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Four Queens, Flamingo, and 1 unexpected night at the D

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by stripview, Sep 13, 2012.

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  1. stripview

    stripview Tourist

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    My Trip Report

    This is the final report of my live trip report started earlier. Home now, a day later than thought. We had an awesome trip and it looked to me like Vegas was doing just fine, as it seemed busy everywhere we went.

    Background. I took my first trip to Vegas about a year and half ago and I fell in love with the place. This was my 4th trip back since then. I planned to head out by myself so I didn't have to answer to anyone and could go where I wanted. At the last minute my mom came along, which was great as she loves to play slots and does so by herself. We were great Vegas partners.

    Saturday

    We arrived about 3pm. I wanted to try the WAX bus route, but the next one didn't leave until 410pm, so we headed for a shuttle. We got on an executive shuttle and were immediately bombarded by a timeshare guy. It was really irritating and I will not take an executive shuttle in the future because of it. They let him right on the bus for your whole ride and he harassed everyone on the shuttle. Bell is the way to go if you want to avoid them. We made a couple of stops and arrived downtown about 430pm, still ahead of what the WAX would have gotten there. We took the WAX on Tuesday from the airport to the D and it was awesome. $2 and it made 4 stops and then was at freemont street. One of it's stops was right between NYNY and Excalibur, so if you are staying on the south strip and don't mind walking, I would use that bus and save the money.

    We checked in at 4 Queens and dropped off our bags and headed down to freemont. As I said my mom is low maintanence in Vegas, so this was the last I saw her until 130am when we both arrived at the room at the same time for bed. I headed to freemont sports book bar to get a corona and then had to place bets on the football games for myself and several others. Checked the books at Freemont, Nugget, Binions, and the Plaza. Thought the Freemont had the best rates and the Plaza was a joke. Nobody working, long lines, computer wouldn't take betting slips, etc. Placed all the bets at the Freemont and now it was my time.
    Grabbed a couple dogs at mermaids and sat down at the roulette table at Binions. I played off and on for about 5 hours and my numbers would pretty good to me, I left up about $100 for the night. Tons of people downtown and the atmosphere was awesome. I didn't spend much time in Binions last time I was down there, but I found that I liked it alot this time around.

    Sunday

    Football bets and downtown to start to watch the Vikings game. Football bets were killed right away as New Orleans was made to pay for it's sins immediately and as a Viking fan I always get to pay for the Saints sins. All tickets kindling on to watching the Vikes pull out a huge OT win that was a blast to watch. I know we only just screwed up our draft pick, I'm not delusional:Þ I watched at the long bar at the D. Great set up and fun to watch all the games. It suprisingly wasn't busy and you could find a place at the bar at anytime during the games. Watched till the end and then we headed to the strip. Took a cab from 4 queens to Flamingo $18.30 FYI

    We checked in at the Flamingo at about 2pm. Thankfully we had my total rewards card as the check in line was really long, but our line only had 3 people in it. A 5 minute wait and we were at the counter. I thought long and hard about the $20 trick, but in the end decided to use my charm and good looks first. IT WORKED:drunk: If I would have wanted to wait a little we could of had a fountain view room, but as it were we were given a room facing caesars and north on the 20th floor, it was great. Mom was tired and wanted to rest or I would have waited for the other room, but it was perfect and we were hardly in it. I headed over to Caesars after I made sure my mom wouldn't get lost in the Flamingo and was comfortable(she was very scared of being on the strip) She ended up enjoying herself and we both loved playing in Margarittaville.

    I watched football and ended up at the rapid roulette table in the Flamingo and won about $150 and enjoyed many many Coronas. Called it a night about midnight, due to the lack of sleep downtown because of the noise, we were both tired. Big strip day on Monday.

