1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

Mandalay Bay 8/24-8/29

Discussion in 'Vegas Trip Reports' started by Lmadrid, Aug 31, 2003.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Lmadrid

    Lmadrid Tourist

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2002
    Messages:
    826
    Location:
    Boston, MA but originally from San Antonio, TX

    My Trip Report

    We hadn't been to Vegas since Nov. of last year, so we were itching for this trip. Myself, my boyfriend Tim, and two friends Steve and Jonathan went on this trip. It was Steve and Jonathan's 1st time to Vegas, so they were very hyped to say the least. We had a direct flight from Boston on Sunday night. Nothing of consequence. The movie was What a Girl Wants, suprisingly funny, and although they tell you the movie is free to watch, you have to buy headphones unless you brought your own. And they definitely make the announcement that consuming alcohol not provided by an attendent is prohibited. Oh well. We just didn't get caught. So, we get to Vegas at 10:30. The luggage took forever. Since there was 4 of us, with 4 suitcases and 2 sets of golf clubs we decided to take a limo. We paid $40, and used DS transportation. The limo was nice, and so was the driver. We had him drive us on the strip and he stopped at Fatburger so we could get some food. That Fatburger next to Walgreen's wasn't their the last time we were in town. Nice addition to the strip. So, we finally get to Mandalay Bay, and check-in. It didn't take very long since it was midnight. We got a room on the 31st floor in the Tahiti wing I believe. I can't remember for sure. I know it wasn't the Fiji wing, I just can't remember what the other one was. It was 31-134, had a view of the airport up down the strip. Not that bad of a view, although the vantage point only allowed us a view of the right side of the strip, but we could see all the way up to the Stratosphere . We sacrificed getting a king bed to stay on that high floor. So, we had 2 queens, which was fine. The bathroom was very nice, reminded me of the Aladdin bathrooms. It had a large marble shower, a big soaking tub(no jets though), 2 sinks with plenty of counter space, and a seperate room with the toilet. The only thing I didn't like was that it was the VERY LAST room in hallway aside from the big suite. So, that was a long drunken walk everynight. Our friends were on the same floor, but the other wing I can't remember. They had 31-317 and had a view of the Mandalay Beach and Four Seasons. Also, neither of these rooms had in-room safes! They said some of the rooms had been re-done and hadn't gotten safes put back in yet. So, we had to get safety deposit boxes in the lobby, which was a pain, but better than nothing. We did a little gambling that night, but went to bed around 3am.

    Mon. Aug. 25th

    We woke up mid-morning and went down to the Beach. It was really nice. I went in thinking we weren't going to be able to find anywhere to sit b/c it was close to 11 when we got there, but there was plenty of chairs available...not to say it was empty, they just had plenty of chairs. The only thing that stunk was the sand got REALLY hot. We literally said, OK Ready, and then made a run for it. The pavement was fine, but that sand burned our feet. We stayed out there for about 4 good hours. I got a nice tan. The wave pool was fun. The water was just right. The lazy river was good too and not too crowded. You have to rent the intertubes, but we didn't. We just floated along with the current. Beware of the waterfalls. They come down with real force. I definitely was expecting it to be that hard. [​IMG] Anyway, about 3pm we went upstairs and got dressed. We walked the strip from Mandalay Bay to the Mirage. It seems to get shorter every trip. We ate at the Mirage buffet, and it was as good as it has always been for us. I played a little VP there, but didn't win anything. Our friends met us there and we walked around. We saw the comedian Steve Harvey playing roulette. We all then went over the Caesar's Palace to the Forum shops. They're doing a lot of contruction at CP. The whole area that used to have all the water and stuff is gone and the entrance to the mall is different than last time. But, Tim hadn't brought ANY nice clothes with him. He had khaki shorts, but nothing to wear to any clubs. So, he bought some slacks at GAP and black dress shoes at Kenneth Cole. Neither were bad deals, and he can wear them to work, so it was a justifiable expense [​IMG] The Foundation Room is open to everyone on Monday nights after 11pm. It's $30 to get in. So, since I'd heard it was really nice that was the plan for the night. The view alone is good. Don't know if it's a place I'd pay to go to everytime I'm in town though. Anyway, after that we hit off Fatburger again. I was still full from the Mirage buffet, but Tim got a Kingburger with cheese, bacon, and a fried egg. I thought I was going to hurl. [​IMG] He said it was really good though. I just had a strawberry milkshake. It was quite good. They use real ice cream. After that we headed over to Hard Rock. This was our 5th trip and we had never gone there before. Neither of us was impressed in the slightest. The casino was SMALL, the dealer we had was VERY rude. I don't know how she has kept a job. I did well with VP, but we were there less than an hour. I doubt we will ever go back. We weren't impressed at all. There wasn't even any of the hot bodies I've read about. There was a bunch of those "goth freak" types though. (not that I'm judging, just was expecting hotties) So, we headed back to Mandalay Bay and played blackjack. Every dealer and Pit boss we encountered at Mandalay Bay was very nice. They also rated us at the table as a couple. So, tim played $15 and I played $10. I had never heard of any other place doing that, so that worked cool for us. We ended the night up $300. We headed off to bed about 4am.

