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Aria, Cosmo & MyVegas Oh My! 3/30-4/4

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Matty Ice, Apr 4, 2014.

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  1. Matty Ice

    Matty Ice High-Roller

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    My Trip Report

    On the plane for our 4 hour flight back to Detroit and then our 3 hour drive home to Columbus Ohio. I have some time, so I thought I'd get started on our trip report.

    Pre-Trip:

    This was a belated birthday gift for me (3/26) and an early 15 year wedding anniversary (4/17) trip for us. My wife and I have been playing MyVegas for over a year. This was my 3rd time in the last 11 months redeeming rewards. Between the two of us we were able to redeem 8 rewards. Luckily, we were able to book 3 consecutive comp bonus nights at Aria! We also got; 2 Aria breakfast buffets, 2 premium tickets to Zumanity, 2 premium tickets to "O" and 2 Bellagio dinner buffets. Total LPs spent 1,019,000. Saved roughly $1,130.

    I first booked our one-way flight back to Detroit from Vegas on Southwest when it was at its lowest price and then our one-way flight from Detroit to Las Vegas a few weeks later when that was at its lowest. Total round trip cost was $248 per person. We live near Columbus Ohio, but I'm from Detroit, so if it's significantly cheaper to fly out of Detroit I will. It was about $500 less to fly out of Detroit this time.

    I received an offer from The Cosmo for 2 free nights based on my "$100 on them play" 2 years ago. The offer had to be used by 4/16, so the timing was perfect!

    Our original plan included renting a car for 5 days, driving to the Grand Canyon and staying one night in the National Park. Due to an "incident" we had to cancel the rental car and GC trip. I guess we'll have to plan another trip and visit the canyon next time.

    Three months out our flights, hotels and shows are booked! Then, the "incident" happened. We had friends come down with their kids in February and took the kids sledding. My first time down the hill I flew off the sled landed on hard snow and hurt my back and ankle. Due to the severe pain I went to the ER. Thankfully nothing was broken, but I was in a lot of pain. I received a call from an ankle specialist 3 days later and they wanted to see me. After having an MRI done, the doctor said to me "it's a lot worse than I thought." You never want to hear that from your doctor. I completely tore a ligament in my left ankle and it requires surgery. He wanted to schedule surgery March 10th. I said "I'm supposed to go to Vegas." After speaking with him and my wife we decided to postpone surgery till 4/14. He said I'd be in pain,and would be in a walking boot, but could not tear it anymore. We cancelled the rental car and GC trip and were able to book a third night at Aria to coincide with our other 2 nights followed by 2 nights at Cosmo and I reserved a mobility scooter to be delivered to Aria Monday morning.

    I emailed Aria about a month before our arrival letting them know we would be there to celebrate my birthday and asked if there were any upgrades available. I received an email back with an offer to upgrade to a Corner Suite for $50/night. I couldn't respond fast enough to accept that offer!

    I checked in online at southwest.com exactly 24 hours before the flight and got boarding number A60! I gambled on not paying for early bird checkin and won!

    Sunday 3/30 - Arrive in Fabulous Las Vegas!

    Left home around 10:30am to make the 3 hour drive to Detroit. This would give us enough time to stop for lunch, get to my friends house and have him drop us off at the airport with enough time before our 4:00 flight. Boarded the plane and I sat in an aisle seat while my wife sat in a window seat. We had the row to ourselves and had a very enjoyable flight. I "enjoyed" 4 Jack & Gingers while watching National Lampoons Vegas Vacation and The Hangover and my wife "enjoyed" a Bloody Mary and a couple beers all with southwest drink tickets purchased on eBay for less than $3 each. We arrived on time, picked up our bags and headed to the taxi line. Less than 5 minutes and we're in the cab. Here's the conversation between me and the cabbie:

    Cabbie: "where to?"
    Me: "Aria!"
    Cabbie: "have you ever been there before?"
    Me: "no"
    Me: "you're taking Swenson right?"
    Cabbie: "lots of traffic"
    Me: "Take Swenson."
    Cabbie"........................."

    We arrive at Aria. Total came to $17.80, I gave him $20, but I know what he tried to do.

