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May 12-17 Suncoast/Paris

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by LindaP, May 28, 2012.

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  1. LindaP

    LindaP Low-Roller

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Texas
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    My Trip Report

    I normally post over at the Las Vegas Advisor, but I've been visiting this site fairly often and got some great tips and coupon trades. Thanks for all your help!

    This is the 21st year my 3 sisters and I have met in Vegas to have FUN! Every May – no kids, no husbands. No one has missed a year yet!

    One sister got there a day earlier than the rest of us. She picked up the rental car (Alamo, one week, $113.45 all in for an economy). She gave the lot attendant $10 and got a shiny new black Impala with only 11k miles and a large trunk. It was a great car and we definitely needed it because we had 2 sets of golf clubs to haul around. We always rent the cheapest car and get a $5 or $10 “upgrade” at the lot – we haven’t been turned down yet!

    She spent the rest of the afternoon at M Resort – didn’t win, but earned enough points to get a free seafood buffet. We all agree this is one of the best buffets in Vegas. She checked into the Suncoast for 2 comped nights and settled in using her ACG 5x points coupon.

    The rest of us arrived at various times the next day (Saturday). She dutifully picked us all up at the airport (thanks Diane!) and once we were all together we headed off to the Southpoint to see if we could use the LVA online coupon for 2-4-1 coupons for comedian Ralphie May (you have to redeem this coupon in person – redeem at the player’s club and then take to the box office). They were sold out for Saturday night, but we were able to get 4 tickets for the Sunday night show. We got a table for 4 in the back, center stage. With the coupon we were all in for $15 each (no tax or fees using the coupon). A great price (you can pay with points if you have enough points on one card to pay for the entire purchase)! We stayed and gambled for just a little to get the birthday points for one of my sisters. I played deuces wild video poker and managed a $25 win. Good start.

    We headed down to the M Resort to get the weekend seafood buffet. Because it was Mother’s Day weekend they were doing the lobster buffet (that they had featured for April) for $49.99 (they’d be doing it again Memorial Day weekend). 3 of us had free buffet coupons and they were gracious enough to use 3 of our cards to come up with enough points for pay for the last buffet. We had all done the April Facebook promo for the free 2500 points. We wouldn’t ordinarily pay $50 for a buffet, but for free we couldn’t resist. It was awesome, as usual. Only one sister had the half stuffed lobster. She said it was just o.k. The lobster ravioli and lobster bisque however, were terrific! Their crab legs were excellent as was the rest of the food we tried. The desserts were fabulous and we all shared so we got to taste A LOT of them! I had a few glasses of champagne because there is nothing like starting a Vegas vacation with crab legs and champagne!

    We stayed and played for another hour or so and I had great luck on the new Breakfast at Tiffany’s slots. I walked with a $380 profit after getting bonus game after bonus game. I was trying out a new strategy of playing a little larger amount on the penny slots. Usually, I just play 60 or 90 cents a spin. I still wasn’t willing to go max bet, but I was betting $1.80 a spin and it really paid off, this time. Lots of fun.

    We made our way out to Suncoast where we checked in for 1 free night. Because of coupon trades (thanks everyone), I was able to get an ACG 5x points coupon for everyone. We were only staying the one night, but every little bit helps. The rooms at Suncoast are just a bit worn but very large. They have large, flat screen TV’s and refrigerators in every room. We especially like the large bathrooms – they’re arranged so that 2 people can easily get ready at the same time. Double sinks, plenty of counter space and a large separate room for the shower and toilet. The casino has a great variety of games and on a Saturday night, was not nearly as crowded as most casinos.

    I immediately found the Breakfast at Tiffany’s slots and managed another win for $150. LOVE this slot! I would seek them out at every casino we went to for the next 4 days but never duplicated my luck. I played some 3-card poker and got a straight flush for a nice win. I played lots of other slots and video poker and managed to hold my own. By the end of the night I was up $800 for the day – that’s the best first night I’ve ever had in Vegas!

    Sunday was Mother’s Day and we checked out of Suncoast – we saw the maid outside our door and thanked her for a very nice stay. We made our way down to the parking garage and mentally prepared ourselves for getting ALL of us and ALL of our stuff in the car to switch hotels (we thought we’d have to make 2 trips). Before we even started packing up, I realized I left my cell phone on the charger in the room. I quickly walked back to the room and was fortunate to see the maid right outside our room. She remembered us from earlier and let me in the room to get my phone. I again did the fast walk back to the garage to find the car almost all packed up. That’s where we decided where we were blessed with our sister Nancy’s extraordinary packing skills! 2 sets of golf clubs (and their travel bags), 2 very large suitcases, 5 carry-on sized bags and a birthday cake! Piece-of-cake (literally). When we unloaded at Paris, even the valet guy was impressed!

