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Long report from 3/30-4/3

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by LindainWI, Apr 5, 2014.

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  1. LindainWI

    LindainWI Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2008
    Messages:
    326
    Location:
    Prescott
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20

    My Trip Report

    March 30th through April 3rd. Flew in on Delta at 12:55 pm. Limo was waiting in baggage claim. I like the ease of having a car there and waiting as opposed to having to wait in the long taxi line. Met my sister at baggage claim and headed to the car. We arrived at the Encore Tower Suites in no time. At check in I was offered an upgrade to a parlor suite for a $100/night. This was a great deal as the room I had booked meant with the upgrade I was getting the parlor suite for $300/night. Suite deal… it included the American plan breakfast in room every day. As it was only 2:00 pm, the room wasn’t ready, so we headed off to the Lobby Bar for a bite and something to drink.
    I absolutely love the Lobby Bar at Encore for people watching. And the food and drinks are great, too. We ordered the Personal Daphne which came with your choice of 3 small plates. We chose the cheese puffs, prosciutto wrapped prawns and the crispy duck egg rolls. We also shared the Kobe sliders. Everything was great. To drink we had berry lemonade cocktails that went down very smoothly. Around 4:30 pm we received the call that our suite was ready… 39th floor facing north. Would have preferred a south facing room but enjoyed the sunrise each morning. We unpacked, relaxed for a bit and headed down to the casino for a bit.
    Played a little VP and couldn’t do anything. So I cashed out and moved to craps. My sister wandered around to find a winning slot machine. I played for about an hour and colored out up about $100. I then moved to blackjack and played until we had to get ready for dinner. Colored out ahead.
    Dressed and ready to do, we headed next door to the Palazzo/Venetian for dinner at Delmonico. We started out with the bone-in bacon with root beer glaze and a Carpaccio salad. Both were great. The glaze on the bacon was sweet, yet not overly so. Quite a surprising twist on a barbeque sauce. We both had the signature bone-in ribeye, medium rare for our entrée. Our side was the creamed corn gratin. The steak was perfectly seasoned and cooked to perfection. It was juicy and tender. The corn was creamy and wonderfully fresh. For dessert we shared the pecan pie. The crust was the best part… made from oatmeal cookie dough. After dinner we headed back to Encore to gamble a bit more. I ended the night up.
    Still on Wisconsin time, I woke up way too early, but couldn’t sleep. So I got up and ordered breakfast. Our suite came with the American plan which consisted of a choice of 6 entrees (oatmeal; American breakfast of eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast; ham, cheddar and egg croissant, western omelet, chorizo scramble or French toast) and coffee or tea. I chose the ham, cheddar and egg croissant and my sister had the French toast. Both were splendid. After getting ready for the day, we headed down to gamble. We gambled for a few hours then headed off to the best Thai restaurant in the USA… Lotus of Siam.
    We cabbed over to LOS for lunch. After reading many posts about what to have, we started with the Issan style sour sausages. They were indeed sour, but amazingly good. For our entrees we shared the Rad Na with chicken and the garlic and black pepper prawns. Both were very tasty. The prawns were my favorite with the sausage a close second. What you hear about this place being busy is true. We arrived a little before they opened at 11:30 am and the place filled up by 11:45. They don’t take reservations for lunch, so get there early.
    Back to Encore and a quick rest after a big lunch. They were cleaning our room so we headed back to the casino. Back to the blackjack tables. Played for a few hours and again colored out up. Went up to the room to rest for a while. After resting, we decided to go over to Wynn and check out the casino. There is a definite difference in the feeling of the 2 casinos. Encore is quiet and laid back. Wynn was much more noisy and busy. I prefer Encore’s vibe. Decided since I was doing pretty well at blackjack, I’d try it out over there. After a couple hours, I was down and we decided we were hungry. So we went to Zoozacrackers. We both had corned beef on rye and split an order of potato pancakes. Too much food. Both the sandwiches and the latkes were delish. Headed back to Encore and my sister headed up to the room. I thought I’d try to recoup my losses from Wynn. I played for a while and cashed out up for the day.
    Slept in a little later on Tuesday, but still up to see the sun rise. Beautiful as always. Relaxed and got off to a slow start cuz I knew it would be a late night. Ordered breakfast. I had the same ham, cheddar and egg croissant and so did my sister. We finally headed down to the casino for a bit before heading over to Bellagio to check out the conservatory. Did ok and headed out. My sister had never been to Bellagio so it was quite the treat for her. The conservatory was filled with beautiful spring flowers and a butterfly garden. We spent some time wandering through the garden and soaking up the spring. I then took her to one of my favorite spots in all of Vegas, the Petrossian Bar across from the reception desk at Bellagio. This is one of the best people watching spots in Vegas, IMHO. We sat down and I ordered a ½ bottle of Krug champagne. It was so good, I ordered a full bottle. They didn’t have any so they had to search all the restaurants on property to find it for us. We also order a charcuterie board with various smoked meats and salamis. The smoked duck breast was to die for. We sat and savored the champagne and charcuterie for quite a while. We then walked over to Caesar’s Palace.
    Once at Caesar’s, we headed straight for the box office to pick up our tickets for Elton John. I had splurged and bought us third row center seats for the show. After picking up the tickets, we walked over to the Forum shops and did some window shopping. Didn’t see anything we couldn’t live without. So we made our way to our dinner destination, Rao’s. We started our dinner at Rao’s with a pasta course of penne ala vodka. The sauce was a tomato and cream base with prosciutto. The pasta was perfectly al dente. For our entrée we both decided on the veal picatta. The veal was fork tender and sauced with a delicate lemon caper sauce. The mashed potatoes were the perfect accompaniment. Too full for dessert, we opted for a cappuccino instead. Lazily, we wandered over to the Coliseum.
    Once at the Coliseum we were escorted to our unbelievable seats in the third row. We were maybe 50 feet from Elton’s million dollar piano. The show began with one of my favorite Elton songs, The Bitch is Back. It was electrifying. Next he sang Benny and the Jets. The concert went on for 1 ½ hours nonstop hit after hit. He ended with Circle of Life from the Lion King. It was worth every penny. We headed to the taxi stand and waited in line with all the other show goers. 45 Minutes later we were on our way back home to Encore. My sister was tired, so she headed up to the room. I was too amped from the show, so I played some blackjack. Played for a few hours and colored out up again. Then off to bed.
    Up early again with the sun rise. Ordered breakfast. This time I had the French toast and my sister ordered off menu. She had yogurt, berries and the biggest croissant I have ever seen. It all was great. We chilled a bit, got ready and headed over to Paris.
    At Paris we found some “old fashioned” reel slots that we just couldn’t resist. So we played the $1 slots with 1 line and 2 max bet. Money goes a lot slower than on the newer 50 line machines. We played around on a few machines and decided to walk through the shops. We came upon the crepe restaurant and had to split a butter and sugar crepe. It was light and fluffy with a hint of sweetness from the sugar. Yum. We finished walking around the shops and headed for the taxi stand and off to Hard Rock.
    At Hard Rock, I headed straight for the blackjack tables and my sister headed to find a winning slot machine. I played for about 2 hours and couldn’t catch a break. Sister couldn’t either, so we went for a late lunch at Pink Taco. We both had the pink tacos which are made on bean stuffed tortillas and filled with grilled chicken, pickled onions and avocados. I highly recommend them. The prickly pear margaritas were also very good. After lunch we went back to Encore and up to the room to rest for a while.
    After a nap, we went down to the casino and of course I headed to the blackjack table. Over all I was still up, but I wanted to make up for what I lost at Hard Rock. My sister came to find me about 10 pm and said she was hungry so we went to Society Café for burgers. I had a burger that was a 60/40 blend of Angus beef and ground bacon with cheddar, bbq sauce and friend onions. Amazing. Sister had an Angus burger with chevre and peppered bacon. Also very good. After the late dinner, she went off to bed and I was ready for my last night marathon.
    I played blackjack until 5am and cashed out for the final time up $4500. The pit boss told me to check in with the casino host before I leave. I had never talked to a casino host before, but I figured the worst that can happen is he will tell me I didn’t earn any comps. Much to my surprise, the CH picked up all our food and beverage charges. He said our room deal was already really low so he couldn’t reduce that any more. This was my most successful trip to Vegas ever. And definitely one of my favorite trips. Great luck, awesome company, wonderful food and Elton John was amazing. Can't wait to go back.
     
