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Aug. 9-12 Aria and beyond somewhat live

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by carolineno, Aug 8, 2016.

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  1. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    Done & done. I know this paytable blows but wanted a free drink! Thank you!!! This karaoke is too funny! [​IMG][​IMG]
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  2. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    Omg Caroline no is gonna be hung over & broke!!!
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
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  3. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    Carolineno est hammered. Donde est la deuce? Karaoke playing reunited = bullshit. Hail Mary then home...
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  4. Geogran

    Geogran VIP Whale

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    El deuce ha salido del edificio
     
  5. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    Nevada cab 73B268 - note to self just just long hauled. $20 from mb!!!!
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  6. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    Never been so happy to see an airport Burger King in all my life...
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
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  7. spicole

    spicole No shirt, no shoes... NO DICE!

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    BRUTAL! My UBER from Aria to the entrance at Delano was barely over $6.

    EDIT: I just figured out that you took the cab from MB to McCarran. Still too much.

    Your trip report was great! Sounds like you had a great time!
     
  8. aaronw915

    aaronw915 Low-Roller

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    This is why my wife loves the tower suites. All day coffee, snacks, and little cokes and sprites haha. Going to surprise her with a sky suite in September
     
  9. the nuts

    the nuts VIP Whale

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    I'm wondering if you got on that flight, hammered and all.
     
  10. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    Yes i did! Back home now. Got a little dehydrated but not beyond repair. You really do need to keep drinking water - ice in your drink doesn't quite cut it LOL.

    Felt pretty dumb feeding money into the video poker at Harrahs Piano bar (and no one played the piano ) but the karaoke was fun and its the kind of thing I never quite get around to doing. I did pry comped drinks out of them. Donated around $60 so not too bad.

    Still mad about the cab ride. I explicitly pointed out that, uh, the airport is that way dude, don't long haul me. Its the kind of thing i wont let go, so we'll see. Now i know what "the tunnel " looks like grr.

    I have a bunch of photos from my regular camera, and some end notes that i will add once I'm recovered. Great trip, lots of fun wins. Pai gow sucked but at least i shut it down once i knew where it was going. Harrahs table games were all really lively for 3pm, especially dice.
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  11. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    Oh! And i just noticed that my hibiscus finally bloomed! Been trying to get this to grow for 3 years - need to go to Vegas more often, you know, for the garden :p[​IMG]
     
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
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  12. NY lady- MidWest Cowboy

    NY lady- MidWest Cowboy Low-Roller

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  13. the nuts

    the nuts VIP Whale

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    You better plan that next trip before the hibiscus dies on you!
     
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  14. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    final photo dump and some random highs and lows



    Food: The "slap your mama in the mouth" food moment was when I had a Jean Philip chocolate delivered by turn-down service. It had a red stripe across it, raspberry, omg, just totally caught off guard by its awesomeness. Aria buffet for both dinner and breakfast was good, no complaints. Carmines was a disappointment. Just goes to show you, 50 million yelp reviews can be wrong. Beauty and Essex was ok, nice atmosphere, probably best for people who don't like to eat that much. The food was good but only the steak eater felt like they got enough to eat. Five50 pizza was quite good, if a bit pricey for pizza ($22-28, but, Vegas) and they had pizzas without red sauces, which accommodated my friend with a tomato allergy. We always like Julian Serrano but it was way too loud, so I'm getting too old and grouchy for this place. Need a new high end Mexican place on the strip that is quiter. The Henry was great as always but I need to branch out to their sweets, or they need to offer some new breakfast items as I feel like I've had most of them now. Mon Ami Gabi is so nice early in the morning. They open at 7am, nice mix of runners and streetwalkers on the boulevard. Now that I am thinking of it, I realize that I had eggs benedict 3 days in a row out there! Oops!





    Drink: I never got a martini on this trip, so I failed myself. The Beauty and Essex drink was in that family though, that one was good & the best of the trip. Next time I do "dealers choice" at Vesper, I will specify a martini. Aria had good drink service but we all agreed that the drinks were watered down quite a bit. I mean, we each had 4 or 5 g&ts and were still pretty sober. Then we went to Cosmo and tried their famous floor margarita, and they were good. I guess I've had so many that I would probably need an exotic one at this point to knock my sox off. The Golden Tiki does not have enough staff. We waited over 30 minutes to get a drink. We were willing to go up to the bar and do the work but they insisted on sending a waitress. I don't think they know what kind of place they want to be - do they want to be a bar or do they want to play costume party? They have the drinks down, but then the music went from this Tom Waits & obscure folk stuff, to the live band, Thee Swank Bastards - they were great but at that point we were all pissed. And the size zero waitresses were late for work. After 30 minutes I'm like "Bitch I don't care what you look like just go get my drink!" Harrahs Piano Bar served g&ts in plastic cups, and yet gave customers beer bottles, so I guess it's not that it's a rough crowd and more that they just don't like doing dishes.



