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First Timers 7/11-7/15

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Copella, Jul 20, 2004.

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  1. Copella

    Copella Tourist

    Joined:
    May 20, 2004
    Messages:
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    Location:
    Kingsley, PA

    My Trip Report

    OK, Finally got my breath back. Since this is our first time the Las Vegas, this report may be alittle long winded (lots of notes) but I'll try to nip and tuck it as I go (isn't that the name of a show?)

    Sunday 7/11

    The day is finally here. Up at 3:30am. Since we live on the East Coast that's 12:30am Vegas time. Wonder how that will affect the body during the day?

    Got into Vegas 11:00am Pacific Time.

    Met Jim from Presidential, got the ride down the Strip and had Champagne. Too much Champagne. Made a stop at the Flamingo to get Second City Tickets and arrived there in time to get two bets in on the NASCAR Race. Took Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon on the under. They both must finish in the top 5.

    Reach the Nugget in alittle over an hour. Feeling really good about now. We check in and get a South Tower Room 21st floor (good omen?) Fremont Street View. Checked right in at 12:30pm. Balance, must keep balance.

    Since our bodies think it's 3:30pm its time to eat. We head to Bay City Diner at Golden Gate. Decent, but not great for $20.

    We head to Plaza and LV Club Binion's, and Four Queens to check minimums. All at $5. Except this very crowded $2 at the 4 Queens. Bummer. But Let it Ride and BJ at GG was at $3.

    Checked out the pool. Lincoln, my Husband stayed behind. New bikini time. Went into the pool. Damn is it hot out here. Got bored by myself and went back to the room.

    At 6:00 we went to Plaza Chinese Buffet. Small selection but good. $20. Ran around the rest of the evening. Played some VP and watched the Freemont St. Experience - Alien Show. Not too good. Bed time around 11:00pm.

    Monday July 12

    Up at 6am. Went to MSS. Played VP. Went to Cal. Some VP there too. Walked down Ogden St. and checked out the Lady Luck. We went to the Gold Spike much to Lincoln's surprise. (Are you sure, the place is a dive.) Played $2 BJ and won $20. They had to escort some drunk who couldn't even hold his card properly. All this at 9am. Moved on to the El Cortez and played some VP.

    Back to MSS for lunch. Good Buffet. Fairly wide selection. Well worth it.

    We then went to the bus terminal to catch the 302 to the southern Strip. After nearly an hour we get to Excalibur. Went from their to Luxor to eat. OK buffet. Nothing special. Checked out Mandalay Bay. (At each place I'm buying a $1 chip as a souvenier.) Then we catch to tram back to Excalibur and then checked out NYNY, Monte Carlo, and the Boardwalk, collecting chips as we go. (Some of the cages are hard to find.) :confused:

    Played $3 LIR at the Boardwalk and hit a couple of Flushes. Take about $100 from the place. Lincoln played some VP. He's done about $50 at this point , not a good day for him so far.

    Checked out MGM and the Tropicana where we will see Le Folies Bergere?? I played LIR on a machine while Lincoln played more VP. He drops another $50 in about an hour and I hit a 4 of a kind with one coin in and then a straight and I'm up another $60. Someone from the casino must have saw that and instantly signed me up to be rated giving me a deck of cards and some other free gift.

    Went to see the titty show oops...Folies Bergre. Lincoln agreed with me that they went out of thier way to present the boobs. The host might of well have said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we now present...BOOBS!!! BOOBS, Ladies and Gentlemen, let's give them a hand!!!"

    Caught the 302 back to the Nugget. 1am, long day, time for a 5 hour nap.

    Tuesday 7/13

    Up at 6am. Played VP at Plaza. Very cold AC. Is it possible to freeze in a desert. Had brunch at the Plaza. Cheap and good. Played LIR at the Golden Gate. Lincoln got a 60oz. Strawberry Dequari at Mermaids for $12. I think some of it is still sitting in our room as I type this a week later. Everyone at the Table went, "Wow look at that thing!!!"

