Orleans 8/26 - 8/30

We got back from our trip on Thursday at 3 a.m. Took one of those less expensive America West flights, but boy does it kill my energy for a day or two after!

We stayed at the Orleans again. Here's a rundown of the events.

Started out by dropping my 3 little ones off at Grandma's, picking up my sister and driving to the airport. Arrived approx. 1 hour before takeoff. Tried to check in online before I left, but it wouldn't work (should have had a clue then that it would be an issue.)

Stood in line to check in and found out we didn't have seats on the flight (off to a great start, huh?) The rude guy that sold me the tickets apparently screwed up and deleted them afterwards. Good thing I'm a receipt keeper. Anyway, luckily there were seats available and we were assigned boarding passes within 10 mins.

Security checkpoint was interesting. My sister made the mistake of wearing overall shorts. (Yes, we are country girls at heart!) After a pat down, and a few swipes of the wand, she was finally cleared through.

Arrived at the airport in LV and waited approx. 30 mins. for bags. It didn't seem to take any longer than usual.

**** Beware of crooked cab drivers! **** I swear I have one on every single visit!!! This time was no exception. We get into a cab after standing in line for about 15 minutes and tell him we're going to the Orleans. After we're moving, he says it'll be about $19-20.00. WRONG! I say " Gee that's wierd, we stay there every visit and it's always between $12 and 15.00 depending on traffic. You weren't planning on taking us the long way were you? " He argued for a minute and I told him to just take Tropicana.

Now, it was Saturday night, so I figured there would be some traffic and it might be a little more than usual, but not that high. Sure enough, we hit every red light. But, the fare was actually only $16.20 including the airport tax. JERK - I honestly didn't bother to get his number, but next time, I'm not giving the driver any slack. I'm tired of them trying to rip me off.

Checked in at the Orleans very quickly and proceeded up to the room. Nice room on the 7th floor, but it had been smoked in. I thought it was no big deal because I'm exposed to smoke in the casinos, but boy was I wrong.

We donated a great deal of our money the first night, craps table was COLD, roulette stunk, and the dollar slots sucked up my money faster than anything. We went to bed about 2:00.

I couldn't sleep due to the fact that I couldn't breathe. Called the front desk at 3 in the morning asking for a room change. Unfortunately, their computers were down, so they couldn't find an open room for us. My sister's a smoker and it was bothering her. Believe it or not, that's a non smoking floor, but the person in the room before us must have smoked constantly. The room reeked of smoke. Thye offered to come up and spray the room with deodorizer, but I turned them down as we were both in our jammies and didn't feel like smelling lysol on top of the smoke. I've stayed there several times and had never had this problem. My chest hurt all night and I didn't sleep well. On a positive note, it was a handicapped room and the shower was nice and big with a hand held wand in it. But, it was minus an ironing board which we use every time we are there. There was a coffe pot in the room. The first cup was free, but every cup after was $1.75. OUCH

Sunday morning we changed rooms to 10th floor and received a nice, smoke free room close to the elevator with a view of the pool. SOOO much better!

We had brunch in the buffet. Used the ACG coupon to buy 1 get 1 free. Sunday brunch didn't seem any different than any other day there. But, the food was very good as usual.

Shopped the trade show most of the day Sunday and came back to the Orleans to play. We won a little, lost a little, but had a ball! Before we knew it, we had stayed up all night (most of it playing roulette). With 2 more days left, we knew we had to slow down, or we'd lose it all and be out by the pool for the rest of the time. Vegas is a miserable place to be when you have no money to spend. Went to bed early (about 1 a.m. )

Monday morning, I couldn't get my sister out of the room. She doesn't function well without 8 hours of sleep, so it was a pain to get her up and going. She's one of those that won't leave the room till her makeup is done. This time it was worth waiting for her though. I hit one of those triple star dollar slots by the walkway to the elevators on the way out for $720. (Last time we were there I hit one for $1200, so I always go back to them.) Feeling much better, we left to shop the trade shows for the day.

