June 21-25, 2010 PH and Flamingo, and no pants!

My wife and I recently returned from Las Vegas. We were there from Monday, June 21 and returned on Friday, June 25, 2010. We booked our flights on Allegiant Air for $39 each, each way, plus the assorted fees, and we paid $50 a night for 2 nights at Planet Hollywood followed by $35 a night for 2 nights at the Flamingo, which included 2 free drinks poolside.

We flew out of Great Falls, Montana at 5:15pm on Monday, June 21, 2010. The flight was uneventful and we arrived in Las Vegas, on time, at 6:15pm. The wait for a cab was not bad and within a short time we were on our way to Planet Hollywood.

The line for checking in was not very long. I would say there was 10 people in front of us when we arrived a little before 7pm. We had a very nice person behind the counter and she was joking around with us right away. We had booked a Hollywood Hip room, which is their basic room. While she was checking us in I asked if it was possible to get a room with a nice view. She said she would check and said she found one, but it would have 2 beds instead of the king size bed we requested. We told her that was fine and we thanked her for her help. Then she said that just found us a room higher up in the hotel and asked if we wanted that one instead. We said yes and we were on our way to the 38th floor. When we got to our room I was surprised to discover that we had a room with a view of the strip and the Bellagio Fountain show.

When I was looking into the different types of rooms at Planet Hollywood I learned that they had Hollywood Hip rooms, then came Resort rooms, followed by Resort rooms with a view of the fountains. I think we were given a very nice upgrade, for free.

We had dinner reservations at the Pampas Brazilian Grille inside the Miracle Mile. I used the Father's Day coupon so my meal was free as long as we bought one of the Rodizio entrees. My wife and I had the meat rodizio. The side items were good and the meat selections that they bring to your table were very good. We had the servers come around with the sausage, ham and turkey quite often but we did not see anyone bringing the beef items around for about 30 minutes. When our server asked if we needed anything I mentioned that we had not been offered any of the beef items yet. She went and said something to the servers because they were soon at our table and kept coming back. The food was good and we certainly ate too much.

We spent the next few hours gambling in Planet Hollywood, were we took a beating, and the walking on the strip. We had not been to Vegas is 10 months so it was nice to walk around and see the sights again. We did this until 2 am or so and then called it a night.

On Tuesday we were up by 7am and downstairs for breakfast by 8am. We shared a $3.99 breakfast at one of the restaurants in the mall as we are not big breakfast eaters. We gambled a bit more and then decided to hit the pool around 10am. It was very nice at that time of day, although the water in the pool was pretty cold. We met a nice couple from Colorado and ended up spending most of the day at the pool with them.

Although we only planned on being at the pool until lunch time, we ended up staying until 5pm. The combination of the sun, very little food and the drinks took their toll on us and my wife and I went up to the room to rest before we had to be at Treasure Island for the 9pm Mystere show. My wife enjoyed the big sunken tub while I slept. After an hour or so I got up, put on a shirt and my shoes and told my wife that I was ready to go. She told me that I wasn't ready and that I should sleep a bit longer. I told her again that I was ready to go and this time she got louder and told me to get back in bed because I was not wearing any pants! There I was, wearing a shirt, socks and shoes, and possibly a smile, but nothing else. I will do everyone a favor and not include pictures!

I crashed and my wife let me sleep as long as possible, until about 8pm when she woke me up. By then I was feeling better and I actually put on some pants before leaving the room. We didn't have a lot of time before the show, and since the only thing we had eaten all day was that small shared breakfast 12 hours earlier, we knew we needed to eat something before the show. We walked to the food court at O'Shea's and grabbed 2 slices of NY pizza and then we started doing some power walking to get to TI in time for the show. We were weaving in and out and around people and we made it plenty of time. If you were on the strip around 8:45pm on Tuesday and two pizza eating lunatics cut you off, that was us. Please accept my apologies, we normally don't do that but desperate times called for desperate measures.

We have never been to a Cirque Du Soleil show before so we thought we would give it a shot since they had tickets on sale for $50. We both thought the show was fine, but we agreed that we would probably not attend another. After the show we gambled for a bit, grabbed something to eat, and then went to bed around 3am.

We woke up around 7am on Wednesday, which was moving day. After 2 days at Planet Hollywood we were going to the Flamingo for the next 2 nights. My wife and I each had one carry on bag so we decided to walk to the Flamingo carrying the bags rather than taking a cab. I wanted to do that pretty early in the morning before the sidewalks got very crowded, so we checked out of PH around 8am and walked to the Flamingo.

We were booked under their Get Wet for Less promotion which was $35 a night for a standard room and 2 free 32oz drinks in souvenir cups at the pool. Since it was so early I figured we would not be able to get our room but there was no one in line so I thought I would check just in case the room was ready. Remember how nice the person was at PH? Well, this time, not so much. This man was rude and condescending. I asked if we could check in and he said sure, you can check in, but your room won't be ready until 4pm. He took us through the check in process and told us to comeback after 4pm to pick up the key.

Since I expected the room would not be ready I was not very surprised, although I was disappointed that he didn't even bother to check and see if there was a room available. Perhaps all standard rooms were taken on Tuesday night, but I still thought he could have at least checked.

We stowed our bags and grabbed something to eat and made our way down to the Wynn to play some roulette. We did very well at the Wynn, making up for the losses we took on Monday evening. We then went over to the Fashion Show mall to do some shoe shopping at Aldo Shoes, but we did not buy anything this time around.

