Faith Hill, Rio, MGM and Man it was HOT!

Flight – 62 Degrees when we leave on Northwest out of Minneapolis St. Paul on Saturday August 7. SCORE, as we got to the gate, hubby’s ticket beeped, and Yeah, we were upgraded to First Class. (He is an Elite World Perks Member due to work travel). Best part of the trip was the meal, Key Lime Pie, my favorite dessert. Uneventful flight and we land a few minutes early to 104 degree temp. Flight home we were not so lucky and we had 2 small children behind us, three and two, who did not sleep, climbed under my seat, etc. I know the Mom tried hard to get them to not kick the seat, but they were just excited and over stimulated. I talked to them quite a bit, but gave up on any hope of sleep.

Car Rental – Dollar and YUCK. I booked online first week in July. Followed up with an online chat to add my Fastlane #. Followed that up on Friday August 6th with another Web-Chat verifying my reservation and asking a few questions. Saturday the 7th, I phoned to advise I had an upgrade, and low and behold, there is no reservation for me!!. What – I had two chats in the last month with people, and now I have no reservation!. I was told that they probably entered my Fastlane number in incorrectly, so now my reservation was in someone else’s name and they couldn’t change it. Brian was very helpful and got me re-booked ($15.00 more than my original reservation, but I wasn’t going to let it get to me). Dollar shuttle driver Yohan was very nice and helpful, telling me how to get back to the airport to pick up hubby. Got to the Fastlane desk, waited 10 minutes for help, and was helped. Clerk was not friendly, and when I got the statement and it was $3.00 more than I was quote I the phone I mentioned it, She Snapped – It’s $3.00â€, and I replied, yes, but that makes $18.00 more than my original reservation that was screwed up on your end. So – I go out to the tent with my upgrade coupon (from mid-size to full –size), and I’m told, we only have PT Cruisers left for upgrades. WHAT – that is not an upgrade, my husband is 6’3†and is not going to fit too well in this car, plus we have golf clubs. Well – that is all we have. Oh OK. Off I go and my husband just looks at me in shock when I pick him up. We have to put the back seats down to get our luggage and golf clubs in the car. It has not get up and go, so merging on the freeway was a treat. I’m in Vegas, not going to let this get to me.

Hotels. Checked into the Rio for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Originally planned to stay there all 4 days (offer for 2 days free plus a $69 stay on Sat and a $60.00 stay on Tuesday), but got a free 3 days from MGM (weekdays) so double booked and moved over there late day Monday. Both rooms were very nice; I like the Rio’s room better as I couldn’t hear any noise from the other rooms. MGM I could hear every conversation, the TV everything in the hall, kind of disappointing. I also liked the pool better at the Rio, more room, less kids, and better drink service.

Meals – Not big fancy diners, ate at the Rio Sunday Brunch – it was good, nothing too special, but filling. Gold Coast breakfast one morning in their café, this was also good, very good price, Don Miguel’s at the Orleans, very good Margarita’s and the Fajita’s were excellent. Lindy’s at the Flamingo, we have never been to the Flamingo, but it was the tram stop for Cesar’s so we walked through. Hubby had the Prime Rib and Lobster special, and he loved it, I ordered a Cobb Salad that was HUGE – I ate about 1/3 of it and was full. Prices were reasonable. We ate two meals at the pool, one at the Rio and 1 at MGM, both average, but for the convenience it was fine.

Shows – Faith Hill at Caesars. This was a wonderful show. Excellent Seats in the main section of Celine Dion’s Theater. The show lasted almost 2 hours, and her husband Tim McGraw came out and sang a duet with her during the On-core. We both enjoyed this very much and had a great time.

SPA – I had the 50 minute Swiss Massage at MGM Grand and I loved it. Very relaxing, comfortable atmosphere, and lots of little treats (I enjoyed a banana while I waited to be called in). It was $105 for the service which I felt was reasonable and worth the time. I didn’t use the steam room or Jacuzzi, but they both looked very welcoming.

Gambling – OK – We did a lot of gambling, and came home with some of what we took. My husband had luck with live Keno ($400 overnight at the Rio on a 4 spot special pick). I had great luck on two machines at the Rio – GhostlyGouls (I think) or something like that. It is a Nokami Machine and is in the back area by the Masquerade Bar. I took $400 out of this one morning, and $600 another morning. Not bad for a 5 cent machine. I also got a 10X bar bar on the 25 cent Martian machine that paid $250. I played 3 card poker for the first time, and came out $50.00 ahead. Played my favorite Double Dolphin games quite a bit at Harrah’s, Rio and New York New York. Rio’s didn’t pay me much at all, Harrah’s I got lots of play, but not anything to write home about, and NYNY I turned my $20.00 into $120.00 so that was fun. I also had GREAT LUCK on a 1cent Money Storm at Harrah’s, that thing kept paying and paying, I was betting 100 and got the bonus with 4 tornadoes, which kept re-triggering. I cashed out $150.00 on a 1 cent machine which was such a treat.

We went to Green Valley Ranch and I played some Caveman Keno next to the hubby. I hit a 5 spot twice playing only 1 coin (25 Cents) and cashed out $180.00. I get a little bored playing Keno, but at least the Caveman has some sort of Bonus. I’m bad at slots, as I play for the bonuses (I’m the type of person they target with those darn bonuses) and will play until I at least see one of the bonuses. Sometimes this worked out for me, most times it didn’t.

Before the concert I played JOB poker at Caesars on a Multi Game Machine right by the box office close to the sports book. It was 9/6 quarter game and I played for a long time on my $20.00 and cashed out $40.00. I got lots of flushes and full houses.

Nothing too exciting at the MGM for gambling, I just don’t like to gamble here. They don’t have any of the Double Dolphin games, or any in that type (Pompei, The Roman themed one, the fish ones) which I like to play.

I was also surprised that a lot of the new machines I saw at our local Indian Casino’s were not yet in Vegas, even in the local places (Gold Coast, Green Valley or Orleans). I thought they would be in Vegas first.

We did achieve Platinum status at Harrahs. I know most of you don’t think much of their comps, but Rio comped us all our meals and drinks at the pool based on our play.

That is all I can think of for now; let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for hanging in and reading.

 

Nice trip. I think Rio's pool is somewhat underrated, from pics anyway it looks nicer than Luxors (a "top ten" pick on the Vegas Channel ). And while we pick on Harrah's, it's mostly from those of us who aren't slot players, 'cuz they seem to treat that market segment pretty well.

For a while, I purposely rented PT cruisers when travelling. For the size, I think the interior space is pretty good, although the thing is heavy and underpowered.