tnkc
High-Roller
We had two free nights at Harrahs, excluding weekend nights though, so we had to find a Saturday night filler hotel. We love downtown so I checked out our options there. Due to the Derby and perhaps the fight, our options were limited. We decided on the Plaza.
Plaza
I was a bit concerned based upon some negative reviews here and there. Some of those concerns were confirmed. It wasn’t horrific or anything, but we compared it to El Cortez on the other side of Fremont (without the block walk through rough terrain). The parking garage was an interesting facility. We got the South Tower; 18th floor. The room was actually worse than the tower room we had previously stayed in at the El. We had asked for two queens; got two doubles. The A/C Unit moaned and groaned like a wounded animal. There was a spot on the wall where a picture used to be (did someone actually steal the picture from their room at the Plaza?)…and some torn wallpaper remained where the picture used to be. The small bathroom rumor about the Plaza? Completely true. I think it was originally designed for the cast of the Wizard of Oz. All in all, it is very dated. I’ve heard there are renovated rooms here that are much better. I wouldn’t pay to stay again…if they comped me I might be persuaded.
The elevators were super quick and there were plenty of them. Never a long wait for the elevator. The 3rd floor check-in was a little inconvenient. We had the buffet for dinner…it wasn’t good. It was Cinco de Mayo and I think they made a futile attempt at Mexican…they failed. It was cheap…with an ACG couple less than $10. So I guess it did the job. We were pressed what to do for breakfast the next morning, and someone told us the breakfast buffet was good. So we gave it another shot. Again, cheap, $6.99 each, but this time the food was much better. Good breakfast. They also had a McDonalds, and one of those Noble Roman pizza joints with the 8 lb hot dog or whatever.
The gaming was pretty good. There are quite a few continuous shuffle machines on the blackjack tables, but if you look just a little bit you’ll find shoes. Found some decent VP. The sports book was decent. Overall, not too bad of a casino.
Enough for the accommodations for day #1!
We spent some time playing blackjack at the Plaza and quickly were down. We wandered down Fremont, and wife decided we should get one of those yards of drinks. We stopped at La Bayou and she got a mudslide and I got a pina colada. Double shots for each. This started the slow decline of the afternoon into a blur! Sometimes those yard drinks are quite weak. This time, they weren’t. We did a little tour of Fremont, shopping a bit here and there. Slowly it turned into taking odd pictures of each other doing things with the various props around Fremont. Wife wanted to go into a shop that didn’t interest me, so I told her I was going into Fitz’s to get a player’s card. Apparently she decided to lay down to rest her spinning head on the sidewalk. Apparently someone told her she couldn’t do that, and recommended a shelter! Apparently she told them “I’m from Kansas City, I don’t need a shelter, I just need to lie down for a minuteâ€. Thankfully she called me on the cell and I was able to come to here aid quickly.
We shuffled back to the Plaza for dinner, the aforementioned buffet. They were nice in noticing that she was just a bit intoxicated, so they gave us a booth so she could lie down for a spell. Even intoxicated, the food wasn’t the greatest. I talked her into retiring to the room for a nap that took us into the evening.
We pitched the yard drinks and I stuck with diet cokes for the remainder of the day. We always start out hard charging on day one and wear ourselves out. We stopped in at the Golden Gate, which is one of our favorite blackjack stops. It just seems to be a great atmosphere with the pianos and such. A shame that there isn’t a players club and they don’t really pay much attention to how long / how much you play. But it always seems to attract a good crowd. And we’ve never even had the shrimp cocktail. I lost $100 quick, so decided to stray. Wife wanted to stay.
I hit all the downtown casinos where I didn’t have a card to make sure I was on the list. We’re trying to get a “hookup†on Fremont because we’re fans of downtown. Four Queens gave me free playing cards in a case, and told me 40 pts would get me a t-shirt. I went right to VP, and in no time I was up and had my 40. The t-shirt is actually a pretty nice embroidered number. I also went to Binions…free poker chip keychain there. Played a good VP game there with progressives for four-of-a-kind. I really like it although I wasn’t a winner.
Wandered back to wife still going strong at Golden Gate. She was up pretty good. I lost another $60 (will this turn around???). Down my $300 at this point. We went back to the Plaza McDonalds and had a “snack†because we hadn’t eaten much at the buffet earlier. I retired, and the wife played more Plaza blackjack where she lost her Golden Gate winnings.
