1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

Halloween 2019, A trip of firsts - The D 10/30 - 11/2

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by voltin, Nov 3, 2019.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. voltin

    voltin Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2017
    Messages:
    276
    Location:
    Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    13

    My Trip Report

    This was my 3rd Halloween in row and 7th trip overall to Las Vegas. This trip included 8 people, 3 couples, my brother and myself. This was the first time for my brother and 1 of the couples to stay downtown. My brother loved it and is sold on downtown vibe. We stayed at The D on 2 days comped, had to pay for Friday, and was able to double dip on comps for $60 F&B, $60 MP and $70 FP.

    As is typically the case this trip consists of copious amounts of craft beer, video poker, slots and a little bit of craps. I had originally intended to live blog this trip but work and Vegas fun got into the way and prevented me from starting a post. This trip featured several firsts for me including breakfast at MAG, beer at Hofbrauhaus, and Ellis Island, and ...... a royal flush and handpay.

    Without burying the lede any futher, I manged to hit my first royal flush and first handpay at the Vue Bar on Halloween night unfortunantely it was a just a bit overlimit at $1,209.50. This was definitely a trip saver as far as the gambling went, everything else was a bust with only one bonus on Heidi and another on Moolah, I hit only a handful of 4OAKs and the tables were a blood bath. I was able to redeem the Southwest match play promo, but ended up negative on the conversion. After running through most of my original bankroll my coin-in was still down slightly from usual, partly due to all non-gambling activites.

    First time doing a post-trip report and didn't really take notes so having to go by pics and txts :).

    Day 1 10/30:
    Both my brother and I had early flights since the only non-stop Southwest flights for him are in the morning or evening. Landed around 7:30am and waited for him to arrive around 8am. The rest of our friends wouldn't get in until the afternoon. From there we caught an Uber to Paris for breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi after hearing good things about it here. I got the Chicken Brie Crepe, and coffee. Both of which were fantastic. From there we walked along strip from Aria, Cosmo, Belliago with a pit stop at Ceaser's for a beer, Firestone Walker 805, and video poker (broke even.) From there cut across to Harrah's and Linq. Having had our fill of walking, we made our way back down to Paris to pick up our luggage and Ubered to The D. Checked in but the room wasn't ready, so went to Banger Brewing for a beer and snack. I had an Oktoberfest and a Morning Joe Coffe Kolsch, and we split some Korean Loaded Fried from Food Junkies, all of which were great as usual. After that checked into the room, and headed down to play a bit at the Vue Bar, dropped $100 with nothing really of note there. Decided to take my brother El Cortez since he'd never been there before, played a couple of coin-op DDB but still nothing, $40 later we left to explore container park. Thought about some whiskey at Oak and Ivory but figured we'd save it for another time, ended up grabbing some fired jalapeƱos at the BBQ place to tie us over until dinner. They were quite tasty, and I'm looking forward to trying their BBQ in the future. At the point we decided to head back to The D and watch Game 7 at the sports book, I had the Astros to win... which didn't quite pan out. After that met up with the couples for dinner at Pizza Rock, brother and I split the Diavola which was awesome as always. I paired it with a G. Love's Special Sauce IPA which was great. After that the night is a bit of blur, I'm pretty sure we went back to Banger for another beer or two but I can't remember what. Another round of VP at the Vue Bar, I hit 4OAK 2's cashed out about even. On the way back to the room I put a $100 through Buffalo Gold on a flier with no bonuses. Ended the night down most of day's bankroll.

    Up next, Heidi's bierhaus, lederhosen, schnitzel, more beer and a hand pay.

    IMG_1213.jpg IMG_1214.jpg IMG_1216.jpg
    IMG_1221.jpg IMG_1225.jpg
     
    Last edited: Nov 3, 2019
    • Like Like x 13
  2. M0rtyC

    M0rtyC TBD

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2012
    Messages:
    1,819
    Location:
    North Shore Massachusetts
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    26
    Full 1st day. Riding along
     
  3. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2017
    Messages:
    881
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    Get to the day that you grabbed the progressive Royal I was after.
     
  4. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2013
    Messages:
    31,303
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    Good start!
     
  5. voltin

    voltin Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2017
    Messages:
    276
    Location:
    Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    13
    Sorry about the delay, it has been a crazy return to work.

