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Mirage, George Lopez, Palazzo & Michael Jackson---busy weekend!

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by OleoOleo, Oct 21, 2009.

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  1. OleoOleo

    OleoOleo Low-Roller

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    My Trip Report

    THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15

    6:50 AM from PBI to LAS via ATL. Bad weather in ATL delayed getting into Vegas about 1 hour. Took a taxi to Mirage. Asked him to take Paradise and he said “ok??†But as if he was questioning me. I said, “well, I’d rather you didn’t take the tunnel.†He said, “oh no, I wouldn’t take the tunnel, but there is a faster way than Paradise.†I said, “ok, no problem.†I think it was Swenson that he took and it was fast, no traffic. It was $18.50 before tip.

    No line at check in. I planned on doing the $20 trick and asking for a tower deluxe with a strip view/volcano view. I am such a dork when it comes to executing the passing of the $20 and asking for the upgrade at the same time. I hand her the DL and CC and keep the $20 visible in my hand. I ask for the upgrade and she says, “well, I’ll have to call casino marketing because your room is a comp and they would need to approve the upgradeâ€. Ok, no problem. I then reach over the counter and place the $20 next to her computer. She gets on the phone and asks for Room XXXXX to be released. Now I know she’s not calling casino marketing—it’s either housekeeping or the room assignment group. (I’ve worked in a hotel before and all rooms are pre-assigned.) Funny how all of a sudden she didn’t need to call Casino Marketing?!? So she has a tower deluxe, but the only thing that was available (even if we waited to check in) is a non renovated room, strip view on 26th floor or pool view on 25th floor. We opt for the renovated room, pool view on 25th floor. Told to check back later, room isn’t ready yet.

    After checking in, since room wasn’t ready, we went to BLT Burger for lunch. I had been here a few times before and loved it. This time—not so much. Service was good, but food was not. We had the fried pickles. Just ok. I didn’t like that the batter was soggy and not crispy. I had the veggie falafel burger and it was like a hockey puck. It was as if it had been cooked and then re-cooked to heat it up again. Fries were also hard and cold. As if they had been cooked and then re-fired to heat them up. I should have, but didn’t say anything. Husband’s burger was ok. He wasn’t thrilled with it.

    After lunch I had an appointment for a haircut/blow-dry at Kim Vo Salon. My appointment was with Lavetta. She was awesome. I’ve lived in a lot of big cities and have had my hair cut at a lot of fancy salons, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a better haircut than the one she gave me. I will definitely get my haircut with her again when I am in Vegas.

    Room wasn’t ready until 4:00. Went back to front desk to get keys. The first clerk told us to check again when we picked up our keys to see if a volcano view/tower deluxe room was available. It wasn’t. Different clerk at the desk and I decided to ask for Spa passes so we could use the gym for the 3 days that we would be there. (Since our room was booked before October 1, we didn’t have to pay the $15/day resort fee). She said, no, I’m sorry, I don’t have any passes that I can give you. I had $20 in my hand and reached over and put it on the desk next to her computer. She said, let me see what I can do. She went to the back room and came out with 2 passes for the Spa.

    Head up to the room. Love the private elevators. Room had a pool view and nice view of the strip facing south. We could see Flamingo, Paris, Eiffel Tower, Caesars. We were happy.

    Nothing planned for tonight, so we decided to head to Fremont Street. Took the Deuce. It took about 30 minutes from the stop in front of The Venetian. In addition to all the regular happenings, they were having October FrightFest. There were several different acts set up along the street. One was Mario and Jenny from America’s Got Talent. I didn’t watch the show, but they had a lot of fans out there. Another act was Jan Rouven. He’s a David Copperfield type from Germany I think. He was pretty good.

    Headed to Isla at Treasure Island for a late dinner. We got there at maybe 10:30ish and were told they had already closed the dining room. We were told we could order food in the bar area. We sat at the bar and were told we had to get our order in quick. I’m guessing the kitchen closed at 10:30?? We ordered the guacamole with chipotle adobo and pumpkin seeds, shrimp ceviche, and corn masa cakes. Also had the chips and salsa with 3 different salsas. Everything was fantastic. I liked the masa cakes, but if I ordered them again, I would ask for no beef and replace it with another pepper one. The pepper one was the best. Also had a Primo Margarita. The best Margarita I’ve ever had. Back to Mirage for a little gambling and bed early since we had been up since 4 AM.


    FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16

    Up at 6:30! Our bodies think we’re still in Florida! Decided to hit the gym with our passes. We check in and the attendant keeps our passes. I said, I thought these passes were good for the entire time we were staying here? She said, oh no, these are just good for one day. I wasn’t too happy. I should have just paid the $15 per day and we would have been able to see the dolphins and drink the 2 bottles of water. Oh well.

