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Sampling Sycuan: A Staycation 7/5-7/7 via myVEGAS

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Trip Reports' started by M_ILIS, Jul 7, 2021.

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  1. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

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    My Trip Report

    Prelude: Sycuan is an East San Diego County casino that’s about an hour and 45 minute drive from home that recently got added to myVEGAS. With a Saturday night stay already booked later in July, one day I saw a two-night weekday stay available in the app so I snagged it with the idea of just getting away and working from the hotel room for a couple days. (You can use 2 rewards every “rolling 7 day period.”) It worked out perfectly when I called to book and the first day they had available for a two-night stay was Monday, July 5, which I had off from work in observance of Independence Day. I also snagged a $25 food reward for House of Fortune, the Chinese restaurant which is currently offering only a take-out window rather than seated dining.

    I had never been to Sycuan before, but I have played the golf courses they own about three miles from the resort. I had hoped to play there on this trip, but there was a big junior tournament scheduled for my dates.

    The plan was just to explore the resort, enjoy some pool time, eat some (hopefully) good food and gamble a little if they had nickel video poker.
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2021
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  2. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

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    Day 1: Monday, July 5
    I played golf about an hour north in the morning and then headed straight to Sycuan. I arrived right at the 3:00 check-in time and had read here on VMB that I needed to go to the Player’s Club desk prior to checking in. So I waited in about a 10-minute line and informed them I had two rewards to redeem – one for the restaurant and another for the hotel stay. The boothling said something about how hotel stays needed to be booked ahead of time, so I informed her that yes, in fact, I had a reservation. She gave me the food voucher and said I’d be all set on the room.

    Well, when I got over to the check-in desk, they said I was supposed to receive a voucher for the room as well. I said that’s what I expected, but when I told her about the hotel stay, she said I should be all set. So the front desk clerk called the Club Sycuan desk and despite her best efforts, I had to go back to Club Sycuan and waited in an even longer line this time. Got the same person and she sorta blamed me, saying I didn’t give her the redemption code for the hotel stay, but then I reminded her that she said I was all set. I probably should have been more assertive the first time to make sure I had everything I needed, but they’re supposed to be the ones who know how this stuff works, not me.

    Anyway, she was very friendly the whole time and told me if I ever have a problem again, not to wait in line again but just come up to the window.

    After that 15-20 minute extra hassle, I made it back to the front desk and checked in. I was offered the choice of low floor or high floor. I said high and was given room 11-131, which is one floor from the top and all the way at the end of the hallway. The room was beautiful with high ceilings and a clean, modern design. I had no expectation for the rooms to be this nice:

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_07-58-31 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_07-59-18 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_07-59-54 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-00-48 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-35-05 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-33-14 by Mark, on Flickr

    I went and got some ice and poured myself a drink before changing into my swim trunks to head to the pool, which closed at 6:00 today.

    As described in the Sycuan rewards thread by another, you get a dedicated key card for the pool that they take from you when you enter the pool, and you have to get it back when you leave. Also, you need to return this card to the front desk when you check out or else they’ll charge you $50. A little bit of a cumbersome, seemingly antiquated process, but oh well, not a big deal.

    The pool area is also gorgeous and was packed with people on the tail end of this holiday weekend. There was a DJ and the music was playing very loud, which I loved. There are two different pools plus a lazy river, and lots of tubes, beach balls and float toys around for anyone’s use. I couldn’t find any available lounge chairs, so I finally just selected a spot to put my stuff down and got in the pool.

    Here are some pics from the next day when it wasn’t nearly as busy:
    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-06-35 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_09-57-54 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_09-57-10 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_10-10-30 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_10-15-09 by Mark, on Flickr

    Unfortunately, the DJ stopped playing probably around 5:00 and the music that replaced him was more subdued. Still decent, though. I stayed almost until the pool closed and headed back to my room.

    I think I just hung out in the room for a while having a few drinks, including one I invented that I was calling a poor man’s Long Island. I had brought a variety of drinks including some Cokes, canned Bacardi Limon & Lemonade (which I’d never had) plus gin and Bloody Mary mix. I realized that if I mixed the Bacardi Limon & Lemonade with a shot of gin and some Coke, it was sorta like a tame Long Island iced tea. And it was really good. (Alcoholic drinks cannot be comped at California casinos.)

