1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

Aug 2 - 5 - Sister Trip...and Vanilla Ice..what!?!?

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by ButterflyMtn, Aug 6, 2012.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. ButterflyMtn

    ButterflyMtn High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2012
    Messages:
    674
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16

    My Trip Report

    Our annual sister trip to Vegas was a blast! Had so much fun and really the best time ever in Vegas, we had great service everywhere we went and had nothing but smiles, laughs, dancing and of course :drunk::beer:

    Day 1

    Got to the airport about 1.5hrs before takeoff, had a drink while waiting for the plane, there was an issue with the check-in system and had were delayed about and hour, not the best way to start the vacation but that was the only issue during the week. We finally got in to Vegas around noon on Thursday, waited about 10min in the Taxi line and headed to Harrah's.

    We were in early so we checked our bags and went to lunch and get tickets for a show that night from Tickets for Tonight booth. We always go to Margaritaville for a drink and lunch so that's where we headed after getting tickets to Viva Elvis...review on that later. We also made reservations at Julian Serrano..then we headed back to Harrah's to check in.

    We had booked a deluxe queen room and did the $20 trick, we were upgraded to the Mardi Gras tower, 15th floor..but had a king bed with pool view and "partial strip" view...it was worth the $20 in my book since last year we had stayed in the dlx queen room in the carnival tower and this room was much nicer. My sister and I don't mind sharing a bed so we accepted the offer.


    We went to our room to get ready for the night..Viva Elvis and Julian Serrano
     

    Attached Files:

  2. ButterflyMtn

    ButterflyMtn High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2012
    Messages:
    674
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    Day 1 continued -

    We got ready and headed out to Aria for dinner and a show. The show didn't start until 9:30pm so we made reservations to eat around 6:30pm at Julian Serrano.

    Everything we ordered was amazing and really enjoyed the atmosphere, food and drinks. we had the following and would highly recommend it these to everyone. We tried a bit of tapas from each section (veg, seafood, meat, etc)

    ahi tuna tempura | avocado rocoto mayo | seaweed | ponzu sauce

    salmon with truffle | truffle béchamel | portabello mushroom - I'm not a "fishy" person but this was excellent!

    roasted red peppers | fresh garlic | sherry vinaigrette | e.v.o.o.

    traditional spanish chicken croquetas | chicken | béchamel - 2nd favorite

    beef and cheese | prime tenderloin | cheese | honey | walnuts - our favorite, the steak was cooked perfect!

    and dessert (this was really our favorite)...now I LOVE chocolate but I am not a chocolate/fruit mixer, maybe because the fruit flavors are usually overpowering the chocolate but this was EXCELLENT, love the blood orange sorbet
    molten chocolate cake | orange jelly | blood orange sorbet
     

    Attached Files:

  3. ButterflyMtn

    ButterflyMtn High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2012
    Messages:
    674
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    After we ate dinner we had some time to kill before the show so had a drink at Gold Lounge outside the theater.

    We went in for the show and sat in the 2nd section, just about center, and in the 2nd row. The show had a ton of extra seats.

    The show started and we do like Elvis, our parents always played his music (and still they still do) so we grew up listening to him and come on...it's ELVIS. Well I've been to 2 other cirque shows (Mystere and KA) and this show just didn't "feel right"

    It felt like the show was just thrown together and wasn't cohesive. Don't get me wrong the acrobatics and singing (when there was live singing) were great but I can really see why this show didn't last and will be closing at the end of the month. It's too bad that they couldn't have made this Elvis show much better than they did. The good thing was the awesome deal on an Elvis shirt that we bought at the store :)

    The show let out around 11:00pm and we decided to go back towards Harrah's, we took the tram to Bellagio, and walked towards Caeser's, had a few drinks along the way and made it back to our hotel room around 1am..which is 2am Colorado time so we decided to call it a night.

    Day 2....coming up.
     
  4. captainron62

    captainron62 VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2011
    Messages:
    3,282
    Location:
    Tampa, FL
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    24
    Waiting for the Vanilla Ice report!! :beer:
     
  5. ButterflyMtn

    ButterflyMtn High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2012
    Messages:
    674
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    Day 2 - morning/afternoon

    Well after a few hours sleep I woke up around 7:30am, for some reason I cannot sleep in, I used to be a one of those that can sleep forever if given the chance but now days I am up around the same time everyday.