    Gambling: I didn't do much "serious" gambling, just goofing off with friends on slots, and a little pai gow poker. I did extremely well considering I was playing mostly flashy, licensed slot machines and was drinking almost every time. Had a lot of fun playing Game of Thrones, and I don't even watch the show. As I mentioned before, I hit a shit ton of bonuses on it at Paris. If my results are typical (which I doubt) it is well worth a buck a spin for the entertainment alone. Also did great on some new Miss Kitty - around $80 on a 60 cent bet. Played the 3D Plants vs Zombies - effect was great but it is really a max bet game. Too bad I didn't figure that out until my money was gone! A warning to others. Got a mini bonus on some Kronos machine ($10) and the original Walking Dead in Cosmo ($80 or so, I think?). Over all great slutting. Pai gow was great at Monte Carlo, sucked for me at Harrahs. And the crappy drunken pay tables at Harrahs Piano Bar. Didn't really turn into a drunk punchy slot whore ever, although I skirted the edges with pai gow poker.



    Random thoughts: I really love Mandalay Bay and the whole well-landscaped lost ruin theme. Went for a nice early morning walk from MB to Excal - lots of nice spots to sit and have your starbucks, and too far south for hardcore bums so you don't have to worry about being pestered. Love the desert in the morning! Casino is kind of sparse, but dark at least (realized on this trip that I don't like these well lit casinos). They didn't have some major games - would have pissed away my profits on more Game of Thrones but I couldn't find one there. Want to bring the kids to MB sometime, once they stop not liking Vegas again.



    I failed in a lot of my food goals. Never used my groupon for Seredipity 3, never made it to Wolfgang Puck, never had my coconut lemon drop at Ruth Chris (because booze is food, right?) and no Red Square either. And Carmines was major bullshit - really mad that I wasted my last meal there. I think I need to stay longer next trip.



    Need to bring a 2 piece swimsuit next time. Only had a one piece and I was so tired at one point, I passed on the pool just to avoid the hassle of getting out of a wet one piece!



    I am switching back to Frankies Tiki Room. Golden Tiki was just too precious this time. Now that I have used Uber (another first) it shouldn't be so crippling to get there.



    My feet held up great and I had no problems - I have my Dansko shoes to thank for this! Even found a pair of heels by them.



    Aria needs to go back to having just pools. The "Sky Suite" pool looked really crowded, and no better than the pleeb pools I used. We went to Liquid for about 10 minutes (free). I never saw an actual sausage party until that moment. About 20-25 dudes in a tiny pool, zero females, and a giant rubber duckie taking up around 1/16th of the pool space. Only 1 group of dingbats had bottle service, and the music was pretty lame too. As my friend put it, "if the 40 year olds are saying that they've heard these songs in their Zumba class, and they then walk out of your "hot dayclub" well, you have a problem." LOL



    I'm so happy I finally saw "Big Elvis" and I wish him well in his weight loss journey. His voice was very robust and he sounded just like the real Elvis. Heard a whole bunch of songs, if anyone cares...

    Bossa Nova

    American Trilogy

    Viva Las Vegas

    Can't Help Falling In Love

    Devil in Disguise

    Little Sister

    My Way (not offical Elvis but a cover?)


    and a whole bunch of others! I requested "Almost Always True" but he didn't play it - played "Can't Help Falling In Love" instead. When he sang "Can't Help Falling In Love" three elderly couples sprang up and started slow dancing - it was so sweet! ...and then after the show I got super lit, pissed away money on jacks or better and boogied along to karaoke. Very fun, I'd love to go again. Anyone need a backup singer for "Bohemian Rhapsody"? OK, until next year! Thanks for reading! SAM_0528.JPG SAM_0519 - Copy.JPG SAM_0529 - Copy.JPG SAM_0530 - Copy.JPG SAM_0536.JPG SAM_0537.JPG SAM_0539.JPG SAM_0541.JPG SAM_0543.JPG SAM_0548.JPG
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2016
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
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  15. spicole

    spicole No shirt, no shoes... NO DICE!

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    Carolineno,

    Thanks for the final wrap! I have a very soft spot in my heart for Frankie's, and my last three stays in Vegas were at Aria, Cosmo, and the Delano. I loved your trip report... It is getting me fired up about going back to the desert!
     
  16. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    You're lucky! It's always closed when I'm there. My fault for flying early/late!
    Great report and pics, carolineno!

    RICHARD
     
  17. carolineno

    carolineno VIP Whale

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    Glad I could fuel the fires! I won't be back until Feb 2017 the earliest, so time to re-pad the bankroll, watch the leaves change, and read a bunch of great trip reports. Good luck all!
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2016
    Ladies getaway, somewhere on the strip with a pool :)
  18. jh46

    jh46 Low-Roller

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    Great trip report! Loved all the pics!
     
  19. tringlomane

    tringlomane STP Addicted Beer Snob

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    Nice report!
     
  20. jagdan61

    jagdan61 Low-Roller

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    Thanks for mentioning Frankie's Tiki Bar. I'm going to Vegas at end of Aug. in definitely going there!!
     
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