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Short Trip, Long Report, part 2 – Aug. 2-5 The Rio, The Golden Tiki & SLS

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by carolineno, Aug 2, 2015.

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  1. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    My Trip Report

    Trip report part one: a phone photo essay

    Hi all! Well I'm here in Vegas now and wanna get it started. I'm waiting for friends to check in early (maybe) at aria, then off to the Henry for grub. Trying out a live visual report for the first time. I will flush out later in part 2. But for now let's see if i can post pics uploadfromtaptalk1438534583617.jpg uploadfromtaptalk1438534632112.jpg [​IMG]
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  2. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    uploadfromtaptalk1438535308278.jpg fun Magritte floral!
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  3. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    Have fun!
     
  4. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    uploadfromtaptalk1438546755197.jpg
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  5. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    uploadfromtaptalk1438546790302.jpg
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  6. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    uploadfromtaptalk1438547480862.jpg Boo another Ballys fail!
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  7. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    Ok landscape format only i guess!
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  8. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    uploadfromtaptalk1438550248562.jpg All American Bar & Grill at Rio - nice once you get in!
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  9. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    uploadfromtaptalk1438550340249.jpg poker on life support as suspected :(
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  10. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

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    Good luck!!! Looking forward to the report. Just FYI, your first few pics came through fine, the last 4 or 5 are showing as links (which work).
     
  11. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    uploadfromtaptalk1438585484430.jpg at the Golden Tiki!
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  12. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    uploadfromtaptalk1438585558246.jpg
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  13. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    It's not bally's if the escalators actually work! :evillaugh


    Nice pics! Are you actually writing your posts within the tapatalk app? It seems like you're still using attachments, which should be unnecessary if you are actually making posts within tapatalk. You just need to "add photo" (the camera icon) and select the photo from your phone when making your post with the tapatalk app. Here's a random MSS pic on my phone from April.

    [​IMG]

    And getting on tapatalk, they do seem to auto-load for me...weird.
     
  14. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    Ok. Adding a photo with camera icon. Don't know why its been wonky on some...[​IMG]
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  15. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    All the photos can be seen on my phone via tapatalk...hmm.
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  16. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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  17. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    Hello all! Previously I attempted to do a live photo report, but I kept getting dispatches that my photos weren’t showing up, so I decided to bail on that and just do a regular report. BTW my regular reports are really long!

    This is a trip I booked on Mother’s day, as a solo poker trip gift to myself. The Rio gave me some free nights, why I don’t know, some sort of feeler offer. I’m a micro roller and poker player, so basically beyond dining and tipping, I make casinos zero money.

    Originally I thought I might be going alone, but my brother decided to meet me in LAS and share my room. He is from Dallas. Then some friends of mine that I visit annually decided at the last minute to go to Vegas with me, so I had 2 companions on my 7am flight. My friends were on a super tight schedule so we had to pack a lot of fun in a little slot of time. We were in the very back, which was ok, since my one friend has occasion to get motion sickness – if she did, we were close to the bathroom (she didn’t thankfully). I had 4 drink coupons and we managed to use all 4. I had a bloody mary, which was surprisingly easy to drink in the AM!. I didn’t like that Southwest mixed the drink for you, but there are many things I dislike about Southwest, and so I won’t digress.

    425.jpg
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  18. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    My friends are big cab-riders, so I got a free cab ride from the airport. They stayed at Aria, so we checked bags and then got breakfast at The Henry. This was the one thing they really wanted to, and I was good with it because I got some more points towards making Sterling. Everything was awesome as always. I am obsessed with their house made sparkling water. You know if you are raving about the water in a place, it’s a good spot! 429.jpg 434.jpg 459.jpg

    We futzed around the Cosmo casino for a bit, and then their room was ready early, so we parted and I was off to Rio. My brother was due to arrive around noon, so I told him to catch a shuttle or cab and I would meet him there. This was my first attempt at using CET’s email check in option. It didn’t work out too well, but whatever.

