4/22-4/24 A quick 48 hour driving trip. GGWU points and a lot more!!

48 hour whirlwind TR, GGWU points, Baccahnal Buffet, NOBU, Absinthe and a whole lot more.

So, before I start, no slot porn, no food pictures, this was pretty much a whirlwind trip. I had numerous tasks to perform:

1)Get Les' (my BFF) 7* companion card updated
2)Deliver a gift to JinJu Chocolates
3)Pick up gifts for my hosts from JinJu Chocolates
4)Attend the GGWU event (84,000 GGWU points)
5)Earn a 2500TC day
6)Cash in a TITO at Cromwell
7)Play in the Downtown Grand slot tournament
8)Deliver 60 clear cap Silver Strikes to a friend so he could pick up two $300 strikes in June
9)Have dinner at Nobu
10)see Absinthe (Added while we were there)

Because airfare was particularly high this weekend, I chose to drive. I know that some would consider driving 8.5 hours each way over a weekend to be a "waste", but this wasn't really a vacation.

I left San Jose at 3:15PM in a rental car. I rented a Mercedes CLA250, which is a compact version of the car that I drive. I didn't want to put 1100 miles on my car, but wanted the "experience" of driving my car.

Got into Las Vegas at 11:45PM with just a few stops. The only place that traffic was bad was the first 2 hours, where it took me 2 hours to go 60 miles.

Went downstairs to pay off markers from my last trip, and went back to bed since I was picking up my BFF Les (Jaidee1) in the morning. He was flying in and riding back with me.

Woke up at 6AM and started my play day. Made about 1000TC in the first hour. Stupid me, I could have just "ground it out", but tried to swing for the fences. Lost a quick $800 at the High limit machines, and then another $500 before I started hitting and ended down $500.

After I picked him up the first order of business was to get his TR Companion care issues taken care of, that was taken care of quickly.

We decided to eat at the Baccahnal Buffet at 10:30AM since our reservations for Nobu were at 6:30. On the weekends they serve brunch. $49.99 per person!!! It will probably be the last time I eat there. Don't get me wrong, the food was excellent!! Les and I had fun watching the "severely underdressed" (quantity of clothing) young ladies coming in to eat.

I ended up eating mostly Snow crab and Jonah Crab and Prime Rib. After brunch, we headed down to Container Park to Jinju Chocolates to pick up gifts for my host(s), and then we stopped by the Gamblers Book Store to pick up a few things. I am notoriously bad at Dbl Dbl Bonus VP, so I picked up a cheat card to study. Les Picked up some playing cards for his magic tricks.

Les had asked if we could see Absinthe. I really hadn't considered seeing it with him, since I didn't think it was "his type of humor". I had seen Penny Pibbets solo show back at NYE 2014, and I wish that she was still in the show.

I went down to deliver the gifts to my host and asked him for tickets to Absinthe that night. My host booked the 10PM show and then I went back upstairs. I saw Les and he said he was going over to Ballys or PH to play craps, and I needed to go to Cromwell to cash In a leftover TITO. I ended up staying over at Cromwell and grinding out 200TC on the Britney Spears slot machine. I had told my host that he was getting a 2500TC day out of my, but since I considered myself severely "undercomped" on my last trip with my Aunt, I joked that he "owed" me a dinner for two at Nobu.

Went over to the TR booth to "sign in" for the GGWU event. A quick note about the GGWU event. You MUST sign in during the hours listed in order to be eligible. Had I not signed in Saturday between 11AM and 8PM, I would have had to wait until Sunday at 11AM. This will be significant for me for the June event

OK, so why did I pick this event? GGWU (Great Gift Wrap Up) is an event that CET holds at the end of the year. This year the GGWU ballroom events are the same weekends as the mLife HGS (Holiday Gift Shoppe) event. I hope to have about 500,000 points for HGS, and 500,000 points for GGWU. That is equivalent (2015 pricing) to about $1800 at each event. I normally do my Christmas Shopping that weekend. You accumulate points throughout the year (1RC=1GGWU point). The point conversion is about 30K GGWU points to $100 of merchandise. So, it would take 84,000RC to accumulate 84,000 GGWU points. This was a "bonus" event which got you 84,000 GGWU points just for showing up, and bonuses for accumulating TC Earn 7,500 Tier Credits during your stay and receive a total of 112,000** Great Gift Wrap Up Bonus Gift Points.or Earn 12,700 Tier Credits during your stay and receive a total of 168,000** Great Gift Wrap Up Bonus Gift Points. In the fine print it reads "Tier Credits earned from Keno and Tier Credit bonuses are excluded from this promotion.", so you need to earn 7,500 "real" TC to get the 28,000 bonus GGWU points. I attended the event last year and it was VERY popular. There are also bonus GGWU points that can be earned by attending the GGWU events. from 25,000 for attending two to 100,000 for attending five events. I will be attending the one in June (only 42,000 GGWU points) but it will be my second event this year. I hope to make three more events before December.

Went back to the room and started the movie "Victor Frankenstein". Les went off to play. I watched until it was time to leave from the Cromwell

I had a slot tournament to play in at Downtown Grand, and Silver Strikes to deliver, so I went to Downtown Grand and found out that I had 6 entries, and squads ran every 15 minutes, so that was gonna tie me up for an hour and a half. Oops. Had to call my buddy and reschedule the Silver Strike drop.

Played the slot tournament. All six rounds. Modified Double Diamond machines. Not one top jackpot in 30 minutes (aggregate) of play. Boo hiss . . . . . drove back to the room to meet Les for dinner.