    We got up and got ready....slowly..and decided what we should do for the day and decided to go downtown. We left our room and decided to walk a bit to get the blood flowing..and pick up a few $1 beers at Casino Royal (beer for breakfast...only in Vegas!) and picked up the deuce bus at the Venetian and went downtown for lunch..

    we ate at the Grotto at the Golden Nugget and shared a caesar salad - we ordered a half salad to share but the server upgraded to a full at no additional charge and was very attentive to us while there - and also shared the Romano Chicken Panini with hand-cut garlic Parmesan fries...the fries were YUMMY and the panini was pretty good and hit the spot.

    After we ate, we decided to try our luck at craps, now we are low rollers and don't gamble to often. We decided to go to Binions and had the "boys" were very nice and had a great time. We played the $5 table and each started with $60, we were up around $500 total each and had a bunch of bets on the table but we gave most of it back. We played for about 3hrs and ended up taking $80 with me and my sister had about $75 when we walked away..not bad and well worth it for the entertainment of the day.

    We jumped on the express bus and headed back to get ready for dinner for the night at Mastro's Ocean Club restaurant.

    We headed over to Crystal's to eat dinner and so glad we decided to go there for dinner.

    We ordered some cocktails - I had a strawberry mule and my sister had a Russian mule..they were both excellent

    At Mastro's they serve mostly everything family style so huge portions which helps us since we love to share..you know we have to watch our figures..lol

    The bread basket was awesome and the pretzels in there were the best. We started with the Chilled Alaskan King Crab Legs and they were great...my husband was jealous since he LOVES crab.

    We shared the 12oz filet and ordered the sweet potato fries and Roasted Brussels Sprouts sprouts for our sides. everything was cooked perfect, the steak was a nice medium and so tender, the fries were crispy and the Roasted Brussels Sprouts were good.

    The best part...as always was the dessert. Chocolate Pudding Cake - OMG best thing ever!

    We made our way back to Harrah's (while picking up some drinks along the way) and to our room to freshen up a bit before heading out for the night, we actually fell asleep for about 45min...power nap that did what it was supposed to do and refreshed us before heading down to Carnival Court for some dancing.

    We danced the night and early morning away at carnival court (last photo shows what it looks like when closed) they close at 4am. After dancing we headed back to the room for some shuteye so we could enjoy our last day in Vegas
     

    Attached Files:

  6. ButterflyMtn

    ButterflyMtn High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2012
    Messages:
    674
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    Day 3 - Final Day...part 1

    So after shutting down Carnival Court at 4am and making it back to our room, we slept until around 8:30am....again slowly got up and ready for the day and decided on what we should do for the day. First things first was to find some food..we headed out around 11:30am and decided to go to the forum shops and find something for lunch.

    We headed out and grabbed a few $1 breakfast beers from Casino Royal :beer: we really wanted some Mexican food we looked at the directory at the shops and didn't see anything except La Salsa...now it wasn't the type of Mexican food we get here in Colorado..reminds me of a Chili's type food but "Mexican" We ordered guacamole and chicken fajitas, everything tasted good not to much to write about, the food filled us up and we were ready to go out for the afternoon. Another Only in Vegas short story - as we were finishing our server asked if we would like a beer to go...this is why I love Vegas...lol

    We walked around a bit, played some craps, tried some 3 card poker, had some drinks, etc, etc and decided what we wanted to do for the night.
     
  7. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Sep 11, 2009
    Messages:
    16,023
    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    175
    A girl after my own heart. "breakfast beer" :thumbsup::beer:
     
  8. ButterflyMtn

    ButterflyMtn High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2012
    Messages:
    674
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    Day 3...Final Night..and Vanilla Ice Ice Baby!

    So we went to our room after grabbing another margarita at Margaritaville and took about a 1.5hr power nap and got ready for the evening.

    We went to Sugar factory for dinner, had the bruschetta and had the steak salad that was pretty good...and of course more drinks. After dinner we made our way back to Harrah's and decided to go to Carnival Court for Vanilla Ice.

