs for a coffee and end up gambling 4 hours straight.

Cheers to all and if you made it this far reading......WOW!

 

Great report. Good to know about the Rio Zipline. Not sure I can stomach the elevator, let alone the ride.

 

If you can handle the elevator ride you will be fine on the zip line. My GF thought I looked a little pale after the elevator ride, but the zip line was great!

 

Great TR Ron, sorry we didnt get to meet up (again)!

 

Great TR, really enjoyed it!!

 

I told Chess this was about my only regret Chris! Damn!! Next year for sure! Hopefully now that everyone is getting to know each other we can do something more organized! I am already booked for 2016!

 

Thanks for the TR. I really enjoyed reading it.

 

Thanks for reading. It was a long one! I shortened it up at the end, worried it was getting a little long!

 

What a super report!!! Thank You for taking the time to share the trip with us!!!

 

Thanks, I thought I was getting a bit windy!

 

Sounds good! Next year my wife is coming out with me

 

Ha! Then you too will be locked down and not be able to do so much running and gunning and we will for sure be able to meet up!

 

broncofn

Dont do it. If you bring the wife don't gamble. I've had two of the worst losing trips with the wife. She can figure it out if you are losing and then gets mad which makes you upset and then you can't make a comeback.

Do what I do. If you bring the Wife it is a Wife trip and not gambling.


Captanron how did we not meet up???? We was all in the same area. Next trip.


Watching the UFC fight was great. It was pretty cool to see it live but the cage and camera men keep getting in the way. Think I started to watch the monitors above the ring more. Still was great to see the fighters come in and leave right by us.

How was it at Blondies?

 

Thanks for the trip report! Looks like you had a nice room at Bally's. I'm hoping for a view of the fountains at night when we go. Bummed that I'll never get to try the Tequila bar now. Anytime you come home with money, it's a great trip.

 

PPhold, I said the same thing to Chess. I somehow missed the memo about the Cleopatra deal, or I would have been all over that! We had not been to LV since March so we kind of overbooked ourselves. I really hope next time we all do a better job of planning something!

Blondies was a crazy good time, as long as you buy a table which we did. I wouldn't go otherwise. I was so jealous when I saw your pics watching the fight live! Those seats looked crazy close!

 

Good stuff, Ron! A very action packed trip for sure..glad you all had a great time!

 

Capt:

Good TR man... well done... enjoyed meeting you and the lady !! hope to see you again brother... good times for sure

 

We had a good time hanging with you! Truly a highlight of the trip meeting up with some of you guys on here. The biggest regret is not fitting in more meet ups! Next year for sure!

 

Really enjoyed your trip report! Thanks for sharing! Wow, walking an average of 9.7 miles per day. You and your GF must be in great shape! You're a great looking couple if you don't mind me saying.

You really packed a lot of activity during your stay. It was a great read! Thanks again!

 

Thank you very much! Two days we went over 12 miles! We love to walk and living in Ohio we are stuck in the house a lot during the winter so we have to get it out of our system in LV!