Four night stay at Bellagio...long

I’ve always like reading trip reports from others, so I thought I’d repay my fellow Vegas fans with mine.

Background: My wife and I are in our 40’s. We got married there in 04’ and have been back every year since. We stay and spend most our time on the strip. We have plenty of places to gamble at home since we live near AC and some of the newer Philadelphia area casinos. We go to Vegas for all of the other amenities.

This year’s trip was September 1 – 5. We stayed at the Bellagio and our package included free tickets to KA’.

Day 1: Our flight out was perfect. We landed in LV @ 10am. We decided to get a rental car for the first time for our entire trip. That was painless. We prepaid for an intermediate from Avis. We were given a free upgrade to a small SUV that turned out to be a Hyundai Tucson. After a stop at 7-11 to get some drinks and snacks we used the valet at the Bellagio. There was a very small line at check in. I did the $20 sandwich that worked like a charm. Our basic room in the Spa tower turned into an upgraded corner room in the main Bellagio tower with wrap-around windows and tons of bell and whistles. We were starved for lunch. We walked over to the IP to the Hash House a Go Go. We think the IP is a dump, but love that restaurant. We walked through the Flamingo because I wanted to see the Margaritaville casino. Thought it was just okay. We’ve stayed at the Flamingo in 01’ & 07’, but are pretty much done with it until they upgrade it. The construction cattle shoot between Flamingo and Harrahs is a pain in the… After a great lunch we wanted to do a little gambling. We always stop in Bill’s to gamble. No luck here and wife was not happy with drink service. Decided this place has become too run down also. At this point it has become clear that the cold that my wife got from a co-worker before we left is getting the better of her so back to the Bellagio. After leaving her to rest in the room I head downstairs. I play a little BJ, but have no luck. Wife decides she is sick and beat from long flight. She is in for the night. I head across the street to Paris to gamble some. I enjoy the fountains on the walk over and text my wife to tell her what she is missing. Played for a while at Paris. At 9 o’clock the table dancer parade starts. They are on the other side of the casino, but the music is still deafening. Look, I’m a guy like everyone else, but I don’t like the annoying combination of a casino and strip bar. Bad move by CET/Paris IMO. Another day 1 note – illegal vendors are still selling bottled water on the street and there is still porn trash everywhere on the ground. Never saw anyone cleaning it up like they were supposed to.

Day 2: A quick note about our room. Our room on the 20th floor is on Flamingo Road looking directly at Caesars. We love the room, but the windows are so thin. Whenever a motorcycle or other loud vehicle would go by we could hear it. We wake early and are starving since we did not eat dinner. We are heading over to the Paris for their breakfast buffet that we enjoyed last year. I decide I don’t want to wait in their long line and decide to try the Wicked Spoon in the Cosmo. I’ve read that the Cosmo is dead in the morning when all of the youngsters are still asleep from partying the night before. I was right. No line, but the special holiday brunch price is $33 per person for breakfast. Oh well, like I said, we are starving. The brunch was very good. Lots of choices. We like the way they serve different dishes in personal mini single serving containers. Also loved the many flavors of gelato. Back to Bellagio to get car to get wife some cold meds and drive to the M Resort. We are running out of new casinos to see, but read many positive reviews of this place. South of the strip seems like a nice area. The M was very nice. Played a little bit and would have liked to stay longer but it was so dead. I like playing at casinos with lots of people to create a better atmosphere. Maybe we should have tried the Southpoint. Back to B after stopping for some more drinks for the room. A quick change and head down to the pool. Bellagio’s pool is very nice. We always stay at places with nice pools (Mirage, Mandalay Bay, Flamingo, Venetian, Caesars, Rio). Mirage is still our favorite. After an hour and half of sun and some frozen drinks, it back to room to get ready for dinner. We had gift cards for the Cheesecake Factory. We have a few of these near home but like to enjoy them on vacation because calories never get counted on vacation. On the way there we walk over to Harrahs to gamble a little. Harrahs has always been one of our favorite places to gamble. Not much luck at tables but we enjoyed seeing the same dealers and waitresses that we see year after year. On to dinner. Caesars and Forum Shops were packed. There had to be over 150 people waiting outside the CCF. We assumed the wait would be well over an hour, but somehow my charming smile made our wait all of 2 minutes. My wife swears I must have tipped the hostess, but I did not. Don’t know how we sat so quick with all those people. Dinner was awesome as usual. We head back to the B. Wife still is not feeling well. I’m beat too, but it is Vegas. She heads up to bed and I stay down to gamble. Tables are packed. I decide to play some video poker w/o much luck. Then I play a John Wayne machine that reminds me of our friend that had to back out of this trip because his girlfriend had a family emergency. First spin nets me a quick $350. I laugh, cash out and head up to bed. Day 2 notes – Vegas is PACKED. I know it’s a holiday weekend, but my god, the strip is mobbed. Also, Bellagio and Caesars are 2 of the primo properties on the strip. I’m surprised how many beggars, illegal vendors and the like are on the bridge connecting the properties. Why don’t they police this?

