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Trip Report: 11/10 - 11/14 "Welcome to the TI..."

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by servocam, Nov 15, 2009.

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  1. servocam

    servocam Tourist

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    Location:
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    My Trip Report

    Las Vegas Trip Report: Tuesday Nov. 10 - Saturday Nov 14

    Day 1: Tuesday November 10, 2009
    MIL & FIL arrived around 10:30 am (drove ~5 hrs to get to us) and will be taking care of my 3 kidlets, 1 dog, and 2 cats. No family close by and they have always been there for us to help out.

    We are all packed, ready to go, carry-ons only. Head to the airport around 2:30pm to catch our 4:15pm flight. All goes well, we arrive at McCarran/LAS. While we are walking to baggage claim / arrivals the @&*#* Limo driver calls, 1/2 spoiling the surprise for my wife. He didn't follow the directions given and even had my name spelled wrong on the card. Either way, it was still a surprise to DW as she thought we were taking a Shuttle.

    We arrived at TI around 6pm and very short line, only ~4 party’s in front of us. I had my $20 sandwich ready and I just so happen to get the guy right next to the Manager. I hand my ID but hold back on the rest of the sandwich, when manager walked away, I asked for any complementary upgrades and got a Petite Suite (two baths, whirlpool tub, king bed, couch/hide-a-bed, table, tv, desk, iHome dock/alarm) - was nice and right off the elevator on the 28th floor. We gave up the 31st floor dual-queen & strip view for the King. Out our window we could see Trump tower, Circus-Circus, and the Stratosphere .

    [​IMG]

    We went to Kahunaville and sat in the bar area for dinner and had BOGO cocktail coupons. Place was just ok and food was just ok. I see why they were giving away coupons for 20% off dinner of BOGO drinks. Better when live band is playing and bartenders are showing off. We did get a nice picture of us there by the Photographers and did give in to purchase. I did chew them down on price and had them through in the extra picture - why not - they already printed them and had in frame. They want to sell them, they will drop price.

    After dinner we watched Sirens from the TI VIP section, right in front of the ship, The Song. WOW - those flames are HOT (and the Sirens weren't bad either). It was hard to see Capt. Mac's ship,The Bull, but would catch it another night.

    After Sirens Show we wandered around a bit, ended up at Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville for a beer & margarita and listened to a live band play. We walked through Harrahs to check out the Dueling Piano bar. We listened from the outside for 20 minutes and decided we would come back another night as they were really good.

    By this time, we have been up for ~20 hours and were ready to crash.
     
  2. servocam

    servocam Tourist

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    Las Vegas Trip Report: Tuesday Nov. 10 - Saturday Nov 14

    Day 2: Wednesday November 11, 2009
    8am, we are up and make it down to the Buffet @ TI. ~$30 for the two of us and a good selection of breakfast food. Omelets, eggs, pressed bacon (oh, yummy), fruit, mango smoothie, OJ, coffee...plus many other foods. Turns out we will eat here two more times (but I suggest not going on Saturdays and paying $50 for the same thing).

    Today we planned to visit the South end of the strip. We grabbed Starbucks and a 3-day monorail pass and got on at the Harrahs / Imperial Palace Station to MGM Grand. We wanted to see the Body exhibit at Luxor and ended up purchasing the Pick 3 - Bodies, Titanic, CSI. We made our way to the Luxor and did the Body and Titanic Exhibit. Both were very nice. It was time to grab a quick snack, so we shared a sandwich at NY-NY. By now we were tired of walking and made our way back to TI (taking the Tram of course) and relaxed in our room for ~2 hours before dinner.

    I made 6:45 dinner reservations for Khotans (Pan-Asian) @ TI. As we entered the casino floor, my wife is still trying to figure out where we are eating. We wander around a bit before making our way to check-in. I booked 6:45 as I knew there was a 7pm Sirens show and we could get a seat outside overlooking the cove - and that is exactly what we did. The even had heaters out there, so my wife enjoyed (the cold doesn't bother me). We were overlooking the guys side / Capt Mac's / The Bull's side. So was nice to see this side of the show better. Dinner at Khotans was nice. I think it is way over priced for what you are getting, but considering the view we had and a nice romantic dinner, it was worth it. After all, we didn't need to order the bottle of Sake, appetizer, sushi platter and deserts with our entree, and have to remember it's Las Vegas. ~$195 for the two of us. Overall the food was good, but would not say great.

    After dinner we picked up our Mystere tickets. We already saw the show 3 years ago, but for $20 (for both) tix, worth seeing again. When the show was over, we were pretty tired and ended up just going to bed.
     
  3. gmoney590

    gmoney590 VIP Whale

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    Sorry to hear about the limo driver screwing your surprise up. What limo service did you use? Did you do the CSI thing?
     
