Here is my trip report...
Thursday, July 4, 2002
Woke up at 5:30 am, showered and out the door by 6:15 am. Got to Newark airport and parked the car by 7:00 am. The airport was really crowded and the lines were really long. Luckily, I flew enough last year to earn Elite status on Continental so we were able to get on the shorter line to check our baggage and bypass the long line getting through the metal detectors. Our flight wasn’t until 9:20 and we had almost two hours to kill so we used some vouchers for the President’s Club and passed the time there. We went to the gate about ½ hour prior to departure and got right on the plane. I booked my father’s wife a last minute ticket and the airline told me that the flight was almost totally sold out but when we got on the plane, we realized that there were about 25 empty seats. I suspect there were a lot of people that missed the flight due to the long lines at the airport. The flight had some technical difficulty, which made us all a bit nervous. There is something in the tail of the plane that jump starts the engines and it was malfunctioning. After sitting on the plane for an hour or so while the technicians worked on it, we were good to go. The replaced a relay and assured us it was safe. We got into Las Vegas a little late. Our baggage arrived quite quickly and we decided to give Las Vegas limo a shot. There were five of us and I asked the lady outside door #14 to make sure it was a limo and not just a shuttle and she assured me it was. She told us we had to wait for another one or two people though because they don’t like to take less than six people. It took about 10 – 15 minutes but it wasn’t all that bad. We arrived at Harrah’s and got both rooms upgraded to these really nice two room suites with jacuzzi tubs and tv’s in the bathrooms. Very nice, especially since they were free. Originally we were going to split our trip between Mandalay Bay and The Venetian but two of us had offers for three free nights at Harrah’s and weekend were included so who could resist a free room? We grabbed a bite to eat at the Harrah’s Buffet, which was really good and went out to the pool for a bit. After that, we napped, showered and went over to the Imperial Palace for their pool side Luau. The Luau was terrible. The food was mediocre, you couldn’t swim in the pool and it was as hot as hell. The air conditioning units for the rooms let the hot air out to the area by the pool and in addition to the extreme temperatures was this hot exhaust, which made the whole experience unbearable. The “unlimited†tropical drinks didn’t even taste like they had alcohol in it. Everyone was crowed together too. We quickly ate and left before the show. The tickets were $30 each but it just wasn’t worth the brutal heat and misery so we left. We went back to Harrah’s and gambled a bit and then walked over to the Venetian to watch the fireworks. We saw the fireworks at the Stratosphere from the sidewalk but we never did see the fireworks at the Venetian. I don’t even know if they actually happened. At about 9:35, we gave up and walked back to Harrah’s. The strip was crowded and there was no place to sit except the ground so we decided to throw in the towel. My dad’s wife doesn’t gamble much so she watched our daughter for a bit so we could go out and gamble. We lost but we managed to rack up enough points for some food comps and between the three of us (me, my husband and my dad) that we qualified for six free show tickets (two each).
Friday, July 5, 2002
Still on East Coast time, we woke up quite early, showered and decided to walk the strip a bit. We decided to go to J.J.’s Boulangerie at the Paris for breakfast. They had there really great chocolate twist pastries. After that, we walked through the Paris and somehow wound up in Bally’s. We decided to go to NYNY to see the 9/11 memorial and our daughter wanted to go to the ESPN Zone to play video games. We took turns with her in there so we could gamble a bit and none of us had any luck. After that, we went back to the hotel. We were tired from walking so we decided to use some of our comps to order room service. After that, my father and I walked over to the Mirage to pick up our Wagerworks buffet comps. (We each had two buffets) We played a little there and lost and then went back to Harrah’s for a quick dip in the pool and a nap. We went over to the Mirage, looked at the White Tiger that was sitting in the pool at the time and ate at their buffet. Because it was 4th of July weekend, they raised the price to over $20 per person but luckily we only had to pay for one person because Wagerworks covered the other four. I was really disappointed in the buffet. There wasn’t really many choices and the food wasn’t all that good. After that, we decided to use our show ticket comps and got tickets to see Clint Holmes. I don’t think I would pay $60 per ticket but I thought he was pretty good, especially since the tickets were free. After that, my husband and I took turns with our daughter so we could gamble. He played with my Harrah’s card so we could rack up the points quicker in hopes of achieving Total Reward Diamond Status. Another unlucky night.
Saturday, July 6, 2002
Woke up early yet again. Lounged around the room a bit and had brunch at Harrah’s buffet, which had really good food, which is why we ate there twice. My husband and I got married at the Candlelight Chapel. We had gotten married there before but got divorced six years ago and got back together so we decided to do it again. I swear, getting married in Vegas is like going to the DMV. Actually, the DMV takes longer. The whole thing was over in less than an hour. We had tickets for Caesar’s Magical Empire for that evening, which was fantastic. I saw it once before with a group of co-workers but liked it so much, I wanted to take my family back with me. My husband got pulled out of the crowd and the magician picked his pockets and managed to get his watch off without him knowing about it. It was hysterical.