    This is before I got the idea to add the Coke and gin:
    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-32-57 by Mark, on Flickr

    About an hour later I finally headed down to explore the casino. Just a few steps from the elevator bank I found a cluster of four video poker machines offering all sorts of different games, but as soon as I saw they had nickel Triple Play DDB Super Times Pay I knew I could play one line only, so that’s what I did.

    I put in a $20 and played for what seemed like a long time without too much damage. I still had half my credits after probably 20-30 minutes, and then I hit this 5X Full House to get ahead for a few minutes:

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-33-47 by Mark, on Flickr

    I played on those credits for quite a while, getting a couple “What’s the right hold?” hands.
    Kings or 4 to a Royal:
    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-34-08 by Mark, on Flickr

    5s, 4 to a flush or 3 to a Royal:
    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-34-38 by Mark, on Flickr

    Eventually the last of my first $20 went really quickly and I decided to go order my dinner. I got the kung pao chicken plus shrimp tempura appetizer, which came to exactly $25, the amount of my voucher. They said it would be ready in 20 minutes so I went back to the room for a few minutes to wait.

    The twilight sky outside the room was beautiful:

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-35-31 by Mark, on Flickr

    Went back down to fetch my food and took it back to the room to eat while watching the Padres game. (Sycuan is a big Padres sponsor so there’s Padres stuff everywhere and many employees’ uniforms seem to just be Padres jerseys. As a Dodgers fan, I shouldn’t enjoy this but it’s difficult to dislike a team as exciting as the current Padres.)

    Back to the food, everything was good but nothing amazing. Pretty standard Chinese fare. No complaints for free. Doubt I’d go back on my own dime, though.
    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-35-54 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-36-10 by Mark, on Flickr

    I think I went and gambled more at this point, losing $30 more with no picture-worthy hands. So then I roamed around to check out the parts I hadn’t seen yet.

    This food court looks fantastic but nothing is open right now. I asked an employee when it might open and he said likely not until sometime in the fall. He said they’re having a hard time hiring employees to work. What a shame.

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-36-35 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-36-58 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-37-19 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-37-47 by Mark, on Flickr

    At the far opposite end of the property is an upstairs casino that felt older and dingier than the rest of the place. And then if you keep walking, you eventually arrive at big glass doors that open onto a non-smoking area of the casino. In there I found another nickel STP machine and put in $5 followed by a $20 before finally getting a quad.

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_08-38-11 by Mark, on Flickr

    I played those credits down to $20 so I lost $5 on my total.

    I didn’t feel like losing any more so I eventually made my way back up to my room and watched TV for a bit before falling asleep.
     
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  3. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

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    Day 2: Tuesday, July 6
    I had to work this day, so there’s not much to report before 5:00 except it was fun to hit the pool for an hour on my lunch break. And because I went to the pool at lunch, I got hungry in the early afternoon and went to the hotel’s snack bar called Double Down Grill, where I got these rather tasty chili cheese fries:

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_10-15-29 by Mark, on Flickr

    After work, I went back to the pool to squeeze in one more hour of pool time before it closed.

    Then after I dried off and changed shorts, I headed out with my real camera to take some property pictures.

    [​IMG]20210706172049_IMG_6922 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]20210706172023_IMG_6921 by Mark, on Flickr

    As you might know if you’ve read my trip reports before, golf course photography is one of my hobbies, so I then took advantage of a stunning evening by driving over to the golf course to take some pictures. It worked out well that they had a big junior tournament going because it seemed like there were lots of parents around and no one asked me what I was doing or where I was going. They have three courses but Willow Glen is the most scenic of the three, and the first few holes on that course are some of the most beautiful holes, so I scurried around the first four holes trying to beat the sun from dipping behind the nearby mountains. It was a lot of fun and I got lots of great pics:

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_10-21-33 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_10-22-22 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_10-24-00 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_10-24-25 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_10-25-22 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_10-26-18 by Mark, on Flickr

    On the way back, I stopped at the Sycuan Mini Mart to fill up my tank (they have great gas prices) and hopefully get some cash back to pad my gambling budget for the night. (I refuse to use casino ATMs, which feels like the most “degen” thing one could do. No offense.) Anyway, they didn’t allow cash back on top of purchases, so I was stuck to the $25 or so I had in cash in my wallet. I was actually sorta relieved because I’m headed to Vegas in a few days and don’t need to lose more than that anyway.

    Made it back to the hotel and was hungry for dinner. Dropped off my camera bag in the room, made myself a drink and headed to Rank & File, their military (?) themed sports bar. Pretty cool spot. Seemingly every booth has a big, impressive TV mounted on the wall. Padres were on again and I ordered the fish & chips (sort of an “insurance policy” in case I don’t make it to Ellis Island for a meal next week). Everything was great, including the well-seasoned fries.