  2. allmine1958

    allmine1958 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Dec 25, 2009
    Messages:
    122
    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    Fun report! Elton John gives his best at his concerts. I have "The Bitch is Back" tee shirt from there. I wore it to work my first day back from vacation. Was fun.
     
  3. alexb7

    alexb7 MIA

    Joined:
    Jun 16, 2013
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    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    Awesome report!
     
  4. exds

    exds Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2011
    Messages:
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    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    Thanks for the report. Sounds like a great time. I agree about Lotus of Siam. Has to rank as one of the best.
     
  5. jackincols

    jackincols Guest

    I really enjoyed the report. And its nice to read of a gal that's not intimidated by a blackjack table. May I get nosey and ask what your av. bet was to have a host comp all of your food charges? Are you a green or black chip bettor? Press bets when winning?

    I stayed at Encore once. Great room and wonderful staff, but I simply couldn't get any traction gambling there.
     
  6. sam_marques

    sam_marques Vegas Vlogs Youtube / TeamClareVlogs

    Joined:
    Nov 19, 2009
    Messages:
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    Location:
    Scotland
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    Loved everything about your TR! Sounds like you had a great time.
     
  7. LindainWI

    LindainWI Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2008
    Messages:
    326
    Location:
    Prescott
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    20
    They rated me at 16 hours of play with av. bet of $55.
     
  8. sam

    sam Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2008
    Messages:
    103
    Trips to Las Vegas:
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    Awesome trip report. I want to go with you next time just to eat. You had many of my favorites. What a nice trip you had with your sister. Also a plus for the win and the Elton John concert. Thanks for sharing.
     
  9. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2013
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    Location:
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    Nice win!
     
  10. DerbyCityGal

    DerbyCityGal Tourist

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2007
    Messages:
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    Location:
    KY
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    12
    Great trip report! So nice that you and your sister enjoy doing the same things--my sister would never go on a trip to Vegas with me. Congrats on the wins.
     
  11. gotavegasjones

    gotavegasjones VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2004
    Messages:
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    Location:
    South Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    31
    A very fine TR. Thanks for posting. Congrats on a very successful run at the tables.

    later, GVJ
     
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