    Decided to catch the 302 an hour earlier than planned (around 2pm) to the Mid Strip. Got stuck on the bus for over two hours as the bus was detoured to Paridise Rd. Some type of bomb scare at the Stardust, guess Wayne Newton pissed someone off. Wow, many teed off [​IMG] locals on this bus as many had to get to the North Strip like Circus Circus to work and now could not get off until the Bellagio. I was getting sick, [​IMG] couldn't wait to get off no matter where it was.

    Finally got off and went to the Aladdin Buffet at around 4pm as originally planned. (so much for extra time) Buffet was great. Loved to tandoori chicken and lamb kabobs.

    The day goes downhill from here.

    Ran around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to see every casino on this side of the street. Trying to find the cage in each place to buy my chip. And the temperature is about 108. (We thought we would be ready for the heat as we usually have very hot (90s) and humid day at home, but summer has never arrived this year. Humidity has been low and the temp have been in the 70s and 80s, so we were not prepared)

    We stopped at Paris, Bally's, Barbary Coast (saw Very Fat Elvis), O'Sheas, Imperial Palace, Harrah's, Casino Royale, and Venetian. Too much running in too little time.

    Went back to the Flamingo and caught Second City. OK, nothing spectacular, but maybe it's just our mood right now.

    Got back to the Nugget around 10pm. Lincoln stayed up and played Pai Gow Poker and VP at various places downtown. He got to bed around 2am. He tells me it was worth it because he is now only about $50 down for the trip as opposed to $180 when we got back from the show. I'm up around $20 at this point.

    Wednesday 7/13

    Up by 6am.

    Back to the Gold Spike for BJ. Nothing happening. Bad dealer who couldn't count the value of the cards. On to the El Cortez to use our Funbooks. $5 match play on BJ. I won, Lincoln lost. Played at a $3 table for awhile and I won $10, Lincoln lost around $15.

    On to a free drink at the bar. Played VP at the bar. Won $20. Lincoln lost another $10.

    On to Keno with 50cents off $1 play. I won my money back and played again. Hit 6 of 10 numbers for $20. Time to leave Keno and fast. Lincoln lost his 50 cents.

    Eat at Carefull Kitty's. I had a T-bone and Lincoln had a Reuben. The bill total was $7.00. We are loving the El Cortez.

    Lincoln played some VP on our way out. Hooray, he wins $20 back so he comes out even at the El Cortez. I'm up around $50.

    Back to the Spike for more BJ. Lost $10 but then won it back on VP.

    Met 3cats at around 3pm at the 4 Queens for some drinks at the Chicago Brewing Pub. She bought. She then kidnapped us and took us to the Rio for dinner. Some kind of locals deal on a Wed. Wow, what a buffet. If you couldn't find something to eat here, you have a problem. Saw the parade on the way in and out.

    After eating 3cats took us to the Palms, the Texas Station and then the Fiesta. Had a big slushy somewhere along the way. Can't remember where. Lincoln dropped about $20 in each place and his bankroll in down about $180 again. I'm holding my own and end the day around $120 up for the trip.

    3cat took us past Sigfied and Roy's place on the way back downtown. She is a pip. What a fun time. We get back downtown around 11:00. I went to bed around midnight. Lincoln stayed up for more Pai Gow at the Nugget. He made some of his money back (around $50) and was in bed at 2am.

    Thurday 7/14

    Up at 6:30. Don't know how Lincoln is doing it. There will be a price to be paid somewhere.

    Caught to bus to the North strip. Checked out the Sahara. Glad we didn't stay there! Nothing for us game wise. Then went to Slots-of-Fun. Played 5 coins in a VP machine and turned it into $10. Lincoln lost around $15, again. Played some $1 BJ. We both lost around $10 to $15. Went to Circus Circus--yuk!! Next to the Riviera and the Westward Ho. Nothing special of note here. Got my $1 chips and moved on.

    Caught the bus to Bellagio to eat lunch. Not bad, but nothing spectacular. No shark, or elk, or emu. Guess those are on the dinner buffet. Even the chocolate football thinging was MIA. Good, but Aladdin and Rio were better.