    Check-in was a little bit annoying because we had 3 separate reservations that all had to be linked. Took about 30 minutes to check-in and I was told I would have to pay the $28/day resort fee plus $50/night upgrade fee which I expected. They did hold $130/night which I also expected. I should have asked for a high floor, but at that point I was just ready to get to the room. We make our way to the third floor into a beautiful room, but not much of a view looking over at Vdara. We unpack and then I sit on the bed. WOW! The sit has now become a lie down and I feel like I'm in heaven. I now have to "break in" the bathroom. The toilet seat is heated, it has a "rear cleaner" and a dryer!! The technology they use in the rooms at Aria is like nothing I have experienced in a hotel room before. The automatic drapes were Awesome!! The suite had a second 1/2 bath near the entry, but that never got used.

    We then went down and walked around the casino for a little bit. I put $50 in a 3 play $0.25 video poker machine and within 5 minutes was up $50, so I cashed out.
    We went to 5Fifty pizza for dinner. 3 slices of pizza and 2 beers came to $35. I just won $50, so I didn't mind. The pizza was great!! It was now 11:00pm local time, but being 3 hours ahead of time and having had a long day of travel, we decided to call it a night.

    Monday 3/31 - Spa & Zumanity

    Had THE best first night sleep in a hotel I have ever had!! Woke up rested and refreshed, but still on my east coast time, at 5:00am. My wife was sleeping so soundly that I got dressed and quietly snuck out so she could enjoy her sleep. I love the early morning in Las Vegas. It's fun trying to figure out who just got up and who is still up. I saw a couple professionals and non pros making the walk of shame. I needed to redeem a MyVegas reward, but the Mlife desk didn't open till 8am. Played a little VP, but nothing to report back on. It was about 7am, so I headed back to the room. My wife was up and said "that was THE best first night sleep of my life in a hotel room." She wanted to work out in the fitness center and I wanted to use the bidet again. After we were done taking care of business we headed down to redeem the MyVegas reward for 2 breakfast buffets at Aria.

    The Breakfast buffet was just meh. We purchased the $12.99/person unlimited drink package. We each had a Bloody Mary and a Bellini. The Bloody Mary was the best part of the breakfast. Would not do the breakfast buffet at Aria again and we were glad we didn't pay for it.

    After breakfast we walked over to NYNY to pick up our free Zumanity tickets from MyVegas.

    Monday was the Detroit Tigers Opening Day Game and Justin Verlander was pitching. I put $20 on the Tigers to win at the Aria Sports Book. Detroit won in the bottom of the 9th on a walk off single!

    We decided to pay $30 per person to use the Aria spa for the day. After about an hour there I realized I'm not really a "spa guy". The hot stone beds were ok, the salt room was kind of meh and the outdoor hot tub was not very hot. I took my "complimentary" iced tea and went to the sports book to watch the end of the Tiger's game and collect $32 on my $20 bet.

    My mobility scooter was delivered to the bell desk, so I picked that up and took it up to the room. This was the one and only time I used it. I felt like I was in the way and with all the people and construction on the strip I figured it would just be a hassle. I called the scooter rental place and told them they could pick it up Tuesday morning. I was requested/required to take a picture so my friends could have a good laugh at me, so I will post that.

    We had a nice little nap, showered, got dressed and headed to The Pub at Monte Carlo for happy hour. I had a pint of their locally brewed Pale Ale for $3 that was quite good and my wife had the locally brewed wheat beer. We shared chips and salsa, fries, a chicken quesadilla and 6 buffalo wings. The food was really good! I think the bill came to around $40 including tip. We would have had another beer or two, but the waiter never came back till we were ready to go.

    We then went over to NYNY to see Zumanity. I forgot what section we were in, but the seats were great! We were right in front of the stage 3 rows up. What a great show!! Funny, raunchy & very entertaining. The lucky guests that got called on stage were great too! I would highly recommend the show. The host/hostess (Edy) came over to us towards the end of the show and asked if we were married and how long we had been married. I answered 15 years and got a nice round of applause from the audience.

    Played a little VP at NYNY, headed back to Aria and played a little more VP then called it a night about 11pm.

    Wow, this is taking a lot longer than I expected. We're getting ready to land now, so I'll try to finish up later. I'll also post some pics if I can figure that out.


    Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy the trip report as much as we enjoyed the trip.
     

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    Last edited: Apr 5, 2014
  2. wellmel

    wellmel Low-Roller

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    I've been curious about Aria, sounds like it really is worth the price. Thanks for describing it in detail.

    Your trip sounds like it was fun. Cool!:thumbsup:
     
  3. RM777

    RM777 Low-Roller

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    Looking forward to the rest of you TR.

