JoJo Celebrates His Birthday (Month) at Encore and Vdara

I wasn't sure if I wanted to do a semi-live trip report, but I'm currently just chilling in my room with some time to kill before dinner. I'll see if I can keep up with this the rest of the week.

I was last in Vegas about a month or so ago. A quick 36-hour trip on the tail-end of a west coast adventure, part pleasure, part business. I didn't get a proper summer visit this year because of really crappy flight selection (no non-stop flights) and really bad pricing. My birthday is in a few weeks, so it seemed only fitting to plan a birthday trip... I actually booked two trips, and neither trip falls on my actual birthday. This trip is all about chilling by the pool, relaxing, and cashing in on my birthday month perks. No shows booked, which is unusual for me with a trip this long. Hopefully the gambling is good. My current gambling record post Covid is 2-1-1. I'm on the hunt for another Unicow!

Saturday, September 10th

Flight
Breeze started their direct flights to Vegas on Wednesday. I was half-expecting them to cancel this route before the go live date, but very excited that didn't happen. Flight was pretty uneventful which is great compared to my JetBlue fiasco back in March where I arrived at the Wynn lobby at 2:30 am. I took a direct flight on Breeze Airways on one of their new long haul plans with their "Nicest" seats offerings. Basically, it's their budget version of First Class and it didn't disappoint.



Nice leg room, seat reclined quite a bit, and there was a foot rest that popped out. The seat next to me was open, so that gave me free reign of the space. The flight left promptly at 7 am. Because of some weather, we were rerouted a bit, but still landed 15 minutes earlier than expected. I was in Encore's lobby by 10:15 am.

Hotel - Encore
I've stayed at Wynn maybe 3 or 4 times now because of the Wynn Slots game. Last trip, I ran a few hundred through the slots, ended up a few hundred and got myself an offer. Nothing special, but some decent weekend rates, $100 Resort Credit, and $25 FreePlay. I really like the Encore's entry level room layout, so I figured I'd give it a try.

I arrived at roughly 10:15 am, probably looking a little a little rough since I've already been up for almost 9 hours. I was banking on a room not being ready since it was 10 am on a Saturday morning. Reading trip reports on this forum, I knew to ask for a room away from the club. I walked up and he confirmed that there was only one "quiet" room that was available in my category, and it was a smoking room. Hard pass. He offered a an upgrade to a panoramic room for an extra $65 a night. Knowing that it really only meant a room located on a floor above 30ish, I passed and asked him if he knew roughly when a room would be available. He said he didn't know, but he must have had a change of a heart. He started making me keys, leaned in, and said I'm going to comp you the upgrade. Score! Tipped the guy $20 and went to my room.

The room is great. Great use of space and almost feels like a suite with the seating area broken up with a TV and a bit of an archway. I have a nice view of Resorts World and it was quiet throughout most of the night (no club noise, some noise from the hallway).

Only issue, the drapes don't overlap. A well placed chair against the window fixed about 75% of the issue.



Spa
I grabbed a day pass for the spa on Saturday and basically hung out there for a good portion of the day. I was really beat from the flight, so a nice soak and a nap on a heated lounger really hit the spot.

Restaurants
SW Steakhouse
First time at SW, I had a $150 birthday month credit to burn. I got a pretty nice table on the patio. I ordered the 10 oz. Wagyu Dry Aged New York Strip with two half portion sides of the Maine Lobster Sardinian Gnocchi and the Yukon Gold Potato Purée. Service was impeccable, food was excellent. The steak tasted great, but if it wasn't comped, I would never spend $112 on a piece of meat. Also, I can't remember if I saw it here on VMB or Yelp, but asking for half portion sides was a great decision. Bill came out to $144, just had to leave a tip. Waiter brought out a small birthday dessert which was great but also slightly awkward for this introverted solo diner.



Gambling
No big wins last night. After dinner, I was still wicked beat, but I wanted to play a bit. I hopped around Wynn/Encore's slot machines. Encore's selection of slots is pretty sub-par in my eyes. Over at Wynn I found the Cow game, and hoped to catch another Unicow. I set the bet level at $1.50 and got some good play out of it. Only won 7 free spins at one point, and that's bout it. From there I hopped between a few machines, my first $100 went down to about $30 and then I sat down on one of the new Monopoly machines. I've had some decent luck with these in the past. In maybe a span of 10 minutes, I had about 5 bonuses and had over $300 in credit. It started to cool down, cashed out $250. Headed towards Encore and lost $100. Up $50 for the night.