    Monday
    Woke up early and we had breakfast at the IP buffet. I know, I know the IP buffet, really? My mom is thrify:thumbsup:, It was fine, not a huge selection, but eggs and sausage is not tough stuff to make edible.
    I then headed over to the Bellagio to take a look at the flower display. It was under construction, just like the last time I was there. I was really hoping to show it off to my mom, but not to happen.:cry: I started my slot play at this point. I found out on this trip that I actually can enjoy mindlessly pushing a button. I used to walk through a casino and not even see the slot machines. I'm not kidding, I would just walk right by them and never give them a look. This trip changed that. If I wanted to spend time with my mom, I would have to play a little and I found it to be not that painful.

    I had an awesome bloody at the Bellagio, the best drink of the trip by far. I played for about 3 hours on $20 and had a blast. I especially liked the Skee Ball machine as you get to play in the bonus and it actually feels like you can affect the outcome of a fixed machine for a few seconds. More chili's and more hearts were two of my favorites. Can't believe I am now saying what my favorite machines were, but I just did it:Þ

    Had lunch at Johnny Rockets and played roulette and slots all afternoon and I did pretty well. At bedtime Tuesday I was down $40 for the whole trip with all food, transfers, tips, etc. That's a huge win, so I still got lots of gambling money.
    Monday night I took the long walk to the lionsshare machine, NYNY, and back up the strip to the Flamingo. I was tired and it was late, but I walked through a ton of places and had a blast. I love walking the strip at night.

    Tuesday

    Going home day, maybe. We played slots in the morning. Had lunch at the sub shop in the food court. They wouldn't let my mom comp her meal. Mostly because I think the lady was lazy, but I used my rewards card to pay for my meal at Johnny rockets, so I know you can use it there. We played a little longer and it was time to head to the airport. I looked outside and the monsoon had hit. I rained crazy hard for about an hour right before we got into the shuttle. They had predicted a monsoon for Monday and part of Tuesday, but the weather was beautiful all monday and tuesday morning, so I guess we were due and we were headed home anyway. The ride to the airport was crazy. I will post a bunch of pictures in a bit, but the flooding was insane. At least one person died, and over 20 people had to be rescued. It was the most rain Vegas has gotten on any September day in recorded history.:wave:
    A local "expert" on the news actually said this: "It flooded because it rained too much too fast" That was the actual expert footage used on the channel 3 news later that night. That guy is a f'ing genious.

    Our flight to Minneapolis had to go through Pheonix and the Pheonix plane got turned around on it's way in, so we were delayed and eventually cancelled because of the rain and air traffic delays. The US air hotel voucher was a joke. $70 at an airport hotel was their 'deal', so I used the priceline app on my phone and got us into the D for $34, and we rode the WAX downtown for $2 and we got a few more hours downtown. I lost my ass on Tuesday and ended up with only $100 left in my pocket for the trip, but at least I had something, right. We flew home Wednesday morning with no problems. I'll post my observations of the strip and downtown a little later. We had a good win together on a last ditch effort, some homeless observations, and a good shuttle deal for those at the Flamingo. Hope it wasn't too long
     
  2. stripview

    stripview Tourist

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    Downtown

    It was really busy on Saturday and was still busy on Tuesday night when we were there. You could still find tables to play and slots to sit at, but the crowd and atmosphere were alive and happening. It was really good to see. The Spazmatics were playing on Tuesday and I thought they were good and the crowd watching them on the stage by the D and 4 Queens was large watching them. Our room at the D was less noisy than the one at the 4 Queens on Saturday. I suggest getting a room not facing freemont if you want a quieter room. The long bar at the D is really cool and the D now has dancers at their tables which is new since March as far as I remember.
    I like to get my corona's for free, but if I have to pay for them I go to the sports book bar at the freemont to get them for $2. It usually has the least amount of wait time, but Johnny at the bar is easily the slowest bartender on earth. He is always there and always unhappy about it, but even with his slow as mud service, It is quicker than other bars in the Fremont.

    The room at the D was better in my opinion than the 4 queens. Not much better, but a little bigger and nicer more comfortable beds. The Plaza was dead almost all the time and the service was terrible. The sports book should be shut down if you aren't going to staff it or put supplies in it. They literally ran out of pencils on Sunday morning before the NFL games started:nono:

    We had a good time and with my new found love of slots, I would go back downtown to stay with the right group of people. If I go on a trip to eat well and see shows, I wouldn't stay there, but if you are there to only gamble, why stay anywhere else?

