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June 17-21 Mandalay Bay and Cosmo trip report

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Sheil813, Jun 21, 2016.

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  1. Sheil813

    Sheil813 High-Roller

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    My Trip Report

    Just woke up from my nap after landing back home this afternoon... Finally slept after 4 days of go go going.
    Started planning this trip back in February after we figured out we could go and still stay on our savings plan for the year (we were frugal at home, so we didn't haven't be in Vegas).
    I will do this in sections.

    Planning.
    Main focus of the trip started with my husband (T2) and my parents all playing in the WSOP Senior tournament at the Rio. T2 and I have been going the same time each year for the last 4 years to watch and ooh and awe over the poker pros. I can watch them all day, it's like golf to me, it is a mental and physical game that I cannot play so I love watching those who can.

    Then my 19 yo daughter got wind of our trip.. She thought it would be a good time instead of going on the Tennessee river rafting trip with her brothers and dad. Um okay but you have to bring a friend and no complaining about the heat, walking and not being able to do anything. (Ha! Little did I know that was far from the truth) She is on Deans list at college and Is well traveled so I was not even worried about bringing her. Actually I was excited to show her the place where we go to relax and have fun when we are not working 60 hours a week.

    Flights booked - SWA nonstop out of Tampa at way to early o'clock and landing in Vegas at 7:55am
    Limo booked through Bell RT for $120.
    Booked my MLife offer of 3 nights in a deluxe room, $150 resort credit and $75 Free play (more on that cluster F later) I also emailed Kevin Sweet on his VMB post and they matched my Bellagio 2 night, $50/$50 Resort Credt and free play offer! I doubled booked us one night, no plan on that at the time.

    Once booked I did what most of us do, Start planning and researching and reading every little thing I can on Vegas. Even though I have been there more than 20 times and my husband used to live there.
    In April I realized the weekend we booked was also EDC weekend... Ugh I have avoided this every year by going the weekend before. WTH... Have to go that weekend since my mom and dad are going too and the tournament is that weekend. This is when I realize that the $20 trick might not work if they are sold out- if I don't upgrade my room to a suite now we will be cramped. Well, I forgot to call in that moment (I am easily distracted, so I'm sure a squirrel or something ran across the lawn). 3 days later I call only to find out that yes, they are sold out and cannot upgrade our room. Hand smack to the forehead, I check my offers and look for husband approved pool areas and find that most are sold out due to EDC.
    I talked to my daughter and she is ok sharing a room with 2 queen beds for 2 nights, we already know we are upgraded at Cosmo.
     
  2. Sheil813

    Sheil813 High-Roller

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    Day 1
    Sometime in our planning of this trip T2 decided he wasn't going to play in the WSOP and just wanted a full pool day.

    We landed on time and very smoothly I might add. Because of winds we flew in very low and slow, one of the best landings I've had. Daughter and her friend slept the whole flight and were ready to go!
    We surprised them with the Limo and a visit to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. It was like taking a 9 year old to Disney. Their eyes lit up and jaws dropped as they looked at the awesome hotels and all that is "The Strip".

    Arrive at Mandalay Bay and since the hotel was sold out the room wasn't ready and still no upgrade potential :cry:
    It's all good, I had packed my carry on with our pool attire (seasoned pro here)
    Off to the pool and cabana rental office. We had Cabana 8 at the West Lagoon. (Not a seasoned photographer) forgot to take a pic! Ordered drinks in the souvenir cup for $26 then $16 refills. They were good! After 1 I napped then had 2 or 3 more...
    Girls enjoyed the lazy river and the pool water was perfect! Just the right temperature to cool off in. The pool deck was hotter than the surface of the sun though.
    We got the text that the room was ready so T2 and I went to check it out and have bags brought up to the room.
    I was pleasantly surprised with the size of the room and the view was great!
    We ate lunch at the pool I think it was the overlook cafe? It was pool food, I was buzzed and it hit the spot. Buffalo chicken wraps and something else. No one can remember and I forgot to take pictures (as I often do).
    We all headed up to the room around 5 to shower. The plan was to go to the Linq to eat dinner in that general vicinity. One pact I made with my daughter was to not eat at any place that we have at home. Well T2 was not privy to that, so he wanted to eat at Tilted Kilt because he was comfortable with the menu.. Uh hm yea the menu...
    We cabbed it down and had a great time ogling the EDC costumes and wondering how any of that could be comfortable.
    We compromised on the Yard House and our first lesson was learned. We have to split our meals and share entrees. We ordered enough food for a small country. Again, no pics, I remember Calamari, a Rueben, a salad of some kind, a bowl with rice and vegetables and something else! But we didn't order the half portions like our kind alter advised! No we were hungry and some of us had been drinking all day and we needed sustenance to stay up!
    Stay up we did! Ha NOT. Got back to MB via cab by 10:30, girls headed up to the room and after playing VP for maybe an hour and listening to the band at Mizuya for 15 minutes we went up and passed out! Gambled for 1 hour all day and lost ... No pics of the horrendous VP hands we got. Played $400 at 3 card and lost. This is going to be a theme people.. :thumbsdown:
     