    Decided to head to Bellagio for the breakfast buffet. We got there around 10AM and there was a bit of a line. I went to the Player’s Club desk and asked for a line pass. She said usually you need 1000 points but she would give to me anyhow. I told her I had just arrived and would be at 1000 points in no time at all. (I checked my balance after breakfast and I was at 987—close enough, don’t ya think??). I wasn’t impressed with the breakfast buffet. Definitely not as good as I remember it being in the past.

    Walked down the walkway so that we could catch a few fountain shows on the way back. Walking along the strip and looked over and there was Michael Jackson sitting on the ledge in front of the fountains. There was no one around. I said to my husband, take a picture, take picture. He wouldn’t, so I did. Michael was happy and gave me the peace sign. We happened to also see him Sunday night walking inside the Bellagio in the hallway near the bridge to cross to Caesars. Different outfit, no sunglasses, but definitely Michael!
    View attachment 1806

    Stopped at Serendipity on the way back to Mirage. I’ve been wanting to try one of the Frozen Hot Chocolates. It was delicious!

    Had tickets to the early show for Zumanity. I had seen it before but husband hadn’t. We both like it. Very funny.

    We loved Isla so much we decided to go back again. Decided to sit at the bar again and order apps. We had the guacamole with chipotle adobo, shrimp ceviche, and the mixed green salad. All delicious again. 2 Primo Margaritas tonight. They were so good. My nephew who goes to ASU decided to come for the weekend to see me. He and his friends came to meet us for a drink. Back to Mirage for a little gambling and off to bed.


    SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17

    Up at 6AM today as husband had arranged to hit some balls with David Pate, Tennis Director at Flamingo at 7AM. He had hit with him last time we were here and was pleased, so he scheduled again.

    Decided to go to Wynn buffet for breakfast/lunch. Got there around 12 and there was a small line. Only had to wait about 10 minutes. Buffet was great although I missed the pasta station that they have at dinner. Instead they had 2 omelet stations set up. I thought it was a bit expensive for what they offered. It was $69 total for two.

    Went to Luxor for Bodies…The Exhibition. I liked it and definitely learned a lot. It did make me a little queasy. I skipped the room with the fetuses in jars. This also seemed a bit expensive to me. $34 per person.

    Went back to Mirage to freshen up and head to the Las Vegas Hilton to see George Lopez. We had great seats, 3rd row center. George was hysterical. I was laughing so hard I couldn’t stop crying the whole time. About a week before, my husband had said, “wouldn’t it be great if we could get a picture with George Lopez?†I said, yes, it would. It got me thinking…..George is on Twitter. Let me send him a tweet and see about a picture. Well, he replied and said yes. I decided to not tell my husband and surprise him at the show. I wasn’t sure how exactly it was going to happen as nothing was pre-arranged. The show ended and nothing. I told my husband the surprise and he said “let’s go ask that guy over on the side of the stage.†I say to the guy, “I feel a little funny even asking this, but I sent George a message on Twitter and he said we could get a picture with him, but we never arranged anything.†The guy says, “let me ask him.†He goes away for about 10 minutes, comes back and says, “ok, let’s go.†We go down a hallway at the side of the stage, up an escalator and down another long hallway lined with pictures of all the celebrities who have played at the Las Vegas Hilton. Next thing we come to the Green Room. We go in and there are already 3 other women in there. This room was also lined with pictures of all the celebrities who have performed here. After a few minutes about 10 other people come in the room. These people all had VIP laminates around their necks. After another 5 or 10 minutes, George comes in and makes his way around the room talking with all the different groups of people. He introduced everyone to Charles White (Heisman trophy winner and former NFL player). It turns out that the guy we asked at the side of the stage was George’s right hand man. (Glad we picked him and not one of the other 10 guys dressed in black). I think his name was AJ or Andres or something like that. I feel bad I didn’t catch it. Anyhow, he directs George over to us and we make small talk for a few minutes. We take a couple of pictures and more small talk. George couldn’t believe that we had come from Florida just to see him and told his right hand man to get us some “stuffâ€. Guy comes back with 2 t-shirts and 2 sweatshirts for us. How nice!!! We hang for a few more minutes and decide to leave. George was on the other side of the room so we say thank you George, good luck with the new show. He comes across the room to thank us again for coming, shakes our hands and says, thanks for following me (on Twitter) and say good things about me! We walked down the long hall to the elevator, through the empty theater and decided to take the Monorail back to the strip. We couldn’t believe what had just happened!! We were so excited.
    We were starving so we went to the food court area in The Venetian. I got the eggplant parm at the Italian place. It was awful. Actually I’m sure it would have been good if it was fresh, but the cheese tasted like it had been sitting there for 3 hours.


    SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18

    Today we checked out of Mirage and into Palazzo. I didn’t even try the $20 trick here as we were only here for 1 night, we didn’t really care about the room. We ended up on the 15th floor facing the Wynn. Good enough for us. Went to Grand Lux for a little something to eat. (We were meeting my nephew and his friends at Bellagio for buffet at 4:00, so we didn’t want to eat too much). We both ended up getting the breakfast buffet. It was delicious. Although not the selection that Bellagio of Wynn had for breakfast foods, what they did have was great. The hash browns were shredded potatoes, nice and crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. The pastries all seemed as if they were housemade. Omelet station, crispy bacon, fresh fruit, toaster with bagels, toast, etc. I think it was the same price as the Bellagio breakfast buffet, not as much of a selection, but just as good overall if you are only looking for breakfast foods.

    My nephew decided he wants to stay in Vegas for another night, so I offer to get a room for him with one of my offers from MGM/Mirage. I called Mandalay and Treasure Island and had offers at both. He decided on Mandalay. I call back to book the room and she says, “did you just stay at another property on a promotion?†I said, “yes???†She said, “well, you need to have 3 days between stays to use this promotion. I said, “are you kidding me, I just called and was told this was available to me. The last time I was in Vegas I did back to back promotions.†She says, “yes, it used to be that way, but now it’s changed and you need 3 days between.†Ugh. I call to Treasure Island and make the reservation, no problem. So much for the 3 day rule?!?!

    We head over to Bellagio to catch a few fountain shows before dinner. We get there a few minutes before 3. 3:00 comes and goes with no show. Then at approximately 3:10 we get a show. We get another at about 3:20 and yet another at 3:30. It was crazy! Went in to meet my nephew and got there at about 3:57 so we were lucky and got charged the lunch price instead of dinner. (Nice for me since I treated!) The dinner buffet was awesome. Exactly how I remember.

    We all had tickets to the early show of Mystere. I had gotten front row center for my husband and I. I’ve seen Mystere about 8 times before and he’s seen it once. It was his first Cirque show and his favorite so I decided to get these seats for him. Wouldn’t you know, he gets picked to be “Papa.†He loved it. He got to go backstage and see all the happenings. They gave him a picture of him riding in the golf cart with the “baby.†On this night the regular baby (man with the big belly) wasn’t there. It was only the girl baby. Wasn’t as good in my opinion as I think he makes the show, but it was still fun.

    MONDAY, OCTOBER 19

    Sleep in today and head to Grand Lux again. Husband got breakfast and I had the Flautas. It was under the appetizers, but it was definitely enough for a meal and delicious. The fire alarm went off in the middle of lunch. Oh no, please don’t make us leave and not finish eating. We ended up not having to evacuate. It made us think though----how would we pay the bill if we had to leave immediately in an evacuation? Good thing it didn’t happen.

    Kind of just floated around today and did some gambling here and there. I haven’t mentioned all the gambling we did during the trip, but there was a lot. In between all the activities and eating was lots of gambling. Never any downtime in the room or pool. We live in Florida and can go to the pool/ocean anytime, so it’s not really a treat for us.

    Went to Stripburger for dinner. Actually I just wanted a butterscotch shake so we ordered it to go. Husband took a sip and said he wanted one too. Then we decided let’s just have dinner here. Sat right in front with a good view of the strip. We ordered the fried pickles. (hoping better than BLT Burger pickles). WOW! They were delicious. So flavorful and crispy. I had the veggie burger with fries. Veggie burger was delicious. Nice and moist. The fries were the best I’ve ever had. I couldn’t stop eating them. Husband had the turkey chopped salad. He said it was good.

    Back to Palazzo for one last round of slots. And glad I did. Hit on the Wiz of Oz (reels) for $1408 ½ hour before we had to leave for the airport. Got the W2G, but that’s ok. I can definitely show a loss of $1400 for the year. Texted a pic of the win to my husband up in the room. He said, get the money and get up here before you spend it all!!

    Took the red eye at 11:30 to ATL and then to PBI. Funny how I didn’t want to take a flight during the day figuring, why waste a whole day of traveling due to the time difference?? Yet, by the time we got home it was 11:00 AM and I ended up sleeping all day. Should have just taken the flight during the day!!!

    Already trying to decide when the next trip will be!
     
  2. Greensideup

    Greensideup Low-Roller

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    Thanks for the report, full of interest without being a novel. NTTAWWT.
    Was wondering why just one night at Palazzo until I realized you'd used your three nights at Mirage already, hence no MB available - duh.
    GREAT experience with George Lopez, sounds like a really nice guy. I too think he's funny as s**t! And swag to boot.
    I could learn a thing or two from you about getting more from my comps, what with line passes, upgrades, etc. Too bad about the spa passes, you were ripped off. Our food choices run along similar lines, although breakfast seldom should cost close to 70/couple. Our first trip to Mystere, my better half was chosen also by Papa, and missed most of the show, and didn't even get a photo! We were cheated. haha.
    Glad to hear of the ending big win on Wiz of Oz. Sounds like a good time was had by all.
     