    Day 2 Halloween Part 1:
    Started the daily bright and early with an hour or two of work, before grabbing breakfast at the D Grill. I had the strawberry pancakes which were tasty, if not a bit sweet. After breakfast I needed to make a bank run, it was nice morning so my brother and I walked down to the Wells Fargo on LV Blvd and then Ubered back. After a quick trip to the room, we met the rest of the crew at Binons were one the couples was looking for The Christmas Story slot machine (which is apparently pretty rare?). We played a bit of dice with the rest of the crew, I played my normal stategy: pass + odds and 6 and 8. I was actually up about 1/2 my buy in but lost it on a couple of PSOs, ending slightly down but coulda been worse. Split from the group after that to introduce my brother ot Sigma Derby back The D. Sigma Derby brings back a bit of nostagila of my first time in Vegas as a kid, I remember passing by it at Excalibur as we walked back through the casino to our room. My brother would have been too young at the time to remember, but I always thought it was the coolest machine.

    After a relatively chill morning and couple of cheap 805's courtesy of Sigma Derby it was time to get in costume and head to Hofbrahaus. Two of the couples, my brother and I are homebrewers and beer drinkers, so natrually we dressed up in lederhossen and dirndls. While waiting for the rest of the group we decided it was only right that we play some Heidi & Hannah's Bier Haus. Our customes were a hit and we got a ton of compliments. We even had somebody ask if we dressed up specifically to play the slot :D. However, Heidi was not amused and a hundo later without a bonus it was time for lunch next stop Hofbrahaus.

    Hofbrahaus is pretty awesome place with a indoor beer garden with high ceilings tons of sitting and great decor, they also have live music in evenings but we were there a tad too early. Our waitress was awesome and good fun teasing my brother merclessly for ordering a half liter. I had a liter of the Dunkel and the Jagerschnitzel with spatzel, the table split a couple orders of pretzels and an apfelstrudel for dessert. It was all very tasty and I would recommend a stop there. My only complaint is that it was a bit on the costly side. From there we all decided to walk down to the Ellis Island for a post bierhaus beer. Lederhossen are suprisingly comfortable and a short walk later we were there. I had a pale ale which was passable but not great, the casino itself was pretty meh I don't think I will be back.

    Up next: Stronger drinks, wonder buggie, golden xocoveza, and a handpay
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2019
    • Like Like x 6
  6. Saydeesgoto

    Saydeesgoto Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2018
    Messages:
    296
    Location:
    Nebraska
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    21
    Am I the only one that thinks Heidi went from being a Loose Ho, to a Tight Spinster? The original Heidi used to put out pretty good.
     
    Tiki bars, slots, national parks, foods, cocktails, laughs, good sleep
    • Agree Agree x 2
  7. Flowers

    Flowers VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2014
    Messages:
    14,642
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    30
    Great report so far and congrats on the royal! Following along.
     
  8. voltin

    voltin Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2017
    Messages:
    276
    Location:
    Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    13
    Forgot to attach photos:
    IMG_1233.jpg IMG_1241.jpg IMG_1243.jpg IMG_1247.jpg
    IMG_1235.jpg
     
    • Like Like x 7
  9. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2013
    Messages:
    31,303
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    • Agree Agree x 1
    • Funny Funny x 1
  10. voltin

    voltin Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2017
    Messages:
    276
    Location:
    Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    13
    Halloween Part2:

    Alright, we pick up at Ellis Island. After one beer, one of the couples had to Uber back to the D to switch rooms. The rest of us decided Uber straight to Atomic Liquors, instead of taking a breather back at the hotel. So after 2 805s, 1L of dunkel, a pint of pale ale it was off to the venerable Atomic for some cocktails. Atomic Liquors is one of my favorite bars in Las Vegas, the atmosphere is awesome with an old school Vegas vibe. Their cocktails are fantastic and they make all of their mixers from scratch. They also have a great beer list including a few sours and several beers I can't get back home. I usually stick to their cocktails though because they are so tasty. I had three...my first was a Hunter S.Mash which was Old Crow bourbon, Aperol, lemon, ginger, mint, and Angostura (pictured). The second was some kind of rum punch, which was one of their Halloween specials , but for the life me I can't remember what it was called or what else was in it, I do remember thoroughly enjoying it. My final drink was a Frozearita which was some kind of dark red frozen margarita. Somebody else in our group go the other Halloween cocktail special called Brains, the picture is all the description you need :)

    So after 3 cocktails and a couple of hours, another group of friends met us at Atomic we hung out there for a bit and then ambled our way down to Banger Brewing for evening beer and some light snacks. I had the Morning Joe Kolsch to drink and split some Tajin seasoned jicama, and bacon popcorn. Both were tasty but we probably should have something a bit more substantial :).