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_09-58-26 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_09-59-07 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_09-59-35 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_09-59-53 by Mark, on Flickr

    Headed back to that little cluster of four VP machines and found one open. Slipped in a $20 and either my first or second hand dealt me this:

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_10-03-24 by Mark, on Flickr

    10X Full House, dealt! So that immediately gave me the extra $20 I couldn’t get at the mini mart, but for free! Yay!

    Stayed at that same machine for a while, but my credits dwindled down until I hit a couple more quads:

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_10-04-10 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-07_10-04-40 by Mark, on Flickr

    Eventually I lost that initial $20 and called it a trip down about $75 or $80.

    I headed back to the room and watched TV for a while before falling asleep. No real sense in doing “Day 3” separately in this report because I just got up, worked until 11:00, checked out and headed home.

    Overall, Sycuan reminded me a lot of the higher-end Stations properties like Green Valley Ranch or Red Rock Resort. I really didn’t expect it to be that nice. I overheard someone at the pool say, “It’s like going to Vegas without having to go to Vegas,” and I agree to an extent. Obviously there’s none of the spectacle or shows or famous properties and attractions here, but for a quick taste in a really nice setting, it was great. Looking forward to heading back in a few weeks for that Saturday night stay.
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2021
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  4. poidawg

    poidawg Low-Roller

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    Thanks, great TR and pictures! I think best practice might be to write down the 2 myVEGAS reward codes on a slip of paper to hand to the booth people when arriving. I fumbled through my phone finding them so will try that next time (spa+dinner). Also plan to get in golf too, FYI GolfNow used to have some good last minute deals for the Sycuan courses. Fish n chips looked great too, must try that.
     
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  5. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

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    I tend to use TeeOff.com (now owned by Golf Now) so I'd been monitoring/researching the patterns and Sycuan "Deal" times would show up shortly after midnight exactly two weeks ahead of time. So two weeks before this trip, I stayed up late refreshing TeeOff until those times became available. But when I tried to book it, it wouldn't go through. It seems GN/TO maybe just tries to put certain times for sale but they also need to jive with the course's own tee sheet, and in this case because of that tournament, it wouldn't process.

    I was so frustrated because I thought I had it all figured out perfectly, but then I was foiled by the tournament.
     
  6. poidawg

    poidawg Low-Roller

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    Just booked a 2 day midweek stay. Hopefully will get lucky and find a discounted tee time, even the Par 3 would be OK.
     
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  7. 3OfDiamonds

    3OfDiamonds Waiting For “Very Good” Video Poker @ Rio…

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    Thanks for the TR - I might need to use some myVEGAS LPs for a Sycuan staycation at some point once the shuttles start running again; the place looks nice, and the “like a nice Vegas local’s casino” is an apt comparison :)
     
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  8. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

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    Just returned from a quick Saturday night stay with my wife. Thought I'd add a few notes here rather than do a full-fledged report.

    Got there around 4:00 Saturday (usual bad weekend traffic from OC) but parking, Club Sycuan desk and hotel check in all went smoothly and quickly.

    We were given room 10132. Room was very similar to my last room on the 11th floor, but 11th floor rooms have bigger windows (nearly floor to ceiling) but 10th floor was still a nice big window. Bathroom layout was different but same decor and amenities.

    Enjoyed the pool a little on Saturday with plans to spend the day there Sunday. (More on that in a minute.)

    Redeemed the steakhouse food voucher and was told it was good at any dining establishment. We had reservations at Bull & Bourbon so we stuck with that. Very good meal. Wife had Seabass while I had a New York Strip with au poivre sauce. We split a wedge salad and a side of mashed potatoes. No problem getting the $40 credit applied.

    Played the same bank of nickel multi-game VP STP DDB machines as last time, playing one line only. Lost $60 on Saturday night, getting only one quad and taking advantage of very few STP multipliers. Sunday afternoon won a little of it back with a 3X multiplier quad and one other regular quad. Got dealt AAA with a 5X multiplier on one hand... That gets the blood pumping with the prospect of a 10,000 credit win, but couldn't catch the fourth ace and kicker.

    There was live music being played in the casino almost the whole time we were there, which was a really nice touch. (On the stage right near the elevator bank.) Bravo Sycuan!

