Second Trip, First Report: March 3rd-7th at The Mirage

This was our second trip in a month. We went for the first time at the end of January and stayed at The Mirage in a premium strip view room. We fell in love with The Mirage and with Vegas as a whole. When our flight landed from the first trip, we were already planning this trip. We decided to extend it by a day and rather than come home on the red-eye early Sunday, we'd come home on the red-eye early Monday.

So we booked The Mirage again for 4 nights (Wed-Sun) under the headliners promotion. I originally did the 3-for-2 deal but when the headliners came out I switched it up. I only booked the regular view room because I had my hopes set on a tower room upgrade thanks to the $20 trick.

March 3rd

My girlfriend (M) and I both worked a full day. We did it last time and like the set up or working on a Wednesday and leaving later that night. For this trip, and last, we flew out of Bush-Houston on Continental non-stop leaving at 2125hrs.

After the day inched by at a snail's pace, it was finally time to quit. We went home and made sure everything was packed and we didn't forget anything. Despite the list making and double-checking I still forgot something. My damn toothbrush.

We left the house earlier than normal to meet up with a good friend of mine and his wife who I've known for about 15 years. They were in town to meet with some doctors because of a recently diagnosed illness. It was great to see 'em both despite the short time before hustling to catch the flight.

The TSA agents are about worthless and the line at Bush confirmed that. A huge group of 12 people standing around...one person checking IDs and one x-ray machine working. It took us 30 minutes to clear security for a late night flight.

The flight itself was smooth and uneventful. I always love lucking out and getting the ship with the DIRECTV, it helps the flight go by much easier. M could not sleep and was restless, so she knew that she would be hitting the bed early and resting up for a full day on Thursday.

We landed at McCarran on time and got to our bags after waiting forever and a day for that stupid tram they have there. There was no line for a taxi so we hopped right in. I made it clear to Mr. Taxi Driver that I wanted no tunnel. He wasn't happy with that. He still semi-long hauled us though, the damn jerkoff. He took us all the way down Paradise to Desert Inn. I didn't realize it at the time but he should have turned on Flamingo. It ended up costing $18.00 and I gave him a $20. Only after looking at the map did I realize what he'd done. Our first trip to the hotel in January was $13 bucks.

I had "the sandwich" prepared. We walked in and the line was not very long. Nothing like the last time where we were about 5 deep despite it being after 11pm. We walked up and our check-in agent was a guy in his mid-20's. That was the one we were hoping for. I handed him the goods and he put the twenty on his keyboard and asked about the room type.

I asked him about a complimentary upgrade and really wanted a 24/25th floor room. No problem, he said. After about 5 minutes we were on our way upstairs.

The security guy at the elevator was from Philly and we had a nice discussion about the Phillies. I see a lot of people from back home out in Vegas and its always good to shoot the breeze about the Eagles or Phils.

We got upstairs and went into our room and it had not been cleaned. The bed was unmade, there was trash all over and the bathroom had towels on the floor. Sonofab...

We walked down to the desk to notify them and ask them to have it cleaned by the time we got back from Carnegie Deli. They said they would just move us a few rooms over and our cards would work in the new room when we went back up.

We both ordered a cheeseburger and shared the fries and enjoyed it. This is now our traditional first meal in Vegas. Despite the 50-dollar cost for two burger, fries, and two drinks.

So now we're full and ready to unpack with me heading out to play some roulette/craps and M going to sleep. Too bad that was delayed because we got upstairs and the keys did not work in the new room. We removed our stuff from the old room and because the keys were deactivated for that one I could not call down. So off I go again to the front desk. The girl re-coded the keys and I trudged back upstairs.

After getting that solved, we got into the room and it was awesome. All we need is cleanliness, good bed and a good shower. The Tower rooms at Mirage are wonderful. We unpacked and M took a shower and curled up in bed. I went down stairs and played a little roulette, casino war and big six. I only took a hundred down because I wanted to go to bed at a reasonable time. I went back upstairs at 0200 and was dead even at $100.