We went to Harrah's and had lunch at Toby Keith's, one of our favorite places in Las Vegas. We worked our way back to the Flamingo around 2 pm and got our room keys. Since it was a standard room it was not as nice as the room we had at PH, but overall it was acceptable.

We played some more in the Flamingo and Harrah's before returning to the room to get ready to attend Tony & Tina's wedding in the Miracle Mile shops at Planet Hollywood. By now you are probably wondering why I picked Tuesday night to attend Mystere at TI when we were staying at PH and Wednesday for Tony & Tina's wedding at PH after we had moved to the Flamingo? Well, I don't have a good answer for that one. Just shows you the great job I do at trip planning!

We had purchased VIP tickets for the same price as the regular seats so we were seated at the table right in front of the area in which all the action takes place. My wife danced with one of the actors. I thought the show and the dinner were just fine. I think if you can play along with the cast members you will probable enjoy the show more than if you sit there and watch it as if it were a regular play.

After the show we gambled some more at some of the MGM properties such as MGM Grand, NY NY and the Monte Carlo. We did okay at the first two but the Monte Carlo gave us a beating.

We went back to the Flamingo and at 1am we went to the Tropical Breeze Cafe for their $2.00 burger and fries special. At that time of the day, it was a pretty good $2.00 snack.

Thursday morning we played a bit in the morning and then went to the Flamingo Pool around 10am. We found 2 great chairs next to the pool and really enjoyed our time at the pool. As it got closer to 1pm, the pool was getting very crowded and had a lot of kids running around, so we decided to try the Go pool. After I paid my $15 admission fee, I noticed a sign on the gate that said due to Clark County regulations, the Flamingo Go Pool is an adults only pool but that topless sunbathing is not permitted. I thought perhaps that sign was just a way to protect themselves and that topless sunbathing was allowed. Wrong! The Go Pool is no longer a topless pool. I spoke with one of the bartenders and he said that management decided that it was not worth all the hassle so they eliminated topless sunbathing.

We had some lunch at the Go pool and spent a few hours up there. Then we went to the Luxor to take in the Bodies Exhibition.

Later on we went back to our room at the Flamingo so we could get ready for dinner at Stripsteak inside Mandalay Bay. See? I did it again. Why not go from the Flamingo to the Luxor for Bodies and then go to Mandalay Bay for dinner? Noooooooooooo. That would make too much sense. I had us going back and forth all afternoon in 106 degree heat. It is surprising my wife came back home with me, huh?

We ended up at the Piano Bar inside Harrah's for a while. We like it there but it was getting so crowded that those people without seats were standing directly behind us and we were getting hit in the head as people walked by. It got old pretty fast so we left.

Friday morning we woke up pretty early and packed as it was flying out day. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 1:15pm so we had a few hours to kill.

We walked down to O'Shea's were my wife and I played blackjack and came out ahead. We had fun there. It was a good time of day to visit O’Shea’s. it was nice and quiet.

Then we hopped on the Monorail and went to the Sahara for a little while. We lost playing there and that ended our gambling for this trip. I would guess that we ended up about even, perhaps down a few dollars. We had two sessions where we lost pretty quickly, but the other times we seemed to win some money and I think we covered our losses.

We made it back to the Flamingo in time to take some pictures before we checked out at 11am.

We grabbed a cab around 11:30 to go to the airport and put a wrap on another enjoyable trip.

Thanks for reading.

 

Nice report, thanks for sharing.

 

Well, you know the signs always say "No shirt, no shoes, no service" they doesn't say anything about pants...

 

Great report, excellent deal at the PH

Are you in Alberta? good deals flying out of GF , I'm in Calgary so its a good 5 hr drive , I usually just fly out of Calgary but have been tempted to head to GF for a good deal and if I can ge the extra time off work

 

NO more topless GO pool?

At least I can say I went to the Pool when it was topless.

Hmm, I am just going to have to find another "european" style pool now. Mandalay Bay has one.

 

Good to know about the pool getting crowded! We are staying at the Flamingo in September and usually spend the mornings by the pool. Thanks for posting.

 

Thanks for the apology, I was wondering who was that maniac that ran into us in front of O'sheas.. lol
Not really but our trip coincided exactly.... June 21 thru 25 only we were at the Palazzo the entire time... and yes it was hot!

Great report and thanks..

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Great trip report!!

 

Oh my gosh, hysterical about the pants and all the criss crossing all over town. You certainly got alot in!

Glad you had fun!

 

I live in Great Falls, Montana, less than 10 minutes away from the airport. I am sure that is something I take for granted and don't fully appreciate.

 

ahhh, I bet you do ...... I'm originally from Lethbridge and have many friends in that area (even from this board) that head down to GF to fly allegiant air

All though its costlier to fly direct from Calgary, its better sense for me..I can get a direct flight at 830am , and be in Vegas at the hotel by 1030- 11am -Vegas time..... less time than to drive to GF
Returning , I can take a direct flight at 730pm and be in Calgary by 11 to wait in line at customs lol

landing in GF at like 830pm on Allegiant , then having to drive 5 hrs plus get thru the border , isn't my cup of tea , especially in the winter months , even tho the flight is half the cost

haven't been to GTF in years , used to head down there in the 60/70's when I was a kid/teen , stayed at the Heritage Inn and went shopping
Great city it was

Enjoy that luxury of being so close to
great airfares and a good airport to leave from with a direct flight I''d be in Vegas every other weekend probably if I lived so close hehe

 

Great report and excellent read

 

Nice read thanks for sharing. LOL @ the pants!