    The line was very long to check in at 11am, so we gambled for a little while – I think this is where one sister fell in love with the Ghostbusters machine – that rumbling seat might have something to do with it :wink2:. She played a lot of different bonuses and throughout the trip she got to play a long time without any major ups and downs.

    Then we made our way to the Sugar Factory for brunch. I don’t know how busy they usually are, but they were packing them in for Mother’s Day. Fortunately, we had an 11:30am reservation through Open Table. We were seated near the open windows alongside the outdoor patio. This was our first visit and we’ll definitely go back again. We all ordered something different and being sisters, we always have the option to try each other’s food. So between us we got: eggs benedict (with scalloped potatoes instead of an English muffin), Monte Cristo sandwich, club sandwich and a banana walnut pancake (the size of a Hash House a go-go pancake). All our food was wonderful and everything else we saw looked great. The restaurant was extremely noisy though and we thought the interior reminded us a little of a Cheesecake Factory. We had planned to give our mother a call and wish her a Happy Mother’s Day while we were having brunch, but it was just too noisy to even try. If you’re hoping for a nice quiet lunch, this definitely ain’t the place! We paid with Total Rewards points ($65) – we all did fairly well in the recent Escape to Total Rewards contest so were able to use our points for the rest of our visit.

    After brunch we went to check in - at 1pm the long line we saw earlier was now completely gone and we walked right up. After a bit of searching, they were able to find us adjacent rooms on the 16th floor. No view but at least we were close together. One room was comped for 5 nights and the other was comped 3 nights with another night at $40. They had already charged my credit card for the $40, but I was able to use points when I checked out and they credited back my credit card.

    Today was the final day for the spring display at the Bellagio conservatory so we walked through that and played a little while.

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    No winners here – but some more Ghostbusters. We walked back to Bally’s and played there awhile before we met up to go to Southpoint.
    We got down to Southpoint a little early to get in a little gambling before the Ralphie May comedy show. I had time to play slots, video poker and some 3-card poker before the show. Lost some.

    Ralphie May is a big, vulgar, politically incorrect comedian and I think he is pee in your pants funny. At $15 each (using the online LVA 2-4-1 coupon), we couldn’t have asked for cheaper tickets and the showroom at Southpoint only seats 400, so there are no bad seats. His wife opened for him and if you can believe it, she is even a bit grosser than he is (but she’s little and cute). His show was good – not as good as some of the specials I’ve seen on comedy channel, but certainly worth the money.

    We made it back to Paris in time to have birthday cake and watch the reunion show for Survivor (we missed the finale). I’m glad Kim won – I would have been disappointed if it had been anyone else. The birthday cake this year was amazing! Our niece is a baker and each year she comes up with something new to surprise my sister. This year’s cake was fun AND delicious! The baker’s mom hand carries the cake through security, onto the plane and through the airport (while juggling her backpack and golf clubs)! It came out in pristine condition! The birthday girl nibbled on it for another couple of days until she finished it off. Happy Birthday, Kathy!

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    Monday was the first of 2 golf days for our 2 intrepid golfers. Today was Angel Park on the Palm course. A good time was had by all even though the greens were in atrocious condition. They are evidently having some issues with their grass – had to close one course and are calling in a specialist to find out why their grass is dying.

    The other sister and I caught the free shuttle and headed over to the Gold Coast (senior day). We played for a little to get the required 10 points and printed up our coupons for 50% off the buffet and a free bingo blue pack. We had a quick breakfast at the buffet (paid the rest with points) and went to play bingo. I remembered to go to the slot club and have them use my points to get a $30 voucher to use at bingo. It wasn’t very crowded and we each got down one number MANY, MANY times, but alas, no bingo. One lady sitting behind us missed out on the hot ball because she didn’t buy the $1 validation – she only lost out on $300+ but I’ll bet she never passes up the validation again.

    We went across the street to the Palms and cashed in our $40 slot play from slotplaycoupons.com and our 3x points from the ACG. We normally play quarter VP but we decided to go for broke and play our $40 on the dollar machines. My $40 went so fast it made my head spin. I thought I’d give it another chance and tried to put a $20 in, but the machine wouldn’t take it. After several attempts I gave up and moved down a few machines. By then my economical side kicked in and I decided to just play quarters. I played deuces wild and within 5 hands I was dealt JQK of clubs. I was not really expecting anything, but the A and 10 popped in for my first royal in a very long time! I had to do a double take to make sure it really was a royal and not just an all-black straight! Wooo Hoooo! I looked over to where my sister had been playing just a minute before, but she was gone – where did you go? I did the prairie dog thing – popping my head up and looking around but I didn’t see her. I had to cash out and then go find her just a few aisles away to show her my $1017.50 TITO! After that I was on cloud 9 and played around, bet a little more than I normally would have and fortunately I retained all my royal money. I used my $10 ACG match to bet black on roulette – it came up red. Love, love, love the Palms!

