How far back to you go with Las Vegas???

2002 and stayed at Mandalay Bay

Been once or twice a year ever since and always stay at Wynn.

 

1975. Stayed at Tropicana, which was a sprawling motel style resort. Rodney Dangerfield was playing the lounge. My very first real game of blackjack, I started my long tradition of falling out of chair.

 

My first trip was in August of 1999 with my wife for our 5 year anniversary. We stayed at the Golden Nugget downtown but spent most of the time visiting all the casino's on the strip.

Mark

 

October 1995 at MGM Grand. Trip #50 scheduled for September.

 

1969 at Circus Circus with parents & littl sister. Saw Johnny Mathis & Liberace! As an audult, 1983 with husband for my birthday at Golden Nugget - the addiction was born

 

back when casino royale was knobb hill. $1 single deck on the second floor mezzanine....
blackjack at Lil Caesars drinking rum/cokes from a styrofoam cup
saw kenny kerr at the silver slipper, or was it the castaways.....one woman during the Q&A portion asked where he put "it"
he asked her, where would you like me to put it
stayed the dunes courtesy of Da Boyz back east....just sign you name to anything....
brought home suitcases of Coors because you couldn't get it east of the Miss river

 

1963 as a little jrinct1. Was 3 yrs old.My parents were out in Cali visiting my uncle..and went o LV for a couple of days. Stayed at the Hacienda !!!. They hired a bonded babysitter for me when they wanted to do stuff like gamble shows etc.. But REALLY ( and I kinda don't count 63 that much...too young)..1990 I went out to see that same uncle.. Went to Jean and to LV and to Laughlin on a separate trip.

 

First trip was 2013 stayed at Hilton Grand Vacation on my then new Fiances now wife's Hilton points. It is a non gaming resort ( which we thought was good) . We had a unexpected amazing time. Later we changed our wedding plans and got marries there. I am leaving for my 7th trip there in 2 days.

 

2011, which I guess wasn't that long ago

 

First trip was 25 years ago, in April 1991. Stayed at the then Flamingo Hilton "comped" (in a way) as I used Hilton honors points for 3 "free" days. Total bankroll for the three days was about $300 and I ate at the buffet and at McDonalds. I won $800 on a dollar Double Double Diamond machine by getting 3 eggs playing just one dollar at a time. It was about 3 am and I called my mom back East. You would have thought I had won a million dollars. Learned how to play craps by taking lessons at the Flamingo and had a newbie roll late one night where I made thousands of dollars for a bunch of guys that were playing. Haven't played craps since then but I remember that roll like it was yesterday. Went to an adult show at Flamingo -- I forgot what it was called but the costumes were pink and with feathers -- as the show and 2 drinks were included with my package. It was the first experience like that for me. Oh yeah, I was 26 at the time and was SOLO. Yep, my first Vegas trip was a solo trip and I had a blast. Been hooked on Vegas ever since.

 

1972 4 of us drove from Tucson on a Sunday night. Had to be back Tuesday 8 am because one of them had a biochem final. Couldn't have stayed longer anyway since we ran out of money monday afternoon. Food on the way home from gas station minimart in Kingman charged on a Shell card.

 

1972. With two other guys, I was 20 and 3/4. Borrowed ID. A ton of stories. Camped the first few days, found a motel the remainder (not sure where, South Strip somewhere).

Casino/bar hopped all the way to see Jack Benny (Sahara? Sardust?). $8.75 admission included 3 drinks. Two of us hid the other two's drinks as they were blotto. One of us hassled Jack, got more than he gave.

After a week, bailed on a Saturday night at 9:00 pm, drove 22 hours straight to Vancouver.

GG

 

2004 - once in a lifetime trip - stayed at Sahara (or Sahorrible as we not so fondly call it) with my sister

 

Drove down from Park City in 1992 or 93 (can't remember) with my girlfriend (now wife) for a business trip. Stayed at Santa Fe. I remember playing video poker for the first time and was immediately hooked.
I remember seeing the Stratosphere being built. Went back soon after and stayed at Circus Circus. Been going 2 to 4 times a year since. One of my daughters took her first steps at the MGM Grand!

 

2007 - dragged there by a friend - stayed at Circus Circus - recall sleeping on a creaky bed- played $40 at MGM..i was in college then ...(sigh)

 

1963!!! We have a winner. Wondering if any present VMBers can beat that? Of all the people here on VMB I'd bet that someone was there in the 50s. Anyway 1963 is pretty good, even for a youngster.

 

Although I always wanted to go to the United States, I could never get myself to go through the visa procedures until 2012. As soon as I got my Visa issued, I booked my holiday to NYC, LAX and SFO. 3 days later I was on a plane. I have family in NYC and SFO so accommodation was not an issue. Wynncore (Encore) came highly recommended by friends and so I booked. My love affair with Las Vegas and Wynncore started then. LAX was a part of my plan during all my visits (2012, 2015 and in3 weeks - 2016) and and so was Encore. This trip is only going to be Vegas and no other cities. I've always travelled solo. I've been treated very well at Encore and therefore my loyalties stay with them. I stayed a couple of days at the MGM Stay Well Suites before I moved to Encore last time but it was ... meh. Nothing great. This time spending a couple of days at the Bellagio before I move into the Encore.

 

I believe in about 1983 I flew out to California to meet my brother who was in the army. I spent a day or two in Cali and then my brother and I drove back from there to Kentucky. We made a detour through Las Vegas and stopped at Circus Circus. I played $1 blackjack for about 6 hours straight all on a $20 buy-in. I didn't know crap about blackjack at the time so I was splitting 10's and doubling on 15's. Since then I've gotten much smarter about blackjack and correspondingly, lost even more money.

Hey, we're going back in September! First trip for me since 2013 and first trip for my wife since 2010!!!!

 

I know I've told this story before. On one of our trips we made the mistake of taking our daughter (then toddler age) along. We thought she would love upstairs at Circus, but no, she was far more interested in watching Grandpa play the slot machines! He then got screamed at by security when he let her sit on his lap as he played.

Same trip she wandered out of the room one night (staying at El Cortez) and downstairs to the casino below. My ex phoned security and they had her. (Backroomed?) I'm sure the incident report is still on file at ElCo.

Never again!

 

In the summer of 1975 while doing some Air Force things at Nellis AFB. I didn't do any gambling but did see a couple of shows .(base provided tickets) I did collect some matchbooks from some casinos and still have them.