  4. servocam

    servocam Tourist

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    Las Vegas Trip Report: Tuesday Nov. 10 - Saturday Nov 14

    Day 3: Thursday November 12, 2009
    It's another great day in Vegas! We grab the buffet @ TI again then off to the Fashion Show Mall to do some shoe shopping. New Sketchers for the both of us. Drop off our stuff and grab the Tram down to MGM to do the CSI Experience. We did case #3 and it was pretty fun to do. Even solved the case / got all the answers right. Did a little more shopping down by MGM, trying to find something to get the kids, but shot glasses, M&M's, or other knick-knacks are really a good choice. After shopping, we grab Starbucks at MGM. We decided to skip the CBS viewing and make our way up to the Sahara on the Tram.

    By now, actually by Tuesday night, I was wishing Las Vegas was Smoke Free....

    I made dinner reservations for 3:45 pm for On Top of the World @ the Stratosphere. We walked from Sahara - kinda a not-so-nice looking area. I did the 3:45 as the Sunset was at 4:30ish. The restaurant is like 1000ft up and rotates a full turn in 80 minutes. Dinner, Sunset, nice view of the strip....

    We check in, go through security and metal detectors before the elevator - this is a first before a meal... The restaurant wasn't very busy, then again, only 3:45, and our table was right up against the glass. I waitress came across kinda trashy. We both ordered the Lobster Bisque soup - very good. I ordered the Surf & Turf Steak/Lobster and to my supprise, it was very good. Dinner turned out to be very nice, quiet, and great view of Las Vegas.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    We walked back to the Sahara and tram'd our way back down to the Harrahs / IP station and walked to the Venetian for Blue Man Group. BMG was awesome show but don't buy drinks there for the show...OUCH. The show was AWESOME :woohoo: I'd suggest this show to anyone to go see. Also, google for discounts - We were center stage, 7 rows back (just behind pancho section), and bought them 1/2 price using discount code.

    After the show, we went over to the Palazzo to check out the Dueling Piano bar. WOW - this place is nice, but the piano bar not so, well, if you were >50that night sure. We played some slots, had a few drinks, and then made our way to Harrahs dueling piano bar.

    There were twin sisters, Tamara and Kim, which we saw there the other night -they are good. There was also a guy, Steve?? I think, and he traded off/on with them. The three of them were bringing in the $$$ and getting the crowd going. We spent a ~2 hours there singing along. I was hoping to check out the one at NY-NY, but this one was a blast (Google search: The Twins, Kimberley & Tamara Pinegar).

    We made it back to TI around 2am and crashed.
     
  5. servocam

    servocam Tourist

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    CLS, who TI suggested. I understand he was just calling to let me know where he was, but he had instructions to meet at the bottom of the escalators in baggage claim

    - yeah, we enjoyed doing it. I asked for the most difficult but I think they could have made it a more difficult as I like problem solving.
     
  6. servocam

    servocam Tourist

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    Las Vegas Trip Report: Tuesday Nov. 10 - Saturday Nov 14

    Day 4: Friday November 13, 2009
    It's a beautiful day in Vegas. Clear sky, sun is shining...and about 10am. We skipped breakfast and grabbed early lunch at Canter’s Delicatessen @ TI/ Treasure Island. The Sandwiches were huge and were good.

    We made our way though the Mirage, the Forum Shops, Caesars Palace, through the Bellagio, and eventually to Planet Hollywood. The PH was very nice inside. I see why in other threads people like to stay there. We grabbed coffee and walked our way back up the strip to the Wynn for dinner.

    [​IMG]

    I made reservations at Daniel Boulud Brasserie's on the Lake of Dreams. We sat outside on the patio. This place was very nice. The shows on the Lake of Dreams were great. First one was the mamma ball, daddy ball and baby ball. Second was the Frog on top of the water fall singing It's a Wonderful World, then there was the face/eye with rainbow snake one with dancing people things (one lost a leg in to the pond while we watched the show), then the blooming flowers on the articulated robots.

    DW ordered the Sonoma Chicken with the Parsnip soup (really yummy) and desert. I ordered the signature DB Burger - it was AWESOME. It was not something you could pick up an eat (too clumsy) so ate with fork / knife - which pry was better suited for the restaurant. The atmosphere was nice, though there was a pretty good crowd of ~50 yr olds and other more formal business dressed that had a little too much to drink.

    The waiter told my wife he had something special for her. So she looks at me and wanted to know what it is. I had no idea either. Only thing I could think of was when I booked, they asked if any special occasion. I told them my wife’s b-day and 10 yrs of marriage. When the waiter came, he made strong recommendation for desert. Then he comes with one desert platter that says Happy Anniversary in dark chocolate. Then brings the recommended desert saying Happy Birthday. We had a great meal for $100, Great Service, and a great atmosphere. I would recommend this place to anyone.