  3. Tonez78

    Tonez78 Low-Roller

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    Sounds like a nice trip. Seems that G. Lopez is a genuine guy, I have always liked his comedy. I just love the inconsistency with the casinos and their promos.

    Thanks for the TR.

    Tony
     
  4. VegasDiva

    VegasDiva VIP Whale

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    Great TR a good read

    nifty how you got to meet George Lopez and how sincere and nice he was

    lol @ the MJ lookalike i wonder if Vegas will have a few of them drifting about bumping into the Elvis's

    nice win at the end of the trip! happy planning for your next one!
     
  5. Blondie76

    Blondie76 Low-Roller

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    You are having a great time. I just finished reading the Geo. Lopez story. Awesome that you got to meet him and he was so cordial. Great TR. Okay now back to finish up. Thanks for posting. :)
     
  6. thebucket

    thebucket VIP Whale

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    This difference in reaction to consecutive bookings between Mandalay Bay and Treasure Island may well be an effect of the relatively recent change of ownership at Treasure Island. Since Phil Ruffin (Ex-New-Frontier-Owner) bought TI, they have been using the MGM Players Club, but are not technically an MGM property, quite probably giving them the latitude to ignore your non-TI offer usage as 'not them'.
     
  7. BlackJackBauer21

    BlackJackBauer21 Tourist

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    Head up to the room. Love the private elevators. Room had a pool view and nice view of the strip facing south. We could see Flamingo, Paris, Eiffel Tower, Caesars. We were happy.

    *we had the same view last week @ Mirage, wasn't it great?*


    Walked down the walkway so that we could catch a few fountain shows on the way back. Walking along the strip and looked over and there was Michael Jackson sitting on the ledge in front of the fountains. There was no one around. I said to my husband, take a picture, take picture. He wouldn’t, so I did. Michael was happy and gave me the peace sign. We happened to also see him Sunday night walking inside the Bellagio in the hallway near the bridge to cross to Caesars. Different outfit, no sunglasses, but definitely Michael!
    View attachment 1806

    *Last week we saw a Jack Sparrow & 'Friend' hanging around the fountains. Weird.*


    Went to Stripburger for dinner. Actually I just wanted a butterscotch shake so we ordered it to go. Husband took a sip and said he wanted one too.

    *butterscotch shake?!? Who has been keeping this from me?!?*

    GREAT T.R.
     
  8. jaxjoe

    jaxjoe Guest

    Very nice! Thanks for thr TR:)
     
  9. Rick1323

    Rick1323 Low-Roller

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    Great TR........and congrats on the GL swag!
     
  10. breanna61

    breanna61 Super Moderator

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    Great trip report.......how awesome that you met and had a photo op with George Lopez! Congrats on the win and just in time to take it home with you!:eek:
     
  11. Blonde_4_ever

    Blonde_4_ever LasVegas4ever.com

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    Enjoyed the report. Does that boy ever look like Michael!

    Is George just doing a guest appearance?
     
  12. OleoOleo

    OleoOleo Low-Roller

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    Glad you like the report. I'm hoping we'll go back for a quick trip the week before Christmas.

    George was at the Las Vegas Hilton performing his stand up on Friday and Saturday night.

    Quick follow up: checked my Amex card and had a charge of $61.43 from Palazzo. I called and they email'd me the bill. It had about 6 or 7 mini bar charges on it and one phone call for $1. We didn't have anything from the mini bar. I did make a toll free call because I kept losing the signal on my cell phone. I called back to the Palazzo and told them that we didn't use anything in the mini bar. They said they would credit my card for $60.43. So.....we'll see.
     
  13. Blonde_4_ever

    Blonde_4_ever LasVegas4ever.com

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    Oh...I hate when stuff like that happens!
    I had to fight with MGM once for months about some charges....
    Good luck....
     
  14. gotavegasjones

    gotavegasjones VIP Whale

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    Nicely done. Thanks for posting.

    later, GVJ
     
  15. BeeeJay

    BeeeJay President of The Red Lobster Hostess Satisfaction

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    great report! so cool with George Lopez, I would love to meet that guy, he is hilarious and my kids watch his show on Nick sometimes.

    TI is separate from MGM-Mirage, we double book with them all the time. The 72 hrs deal is new and on only some promos, total BS. They are idiots to pull that crap. I was able to go straight from Excal to MGM a couple weeks ago, so as usual the only consistent thing is the inconsistency.

    Bummer about the crappy "premium" burgers at BLT Burger, don't think i would complain either, just maybe never go back.
     
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