Plan E was a “Go!” Bellagio June 18-21

After 4 failed attempts at my usual once-every-3-months trips to the promised land, plan E was going to actually happen.
Thursday morning 6:30 am check in for my 8 am flight. No one in precheck or the regular line, in and out of security in under 5 minutes. The line for Starbucks was longer!
My usual preflight breakfast with the racing form for Belmont weekend.
No in flight mimosa ( customary) but the
smoothest nonstop flight got us there in less than two hours.cab ride with the set rate $23 got me to Bellagio by 10:30 am. Was checking my bag with the bellman and he said they would check us in without early check in fee. After a quick temporal (forehead) temperature scan, got right up to the desk and on my way to my room.


My view-day
Night


11:30 reservation at Hexx-for brunch- very good! Paris had just opened that morning at 10 am, so after breakfast I thought “hey! First day open, their slots will be loose, right?” Wrong! Oh well. Back to Bellagio for a couple hours of give and take on the Slots.
Back to my room to dress for dinner reservation at Prime. First time eating there- was impressed with every part of it. The service was great, the wine list impressive and the food delicious.

Had the filet (served with 3 sauces-(Bearnaise, - peppercorn -Soy something or other. ) and mushrooms sautéed in white wine. Also a glass of Riesling that was also delicious.
Spent the evening with friends at Cosmo- we did a $1000 group pull (5 of us). Never seen money go so fast in my life! I guess $20/spin doesn’t go too far when you’re not hitting lol. We had a great time just the same.
Slept like the dead .
End of day one.

 

Day 2 starts bright and early-showered and ready for breakfast reservation at Sadelles (another first time) by 8:30. This is how you get your menu post Covid

You aim your camera on your smartphone at it, the website for the menu pops up on your
MLife app. Click on the link and bam- you have your menu.
Sadelles service was a bit lacking-it wasn’t busy but took a long time to order. The waiter never brought my orange juice, and I had to ask twice for silverware and salt and pepper.
The food was really good though. Vegas omelet.

Spent the morning and early afternoon playing the horses in Bellagio Sports book. Super nice and knowledgeable tellers and very generous with the drink coupons.


Now that’s the way to serve a mimosa!

Back over to Cosmo since I had a gift certificate from my son from Christmas-had an early dinner at China Poblano. Queso with chorizo (delicious) and a carnitas taco.always good.

Played a few slots and visited with friends at the Chandelier bar til wayyyyyy late.
Some random hits.




End of day 2.

 

Day three starts the same as day two-breakfast then decided to play the Belmont card at Paris in their Sportsbook-it’s smaller, less busy, just lower key. Unfortunately they couldn’t figure out how to get the video feed for the tracks, so back to Bellagio. Nearly filled but able to snag a seat and a few mimosas. Had a great time.
Ended up giving away some drink coupons. Vegas or no Vegas, I couldn’t keep up.
Afterwards decided to walk up the strip to see what was open, browse through Linq promenade ,Harrahs (still has a funky smell to me), OSheas, Linq casino, Treasure Island. It was 105 but I walked a lot, stopping in for a beverage and a bit of play in all places along the way.
By dinner time I was hot and tired and hungry. Did one of my traditional meals in Miracle Mile with a lobster roll at LobsterMe


Really tired this evening from wayyyyyy too many drinks and over 5 miles of walking in the heat, showered and in bed by 10.
End of day 3.

 

Day 4 is going home day, but don’t leave for the airport until 5 pm. Hadn’t been down to NewYork New York or MGM Grand, so decided to spend the day on that end. Had breakfast at America at NYNY. Just plain decent food, nothing special. Service was good. They seem happy to be back at work. I had a machine there Wonder 4 Tower that used to be like an ATM for me. Unfortunately they moved that bank of machines and I couldn’t find it. MGM was not giving, but ran into friends there so had fun anyway.
Back to NYNY and Greenberg’s for Matzoh ball soup and cheesecake ( soup good, cheesecake not so much)


Played a few hours more, early dinner at Il Fornaio- pasta in vodka sauce and a glass of wine-just okay.


Off to the airport. Precheck was closed but it wasn’t busy. Would have been fine if this Karen in front of me wasn’t throwing a hissy fit because she had to take her flip flops off and she had precheck and on and on and on. The guy behind me finally said “ either you take em off or I’ll take them off for you. I have a plane to catch”.
Smooth flight home.

Some thoughts about Vegas in the Covid era.

There were only about 15% of people in masks. They were not required anywhere I went, nor was my temperature taken anywhere but hotel check in.
A few couples were there with brand new babies. Sorry, thinking that normal Vegas germs would be a bit much for in a newborn.
It was very crowded on Friday and Saturday at Cosmo, really no social distancing. They certainly never tried to enforce it from what I saw. It was somewhat better at Bellagio,
Bellagio poker room is up running and full.

With quite the waiting list. As expected.
Most of the restaurants have very abbreviated menus. Mon Ami doesn’t have their quiche right now. Big disappointment. The waiter had no idea when they would return to full menu.
It’s still possible to have a great Vegas experience-and I did. Just a little different.

 

Sorry if this is kind of disjointed- it’s my first trip report. I’ll do a much better job in October!

 

Great trip report. Loved the end comment: "It’s still possible to have a great Vegas experience-and I did. Just a little different."
Sounds like the trip was everything it should be except the loss ratio on your vp play. Maybe better in Oct. Thanks for posting.

 

Thanks for your report! Sadly, I’m in one of the states early ravished by the virus— and we’re still wearing masks and socially distancing and reducing infections. Not a rant here, but this is not a joke, please pay attention, this virus will kill you! Peace!

 

Great report.

 

Great report! Did you have a reservation at China Poblano or were you able to walk in? I’m going solo soon and wondering if I need reservations everywhere I want to go during the week.

 

Walked in, and was also solo. Go, the food is always good!

 

I work in the ER. Believe me, no one takes it more serious than we do.

 

Great report and a lot of good info and pics. Thanks! Just curious, did you fly economy or southwest or something? Airplane mimosas are a staple in my Vegas trips too, and my understanding is I can still get them in first class on American but they arent doing cart drink service and you have to order them, and they arent available before takeoff like normal.

 

I always fly Southwest from here, its the only airline that flies nonstop from my home airport. (well, Frontier does but I flew them once. I prefer Southwest).

 

Nice report! And i don't think it was disjointed at all. Nice balance of text and pics too. Glad you were finally able to make it back and enjoy yourself!

 

Great trip report. And yes, you can still enjoy Vegas, regardless of the situation, just take care of yourself and avoid groups of people not wearing masks. On my solo trip last month, I just kept my distance, wore a mask and sanitized my hands very often.

 

Enjoyed your report and sounds like a nice trip. I enjoy wandering around to
different places, eating at different places and it sounds like you did a lot of that.
Thanks for the rundown and the pictures. Glad you had a nice trip!