    After dinner we did a little gambling back at TI and the Mirage. It was pretty busy out on the strip and the casinos.
     
  7. blackjacknut

    blackjacknut VIP Whale

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    Sounds like you had a great time...thanks for posting your TR
     
  8. jpw711

    jpw711 Is that your cat?

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    Nice upgrade to the suite, we had our wedding reception in that suite and it worked out great. I really felt sorry for housekeeping when we left though, since we had iced down the big tub with booze and peel and eat shrimp!

    Was to tower shaking on Thursday with the wind?
     
    No reason to go home yet.
  9. servocam

    servocam Tourist

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    No it was not. Speaking of House Keeping, why at 8am on Saturday morning would you knock on my door wanting to clean my room???

    To make things funnier, I put the DND sign out, and 10am KNOCK KNOCK - HOUSE KEEPING, only to find out that there are two sides to the sign. Do Not Disturb and Please Tiddy Up.
     
  10. jpw711

    jpw711 Is that your cat?

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    If your ever in St. Louis on a windy day, go up the arch, that sucker moves.:thumbsup:
     
    No reason to go home yet.
  11. servocam

    servocam Tourist

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    Las Vegas Trip Report: Tuesday Nov. 10 - Saturday Nov 14

    Day 4: Friday November 13, 2009 - So Sad, Our Trip is Over :cry:
    So after our fun with Housekeeping, we go grab breakfast at the Buffet. I'd recommend not going to the Buffet on Saturday - they charged $50 for the two of us for "Brunch" at 10am. WTF...we should of went with our first thought and a restaurant - Kahunaville would of pry been fine.

    The place was dead, not very many people there. After bfast, we wandered around some, gambled some, then went to finish packing up. We called the Bell desk, had them put our luggage in storage, checked out on the TV, and wandered off again.

    Went to Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville for lunch. By this time, the strip was getting pretty busy. We waited 15 minutes for a table. Ordered the Volcano Nachos w/ Chicken - very good and would feed 8 - it was HUGE. We split a Triple Decker and O-rings. Between the two of us, we could not eat all this food. It was really good lunch and good price. When we left, there was a huge line of people waiting and a lot of people on the strip.

    We did some shopping at the Venetian, skipped out the Gondola ride. By now, we were tired and ready to go. We grabbed a cab from TI to the airport. We had a very nice cabby, told some great stories, made us laugh. Flight home to MN was good. Pulled in the garage just before Midnight and my puppy waiting at the door to see me. She turned 1 on Sunday.

    Was a great trip, had Sunday to relax and spend time with the kids. I wonder when we will go again and where we will stay? I think I'd like to learn how to play Craps - lots of roars & cheers coming from the Craps tables every night and everywhere we went. Besides, doesn’t it have the best odds over any other game?
     
  12. Blonde_4_ever

    Blonde_4_ever LasVegas4ever.com

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    Sounds like a wonderful trip!
    I particularly like the pics from the top of the town.
    Thanks!
     
  13. bigwill

    bigwill Low-Roller

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    great trip report sounds like you enjoyed yourselves
     
  14. Rick1323

    Rick1323 Low-Roller

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    I need to add that place at Wynn to my list. It sounds like a really nice place for dinner!
     
  15. servocam

    servocam Tourist

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    Some Pictures:

    My Petite Suite @ Treasure Island

    Had 2 bath rooms - shower in one, whirlpool tub in the other. Closets were in the bathrooms:
    [​IMG]

    Couch w/ hide-a-bed:
    [​IMG]

    Table (left) and desk w/ TV above it:
    [​IMG]

    Very comfy King size bed (and no dog hog'n the foot end or cat sleeping on your pillow):
    [​IMG]

    Did you realize that there are 4 TI rooms per window on the building? From a distance, the building looks small, then you get up to it and it is huge. The design is awesome.
    [​IMG]
     
  16. gotavegasjones

    gotavegasjones VIP Whale

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    Thanks for posting your TR. Enjoyed the read.

    later, GVJ
     
  17. Maverick41

    Maverick41 Tourist

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    Thanks for your awesome TR, and the bonus pictures of your suite!

    I'm staying at TI for the first time in January, and hoping to have the same $20 trick success.
     
  18. VegasDiva

    VegasDiva VIP Whale

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    Great TR
    been getting some offers from TI that I'd like to try one day !
    I've been to Kahunaville before a few yrs ago, was great fun

    I like the duelling piano bars too , they sure can rock a room and get things hopping!
     
  19. servocam

    servocam Tourist

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    When visiting the Gateway Arch in Summer 08, did not go up in it...maybe next time.

    [​IMG]
     
  20. servocam

    servocam Tourist

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    Anyone try to eat the 6 pound burrito @ the Sahara? Its free if you do and you get your picture on the wall (and pry will ruin the rest of your trip).

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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