We came back and played and played and played. Had some nice hits on the roulette table that night. Played craps and lost it. But, I had a LOT of fun. We stayed up till 6 in the morning because we were having so much fun! Everyone was coming downstairs to check out and we were heading up to bed. It's only the 2nd time I've done this and honestly, I hope to never do it again.

Tuesday was pretty much wasted. We tried to get up and go to the shows. By the time we made it to Barbary Coast, it was about 2 p.m. The show closes at 5, so we figured we'd just stay and play. We headed back to the Orleans after a while and went to bed at about 10 after a nice dinner at Don Miguel's (used the 2 for 1 fajitas coupon).

We used the DEUCE to go back and forth on the strip. Honestly, it was okay. I hadn't heard anything good about it, so I was very skeptical. But, it seemed about the same as the regular bus used to be, only cleaner. Yes, it does stop at just about every stop, but the drivers were friendly and it was pretty comfortable. We sat upstairs one time in the very front and it was cool to see everyone on the street and where we were going. In the evening, we did have to wait for the 2nd bus because the first one was full, but it was no big deal because we weren't in a hurry to get anywhere.

For those of you looking at the Orleans, I highly recommend it. The restaurants we've tried are very good. The coffee shop has excellent omelets and the midnight specials are great too! We love Don Miguels ...their margaritas are really good. I was irritated with the $100 deposit just to use my personal laptop in the room though.

Wednesday, we raced around trying to work. I felt guilty for taking the day off on Tuesday, but we were wiped out. All in all, we got the job done on Wed. I made a lot of new contacts for the business, so the trip was money well spent. Went back to the Orleans about 6:00, called home to find out where my hubby left the car at the airport and packed quickly. One more trip to the dollar machines and off to the craps table. Lost $160 in about 5 minutes at the table. OUCH!

Decided to switch tables because they sounded awfully happy. A new shooter (lady) was rolling so I thought, okay, we might get some money back. Something about those new shooters.... Anyway, she 7'd out about 8 rolls later. A couple more people tried, to no avail. I passed the dice to my sister. I'd been trying all weekend and couldn't make a point. She rolled, and rolled and rolled for quite a while! I made $260 back in about 15 minutes. I LOVE that game!!!

We raced up to the room to get our bags, checked out and made it to the airport in record time. Had a great cab driver on the way back. He was so funny! He was telling jokes all the way over.

Checked in curbside at the airport with no problem. Walked, and walked and walked to the gate. That airport seems so huge after walking Vegas for 4 days. My feet still hurt.

Had some time to kill and couldn't resist the quarter slots. I won $25 right before we left.

Flight home was uneventful, and arrived on time. Crawled into bed with my hubby at about 3:15 a.m. The baby woke me up at 7:45. So needless to say, I was dragging my butt all day yesterday.

Long story short, we both came home with money in our pockets. We left some there, but for all the entertainment we had, it was well worth it.

Never had a Mikey sighting....but we saw Big Elvis again (boy that guy can really sing!) I think this is the first time I've been there that I didn't see a bride walking around in her gown. Maybe it was the weather. It was pretty hot!

I tried a couple new drinks while I was there. You should have seen the look I got from the bartender when I told him I'd only had wine, tequila, daquiris and margaritas before. When I came home, I was able to tell my husband I had sex on the beach with a pink squirrel. It was good for a laugh. I can't wait to go back in 6 mos!

In the meantime, I'm trying to catch up on some sleep and get rid of the bags under my eyes.

 

I'm going to have to check out those triple star slots next time. The ACG pays for itself at The Orleans. Glad you brought some money home with you.

 

A good friend of mine and his wife are headed to Orleans next week. On your advice, I will give him my 2-1 Fajitas coupon. Sounds like you enjoyed it.
Any other suggestions.

 

I like the Orleans too. Sounds like you had a good time.

what was the $100 deposit all about?