Sunday, July 7, 2002
Woke up and packed up all of our stuff. We had to check out of Harrah’s and move over to the Venetian. We were out of the hotel by 10:30 and hopped a taxi over to the Venetian. Even though it was right next door, we had luggage and it wasn’t as easy as one would think. There were no lines at the Venetian so check in was easy. My husband tried to sweet talk the check in clerk into an upgrade and she offered us some suite that normally goes for $650 - $1,000 per night for an additional $250. We were paying $69 a night so that was out of the question. I nicely asked her for two rooms together with a strip view and she told me that would be an additional $35. I explained that the reservationist noted it in the reservation and told me that it would be no problem if it were available, which was the truth but she just said that the reservationists should stop telling people that. Oh well. At least our rooms were ready. We had a view of the Mountains and the Desert Inn golf course, which wasn’t all that bad. I had a room offer for a free room over the the Rio and our daughter really likes the pool there so we unpacked and the five of us decided to go over the the Rio for lunch and to swim in their pool. After lunch, we checked into the hotel, changed and went down to the pool. The sand at the sand beach pool was ridiculously hot. After pulling five chairs together, I decided I’d rather be on the concrete because it was cooler. I walked over to and got into the sand beach pool. My husband and daughter walked over by the pool. My daughter went into the pool via the beach area and I waved my husband over. He walked toward me on the ledge near the pool (about 18 inches wide) and there was a palm tree branch in his way. He moved it out of the way, the sun was in his eyes and wacked his head on the life guard stand. Blood started gushing out and I jumped out of the pool and grabbed a towel off my chair. I flagged the lifeguard over and she offered some assistance. He definitely needed medical attention however he had to ask for an ambulance three times and waited over 30 minutes. The hotel was too interested in having me fill out an incident report than making sure he was taken care of. They were really pretty rude and I’m disappointed in the way the situation was handled. They wanted to know how much he had to drink and he didn’t have anything at all to drink that day or the day before. My husband started to feel sick so I convinced them to bring him inside while I finished the paperwork. After I was done, the security guard instructed me to go through another set of doors and that I would find him in the security office. I ran inside, couldn’t find the security office, stopped and asked directions, ran around the casino, found the security office only to be told that he wasn’t in the security office but near another set of doors leading to the pool. The fire department was there and so was the EMT’s. My father and his wife stayed with our daughter and we spent the afternoon at Desert Springs hospital. The hotel didn’t offer anything, not even a cab ride back. The hospital was really nice and it wasn’t crowded. Because his injury was on his head, they were able to use this new glue stuff. He also needed a tetanus shot because the life guard platform was metal. What an ordeal though. We took a cab back but instead of going back to the Rio, we went back to the Venetian. I called my father and asked them to just meet us back there. When they got back, we went into the pool at the Venetian with our daughter for a bit. My husband couldn’t get his head wet but the pool wasn’t very deep so it wasn’t a big deal. We had dinner in the food court along with some gelato, which was pretty good. My dad and my husband went to a comedy club that night and my father’s wife stayed with my daughter for a while so I could go down and gamble. I managed to his 2 – 4 of a kinds on some bonus poker deluxe machine, which paid 400 coins each time. That was the luckiest I had been all week.
Monday, July 8, 2002
Our last full day in Vegas. We started it off with some Krispy Kreme’s. We wanted to take it easy but our daughter had other plans. My husband’s head felt a bit better but his arm was really sore from the tetanus shot. My dad and his wife gave us a nice break and took her to the Wax Museum, to lunch and to the car show at the Imperial Palace. We rested, gambled and napped. We had to go back to the Rio to officially check out of the hotel so we had some lunch there too. We lost quite a bit of money during this trip so I decided to play some Monopoly nickel machines. I cashed out for $100 and while I was waiting to be paid, I stuck a $10 into the machine next to it and eventually cashed out for another $50. It wasn’t a lot but it was better than donating. That night, we watched the Volcano and the Bellagio fountains.
Tuesday, July 9, 2002
Woke up and packed. My father was staying in the room that I was registered in. I went to use video check out but there was a $21.99 movie on the bill that was an error so I had to make a few phone calls to get that rectified. After that, we grabbed a cab and were off to the airport. We were able to use frequent flyer miles to upgrade everyone. There was bad weather on the East Coast so the flight was longer than expected. The flight attendants were really crabby too. I don’t think either of them cracked a smile once. Of course, our luggage took almost an hour to come up despite having priority tags on it. I should know by now not to expect anything else from Newark Airport but I guess I am always hopeful. We got home at 11:00 pm and were exhausted. We lost quite a bit but had a fantastic time and can’t wait until we can go back.