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  3. Sheil813

    Sheil813 High-Roller

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    image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg Day 2
    After 1 full day at the pool our Florida skin was ready for a break from the "dry" heat. Up and attem at about 9am, we ate at House of Blues. Again dinguses that we are didn't learn our lesson after overeating the night before - we all order a full breakfast! Eggs Benedict, biscuits and gravy, omelette and pancakes. We rolled out of there and cabbed it to The Rio to meet up with my dad who made it to the second day of the Seniors tournament at the WSOP.. Met up with him before his 11am start time and then got kicked out of the convention area because the girl are under 21. I completely missed the 15 banners and signs that announce "this is a gaming are, must be 21 to enter". Whatever I always walk with confidence and so do these girls. Didn't get questioned until we went into the Amazon room. So off to the Voodoo ZipLine for us! T2 stayed down and watched my dad play until we were done. He is afraid of heights and wasn't about to go up there. What an awesome view!! The girls loved the ZipLine and recommend it all! I recommend you go on groupon or living social for a deal first though. (Hindsight and all)

    After that we decided it was sightseeing time. We had tickets to see Britney Spears at 9pm so we avoided that side of the strip and went to NyNy and the girls rode the roller coaster and visited the Hershey store. We were not very hungry but my husband couldn't resist a peanut butter milkshake! It was good. I went back later in the trip and bought some cookies to take home to my sons.
    We walked through Bellagio and over to Ceasars Forum shops. I did not need to be walking through there with my daughter, as I am a sucker and will buy her whatever she wants. So we let them meander through the shops and we did the responsible thing and sat at some VP machines and proceeded to lose more than if I would have just went GD shopping with them! My feet thanked me later. Ended up leaving there around 3 and took the trams back down to MBay.

    The girls went up to the room to nap and T2 and I decided to play a bit. My room offer included $75 free play. I went to the MLife desk and they told me that they couldn't see it. I have learned a huge lesson. Always print your offers! Take a photo! Don't trust that they will honor it. We still played for awhile and then went to the room to get ready to go out for the night. We bought a small bottle of grey goose cherry noir vodka to pre-funk in the room.
    After 30 minutes of discussion about where to eat (the girls and I wanted Hexx, My husband not being adventurous wanted PFChang) We compromised and ate at Noodles in MBay. We finally remembered to split our food! T2 and I shared the MBay fried rice and pork wonton soup (A+) and the girls had sautéed Shrimp with brown rice. We have finally left a restaurant full but not uncomfortable.
    We cabbed it to Pho and got there in time to have another cocktail.
    Britney was good. It is not a concert but a Vegas Show. It's an entertaining, lively show. I had a good time and the girls said it was the highlight of the trip.
    Cabbed it back to MBay where the girls went straight to bed. T2 and I headed to the VP machines. Finally got some hits! Quad 7's dealt on 3 play was a good start and the only picture I was coherent enough to take. I got quad 4's with a kicker and multiple, multiple, I mean a lot 4 to the Royal flushes. Too many Vodka red bulls later we went to bed.
     

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  4. Brentpe3

    Brentpe3 Newbie

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    Great TR so far!
     
  5. bshowell

    bshowell VIP Whale

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    Nice read. How was the Bell limo service?
     
