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TR: Nov 19-th - 21'st - ARIA

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by themightydude, Nov 23, 2010.

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  1. themightydude

    themightydude High-Roller

    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2009
    Messages:
    509
    Location:
    Houston, TX
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8

    My Trip Report

    First off let me say that I don't have any pictures for this TR :(.

    My girlfriend has some on her camera but I don't have it with me.

    A little pre-face to this report:

    My girlfriend was in Vegas Nov 15'th - 19'th for a conference at Mandalay Bay, and I decided this would be a great way for us to get some "us" time together :). So I booked some tickets and rooms for Nov 19'th - 21'st.

    I used frequent flier miles for a free trip on Delta direct from Memphis, then used a mailer I got from Aria for 2 free nights. The flight out was uneventful and long. Flight left Memphis at 9:50 a.m after sitting on the taxiway for 30 minutes or so. Finally got airborne, and enjoyed a couple bacardi and cokes on the way to Vegas. It was $7 for one of those little bottles of rum! Oh well.

    The girlfriend met me at the airport and surprisingly when I got down to baggage claim, my bag was already there. I was going to give all my liquids to the GF when she left for vegas so I didn't have to check my bags but forgot. But oh well..ended up working out all right and I just let her carry my liquids in her bag on the way back :)

    Taxi lines were not long..the longest part was walking to the taxi stand. Once we got there we were in a taxi in 5 minutes and on our way to Aria. Got to Aria around 11:30 and went to the invited guest check in. Got checked in no problem and asked if they could upgrade us to a strip view room. Got that done no problem and we were in the room by noon.

    Now my thoughts on the room: It was a nice room, and I really like the huge windows. Provides for a great view of the strip. The device that controls the curtains / tv / lights etc etc was a bit confusing to figure out at first, but once I got the hang of it, it wasn't to bad. Was kinda fun turning the lights off on the GF when she went to shower :) Only did that once though as she threatened to shoot me or arrest me if I did it again. By now, I was a bit hungry as I hadn't eaten thing yet that day, and the GF wanted to go check out the shops at PHo, so on the way in there, we stopped at the PBR bar / grill. Had a margarita and a sandwich..wasn't to bad considering how hungry I was.

    I went and explored the miracle mile section of shops and an ABC store while the GF went shoe shopping at white house, black market. 2 hours later and we were headed out of the shopping stuff. I consider myself lucky that it was only 2 hours :). On the way out we were trying to find a beer glass with a vegas showgirl on it to take back as a gift for one of her friends. We saw tons of beer glasses, but we had to go in about 6 different stores till we found one with a showgirl. Who would of thought it would of been so difficult to find a beer glass like that in vegas?

    Got back to the hotel around 3:00 and got ready for the Harry Potter show and dinner that night. The show was at 4:20 at the imax theatre at The Palms. Took a taxi to The Palms, watched the new Harry Potter movie, then went on up to Alize for our 7:30 dinner reservations. Out of the whole trip, I think Alize was one of the best things we did. We got a little corner table that was somewhat private as there was a wall behind us. Had to one side table sit, but it was perfect cause in front of us was one window and to the side of us was another window. Absolutely amazing view of vegas. If you are looking for a romantic restaurant this is definitely one of them.

    For you food enthusiasts, this is what we ordered:

    We had Escargot and pan seared foie gras for starters. I had never had the foie gras before and honestly didn't really care for it. GF said it was awesome though. Escargot was very good. Our entrees were Wasabi and Sesame crusted rack of lamb and New York strip Wagyu beef. After the entree we had a selection of french cheeses, and followed up with dessert which was 1 Grand Marnier Souffle and Orange and white choclate souffle. Both were very good and the food was amazing here. Total bill came to $274 before tip, so after tip it was well over $300 for dinner but well worth it.

    After this, we were both stuffed and tired so we headed back to the hotel and up to the room! Yes I know...it's not even midnight yet and we are in the room, but after laying down on the bed for just a minute neither of us felt like getting up again lol. So we just turned off the lights and left the curtains open watching the lights of the strip from the bed. Seemed like I laid there for hours just watching everything on the strip before I finally fell asleep. Morning came quickly though and I had a 11:00 appointment with a barber at the salon in Aria. Spent $65 on "The Royal Shave" and it was very nice! Was my first time getting a shave like that. My face was as smooth as a baby's butt after that.

    For lunch we went to the Patisserie and had a crepe and Cafe au Lait. We sat there for a little bit people watching and finally headed on out. We walked from Aria down to the Venetian and explored the canal shops there and at Palazzo. Saw a security guard trying to get a guy out of a waterfall on the 2'dn floor that was trying to get the loose change. While that was going on, there was a wedding happening on the first floor below the waterfall lol. We watched the wedding for a bit then head on our way through the rest of the shops. We walked back through the shops then headed back out to the strip via the casino / front lobby. Now I've heard people complain of the scent in the Venetian, but honestly, I didn't smell anything?