    I used to travel quite frequently for work. I definitely agree that that Aria has some of the most comfortable hotel beds that I have slept in.
     
  4. Jepockn

    Jepockn Tourist

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    Nice tr so far. Who did you contact at aria for the upgrade?
     
  5. sco5123

    sco5123 VIP Whale

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    Enjoying the read. I can't wait to see what all the craze about Aria beds is about.
     
  6. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Good start!!
     
  7. TIMSPEED

    TIMSPEED Money’s on the way, with CashNetUSA

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    Nice report so far...
    But damn, they hit you for a $600 hold right off the bat? Rough!
     
  8. Matty Ice

    Matty Ice High-Roller

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    Yeah Tim. I knew there was going to be a sizeable hold, so I used the one credit card I have for emergencies and didn't plan on using it for anything else.
     
  9. Kryten2x4b

    Kryten2x4b Low-Roller

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    Thanks for the report , sounds great , just booked 6 nights at Aria in Sept with 2 of them from myvegas. Might email nearer the time as its our wedding anniversary and $50 a night would be sweet
     
  10. aaronw915

    aaronw915 Low-Roller

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    Enjoying the trip report so far!

    My wife and I are also from Columbus and we'll be flying to Vegas in April (Monte Carlo) & May (Aria), and we're curious as to why you drive to Detroit to fly Southwest instead of out of Port Columbus?
     
  11. Matty Ice

    Matty Ice High-Roller

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    Tuesday 4/1 - April Fool's Day, Casino Hopping and Fremont Street

    Slept in till 6:00am today. Got up, showered and watched SportsCenter till about 8. Went down to the Starbucks on the Promenade level, but there were at least 30 people in line, so we strolled over to the Starbucks at Crystals where there was one person in front of us. We each got an iced coffee and a breakfast sandwich for a total of $27.

    We had $40 in slot play at the Palms from Slot Play coupons that we were going to use. We walked north on Las Vegas Blvd to buy a 3 day bus pass then over to Bally's to take the Shuttle to Rio. We had about 30 minutes, so we went inside Bally's to play a little. I found a $5 BJ table and bought in for $50. Lost my first 4 hands so I upped my bet to $10 and won a couple hands, then $15 and won, then a few wins at $20 and then on a $25 hand I get 2-2 against the dealer's 5. My wife is staring over my shoulder as I put out another $25 to split the 2s. I then get a 3rd 2 and of course split again. On top of the 3rd 2 dealer puts an 8, so I double down. My wife quietly says "how much do you have out there?" I say "hold on a minute." Dealer gives me the double card face down and then 10s on the other 2s. Dealer turns over a 7 for a total of 12 and then the beautiful queen of hearts. She flips over my double card to show another 2 for "my" big win! Cashed out for $315 and tipped the dealer $15. We now had 1 minute before the shuttle was to arrive.

    Take the shuttle to the Rio, a quick bathroom break, then we walked over to Gold Coast for some bartop JOB. Sat down and I put in $100 and the wife put in $20. We ordered 2 Bloody Mary's which were FANTASTIC! Staying even for about 15 minutes and then hold 7-6-9-8 of hearts. The 5 of hearts comes up for a straight flush! We order two more Bloody Mary's, I hit a couple 4 of a kinds and I cash out up $100.

    We go across the street to The Palms and have the $40 slot play loaded onto our cards. We were told they are no longer doing the slot play coupons anymore, so this would be the last time they would honor it. We sit down at 2 full pay JOB machines and load our $40. I also added an extra $60 and we ordered 2 Bloody Marys. I wasn't really feeling it, so I quickly ran through my $40 and cashed out the $60. My wife had to use the rest room, so I told her I would meet her at the roulette table. I bought in for $50 and assumed I would go through that by the time she was ready to go. Had 2 $1 chips on 17and a few more spread across the board and the first spin 17 hits. I add one more $1 chip to 17 and it hits again. Nothing sweeter than a repeater! A few more spins and a couple more hits and the wife shows up and says "how are you doing?" I say "I'm up $250, are you ready to go?"

