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A Ralaxing Flamingo Thanksgiving - 28 Nov to 2 Dec

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by LA2VegasTrekkers, Dec 3, 2013.

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  1. LA2VegasTrekkers

    LA2VegasTrekkers High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Hollywood
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    My Trip Report

    THE SETUP

    I’m not going to give you the very boring play by play on this trip. We relaxed a lot and played some slots, but nothing worth writing home (or a TR) about. But there were a few things that I think are worth mentioning, just for the informational value. We arrived around noon on Thursday, November 28th – American Thanksgiving. We had called ahead to block out a room we like, but it wasn’t yet ready when we arrived. We always request a room on a high floor ending in 058, 054 or 050. These are all King GO rooms on the south-facing side of the building with the bed facing in the direction where you can lie in it and see the Bellagio fountains.

    It’s just me and the Hubs; we go for Thanksgiving every year. Traffic was relatively light driving in Thursday morning and back out on Monday morning, but Vegas did seem busy, especially lots of families with small children. We played slots, but not a whole lot, so I won’t bore you with any details – no big wins (surprise, surprise).

    THE FOOD

    We had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner at Flavors buffet at Harrah’s. It’s not the fanciest, but that is exactly why we go there. The food is solid, mid-western that reminds the Hubs of his dearly departed Mom’s cooking. The food was fresh and good, as usual, due to the high turnover of guests. No wait through the Diamond line and we did get a plate of the hot, split crab legs.

    Java Detour has been replaced by Cappuccino Something-that-I-can’t-remember, but it’s basically the same food and all the same people. We were disappointed that Flamingo did not have the usual fresh baked cookies in the Diamond check-in room. We had our usual lattes every morning and the cookies for sale at the new place were not as good.

    Friday and Sunday we opted for a quick bite in the Diamond Lounge. Decent as usual. Friday, we also met some friends for lunch at Todd English Pub. We had a few beers and some appetizers. The pickled veggies and fried pickles were pretty good. Hubs got the chicken parmesan sliders, which were OK.

    Saturday, we opted to use our $100 Diamond Celebration dinner for 2013 at the Village Seafood Buffet at Rio. This was a huge mistake. Although most things tasted OK, the selection was extremely lacking. We also ordered some warm split crab legs and what came out were very dry and not of the usual variety of crab. The legs were spiny and had no flavor.

    THE SHOWS

    We saw Penn & Teller with our two free Diamond tickets on Saturday. I’m glad we didn’t pay for the tickets. I know this show used to be very well reviewed and we love Penn & Teller from their cable show, etc. But they really seemed to be phoning the performance in. The acts were mildly entertaining with a few minor wows, but overall, just not that impressive. I wish we had seen the show years ago when it was fresh.

    We used another two free Diamond tickets on Sunday (cuz now it was December) to see Million Dollar Quartet at Harrah’s. Now this was a great show. The story was engaging, the singers were incredible and the entire thing was just a great experience. I highly recommend it.

    I hope you found a tidbit worth reading. We’re not sure if we’ll get to take our usual February trip, so it may be next May before we go back, which is a bummer.
     
  2. BlueSkadoo

    BlueSkadoo VMB Sweetheart

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    I saw Penn and Teller on this past weekend too. I was disappointed with a couple things about the show. The biggest thing to me was that they didn't acknowledge that something happened in the audience. I thought it was actually as distracting that they ignored it vs just saying that things were being handled and lets go on with the show. I still wonder what happened. (It appeared a child passed out, someone yelled for the house lights for an emergency and Teller continued to do his little bit, and Penn said nothing the entire time).

    The other thing was that all the "new" bits failed. Its not impressive if the trick doesn't work! Finally, I thought it was pretty "preachy" that night. I've read reviews in the past and people said it wasn't too bad, but I also know they re-arrange their shows frequently, and I think this current set is skewing toward the rant-y side.

    I was with an old friend who saw them a long time ago and had a fond memory of seeing them and they were not impressed but it was letdown from a beloved childhood experience. I went in with an open mind and walked out very "ehhh". Glad to know I wasn't the only one who wasn't impressed.
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2013
  3. chitownjohn

    chitownjohn High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Nice TR, thanks for posting. My wife and I returned Wed before Thanksgiving and noticed a steady stream of people checking so it was busier that I thought it would be.

    Glad to hear you liked the million dollar quarter, we saw the show in Chicago and loved it.

    Cheers.
     
  4. Guardian

    Guardian High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Good to know the Million Dollar Quartet are free for Diamonds now. When I was there in May you had to pay for them.
     
  5. LA2VegasTrekkers

    LA2VegasTrekkers High-Roller

    Joined:
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    Location:
    Hollywood
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    I know there are a few lovers of this slot machine on this board, so I'm sorry I originally forgot to mention that the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers game that had remained at Caesars for so long is now finally gone, replaced by the Return of the King game, which was at every CET property. However, none of them were hooked to the network, so you couldn't access your log-in, which was super annoying! Still, all in all, a really fun game.

    Since, I'm here, I'll also mention that we played Ghost Busters in the Margaritaville casino with decent results. That and the Lord of the Rings games (all of them) have the best music. It keeps you really engaged in the game. Contrast that with Spiderman, which should be such a fun game, but the music, when not playing a feature or bonus, just puts you to sleep. We also tried the Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Footloose machines. Again, two games that could be really fun with the right sound track and they totally failed.
     
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