Thursday, July 4, 2002
Woke up at 5:30 am, showered and out the door by 6:15 am. Got to Newark airport and parked the car by 7:00 am. The airport was really crowded and the lines were really long. Luckily, I flew enough last year to earn Elite status on Continental so we were able to get on the shorter line to check our baggage and bypass the long line getting through the metal detectors. Our flight wasn’t until 9:20 and we had almost two hours to kill so we used some vouchers for the President’s Club and passed the time there. We went to the gate about ½ hour prior to departure and got right on the plane. I booked my father’s wife a last minute ticket and the airline told me that the flight was almost totally sold out but when we got on the plane, we realized that there were about 25 empty seats. I suspect there were a lot of people that missed the flight due to the long lines at the airport. The flight had some technical difficulty, which made us all a bit nervous. There is something in the tail of the plane that jump starts the engines and it was malfunctioning. After sitting on the plane for an hour or so while the technicians worked on it, we were good to go. The replaced a relay and assured us it was safe. We got into Las Vegas a little late. Our baggage arrived quite quickly and we decided to give Las Vegas limo a shot. There were five of us and I asked the lady outside door #14 to make sure it was a limo and not just a shuttle and she assured me it was. She told us we had to wait for another one or two people though because they don’t like to take less than six people. It took about 10 – 15 minutes but it wasn’t all that bad. We arrived at Harrah’s and got both rooms upgraded to these really nice two room suites with jacuzzi tubs and tv’s in the bathrooms. Very nice, especially since they were free. Originally we were going to split our trip between Mandalay Bay and The Venetian but two of us had offers for three free nights at Harrah’s and weekend were included so who could resist a free room? We grabbed a bite to eat at the Harrah’s Buffet, which was really good and went out to the pool for a bit. After that, we napped, showered and went over to the Imperial Palace for their pool side Luau. The Luau was terrible. The food was mediocre, you couldn’t swim in the pool and it was as hot as hell. The air conditioning units for the rooms let the hot air out to the area by the pool and in addition to the extreme temperatures was this hot exhaust, which made the whole experience unbearable. The “unlimited†tropical drinks didn’t even taste like they had alcohol in it. Everyone was crowed together too. We quickly ate and left before the show. The tickets were $30 each but it just wasn’t worth the brutal heat and misery so we left. We went back to Harrah’s and gambled a bit and then walked over to the Venetian to watch the fireworks. We saw the fireworks at the Stratosphere from the sidewalk but we never did see the fireworks at the Venetian. I don’t even know if they actually happened. At about 9:35, we gave up and walked back to Harrah’s. The strip was crowded and there was no place to sit except the ground so we decided to throw in the towel. My dad’s wife doesn’t gamble much so she watched our daughter for a bit so we could go out and gamble. We lost but we managed to rack up enough points for some food comps and between the three of us (me, my husband and my dad) that we qualified for six free show tickets (two each).
Friday, July 5, 2002
Still on East Coast time, we woke up quite early, showered and decided to walk the strip a bit. We decided to go to J.J.’s Boulangerie at the Paris for breakfast. They had there really great chocolate twist pastries. After that, we walked through the Paris and somehow wound up in Bally’s. We decided to go to NYNY to see the 9/11 memorial and our daughter wanted to go to the ESPN Zone to play video games. We took turns with her in there so we could gamble a bit and none of us had any luck. After that, we went back to the hotel. We were tired from walking so we decided to use some of our comps to order room service. After that, my father and I walked over to the Mirage to pick up our Wagerworks buffet comps. (We each had two buffets) We played a little there and lost and then went back to Harrah’s for a quick dip in the pool and a nap. We went over to the Mirage, looked at the White Tiger that was sitting in the pool at the time and ate at their buffet. Because it was 4th of July weekend, they raised the price to over $20 per person but luckily we only had to pay for one person because Wagerworks covered the other four. I was really disappointed in the buffet. There wasn’t really many choices and the food wasn’t all that good. After that, we decided to use our show ticket comps and got tickets to see Clint Holmes. I don’t think I would pay $60 per ticket but I thought he was pretty good, especially since the tickets were free. After that, my husband and I took turns with our daughter so we could gamble. He played with my Harrah’s card so we could rack up the points quicker in hopes of achieving Total Reward Diamond Status. Another unlucky night.
Saturday, July 6, 2002
Woke up early yet again. Lounged around the room a bit and had brunch at Harrah’s buffet, which had really good food, which is why we ate there twice. My husband and I got married at the Candlelight Chapel. We had gotten married there before but got divorced six years ago and got back together so we decided to do it again. I swear, getting married in Vegas is like going to the DMV. Actually, the DMV takes longer. The whole thing was over in less than an hour. We had tickets for Caesar’s Magical Empire for that evening, which was fantastic. I saw it once before with a group of co-workers but liked it so much, I wanted to take my family back with me. My husband got pulled out of the crowd and the magician picked his pockets and managed to get his watch off without him knowing about it. It was hysterical.