    Moved on the Ceasars and played VP. Around even here. They didn't sell clay $1 chips. We got lost trying to get out and made a big circle (hey, didn't we just pass this a half hour ago?) Please get me a map. There are none!!! Finally, daylight. We got out and caught a bus back to downtown.

    Dinner at the Nugget around 6pm taking advantage of our 2 for 1. Small buffet but good. Played some Pai Gow with Lincoln at $5 at Four Queens and some Let it Ride at Four Queens and Fremont. Ended up about even for the night, up around $100 for the trip. Lincoln played more Pai Gow and VP at the Nugget and won some money back. He started to day down $180 and was down $110 when we went to bed at 1am.

    Friday 7/15 Last day. [​IMG]

    Up at 6:30am.

    Played more Let it Ride at $5 at the Nugget. Lincoln played more Pai Gow. He dropped about $100. Couldn't get anything going. I lost the first 7 hand at Let it Ride. Got a 3 of a kind to get that back and then was delt two 2s. Pulled one back, dealer shows another 2. Alright, 3 of a kind, let it ride. Dealer shows another 2. Four of a Kind!!! My first one ever. $500 win. Got a straight a little later for another $100 hit. Quit after giving some back. We ate a mid-morning breakfast at Fremont. (Not bad)

    Back to the Nugget for more Let it Ride. Lost around $100. Lincoln had one more round of Pai Gow and won about $30 back.

    Checked out and met Jim around 10:30am. Got to the airport around 11:15am for a 1:40pm flight.

    Although the paytables are horrible, we can't resist one more VP session. I was even and Lincoln won $20.

    Took off on time. Got delayed an hour in Atlanta. Arrived back in boring PA at 12:30am local time. Went to eat and in bed at 3am.

    Slept about the next two days solid and am now finally getting over my Vegas hangover.


    Some final notes. Estimated that the total trip without gambling cost around $2000. Cheap for us, but I'm looking for cheaper next time. (No shows, limo, cheaper airfair, maybe a deal from the Nugget on the room. The pit boss made note of my $500 hit on LIR)

    Gambling: I made $680 on the strength of that 4k on LIR. Lincoln was grinded out for around $178 which he said was were he was after Monday, so he battled about even from Tuesday on to the end of the trip.

    What a great city!!! If you keep your head on gambling wise, the place is a blast. Lincoln was already making plans on when the next trip would be and how he would get the money. He thinks we could easily do another week next summer. (Can't during the school year. He is a teacher and won't take time off during school. [​IMG] Too much of a pain when he gets back and he doesn't want to go during the Christmas break. Too crowded everywhere.)

    If you made it this far, you must be exhausted like I am. I need another nap. [​IMG]
     
  2. milehiman

    milehiman VIP Whale

    Joined:
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    Wow, talk about a "take no prisoners tour" of Las Vegas Casinos...

    Sounds like you had fun though.
     
  3. doctor_al

    doctor_al VIP Whale

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    Sounds like a fun trip. I accumulated a collection of dollar chips as well, but only as leftovers of my buy-ins, so some of them are pretty used looking... I hope you got nicer ones from the cage.
     
  4. Falcon_Rob

    Falcon_Rob Flying Winnebago

    Joined:
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    Nice report Copella. It sounds like you did your homework and was MUCH more prepared than my group the first time out!

    I'll have to disagree with you there. Christmas is on a Saturday this year and the week leading up to it is one of the LEAST busy and CHEAPEST times of the year in Vegas. My dad and I have a trip already planned for that week. It's also not 108 degrees! [​IMG]
     
  5. Little Bob

    Little Bob Low-Roller

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    Your husband must be very trusting or love his gambling to let his wife and her new bikini go to the pool while he stayed behind. Our trips to Vegas have always been too short to schedule pool time. One of the things I am looking forward to is a longer trip and a chance to catch some rays and enjoy the pool. Does the Golden Nugget have the swim up blackjack tables or bars like some of the strip properties? Good report. Thanks for posting.
     
