wizard950
High-Roller
Before I begin anything else, I would like to thank everyone here for all the knowledge they have shared in this community. I would especially like to thank Gregrio for his information about the Rio, Gold Coast and the many shows he has attended. And a special thanks to Mikey for his personal commentary on the Bootlegger's Bistro and the Rat Pack Tribute Show at the Greek Isles. I want to apologize for not being able to get up to the Suncoast to say thanks personally. Maybe next time and there will be a next time someday.
This is quite long and I apologize in advance for that. Because of my heart condition and age (I guess) I can’t do the things I once did and would like to do again someday, so please don’t expect a “white bikini with nipples†type story although I would enjoy that too!
We were in Las Vegas last year and I was feeling mighty poorly. I didn’t know what was wrong I just knew something was not right and I couldn’t walk 50 feet without stopping to rest. In short I wasn’t feeling good and the trip was a miserable experience. Within a week of being home we knew what was wrong and what had to be done to correct it. Last July 13th I had a triple bypass. Before the surgery I promised my wife that I would take her and the kids back to Las Vegas if I pulled through this thing OK. And off we went this year!
Pictures will follow once I get them all sorted and arranged.
OBSERVATIONS
1. America is definitely taking a summer vacation this year. Before we left Philadelphia, every major parking facility near the airport was fully booked. Every plane we were on, both directions was full. Every airport we were in Philadelphia, Phoenix and Las Vegas was very, very crowded. This to me is a good thing, although with all this demand there is no wonder why there are few travel bargains out there this year.
2. Las Vegas knows how to treat a visitor. Except in one case we received Outstanding Customer Service everywhere we visited.. The one exception was late at night when one of the Harrah's to Rio shuttle buses broke down and was taken out of service. No one provided any information to the many people waiting in the still hot night and when a bus did stop the driver was surly and generally not very nice. He kept mumbling something about "Shooting the Messenger!â€
3. The heat! It was very, very hot. Las Vegas set records the first 4 days we were there. It was in the triple digit teens all week except for Wednesday and Thursday when it dropped to 110 and 109. And that felt good!
4. There are a lot of eastern European people working in the hotel service industry. I thought this was an Atlantic City phenomenon but it is happening in Las Vegas as well. Our valet at the Paris Hotel was from Gdansk, Poland (that’s the city my grandfather was from when he came to America). We had a nice conversation about the old country. Several of our waitresses during the week were from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Macedonia.
THE TRIP
Saturday 7/16 - I stayed up and at 12:01am I printed all of my boarding passes straight through to Las Vegas. All A passes! We left the house at 5am and arrived at the parking facility around 6:10am. We were shuttled to the Philadelphia airport and checked out bags curbside. It's a good thing we got there a little early; the security lines were very, very long. Everyone was patient and it went as well as could be expected. Our plane arrived from Raleigh, NC just in the nick of time for Southwest to disembark all the passengers, go over the aircraft and board all of us heading west. We arrived in Phoenix right on time but were delayed in departing because of the huge number of people in the airport trying to switch planes etc etc etc. We took off only 10 minutes late. The pilot said he would try to make up the lost time. He did. I think we were in the air a grand total of 38 minutes between Phoenix and Las Vegas.
McCarran was a zoo, but an organized zoo. We got our bags after a short train ride, a nice long walk to the very last carousel in the terminal. After just a few minutes waiting our bags, all of them, showed up and we were off to catch one of the Avis shuttle buses. We left the terminal and immediately determined that it was going to be a hot week! Since I had booked my “Avis Preferred†reservation on the internet through the AARP all of the required paperwork was completed. The bus dropped us off directly at our vehicle which was running with the A/C on and an Avis attendant there to assist us with our bags. I had booked a Chevy Uplander van since there were 5 of us in the group. A good choice, it was very roomy without being too big and served us very well for the entire week.
It was around 1:45 when we finally left the Avis facility. A tradition we have always had when arriving in Las Vegas on a Saturday is to attend the 2:30pm Vigil Mass at the Cathedral across the street from the Stardust to satisfy our Sunday obligation. I always enjoy this visit to the Cathedral. It gives me a chance to get my head back on straight after a long day of travel.
After mass it was off to Walgreen’s for some supplies for the room. This Walgreen’s was kind of expensive but considering the location, I guess not too bad.
Finally off to the Rio for check-in; being a Diamond Card holder we were escorted into the new Diamond Check-In Area; very nice, very plush and no lines whatsoever. Check-in was smooth, our rooms were 1545, my son and his wife were in 1347 and my daughter was in 1690, all in the Ipanema Tower. Rooms 1545, 1690 were renovated, 1347 was not. The renovations are ongoing one wing of our floor was closed for renovations as well as a couple of other wings on different floors.
After settling in a bit and a nice hot shower, we headed of to the Sao Paulo Café for a light supper, After a long day of travel and the time change no one was super hungry, we were all tired but knew we had to stay up so that we could be semi-normal come Sunday morning.
