My first trip report May 6-11/2013. Mostly gambling.

I LOVE VEGAS !!!..Because of this I am a little addicted to reading vegas forums. I like to read ppls trip reports and opinions on shows, restaurants, etc…. This will be my first trip report so I hope at least one person enjoys it or gets some information from it. First a little background info. This was our (my significant other and I) third trip. We live in western Canada and vegas is about a four to five hour flight ( actual flying time ). We like to gamble ( slots ), walk the strip, people watch, and drink. Were in our early to mid 30’s and not into the club scene. First trip was Sept , 2011 and we stayed at Planet Hollywood. Wasn’t fond of this property as the music was way too loud ALL DAY LONG, EVERY DAY. We like a good atmosphere but to have the music so loud all day long to the point that you can’t even talk in a restaurant without having to raise your voice just gets annoying by the second day. Also didn’t like the casino at all…there five nights and by the end still could never find our way around in there. Gambling budget of $1200 - $1500 that first trip and lost every day while getting little playing time out of our $$. When we were at the airport about 20 min from departing I hit for $2800, which set me up for our second trip to vegas which was Oct, 2012.

The second trip we stayed at MGM Grand and we fell in love with this property. Of all the hotels we have been through in vegas the MGM suits us best. Some hotels are quite impressive in their design and décor ( Aria, Cosmopolitan, etc) but are just too “high class” for us. Others we just didn’t get the same “feeling” as we got in the MGM. We have also found the Mlife properties to be better to us gambling wise. Seems like we could never get any play or wins at total rewards casinos at all. I had a $4000 bankroll on this second trip and gambled mostly Mlife properties. Ended up going home with my original bankroll +/- a couple hundred, gambling five days on mostly $1 slots, which is a win in my book. Also ended up with a four night comp with $75/day food and beverage credit and $100 freeplay each for this past ( 3rd ) trip. I hit for a $1400 hand pay and a few $300 - $900 pays. Visited freemont, Madame Tussards wax museum and seen KA on this second trip and enjoyed all three experiences. First day I put $100 in a dollar slot, hit for $500 then played a quarter machine for 3hrs and 45min on $20 and got pretty drunk which was an awesome start to the trip. So this brings us to the most recent trip, May 6 to May 11, 2013.
DAY #1: As I said before we are comped 4 of our 5 nights at MGM this trip as well as the $75per day food/beverage credit and $100 each freeplay. We arrived shortly after 8pm and took a cab to MGM from airport, which was $16. Gave the cabbie a $20 and went to check in. Got a newly renovated grand king, which is a nice room. Only complaint would be the poor water volume/pressure in the shower and no fridge in the room. We quickly packed our things away and headed to casino…no time to waste!!!..lol. We go to Mlife desk and get our freeplay accredited to our accounts. I, of course, blow through mine on a $1 slot and win nothing. The spouse, of course, turns her $100 freeplay into a $800 win on a $5 pinball machine. Great start. We decide to stay at MGM and gamble as its already a little late. I throw $100 in the lions progressive machine and lose it fairly quickly. We win and lose a little till around 1am then go to the food court for some pizza and back to the room. Pizza was terrible.
DAY #2: I am an early riser and have trouble sleeping on the best of nights so at 7am I’m up showered and on my way down to casino while I wait for the spouse to get ready which takes about 2 hours. I throw my daily $100 away on the lions progressive and then sit down at a blazing 7’s machine. I gingerly slip a $100 bill in and after about 4 to 5 spins I hit the progressive jackpot for just over $1000. GOOD MORNING VEGAS !!!. Put that $1000 TITO slip in my wallet and I slide into the high limit slot area and continue to lose a couple hundred there on a $5 slot and then stroll through the casino. Spouse arrives a little later and we start walking the strip gambling and ppl watching. We stop at Harrahs and play one of those double-seated games together and hit for $500. We head to Toby Keith’s bar and grill. We order the mac n cheese balls with some wings. Food was awesome and the lady’s here wear assless chaps….ANOTHER BIG WIN IN VEGAS !!..lol. We gamble our way through the strip with no big wins. $100 or $200 here or there lost and won.
We end up back at MGM and have a late supper at The Grand Wok. We had the beef lo mien, Honey bbq pork, and sweet and sour chicken, all of which was very good. More gambling and drinking at NYNY where we sit down to one of our favorite games, wheel of fortune $1 slot. I proceed to lose $100 while the spouse hits a wheel spin bonus and it lands on $1000. ANOTHER NICE WIN !!:banana:. We retire for the night after a little “hide the pig in the blanket”.

