Bellagio/Mirage - Wow what a trip 1/30-2/4

Jan 30 - Feb 4

Day 1 - Left the morning of 1/30 and arrived around 9am without any problems. Check in is a breeze at the Bellagio and we get room 17024. Walk in the door and there's the window, with the Eiffel Tower dead center. We are in awe at the room and the view. I would highly recommend to anyone that you get a lakeview room there at least once. We unpack and it’s off to see the sights.

First stop, the Brew Pub at MC, meal and beer are as good as ever. Play a little slots there and the off to NYNY. We sat down at a couple machines and a while later we are up a hundred. Then we decided to check on tickets for Rita Rudner that night. The woman says that some tickets held for VIP's just opened up and she had tickets in the third row. Sold! Rita was great. Pam loved her and so did I. My face hurt when I left. Eat at Gonzales at NYNY, play a little more and head back to the room around 1 am, a little tired from the travel day.

Day 2 - After a quick breakfast we head out to collect the show tickets that we had waiting for us. I like to get that done right away. Then a little shopping and back to NYNY. Sit at the slots and again between the two of us we do pretty well. We decide to check out this comp thing and ask at the Player’s Club booth what we having coming to us. She tells us that we have $18 cash coming or comps for food, but she wouldn’t know how much our food comp would be until she put it through. We told her we had reservations at Gallaghers Steakhouse and that we would play a little more and check back. We sat down at the slots and in five minutes Pam hits for $200. Play for another hour and finish up again. Head back over to the Club booth and the $18 cash became $65 at Gallaghers. Not bad. The meal was wonderful, as was the service. We both had the dry aged sirloin. Like eating pure heaven, and like most places, there was way too much food.

After dinner it’s off to see We Will Rock You with the tickets we won from Casino Travel News (thanks Cheran). The show was good and the stage and set were incredible, but I’m glad I didn’t pay $80 a ticket to see this show. The ending was awesome and the choreography throughout was good, but there were some very slow parts in the middle that seemed to drag on and on. I felt the same about this show as I felt about Blue Man Group; a good show at $50 or so, but not $80-$100. And be prepared, it is LOUD, I mean rock concert loud.

After the show we head to MC for some more play and finish up about a hundred. Our luck so far was pretty good and we were having fun. Then back to the Bellagio at around 2 am where we gave some of our winnings back. Never did very well in that place.

Day 3 - Get up and head to the Peppermill for breakfast. First time there and I probably won’t be going back. The food was good but I don’t like to eat that big of a breakfast in Vegas. The portions were huge. Also, if I am going to spend $45 on a meal, it wouldn’t be for breakfast. Now it’s off to Freemont Street.

I have to say we were pretty disappointed with our downtown experience this time. We were there for 4 hours and played a lot of that time and rarely got a drink. We were at the Nugget during the taping of their TV show last Feb. and I suspect that the cocktail service was better and the slots looser during that taping. This time I couldn’t get a drink or even a small win. $60 lasted about 15 min. We did have some fun and had good service a Fitzgerald’s though. So, back to the Strip.

We decide to check out the Riviera. We had some coupons for new card signups. We used one to get foot long chili dogs which hit the spot. One was $10 in free slot play. We found a couple of machines and started to play. I had to feed another $20 in mine but Pam finished up $120 on her free $10. And the drink service was excellent too. I will be back there again. We were pretty tired so it was back to the room for a nap. Woke up around 7 pm and enjoyed to fountains from the room for a while and then headed of to NYNY again. We played again for a few hours and left about even.

Day 4 - Check out and head to the Mirage. Check-in was a breeze and we get a partial strip view room. Also were told that with our room special were get 2 buffets. What a nice surprise. Unpack and head out to see the sights, shop at the Canal shops and the Forum shops. Come back to the Mirage and play for a while, and then head to the pool. Wow was the pool area nice. All the water outside that I have seen for the last 3 months has been frozen with snow all around. We sat in the spa for a while and then just lay in the sun and enjoyed the warmth. I jumped in the pool and swam for a while with all the other crazy northern folk. Dinner that night was at Samba Brazilian Steakhouse. We both had the nine course Brazilian feast. Very good and again way too much food. The service was excellent too. Now it’s time to go see “Oâ€.

