1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

7 days in Vegas makes 1 weak

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Dougie, Apr 19, 2004.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Dougie

    Dougie I am IN!

    Joined:
    Sep 18, 2002
    Messages:
    6,360
    Location:
    Idaho
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    14

    My Trip Report

    This trip was 7 days with my wife and kids. The boys are 1 1/2, 3 and 12. The trip was geared towards them, but I managed a few adult activities. The chronology is messy in my mind, so I have broken it down by topic. We spent Saturday the 10th at the LVC, 11th through the 14th at the Monte Carlo, 2 more nights at LVC, and the final night at NY NY.

    ROOM

    The LVC rooms are probably the best rooms overall, when you consider the value. 2 nights were comped, and the last night was $30. We stayed in the north tower all nights, but were upgraded to an MVP room the first night after I complained about being deposited in a south tower room. The rooms are large, getting worn out, but contain little or nothing that my boys could ruin. If it was capable of getting trashed, it already was. The MVP room sported a fridge, and an iron with ironing board. Those were the only items not found in a regular room. We had a cooler, so the fridge was moot. Upon departure, the front desk staff asks if you have used the safe. I said that I had, but would like them to remove the charge anyway. It only took a minute and showing her the sign describing how the fee could be removed upon request.
    I went downstairs early one morning, and while passing through the doors that lead to the snack bar, the security guard could not get them to stay open. A little while later, I got off the elevator on my floor, and found the fire doors closed. I put 2 and 2 together and went to the front desk. I asked if somebody from engineering could come to my room to fix the tub drain that was slow. She said nobody was in yet, and would send them up when they arrived. I then asked why the fire alarm was activated, but no audible signal could be heard. She made a few quick phone calls and said the system was being tested. I asked by whom, because the engineers were not on site yet. She said it was an automatic silent alarm test. Quick work on her feet, but a bad one to try to pull off given my profession.

    We stayed in a Monaco suite at the Monte Carlo. Sunday is a bad day to do anything in a large hotel due to the volume of folks trying to leave. We checked in at noon, but our room was not ready until 4pm. And we had to change rooms just to get one that was finally ready. The maid was still in the room when we got there, but she finished quickly. You can see the rooms at their website, and we opted for the attached room with 2 queen beds. The rate was 119 / 119 / 159. A great deal, in my opinion. Being a hotel engineer, I checked out the rooms. The master bath had a large jetted tub that whined when started. That just means they will have to replace the pump soon, but was annoying while trying to relax. The master toilet also rocked like granny's old chair, but it wan't going to ruin the trip. There was also drywall damage above the tub. None of this is incredibly critical, but the rooms definately were showing their age. The beds had nice pillow top mattress'. The boys beds were newer, becuse our pillow top was pretty squished. I could *definately* hear the plumbing from other units. Overall, a decent place, but a real bargain in my mind. The kids loved the pool, and rode the lazy river for hours at a stretch. That river is far from lazy. It moves pretty quickly in some areas. With moderate tipping, the valet aimed to please. We never waited more than a few minutes to be taken care of, dropping off or picking up.

    We had a standard, but recently upgraded room at NYNY. Nothing too drastic either way. The roller coaster still will bounce you out of bed. Our room was ready at 10:30 am the day we checked in. We waited in the VIP lounge, and the boys ate trail mix and asian pears while sipping Sierra Mist. The chocolates were good, but don't last too long while being stored in my pocket. The room was nice and featured a 27" flat screen tv. The view was of the first hill of the Manhattan Express, and the boys watched it forever. Although this is my usual casino, there was nothing to make it stick out in my head this trip. The tables were always full, so I spent plenty of time relaxing in the lounge.


    ENTERTAINMENT

    We bought tickets on line to Zumanity. I was kinda unsure, but I figured I should comply to maintain peace. We approached the theater on Easter Sunday night. All the ads I had seen indicated the show was dark on Sundays and Mondays. I payed close to 200 bucks for the tickets, and decided I would make the best of it. The show must have been on, or the line from the theater, past Gonzalez y Gonzalez, past the keno lounge, and then passed the ESPN Zone and out the door to finsh up near the brooklyn bridge, was for something else. We played $1 keno tickets while waiting for the line to pass. Things were looking up when the doorman was a midget. My wife smiled at me, and we giggled. He said to go upstairs. The computer system went down (maybe with the Bellagio?) and find the best seat you can. I was pissed because I had a front row love seat for me and my wife. I thought about bitching, and was told to find a seat or get in line for a refund. OKAY! Lets see the show. I knew it was a Cirque show, so I was hoping for some amazing acrobatics. I was not disappointed, but extremely suprised at how raunchy the show really was. Within 5 minutes of sitting down, the folks in OUR love seat were getting dry humped by a few of the cast members. OK, so the upper seats weren't so bad. What a day, a midget doorman AND a midget in the show. That was double what I had seen the prvious trip. The high point of the show was the 2 girls doing a sort of water ballet in what looked like a clear IP love tub. They were beautiful and very talented moving in and out of a 'pool' that was no more tha 4 feet deep. They dove in and preformed crazy acrobatics. All in 4 feet of water and a rim that was maybe 6 inches wide. The show was great, but the 2 guys ballet was forced and lacked fluid motion. The crowd went NUTZ when they sucked face at the end.