March 4th

Like the last trip, and like many others, I was up early as hell. I swear they pump something in through the vents to make you wake up early. I was awake at 0600 sharp despite falling asleep at 0300. I laid in bed for about twenty minutes and M was awake as well. We decided to get up and go hit Cravings.

Off the beaten path a bit...my only beef with The Mirage is it seems the rooms are always hot. Despite me having the AC on 65, it always felt warm in there. And when M says its hot, then its hot because that girl is always freezing.

Anyways, we had a filling breakfast at the buffet. We're not foodies and don't really look for much adventure when deciding where to eat. After throwing down the basic breakfast fare we took off on our trek.

We went to Caesar's Palace where I signed up for Total Rewards and placed a sports bet (Heat ML against the Lakers for $20). M and I hit the slots a little bit while I burned through my $5 whole dollars in free play. We lost a twenty spot each and then moved on to The Bellagio.

We did not make it there last trip and wanted to catch another fountain show, check out the conservatory and the chocolate fountain. I loved The Bellagio...awesome place. I kept up the theme of throwing down a few quick bets and leaving to the next stop. So I stopped at the roulette wheel and dropped $25 on black. It hit so I pressed it and it hit again. Cool.

We were still full from breakfast despite it being lunch time so we walked down to the M & M and Coke stores. We both bought a little bit of stuff and moseyed around a bit. By this time we were a little tired so we went back to the hotel to drop the bags off and to relax.

Our first trip was go, go, go all the time without much regard to relaxing so we wanted to slow the pace a little bit. After taking a nap for an hour or so, we woke up and decided it was beer and gamble time.

We decided to start off at Imperial Palace because the roulette was $5 and the vibe was good around the tables. This is where we sat for a solid 4 and a half hours. I bought in for a hundred and M bought in for forty. She built the 40 into 100 and then was up and down and cashed out at 100. I milked the first hunny for about two hours and it finally went bye-bye, much to my dismay because I was up. So I bought in with another 200 and when we colored up I was down a hundred of that. The play was fun, our group at the table was awesome and we had quite a bit of drinks. It was about 845pm when we got up and I was buzzed and M was about down for the count.

I wanted to shoot craps but we went back to The Mirage first to freshen up. I expected M to pass out but she insisted that she wanted to come watch me shoot craps. Casino Royale is my dice spot so we walked over there and M lasted a whole 15 minutes. She went back to the hotel and passed out.

The table was nice early and then went into a tailspin. Point-seven-point-seven-point-roll enough to recover-seven. I threw down quite a few beers while slow bleeding my bank roll. I finally walked away at 3am. Well, it was more like a stumble. I was full on drunk at this time.

I made it to the room and collapsed on the bed. I knew I needed to brush my teeth, take out my contacts and pop a few advil. So I finally willed myself to the bathroom and this is where things got interesting.

I took out my left lens no problem. The right one? That bastard would not come out. It seemed like it was cooked onto my eye. I tried water, drops, nothing would work. So I said the hell with it and went back and passed out.

I woke up about 10am with a massive hangover. Unreal. I hadn't been hungover in years. But I had a good one. I guzzled about a gallon of water and went to try to pry this lens out of my eye.

I looked in the mirror and my eye was red and sore as hell; like I'd been digging in it with a spoon. Guess what; no lens. Where the hell did it go? Did it fall out? Did I take it out when I got back to the room and didn't realize it? That's what had to have happened. But in a true drunken stupor, I didn't know it was out and kept digging and pulling on my eye ball. Ugh.

continued...

 

Damn thats one long winded post...anyways, moving on:

March 5th

Luckily I brought another set of lenses with me. I took a shower and tried to recover as quickly as possible. I told M I was going down to get her some coffee, me a diet coke and a water and both of us some freakin' Tylenol. Meet me at the roulette wheel, I tell her.

Prior to going back down I had to get more money from the safe because my bankroll took a big ol' hit on Thursday. Roulette and Craps chewed me up and spit me out.