Sunday, July 7, 2002
Woke up and packed up all of our stuff. We had to check out of Harrah’s and move over to the Venetian. We were out of the hotel by 10:30 and hopped a taxi over to the Venetian. Even though it was right next door, we had luggage and it wasn’t as easy as one would think. There were no lines at the Venetian so check in was easy. My husband tried to sweet talk the check in clerk into an upgrade and she offered us some suite that normally goes for $650 - $1,000 per night for an additional $250. We were paying $69 a night so that was out of the question. I nicely asked her for two rooms together with a strip view and she told me that would be an additional $35. I explained that the reservationist noted it in the reservation and told me that it would be no problem if it were available, which was the truth but she just said that the reservationists should stop telling people that. Oh well. At least our rooms were ready. We had a view of the Mountains and the Desert Inn golf course, which wasn’t all that bad. I had a room offer for a free room over the the Rio and our daughter really likes the pool there so we unpacked and the five of us decided to go over the the Rio for lunch and to swim in their pool. After lunch, we checked into the hotel, changed and went down to the pool. The sand at the sand beach pool was ridiculously hot. After pulling five chairs together, I decided I’d rather be on the concrete because it was cooler. I walked over to and got into the sand beach pool. My husband and daughter walked over by the pool. My daughter went into the pool via the beach area and I waved my husband over. He walked toward me on the ledge near the pool (about 18 inches wide) and there was a palm tree branch in his way. He moved it out of the way, the sun was in his eyes and wacked his head on the life guard stand. Blood started gushing out and I jumped out of the pool and grabbed a towel off my chair. I flagged the lifeguard over and she offered some assistance. He definitely needed medical attention however he had to ask for an ambulance three times and waited over 30 minutes. The hotel was too interested in having me fill out an incident report than making sure he was taken care of. They were really pretty rude and I’m disappointed in the way the situation was handled. They wanted to know how much he had to drink and he didn’t have anything at all to drink that day or the day before. My husband started to feel sick so I convinced them to bring him inside while I finished the paperwork. After I was done, the security guard instructed me to go through another set of doors and that I would find him in the security office. I ran inside, couldn’t find the security office, stopped and asked directions, ran around the casino, found the security office only to be told that he wasn’t in the security office but near another set of doors leading to the pool. The fire department was there and so was the EMT’s. My father and his wife stayed with our daughter and we spent the afternoon at Desert Springs hospital. The hotel didn’t offer anything, not even a cab ride back. The hospital was really nice and it wasn’t crowded. Because his injury was on his head, they were able to use this new glue stuff. He also needed a tetanus shot because the life guard platform was metal. What an ordeal though. We took a cab back but instead of going back to the Rio, we went back to the Venetian. I called my father and asked them to just meet us back there. When they got back, we went into the pool at the Venetian with our daughter for a bit. My husband couldn’t get his head wet but the pool wasn’t very deep so it wasn’t a big deal. We had dinner in the food court along with some gelato, which was pretty good. My dad and my husband went to a comedy club that night and my father’s wife stayed with my daughter for a while so I could go down and gamble. I managed to his 2 – 4 of a kinds on some bonus poker deluxe machine, which paid 400 coins each time. That was the luckiest I had been all week.
Monday, July 8, 2002
Our last full day in Vegas. We started it off with some Krispy Kreme’s. We wanted to take it easy but our daughter had other plans. My husband’s head felt a bit better but his arm was really sore from the tetanus shot. My dad and his wife gave us a nice break and took her to the Wax Museum, to lunch and to the car show at the Imperial Palace. We rested, gambled and napped. We had to go back to the Rio to officially check out of the hotel so we had some lunch there too. We lost quite a bit of money during this trip so I decided to play some Monopoly nickel machines. I cashed out for $100 and while I was waiting to be paid, I stuck a $10 into the machine next to it and eventually cashed out for another $50. It wasn’t a lot but it was better than donating. That night, we watched the Volcano and the Bellagio fountains.
Tuesday, July 9, 2002
Woke up and packed. My father was staying in the room that I was registered in. I went to use video check out but there was a $21.99 movie on the bill that was an error so I had to make a few phone calls to get that rectified. After that, we grabbed a cab and were off to the airport. We were able to use frequent flyer miles to upgrade everyone. There was bad weather on the East Coast so the flight was longer than expected. The flight attendants were really crabby too. I don’t think either of them cracked a smile once. Of course, our luggage took almost an hour to come up despite having priority tags on it. I should know by now not to expect anything else from Newark Airport but I guess I am always hopeful. We got home at 11:00 pm and were exhausted. We lost quite a bit but had a fantastic time and can’t wait until we can go back.