    So, Bally’s moved their shuttle stop, it seems. I used to pick up the one to the Orleans near the food court, but now some obscure tour shuttle picks up there. Rio is one stop back, doors off of the casino floor. Grr. Time wasted. Finally make it to Rio. Everything seems harder in the heat.
    438.jpg 440.jpg
    We find each other and caught some lunch at the All American Bar and Grille. Place looks like a regular casino bar from the outside but when you get into it, the décor is quite nice. High ceiling and even a fireplace in the very back. I wasn’t eating but just got a g&t, average gin list. 442.jpg

    The whole time I’m refreshing my email to see if my room is ready. Wasn’t interested in doing the $20 trick. My time was limited so I didn’t want to wait in the very long check in line. We found this silly 1 cent video poker machine that let us play while we waited, without going broke. Refresh. Refresh…this continues for over an hour. Now it’s getting later, we switch to roulette, and I go stand in the horrifyingly long line to check in. Luckily a supervisor was asking for 7 star members etc in the line, so I spoke up and got to the front of another line. Don’t really know why I never got an email saying that the room was ready. Maybe the system is just new. 444.jpg
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  19. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    We were in the Ipanema Tower. Room was pretty nice for free! Fridge didn’t work so well but the Keurig was fine, and I had my own k-cups. We crashed for a bit then prowled around for food. We were going to try the Italian place in the Rio but we ended up in the El Cortez room at the Gold Coast. Food was good, although we weren’t super hungry. Portions were huge. I took my shrimp scampi to go (bro brought it to the room – he was too tired to go out) and then was off to meet my friends at the Bellagio for a night on the town. Cab ride from the Gold Coast was only $6, very worth it!
    466.jpg 467.jpg 468.jpg (btw, none of the women at the Voodoo Lounge looked like this)

    None of us are sure as to how we’re going to pull this evening off. We’re all in our 40’s, with kids, eternally tired and slowing down a bit. The plan is to start at Bellagio, redeem our Sensi cocktail rewards from MyVegas, then go do the High Roller (Groupons), then hit the new tiki bar in Chinatown called The Golden Tiki, THEN back to the Rio to use my free passes to the Voodoo Lounge. Yeah right. Sensi was awesome as it always is, got the Ginger Grant. Bartender was working super hard and he was older than us. I had to wonder if these craft cocktails set you up for some repetitive strain injuries. 469.jpg
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  20. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    We walk to the Linq and the High Roller. Vegas was SOOO crowded that night. Of course we took a wrong turn and had to walk past the fountains. I live in the city so being in a crowd isn’t fun for me, it’s annoying. I suppose it was good in a way because the annoyance factor primed us for drinking. I thought I would be wasting my money with the all you can drink package, but it turns out, we were able to drink quite a lot! I liked the high roller and if the price would come down a bit, I would do the drinking package again. 472.jpg 471.jpg

    We easily get a cab to Chinatown and the Golden Tiki. I am still in good enough shape to communicate with the cab driver, so we get there no problem. Hats off to all the Vegas cab drivers this trip – I never felt long hauled or like the driver didn’t know where to go. With a generous tip, trip was $15 dollars, and my friend’s got the benefit of seeing a little bit of off strip life.

    We’re all re-energized now and get our own little seating area in the Golden Tiki. I am going from g&t to a tiki menu, so I chose Hemingway’s Ruin, which has a touch of gin, and my friends got 2 other signature drinks. Mine was good, but we all agreed the Golden Tiki cocktail was the best. The DJ on this Sunday is playing some remixed Reggae & Ska stuff, which was good but remixed so just ok not awesome. The owner was kind enough to introduce himself to us, so we didn’t feel like we were intruding on a locals only place. Drinking, having fun, while I was in the bathroom some local girls were having some kind of business networking meeting, so that was odd. I’m used to Frankies where everyone just drinks and broods, I guess this crowd is a little younger. I start complaining a bit about the DJ and my friends get me to request something he hasn’t heard of, but finds and plays, then she says we have to dance (no one else is) so then we’re the weird old punks dancing, and the networking girls are kinda laughing at us, but then the want the bar to do well, so they dance too. Before we can further embarrass ourselves, our cab shows up, and we’re off to the Rio. 473.jpg 474.jpg
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
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