Memorial Day Trip 8 days long...

5/24/08 Saturday - FIRST DAY

J and I left today for Las Vegas. Our flight out with American Airlines was not until 12:40 p.m. so we were not rushed too early in the morning. As I have previously mentioned in my posts J and I moved into our new house one week before our vacation. We lived on the second story so you can image this was well deserved. We had a layover in Dallas/Fort Worth and then we made it to McCarran Airport at about 7:00 p.m. Las Vegas time. We took a shuttle to Sahara where we would be staying the first two nights. Check in was easy and I had reserved a deluxe room, which is a standard room that has been recently remolded and is in the Tangiers Tower. The room was rather large and in fine shape for a hotel I would compare say to a Best Western. We ate a simple dinner of sandwiches in the Caravan Café at the Casino. I had a Bloody Mary and was hooked the rest of the trip. It was fabulous! We gambled and drank a little then called it a night a little early.

SECOND DAY

We easily woke up early this morning and had breakfast at the Caravan Café. We sat by an actor we noticed from the movie Happy Gilmore. His name is Richard Kiel. We didn’t disturb him or his family but it was neat. We tried Keno for the first time while we waited on our meal. Weird game. We walked to the Rivera and signed up for their player’s card. I got a whopping $1 free play and J got $2. We gambled just a little in there and then we walked across the road to Slots of Fun. We hadn’t been there since our first trip and for some reason it was better the way we remembered it. This time we didn’t have any luck and were bored. We tried the $.99 ½ pound hot dog. It was fine, well worth the money. We visited Imperial Palace via the monorail from Sahara. We gambled for a while. Walked by the scary looking Dealertainers. I don’t get the hype. I couldn’t figure out who most were. We had some sake at the Sake Bar, which only had one kind of sake (great selection considering it was the cheap shit we have at home). It was ok but you are not supposed to warm sake in the microwave and that is how it was heated there. Not sure the difference. We took the monorail to MGM Grand and stopped off at Fat Tuesdays for a frozen beverage. (This was the drink of the trip) We had tickets to see Robin Williams in the Grand Garden Arena. Robin Williams was so funny that when we left there we were complaining how our stomachs hurt from laughing for almost 2 hours. It was well worth the money. J almost got in a fight with some pathetic dude at the food court where we grabbed some pizza for dinner. We picked up another drink from Fat Tuesdays and headed back to gamble the night away.

THIRD DAY – MEMORIAL DAY

So glad I was not checking in today. As we walked to Grind Café for an easy breakfast we passed the check in backed up about a hundred people. There appeared to be at least a whopping 3 employees at the desk. Grind Café serves really good coffee. This was our day to leave Sahara and check in at Flamingo. After packing and checking out through the express checkout on the TV, we grabbed a taxi to our new hotel. The fare was $11 and we gave him $15. He was nice and quiet. I hate small talk! Check in was easy and short. We were told the maid was cleaning our room and it would be about 45 minutes before we could pick up our keys. We were getting exactly the room we wanted. We asked for a Go Deluxe room (pink). We had previously had this room and fell in love. We were on the 26 floor (room #26023), right by the elevators, tower closest to Bills facing the Habitat. Everything was perfect! I love their pillows there and I am determined to come home with one some day. On a previous visit we found out they sell most of the items in the room but not the pillows. That’s a shame. Anyone ever conveniently packed a pillow for home and been charged for it? Anyway we took the monorail to the Convention Center and boarded the free shuttle to the Wynn. The lady who drove the shuttle was so friendly and welcoming. We proceeded to get a players card with the intention of getting 50 points for the buffet but we were informed that this deal had been replaced by the new electronic spin for a chance at unbelievable prizes. Ok the more believable on the wheel was the $10 free play we both received. Some people in front of us did win a good prize of buffet or show tickets. The slots are really nice to you at this casino. We had fun. We walked over to the new Palazzo and checked this place out. We received $15 free slot play that went absolutely nowhere. Oh and we noticed they really pride themselves on having a large non-smoking area. So beware. Nothing really exciting in this casino makes average people look poor! We headed back to Flamingo and ate dinner at Hamada of Japan. Terrific as usual. We got the loveboat, vegas roll, and sake.