Ate dinner at Nobu. Ok, been there, done that. Probably won't go back. We had:

Spicy Seafood Soup
yellowtail and jalapeno hand roll
yellowtail and scallion cut roll
Nobu Crispy Rice with Big Eye Tuna*
caliifornia roll
shrimp (I'm gonna ask Les, since he ordered that dish)
Scallops with Spicy Garlic

The food was well prepared, and tasted very good, but (even good) Japanese food I can get "anywhere". Still, it was on my bucket list. Next time it'll be the Old Homestead Steakhouse.

All totaled was $168 and change.

Got in the car and went to drop off the silver strikes to my LV buddy, then went back to the hotel. We still had about an hour and 45 minutes before the show, so Les played some craps and I went down to finish off my 2500TC day. I gave Les one ticket and said I'd meet him over at the show.

I finished my 2500TC day, because I figured after Absinthe, I'd be ready for sleep since I'd been up since 6AM.

Went to see Absinthe. Not knowing exactly what I'd be seeing, except that it would include crude humor

So, let me tell you:

DON'T GO TO SEE THIS SHOW IF:

1)Nudity offends you
2)"raw" language offends you the "F" word is used very liberally
3)description of sexual acts offends you
4)You are under 18

On the other hand, DO GO SEE THIS SHOW if:

1)You appreciate circus acts, such as acrobats, tightrope walkers, roller skaters, tap dancers, and what I can only describe as a nude balloon dancer, all on a 9 foot round stage.

The Spiegeltent seats about 600 There are three levels of tickets. We sat in the 7th row, the first elevated row, on folding chairs. There were three rows behind us. Alcohol is served. Seating is in circular form, with the stage (a 9 foot circle) in the center.

From the Absinthe website:

“Absinthe,” is the critically acclaimed acro-cabaret variety show. “Absinthe” is performed in the round with unobstructed sightlines and in intimate proximity of the world-class artists performing amazing feats of strength, balance, danger and unfathomable flexibility. The New York Times hails “You’re close enough to see the sweat and grimaces needed to produce graceful, gravity defying stunts,” and sums up the entire “Absinthe” experience as, “Imagine Cirque du Soleil as channeled through ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show.’”

I'm not going to spoil it for you, but I was thoroughly entertained. My favorite acts were the nude (with pasties) balloon dance, the tightrope walkers, and the roller skaters.

The three recurring characters in Absinthe were "The Gazillionaire", "Joy Jenkins", and the "Green Pixie" (Melody Sweets). The Green Pixie sung two songs, One at the beginning and one at the end in a Burlesque mode, and stripped down to pasties.

The show ended at 11:30PM, and it was time to sleep. I had accomplished all of the tasks on my list, and it was time to go home.

Woke up at 6:30AM and on the road by 7:30. Called the duty host before I left and she only took off about 33% of my charges, I asked her to leave a note for my host to see what he could do with the rest.

Gassed up the car in town and ate breakfast at Whiskey Pete's in Primm.

The ride home was uneventful, and made two stops at local fruit stands, at the first stop Murray Family Farms on Hwy 58 outside Bakersfield to pick up fruit for my Dad. We happened to get there when a Chinese tour bus was there. Les was engaged by a older Chinese lady about cherries (they though we were with the tour group), and I was standing behind two other ladies who were taking a loooonnnnggg time to check out, and when I got to the checkout stand I told the cashier, "Don't worry, English is my primary language". She looked relieved and smiled.

Stopped at Casa de Fruta outside of Gilroy and picked up pistachios, avocados, and plums. I dropped Les off at his house at about 4:30PM, I made it back to the airport by 5:30PM.

IMHO, a good trip, mission accomplished.

 

Nice report! But in the fine print...I wonder why is keno excluded? I'm assuming they mean video keno? Is keno $5 a tier credit at CET now? Video keno paybacks aren't much higher than slots on the Strip now anyway.

 

Enjoyed reading your trip report, thanks

 

48hours? Perfect planning and execution - hats off to you - I love following your TR's!

How would you describe JinJu Chocolate? You mentioned it in a previous post and now I'm curious,

 

Thanks for the TR, enjoyed reading it, especially your description of Absinthe. We're thinking about seeing it during our next trip.

 

I have been "pimpin'" JinJu chocolate for over a year since she opened her retail store at container park.

A little about Jin Caldwell:

"Jin Caldwell, Master Chocolatier, award-winning Pastry Chef and founder of JinJu Chocolates, is a native of Korea who, as a young passionate culinary graduate sought a place to channel her creativity. Jin’s chocolate journey began under the guidance of some of the world’s top Pastry Chef’s in Las Vegas. Her diligence, love of chocolate and creativity led her to become a Chocolatier and Pastry Chef at Bellagio Hotel and Wynn-Las Vegas Resort producing award-winning chocolate masterpieces, spectacular sculptures and delectable desserts."

but, I digress. Her chocolates are excellent, (and I'm not even a "chocolate guy") definitely worth a trip downtown to Container Park.

 

Thanks DaiLun! Adding to my 'must try 'next time I'm downtown - no plans this trip due to schedule - but later this year for sure.

 

Hi Dailun:

I am glad you checked off all the activities you wanted. I too loved Absinthe - raunchy humor was good. Did you regular host make any adjustments on your tab?

 

Supposedly everything was supposed to be comped, but I had to send him an email today because the duty host(ess) didn't take charges off my bill. It's supposed to be all comped though . . . .

 

Great report..........and everything checked off the list