    A couple to tips- The Flamingo has a $7 shuttle to the airport that runs every 20 minutes or less. It goes direct and runs from 4am-4pm everyday. Text your room number to your phone so you don't forget it. The WAX bus is a really inexpensive way to get downtown. It runs from the zero level at the airport and comes every hour on weekends and every half hour on weekdays.

    Strip

    The room at the Flamingo was awesome and I won't stay anywhere else unless I become rich soon, then I will be at the Bellagio:wave: They are roomy, clean, and quiet.
    We had one really cool win at the IP. I talked my mom into playing a pirate battle machine hoping we could get into a battle. We never did and we ran our buy in down to .20 for me and .25 for her. Minimum spin was .45 so we were both done. I told her to give me her ticket, and I combined it with mine on the machine between us for 1 minimum bet spin and the screen fills up with wild symbols and gives us $42 on our .45 bet.:nworthy::nworthy: We are not big spenders, so we were both pretty happy about that.
    The construction was not that big of a hassle. The walkway is narrow in front of the IP, but it is fine. We went over several times with no problems. We never heard it in our rooms. Drink service in the Margarittaville casino was exceptional. I couldn't drink em fast enough:drunk:. It was my favorite casino, especially when I was thirsty.

    I noticed several things with the money collectors(homeless people) on the strip. There is one guy in particular that holds a sign up stating he is just trying to get to Boston to go home. I thinks to myself, why would he want to go back to a place where he doesn't have any family or friends who like him enough to buy him a ticket home? That thought occurs after this one--This guy was here last March, holding the same sign. He needs a new angle or plane tickets from Vegas to Boston are really really expensive. Had another one ask me for change in the morning in front of caesars, I said I didn't have any. He then gets all huffy and says well you must be worse off than me, here's 50 cents. I just laughed and kept walking, but I was really tempted to go back and get it from him.:Þ The other one is new also. There are guys with buckets that appear to be working with a charity( I am guessing they are not:evillaugh) asking for money for the homeless. Why would I give a charity for the homeless money on the strip, when I can walk 5 feet away and give it directly to the homeless. Seems like a fairly easy way to cut out the middleman:wave::thumbsup:.

    Johnny Rockets has great burgers. I had them a couple of times and couldn't have been happier or more full. Caesar's sports book was full on Sunday, but was a pretty cool place to watch the Packers get their tails handed to them.

    The flooding on Tuesday was insane and unfortunately had consequences for the people living in Vegas. Rescues happened and at least one person lost their life. Hope everything is back to normal now, but that was a crazy afternoon. I will post a bunch of pictures in a little bit. I can't wait to go back out and I need to find a reason that makes sense to my wife, but with two young hockey players and winter coming, I don't see that happening. I did place a couple of football bets for this weekend, so let's hope one of them hits and I can tell her I have to go back out to cash it in. She doesn't need to know that I can mail it in, right? Hope you enjoyed and I will post pictures soon.
     
  3. stripview

    stripview Tourist

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    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347553759.075394.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347553787.986819.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347553810.464299.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347553856.232605.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347553878.517905.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347553888.191282.jpg the d room ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347553907.159510.jpg Fremont at 4am Wednesday ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347553963.035516.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347553978.239883.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347553987.581444.jpg
     
  4. stripview

    stripview Tourist

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    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347554042.357751.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347554059.884237.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347554073.398424.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347554095.627760.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347554109.558807.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347554127.138781.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347554228.198986.jpg the cup
     

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  5. gongoman

    gongoman MIA

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    Thanks for your report--Also loved the pics...I am closer to the minute going on my trip and can't wait to get to my Fremont...:beer:
     
  6. stripview

    stripview Tourist

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    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347558987.728760.jpg view from my bed at the flamingo
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347559041.201053.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347559060.329256.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347559110.696901.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347559156.745577.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347559173.708593.jpg linq construction
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347559215.393746.jpg ImageUploadedByTapatalk1347559327.099404.jpg my visit to lambeau
     
  7. Dpin300

    Dpin300 Low-Roller

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    Great TR! Special thanks for the pics.