Having seen Mystere 2 years ago, we had been waiting to see this and it was finally here. “O†was awesome, I love Cirque. The set, the music, everything was pure magic. The two shows are similar but Mystere is more acrobatic and circus like where “O†is more artistic. Just my take on it. After the show we catch the fountains from outside and then head up the Eiffel tower. Every view up there is like a postcard. I had been up there before but Pam hadn’t. She was truly amazed. Then we played a few more hours at Paris and Mirage and headed to bed at 4am, again.

Day 5 - Up and off to the pool right away. Tomorrow it’s back to snow and yuk so we enjoyed the pool area a lot. Find some slots that we had fun on the day before and after a few hours finish up again. Then it’s off to Cravings. I never had eaten there before the remodel, but I have to say that this is one of the best buffets I have had ever, as good as or better than Spice Market or Le Village.

After dinner we notice that the crowds are getting thicker and realize that the weekend crowd is starting to arrive. So we head out to the strip to just walk around and soak it all in one last time. We head back to the Mirage and sit to play at our favorite machines and its like night and day difference. We had done pretty well all trip at many places but it was like someone flipped a switch. We drained a few hundred in a few hours with very little action. Pam hit a little at the end to bring us up to -$250. We headed back to the room for some drinks and went to bed early, 2am.

Pam said this was the best trip ever and I have to agree. We ate at some very nice places, had great rooms and saw some wonderful shows. When we added up our points on the card we put around $7000 into the slots and only spent $600 and had a great time doing it. In the end we were comped the $65 at Gallaghers, $80 at Samba and got $47 cash back. We thoroughly enjoyed every minute and can’t wait to go back. Planning is already under way.

Freezing in MN again

Greg

 

I just got back from my first stay at the Bellagio, room number 18056 and just like you said the view was awesome. Sounds like you had a great time (and put lotsa money through those slots). Thanks for the trip report.

 

Greg- do you remember what you had to eat at Cravings? I'm going next week and I'm just wondering what to expect. Also, out of curiosity, what slots do you like to play at NYNY?

 

Sounds like a real good time. Hard to go wrong when you can sit in your room and watch the fountains. Glad to hear that you liked Cravings as I hope to check it out on my next trip.

 

Kg - I had a little of everything. The stations were: Dessert, Salad, Chinese, Sushi, Noodles, Raw Bar, Barbeque, Mexican, Rotisere, Italian and Pizza (fire baked). Some things were ordinary and some very unusual but they all were fresh.

Slots - We mainly played the Wild Cherry and the Big Time Pay Bonus machines. Pam really liked the Tabasco machine. We tried many two and three quarters machines.

 

I love those Wild Cherry machines - they are my favorite!

Glad you had a good time - who wouldn't in Sin City.

 

Saaz.. Thanks for sharing your report. I too live in cold Minnesota.. and have 38 days until we head to Vegas.

 

I'm still sitting here wondering what you ordered at Peppermill that your breakfast cost $45!!! (for 2 of us, meals & coffee, we usually spend about $20)

Sounds like you had a fun trip though.

 

Great trip report! How long did it take to eat at Samba? We have tickets to Mystere and want to eat there before the show. Just wondering what time would be best to eat. Thanks.

 

OK, I'm slowly putting it together - Saaz, Mn... are you in the MN Homebrewers? Sounds like you had a great trip, too bad downtown didn't pan out for you.

 

Hoya,

I don't have the itemized reciept but the total was $35.37 + tip, so not quite $45. We had two omelets, 2 juice and 2 coffee.

 

Al - I do homebrew but am not in any clubs right now. I hope downtown shows me next trip that my so-so experience was a fluke.

GA - Plan on a good hour to eat at Samba if you have the 9 course feast. They serve the salad and the sides and then each course comes about every five minutes. If you eat all of one side they will fill it again. Everything is all you can eat. There is a little doll with red on one side and green on the other. To stop the food from coming you flip the doll to red, and back to green when your ready for more food. We just kept it coming and I felt very rushed and absoluty stuffed when we were done.