I sit down at The Mirage's roulette wheel and dump another 50 bucks or so down the drain

Know what pisses me off? The numbers I play (5, 6, 12, 17, 20, 30, 31, 33) were hitting on every wheel I looked at. Some times I'd see them hit 2-3 times in a row. When I'd sit down and bet? Nada. Oh, I'd get a hit here or there, but overall they'd wait until I got up or would only hit on wheels I was watching and not playing.

M met me at the wheel of carnage and we decided to go grab breakfast; well it was actually lunch time at this point. So we went out and bought Deuce passes because we were not going to get killed by the cab fares this trip. We caught the Deuce down to NYNY and grabbed a burger at Broadway. After that we walked around NYNY a little bit hitting some slots and playing a few roulette spins here and there.

Since we were down that end of the strip we decided to head over to MGM because I wanted to play that damn Sigma Derby game I'd read so much about. We did the same thing and bounced from machine to machine playing a little here and there until I found Sigma.

I plopped two rolls of quarters in and went off to the races. I doubled my twenty bucks and cashed out. This game was pretty fun and a good way to put away a few drinks and waste some time and not a lot of money.

It was creeping up on dinner time and would be dark soon so we went outside and hopped on The Deuce for the trip down town. We didn't make it there last trip and wanted to do some cheap souvenir shopping, grab a bite to eat and check out the Fremont Experience.

The bus was packed! We were lucky to grab a good seat and the ride was smooth and good on the feet to relax for a bit. The downtown scene was cool. M and I loved the light shows and we casino hopped doing the same thing as earlier; hit and run.

We ate at Binion's Cafe and the burger and fries were awesome (and cheap compared to the embezzlement Carnegie Deli puts on your wallet). Binion's was the only casino that we stayed for longer than an hour in. We sat down and played .50 roulette and had a good time. I shot a short round of craps before the table went cold and I left.

By this time we left and walked to the bus stop. The line was massive and this particular driver was cramming people on there left and right, top and bottom. We decided to wait for the next one. After enjoying the ride back to The Mirage we went inside and enjoyed a few beers at the sports bar and decided to head to bed. We'd been up and walking for most of the day and combined with the previous night of drunkeness it was rack time.

March 6th

Another early start to the day. We woke up and I got showered up and went downstairs while M finished the make-up and hair stuff. I was shooting craps and stayed even until she came down and we left to go eat breakfast. Since M was buying, it was her choice and she chose Cravings again. Fine by me. I threw down an omelet and some hashbrowns and fruit while M had waffles, fruit and coffee.

We caught the tram over to TI and did some hit and run gambling again there and then walked over to the Fashion Show Mall. That place was dead but M found a few good deals on some dresses and shoes. I bought an ice cream and tried to amuse myself. I am not a shopping fan. But this was boyfriend duty and I was on call. I figured if I was going to leave her in bed at night while I went out and shot craps, it would be nice to shop with M.

Back to The Mirage we go...dropped off the stuff and went down to Mandalay, Luxor, Excalibur. We didn't make it to those spots last time so we wanted to see what was cookin' down there.

Those places were dead. No lines, not a lot of activity on the floor and no waits in the restaurants. Compared to the north end of the strip, especially how packed Mirage was...I was surprised.

Some more hit and run gambling at these spots and we were actually up a bit. This went of for several hours - just bouncing from machine to machine, casino to casino. We ended up at NYNY again and had a couple slices of Sirrico's....great pizza.

We went back to Mirage to freshen up and gamble some there. While walking through the area by the roulette wheels, M says "hey - there's a black chip on the ground". I didn't she it and I thought she was bullshittin' me. She tells me to look down and turn around and sure enough - a black chip all by its lonesome on the carpet. So I scooped it up. We stood there for a minute to see if anyone was looking down or frantically patting their pockets and did not see anything.

I also put down some NBA bets (3/4 team parlays) and ended up losing because LeBron decided not to play (thanks, jerk!). Other than the CLE game, I won the other legs of the parlay's. I should have won a hundred and fiddy!

