1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

Barbary Coast and Vegas with Newbies

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Brutus Buckeye, Jul 22, 2006.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Brutus Buckeye

    Brutus Buckeye Tourist

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2006
    Messages:
    28

    My Trip Report

    Day 1

    Our flight out of Columbus, OH on Southwest was uneventful. We had 6 in our group 3 guys and 3 girls. My spouse and I were the only ones in the group that had been to Vegas (the rest of the group are my co-workers) and the age of our group ranged from mid 20's to mid 40's.I ordered a limo from Presidential Limo to pick us up at the airport and since none of us checked our bags we were on our way to the hotel in short time. Presidential had champaign and roses (for the girls) and we enjoyed our treatment. I had us checked in at Babary Coast in a matter of minutes (beats standing in line at one of the larger hotels). We did get rooms side by side and were pleasantly surprised at how nice the rooms were for $53 a night. The rooms were on the small side compared to other hotels in Vegas but considering how much time a person spends in their room while in Vegas we didn't care. We all like the 42 inch plasma screen TV in the room (one person in our group wanted to know if it would fit in his carry on - big sports fan).

    We headed toward the Aladdin via Bally's/Paris. One of the people in our knows French and Spanish and like being able to use this skill in Vegas. I took the group to the Aladdin for the buffet and all were in awe of the selection the quality of the food. We had 2 veggie eaters in our group and they found plenty to suite their tastes. After we stuffed our faces we headed out to the strip. We took them to Bellagio to show them the fountains and they all were very impressed. We also checked out the conservatory which was had a neat patriotic theme. We then headed to Caesar's and we gambled a bit (none of us play much more than slots).
    We decided it was time to head back to hit the hay since no one won much at Caesar's. We walked down to The Mirage and watched the Volcano which everyone thought was cool. One of the guys couldn't believe the ducks swimming among the fire of the eruption. We got to Babary and played some Star Wars penny slots which are fun because it is so interactive (shoot storm troopers, etc).

    Day 2

    Our group isn't used to being up until 6 in the morning our time (3 hr. time difference with Ohio). My group (and the older adults in our group) in my room were early risers and were up and ready to go but we hadn't heard from the (younger) other group. We debated and I was elected to make the dreaded wake up call. I called and no one answered so I left a message on their room call. We decided to get coffee and see if we heard from the other room - nope. I decided well I already pissed them off the first time I called so I called again this time with an answer. The phone was answered with "What the F___K do you guys want this early in the morning!!" and "we have 2 ready and 1 to go". We did give them time to sleep 7 hours but I guess the young kids can't take it. :) Once we ousted the rest of the group out of bed we went down to the Victorian Room at Barbary to eat breakfast and wake up the sleepy heads. Breakfast was good and we had no complaints.

    We then took the group down to the Luxor/MGM end of the strip. We took the monorail to the MGM - nice and quick. I have a certain bank of $1 Magestic Lion slots that has been good to me and my spouse (we have won on them 3 separate times and averaged $300-500 each time). I didn't do so well on the lion slots on this trip but my spouse won $300. We spent a couple hours gambling checked out the sleeping lions and headed for the M & M store. As usual the M & M store was wall to wall people the group purchased a few items then went to the Coke store and had some cherry cokes at the soda fountain. We then went to NY NY and the group rode the roller coaster (quite jerky). It looked like it was going to break loose and pour rain but it never did but it it wasn't pretty outside. The group did like NY NY since most of us have been to New York City. I had some buy 1 get free pretzel coupons so we had a snack it it was good. We then went to the "trashy castle" just so we could get to Luxor and Mandalay Bay. I hate the Excaliber with all the kids running around and it is the only casino/hotel I have trouble navigating. The group couldn't believe the height of the pyramid. We gambled a bit at Mandalay Bay (more Star Wars slots for me). We decided to take the Deuce (double decker bus) back to our hotel. We purchased an all day pass for $5 but the bus sat their 15 minutes before we moved (not sure why). The bus driver was a regular comedian and rocked the bus back and forth using the brakes while those in cars around us stared in disbelief and he also cracked jokes concerning bus safety. We make it back to our hotel to drop off some stuff and one person in our group had "hit the wall" and needed to take a nap (the youngest person in our group of 6). The rest of us proceed to Chipotle near Harrah's. After eating some of us went to Harrah's carnival court to listen to the band while a couple of others went back to the hotel to get our sleepy member of the group. We regrouped (rested) we stopped at Casino Royale and enjoyed a $1 margarita. We walked down to the Venitian and walked around the shops (too rich for our group). Their was some sort of filming goind on at the outside gondola ride area but we didn't recognize any stars. We then proceeded down the strip to watch the pirate show accross the street from TI. My spouse and I hadn't seen the pirate show since they changed it to "Sirens" and had heard is was awlful. Well our entire group (guys did like the half naked girls) thought it sucked - singing, etc. I guess we couldn't understand why the male pirate who was captured by the female pirates would want his friends (male pirates) coming to "save" him? I would figure he was be satisfied to stay one a ship with all women and be the only male. We then caught the bus to downtown to experience Fremont Street. We gambled at Fritzgeralds and watched 2 of the canopy shows. Our group was so tired by this time (it was 6 am back in Ohio) we all laid down on Fremont Street to watch the canopy show. We gambled and got beads at Mermaids. We caught the bus back to the hotel then got the munchies and hit the Victorian Cafe at Barbary for their early morning breakfast specials then hit the bed.