    We were there around 9:30pm and he didn't go on til after midnight so we just danced and had some drinks. and then he hit the stage..there were a TON of people there, so I told my sis that at around 11:30 we had to go dance at the front of the stage so we could be close.

    Next post Vanilla Ice :)
     

    Attached Files:

  9. ButterflyMtn

    ButterflyMtn High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2012
    Messages:
    674
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    Day 3..Vanilla Ice..did I mention 7am flight?

    Vanilla Ice hit the stage and we were dancing, I was standing in front of my sister and another guy and I hear my sister say "oh and my sister too" then i hear this guy say "which one is your sister" I turned around and he said "do you want to go on stage and dance with him?" well of course we said yes..when do you get to go on stage and on stage in Vegas....well another Only in Vegas story..lol

    So a group of girls..about 10 of us were lined up and the guy said "ok he is going to do Ice Ice baby and when he sings Beachfront Ave walk out so you are out when he says Girls were hot wearing less than bikinis...oh and you are going to get wet..that's his thing" Since the start he was throwing water from water bottles on to the crowd..which really we didn't mind since it was so hot. and we then made our way up on stage....best.time.ever...Only in Vegas!

    We were on stage until the end of his show. Afterward about a half hour after his show he came out on stage and waived to everyone and then we got a picture with him. He is actually a nice guy and hugged us as we left the stage and when we took our picture with him, I told him it was a great show and the best part was being on stage with him and he gave me another hug.

    We then shut down Carnival Court again dancing until 4am, went in and played craps for about 30min, went to our room to back and headed to the airport at 5am for our 7AM FLIGHT! What.a.Night...What.a.Trip

    Until next time Vegas:beer::beer:

    Ice Ice baby video from stage

    http://youtu.be/OyA_7xIGm3g

    More video

    http://youtu.be/eCVu8AHqE-Y

    http://youtu.be/6ljuYbI7cGg
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Aug 6, 2012
  10. ButterflyMtn

    ButterflyMtn High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2012
    Messages:
    674
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    I do have to say Carnival Court is a place we love to go and dance, since we stay at Harrah's it works great since it is right there but really just love that atmosphere. DJ Michael Toast is a great DJ and very into his music that he spins..if you haven't seen him in Vegas I say go..he will keep you dancing all night!
     

    Attached Files:

  11. tanen33

    tanen33 Tourist

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2012
    Messages:
    27
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    9
    nice trip report...glad you had fun and any alcohol for breakfast is the rite way to go...glad you got to meet vanilla ice and dance for him on stage lol
     
  12. Dpin300

    Dpin300 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2012
    Messages:
    379
    Location:
    Las Vegas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    0
    Nice tr! Thanks!
     
  13. ButterflyMtn

    ButterflyMtn High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2012
    Messages:
    674
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16

    That's how we roll:beer:
     
  14. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Sep 11, 2009
    Messages:
    16,023
    Location:
    Wisconsin
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    175
    Hundreds of years ago in Germany, wheat beers were considered "breakfast" or "after church" beers, a testament to their light refreshing flavor and a tradition of drinking them on weekend afternoon.

    http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/gordon-biersch-hefeweizen/2453/
     
  15. LaRae

    LaRae Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2010
    Messages:
    313
    Location:
    Twin Cities/Western Wisconsin
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    22
    What a fun trip & to top everything off with Vanilla Ice!!
     
  16. BlueSkadoo

    BlueSkadoo VMB Sweetheart

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2011
    Messages:
    1,026
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    14
    Makes me wish I had a sister! Thanks for a great trip report!
     
  17. Royal Flusher

    Royal Flusher Savvy Gambler

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2008
    Messages:
    6,550
    Location:
    Flusherville, Canada
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    60
    You both have lovely smiles and look good posed with beer.

    I do believe that Ice song could catch on.
     
  18. ButterflyMtn

    ButterflyMtn High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2012
    Messages:
    674
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    Interesting we are half German :thumbsup:
     
  19. ButterflyMtn

    ButterflyMtn High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2012
    Messages:
    674
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    It was crazy seeing him but he really put on a good show and a nice guy...didn't seem put off by all the people wanting pics like some celebs
     
  20. ButterflyMtn

    ButterflyMtn High-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 25, 2012
    Messages:
    674
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    If are ever in Vegas at the same time you can be our Vegas sister!
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.