Sunday, September 11th
Spa
Today (Sunday), I was up early and was hoping to grab another day pass. I was down there probably about 15 minutes after they opened and they said they weren't selling day passes today because of demand. There were a few massage times available, but they conflicted with my other plans (breakfast and prime pool time). So I left there, headed back up to my room, and started to think how I could make the most out of the rest of my day.

Restaurants
Tableau
One of my must hits every trip. I always order the Tableau Breakfast which includes 3 eggs, bacon, toast, some sort of hash brown, pastries, coffee, and juice. Scrambled, iced coffee, and watermelon juice were my picks while seated on the patio. I took the pastries to go for a snack.

Activities
Since the spa was out, that left me with about 90 minutes before my breakfast reservation. I've put off checking out Resorts World the last couple of times I've stayed at Wynn. I figured why not head across the street for a bit and putz around. Easy walk from Encore. Really impressed with their resort. I can't see myself staying there because of their location. I walked around to some slots and checked their max bets on a few games (Quick Hits) that I play and some where kinda insane (Quick Hits Blitz max bet was $10 compared to $5 elsewhere on the strip). For a Sunday morning around 9 am, the place was pretty busy. I (think) I saw all the key areas. I grabbed a $8 pumpkin cold brew from the second floor Starbucks (which was completely dead compared to the other Starbucks near the gaming floor), and walked over to Tableau.

After breakfast, I went back to the room to relax for a few and then went to the pool for about 4 hours. Nice day outside. Not too hot, wasn't packed.

Now I'm back in the room. Grabbing dinner onsite in a bit. After that, I need to check into a room over at Harrah's for a friend who is swinging in for some drinks and shenanigans. She probably won't arrive until 11 pm or so, so I gotta get some energy and rally to greet her later.

Tomorrow I check out of Encore and head over to Vdara. I have a Studio Parlor booked but when I was at the pool I received an email about mobile check-in. I popped into the MGM app and it's showing me in an Executive Corner Suite now. That would be a nice upgrade!

 

Nice upgrade for your $20 investment! Take one of your pants hangers from the closet and use the clips to keep your drapes closed.

 

I forgot if Wynn has pants hangers in their closets (the hangers with the clips). If they do, take two hangers and clip those bad boys closed.

 

Forgot about using pants hangers! I used to travel with a few binder clips, but that was a suitcase or two ago.

 

Good stuff so far! Enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

Nice TR! I agree with the Encore slot selection.

 

Yikes... last night went off the rails a little bit.

The Rest of Sunday, September 11th... and the wee hours of Monday, September 12th
After my original post, I went down stairs and grabbed dinner at Allegro. That place is a bit of a madhouse, but I was seated fairly quickly after arrival. I ordered some comfort food (rigatoni and meatballs) and was out of there in probably 30 minutes flat.



My friends flight wasn't scheduled to land until 10:30 PM or so, this gave me some time to walk over to Harrah's and check into the spare room I booked for the next couple of days. Lobby was fairly dead, but the casino was busy. I grabbed some Starbucks to give me a bit of energy. I headed back to Wynn and slotted around for a little bit.

Gambling
Just wasn't really finding too many slots that I enjoyed (and at the max bet levels that I preferred). I sat down on a Unicow machine, put in a crisp $100 and started betting at $2.25. I didn't realize the machine was set to 2 cents for a number of spins, so with little hits, my balance dropped to ~$50 pretty quickly. After that, I walked over to my Monopoly game. Once again, I hit a few bonuses and won back all the money I just lost. I was back even and walked over to a Wonka machine. Sat down and quickly lost it all. I putzed around the casino a little bit after that to see if there was anything else that intrigued me, but ended up just cashing out my TITO's for the trip.