  6. Bloomview

    Bloomview Tourist

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    Really enjoying your report! Yes, I always print out everything related to offers and carry a file folder. Once my host accidently had us down for 2nts instead of 3 and another time they had us down as MB instead of Delano. Both times I was able to prove their mistakes and things worked out.
     
  7. Sheil813

    Sheil813 High-Roller

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    I thought it was great. The driver gave us his card in case we needed him but we have 2 cab driver friends who helped us during the trip. Bell was on time, polite and drove us to the welcome sign and down the strip.
     
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  8. Flowers

    Flowers VIP Whale

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    Great report!
     
  9. Sheil813

    Sheil813 High-Roller

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    Day 3.
    Rough morning, woke up too early feeling the effects of too much vodka... Today was moving day we decided we were going to check out early at MBay (save $30 in RF) and head to Cosmo after breakfast. We were anxious to get out to the pool and nap!
    We ate at Citizens at MB. It was great! Again, we all split our meals and the pancakes and eggs and potatoes hit the spot!
    I remembered to ask if I had any back end comps and I did! They took $340 off of our bill (which included cabana, drinks, food and gift shop) ended up paying around $350. I am ok with that it was a good time and I will go back to MBay. I will just be savvy and have my offer printed. (Jackasses)

    Off to Cosmo where we checked in in the autograph room - they made a statement like, "wow you got hooked up with a free room during EDC?" Then we asked for upgrade and they said no problem - room 5121 one bedroom suite with fountain view was granted for a small fee of $45! And no resort fee! We had a $50 resort credit so the room was really only $25 a night!

    We went straight to the Blvd pool in the East Tower 4th floor. I was speechless. It is so awesome! The views, the seating, the available decks. Words can't describe how much fun we ended up having that day - no naps were taken needless to say. Ate at their pool cafe and had a platter of fish tacos that were amazing! We shared a bucket or two of Mich Ultra the bill was around $145 with tip. Service was ok and we ate in the shade watching the US Open in the TV's.
    We pooled it until around 3:30. We had to clean up and get ready to watch the NBA finals! T2 was born and raised in Akron so he was anxious to get a good seat to watch the game. We got down to the sports book in time to watch DJ win the US Open and had excellent VP Bartop seats. They reserve the seats at the bar during games for VP players only, WooHoo that's us! The girls headed over to Miracle Mile for shopping.
    We played VP and watched the NBA finals and our bartender Brannon was the best. We never had to ask for a drink. T2 had about 10 vodka red bulls and after 5 I had to say no more! I stuck to water the rest of the night. I could see what was happening. Either the Cavs were going to win and I'd have a happy drunk husband or they would lose and I'd have a drink husband who would go on tilt and try to win it for Cleveland there in the sports book! So Yay they won! After 10 minutes of screaming and bawling we regained our composer and cashed out with $600. We started with $500 there, so not bad. The girls came back and we went to Secret Pizza for dinner. What a great group of guys there. The pizza tasted great and hit the spot after the drinking at the sports book.
    Girls roamed around Cosmo for Instagram and snapshot photo ops and we hit the machines and tables. At one time we were playing $50 BJ and we both had over $1500 in front of us. Why didn't we walk away? (Degen mode). We heard the Cavs were coming to Vegas that night! I tweeted and facebooked and couldn't find out where!
    We gave up and went on a bad run at VP for me and craps for T2. Around 1am we went upstairs minus $3k of what we brought down. Heard in the morning that the Cavs ended up at Encore around 2am.. Oh well - Next Year!
     

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  10. Marilynfan

    Marilynfan High-Roller

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    Enjoyed your review. I've stayed at Cosmo twice now and haven't made it to the pool. Going back in September and I am determined to get there. Did you have a hard time finding seats? I'm actually a person who appreciates the shade - did you see any loungers that were in the shade. This just makes me so excited to get there!!
     
  11. Sheil813

    Sheil813 High-Roller

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    Cosmo pool has tons of chairs in the shade - we had plenty of loungers available - also loungers in the pool! there are two upper decks and one of them was almost all shade - it had the best view too! Ice water is available and we brought our own tervis tumbler cups and refilled them. I loved it and can't wait to get back there - we are going in September again!
     