    One of the couples I go to Vegas loves to get their groove on at the Plaza Omaha Bar when Wonderboogie is playing, so after only a single beer at Banger, we made the trek down a packed Fremont street to Plaza. Freemont was packed and I would say about 1/2 of people were in costume, lately, we have been seeing less and less people in costume on Halloween night, maybe next year will be different since it will fall on a Saturday.

    My brother and I, not much for dancing, settled in for a stretch of bonus poker. Again didn't really hit anything great here but they have Lagunitas IPA on tap. I believe I ended up pretty much even. After a few IPAs and some disco, my borther and I decide to migrate to Golden Gate for a run at the progressives. I think we started there around 10:30pm and played for I would guess about an hour so, we must have left right before you got their @wasilla. I don't recall hitting much of anything (or at least there are no photos on my phone.) We tried to order a Xocoveza once the cocktail waitress got around to us, knowing that they never know what it is I just said Stone stout....a few minutes later she comes around with a Stone IPA. We don't bother to argue and just accept the IPAs. We kind of took it easy playing a few hands while catching up since it was a little bit more quiet than a live band inside of GG.

    The other couples were done dancing for the night and found us as Golden Gate, our plan was to go play the fishing slot back at 4Q, but that quickly feel apart as two of the couples ended at a bar in GN and the other I think went to play more Christmas Story. My brother thoroughly tired from the day of drinking went back to the room. I was actually planning on playing some Craps at The D, but couldn't find a table I liked so I did what I do best solo saddle up at The Vue Bar for some bonus poker.

    This turned out to be a very good idea. I went on a pretty amazing streak hitting flushes, full houses, and more or less back to back 5-K quads running up a $70 ticket to close to $120. About 5 minutes after the quads AJK10h, pops up. Without much fanfare, the crossing of fingers, chanting Queen or snapping a pic I quickly hold the cards and press deal. I was shocked when the Qh pops up filling out the Royal and Jackpot flashes on the screen. I muttered Holy Shit, which in retrospect given how much I drank and my propensity to get loud may have been louder than I thought. The guy next to me gave me a fist bump and the bartender called up the slot attendant and poured me a shot of Maker's Mark. A few minutes later I had my W2 and $1,200 (I did tip both the attendant and the bartender.) I played down the ticket to $100 cashed out and called it night.

    It was one hell of Halloween and one I'm not likely to forget.

    IMG_1248.jpg IMG_1250.jpg IMG_1251.jpg IMG_1253.gif
    IMG_1254.jpg IMG_1255.jpg IMG_1257.jpg
     
    • Like Like x 11
    • Love Love x 3
  11. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2013
    Messages:
    31,303
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    Nice one!!! Just over the mark though! :bang:
     
  12. voltin

    voltin Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2017
    Messages:
    276
    Location:
    Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    13
    I know, that $10 will cost me like $300 in taxes. The D did not withhold any is that unusual?
     
  13. wasilla

    wasilla High-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 6, 2017
    Messages:
    881
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    That's a wild Halloween that you had. Not withholding taxes is normal. I don't think that they are carrying Xocoveza now. I couldn't get it this trip, but even when they did have it last trip, I still wound up with a Stone IPA once.
     
  14. voltin

    voltin Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2017
    Messages:
    276
    Location:
    Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    13
    Sorry for the late update, post trip updates are hard...

    The day after....11/1/2019

    I was slow-moving this morning, I knew Atomic was a bad an idea. I started today by chugging my beloved Liquid IV, it wasn't helping. The rest of the crew was up early, around 9 am and was hungry. We decided to hit up Hash house for the uninitiated. I've kind of worn on Hash house and I'd be happy with skipping it but, we had some newbies so had to take them. I had the corned beef hash with scrambled eggs. It was very good and I'd recommend it over quite a few of the popular choices like the chicken and wafffles. One of my buddies had the Fried Chicken Benedict, it was tasty but a lot of food which he managed to mostly finish :eek:. After a quick trip back to the room to check on my brother and drop him off some leftovers (he was in worse shape than I, how I don't know) we made a trip to the ATM at a close-by 7-11 so that one couple in our part could reload. From there we trekked over to Downtown Grand to give Hedi a visit. She was very tight and only put out a 5 free spin bonus for me worth nothing. After that I played some Invaders from Planet Moolah, I was able to hit a bonus pretty quick but it didn't yield anything. I played for a little while, enough to cash in for the $10 free play that DTG offers. I donked that off in Lucky Larry's Lobstermania...Larry was not that lucky.