Bar Hopping
The plan was to meet my friend over at Harrah's, get her situated and have a drink. We arrived in her room at around 11:15 pm, caught up, and decided we'd grab a drink. Before she arrived, I did some research to see what bars would be open this late on a Sunday night. Surprisingly not a lot. A lot of my go-to's close a midnight. Venetian and Cosmo were my picks, we decided to head to Cosmo.

At Cosmo, we went to the new-ish bar The Ski Lodge, which is basically right inside Superfrico. It's a pretty small bar with seating for like 40 people. It was maybe 1/2 full (it was maybe 12:15/12:30 now). I had the Salty Sled Dog, followed by a Tito's and coke. Around 1:45 am, they were shutting up shop, and we agreed on one more drink.



Typically, when I'm in Vegas solo, I'm in my room by midnight or 1 am. So, being up this late on a Sunday and trying to find a bar that was still open was a bit of a fun challenge. We went downstairs in the Cosmo. Vesper seemed pretty dead, Clique was wrapping up for the night as well. I decided that Aria might have something. We walked over, Alibi was closed (which I was surprised about) and so was Lobby Bar. We settled on Lift Bar and grabbed a drink there. 3:15 am rolled around, decided to call it a night and catch Uber's back to our hotels.

Overall, it was a great time catching up over drinks. I got a solid 3 hours of sleep last night. Today I need to pack up and move over to Vdara. Hoping my suite will be ready when I get there. Not much on the agenda, I think it's supposed to rain off and on throughout the day, so today might be a good spa day. Dinner is TBD as I cancelled my reservation at The Bedford yesterday morning.

 

Represent the 860! Or the 203 if you’re from that end of the state!

 

3 hours of sleep! Ouch

Good luck on the gambling

 

Looks like a long couple of days. Enjoy.

 

860 guy here!

 

Hopefully the day went better than announcing your area code!

 

The amount I lost last night was less than my area code! About to grab breakfast at Salt & Ivy and after that will probably head back to the suite for a bit and will post an update.

 

Monday, September 12th
Hotel
I checked out of Encore right around noon on Monday and Ubered over to Vdara with my friend. Luckily, my suite was available so I was able to get checked in and throw my stuff in the room. I did get upgraded to an Executive Corner Suite. Last time I stayed at Vdara, I was in the same suite but had a really nice fountain view. This time I'm looking at Aria's backside. Overall, the room is nice, a little worn. Not as pristine as my Encore room. It is nice to have a fridge again to throw some water bottles in.

Restaurants
Terrace Pointe Cafe
This place wasn't too busy. Was able to grab a table at 10 am. I had the Croissant-Cake


The Bedford
Reviews have been mixed about this place, but I wanted something new to try. I ordered the Classic Niçoise Salad and Bucatini. The salad was delicious, but really filling. I ate maybe half of my serving of bucatini. Service was good, atmosphere is nice. Only downside is that I asked to use my Diamond Dinner, confirmed with the waiter again that he used it... and then this morning realized he just used all my RC's. I'm assuming there's no recourse, or it might be a headache to deal with, so I'll try to use it tonight.

Classic Niçoise Salad


Bucatini


Bars
Before my friend left, we grabbed a drink at Vice Versa last night at Vdara. Nice, chill space.

Gambling
I only played a little bit last night at Bellagio and basically couldn't get anything going. Hoping tonight will be better. Might head down to Mandalay Bay to hit up some bars and do some gambling tonight.

Misc. Observations

• Market Cafe at Vdara is currently walled off. I haven't heard of any rumblings of what they're doing to the space. They do have a temporarily take-out setup right outside the area (just like Wynn and their Drugstore).
• Vdara Pool is closed during the week again. One of these trips I'll make it to the pool at Vdara! Going to swing over to Aria's pool in a bit.
• The Conservatory is currently being changed over. Caught some of the work in the back parking lot.

​

 

Welp... I got a little lazy in Vegas and then I came home and been catching up on life before I leave again in a week. Will finish this trip report up within the next day or so.

Tuesday, September 13th

Spa
After some time at the pool over at Aria, I went back to Qua and grabbed another day pass. I paid $90 the day before, asked again about any sort of diamond discount and today's check-in clerk charged me ~$75 (15% discount). Never hurts to ask even if you thought you knew the answer. I like Qua for the most part, nice and spacious (especially compared to Park MGM). The 3-hour time limit is a little annoying post-covid, especially at the price they're charging.