    Bowling at the Orleans was alot of fun. My wife did well, as she loves to bowl. We have no alleys near our home and only bowled once in 7 years of marriage. She got a strike first ball. I looked at her funny and she said she majored in bowling for a semester at college. For some reason, that did not strike me as odd. It was SO funny to watch my 3 year old try to bowl like an adult. That usually reulted in the ball being launched about 3 feet down the lane and crashing with a thud. There had to be some crazy physics going on because the ball always hit some pins. It took forever for it to get there, and bounced of the bumpers several times, but he stood at the foul line until it was done. Some times in crazy positions screaming at the ball, all to the amusement of everybody around us. It was alot of fun, very cheap, a killed a couple of hours. Since I need new dress shoes, I was tempted to surrender the $1 deposit and keep the shoes.

    Cashman Field, home of the Las Vegas 51's, is a great minor league ball park. We stopped by earlier in the day to get tickets. Just before we were debating the ball game, or the last hockey game with the Las Vegas Wranglers. We opted for baseball seeing as it was such a nice evening. I asked for the best tickets for 4 people. He showed me the map and explained we would be directly behind home plate, in the 5th row. How much? $44. Let's see. 4 X 44=176. Oh allright, its vacation. I gave him my credit card and signed a receipt for $44. Wait, I need 4 tickets! Imagine my suprise when he said 44 bucks was total for 4 tickets. We came back later in the evening, and had a blast. We had dodger dogs, and peanuts, and the boys chased cosmo the alien's mascot all over the stadium. There were about 300 people in attendance, and they seemed to think the homeplate umpire needed some help calling balls and strikes. Las Vegas lost to the Tacoma Rainers, 2 to 1. I saw some crazy stupid baseball plays. I saw a batter start the game batting .125 and ended the game batting .083. I wanted to talk to Terry Kennedy, the manager. We met in 1985 at Riverfront Stadium and had communicated a few times through out the years. But the one thing I had learned, was don't be the first to engage the losing manager in conversation.

    We took the boys to the AdventureDome at Circus Circus. They had tons of fun, but I don't think they make enough valium to get me back into that place. Older kids were pushing around the younger kids, parent let their kids run wild, AND it was like 23 bucks to get in. The last time I was there, it was 11.50. They have increased the number of rides, and it is fairly respectable in the theme park category. My 3 year old spent 6 bucks banging the drums to the beat in some elaborate MTV video game. He even made faces and bobbed his head like he knew what was going on.

    The Shark Reef at MB is still a great value in my mind. My boys get to see and pet some fish, and I get to people watch. It was $15 for adults, but worth it.


    GAMING

    Overall, gambling was bad. I had a BJ session where I took $100 to $325 pretty quickly. At that point in the trip, I decided to take the money and run. Pai Gow was terrible, as I could not catch any cards. Poker was about the same. I played the tourney at MB a few times. 2nd, 3rd and fifth. Those were the only tables I could get cards at. In the tournament, you only get 300 in chips, so if you are chasing, it gets to be very expensive. I even managed to be the first out of the game once. Last trip I was catching everything. All I caught this trip was the flu.

    So, on Saturday, I played in the double shootout at Binion's. The second tier games only play on Wednesday and Saturday, so I thought it was good timing if I caught some cards, we wouldn't need to extend our trip again. First round is $125 or you could buy directly into the second round for 1030.00. I drew the 10 of spades for my seat. Last seat at the table, and it makes it hard to see everything. I decided to play tight, and let the other players knock themselves out. Blinds were 25/25 for the first round, and I payed and folded it twice. It was kind of a spectacle seeing people go all in early with a low pair, but it seemed to be working for them. 50 big blind, and fold after somebody casually bets 800. I had ace king suited on the 25 small blind, so I played it. It ended up costing me 100 pre flop. The flop was 2 7 8 rainbow, and somebody went all in. I folded, knowing that I made a great lay down. Turn and river comes aces, and the raising ass hat wins with 2 pair. I knew then, I had to make a move. The table was down to 5, and I got A 3 suited. I call the blind with 100. Flop crashes to the table with 2 3 9. RAH raises to 400. Based on the previous hand, I went all in. I got no help, and his pair of nines held up. So much for the WSOP...


    MISCELLANEOUS

    *Mai, the blackjack pit goddes was nowhere to be found.

    *I applaud McDonalds for hiring challenged employees, I just don't understand why they are working the front counter when 90 people are trying to buy breakfast.

    *If you tip the MB valet $5 at drop off, and $5 on pick up, they will remember your name and go out of their way to help you.