I showed it to a security guy, one in a maroon coat, and told him I found a black chip on the ground and what should I do; he said it was my lucky day. So we pocketed the chip and moved on down the floor. We ended up sitting at the new roulette machines they put in. They look like the slot machines and have a bench in front of them. We put 40 bucks in and bet a buck a spin and had several drinks and talked and had a good time.

M was getting tired and I needed to check in for our 0100 flight the next day so we went up to the room. She fell asleep fast and I fooled around on the net for awhile and then checked in for our flight. I went back downstairs and shot craps (hot and cold, mostly cold) and then went to bed.

March 7th/8th

Another great night of sleep on those fine Mirage beds and we rolled out to get ready about 8am. I went downstairs to grab M's coffee and to put down my NBA parlay's for the day (again, one team f'd me...thank you HOUSTON ROCKETS. Way to choke it up against the shitty Pistons!).

We hung around the room until 11 and then went down to check out. We left our bags with the bell desk and did the same stuff as the previous days. Went down town again, rode the bus up and down the strip just casino hopping and buying souvenirs. It was an uneventful day for the most part. We made it back to The Mirage at about 7pm and sat down at Casino War for the last couple hours before catching a cab to the airport. We doubled our money at War and were surprised. We also caught Cravings one more time for the dinner buffet and it was great.

This damn thing has gone on long enough so I will put you all outta your misery and end it now. We made it to the airport and kicked back and enjoyed the red-eye back to Houston.

Another solid, relaxing and exciting trip! We are hooked on Vegas. Thanks to the comps rolling in via HET I booked our next trip already. This time will only be a weekender (April 16th-19th) but I cannot wait!

 

Continue faster damnit! lol

 

Yes please.. ;-)

 

Continuing??? I like the start.... Damn Contacts....

 

Definitely been there with the contacts. I have the night and day version just for these rare occurences. Still no pleasure to sleep with them, but it's not the worst thing ever.

Report looking good. Waiting for more degenerate gambling.

 

Great report so far, but now my eyeball hurts after reading the last sentence....

 

Ok, the continuation is up.

No real degenerate gambling this time. Just the hit and move we had and the few long roulette/craps runs that ended up eating my bank up.

The next trip?

Nothing BUT gambling. Friday/Saturday/Sunday equals some severe drinking and gambling.

 

Great TR

lol @ boyfriend duty You're a keeper hehe
Glad you both had a great time and did stuff you didn't see the first time, like downtown Looking forward to the next TR

 

Great report. I know they get tiring to write after a while but we appreciate you following it through.

By the way- My Pistons are better than your Rockets (haha), at least I think so.

How about a quickie report in April since I have to wait until June for my next trip.

 

Hey Rock, Is your girlfriend named Adrian? Had to ask.....

 

Awesome- damn contacts!!!
Those little stupid moments are what Vegas so great. That shit doesn't happen at home.

 

Actually, I'm a Sixer fan (Phillies, Eagles, Flyers & Sixers) but bet on the Rockets because it fit into the parlay. Even though it was a back to back I figured they'd run through DET.

Absolutely I will be doing a report in April because that is going to be nothing but beer and betting.

As soon as we step foot into Bally's I'm laying down bets and working the tables. Then we'll go hit Mirage so I can get some play on my MGM card

 

lol thanks. It was good to have a slower paced trip this time.

Nope ahaha, but sometimes I'll do a Stallone voice and "Yo..." which will embarrass my girlfriend. But she bought me a 5ft ROCKY movie poster and had it framed for my "man room"...

Yeah...and I forgot to add when we were playing roulette at IP I got a case of the stupids. I know better to keep my hands off the table until they are done paying off, but for some reason I kept reaching out like 4 times in a row. And I spilled a beer on the table. Not because I was drunk, but because it was so damn crowded and they did not have drink cups for everyone. I stood up to place the 5 and whoops. I think the croupier wanted to slaughter me. But I tipped her 10 bucks for me being such a dolt.

