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Laughlin 3-Day'er 2/12-2/15

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Trip Reports' started by troe, Feb 18, 2019.

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  1. troe

    troe Tourist

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    My Trip Report

    Let me preface this short trip report by giving some background on myself. I'm 34, but I consider myself an old soul. I much prefer the company of those 20 years older than me. When I received a CET offer for free flights and a room in Laughlin, a casino destination that I've never made it to before, my wife and I booked the trip. We received several warnings from those that had been before that said we would be the youngest people there. When we showed up at the airport, it was obvious what line was for the Laughlin charter...

    CET Charter: CET really makes this process easy. While the line to check-in moved slow, we were checked in and on the plane in no time. The Sun Country 737s are nice and made me wish that SC serviced Columbus. We got free booze onboard. 4 hours later, after watching "Hard Eight" and "The Hangover," we were landing in Laughlin and looking across the river for the first time at all the properties along Casino Drive. Unload from the plane and hop on the bus to Harrahs. After 10 minutes, we're at the property, picking up our keys and headed to our room.

    Harrah's Laughlin: The hotel and casino really shows its age. I had seen that the South Tower rooms were recently renovated, so I requested a South Tower room. The room, while newer than those in the other two towers, did not look recently renovated. The furnishings are not wearing well. However, the room was fine and serviceable for the 3 days. The best thing about the South Tower is that the elevators dump you off in the middle of the casino, really no walk to the machines or tables. The Central and North towers require a walk out of the casino and down a long hallway to get to the elevators. The casino has a lot of machines and tables. Craps tables were $5 min the entire trip with one table open, except for Friday night when they had two tables open. Gambling was up and down, with no huge wins or losses. Harrah's seemed much smokier than the other casinos.

    Golden Nugget: We played here twice, and had great luck both times. This was my favorite property in Laughlin. Place seemed well-kept and clean. Most of the time we were there, they only had half of a craps table open, with a wooden wall (with rubber pyramid bumpers on it) dividing the table. With the wall in place, from straight out at the end of the table, you only had to throw the dice to the hard ways spots on the layout. The first day we played at GN, my wife had a monster roll on the half table. Bought in with $300, and out for $3100, after tips. I was counting her rolls, and notwithstanding all the other numbers she hit, she rolled the six 14 times. Hit the All Tall Small as well. As soon as her roll was over, they removed the half table wall and opened the whole table. The base dealer told us that he hadn't seen a roll like hers in 10 years. Two days later, we went back to the half table and I had a really good roll. I hit the ATS once, re-bet it, and came within an 11 of hitting it a second time. In for $300, out for $1,000. Again, as soon as my roll was over, they removed the half table wall. Both of these rolls were in the morning, not at a shift change, and they didn't have the crew for a full table to be open, because the pit supervisor was acting as stick person each time. To me, it seemed like they didn't want us on the half table anymore.

    Tropicana: Nothing special about this place. Supposedly, it has the most table games in Laughlin. Only thing that stuck out to me was the dealers hassling one guy who was on a decent roll. He was placing bets for the dealers each roll, but they kept telling him they were going to take the dice from him if he didn't speed up his throwing. He was setting the dice, but doing it within a couple seconds--nowhere near as long as I've seen some people take. It was a shame, because their actions ran off the shooter, who was tipping decently, and myself, who was tipping but mostly irritated by the behavior.

    Laughlin River Lodge: Never played here, but mentioning it because it's the weirdest casino that I've ever been in. It has slot machines mixed in with arcade games, and 4 different "themed" casinos in the place. However, the themed areas are really just separate small rooms.

    Riverside: I believe this is the oldest casino in town, especially since Laughlin was named after its proprietor. Didn't really play here, but thought it was a nice change of pace to see the table games back near the river walk with lots of windows to see out. Much nicer than a casino with no windows.

    All in all, I really enjoyed Laughlin and I will definitely go back. While it is mostly older people, I did see some people my age and even some people with their young kids. So, I thought it was a pretty good mix of ages and not near the retirement facility it was made out to be.