    We walked out of the Palms and took the bus back to the strip. We then walked north to Fashion Show Mall so my wife could buy a new pair of jeans with the money "we" just won. We had a Restaurant.com coupon for El Segundo Sol, so we had lunch there. We had chips and salsa and guacamole. I had 2 margaritas and the mahi mahi tacos and my wife had 2 beers and the braised pork tacos. Lunch was GREAT!! Total bill came to right around $80 and then about $55 after the $25 coupon was applied. Tipped the waitress $20 and thanked her for the great lunch and excellent service.

    I'm at work today trying to catch up and stay awake. I'll try to finish up Tuesdays' report and the rest this evening.

    Thanks again for reading!
     

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    Last edited: Apr 5, 2014
  12. Matty Ice

    Matty Ice High-Roller

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    Aaron, that is a great question! I am from Detroit and have made the drive from Columbus to Detroit hundreds of times over the years. It's not a bad drive, right at 3 hours to get to Detroit Metro. I obviously would prefer to fly out of Port Columbus, but it was $500 less to fly out of Detroit. We drove up Sunday morning and had my buddy drop us off at the airport and then pick us up Friday afternoon. If it was just a $200 difference we would have flown out of Columbus.

    2 trips in 2 months is Awesome!! Have fun! You will love Aria!

    :beer:
     
  13. buffalo

    buffalo Low-Roller

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    We live in Columbus too, flying to Vegas next weekend!

    R/T on SWA has been running almost $400 all this year. Apparently, they got out of Detroit for a bundle cheaper.
     
  14. aaronw915

    aaronw915 Low-Roller

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    Well that makes all kinds of sense now :). We've visited her friend in Detroit and I agree the drive isn't bad. And if we could get the flights for $500 cheaper we would do Detroit or Pittsburgh.

    This is our first trip to Aria and we're really looking forward to it!! We feel kind of bad for staying somewhere besides the MC because it's always been good to us.
     
  15. Matty Ice

    Matty Ice High-Roller

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    I stayed at the Monte Carlo last November on a MyVegas Comp and really enjoyed it! You might get spoiled by the Aria though. :thumbsup:
     
  16. aaronw915

    aaronw915 Low-Roller

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    I have a feeling from all the reviews and things I've read on here that I will want to make Aria our home-base from now on. :)

    That sucks you blew out your ankle man, everyone should get to see the Grand Canyon at least once. I semi-blew out my knee and still have a partially torn ACL but I was able to hit Zion NP and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon last year but it was painful. I've been doing my own rehab so that I don't have to do surgery but it means my playing softball at Berliner Park days are over. :(
     
  17. Matty Ice

    Matty Ice High-Roller

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    Tuesday 4/1 - continued - Fremont Street

    After lunch we took the bridge from Fashion Show mall over to the Wynn and caught the Deuce up to Fremont Street. I received an offer from the D for $25 in freeplay so we stopped at the membership desk to have that loaded onto my player's card. My wife had never been to the D, so I took her upstairs to see the Sigma Dirby. We didn't play, but it was definitely fun to watch!! We went back downstairs to the bar ordered a couple IPAs and played some VP. I put $100 in plus the $25 FP and went through that in no time at all. My wife put $20 in and won $20. She cashed out, we crossed the street over to Binions, walked through Binions, crossed over to California, up the escalators and over to Main Street Station. We sat down at the Boar's head bar and each ordered a Pale Ale. I put $100 in to play some FP JOB and my wife put $20 in. I lost and she broke even. I decided to try some BJ and bought in for $100. 10 hands at $10 - Dealer had 20/21 8 times and I busted twice. We walked down Main Street back to Fremont Street and stopped into Golden Gate to redeem my American Casino Guide coupon for a free calendar. We watched some of the dancers for awhile at Golden Gate and then stopped at the souvenir store to buy some stuff for the kids at home with grandma. We watched an incredibily talented spray paint artist for awhile and wandered around Fremont street till about 9pm.

    We got on the Deuce and headed back to Aria. I bought in for $100 on a roulette table and 6 spins later I was done. All the money I had won earlier was gone now. We wandered around for awhile and then called it a night about 11pm.

    coming up; Another Crique show with on stage dancing by me :banana:, amazing view from the cosmo and celebrity sightings.
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2014
  18. weluvvegas

    weluvvegas Casino Countess

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    Looking forward to reading the rest!
     
  19. Matty Ice

    Matty Ice High-Roller

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    Wednesday 4/2 - Good Bye Aria - Hello Cosmo!