That’s day #1! Day #2 is ahead…moving to Harrah’s and the strip and have Tom Jones later tonight.
Plaza
I was a bit concerned based upon some negative reviews here and there. Some of those concerns were confirmed. It wasn’t horrific or anything, but we compared it to El Cortez on the other side of Fremont (without the block walk through rough terrain). The parking garage was an interesting facility. We got the South Tower; 18th floor. The room was actually worse than the tower room we had previously stayed in at the El. We had asked for two queens; got two doubles. The A/C Unit moaned and groaned like a wounded animal. There was a spot on the wall where a picture used to be (did someone actually steal the picture from their room at the Plaza?)…and some torn wallpaper remained where the picture used to be. The small bathroom rumor about the Plaza? Completely true. I think it was originally designed for the cast of the Wizard of Oz. All in all, it is very dated. I’ve heard there are renovated rooms here that are much better. I wouldn’t pay to stay again…if they comped me I might be persuaded.
The elevators were super quick and there were plenty of them. Never a long wait for the elevator. The 3rd floor check-in was a little inconvenient. We had the buffet for dinner…it wasn’t good. It was Cinco de Mayo and I think they made a futile attempt at Mexican…they failed. It was cheap…with an ACG couple less than $10. So I guess it did the job. We were pressed what to do for breakfast the next morning, and someone told us the breakfast buffet was good. So we gave it another shot. Again, cheap, $6.99 each, but this time the food was much better. Good breakfast. They also had a McDonalds, and one of those Noble Roman pizza joints with the 8 lb hot dog or whatever.
The gaming was pretty good. There are quite a few continuous shuffle machines on the blackjack tables, but if you look just a little bit you’ll find shoes. Found some decent VP. The sports book was decent. Overall, not too bad of a casino.
Enough for the accommodations for day #1!
We spent some time playing blackjack at the Plaza and quickly were down. We wandered down Fremont, and wife decided we should get one of those yards of drinks. We stopped at La Bayou and she got a mudslide and I got a pina colada. Double shots for each. This started the slow decline of the afternoon into a blur! Sometimes those yard drinks are quite weak. This time, they weren’t. We did a little tour of Fremont, shopping a bit here and there. Slowly it turned into taking odd pictures of each other doing things with the various props around Fremont. Wife wanted to go into a shop that didn’t interest me, so I told her I was going into Fitz’s to get a player’s card. Apparently she decided to lay down to rest her spinning head on the sidewalk. Apparently someone told her she couldn’t do that, and recommended a shelter! Apparently she told them “I’m from Kansas City, I don’t need a shelter, I just need to lie down for a minuteâ€. Thankfully she called me on the cell and I was able to come to here aid quickly.
We shuffled back to the Plaza for dinner, the aforementioned buffet. They were nice in noticing that she was just a bit intoxicated, so they gave us a booth so she could lie down for a spell. Even intoxicated, the food wasn’t the greatest. I talked her into retiring to the room for a nap that took us into the evening.
We pitched the yard drinks and I stuck with diet cokes for the remainder of the day. We always start out hard charging on day one and wear ourselves out. We stopped in at the Golden Gate, which is one of our favorite blackjack stops. It just seems to be a great atmosphere with the pianos and such. A shame that there isn’t a players club and they don’t really pay much attention to how long / how much you play. But it always seems to attract a good crowd. And we’ve never even had the shrimp cocktail. I lost $100 quick, so decided to stray. Wife wanted to stay.
I hit all the downtown casinos where I didn’t have a card to make sure I was on the list. We’re trying to get a “hookup†on Fremont because we’re fans of downtown. Four Queens gave me free playing cards in a case, and told me 40 pts would get me a t-shirt. I went right to VP, and in no time I was up and had my 40. The t-shirt is actually a pretty nice embroidered number. I also went to Binions…free poker chip keychain there. Played a good VP game there with progressives for four-of-a-kind. I really like it although I wasn’t a winner.
Wandered back to wife still going strong at Golden Gate. She was up pretty good. I lost another $60 (will this turn around???). Down my $300 at this point. We went back to the Plaza McDonalds and had a “snack†because we hadn’t eaten much at the buffet earlier. I retired, and the wife played more Plaza blackjack where she lost her Golden Gate winnings.
That’s day #1! Day #2 is ahead…moving to Harrah’s and the strip and have Tom Jones later tonight.