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  12. Niteshade

    Niteshade VIP Whale

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    Enjoying your report so much. Thanks for the great
    descriptions of places you went and food you ate.
    Can't wait now to get there. 8 more days for me.
    Thanks for sharing!
     
  13. Marilynfan

    Marilynfan High-Roller

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    Oh, that sounds great! I am taking my Mom and will be there Sept 27-30.
     
  14. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Good stuff so far! And love the Cosmo Pool!
     
  15. Hoofy7

    Hoofy7 VIP Whale

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    I'll be in Vegas then too:) I'll be at Palazzo 9/27-9/30 and then moving to the Cosmo 9/30-10/3.
     
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  16. Sheil813

    Sheil813 High-Roller

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    [​IMG]

    I thought I shared this picture. Missed it.
     
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  17. casinokid68

    casinokid68 Caesars Diamond Member

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    Fantastic report!! And I agree, the Cosmo pool is awesome. Plenty of shade, to keep you out of the sun.
     
  18. Sheil813

    Sheil813 High-Roller

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    image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg Day four - final full day. I am just now recovered from the trip! Way too much vodka was consumed.
    Today we woke up after a night of celebrating the Cleveland Cavaliers win.. Well I woke up, T2 not so much. Girls wanted to see everything they hadnt seen yet!? Huh? Ok. Big girl panties on and off to Earl of Sandwich at Pho. Walking across the ped bridge we saw the EDC kids coming in at 8am! That's stamina. Earl Of sandwich is literally 5 minutes away from Cosmo and IMHO better than Eggslut. We ate and I came up with a plan to get them down to Venetian and be back in time for a nap by the pool. Took a sandwich and Gatorade back to T2. He was appreciative but laid back down. So off through Crystals to take the tram to NYNY. Then walked over to MGM. Took monorail down to Harrahs and walked to the Canal Shoppes. Got some great pics for the girls snapchat story and Instagram. Went to Carlos' bake shop. Bought a cannoli, brownie and carrot cake cupcake. Brownie was mouth watering. All others were good but I love chocolate. Girls found The Island Company Store and spent the rest of their monies. Walked outside Venetian for more photo opportunities. Then back to Harrahs and monorail. It was almost lunchtime. I found out that T2 had recovered and was back at the sportsbook bar at Cosmo playing VP we met him there and ate at The Henry. We were planning in Wicked Spoon Buffett with my parents for dinner so we ate light lunch of salads. Good food, service was meh... Nap by the pool time before dinner! Nope T2 had other plans. He needed me to help him win back his VP losses from the mornings when I left him alone... Girls went to pool and I started with the strict rules of parlay. VP was not my friend. But Big Bang was! And I also won on some Dragon game that I forgot to take pics of. Either way I did not help bring in any wins! Nap time! Met my parents at wicked spoon. I had earned 2 free buffets with my new identity card and 1000 points. We also went in the invited guests line. That was great. Food was good, I witnessed food that was out, I had read that on other reviews. Dessert "looked" gorgeous. I didn't like anything though.

    After dinner we wished my parents well on their next adventure. RV'ing to my uncles house in Calabasas, Ca. My dad was leaving up a big winner.
    We walked over to top golf via the tram from Aria to NyNy. We have a top golf in Tampa, but this place is on steroids! It is now going to be our new go to place to watch games! The video screens, pools, couches, bars... Awesome!
    The walk from MGM was about .5 mile and not very well lit up and signs were non existent. It might be better to Uber.

    After that made our way back to Cosmo and bed. I had walked over 8 miles and was ready to sleep. Got up at 4:30 for our 8am flight home.

    Awesome trip. I would not hesitate to take a minor again. The girls were great and they are already planning their 21st bdays there!
     

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  19. Geogran

    Geogran VIP Whale

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    Enjoyed your TR - you covered a lot of ground and thanks for the great pics. Sounds like the girls had a great first trip!

    Curious if anyone can tell me the difference between checking in at the 'autograph' room and the VIP room? If I remember from our last trip, they were next to each other but didn't know what the autograph room was.
     
  20. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    5 Aces is almost as good as four deuces there! ;) And from just one deuce...nice hit! Looks like you had a great time!
     
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