Day 3: Decide we will walk the strip north to Venetian/Palazzo/Wynncore. We want to hit another breakfast buffet on our way. Don’t want to back track to Paris’ so I say let’s try Harrah’s. Again the construction cattle shoot disgusts us. When crowded and hot every undesirable seem to walk right next to you. I read Harrah’s buffet was adequate. Again the price was jacked up because of the holiday weekend. Whatever…It was exactly like I read – adequate and that’s it. After breakfast we head to the Venetian/Palazzo. We want to run our Grazie cards through a couple of games to keep on their radar so we continue to get discounted room offers for a future trip. We walk through the Grand Canal Shops. We don’t like how they have so many salespeople trying to sell you just about anything from show tickets to bad perfume. It makes a primo property seem weak IMO. We gamble some in Palazzo. We’ve stayed at Venetian in the past, but would like to stay at the Palazzo some time. My wife doesn’t feel like walking more and we want to head to pool. We skip Wynn and head back to the B. The pool has a few more options for chairs today because lots of people probably checked out as the holiday weekend is ending. A few hours of sun, people watching and a couple of frozen drinks. We grab a few 24 ounce beers from the gift shop and head up to the room. The drinks go down easy as this is a theme today. I call Joe’s Prime in the Forum Shops for a reservation. No problem. Joe’s is our favorite all around restaurant. It’s high end, but not crazy priced. I shower first and head downstairs. I want to play a little in the famed Bellagio poker room. I play low stakes and the 4/8 limit game is full with 3 names ahead of me on the waiting list. An observation about the B’s poker room. If you are an avid poker player, you’ve heard of Bobby’s room at the B. I was surprised to see that Bobby’s room is just a glass enclosed room within the poker room. I would have thought Bobby’s room would have been a more private room hidden away from all of the normal action where the millions of dollars are thrown around. While waiting for my name to be called I decide to play some vp at the bar adjacent to the poker room. I don’t play too much vp. I know the drinks are comped at vp bars. This bar however was special because they had about 15 different microbrews on tap. Nice! Today’s theme continues. After about 4 heavier than usual beers the wife comes down ready to head to dinner. Joe’s Prime was excellent as usual. Their steaks are awesome, but we both had seafood and a few more drinks. After dinner we head over to Mirage for some gambling. After roaming around a bit, I head to play some Paigow. Paigow is one of my favorites because it is usually slower and social. I was doing pretty well. Had friendly dealers and was enjoying great drink service. After a while my wife found me. The dealer told her to sit and play where a player was getting great hands. I’ve been trying to get my wife to learn Paigow for years but she wanted nothing to do with it. The dealer’s tutelage allowed her to understand the game. They didn’t tell her anything I’ve told her, but I guess it finally clicked. We played for a few hours and the beers kept coming. My wife even hit 4 of a kind. She is hooked. Well, the great drink service all day finally was catching up with me. I started betting stupid and the wife was getting annoyed. So we left with me down and her up. My drunk smartass thought he could find a shortcut from Caesars to Bellagio. WRONG! We end up out the side door of Caesars on Flamingo sometime after midnight. Anywhere off the strip away from the masses can be scary that time of the night. My wife was not happy with me, but to make a long story short, all ended well as we got back to our room for some much needed sleep.