    Just out of curiosity is it possible to make sports bets online for Americans or is it only aloud in states where they have casino's?
     
  8. stripview

    stripview Tourist

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    Not exactly sure what the rules are right now and I think that the feds aren't sure either. You can go online to one of the offshore books and place bets, but the way I understand it they can shut down and you will lose your money. I did it for awhile years ago and never had a problem, but I am too worried and unclear of the rules to open an account now. I wish we could, it would make the games more fun, but I'll just have to stick to office pools and Fantasy football unless I'm in Vegas. Maybe someone else knows the laws better than I, but it is not legal for US companies to do online betting for now.
     
  9. LuckyDuckyDan

    LuckyDuckyDan High-Roller

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    For us Yanks...

    Sports betting online is illegal. There are services that work with American customers, but just like online poker, it's done under the radar and outside the law.

    Sports betting by telephone (that is, picking up the phone and calling a book making service) is illegal.

    Sports betting by calling your buddy who's in a Vegas sports book is illegal. There are some sports books that will make you leave the immediate area to use your cell phone (both for this purpose and to not be the idiot yapping on his phone while everyone's trying to watch the games).

    The only 4 states where sports betting is legal are: Nevada (Vegas), Oregon, Montana and, most recently, Delaware in an attempt to offer something that New Jersey (Atlantic City) and Pennsylvania (Harrah's Chester, PA and the few Philadelphia, PA casinos) did not. None of these states have significant collegiate or professional sports franchises within their borders (I'd imagine UNLV is the largest college in these 4 states)

    New Jersey wants in on the action, but is currently tied up in lawsuits from the NCAA (college athletics) and the major sports leagues have it tied up, as there is a federal US law restricting sports betting to these 4 states. New Jersey does host 3 major sports teams (the American Football New York Giants and New York Jets both play their home games in E. Rutheford New Jersey, the hockey Devils also play in nearby Newark, NJ) and a few smaller college teams (Rutgers, Princeton, Rowan University is a top-tier IIIA school, but that's like saying you're the best in the minor leagues). The relationship between the state and its teams are one of the items covered in the lawsuits.
     
  10. LuckyDuckyDan

    LuckyDuckyDan High-Roller

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    As an aside:

    It is LEGAL for yanks to engage in fantasy-sports leagues where the outcome of the fantasy league:

    • Is not impacted by the win/loss or score of any independent game
    • Has a static prize structure, regardless of the number of participants

    This is why the fantasy leagues of NFL.com, ESPN.com, etc. are legal. The prize ("super bowl tickets," "Eleventy million Zimbabwean dollars") is a fixed amount and does not change with the enrollment of people. The results are not determined by the score or binary win/loss of a game. If Tom Brady throws for 7 million yards but loses to the Giants :)Þ:ssst::faint::wave::drunk::woohoo::woohoo::woot::trophy::trophy::trophy:), whoever has him in their fantasy team gets credit for his performance, regardless of the end score or win/loss situation.

    Going further off topic, it is these same dynamics that make the recent spurt of casino-sponsored online poker sites (South Point, Golden Nugget) legal. The effect of any one hand does not determine the winner. The "prize" (whether it's cash or some sort of comp/reward on-property) is fixed regardless if 1 person enters (and wins by default) or 1,000 people enter.
     
  11. LuckyDuckyDan

    LuckyDuckyDan High-Roller

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    Yep. As with online poker, offshore sports books are operating outside the law. The same operational structure applies to these organizations as existed/currently exist with online poker offerings. You "bought" credits by way of a purchase that was dubiously or outright fraudulently committed. My previous poker buy-ins have included transactions labelled as Chinese general merchandise company, a *vast* amount of golf balls, Eastern European baby goods, etc.

    Once the funds are committed, I can do what I want with them on-site. It's just numbers on a screen at that point, under the care of and with me having full trust in the site's operators. In my case, Bodog/Bovada, Poker Stars and Full Tilt, though sports books work identically. Bodog/Bovada actually is a sports book as well as a poker house and a casino, too. When I'm ready to cash out, the owners of the site engage either a struggling American bank or an offshore bank to process the payout and ship me a check via FedEx/UPS. Some can do wire transfers or will send money via Western Union.