DAY #3: Once again I’m up early and down in the casino by 7:30am. I have always wanted to try blackjack and craps but have been too intimidated to sit at a table full of ppl, not knowing how to play. Before this trip I played a little blackjack online and seeing how the tables were dead at this time of morning I decided to sit down at an empty minimum $10 table and buy in for $100. I explain to the dealer and pit boss that its my first time playing at a real table and the pit boss says “don’t worry, we don’t make fun of you till after you leave”. Right away we have a chuckle and I immediately feel more comfortable…guess that’s his job…lol. So shortly after a guy from new york and a guy from Holland sit down next to me and we play for a couple hours and have a friendly chat. I probably went up as high as $200 and down as low as $20 before cashing out with my original $100. Had fun and even upped my bet from $10 to $40 a few hands after I felt comfortable.
Spouse shows up and we head to rainforest café for breakfast. We both had a waffle and bacon which was ok. Coffee at this place is horrible. The jungle theme and fish tanks are pretty cool though. Walked the strip again today and stopped at Gordon Ramsey’s burgr in planet Hollywood. Read great reviews on this place so we decided to try it. I had the Gordon Ramsey burger and the spouse had the American burger and we split an order of fries. We were both disappointed with this meal. Fries were dry and bland while the burgers were an expensive OK at best. Only good part was the lady’s uniforms. Would not recommend. Later in the afternoon we make our way to the Luxor as we have tickets to see Carrot Top. Gamble a bit at Luxor and continually lose. Down to my last $100 gambling money for the night when I hit for $500 on $1 wheel of fortune. BACK IN THE GAME!!. Head through Mandalay shops and gamble a bit at the casino in Mandalay Bay where we hit for $800 in the high limit room on some $5 slot.
Head back to luxor for carrot top. We both LOVED this show. He was hilarious and everyone was laughing. He came across as a very likeable guy and I would definitely recommend the show to anyone who doesn’t mind a few crude jokes. We will be back to see him for sure.

DAY #4: This was a day to remember. Once again I was up early and headed down to casino to wait for the spouse. Stopped at a MGM lion game ( $1 slot, $3 max bet ) by the elevator lobby and slipped in a $100 bill. Started playing and I would go down to $40-$50 and then win $200-$300 and back down again. Did this for two hours till the spouse showed up and she sat down with me. Played the machine for the next two hours ( four hours total ). Managed to get up to $1000 so decided to cash out and put another $100 bill in which I then got up to $700…played it down to $600 and cashed out. Decided to throw another $100 bill in seeing how it was being kind to us and worked that up to another $1000. So took $2600 out and didn’t have to pay any stupid tax. ( gambling winnings are not taxed in Canada ). Great start to a great day. Decided to have lunch at The Grand Wok again as we enjoyed it last time. Had beef and broccoli, calamari and chicken lo mien. Once again it was good.
Have been to Freemont on both our last two trips but always during the night so we decided to see what it was like during the day. Took a cab down: $22. Gave the cabbie $30 and headed to the golden nugget. We both sat down to a $1 wheel of fortune and put in $100. Spouse didn’t win and I hit for $500 right away. She then sat down and played a $1 pinball machine and didn’t win. I sat down at a $1, max bet $3, blazing 7’s machine and on the second spin hit $12??. Handpay!!..lost 30% to tax but still a nice win. Walked through the other casinos on Freemont but just donated $$. Decided to walk to El Cortez to see what it was like. Pretty cool that they still have the coin machines but it was mostly full of video poker machines, which I find boring so we left. Place had a weird vibe to it…kind of sketchy and this was the middle of the afternoon..lol. Headed back to golden nugget so the spouse could play the huge slot machine at the entrance. Went looking for a washroom and we ended up in the high limit room where I won $600 and the spouse won $800.
Decided to head back to Harrahs and have supper at Toby Keith’s bar and grill again. I had ribs and wings and the spouse had ribs and shrimp. Both were excellent. We struck up a conversation with a couple from Pennsylvania, which was pretty cool. Started to walk back towards MGM stopping in the casinos on the way and today it was like we couldn’t stop winning. Every casino we stopped in we would win $300-$700. Several hours later we got back to MGM and slotted around till midnight or so. Went to wolfgang pucks and had the calamari, bbq chicken pizza and crab cakes. All three items weren’t very good at all.
I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea here with the gambling. Yeah we won quite a few times but we also lost lots too. The wins are just more fun to talk about ..haha.