    So about the pool... When I stayed here earlier this month, I asked one of the pool check-in desk attendants how things work if you want to use the pool on checkout day. She told me they allow it and all you have to do is tell the front desk when checking out that you want to use the pool and they'll let you keep the pool access card until later that day. So that was our plan for today, but at the last minute before we went and checked out wearing our bathing suits, I wanted to make sure that was true, so I called the front desk and they totally contradicted what I'd been told. The guy said we'd have to return the pool cards at check out and if we wanted to use the pool, we could buy day passes for $40 each. Bummer. Then on top of that, they wouldn't give us a late checkout.

    Had a great time! Hoping to land one of the two-night weekend rewards at some point.

    It wasn't nearly as busy as I expected it to be for a summer weekend.

    Some pics:
    [​IMG]2021-07-26_12-47-21 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-26_12-47-40 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-26_12-48-01 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-26_12-48-21 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-26_12-48-41 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-26_12-49-02 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-26_12-49-16 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-07-26_12-49-30 by Mark, on Flickr
     
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  9. Jen Jen

    Jen Jen Tourist

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    Thanks for the report. Do they charge resort fees on comped or MyVegas rooms?
     
  10. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

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    Nope. Totally free.
     
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  11. poidawg

    poidawg Low-Roller

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    Great writeup again! I also did a 2 day midweek stay to try the $250 Cabana credit. Picked up a Cabana voucher and King Room voucher from the Rewards desk. Asked the check in person for 2 beds on a high floor, she said No Problem (also offered 4 pool keys, but I didn't need it), so tipped her $5. Went to the pool about 4pm and asked about the Cabana for the next day and was directed to make a reservation on the website (OpenTable). It's $300 minimum food and beverage for the Cabana M-Th and the MyVegas voucher knocks $250 off that so you'll want to order $300 of food and (non-alc) bevs for the day (11-5p for food). We only had 2 people so it was a challenge, but the server included virgin daquiris @ $29/ea as well as let us take stuff home (tip: bring your own bags, she got us garbage bags to help us out). Final bill was $300 - $250 voucher + 18% incl gratuity + added tip so about $120 for Cabana use and $300 of food / bev (mostly shrimp cocktail, lotsa wings, fish tacos, etc... menu is small). Cabana is great, we had ones by the lazy river it included a TV, small safe, recliners, fridge etc... great location only half were occupied. Did pretty well at your 4 bank of VP (nickel slots) as well as one in the Viewpoint bar (second from end toward the window), another guy was killing it and I jumped on after him. Ended up $40 that night, lots of nickels. Sorry for latching on to your repot, just want to add that MyVegas is really enforcing the 1 use per Reward now, I couldn't buy another Spa, Bull Bourbon, Cabana, etc... so the gravy train might be ending sooner than later.
     
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  12. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

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    Good to know. I'm sitting on another two-day weekday reward that I haven't tried to book yet. At what point did you encounter resistance?
     
  13. poidawg

    poidawg Low-Roller

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    Interesting, I tried to buy Bull and Bourbon with LPs on MyVEGAS and I got “Your purchase limit for this reward has been Reached” which is what I was previously getting. However I tried the $100 Spa reward again and it let me purchase it. Previously I was getting the same message as B and B. Maybe there are different limits for specific rewards, I believe I also had the message trying to buy the same room reward again. Will need to investigate further.
     
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  14. mgvegas

    mgvegas Low-Roller

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    Thanks M_ILIS for the trip report. I am hoping to check out Sycuan in October. It sounds like a nice place.

    I would guess the purchase limit is like all the other MV rewards where it depends on the "batch" of rewards you buy. The original Sycuan rewards had a use by date of August 1st. Then a new "batch" came when they replaced the 8/1 expiration rewards with the ones that must be used within 60 rolling days. So if you had one of the August 1st dated rewards you could buy one of the new 60 days and use both of them (provided you're within the other restrictions e.g. 2 premium rewards per week). Otherwise you will have to wait until a new batch goes up.
     
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  15. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Nice report! The place looks really nice!
     
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  16. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

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    Thanks Tring! Any advice on those "what's the right hold?" hands from the first trip?

    Also wondered what you thought of this: Should a STP multiplier change what's the right hold? On this most recent trip, I was dealt 4 to a flush on a 10X multiplier hand, giving me basically a 1 in 4 chance of drawing for 250 credits. But the fifth card gave me a winning pair. What's the right hold there and does the 10X multiplier factor into that answer?
     