    The most unfortunate thing in the city is a lack of good restaurants. It was hard to find decent food in a city with so many properties. Best places were at GN, and those were Saltgrass and Claim Jumper, both of which are Landry's chains--if that tells you anything.
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  2. Dewey089

    Dewey089 VIP Whale

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    Thanks. Good summary. Seems you had a fine trip.
     
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  3. zignerlv

    zignerlv VIP Whale

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    Thanks for your report.

    I'd be interested in seeing a pic of your Harrah's South Tower room, because although casinos love to exaggerate the "recently remodeled" term, in this case the term is correct, and the rooms have been redone within the past year. Could the furniture really look worn in a year?

    If you come back, try a warmer month. The warmer weather brings more life to the place, especially on the river. Harrah's has a pretty decent riverside beach which is something you can't experience at most other Nevada casinos.
     
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  4. troe

    troe Tourist

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    I didn't take any pictures of the room unfortunately. Like I mentioned, the room was fine and we weren't in it much other than to sleep--I was just surprised that it didn't look "recently renovated." It didn't detract from my experience at all and I would come back without hesitation. I actually really liked the seclusion of the Laughlin/Bullhead area with the convenience of Vegas being 90 miles away. I'm from a small town with about the same number of people as Laughlin, and being a small town with all these resorts made it seem like the best of both worlds.

    I was talking to the craps dealers at Harrah's about the change-over of clientele in the warmer months. They said all the SoCal residents come up for the beach and watersports, and that the place is much more lively. One thing I didn't ask about was table minimums during the busier summer months. Do limits go up? I never saw anything above $5 minimums on craps the whole trip.
     
  5. NittyOne

    NittyOne VIP Whale

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    I’m interested similar age and a Laughlin fan and more importantly a “Hard Eight” movie fan.
     
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  6. kevin853

    kevin853 High-Roller

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    Lovely report, glad you enjoyed Laughlin. I do like it there as more chilled than Vegas and sometimes it’s just what you need for a few days.
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2019
  7. NittyOne

    NittyOne VIP Whale

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    Pretty said that the lower tier Landry chains was the best food offerings. You didn’t hit up the place that looks like an old riverboat, it was a favorite when I was a kid. I also remember there being a half decent brewpub.
     
  8. Gaggles

    Gaggles VIP Whale

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    Thanks for the summary. I have one of these Charters booked for April. I have been going on these for more years than I can count. I don't consider myself an old soul but I certainly like old school. Hence I like Laughlin much more than my usual Vegas crew. And I have almost always been the youngest person on the plane for the majority of my trips. Having said that, for our four day junkets I always rent a car and do two nights Vegas sandwiched between two nights in Laughlin.
     
    I Like to Drink and Gamble
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  9. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Nice run on the craps table!
     
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  10. NittyOne

    NittyOne VIP Whale

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    Seriously need to hit up these half table early mornings at the Nugget in Laughlin.
     
  11. kkinwi

    kkinwi VIP Whale

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    Thanks for an interesting report! I started staying at Harrah's in Laughlin years ago, but last trips have been based at the Golden Nugget. Rooms seem a little noisier, but I do like gambling there.
     
  12. troe

    troe Tourist

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    I did like Harrah's, and I'm a pretty loyal CET player--but I wish it wasn't such a hike to get to the rest of the Laughlin "strip." I will play the place I'm most loyal to 70% of the time, but I do like change of scenery once in a while.
     
  13. troe

    troe Tourist

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    The brewpub is still there, but I didn't get to try it. We made a quick walk through the Belle and I saw it, but when I asked locals and dealers where the best places to eat were, no one mentioned it. I'll have to put it on the list for next time.

    We really wanted good Mexican food, but many people told us that the only good places were in Bullhead, and we didn't want to cross the river. We ate at the Guy Fieri Mexican joint at Harrah's. It was ok but nothing to write home about.
     
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