3/21-3/25 at the Mirage

Let me start by saying that this was by far one of the coolest vacations of my life. I realized I was addicted when i couldn't wait to get home on my last day and then once I got home, I wanted to go right back.
Pretrip:
The characters to this TR include me, Fuss and Huge. All 23 year old friends from high school that were the only ones who could scrape together the cash for the trip.
Flight:
We flew southwest out of Chicago midway at 9:30 AM. Got to the aiport at 7 and got "A" group. First win of the trip. Then we proceded to go to the bar and start drinking at 7:15 thus almost missing the "A" group boarding. We ended up with 3 above average sized guys in the last row of the plane. First loss of the trip. Got to Vegas ahead of schedule and our bags were the first ones off the belt.
Day 1:
Caught a cab to the Mirage and made the ever so important Liquor store run. As Huge was checking us in, Fuss and I were cracking beers in the lobby of the Mirage. The room was bigger than we thought it was going to be and the hotel was cool just to look at let alone stay in. We decided we needed blackjack in the worst way so we went to Casino Royale (we are extreme low rollers), got a drink and sat down at a table. An hour later I was down 25 bucks. Not bad. Stopped at McDonalds for a snack and went in for an hour nap. We decided to spend our first dinner at Margaritaville with 3 of Huge's friends from school. I had the burger which wasn't bad and the 2 guys had quesadillas which they said were good but way too spicy. *I don't know if we were lucky or what but while we were waiting for a table on the top floor of Margaritaville, the bartender told us to just sit at any table we could find up there. An hour and a half wait for a table became 5 minutes* That night we went to New York New york and their Piano Bar, Excellent place if you like that kind of music however we did learn just how expensive Vegas was going to be. 3 Beers and a rum and diet was close to 30 bucks after the tip. Played a little craps, won 30 bucks, went to bed around 5:30.

Day 2. Up at 9ish and went to the Mirage Buffet. $13 bucks for breakfast seemed a little nuts but we decided we didn't care and took a seat. Excellent breakfast food. Full omelette station, sliced ham, and all the other goodies. Very pleased. Walked around the strip for a little while and then went back to the Mirage for some time in the hot tub. Since the weather sucked, it was the only time we could go out there. Got some sandwiches from the Carnegie Deli and were not impressed. Like 14 bucks for a corned beef and 2 pieces of bread. Started out the night at the Carnival bar at Harrah's. Very cool place with a live band and bartenders throwing bottles like baseballs. We were just starting to enjoy this place when it started pouring. We ran to Shadow Bar at Ceasar's which was another cool place but they closed kind of early, I think it was close to 1:00 when they closed so we took some free passes and went to Pure. This place was nice because it had 2 areas, the front bar played music like BonJovi and other songs you expect to hear at a high school dance and the bigger bar had techno music. This place was damn pricey. 4 beers, 2 mixed drinks was 43 bucks plus tip. OUCH. And one of the girls we were with had the nerve to take her drink and not thank me, which pissed me off to no end. She got nothing the rest of the week. Left the club around 4:45 AM and started a blackjack run until 6:30 at the Mirage Casino. Lost 50 bucks, which was still under my 100 a day budget. So i'm half way finished with the trip and i'm down roughly 150 after drunken trips to the WOF machines.
Day 3:
Went to McDonalds for breakfast because we couldn't decide what to do and then walked around the strip more. We went to the wax museum at the Venetian and then took the monorail down to MGM Grand. Both beautiful hotels. Walked around more and ended up at the Luxor. Hung out in Huge's friends suite for a bit then headed back to the mirage to get ready for the night. About 8 we strolled over to the Outback Steakhouse, good meal but they were out of Prime rib cooked less than medium well so I had to order that. Went to the Piano bar at Harrah's and switched off between there and the Carnival Bar until about 4.
Day 4.
Got up and went to Denny's for breakfast, again, because we couldn't decide what to do. Huge was up all night playing poker so he slept til about 3 while Fuss and I walked around the shops at the Venetian. He went in for a pre-Illinois game nap and I went to Casino Royale again. Played for a few hours and ended up down 75 for the session. Made it back to the sports book at the Mirage in time to see the tipoff and watched most of that game until going up for a nap of my own. I was woken up at around 5:30 as the maid tried cleaning the room. Something weird about the mirage, the maids come around at 8:00 to clean the room and don't come back again til after 5. Pissed off, i went downstairs to watch the remainder of the game. Got up that night and went to the Rio for their buffet because we had coupons for 5 bucks off. Not only did we get 5 bucks off but we got to go to the front of the line. This buffet is highly recomended, crab legs, prime rib, chinese food, mexican food, they had everything. I even saw chilli dogs on the buffet and after the coupon it was only 18 bucks. Here is where I go stupid. I forgot that we were going out drinking again, and ate too much. We went to Gilley's at the Frontier for their bikini bullriding contest and found out it was 15 bucks all the draft beer you could drink on thursdays. Not smart of them when 3 south side of chicago guys are in town. I think we each had about 10 beers or so and i was still full from dinner so I wussed out and went to sleep around 5. Fuss came crawling in about 6:30 and Huge about 9 after another poker session.
Day 5. Fairly uneventful and depressing as we went to the airport and came home. Huge got on the plane and passed out until we landed, we were pretty impressed by that one. I never believed people when they said they get home from vegas and sleep for 2 days, Now I fully understand.