  17. Jer

    Jer “The Walrus has spoken”

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    I had them cancel and refund my Elicit reward due to whatever lame excuse they gave. I still need to call and set up a little staycation when I get a chance. The cabana is still on the list of things to try, so thanks for the details!
     
  18. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

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    I actually had an Elicit reward for this past weekend. Fortunately I had made a reservation a few weeks in advance because they called me one day to inform me that they wouldn't be serving food there on the day of my reservation. Our original plan was for a sushi dinner at Elicit but we switched to Bull & Bourbon after that news.
     
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  19. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

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    My wife and I spent last weekend celebrating our anniversary at Sycuan with a two-night weekend stay reward, so I figured I’d update this thread. Overall it was another great experience. I had the hotel reward plus a $25 Viewpoint reward. My wife also had a $25 Viewpoint reward as well as a $15 Rank & File reward.

    After lunch in Rancho Santa Fe and a stop at Bevmo in Santee, we arrived pretty much right at the 3:00 check-in time on Friday afternoon. The place was pretty dead at that point, which was great because we had virtually no wait at the Club Sycuan desk. My boothling still seemed a little unsure about myVEGAS rewards, needing to involve her supervisor to redeem them. The guy my wife went to seemed to have no problem applying her two rewards. After a few minutes we were on our way to check-in – again, pretty much no line – and were given room 9118, which was the first room down the hallway immediately next to the elevator bank. I feared we might hear elevator noise, but never heard a thing the whole stay.

    At check in they gave us a letter from management stating head-on the challenges they’re facing with hiring staff to operate restaurants. The gist of it was basically “We’re trying, but you might face long waits at our dining establishments and we’d rather set your expectations now than disappoint you later.”

    The room was very similar to the other two rooms I’ve had here except the bathroom configuration was again just a little different. We realized on this trip that the rooms have small refrigerators. On my two previous trips, I’d made repeated treks to the ice machine, so it was nice to just throw a bunch of our drinks in the fridge instead.

    Enjoyed the pool area for a couple hours late Friday afternoon. We loved how few people were out there. We got a draft beer and a White Claw from the bar that came to $16 – not too bad.

    Because of that letter we got at check-in, on the way to the pool I inquired about making a reservation at Viewpoint and was able to secure 8:30. So after the pool we got ready and headed down there a little early. We got a fantastic semi-circle booth in this beautiful restaurant. The whole place is mostly decorated in white and very sleek and clean with high ceilings. Our waiter was super friendly and we were stoked to see the cocktail menu had a “loaded” Bloody Mary on it because my wife has been craving one of those for a few weeks. We both got one of those, and then she had some sort of prawns and pasta dish, while I opted for Swordfish with an avocado-chipotle butter.

    The Bloody Marys were absolutely delicious and loaded with everything – a big slab of bacon, a hefty grilled shrimp, a spicy green bean, a peperoncini, two olives, lime and lemon wedges, and a celery stalk while the rim of the glass was dusted with something like Tajin but actually incredibly tasty. (I normally hate Tajin but this was like a tangy mango/chile mix that tasted great.) Because my wife had been craving this exact type of thing and mentioned it a few times recently, it felt heavenly to savor each sip, and the “extras” served as our appetizers for the meal. Both entrees also came with an asiago roll with butter served soon after ordering.

    Both of our meals were really good! The rice on my plate was a little dried out, but I loved the swordfish with the avocado chipotle butter. My wife’s pasta had lots of prawns in a tasty broth/sauce, and service was excellent throughout. After applied each of our $25 rewards, the bill basically only included the two $12 loaded Bloody Marys, plus tip (based on the full amount, of course). Amazing deal and great restaurant!

    There were live bands playing on that stage near the hotel elevator bank again all weekend, so after dinner we enjoyed that for a while and also gambled a bit. I played my customary nickel Super Times Play DDB. I only hit one quad on the night but it was an 800-credit premium and we didn’t really gamble for very long, so I finished the night up about $30. My wife hasn’t been feeling any good vibes while gambling lately and quickly lost about $30.

    We slept in on Saturday and really relished being away from home with no responsibilities. At one point I went out to Double Down Grill to get us some lunch – a quarter pound hot dog, a bacon cheeseburger and a huge order of fries – but otherwise we just hung around the room watching cooking shows on San Diego’s PBS network a big chunk of the day. It was super fun.