    Tues. Aug. 26th

    Woke up about 11am, got dressed for the pool, and then opened the curtains. It was rainy and overcast. So, instead we got dressed, and I scheduled a hair appt. at the salon. We went for lunch first at Border Grill in the hotel. This place was very good. I had Chicken Chiliquiles and Tim had Carne Asada tacos. We also had this drink called Cuidad Punch. It only took one for my eyes to start floating. :D It was very good and the prices were reasonable. With 2 entrees, 3 drinks, tax, and a generous tip our bill was around $50. I went to my hair appt. at the Robert Cromeas salon. It was a very relaxing day. It took almost 3 hours. I got highlights and a cut. So, some of the time was spent with the dye in my hair, but they also gave me an awesome 20 min. head massage when I was getting rinsed...it might not have really been 20 min., but it seemed like it. Very relaxing! Anyway, for the all-over highlights, cut and style, 2 Paul Mitchell products I bought, and tips for the stylist and helper(she did the massage and deserved every penny) it was about $180. Pricey, but no more than I'd pay for all that stuff in Boston. I met up with Tim and we went and played blackjack for about 5 hours. I never really played blackjack before, but since it was helping us get rated I played it the majority of the trip. Our friends met up with us again and we decided to go over to the Palms and check-out Ghostbar. So, we went and got all prissed-up and went over. Of course, since we'd been inside ALL day we didn't realize it was still drizzling. So, when we got to the Palms(another place we'd never been) they weren't letting anyone else up to Ghostbar. So, instead we went to Rain. There wasn't a long wait, it was $20 cover. It was an interesting place with the rain and fire. The dance floor is small, but didn't bother us. It was pretty crowded, but we went up to the second level and stood by the railing over the bar. It was good for people watching. The music was good. It cost $16 for a beer, mixed drink, and tip. We only stayed until about 2am, then went out to the casino. I played VP and the guys played blackjack. I met up with them after a while and played some BJ too, but they eventually closed our pit, so we left after that. We went back to Mandalay Bay and played BJ until about 5am.

    Weds. Aug. 27th

    Well, since we spent the majority of Tues. drunk, we didn't wake up until around noon on Weds. We went to the pool area for about an hour and a half. It was slightly overcast, but at least the sand wasn't burning our feet this time. We ate lunch at their 24 hour cafe, Raffles. We had the nachos for appetizer(which were SOOOOO good), Tim had the Chicken teryaki bowl and I had a chicken sandwich with monterey jack and guacamole. It was on foccacia and was really good. It was only $40 for the food, 2 drinks, and tip. Not bad. After that we hit off the black jack tables for a couple hours, the casino gave us $50. ;) After that we head over to the Shark Reef. It was pretty cool. It cost $14.95 and included the use of their information wands. I thought it was worth it, but not a place I would go to over and over, unless they added something new. We went upstairs and took a little nap. We had reservations at Rumjungle for 10pm. Our friends had gone to see "O" so we had to wait for them. I thought that place was really neat. The bar was cool, the food was good, the drinks were good. All the guys had the firepit...which is when they bring all that meat out on the skewers. They give you a taste of everything then let you pick out what you want. They liked the salmon, bacon-wrapped chicken, lamb, and steak the best. It's $40/person but you can eat as much as you can handle. I had Butterflied prawns in a creamy peanut-curry sauce with cilantro rice. It was also very good. It was $32. They also have very good RUM drinks just incase you didn't know Rumjungle has over 100 varieties of RUM We tried the Volcano and Rumjungle juice...very intoxicating. So, our bill came out to $340 for the 3 firepits, my entree, 5 drinks, 2 bottles of water, and 20% tip for our awesome waiter. Not a bad deal. We all left full and drunk. We finished our meal right around the time it turns into a nightclub. They have a live band and go-go dancers. We stuck around for about 30 min. after we were done to enjoy the view and sample more of their Rum. We played a little blackjack and went to bed about 2am.

    Thurs. Aug. 28th

    We had planned to get up early enough to go to the Paris breakfast buffet, but that didn't happen. We settled for $23 room service. It was quite good. I couldn't even finish my chocolate chip pancakes. Today was also the day we were playing golf. We had a tee time at Desert Pines for 1:30. It was $50 including the cart fee. We had our own clubs, so I don't know how much it was to rent them, but I do know they rent Callaway X-16 steelheads! These are the clubs I own myself, and they weren't cheap. I hadn't ever seen a course offer such good rentals before. It was a really nice course. narrow fairways, and water coming into play on the majority of them. The cab ride from Mandalay Bay was about $20 not including tip. It depends on the traffic on I-15. There was a little more on the way back, so it was a couple bucks more. But, not bad at all. Our friends had spent all day on the Grand Canyon helicopter tour and we met them that night at MGM after they'd seen La Femme. I don't know why I bother gambling at that casino. I NEVER win! Anyway, we all took a cab up to the Stratosphere. They wanted to see the view and ride the Big Shot. I had always wanted to ride it also, but Tim is too chicken shit, so I was excited to finally have someone ride it with me. It was so awesome. We got seats on the side that faced the strip. They shoot you into the air at 4Gs...nothing but dark sky above us, and can't see anything directly below us. The view UP there of the strip is even better...if you're brave enough to keep your eyes open. [​IMG] We had planned to go downtown that night, but they were tired so we all just went back to the hotel. Tim and I gambled a little but not for long. We also noticed a few of the adult "film" stars trickling in that night. They were having the adult Video Industry Awards there that weekend...I wonder what kind of categories they have there...I could think of a couple. ;)