FOURTH DAY

We walked over to Bills to check out Blackjack. For some reason this trip I was just not in the mode to play. Earlier I tried the new video BJ with the fake dealer at Sahara. That was just weird and she kept hitting on my boyfriend. :wink We ate breakfast in the Victorian Room and found out they have a steak and egg special. Steak, eggs, hash browns, and toast for $9.99. We went to Planet Hollywood and I remembered that I do not care for that place very much. I have concluded it is because they have those timeshare people all over the freakin place. I walked to the restroom and got bombarded the whole way in and out. We walked to Paris and boarded the free shuttle to Rio. Gambled a little there then walked over to Gold Coast. This was our first time there and I had the intention of playing bingo. Once I arrived in the bingo hall I was quick to change my mind when I stood at the desk for a good fifteen minutes before I was told a new game would start in an hour come back then. Auh no! Why couldn’t they have told me that fifteen minutes ago without ignoring me or at least have some signs up. They had some kind of deal going on with a Tequila so we each had a couple of $3 margaritas that were pretty yummy. We tried the Indiana Jones slots but had no luck. So we walked over to the Palms. Where I proceeded to have really good luck. I won about $35 on a Star Wars machine and then about $50 or so on a Wheel of Fortune, the one where you pay the extra coins to try and spell WHEEL out of the reels. I kept hitting it over and over! Also, I earned enough points for being a new players card member and received a free backpack. Kind of cool for just playing. Eventually we made it back to the strip and found Casino Royale. I am sure most everyone knows but just in case: Their $50 slot play is actually only played on certain machines and it is only for a chance to win $100-$5000. You cannot actually win the credits only use them for more spins of the reels for more chances to win the money. It was ok but of course we didn’t win anything. I like other places real free play better you have more chance of making some money from it. Tonight we had purchased VIP tickets to see Dirty: Hypnosis Unleashed at the Krave Theatre, using a coupon from one of those books. Again this was so worth our money. The VIP got you front row seats (but the theatre is small and intimate anyway) and access to the open bar. This guy was great and I highly recommend the show and encourage anyone to be a participate.

FIFTH DAY

Today I woke up early and lounged in the bathtub watching TV in the mirror (so cool). We discovered the O’Sheas food court thanks to someone’s post on here. We ate Subway. We rode the monorail to the Las Vegas Hilton. For their players card we each received a nightlight that has a picture frame on it. I finally had some luck with the Deal or No Deal machines and got some cash! We tried a mixed drink at Quark’s Bar. It was a special Star Trek drink that was smoking. The drink was made for two and we enjoyed it. We met another couple and told them the secret path to Fat Tuesdays in MGM. They were staying there, tried to follow a map and find it, and had no luck. That place is really weird but we later found out by a bartender there that MGM doesn’t own those places in Star Lane but leases them out so that is why they don’t want you to find it because then you will spend your money in their stores. Later that night we walked through Bally’s and exited out the back door and headed to Ellis Island. We really enjoyed the $7 steak special. (Salad, drink [microbrewed beer or rootbeer], steak, green beans, and baked potato) It was well worth it and we will go back. We took a taxi from Bally’s to NYNY it was $11 after tip. We had tickets to see Zumanity. We had the “love seatsâ€. For anyone else that is worried out there as my boyfriend was if you tell your usher that you do not want to participate they are not supposed to make you. It worked out fine for us. This theatre is small compared to the other Cirque shows we have seen. The love seats were fine but it might be worth seeing again some day just to get to see some of the things you miss by being that close. As you are probably aware this show is pretty sexual and being that close is pretty intimate. With all Cirque shows there is so much going on sitting that close it was hard to keep up with everything. We gambled a little in Excalibur and then ventured over to Luxor to check out the new look. I can’t say it is bad. I mean the ceilings are a lot lower and it is definitely blue but it just seems they are going for a more modern look. Maybe it will for them, maybe it won’t. We got some more drinks from Fat Tuesdays before getting on the monorail from MGM.

SIXTH DAY

Today we decided we were going to try out the Wynn buffet even though we didn’t get it for free. We took the shuttle over and had lunch. The buffet was great and I saved lots of room for dessert and then chowed down. That was so good! But you would think that being the Wynn and all that there would be some classy people right? Oh no! The table next to us was 2 couples. The men dressed in suits and the ladies dressed in nice floral dresses. Well as soon as they are seated the two men get up and tell the ladies to order their drinks. What gentlemen! So the one lady decides her feet are killing her in her nice pumps. So she brings her foot up to her lap and rests it on the table to massage her foot that is wrapped in Band-Aids I guess to avoid blisters. I am trying so hard to ignore them and move on but she was right in my line of view and I couldn’t help but watch. Now I know from experience that the restrooms are almost always located outside of the restaurant so I knew she wasn’t going to wash her hands before lunch. Oh no she went as far as to remove the old bandages and sit them on her table and then put new ones on. Gross not the right place for this. Later on one of the guys decides he could not wait on his refill so he walks up to the waiter stand picks up the pitcher of iced tea takes it back to his table and fills everyone’s glasses and takes it back. A few minutes later the waiter picks up the pitcher walks some distance to their table before he realizes their glasses are full and then walks the other way with the pitcher. So the meal ends for them and the men get up again for whatever and the ladies decide they are stuffed so they each stretch their legs out and prop their feet in the men’s chairs. So funny the manager walks over and says, “Excuse me you cannot do that. You need to put your feet on the floor.†It was awesome. I wish I would have said something to these nasty “classy†people but I felt better than them in my jeans and t-shirt. I just had to share this story. Sorry for the gross description. We gambled most of the day and ate Ah Sin’s all you can eat sushi for $19.99. It was ok and worth the money but the service was pretty bad. We had seats outside and could see the Bellagio fountains throughout dinner. We walked through Forum Shops and found their Fat Tuesdays Bar. This is a franchise so it was a little different. We still had tickets from Sahara so we rode the monorail back down and played there a little while. We hung out on the deck at Margaritaville before calling it a night after some drunk girl about passed out on me.