Restaurants
Salt & Ivy
First time here for breakfast. I had their 3 eggs meal. Nothing special. Convenient, 20-minute wait to sit outside, so just sat at that bar. $8 for tea which I think is the highest I've paid on the strip ever.

Amalfi
Probably one of my favorite restaurants right now. Since the waiter never used my $100 celebration dinner the night before, it meant I was eating big. Sat at the bar and was able to catch the last few innings of the Yankee/Red Sox game. Total for the meal was roughly $115 with a bottle of sparkling water.

Tuna Tartare


Baby Gem Caesar
Good, nothing special here.


Squid Ink Fettucine
One of my favorite dishes currently. Love the flavor of the sauce.


Muscovado & Vanilla Budino
This was absolutely delicious. I was debating going back later in the week to just grab some dessert.


Bars
Juniper
I used a MyVegas BOGO drinks here. Grabbed two "Come Sail Away" (fresh lime, orange, avuá cachaça, and orgeat) drinks.

Gambling
Nothing to report here, no big bonuses or wins.

---

Wednesday, September 14th
Lazy morning today. Was going to hit up the spa before breakfast at Bellagio, but just stayed in bed for a bit longer, but moved up my reservation a little.

Spa
Grabbed a day pass at Aria for $75, which I believe has come down for a bit. I think I paid $100 back in March for a weekday spa pass. Spa is conveniently located near the pool, so I bounced back and forth in the afternoon.

Restaurants
Sadelle's
Quick walk over from Vdara. I think the construction in the conservatory is killing their business this week. Luckily it wasn't too loud. I had the Western Omelette, which came with a bagel. Nice filling meal, great service. Will be adding this place in my rotation for breakfast.

Nusr-Et
Walked in, the place was pretty dead. I sat at the bar, which unfortunately does not have any TVs. They had a DJ, which played some solid music. I had the wagyu burger, which was probably one of the juiciest burgers I've ever had, but it kind of lacked flavor overall.




Gambling
Once again, nothing to report here. I think MGM wanted their money back from last trip.

 

Thursday, September 15th
Last full day in Vegas, hoping for some last minute luck. Early afternoon, I found out that my noon flight on Friday was going to be delayed by 2 hours (taking off at 2 pm) due to mandatory flight crew rest. Later on in the evening I swung by the front desk and was able to secure a late checkout at 12 pm.

Spa
Once again grabbed a day pass at Aria and hopped between the pool and spa

Restaurants
Primrose
Got their Blueberry Streusel Pancake. I had this in August, but the pancake was a little overdone. Today, it was perfect. Service was great as well. I redeemed a MyVegas reward and got a banana nut muffin that was quite good. The waitress brought me a bowl of whipped almond cream.





La La Noodle
Sat down, had the same waiter that I had a few weeks earlier and he remembered my name. My ego has been stroked! I ordered the Spicy Chili Wonton's (one of my favorite eats in Vegas) and Oxtail Fried Rice. This was my first time getting the fried rice and it was delicious. Rice was nice and fluffy and not kinda hard and dry like back home. Portion was big. I tried to use my BOGO (buy an entree, get an appetizer free) MyVegas reward and ran into a snag. After my visit to Primrose earlier in the day, I went to the Rewards desk to specifically load this reward... and only this reward. When it came to buy, La La Noodle didn't see it. Not much they could do, they said the Rewards desk could credit the amount. Walked over, was talking to a guy who I don't think fully understood the issue (and placed the blame on me), told me there wasn't anything that he could do. I felt a little miffed since I followed the process to a T on my part. I haven't had any issues with MyVegas rewards in the 10 years I've redeemed them, so I asked if I could speak with a manager. He was hesitant, but eventually walked me over to the casino cage where I spoke to a supervisor. In about 15 minutes and a FaceTime call with an off duty manager, they ended up refunding my LP, giving me another Primrose reward for free, and gave me a $25 credit. More than I expected and was happy with the result. I wish it was a much simpler process for everyone involved. Luckily I had the free time, thanked them, and went over to Aria to gamble.





