Nov 12-14 3 Hotels, Airshow & Prostitute

Just returned from another fun Vegas trip, our 11th of the year. Had a great time, and nobody got arrested.

Sat Nov 13 4pm EST: Jumped on a roomy SWA flight nonstop to Vegas, 4hr flight arrived at McCarran a few minutes early. The 5 of us travelling together (Myself, my wife, and 3 friends--one a Vegas "virgin") each got a row on the plane to ourselves since there were only 47 passengers.

Sat 6pm PST: Landed in VEGAS, it was beautiful to see all the city lights while we were landing. We were the only ones on the Avis shuttle. I have an Avis preferred card, so I wasn't supposed to have to go into the office or wait in line. I was a little ticked off when they said I had to go inside due to my credit card possibly needing to be swiped. I went inside and they found the problem--they said they were out of free upgrades, and the coupon I used for a free upgrade wasn't valid for a Saturday night pickup. I started to ask why the computer would let me book this anyway, and gave up. I calmed down and joked "ok just give us the compact I reserved" and told the 4 people I was with that I'd drop 2 of them off at the hotel and then swing back to Avis to pick up the others and their luggage. The lady at the counter looked concerned, and then looked down at the package of chocolate chip cookies that my wife had baked for the trip. Well, needless to say the folks at Avis are suckers for a good cookie. I got out of there with my mid size SUV--a Buick Rendevous, for my original $12.xx a day rate! First big win!

6:30pm On the plane we realized our GVR b1g1 Pocketbook of values buffet coupon wasn't valid on Saturdays.. No problem we went to the finest steakhouse in Vegas-Ellis Island. finest $4.99 steakhouse-Actually finest $2.49 steakhouse since we had B1G1 pockebook of values coupons. While waiting in line for the restaurant we used our Unlimited Drinks for 2 Pocketbook of values coupon. The bartender was b*tchy and said we could only use them for 1 hour. So... We decided that we were going to teach them a lesson and that we'd drink more in our 1 free hour than we would have drank if they hadn't limited us by time. Five long islands and 2 rum & cokes later, I was feeling NO PAIN. I stumbled into the steakhouse for some chow which hit the spot. Feeling a little more sober after the meal, we went to retrive the car and start our gambling...

8:30pm Checked into Sahra. 5 of us into one room. Shhh. don't tell housekeeping. The room was nice, smelled fresh and clean, and two of our friends who didn't get a bed enjoyed the floor very much. We were on a budget and all.. Saturday we had 1 room for 5 of us, Sunday we had three. Price for Sahara: 1st night $59 2nd night $free from mailed offer

9:00pm Drove to Rio to use our free passes for Voodoo Lounge. Valet Parking was full or for diamond members only, which I am but all I had was my friends expired card. The valet attendant saw this and directed me to self parking. I told my passengers that This is VEGAS and the system can always be worked.. I then slipped a $5 next to my card and asked him to check again. He said "looks like it says 2006 to me, plenty of space for you today Sir." This club was awesome, nobody in our group could get over the view. The flair bartenders weren't very interesting, not like at Carnival Court. The dry ice drinks were literally smokin'. Sent a few picture phone messages of the Las Vegas Strip from this birds eye view.

11:00pm Drove to MGM Grand for some Blackjack. Wife and I ended up down about $200 after 2 hours or so of play, then went to Sahara to sleep.

Sunday Nov 14th
7am: Woke up to get ready for Aviation Nation at Nellis AFB. First uh-oh was when we got into our rental car and found the Cigarette lighters to be inoperational... So that meant no GPS or radar detector. We drove it back to Avis and picked up another identical silver buick, this one had working 12v outlets. Drove to Nellis and parked in the Speedway lot, paid $2 for the shuttle ride to the AFB and $5 for a program. Free admission was a pleasant surprise!!