    *The Upper Deck restaurant once ran out of rice and spam at breakfast. Thats like not having ice cream at Dairy Queen.

    *Nathan's hot dogs are almost $3 each. That makes the coupons really worth it if you plan on eating there.

    *Sbarro took our coupons for $6 large pizza and 2-4-1 slices without condition. We didn't even have to make the purchase stated on the coupon.

    *MC is nice, but getting old.

    *Jim is THE limo driver. He even took us to the Bellagio area so we could see the repairs in progress. His apologies for no Patron were completely accepted.

    *Anything over 4 days is TOO long. It is nearly impossible to make any money in that length of time. If you win in the beginning, it's gone before you leave. If you win at the end, it is nearly impossible to catch up.

    *Binion's is ruined. The first table games I saw were 6:5 BJ, and 3-5-7 poker. The card room is still ok, but it kinda lost it's zip. I had a dealer who needed a players help in making change and pulling the rake. The player was a dealer, but that sorta kills the fun. A dealer should be invisible. If you know the dealer is there, it's only because they have made a mistake. At the same table, a nearly blind guy sat at the number 8 seat. He was gonna leave, but number 6 traded with him so he could see the cards. Even with the move, the dealers had to read the cards aloud to him, and put them directly in front of him so he could inspect them. This brought the game to a standstill. I am all for equal rights, but man oh mighty that sucked.

    *Binion's food suppliers are new, so nothing will be the same as it was in the past.

    *MSS Easter brunch buffet was incredible.

    *Monte Carlo buffet was sub par. They had steak, but it tasted and felt like doggie chew toys.

    *The prime rib at Gallahad's in Excalibur is still fantastic. They did change the salad dressing from lemon peppercorn to ranch peppercorn, but the salad is why we like it so much. We will consider options in the future.

    *The best value arcade for the kids is located at the Excalibur.

    *I tipped bellmen and valet VERY well this trip, and they all rose to the ocassion.

    *My btother and his wife took us to dinner on Friday night. We decided on the ESPN Zone, as he was craving wings and the BOS NYY game was on. The hostess told us it was at least an hour wait. AND since the game was on, they required food purchases of $10 per person per hour. There were 7 of us. Wow. Carrows was not nearly as good, but they lifted the 'every body must consume mass quantities' clause.

    *I am totally burned out, but I do see that United has 249.00 roundtrip fares in mid May. Hmmmm...

    [ April 19, 2004, 02:29 PM: Message edited by: bazootch ]
     
  2. Mia4071

    Mia4071 Tourist

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2002
    Messages:
    1,305
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    15
    Baz- Thanks for all the details [​IMG] I am glad to see that you had a good time "AGAIN" [​IMG] he he - It makes my 53 days waiting for sin city not seem as long.

    May I ask what type of room did you have @ NY NY? We are staying there in June & we are booked for a standard room. We are trying to decide if we should upgrade to a bigger room. Any suggetions?

    [​IMG] Maybe I am too quick to think this -- But might look like we will be getting another trip report from you in MAY! Cool ....
     
  3. Dougie

    Dougie I am IN!

    Joined:
    Sep 18, 2002
    Messages:
    6,360
    Location:
    Idaho
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    14
    The standard room is considered to be the 'Broadway Deluxe'. The renovated rooms are in the New York tower located between Gallagher's and Chin Chin. With a single bed, the rooms would be fine. 2 beds makes it a bit tight. The bathroom is now all marble, and large enough for 2.
     
  4. doctor_al

    doctor_al VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2002
    Messages:
    11,670
    Location:
    Twin Cities
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    18
    Nice report, glad the boys had fun. While the Monte sounds nice, and I like the casino, I keep hearing stuff that makes me think it was constructed on the cheap, and makes me reluctant to pay higher-than-TI prices for it.

    Ideally, you shouldn't know when the kitchen has run out of spam.

    What lounge were you hanging out in at NYNY?
     
  5. HurricaneMikey

    HurricaneMikey A-List Buffoon

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2002
    Messages:
    5,923
    Location:
    One foot in Music City, one foot in Sin City
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    25
    Hey Dougie...

    Great Report, my brotha! Man, I don't know how you do it. That is a loooong time to be kickin' in Sin City.

    It's good to hear that you survived!

    Mikey
     
    Mikey's Ali-Like Return to the Ring for March Madness
  6. gotavegasjones

    gotavegasjones VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2004
    Messages:
    3,104
    Location:
    South Texas
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    31
    Thanks for the TR. Seems everyone had a good time. I'm gonna be out there in July for a fairly long trip. Where is the ballpark in relationship to the strip? I'd like to take in a game.

    later,GVJ
     
  7. Dougie

    Dougie I am IN!

    Joined:
    Sep 18, 2002
    Messages:
    6,360
    Location:
    Idaho
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    14
    Cashman Field is on the strip, meaning Las Vegas Blvd. We were downtown so we took the LVB under the interstate interchange, and it was about 3/4 past that on the right.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.