Gambling
Was hoping for a hail Mary tonight like my last trip. I got some decent play in at Aria, but really no big bonuses bigger than $50-75.

---

Friday September 16th
Knowing that my flight was delayed a couple of hours and having a late checkout, I was able to squeeze in a sit-down breakfast and then have plenty of time to pack. Traffic was wicked heavy, basically stop and go, as we got closer to the entrance to Terminal 3. I had plenty of time luckily.

Restaurant
Primrose
Because of the MyVegas issue the night before, the casino cage ended up giving me a $25 food credit. I was already debating going here or back to Sadelle's for breakfast as they were close by to Vdara, so having this credit basically made my decision for me. Today I went for more of a traditional 2 egg breakfast, but swapped out toast for one of their deep dish pancakes. Once again, I requested extra almond whipped cream.



---

MyVegas Rewards Used

• $25 Konami FreePlay (Aria)
• $25 Konami FreePlay (Park MGM)
• $25 Konami FreePlay (Bellagio MGM)
• Free Pastry with Entree at Primrose (Park MGM)
• Complimentary Appetizer at La La Noodle
• 2-For-1 Cocktails at Juniper (Park MGM)

Final Trip Observations/Thoughts

• Breeze Airways - Traveling with Breeze was pretty solid, would use them again and would fly in their "Nicest" seats if the price is right. Spending a little bit more made the 5+ hour flight pretty enjoyable. However, staff interactions at Harry Reid were kinda ehh. At baggage check, I asked the clerk about why there was a delay or if she knew where the plane was coming from, no information. In the gate area, there weren't any staff until about 45 minutes before the scheduled takeoff time. We ended up taking off about 3 1/2 hours after our scheduled time. I had a quick layover in Norfolk, VA but didn't have to switch planes. During that time, I saw I had an email from Breeze gifting me a $50 credit for the delay. We ended up landing in CT a little before 1 am.

• Eiffel Tower - Walked over to Paris to go up the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday night, but it was closed. Went back over on Thursday, I think pricing was $27, no discount for Diamond members. Thought I recalled paying like $12.50 pre-pandemic by showing my card. Couldn't justify the trip up as I just wanted a quick pic for the 'gram.

• Shows - Since the pandemic, discounts on some of the bigger shows are a little more rare. I've always done at least 1 or 2 shows on a trip (6 nights) this long. I kept pretty busy at night even when gambling sucked.

• Vdara Pool - I have yet to spend a day at the Vdara pool. Seems like it would be a nice place to chill out. It was closed during the week, but open the day I left. I looked out at the pool from my room on Friday and noticed the entire seating area was covered by umbrellas. Unless you're in the pool, you're not getting direct sunlight, which might be a plus for some people.

• Vdara Suite - The Executive Corner Suite was great, nice and quiet. However, Vdara really needs to think about renovating the rooms. The bathrooms are holding up, but the living room furniture is looking quite frumpy. It's nice having a washer and dryer available to do a quick load and get the Vegas funk off your jeans mid-trip. I didn't plan to stay in a suite with a W&D this time around as I had a Studio Parlor room booked, so I didn't pack any lighter than I normally would have. Having the full-sized fridge with filtered water is a nice perk. Plenty of room for the 4 bottles of water I had in there.

• Conventions - Conventions seem to be back in full force. Saw some big names like Planet Fitness, Ford, and Wendy's hosting multi-day events.

Overall, the trip met my expectations. I used a number of comps I had for my birthday, spent some quality time at the pool and the spa, and had a fun 24 hours with one of my friends. The gambling sucked, but could have been worse. As of right now, I don't have any Vegas trips planned. Can I wait until my typical spring trip? Or should I squeeze in a trip this winter?

 

Winter trip!! Good TR, thanks for write up

 

Nice report!

And agree with you on myVegas, I feel like it creates a lot of extra work for rewards desk employees. Glad they made it right in the end though.

Really loved eating at La La Noodle my last two trips!

 

It's one of my go-to restaurants these days. Always have a solid meal there, I just need to explore the menu a little bit more.

Fiiiiiiiiine, I'll go!

 

@JoJoR - aren’t these are all premium rewards? Your limit is 6? If you don’t mind me asking, how much did you spend in the myVegas,etc. games?