    [​IMG]

    We headed back to the Gold Coast to play in the free Senior Day VP tournament (earn 200 points for a free entry). We didn’t do well enough to finish in the money but it’s a fun tournament - DDB VP and play as fast as you can for 15 minutes. I played a little on my golfer sister’s card and got her birthday points for her – I always choose the wrong present box and only got her 1000 points ($1) sigh.

    We caught the shuttle to get back to Paris to meet up with the golfing duo. We met at Le Burger Brasserie to take advantage of our 2-4-1 burger coupons. It seems like we get the same waitress each time and she always takes great care of us. She’s very busty and heavily tattooed and a great server. We each ordered a burger and got one order of fries and one order of onion rings to share (awesome burgers, fantastic onion rings!). More than enough food and absolutely no room for dessert. While we were talking I gave my sister my camera to look over some pictures I had taken of our (relatively) new dog – she kept scrolling through the pictures until she came to the ones of my royal so I got to relive that win all over again!!! Aaah, it never gets old! Our server gave us the Total Rewards discount (like 50 cents a burger), used both LVA coupons and then divided up the bill so we could all use some of our points. Just great service! $61 in points and we left a $20 tip.

    We had no plans for the rest of the night so we caught the shuttle and went to Orleans. Orleans is probably my favorite casino to gamble in. They just have everything I like to play and the people are really nice there. We all had a little free play from BConnected offers. We also had a few free play/match play LVA and ACG coupons. My sister also collected her birthday points – another 1000 points ($1). We spent several hours there. We found an empty blackjack table and were all able to sit down together to play. It was one of those tables with a bonus bet for getting a 20 on your first 2 cards. We played the bonus bet a few times but really weren’t cashing in. Later on (when I didn’t play the bonus) I got dealt a QQ of hearts and would have gotten a $250 bonus with a $1 bet – poop! I lost a little there and then went on to play video poker and various slots. Lost a little there too.
    We caught the shuttle back and I spent the rest of the night at Bally’s playing 3-card poker (very bad night), Lord of the Rings, Alice slots and some penny video poker.

    Tuesday we had lunch reservations at Technique at the Le Cordon Bleu school. We usually make it over here every trip – it’s just too good of a bargain to pass up and the food is usually very good. Even though they don’t sell certificates anymore on Restaurant.com, they will honor them if you still have them. The 3-course lunch is $13 and we all tried to order something different. I think there were 4-5 options for each course – appetizer, entree’ and dessert. Some of today’s selection included a caprese martini, beet salad, fish & chips, chicken w/au gratin potatoes, flourless chocolate cake and bananas foster. Not a stinker in the bunch! Really great lunch! $50 w/$25 rr.com coupon, tax and tip – what a deal!

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    After lunch we felt a need to get away from the gambling for a while and drove up to Mt. Charleston. It was only about a 45 minute drive and we enjoyed the dessert/mountain scenery. It was a glorious day and pleasantly cool the higher we got. We really enjoyed the break. You really don’t realize that you’re climbing but we never touched the gas pedal on the way down – I think you could coast all the way back to Vegas!

    I think we spent the evening at Bally’s/Paris just gambling - my notes are very sketchy here. I played a lot of 1 cent video poker at both Bally’s and Paris – getting a lot of play with my money. I think I did fairly well on the champagne too. At Paris they garnish the champagne with a fresh strawberry! I played a little craps but that was pretty awful. It was just me and another lady at the table and neither one of us could shoot worth a darn – I didn’t last too long before I decided the move along. 3-card poker was again very brutal.

    Wednesday the golfers were off to try a new course – Stallion Mountain - just a few miles east on Flamingo. They were very pleasantly surprised by this suburban course. They had the course practically to themselves and were very impressed by the condition of the course and people who worked there. They decided they must play here again.

    The other sister and I shared a BLT from JJ’s Boulangerie at Paris (my sister paid w/points) and then caught the bus for downtown. We bought the 24 hour bus pass for $7. We just missed the SDX express bus so we took the Deuce. It took a while to finally make it downtown. We went to the Mob Museum using the $4 off coupon from LVA online. We really enjoyed it and spent a little longer than we had intended. By the time we got done the golfers called to tell us they were on their way home and we made arrangements to meet at the Paris buffet later. We had enough time to stop at the 4 Queens to use our $10 free play - I think I cashed out with $17. Our timing on getting the bus again sucked and we just missed the SDX to return to the strip. A long 25 minutes later another one finally came. It was very crowded and we had to stand the whole way back. We did get to talking to a nice local guy and he was very happy to have my bus pass for the rest of the time remaining on it.

    For once, there was no line at the Paris buffet (at about 2:30pm). We used our MRB $10 off coupons and paid the rest with points. We thought the buffet was great! We shared an apple crepe with some awesome caramel sauce to finish our meal.