DAY #5: This was our last full day in Vegas and the same thing happens on every last day. I get the leaving Las Vegas blues. Didn’t help that I pretty much lost at every game I played either, but I always hate to leave. Played blackjack for an hour but the dealer was an older grumpy guy who I couldn’t beat in a hand to save my life so I lost that $100 pretty quick. We walked the strip some more and took it all in. It was hot today for us. We don’t like the heat too much…any higher then + 30 Celsius gets a little too warm for walking the strip for us. That’s why we like going in the fall or spring. We ate at Gallagher’s steakhouse in NYNY. I don’t think it was today…I think I mixed today up with another day for supper but oh well. We both had New York bone in strip steaks with broccoli au gratin and mashed potato. Steak and broccoli were good but not great, potatoes weren’t that good at all. Kind of disappointed here as well.
Headed back to MGM where I continued to lose $$ while the spouse won $1600 on a lions game. She had over $500 won on the machne when she hit the progressive for $1100 so once again a nice win with no tax!! Next morning we check out and get the one night we weren’t comped taken off the bill once our play was rated so no charge in regards to the room at all which was nice. Before we leave I lose another couple hundred while the spouse wins $800 with a $100 investment. We had a great trip with some wins to keep us going through the losses. I ended up taking home $4000 of my $5000 bankroll and the spouse came home up a thousand on her bankroll, which is great by me seeing how we were playing $1 slots all day every day. Cant wait till this fall to go again !!!

Final Thoughts: I don’t really get the hype over the celebrity chef or high end restaurants as every one we ate at we were disappointed in. We found the down to earth, blue-collar restaurants much better. I think its just a lot of hype over these “television hyped” celebrity chefs and their restaurants. I love food and I’m not at all picky but a lot of what we had just had no real flavor to it.
I also really like going to Vegas during the week ( sun/mon to fri/sat ) as I find there’s still lots of ppl but its not too crowded. Starting Thursday evening to Sunday the zoo opens and you get a lot of younger ppl ( 18-30 ) quite a few of who feel the world owes them something and their egos and attitudes are horrible. Lots of eye candy but if you sit and listen to their conversations for more than two minutes you may want to drive an ice pick in your brain…lol. Don’t get me wrong, their not all this way…just enough to make you shake your head, but hey….sometimes it makes for good entertainment..lol. There’s drunk and fun, then there’s drunk and stupid..haha.

Well I guess that’s it. I’m sure there’s lots I forgot and maybe next time I’ll take some notes instead of trying to remember it all after the fact but I’m usually too under the influence for that. Hope it wasn’t too boring and I’ll try to write the next one better. Cheers!! and if you haven’t been to Vegas before…..WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR ?!?!?!

 

Great trip report. Sounds like you guys had a great time. Nice to hear someone walks away with cash from the Lions share. If my spouse ever finds me in the HL room I'm using your excuse - that I got lost on the way to the RR.. Lola

Congrats on the winning trip!

 

Thanks...The lion games we won on was not the 2 million + progressive though. It was the other MGM lion games by the elevator lobby for the grand tower. I committed $100 a day to lions share but didn't win anything...maybe next time if its still there. Did have an awesome trip though.

 

Wecome to the board Megamoose! That was an awesome trip report - I don't think you have to worry about 'writing it better' next time. It was an enjoyable read.

We're heading to Vegas tomorrow so it was nice to read your restaurant reviews. Sounds like a very successful trip for you guys...and thanks for adding to to the Lion's Share jackpot. It's going to be mine in a few days!

 

Good luck with the lions progressive....hope u do better then I did....$500 in five days and I think my biggest win was $40 or $60.

 

Sounds like it was a great time.

Glad to hear the slots are paying out some decent wins

 

Thanks for the TR and I agree with the last line 100% !

 

Nice trip! Glad to see your review on Carrot Top, I won tickets via twitter recently and was nervous about his show. All the reviews have been very good, so now I'm actually looking forward to it! Hopefully I also have some big wins on the slots like you!

 

Great Trip report you did a good job remembering all those details! Congrats on the slot wins.

 

Congrats on all the wins! I never hit anything on Lions Share, but usually give it a go each trip. Seems we all share the leaving Vegas blues.

 

Congrats. Awesome TR!

 

Great report. Thanks!