    Day 3

    We all slept in a bit but I figured we were probably up before the other group but come hell or high water I wasn't going to give them a wake up call again. We decided our room would get breakfast and go off on our own and were about to do so when my cell phone rang at the elevator and to my amazement the other group was all up and ready to go! I forgot to tell you that on Day 2 of our trip one of the elevators quit working so we were down to 1 elevator. We were on the 1st floor and contemplated using the stairs but there were huge warning signs not to open the door or we would set off and alarm. We asked a maid if an alarm would really go off or not and she checked with management and verified that we would have emptied the whole hotel if we took the steps. The elevator won't get fixed until the day we check out. :-(

    I had coupons for the auto collection at The Imperial Palace and figured the guys would like that so off we go to IP. We did get to see some dealertainers (Alice Cooper and Stevie Wonder) perform on our way to the auto collection. The auto collection (for free with our coupon) was more impressive and bigger than we anticipated and we enjoyed going through looking at the cars. We then headed to Harrah's to use our Mac King free tickets with purchase of a drink. The entire group really did enjoy the show. He brought people out of the audience to particpate in the magic tricks and one little boy ended up being a comedian himself when in one trick there was a tent which was empty (the 8yr. old helped verify) and he had the boy stand in front of the opening of the tent which was closed then a person in a bear costume jumped out of the tent (you would think this would scare this boy- it made us jump) but it didn't to Mac King's dismay. Mac King asked him if the bear scared him he said "no it is just a person in a costume".

    We were now starving and I had to pick up our tickets for Love (we had tickets for the 7:30 pm show) so we decided to eat the The California Pizza kitchen. We checked out the gift shop for Love after I picked up the tickets. I wanted a shirt with the Love logo but they were sold out. I did get a business card and was told more shipments were coming in next week to call and order a shirt and they would ship it to me (others in my group wanted the same shirt so we are all ordering later). I had to book it back to Bally's/Paris to their business office to print our boarding passes (the Mirage business office closed earlier and wouldn't be open the time I needed to print my boarding passes). I got those darn A group passes and dropped them off at the hotel. I sent the rest of the group to Caesar's to watch the moving statues which they weren't too impressed because it was difficult to understand what the statues were saying. I guess I still did the right thing by sending them to Caesar's because Pete Rose was there signing autographs and one of our guys is a baseball coach and a Rose fan so it made his day. We then went back to the hotel to get ready for Love.

    We had seats in the 200 section of the theater. I was the only one in our group that had seen a Cirque show therefore the others only had a vague idea of the concept but all of us were Beatles fans. I have to say I was nervous about suggesting we go to this Cirque show because it was new and the reviews were mixed. The show left us speechless! It was a treat for the senses! We LOVED LOVE!!!! We were ready to go back as soon as we left the theater. One of the guys said if we got back to Vegas in the future we need to see shows every night if they are like this show! I think Love was the highlight of our trip the icing on the cake.