8am-3:30pm. WOW. Words just can't describe how amazing this airshow was. Clearly the largest in the nation and the best run. The program guide said that they were expecting 130,000 people that weekend. There really didn't seem to be too many people there, but given the fact that it covers such a huge area, there may have been. The Thunderbirds were the star attraction, but our favorite was the Harrier which overshot the landing then flew backwards. Yep. The US can create planes that fly backwards, spin around in a zero turn radius, etc. Also we were amazed at the high definition quality video of the airstrips that came from an unmanned drone 2+ miles up in the sky. My only regret is that I didn't bring my father who loves watching airshows but is afraid to fly.

4:30pm Drove to the Riviera in search of their 5x bonus points promo and the 9/6/239 machine that the las vegas advisor played to maximize their bonus last month. Found that the promo was alive but we couldn't find the machine. We then walked over to the Stardust where we checked in for our FREE room courtesy of our LV Advisor subscription. We got a great room in the West Tower, and although the doors and bathrooms looked a bit older, the hotel seemed to be in 3x better shape than the Sahara and 10x better shape than the Plaza. Those are the only 2 low budget properties we've stayed at to date. We left the Stardust room, never to return (since our friends would claim this room for Sunday night).

6:00pm Drove to Green Valley Ranch to use our 2/1 Buffet coupons. Funny that I felt very out of place standing in a buffet line in Vegas, since I'm used to getting line passes or VIP entry. So the rest of our group waited while I played a video poker machine nearby--lost $50. The buffet dinner was good, I had hot Crab Legs, Prime Rib, Chicken Fajitas, Pasta, Pepsi, and some chocolate cake/ice cream for dessert. I rate this good but not fantastic. Partly because they don't serve Coke and partly because we miss Harrahs buffet so much...

8:00pm Drove to Fiesta Henderson casino to use our $25 Pocketbook of values matchplays. EVERY ONE of us won. Some won $25, some won $75 due to doubles and splits. I think we walked out of there up $225 for our group. The pit boss took the beating well but inferred that we were robbing the place blind and didn't give them a chance to win it back.

10:00pm Valet parked at harrahs and walked to the TI Sirens show. The show was great as usual, especially from the best-view VIP section that we got to go in with our MGM key. After the show we walked back, and on our way to Harrahs we stopped at Casino Royale. I wanted us all to get funbooks which were actually good values. We each got coupon books containing blackjack pays 2/1, $25 bonus for 4 of a kind video poker, $10 bonus for any wheel of fortune bonus of 40+ coins, etc. I was bound and determined to have myself and my wife win the blackjack bonus, but we lost $300 combined and neither of us turned up a blackjack. Our friend got several of the $10 wheel of fortune bonuses, and whenever the slot attendant asked him to clear his play with another spin he refused, saying he was done at the machine... he he he that ticked her off quite a bit. I was bound and determined to get back at the Casino Royale even if I had to come back on my own after all others in our group went to sleep.

11:00pm Drove to MGM Grand and got our room, we had reserved the $60 slot player rate which had a $35 dining credit, 2 studio 54 passes, and 15% off spa services. Asked for our passes and were told that Studio 54 was closed, so our 2 friends who wanted to go clubbing were out of luck. they paid $20 a piece cover to go to Tabu, while we dropped our bags in our room and walked to Fatburger. I wasn't hungry so I just ordered the Big Fat Combo for my wife. After paying via Credit card I noticed the meal rang up 40 cents more than posted on the menu. I alerted the lady (ok I was probably drunk or else I would have realized that complaining = something bad will be done to your food), and the manager said they shouldn't have given me the large drink. I said what do you want it back now? and they said YES. Can you believe that? They dumped out a large coke in order to pour me a second coke, this time a medium. What a waste! Apologized to my wife who wondered what all the fuss was for 40 cents....