    Stepped outside of the Venetian and wow! It was raining! This was the first time I had been in Vegas when it was raining. It was also very windy that day and slightly cold (50's - 60's). Anyway, we started making our way back to Aria so we could get ready for the Mystere show that night. We got to the Bellagio then hopped on the tram to Crystals. Got up to the room and got ready. Since the show as at 7:00 we decided to grab dinner before hand so we walked down to Julian Serrano's tapas bar. Had the Valencenia Paella which was excellent. By that time, it was 6:00 and the presidential limo I had arranged for had arrived. We still had some time to kill, so the limo driver offered to drive us around some and drop us off at Treasure Island by 6:45 which was very nice of him. Allowed us to enjoy the limo and Champagne..well actually let me enjoy the champagne since it was less than 24 hours before our flight out the next morning she could only have a sip. I had gone through 2 glasses of champagne and the GF was pouring me another glass. As she put the bottle back in the side of the limo and sat back towards me she knocked my glass of champagne onto me. Couldn't help but laugh at that one as I was now soaked in champagne! Made for a good laugh. After that I gave up on the glass and just drank the champagne straight from the bottle gangsta style! :)

    Got to T.I by 6:45 and I made a quick bathroom pit stop since i just drank a whole bottle of champagne by myself. Mystere was good though I enjoyed KA or O better. It seemed like there were more acrobatics in those other 2 shows than Mystere. The GF really enjoyed it though..this was her first Cirque du Soleil show. After the show, we walked back to The Mirage and watched the volcano show. I had never seen it before and honestly it wasn't all the great. We headed over to the Bellagio fountains and saw that show as well. I like the fountain show a lot better than the volcano show. After the fountain show as over, we headed back to Aria via the tram.

    Went back up to the room and stayed there for a little bit. The GF started getting tired and went to bed, so I took that opportunity to go gamble some. Started at a $25 craps table betting the dark side. Was doing alright up about $200 or so when some dude got the dice and kept hitting points. I gave up on craps and headed over the mini bacc tables. Played the $25 table for an hour or so. Some young chinese looking kid betting $1k - $10K / hand was slapping the table yelling MONKEY MONKEY! but he still lost a lot. I wasn't really feeling it so I gave up on that and headed over to a $25 BJ table. Did alright there...just used $100 in green chips that I still had to start at this table and pretty soon was up to $450. But as my luck goes, I lost it down to $200 which was pretty close to my original buy in for the night so I decided to just walk away with that and cashed in my chips.

    Got to back in the room around 12:30/1:00 that morning and went to bed.

    In the morning we took advantage of the free buffets I had at Aria and had the breakfast buffet. It was pretty good, though it would have been $51 for 2 people. Not sure I'd go there again if I had to pay that price for the buffet. Would rather go to a decent restaurant.

    Our flight as at 12:30 and it was 10:00 so we said our goodbyes to the room and off to the airport we went. Flight was delayed about 30 minutes due to high winds and the snow storm in Minnesota that apparently canceled a lot of flights earlier in the day, but we still got back home by 6:10.

    So my thoughts on this trip:

    1. Was told by a pit boss that you have to play $25 / hand if you want to be rated at Aria.

    2. Alize at The Palms is a great restaurant with a great view.

    3. Aria didn't seem that busy. They were but they weren't if you know what I mean.

    4. A cab driver told us that one of the buildings next to Aria is going to be completely re-done because when they poured the concrete and what not in the building they put the re-barb to far apart and safety inspectors said it was not sound in regards to the construction. So that building is closed and has to be completely redone. Not sure what the name of it was though. Was a smaller blue building.

    Overall was a good trip though..had a good time.

    Thanks for reading.
     
  2. VegasBJ

    VegasBJ VIP Whale

    Joined:
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    Nice report! Not too much gambling?

    The Aria building they were referring to was the Harmon -supposed to be demolished sometime in 2012.
     
  3. themightydude

    themightydude High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Unfortunately, no..not much gambling :(

    I really didn't have a proper bank roll to gamble this trip..only brought $600 with me. The GF had never been to vegas before so most of the trip was spent showing her the sights and sounds, and a few hours of shopping lol. I imagine I won't see another comped room offer from Aria since according to them my loss was $400 and I probably only got 2 hours of gambling in, but thats alright. It wasn't really a gambling trip..which is probably a good thing cause I couldn't really afford to gamble that much this time. I played some penny slots with her and won $40 but I thought she was going to have heart attack after I hit the slot for $30 and kept gambling lol. She wins $5 and cashes out. But thats why we are dating..trying to figure these things..I'll just go gamble next time when she is sleeping lol.

    Going back in February for the superbowl and should have a better bankroll then to some better gambling.

    Forgot to mention that all of the BJ tables with the exception of the $100+ min bet tables used the continuous shuffling machines.
     
  4. JulieM

    JulieM Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Nice TR..thanks for sharing!!!:beer:
     
  5. Jinx

    Jinx VIP Whale

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    Thanks for the report, sounds like a nice time. The building with rebar problems at CC is the Harmon building as reference. MGM still hasn't announced what they are going to do with it.
     
  6. themightydude

    themightydude High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Yeah I don't know what they will do with it...they way they are losing money on that property I imagine probably nothing for a while.
     
  7. evoni

    evoni High-Roller

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    Sounds like a great trip for you and your GF. I'm one of those who like the Aria casino, and love their rooms with the strip review. I'm surprised it's not more then $25 to get rated at Aria, but then again I guess it's not living up to the high volume they were expecting in the past.

    I enjoyed Mystere but like you prefer Ka or O to it. Enjoyed reading your report and hope to read more when you return in February.
     
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