SEVENTH DAY – LAST FULL DAY

We ate Sbarro’s pizza in Bally’s for brunch and then rode monorail to MGM. We found the Sigma Derby and watched for a little bit that is strange and I really don’t understand how it is played. We walked over to Monte Carlo as this was the last official casino we needed to visit to say we had been to them all on the strip. Now we have played in them, got player’s cards, and used their restrooms. Our money went kind of far on the slots here so we stayed a little while. Later we took stuff we had picked up as souvenirs to our room and then took the monorail back down to Las Vegas Hilton. There is a slot in here that J wants me to post about. It is near the entrance to Quark’s Bar. It is a Star Trek slot. Are you surprised? No, really though it is neat because you create an id and then every time you play with that id you will earn new bonus games to play and in turn earn more money from the bonus. It is different. I also tried out the electronic roulette slot and I had some fun. I cannot see how people really get crazy about this game since it is so random but it is fun when you win money by guessing the number right. I actually did it once. We went to Sahara and had dinner at Paco’s Tacos. It was really good Mexican food. We eventually went back to Excalibur and played and seen some drunk girl get arrested. We had another drink from Fat Tuesdays and gambled in the Flamingo and Bills until really earlier in the morning.

EIGHTH DAY – LEAVING

I was able to get us a noon check out instead of 11:00 so we gambled in the casino for a while but I was starting to lose money by the end of the trip so I was taking it pretty slow. We had breakfast next door in the O’Shea’s food court at the restaurant that serves Mexican food at night and just regular American breakfast. I highly recommend this place for a cheap fried breakfast. J had a bagel egg sandwich and I had gravy and biscuits. We took a cab to the airport $18 after tip. We had some trouble getting home due to a storm but we finally made it home to our new house about 11:00 p.m. EST time. Our parking was only $35 so that was great. Way to go economy parking! We brought back a little over 1/3 of the money we took to gamble so I call that a win. We look forward to going back to Las Vegas some time in the future. But we may take a break from it to go to the beach and visit Japan. I am not sure that I recommend this long of a trip to someone who gets bored easily. We had a lot of free time and since we do not take a large bankroll sometimes it was hard to keep ourselves entertained.

 

Thanks for the TR! 8 days can be a bit long if it's all gambling. I know I'd need to see at least 5-6 shows in that much of a time frame. Makes me wish I saw Robin Williams that Sunday.

 

Sounds like you had a good time. 5 days is getting to be too much for me, so I can see how you were a little bored with 8.

 

Nice report. I completely am seeing those people with their feet on the chairs. Oh so classy... On our last visit we encountered the same sort of group at the Grand Lux. They were classy people al the way when they came in. Nice suit , nice dress... But their behavior, i never seen something so bad. They where asked to be quit and behave or else leave the place.

8 days is long, since i have to come in from europe we tend to stay longer but the last three times we just stay 4 days and enjoy a few days in chicago or washington on our way back. We like it much better.

 

Great trip report!

 

Great report. Sahara is one of the last old time properties on the strip. I enjoy visiting there. Thanks for posting!

 

Sounds like a good time!

I always have to laugh at the "gifts" that are given at the hotels (nightlight). One time my girlfriend and I received gifts from the Sahara...bathrobe, coffee cup, ball cap AND one of those huge spotlights that plugs into the car's cigarette lighter. We lugged those things on the bus and all night long while Downtown. Crazy!

Glad to hear that the WYNN staff called the socialites on their gawdy behavior.

 

Great Trip Report!! We are going for 5 days but I am sure it will not be too long with a newbie in tow.

Thanks for posting.

 

Another Fat Tuesdays Lover....YAHOO!!! The one at MGM is my favorite. There is also one at the shops by Planet Hollywood.
Loved the story about the lady peeling band aids at her table.......classic

 

Great trip report...I have ??? I never heard of the Wynn shuttle, going to have an 80 yr old with me in Sept and will prob still be 100 degrees. I don't think I should make her walk it. Where do you pick it up? I was considering just hopping the deuce to get down there. At Wynn did they say anything about 150 pts on new card getting buffets? I have seen reference to this in other posts. How many points at Palms for the newbie card? I got all kinds of cool stuff there with new card sign up a few years ago, might have mom in law sign up and help her earn stuff. Thanks.