2am-5:15am Drove to Harrahs and walked over to Casino Royale. It was me versus the video poker machine for my 4 of a kind $25 bonus. I figured it would take 20 or 30 minutes, wrong. I was down almost $300 and was getting very depressed. I was getting desperate, not just for a 4 of a kind but now to use the restroom, and was worried that someone would grab my machine. I couldn't stand it any longer and cashed out to make a mad dash for the mens room, only to find a closed sign please use other restroom upstairs in Outback steak house. Now I knew this was clear across the casino and I was in pain, so I had to make a quick decision. I ran outside the back doorway but the parking lot was too lit up for me to go unnoticed out there. I decided that I had no other choce but run into the womens room to relieve myself. On the way out I ran past a cute woman who was pretty surprised to see me in there. I just commented "hey , it's Vegas" as I walked by. After another 20 minutes of play I had my 4 of a kind, my $25 bonus, then got 3 full houses and another 4 of a kind. That left me down only $50 so I called it a night from Casino Royale.

At 5:30 I got my car and drove to Riviera. I parked in the closest spot since I don't like their valet much. I walked into the casino and decided to play Video Poker to try to maximize the 5x points promo for new members. I found a Jacks or Better machine, It enjoyed my $100 bill and let me play for about 30 minutes before asking for another. The 2nd $100 bill lasted a bit longer but still no hits other than a few Full Houses. I was down to $50 on my 3rd $100 bill when I got a 4 of a kind for a $125 win. I proceeded to get two more 4 of a kinds and soon after had a $360 credit. I was probably delerious from lack of sleep, and whenever the drink lady came around I Was thinking to myself "can't you see I'm playing here, leave me alone, playing video poker......". Actually I Didn't want to have to make another restroom dash since I had no idea how far away they were from my machine. at 7:30am I held 4 hearts and drew a 10 of hearts. the machine started going crazy and then I realize what had happened. ROYAL FLUSH... JACKPOT... CALL ATTENDANT. This was a $4000 win and would result in my first W2G. After about 40 minutes an attendant brought my check (as per my request) and gave me a free riviera tshirt.

8:30 picked up friends at Sahra and Stardust to go shopping at Frys electronics. Scored a Roadmate 800 GPS for $999 (after $100 price match to sharper image in the aladdin desert passage shops).

During this ride my friends disclosed that they had picked up a prostitute the night before. They knew that cabfare from MGM to Startdust was alot so they walked to Ballys to catch a cab midway. The story, as it was told to me, is that a cute girl with huge....features...was sitting on a bench near the cabstand. She asked where they were going and they said up the strip to our hotel, she asked where and they said Stardust, she said wow I sure would like to see the stardust. They told her to hop in since they thought she really needed a ride. As soon as they got on the road she grabbed the one guy in the car--the vegas "virgin" grew up pretty quick. That's when he realized that he had a hooker in the back of the cab with him. He asked if she was going to make him pay and then she made the driver stop the car. The cabbie was bitching about those darn hookers the rest of the ride. I don't know if this is ALL that happened because my friend said for the whole night every time they heard a noise they looked out their door thinking that the girl's pimp was going to gun them down. I hope it was just a coincidence that the same night the Stardust was robbed, or an attempted robbery occurred at least.

9:30 went to see my MGM room since checkout time was only 90 minutes away. I took a shower and a few minutes later my wife returned from her Zen Stone Massage. She described the procedure to me and said she enjoyed it--she was worried about being naked during the treatment but said the woman who performed the massage was very professional and always kept her covered. I asked if it was worth the $120 and if she'd do it again on our next trip and she said she would.

11:30 ate at the MGM grand buffet which was odd because we got there a half hour after lunch officially started but more than half the food was still breakfast. We ate a light lunch and agreed it wouldn't be worth eating here unless it was comped again.

12:30 drove to Riviera to pick up our whopping $90 cash back, that means I played over $7k in that Video Poker machine in 3 hours. Also saw that the tshirts that I Got for free were being sold for only .25 riviera buck.