    DTG has set up a nice lounge area with some comfy couches and TV's, we hung out there for a bit while the other couples played everything from Heidi to Shark Week. Eventually, we decided to head to the Cal and Main Street Station. We just walked through the Cal and didn't gamble at all there, instead just taking the sky bridge to MSS. From there we scoped out the craps tables and decided to jump on one of the $5 tables. That proved to be a mistake and I quickly donked off $60. We retreated to Triple 7's for some hangover snacks and hair of the dog beers. I had the brewmaster's special which was a hibiscus tropical fruit something or another, it was quite tasty. We hung out there for a while drinking a beer or two, I was finally feeling human. From there we decided a trip to Tenaya Creek was in order. Half our group (myself included) decided to make the walk from MSS, it was fine and I have no problem doing so during the day. Tenaya had an awesome lineup, one of my favorites the God of Thunder was back on tap. Being a little gun shine I decided to start a little bitter lighter and ordered the Brut IPA which I thoroughly enjoyed. My brother ordered the Blackberry Citrus Gose, which was also tasty. After that, we decided to order a couple of flights instead of tempting fate by ordering full pours. Tenaya's line up was on point and everything was awesome. Our first flight consisted of the Baltic Porter (notorious in our circle), Barleywine, Imperial IPA blend, Peach Saison and hazy IPA. We thoroughly enjoyed everything and I would recommend any of the choices. We ordered another flight everything we missed after that (El Charro, Oktober, Hefe, Pilsner) all were awesome. I was thoroughly impressed with TC's lineup this time around, they definitely outdid themselves and everybody loved their beers.

    After Tenaya we Uber'ed back to Freemont, to get ready for dinner, Le Thai. I had discovered Le Thai on my last trip, and I loved everything I had. This time was no different, we ordered a Waterfall Beef and Crab Rangoon for the table, and I had the Short Rib Fried Rice. It was all excellent and I highly recommend Le Thai. After dinner we all split up, my brother and I played some more Sigma Derby, at this point the RF at the Vue bar was back up over $1,300 but we had a hard time finding seats at the bar so we decided to play some slots downstairs. I played a hundred through Thunderball without a single bonus, after that we switched to Casino Royale where we finally hit a Casino Bonus and netted around $50. Having our fill of slots we headed back up stairs to make a run at the progressives but didn't have any luck.

    Still feeling the effects of the night before and the fried rice from the night's dinner ended up calling it an early night around 10:30pm.
    24D57AE9-63C0-41B4-9C2C-B43ACB0DE06C.jpeg 0F079501-1599-4181-AB4A-E94B46F8EE93.jpeg ECCCFDE1-B2DF-43AE-9103-4FF9B4EABCAF.jpeg 1C8DE9C1-8644-426B-8173-7D6D43FB30C9.jpeg 4DAF11ED-58C7-459A-8BCC-60872D57117C.jpeg 71B0638A-EB7F-45C1-A21D-96C51DE91A70.jpeg 74832C3D-00CF-4943-B119-930845C8D718.jpeg 892DDC4C-E81C-4CD9-9355-AE7A4A6249C0.jpeg
     
    • Like Like x 5
    • Love Love x 1
  15. sunshine54

    sunshine54 High-Roller

    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2012
    Messages:
    529
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    Great report. Thanks.
    I like the Hofbrauhaus, too. Every time we met people from everywhere of the world and had su much fun.
    Often, I found free coupons for a small free german beer if I buy a lunch or dinner entry. (Coupons often in the free Magazins like Where and other in Vegas. To find in cabs, hotels....).
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
  16. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2013
    Messages:
    31,303
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    28
    Looks like good stuff from tenaya! Now they do not have bartops there, or do they? Apparently not according to Yelp. :(
     
  17. voltin

    voltin Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2017
    Messages:
    276
    Location:
    Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    13
    Nope, no bar tops.
     
    • Informative Informative x 1
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.