Day 4: We woke up early. My wife was not too happy with me and my head was not too happy with me either. After apologizing, we decided to stick with our plan to go see Hoover Dam and the new bypass bridge. I downed some headache medicine and we headed down to the valet to pick up the car. Have I mentioned how great the car has been considering how long the taxi lines can be at the Bellagio. Over the weekend they had to be over 100 people long. We head south on LV Blvd. We hit a McDonald’s drive thru for a quick breakfast. Is there any greater hangover food than McD’s? With written directions from the valet we reach Lake Mead and the Dam area in about 45 minutes. This is our 3rd time here. Before reaching the Dam we see parking for the bridge walkway. The walkway is up many flights of stairs. Wow! Did I really need all those beers yesterday?? Anyway, the Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is awesome. The walkway on the bridge allows for the best views of Hoover Dam. They did a great job with providing info on the engineering and Pat Tillman on fixed placards along the climb to the bridge. Back to the car for some AC. I forgot how winding the roads are to the dam and beyond it. The bridge must save a lot of time for those that drive that route every day. We stop many times along the route for pictures. We find a few places to stop to get great shots of Lake Mead too. Back to the strip. We return to the Bellagio, drop off car and head over to the Paris to play some Paigow. We play there awhile with mixed luck. We walk over to PH for a bite for lunch. We walk around the mall a bit and notice they have now completely removed the Middle Eastern theme. We choose Earl of Sandwich. It was perfect for lunch. We sat out front and had to talk extra loud to compete with the PBR Rockbar and Sugarfactory that both had their music blaring. We head back to the Bellagio and stop to see the fountain show. No matter how many times you see the fountains, it is still such a treat. Simply the best free attraction on the strip. IMO. We were surprised to see how many homeless people were hanging on the Bellagio property out front and along the walkway back into the B. It’s a shame. I wonder how many people have gone to Vegas and gambled away their last few bucks? We head back to room to relax and shower before heading to MGM for KA’ / dinner. We valet at MGM and pick up our tickets at will call. It’s about 6:30 and doors don’t open until 9 so we decide to eat now. We decide on Emeril’s Fish House. This is our 2nd time here. Actually were not too hungry but it just made sense to eat now instead of after the show. Dinner was good. Not great. Probably because I still don’t feel that great. Time for the show. Great seats. This is our 2nd Cirque show. (Mystere) We have to stop going with a full stomach and a couple of drinks. The shows are great, but when the lights go down and they start slow…zzzzz We shake it off to enjoy an amazing show. The whole thing with the floating stage and guys running on the circus wheels…incredible! While waiting for the car at valet we have the pleasure of watching some kid puke into a potted plant. Nice! Back to the B. Wife has had enough. I have to try for my last hurrah. Nothing big, but won a little playing Paigow. To bed, up early, checkout, gas up car, drop off car, back to airport, home without incident.

Whew…my 10th Vegas trip (wife’s 9th) is over in a blink of an eye. Where does the time go??? There is sooo much we didn’t do that we had intended. Never went downtown. Didn’t hit Rio (the home of my biggest score back in 06’), Didn’t go to Wynn, Gold and Silver Pawn, NYNY on south. Never went to Hyde for drinks. ETC ETC. Guess we will have to start planning next trip.

Couple of last notes: The ********* on the strip seems to be at an all-time high. Is the strip every patrolled? Where are my fellow Americans? More than ever, everywhere we went we saw/heard mostly foreigners. We felt very comfortable staying and playing in the Bellagio. The weather was perfect. We love going to Vegas restaurants that we have been too and like. One year we have to hit only new spots. Hope you enjoyed!

 

My eyes hurt.

 

Thx for TR... Do u remember a few of the microbrews on tap at the VP bar by the bellagio poker room

 

Thanks for report.

 

Great report. The end is very true, you NEVER do everything you plan on doing.

 

Paraghaphs would be easier on the eyes!

Nice tr!

 

Made me laugh - sorry.

 

Time in Vegas always goes so darn fast!
Thanks for the report.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Great report! Bummer about your wife getting sick on the trip. Colds suck, especially on vacation. Sounds like you had a great time though. My husband and I have a trip next month planned, first time in 5 YEARS (funny enough, we both have business trips there in Jan and March so we'll be there 3 times in six months). Last time we were there, they were just building City Center, so it should be awesome to see so much new stuff. We got married there as well in 97', and no matter how many times we go, we never get 'everything' on our list done.

 

Liked the report until you started talking about "*********" and "foreigners" and illegal vendors.

Oh no, someone is selling $1 water! WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

 

Good report, seems like the riff-raft gets bigger and better every time I go. I hope LVPD has a handle on it.

 

Good, honest TR. Thanks for taking the time to write it. I had a chuckle over your extended hangover - yeah, the older you get the longer they seem to last. I've probably got a decade and a half on you and I'm to the point that I just can't do that kind of imbibing any more

 

They caught several vendors getting used bottles out of the trash, refilling them and selling them last year. I thought they had banned these sales too.

Anyway, great report. I cant imagine being sick while there.

 

great report too bad wife was sick , to me that is my biggest worry being sick in vegas
food poisoning being my second concern
yeah i know it "sounds" bad but there is ALOT of people in vegas who are different than me .....
belliago is very good place to stay , rooms quiet a must for me

 

he was just stating what he saw and disliked .......i happen to agree

 

I also agree....anyway good trip report, nice detail...hangovers, the downside to a Vegas trip....

 

Thanks for the report. We got married in Vegas in '04 also. Unfortunately, time goes by extra fast when you're out there but all the more reason to go back to do the stuff you missed!

 

So you like getting hassled by bums begging for money,and buying water
that is probably half filled with piss.

 

Probably. No fan of bums, but the water vendors are pretty legit. Take a look at the coolers to ensure the brands aren't rainbow and make sure the caps aren't superglued.... Real easy.

Nick