    Fri., Aug. 29th

    This was our last day there, but our flight didn't leave until 10pm, so we extended our check-out until 1pm. Again we didn't get up early enough to go to Paris. So, we just lounged around until we had to check out. We rode down in the elevator with Jenna Jameson. All the guys didn't know what to do with themselves! We dropped off all our stuff at the Bell desk. Tim took a free Poker lesson at 2pm and I played nickle VP. I won $85. He said he learned alot. They went over rules and etiquette, then got play chips and played a bunch of hands. He said he learned a bunch but I'm sure most of you guys would still run him for all his money!!!! We ended up at La Salsa down the street from MGM for a late lunch. Tim wanted to do the Burrito Champion challenge. He had to eat a 2 1/2 pound burrito and drink a thick 48 oz. margarita. He ate about 97% of the food and drank about 85% of the margarita. The waitress gave him the champion t-shirt anyway b/c she said it was more than she'd ever seen anyone eat. [​IMG] I just got a regular sized burrito and margarita, and also got to finish off his margarita! Yum! We both rolled ourselves back to Mandalay Bay b/c it felt too hot to walk around outside. We played somemore blackjack but all met up again and left for the airport about 8pm. This time we just took a cab. Both our arrival and departure were out of the D terminal. We'd never used this one before, but I like it. The trams were fast enough too. We didn't really wait long on either end. Our airplane was late getting there so we didn't take off until after 11pm. They showed "The Core" but after about 5 min. I realized how bad it was, took a Tylenol PM, turned on the country music station, and fell asleep. 4 1/2 hours later we landed in Boston...another Vegas trip in the bag.

    All in all I think it was our best trip so far. We didn't see any shows, make it downtown, eat the Paris breakfast buffet, or make it to the Rio, but we got to see things we hadn't seen before, and it was fun to see the things we knew about through the eyes of our Vegas virgin friends. They were so excited about everything it made us excited. Mandalay Bay was awesome...especially sweet since we got that $99/night rate I found on this board!! We won about $700, but left Vegas about even. We used the winnings we were getting to pay for all the food and fun. So, you can't really ask for more than that. I think next time we won't stay for 6 days though. I think 5 is my absolute max. I also wish we'd have played more golf, but it was just too hot. Sorry, this got a little longer than expected. Hope you all made it to the end!!

    [ September 01, 2003, 01:52 AM: Message edited by: Lmadrid ]
     
  2. sunni

    sunni VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2003
    Messages:
    1,620
    Location:
    Sunshine State
    Lmadrid,
    Great Report ! Coming out about even in Vegas is a definite Win....

    sunni [​IMG]
     
  3. Mia4071

    Mia4071 Tourist

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2002
    Messages:
    1,305
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    15
    Great Report [​IMG] I can't wait till i get back there. thanks for all the details on your trip.

    Too bad you didn't enjoy the Foundation bar that much. But I guess you are right for $30 bucks don't think I would be up in that place every time either. We were lucky to have VIP that time -- so I guess next time if I don't I won't be there either [​IMG]

    Glad to see you guys had fun... [​IMG]
     
  4. Lmadrid

    Lmadrid Tourist

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2002
    Messages:
    826
    Location:
    Boston, MA but originally from San Antonio, TX
    Oh, we definitely liked the Foundation Room, but I just don't think we'd pay to go again. We'd definitely go if we had VIP, but I doubt that will ever happen :D We definitely had a great trip. I think our favorite to date so far. Mandalay Bay is awesome. This time last week I was laying in the sun by their wavepool.........now I'm back home, in the rain, going back to work. [​IMG]
     
  5. LV Terry

    LV Terry Captain Flop'N Fold

    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2001
    Messages:
    3,957
    Location:
    Santa Barbara, CA, USA
    Outstanding report!! Thanks for taking the time to write it up! Sounded like a great trip....Mandalay Bay, golf, drinking, porn stars, limo ride....all good!! [​IMG]

    makin' me itch!! ~30 days to go
     
  6. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

    Joined:
    Feb 24, 2002
    Messages:
    26,512
    Location:
    North Carolina
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    16
    We watched the E! True Story of Jenna Jameson last night--my hubby actually didn't remember who she was, and it happened to be on tv, right as I was telling him you rode in the elevator with her!
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.