1:00pm walked over to Westward ho and took a picture of my bold friend eating an ENTIRE 3/4 pound HO-Dog for the first <and sadly> last time.
I then showed our whole group my $4000 check from Riviera holdings group to their amazement.

2:00pm drove to Gamblers General Store for some more chip storage cases

3:00pm gassed up car, returned it to avis, waited at the Airport for our on time Southwest flight, and said farewell to Vegas, the city we love, until next time which was already planned for Dec 9th-11th at Imperial Palace or MGM grand.

..Right after we returned home, we saw that the Wynn had mailed me a 2 night free room offer Sun-Thurs valid until mid December. Since it was only valid starting the Dec 11th, the day we were scheduled to be coming home, we decided that we would have to extend our trip by at least a day. Wynn must really be having trouble filling their rooms since we had never really played there. During our July trip, we went to Wynn just to look and get our players card, I played $10 while we waited for someone in our group to use the bathrooom. That was probably the smartest $10 I'd ever played!

Thoughts for next trip Dec 9th - 12th:
-Gamble more at MGM, we love the blackjack tables and dealers there
-Spend more time at Carnival court. oh wait they will be closed in Dec. Damn!
-collect more $1 casino chips
-finish our match play coupon run since our 2005 books expire soon
-go to Voodoo lounge again since it's such an awesome view
-try to get a royal flush at Nevada palace. I have read that the place is a dump but I read online that they pay double for a royal flush on your birthday, so I have to at least try.
-visit the Ethel M chocolate factory and cactus ranch

 

Nice trip, congrats on the royal!

 

If by 'create' you mean "buy the rights from the good people at Hawker Siddeley", then you're right.

http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/aircraftpage.php?ID=609

ps. Nice Report.

 

Good report! Where did you get your coupon book and how much did it cost? We are going for a week in March and want to do some bargain hunting. Thanks!

 

"Pocketbook of Values" is the coupon book from the LVA--Las Vegas Advisor (www.lasvegasadvisor.com) There's a special $10 3-month end of the year membership deal now, I believe. Otherwise, membership is $37 per year (online) or $54 to get mailed monthly newsletters. Both memberships include the price of the Pocketbook of Values (commonly called "POV" online)

 

Nice report! A couple of notes:

Driving after 5 Long Island Iced Teas and a couple rum & cokes - that is definitely high stakes gambling. Scary!

Carnaval Court isn't going to be closed ALL of December after all. Here's the schedule of hours:
The hours of operation schedule, during the remodel for Carnaval Court are as follows:


November 21st, 22nd and 23rd ..... 5pm-2am

November 24th-27th ..... 11:30am-2:00am

November 28th-December 11th ..... 5pm-2am DAILY

December 12th-15th ..... (CLOSED)

December 16th-December 28th ..... 5pm-2am (Daily)

December 29th and 30th ..... 2pm-3am

December 31st ..... (CLOSED) for Special EVENTS

January 1st-Feb 1st 2006 ..... 1:00pm-2:00am (DAILY)

Have fun!!

 

Also, CC may be temporarily closed for repairs and cleaning after two or more T2V'ers blow through.

Guy, good call. Your blokes get the credit for what is one of the most amazing aeronautical inventions, especially when you consider how long it's been around (first flown in what, the 70's?)

 

It was used in the Falklands, at least--according to one of the Military channel shows my husband forced me to watch

 

That's true. I remember the press making a big deal of how Britain's Prince Andrew was a pilot of a Harrier jump jet in the Falklands.

 

Yes, it's a cool plane that the Brits created, but man, that poor thing has a bad service record. I saw one at an air show years ago, it was freaking loud but really cool to watch. The coolest part was watching it go from hover to straight flight. It just suddenly sped away. Like a flying saucer or something. it was pretty cool.

 

Congrats on the royal and a great score on the Buick.

Darin

 

Nice trip report, love it when people win money in Vegas, congrats.

I had a Zen Stone Massage, it's absolutely worth every penny