    We really enjoyed our last visit to the Orleans so we thought we’d go back. I love playing Pai Gow but could never interest any of my sisters in playing – well that ended tonight. 2 of them came with me and they easily picked up the game in no time. I still keep my Wizard of Odds cheat sheet with me and we did have to refer to it a few times. We played a very long time, had excellent drink service and had a great time. I finally lost my $100 buy in but I think I gained 2 new Pai Gow buddies!

    We returned to Bally’s/Paris for the rest of the evening. I was hoping to have one final hot streak before leaving in the morning, but it was not to be. It’s funny how you return to every machine you won on previously, hoping to get lucky again – it was so not happening!

    Thursday dawned and while I was ready to go home (I missed my husband and my dog) I was not ready to go quite that early! Our flight was at 9:20am. It didn’t take us long to pack and I sent my sister to get a BLT to go while I went and checked out. They refunded the one night room charge to my credit card and used points instead. We got my sisters to help us lug our stuff to the car (they were staying one more night) and had the “expert” pack up the car. We decided she can never, ever be the first one to leave – her packing abilities are just too valuable! They dropped us at the airport in record time. We had a fairly uneventful trip home and they were able to get one more free M buffet and a pedicure in before they came back.

    I’m happy to say I brought my royal flush profit home with me, so a planned November trip is now guaranteed. I think I was the only winner (gambling) this trip, but we all are pretty happy with every trip we are able to make together (oh, they’re going to puke when they read this :evillaugh).

    Thanks for reading!

    - Linda in TX
     
  2. AbFab

    AbFab Low-Roller

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    Awesome trip report! :thumbsup:

    Glad you hit the royal, I'm still waiting for my first. :poke:

    There's nothing like hanging with your siblings in Vegas. My first Vegas trip six years ago was with my sister, and it still remains as my best one.
     
  3. techie223

    techie223 High-Roller

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    It's so nice that you have that tradition with your sisters :nworthy:

    Thanks for the great trip report. Loved the pictures :wave:
     
  4. luckylinda

    luckylinda High-Roller

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    Thanks for posting on here, always enjoyed your annual sister trip. I did not renew at LVA.
    How great that royal sneaked up on you, made for a great trip.
    The b day cake is too cute, niece is very good.
    Glad you sisters are still enjoying your vegas time
     
  5. jgates8

    jgates8 VIP Whale

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    So glad you came to join us. Loved your report!
     
    Easter again..:
  6. LaRae

    LaRae Low-Roller

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    Oh, Linda, let them puke! Great report. Very happy for your Royal & to bring it home?? Good job!!
     
  7. Liondownnow

    Liondownnow Low-Roller

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    Great report. I also received only 1000 points at Gold Coast and Orleans for my Birthday. Are we both bad at choosing or are they tightening up?
     
  8. sybgal

    sybgal VIP Whale

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    Enjoyed your report! Sounds like your sisters group know how to have fun!! Thanks for posting.. :)
     
  9. AliGee

    AliGee Low-Roller

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    Lovely TR, thanks for posting!
     
  10. denluvslv

    denluvslv Low-Roller

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    I really enjoyed your trip report. Congrats on the win!! The cake was really awesome!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
     
  11. ardee

    ardee It's only money.

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    Thanks for sharing your visit.

    That chicken dish looks fantastic.

    Cake was really cute too. Sounds like a great family.
     
  12. Sam in Ut

    Sam in Ut High-Roller

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    Great report! We will be staying at Paris next month so thanks for the info on the burger place and the JJ restaurant for we're sure well try. Also, way to go for that Royal !
     
  13. LindaP

    LindaP Low-Roller

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    Thanks for all the nice comments. Trip reports can sometimes be a pain in the butt to do, but I love to be able to go back and relive each trip (sometimes years later). I'm getting to that age where I somtimes forget a lot. In between trips, I love to live vicariously through others with their trip reports.

    - Linda in TX
     
  14. Blonde_4_ever

    Blonde_4_ever LasVegas4ever.com

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    Penny Video poker at Ballys and Paris? I didn't even know there was such a thing. I may need to look for it next week.

    Thanks for the great trip report!
     
  15. LindaP

    LindaP Low-Roller

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    The penny video poker at Bally's is in that little back alcove near keno and that snack bar. It's 6 machines total (3 back to back). They are 50 play and 100 play but you can play as many games as you want.

    At Paris (they moved them so I had to do a little searching), they're across from the elevator that goes up to the Eiffel Tower restaurant - I think there are 3 or 4.

    - Linda in TX
     
  16. Blonde_4_ever

    Blonde_4_ever LasVegas4ever.com

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    Thanks ..I am writing that down!!!!
     
  17. LolaDoggie

    LolaDoggie VIP Whale

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    Excellent trip report. I'm glad you had a good time.
     
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