 

A couple things I forgot:

1. The drink service at The Mirage sports-book? Horrible.

I spent quite a bit of time there on Saturday and Sunday and had to practically raise a flag up or lob grenades at the cocktail waitress. There was a group of us sitting on the right side in the black chairs by the wall. Probably 7-10 of us watching the Duke-UNC game and various NBA games. One lady comes by after some of the other guys flagged her down. She takes theirs and only their orders and starts to walk away. I got her attention and asked for a beer (Amstel Light) and she said she was going off shift but did I want the Heineken on her tray. No I don't want that warm thing you've been lugging around, thanks anyways. By the time the new waitress came on I was parched and had dropped a ten spot on one of those big draft beers from the bar.

She was ok and ended up serving more frequently that Casper from the previous shift.

On Sunday it was back to being horrible. I watched the entire second half of an NBA game and she did not walk by ONE time.

2. When I went down to lay my parlay's Sunday AM, there was some guy at the book desk cashing in. What he was cashing in, I have no effin' clue but it was a HUGE STACK of cash. He had to have won big on the horses. That was my guess.

Anyway, Sportsbook Bill Gates was being paid in stack after stack of hundreds. The lady was ripping off the little wrappers from the bundles and shoving cash into a zipper bank envelope, which was covered by a brown paper bag, which was covered with a plastic grocery bag.

I'd guess that he had 25-50K in there. I was scared to even look.

 

Ohhhhh those drunken contact lens moments in Vegas; I've worked away at the phantom lens a time or two, but my favourite episode was when I put two lens in one eye while three sheets to the wind.

Good job on the bf duty while shopping.

Happy to hear you enjoyed your second trip and have your third planned. Vegas is the drug of choice in this crowd!

For really good drink service, wander away from the big strip hotels and hit spots like the GC.....they bring them faster than you can drink them.

 

Thanks!

Casino Royale's drink service is awesome. The girl there who works the craps tables is top notch. Although they only serve in the small glasses, which kind of sucks.

 

When my husband and I went a couple of weeks ago we found it to be the same way. The cocktail waitress looked like she would rather be anyplace else and would barely acknowledge us.

Also, we totally agree about the rooms being hot. That was one of our complaints as well.

 

Yeah, I actually had to open the window to get some air in there. It was like that on the first trip in January on the 21st floor too.

But all things considered, those are the only two complaints I have about The Mirage.

I'm sad that their rates are so high for the weekend we're going in April because we'd love to stay there again. It feels like "home" now while there.

 

One thing I forgot to add...how I forgot, I don't know but my girlfriend and I were just laughing about it.

I signed up for the Casino Royale players club and got the little coupon sheet. I saved it for Saturday because I knew I'd be hitting the craps tables that night.

I plop down at a machine and figure I'd play max coin, max bet to rid myself of the $50 free play or get lucky and hit the jackpot.

I think it was triple 7 machine that I was on. The one where you hit the jackpot if its one red, one white and one blue 7 or three of the 5x symbols.

What do I hit?

5x-7-7

I got all fired up. The damn thing was cranking up all the way to $2500!!

My joy was short lived when I read the fine print and saw that the only pay outs on there are if you hit the jackpot or if you hit a 4000 credit win (all 4K must be on one spin, not accumulated).

So I'm sitting there with 2500 bucks on the damn promotional spin machine and it took me FORTY DAMN MINUTES to spin through that 2500 worth of promo bucks. I was spinning max coin and max credits and THEY WOULDN't GO AWAY!!!

I'd get down to 2000 "bucks" and win 50, win 100, win 250. Jeez. I was never so pissed at "winning" before.

Some weird old guy kept coming buy and offering to buy my credits. When it was at 2500 credits he said he'd give me 20 bucks so he could sit there and spin. I almost took it but then figured that if I took him up on it and he somehow got a pay out, I'd launch myself off the top of The Mirage.

He kept trolling the waters around the promo machines talking to everyone who was playing their free play. At first I thought he worked there because he was dressed well and acted the part of an employee - but then realized he was trying to buy people freebies.

He kept offering less as my credits dwindled, but I stayed true to myself and played it to the end.

But jeez...I finally get a big hit for $2500 bucks and its on a promo machine that doesn't pay shit!