    It's typically free/nearly free to put money into a sports book - although you'll almost always pay a currency exchange fee issued by your bank on your credit card transaction. It quite typically costs money - and not always a small amount - to remove your money from the sports book. Bodog offers one free payout per month, but it takes approximately 6-8 weeks to get your money back. When they were having problems, it took 12-14 weeks.. some people took even longer.

    And, as stripview said, if the site is shady to begin with, you may simply never see any payouts, regardless if you fairly win or lose. If they are not maintaining player funds in a firewalled account (See: Full Tilt Poker), then any interruption to service that causes a run on the 'bank' (See: Black Friday, 4/15/2011) can result in everyone losing their deposits because even a well-intentioned site can't pay back money it doesn't have.

    The relevant laws to all this are the Wire Act of 1962 (sports betting by wire communication facility), the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act of 2006 (which prevents funding of already-illegal internet gaming) and a variety of state-level laws that seek to protect their own state lotteries/Bingo establishments/controlled Casino-gambling laws as the only lawful gambling facilities available to the state's residents.

    OK, College thesis over now. Sorry for the derail! :faint:
     
  12. vegasqc

    vegasqc VIP Whale

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    Where do we find this shuttle at the airport ? Im really tempted by the flamingo for my december trip glad to see another good review for them
     
  13. stripview

    stripview Tourist

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    The shuttle comes right to their lobby. You catch it down the escalator right in the lobby. Same place you would catch a cab. I'm pretty sure that the valet told us it comes every 10 minutes. It also goes directly to the airport and does not go to any other hotels.
     
  14. Dpin300

    Dpin300 Low-Roller

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    @DuckD jeez glad I live in Holland. Heard about full tilt being down. That would really suck having all your winnings or deposited money frozen until further notice :grrr: I use an online gambling site (sports-book, poker, slots and lots of other games) and never had problems cashing out. Quick and easy! (won't say the name because I'm not sure if that's aloud on this site)
    Cool thing is they also have an app. I'd be in a bar (live betting) or even on holiday's and I can still make bets :nworthy:

    @stripview sorry for the off topic. Hope I haven't ruined your awesome TR
     
  15. stripview

    stripview Tourist

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    Sorry I don't think I understood you right it does not operate from the airport to the flamingo just the other way as far as I know. You might want to call the flamingo directly and ask if they run it from the airport to the flamingo as well, but I don't think so
     
  16. floridavegas

    floridavegas Low-Roller

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    AWESOME trip report!! Thank you!!!

    We stayed at The Flamingo last week, only second time in Vegas and absolutely loved The Flamingo! Funny thing, first time we stayed in The Aria - just got that "vibe" in The Flamingo.. Center strip - awesome views - lots going on - clean - and all the staff was so nice!!!
     
  17. Smo

    Smo Mr. Las Vegas

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    Awesome & fun trip report!!!

    I too go to Johnny Rockets every trip, and I always get a smokehouse double with half fries/half rings. Best fast burger around.

    Weren't the go-go dancers at The D (and everywhere else) awesome?!?!

    Thanks for the pics.
     
  18. LaRae

    LaRae Low-Roller

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    Skol Vikings!! Must have been a great game to watch in Vegas. Thanks San Fran! Great pics of the flooding. TR was not too long...I enjoyed all of it! :thumbsup:
     
  19. stripview

    stripview Tourist

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    It was a lot of fun to watch such an awesome finish amongst so many people. I couldn't believe they made that field goal, it's so not like the Vikings to come back like that. It was really enjoyable walking around Vegas Sunday night seeing all the Packer fans wearing their green and slowly sobering up while it was still daylight. As a Viking fan, I have to latch on to those moments when I can get them and Sunday was a good one. I snickered inside everytime I passed a guy in his 3XL Rodgers jersey crying in his beer.:wave::thumbsup:
     
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