    We then walked down to Paris so the newbies could go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower which they all enjoyed seeing the lights and the fountain show. We were hungry and decided to see if anything was open at the Aladdin shops and they weren't for the most part. I let the group decide where to eat and they choose a place called Blondies bar and grill (this is the only place the whole trip that the Vegas Veterans of this trip had not eaten) and it was awlful. The sat us at some couches and chairs with a table in between. The couches sat so low I felt like calling "The Plane The Plane" from my seat. We should have taken the seating thing as a sign of things to come but NOOOO we had them move us to a a standard table. We ordered wings, burgers, etc. Can you believe this place charged $.50 for tap water!! We only had one person like what they ordered and it was a burger. The wings were awlful and our veggie eaters ordered grilled cheese sandwiches and they were not good (how do you screw up grilled cheese sandwiches). We spend more at this crap hole than at the Aladdin buffet (they also charged us gratuity - isn't that usually done for groups of 8 or more - no one else did this the whole trip). We ate some of our food drank our beers then paid and left. DON'T EAT AT BLONDIES AT THE ALADDIN!! Blondies did become the butt of several jokes for the rest of the evening. We walked through the Aladdin shops to get back out to the strip and there was a Buddha statue and it said to rub his belly for luck. One of our girls jumped up next to him and pinched his tits for a picture then we all rubbed his belly. We proceeded through the shops and the same Buddha pinching girl started toward a bench saying is this a statue too (remember we had beer at Blondies - the only way to wash down the crap) we had to yell at her because she was about to pinch the tits of a bum sleeping on a bench thinking it was another statue! Once we got our drunken asses out of the Aladdin shops we saw a sign outside our exit advertising Blondies and we had some in our group pose gagging next to their sign so we can save it to remind us of our crappy meal. We then staggered over to Bally's and lost one of our group (she went back to crash at the hotel) the rest of us decided to gamble at Bally's. Other than my spouse winnning at MGM no one had won much. I decided to play some dollar slots and within an half hour spending a total of $20 on two different machines I won $1000. My spouse also won $160 while I was playing. We decided it was late and we were happy it was time to hit the hay.

    Day 4 - Last Day in Vegas

    We had a couple of people in our group head back down to the M & M store and nearby gift shops to grab a few things. We then headed to Caesar's to eat at Stage Deli. The service was great and so was the food. We had huge portions and everyone thought it was a big improvement over the Blondie thing the night prior. We then went back to the hotel to check out and stored our luggage. Some of the group decided to try roulette and won $50. We had Presidential limo picking us up and had some time to kill going to the airport since we had our boarding passes and no luggage to check so we had the driver take the group to the Welcome to Las Vegas sign and did the picture thing. We had no problems getting through security. Things were a clustered mess at our gate they had one flight that was late and any given time we had 3 different groups of people for flights out of one gate all there at the same time - what a mess. Our plane ended up being 1 hr. late. We got into Columbus, OH at 1 am and decided to have one more late breakfast at The Waffle House. I think I saw more freaks at the Waffle House than I did the whole time in Vegas.
     
  2. Steve in RI.

    Steve in RI. Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2002
    Messages:
    582
    Location:
    Rhode Island
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    6
    Nice trip report with great details. :)
     
  3. FL Mary

    FL Mary Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 4, 2006
    Messages:
    293
    Location:
    FL Panhandle
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    Sounds like it was a fun trip. Thanks for the report!
     
  4. evesixer

    evesixer Guest

    Sounds like a good time...sorry about the bad food in Vegas. I had a bad food experience at the Flamingo buffet, and I seem to remember the bad food more than the good! BTW, I am in my mid 20s and I don't think I could make myself sleep 7 hours while in Vegas!
     
  5. brentbrentbrent

    brentbrentbrent Tourist

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2005
    Messages:
    66
    amen. i ate their on my last day in vegas last year right before seeing X since it was right across from the theatre and it was a disaster. for one average sized, below-average tasting philly cheesesteak, fries, and water, it cost almost $15.
     
  6. milehiman

    milehiman VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Sep 21, 2002
    Messages:
    1,112
    Location:
    Scottsdale, AZ
    Nice trip report, I liked the details. Sounds like you guys had fun which is pretty good considering that traveling in groups not everybody likes to do the same things.

    Oh, one other thing, you have to lose the goofy name "Brutus Buckeye???... LOL - just kidding (I'm a Michigan grad - Go Blue!)
     
  7. xizor

    xizor Tourist

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2006
    Messages:
    2,045
    Location:
    Nashville
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    40
    Thanks, you trip report has convinced me to see Love on my next trip/
     
  8. dung bug

    dung bug Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2005
    Messages:
    203
    Location:
    Houston, Tx
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    11
    Nice trip report..
     
  9. tara

    tara Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2002
    Messages:
    281
    Location:
    Columbus, Ohio
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    12
    Great report! Thanks for sharing!!
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.