Closing Comments;
Rio is by far the best meal we had
$25 a hand to get rated at the tables in Mirage is BS.
Casino Royale, $5 switch blackjack and if you aren't gambling they have $1 michelob's and $1 margaritas.
Mirage pool is beautiful and if you look over a fence you can see the dolphins swimming.
THe top of the Rio is the best view of the strip
If you like piano bars you have to try the one at New York New York.
Vegas is expensive as hell.
Vegas is Fun as hell.

 

Nice trip. Next time, try downtown for an evening. Cheaper drinking and gambling, although no clubs.

 

The Rio buffet is one of the better ones. Don't feel so bad about the expensive drinks. You could have lost it gambling in 5 minutes. At least you were able to party and stretch the money out for a while.

 

hey- i'm a chicago south sider too...
flying out of midway in may on southwest on a 7 am flight. how crowded was the airport then? i would like to print out boarding passes in advance, but that would mean staying up past midnight... don't know if i wan't to do that, just to get up at 4:00 am or so to make it to the airport...

sounds like a great time was had by all. i enjoy the ny ny piano bar and carnival court at harrahs. although, drink prices can be pricy.

 

hey- i'm a chicago south sider too...
flying out of midway in may on southwest on a 7 am flight. how crowded was the airport then? i would like to print out boarding passes in advance, but that would mean staying up past midnight... don't know if i wan't to do that, just to get up at 4:00 am or so to make it to the airport...

sounds like a great time was had by all. i enjoy the ny ny piano bar and carnival court at harrahs. although, drink prices can be pricy.

 

I take that same flight all the time. Just print the boarding pass before you leave for the AP no need to stay up or get up at midnight.

 

How much was your total budget for the trip? And did you ever feel like you had to really hold back from doing anything to make your budget stretch for the entire trip? Thanks. I'm taking my first trip to Vegas of drinking & gambling age, so I kinda wanna know. I know the prices of things like food in Vegas (I've been 4 times before), but not really how much to expect when you are gonna be drunk off your ass gambling for a while. I will be there from 26-30 of June.

 

RJE, We had a problem because we got a package deal through southwest so we couldn't check in online. We had actual paper tickets ( i didn't know they still used those) but we couldn't check in ahead of time so we just did the skycap at midway and got there around 7 for a 9:15 flight. the line outside was about 20 minutes and the line inside was unbelieveably long. It was worth it to stand in the cold.
UCAClint, I brought about 100 a day for gambling and didn't go over that but I brought about 800 for the whole trip and went over by about 100 bucks. I didn't feel like i had to hold back but I would have liked to gamble a little bit more. I spent the entire time drinking and didn't want to play while drunk, I have had bad experiences with that before. Most bars were like 5 for a beer and around 7 for mixed drinks. I know a vodka and redbull at the carnival bar was 11 bucks. It can get pricy. Let me know if you guys have any more questions.
Scott

 

scott,
sounds like you guys had a great time. I love Carnival Court too, it is a great place to hang out during the spring, hell, even in the summer when it's 115. I hear ya on the drinks at PURE, we got 3 mixed drinks and a bottle of water=$47.00. But I really enjoyed the club.
Thanks for sharing!

~Andrea