    Later in the afternoon we went out to the pool, where the DJ was playing and the music was loud like I love. This being a Saturday, the pool was obviously much busier than the day before, but not crazy. We spent a lot of time in the lazy river and then used both of the other pools for a while, too. We split a margarita from the bar that cost as much as both drinks the day before ($16) and stayed almost until the 7:00 closing time.

    Tonight’s dinner destination was Rank & File, but when we arrived around 8:30, the notorious letter from check-in reared its head. “Okay, right now it’s about a two-hour wait,” the hostess said. We said ok and hoped for the best, because there are few other options unless we wanted to leave the hotel and drive into El Cajon. (Oh also, I forgot to mention – when we checked in, they said I had an unused $25 dining reward on my account. They must’ve never taken the reward from me on that first trip when I went to House of Fortune, so if that was correct, we had $40 to spend toward our Rank & File meal, so that was another incentive to stick with that plan.)

    I think we went and inquired about playing Bingo at that point, and had what I consider to be a really weird interaction with the Bingo Cashier. I asked her when the next session would be, and she said it had already started and there were no more today. I then asked how much it costs if we were to come back tomorrow, and you would’ve thought I asked her to explain how the rings on Saturn were formed. She unsuccessfully searched through some file folders, then jumped onto the computer and started doing a bunch of research, all without really saying anything. This went on for several minutes and I found it so absurd, I just went along for the ride. (My wife walked away because it was getting so awkward.) I don’t think the cashier ever gave me an exact answer, and I found the whole interaction to be so odd that the BINGO CASHIER doesn’t have a simple answer to “How much does Bingo cost?”

    Anyway, Saturday night’s band was a Rockabilly-skewed trio who played everything from Stray Cats to Johnny Cash to the Cure to Billy Idol. They were really good and we gambled a bit – I hit another 800-credit premium quad, so today was another successful gambling session – and just sat around and watched them for a long time waiting for the text indicating our table was ready. About 90 minutes after checking in, I got that text and off we went.

    My wife got some sort of watermelon margarita while I already had a drink from the room with me, and then we split a dozen buffalo wings to start. (Although I ate about 10 and she had one and a half.) We could tell our waitress was being asked to cover a lot of ground but she was very friendly and did a great job checking in on us. We each had the fish and chips for our entree. Everything was great and both rewards worked fine, so again we only paid around $15 plus tip for the meal.

    After dinner we watched the band close out their set at midnight and then called it a day.

    Sunday morning was just spent hanging around the room and getting ready and we checked out at the 11:00 check-out time. Again they denied our request for late check-out. We wanted to gamble a little more, though, so we took our luggage to the car and then went back in the casino. An 11:45 Bingo session was just starting, so we plunked down $40 (still a little confusing with the cashier, but much clearer today) and played one electronic machine together. It actually does all the work for you. All you have to do is yell out “Bingo” if you get one, which we didn’t. The session lasted a couple hours, though. It was very quiet in there and seemed like everyone was taking it very seriously. I guess those using the manual daubers would need that silence to concentrate, but when watching along on the electronic machines, it’s a little odd. We had a great time, though.

    After that session ended, we each gambled a little more. At one point I was dealt three 10s with a 5X multiplier, hoping to catch a 5X quad, but I didn’t get it. But then I was dealt quad 7s on the very next hand! I pretty much broke even on VP for the day and won about $40 for the trip. My wife lost about $80 for the trip plus we lost the $40 on Bingo.

    After leaving Sycuan, we had a fun day in San Diego and attended a 7:30 concert at the brand new Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, which in my book immediately becomes one of the world’s coolest outdoor music venues. It’s a very cool looking bandshell with the downtown San Diego skyline immediately to your right, and boats floating by on San Diego Bay immediately to the left. Check it out.

    Overall another great trip! If only Sycuan had a little more to do other than gambling and the pool, it would be hard to beat. Really hope they can open the food court soon, too, to provide more dining options.
     
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  20. M_ILIS

    M_ILIS VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Sep 6, 2012
    Messages:
    1,954
    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    41
    A few pics from the above report...

    The letter:
    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-24-41 by Mark, on Flickr

    Pool time:
    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-52-47 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-27-00 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-49-09 by Mark, on Flickr

    Viewpoint:
    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-27-45 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-28-09 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-28-34 by Mark, on Flickr

    Rank & File:
    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-50-52 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-51-24 by Mark, on Flickr

    Gambing:
    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-28-56 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-50-01 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-51-47 by Mark, on Flickr

    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-52-05 by Mark, on Flickr

    The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park:
    [​IMG]2021-09-18_10-53-34 by Mark, on Flickr
     
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