    Woke up around 7:00 am, got dressed, walked past the 30 people in line at the Starbucks on the Promenade level and over to the Starbucks in Crystals where we were the only ones there. Ordered our iced coffee and breakfast sandwiches again. The manager, Sunny, recognized us from the day before and commented that I order the same drink that she gets and next time I should add extra carmel. I told her next time I would order the "Sunny Special." We leisurely enjoyed our breakfast and then went back up to our room to pack. Checked out with a representative and used the Express Comps that I had earned to take a little bit off the bill.

    We walked through Crystals and to The Cosmo. It was about 10:00am and the Tigers were playing again with 2013 CY Young award winner Max Scherzer pitching. I went upstairs to the Sports Book and put $25 on the Tigers to win. They won on a walk off single in the bottom of the 10th! I collected my $38 a little later in the day!

    I had received an email offer for 2 free nights in a Terrace Studio. I took advantage of the "$100 on us" promo 2 years ago and that was the only time I had played there. I was very surprised, but extremely excited to get an offer from them. I had my drivers license, credit card and $20 to hand to the clerk. I asked if there were any high rooms with a view of the Bellagio Fountains. He said "Let me see what I can do. How about the 63rd floor?" I said, "that's great!" He also said that the $25 resort fee would be waived. We walked into the room, out on the balcony and WOW!! What a view!! The iPhone 5s has a nice panoramic option that I used to take some amazing photos then and that evening.

    We unpacked and headed down to the casino. I bought 2 Cosmo coupon packages from ebay that included $25 in identity play and a 2-for-1 coupon for Wicked Spoon. We stopped at the identity desk and had the free play added to our cards. We found the best $0.25 JOB machine we could find (7/5). I went through my $25 pretty quick, but my wife cashed out for $80. Drink service was quick! As soon as we sat down a cocktail waitress was there. My wife ordered a Bloody Mary and I had a Jack & Ginger. I tipped the CW $5. We were starting to get a little hungry, so we went on the hunt for the Hidden Pizza place and we found it! I had a slice of the sicilian and my wife had cheese. We went back down to the casino and I stopped at a roulette table and quickly lost $100. We then decided to take a little bus ride then.

    We hopped on the Deuce and then got off at Mandalay Bay since neither of us had ever been there. I wasn't super impressed with it. It seemed dark in the casino and had a strange smell. I played $50 through a poor paying video poker machine. My wife just got a new job, so she wanted to do a little shopping at the South Outlets. After a long day of walking the day before and quite a bit of walking already today, my ankle was starting to throb with pain. We decided not to hit the outlets this time and head back. This allowed my to reiterate our need to come back soon for not only a trip to the Grand Canyon, but also a trip to the outlets. :thumbsup: We did stop at the M&M store to buy the girls some souvenirs.

    We checked out the pool area, but due to the cool weather there were only a few people sitting in the hot tub. I would love to come back to enjoy the pool at Aria and Cosmo. Another reason to come back soon. :wink

    We were going to change and come back down to the hot tub, but decided to take a little nap. After a refreshing nap, we got up, showered and dressed then headed to the Wicked Spoon at 5:00pm.

    I wanted to take it slow at Wicked Spoon because I tend to overdue it at buffets. I walked by everything once before I decided what I was going to have. My favorite thing by far was the mac & cheese bar! It was good, but I think I'm over buffet meals. We each had a mojito which was very good!

    We went down to The Book & Stage and had the bartender turn on the Red Wings hockey game while we played VP. I had several Jack & Gingers and my wife had a few Cosmos. I think I lost $40, but had a great time. We walked back over to Aria to buy tickets for the Michael Jordan Celebrity golf outing on Thursday. Tickets were $30 each and the Aria offered a free shuttle to the golf course. The celebrities were having a meet and greet at the Liquid Pool Lounge, so we sat near the Starbucks and watched some of the celebrities go in. I got a picture with former NBA player Penny Hardaway.

    We headed back to Cosmo and called it a night about 11.
     

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  20. Patripman

    Patripman High-Roller

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    "I took advantage of the "$100 on us" promo 2 years ago and that was the only time I had played there. I was very surprised, but extremely excited to get an offer from them"

    I must not be living right or doing something wrong because I have close to 4,800 tier points with Cosmo and have yet to receive an offer for a comp room or for that matter any offer.:confused2: But then my son tells me he got an offer for 2 nights comped, the last time he spent a dime ($150 to be exact) in Cosmo was November 2012.
    I just don't understand!

    p
     
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