  6. Copella

    Copella Tourist

    Joined:
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    No swimup Blackjack at GN. Bummer.
     
  7. birdie88

    birdie88 Guest

    WHEW!!!!!!!!!!! I'm tired!
    [​IMG]
    And I really think giving the "Boobies" a hand would only get you thrown out!

    Nice report!
     
  8. Copella

    Copella Tourist

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Doctor_al,
    The workers in the cages were extremely nice about my chip purchases. Most of them went out of their way to find brand new ones that had never touched a table. Apparently a lot of people collect them. And I thought I was the only strange person out there. I bought a $5 chip at Aladdin, since they're changing ownership, and this may be the last chip to say Aladdin on it. The lady at the cage went into the back and brought a limited edition from their re-opening. Talk about nice! I have to say my favorite chip is from Luxor. They're really cool looking--like old, egypian gold coins.
     
  9. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

    Joined:
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    My husband collects the $1 chips too--he used to "buy" them but now claims he must earn them. Either way, cages have always been really nice about giving or exchanging old chips for new "pretty" chips.
     
  10. MCM

    MCM Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Copella,
    We stayed the same dates at the Aladdin, and ate at the Spice Market that same night. Did you see the guy with, no lie, 150 shrimp on his plate and a soup bowl of coctail sauce?
    I see floor 21 worked out well for you, I'm staying away from the 23rd from now on [​IMG]
     
  11. chef

    chef Resident Buffetologist

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    Copella,
    Are paths may have passed, as well. We stayed at the Cortez Monday and Tuesday night. I've also stayed at the GN and for the price difference, would take the Cortez in a heartbeat. You may want to consider giving them a shot next time.
     
  12. scoobagirl

    scoobagirl Tourist

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Texas
    what a great trip report! You sure crammed a lot of fun into what, 4 days? way to go!!! I can't wait till its my turn...
     
  13. Copella

    Copella Tourist

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    MCM,
    We were in that little section near the cakes and pies--big mistake! LOL. We were there at 4:05. I looked at my watch to see how long we were stuck on that damned bus during that bomb scare at the Stardust. I do remember a guy with a spicy shrimp something or other on his plate, and I asked him if it was good. He had a pile of them. Same guy?
     
  14. Copella

    Copella Tourist

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    Chef,
    We were at the El Cortez around 10:00AM on Monday and then again in the morning on Wednesday. We weren't there long Monday, just for a little VP. It was too close to lunch and we were going for the buffet at Main Street--highly recommend. On Wednesday, we were there from about 9:00AM until about 11:00AM. Just long enough to win some money and have an excellent meal at Kitty's. They had sent us a funbook through the mail with tons of coupons, including one for $5 off Kitty's--each. Can't say I remember anything noteworthy at El Cortez to cross reference our timing, but the pit boss was really rude to one of the blackjack dealers when she made an error. "Did you make another mistake?" Not appropriate in front of guests. Poor girl.
     
  15. Copella

    Copella Tourist

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    MCM,
    Oops! That was when we went to Luxor for lunch. Not the same guy. I did hit the shrimp myself, but I can't say I remember a guy with a plate full of shrimp. Aladdin was where we had that wonderful waiter--Teddy. He was Middle Eastern. Had a bald head and a million dollar smile. Extremely polite. My husband and I left him a big tip and even complimented him to his boss.

    We made it a point to show our appreciation to waiters, waitresses, and dealers while on our trip. Since we were staying downtown, I think a lot of these hard working people don't get much respect. The dealers at Gold Spike, Boardwalk, Golden Nugget, and Four Queens loved me. If I was winning, which I was having some luck on this trip, I would put up a side bet for them with regularity. The Four Queens dealers change on an hourly basis. At one point, we had a dealer change a few hours later, and I made the comment about "how long have I been here?" The new dealer informed me I'd been there for three hours. How on earth did she know that? She just got there. Hmm? And that cocktail waitress, she came back every ten minutes to check on my drink status. These people appreciate being appreciated. Tip well and you'll make a lot of people happy--in return they'll treat you like gold.
     
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