After supper we all headed off in separate directions. I parlayed a $20 bill on a dollar Double-Diamond slot into $500 on a nickel King of the Nile slot. Then it was off to bed for me.
Sunday 7/17 – Up sort of early at 8am and off to breakfast. The kids went to the pool before the heat of the day set in. I went up to the room and read the paper and just sort of vegged for a short while. Around noon the 5 of us gathered and headed off to the Gold Coast using the instructions Gregrio provide on this forum. It was a profitable walk for my wife. She took $400 out of a nickel Cleopatra slot and get this $1,243 our of a penny Mr. Cashman. I pretty much stayed even and I don’t remember what the kids did. For those who may be wondering the liquor store and the gift shop in the Gold Coast have been combined into one room. The liquor prices are very reasonable and there is a good selection of brands and sizes. I liked the Gold Coast casino. It was much quieter than the Masquerade Village in the Rio.
Late afternoon and back to the Rio. Dinner was at 6pm at Bamboleo. I’m not much of an expert on Mexican food so my opinion is what it is to me. We all enjoyed our meals, the Fajita I had was wonderful. I really enjoyed it. After dinner the kids were off to the Penn & Teller show. I was able to get them half price tickets which was a bonus for their budget. We spent the rest of the night playing the slots at the Rio.
Monday 7/18 – A laid back day. That was the plan anyway. Started the day off with a nice breakfast followed by a prolonged session at the pools; followed by a nice nap in the room. For some reason I was running on empty today. Must be age catching up with me. About 4:30 or so we went over to the Orleans to check it out. It’s a nice place, had a hot dog from the cart in the Sports Book to tide us over to dinner which will be much later at the Bootlegger’s Bistro. Then being the tourists we were, we went over to the Las Vegas sign, parked at the Klondike (What a seedy joint this is!), and took lots of pictures. Off to the Bistro we went.
What a wonderful place this is! Here we hooked up with the rest of the family for our 8:30 reservation. There were 14 of us surrounding this big long table. Since it was Monday, it was Celebrity Karaoke Night with Kelly Clinton. The meals were fabulous! Not one thing bad. I had the Bootlegger Mixed Antipasti (Shrimp Scampi, Calamari and Toasted Ravioli) as an appetizer that I shared with three other people. My main course was the Bistecca French Sauté USDA Prime (NY Steak Sautéed to Perfection, Topped with Mushrooms and a Peppercorn Wine Sauce). Fabulous and large! So bring a big appetite. The entire bill for 14 people with drinks, a handful of appetizers and soups, and assorted main courses was $500 including the built in 18% gratuity for groups. www.bootleggerlasvegas.com
The Karaoke show started with Kelly Clinton doing a couple of numbers and making a fuss over me because she liked the way I looked and my chrome dome. Like Santa Claus, she said. Then a parade of other singers followed, all excellent. Not a clunker in the group. No big names tonight, just a lot of back up singers, lounge singers and up and comers; an outstanding night of entertainment for the price of a meal. Back to the Rio for a little more play.
End of Part 1
This is quite long and I apologize in advance for that. Because of my heart condition and age (I guess) I can’t do the things I once did and would like to do again someday, so please don’t expect a “white bikini with nipples†type story although I would enjoy that too!
We were in Las Vegas last year and I was feeling mighty poorly. I didn’t know what was wrong I just knew something was not right and I couldn’t walk 50 feet without stopping to rest. In short I wasn’t feeling good and the trip was a miserable experience. Within a week of being home we knew what was wrong and what had to be done to correct it. Last July 13th I had a triple bypass. Before the surgery I promised my wife that I would take her and the kids back to Las Vegas if I pulled through this thing OK. And off we went this year!
Pictures will follow once I get them all sorted and arranged.
OBSERVATIONS
1. America is definitely taking a summer vacation this year. Before we left Philadelphia, every major parking facility near the airport was fully booked. Every plane we were on, both directions was full. Every airport we were in Philadelphia, Phoenix and Las Vegas was very, very crowded. This to me is a good thing, although with all this demand there is no wonder why there are few travel bargains out there this year.
2. Las Vegas knows how to treat a visitor. Except in one case we received Outstanding Customer Service everywhere we visited.. The one exception was late at night when one of the Harrah's to Rio shuttle buses broke down and was taken out of service. No one provided any information to the many people waiting in the still hot night and when a bus did stop the driver was surly and generally not very nice. He kept mumbling something about "Shooting the Messenger!â€
3. The heat! It was very, very hot. Las Vegas set records the first 4 days we were there. It was in the triple digit teens all week except for Wednesday and Thursday when it dropped to 110 and 109. And that felt good!
4. There are a lot of eastern European people working in the hotel service industry. I thought this was an Atlantic City phenomenon but it is happening in Las Vegas as well. Our valet at the Paris Hotel was from Gdansk, Poland (that’s the city my grandfather was from when he came to America). We had a nice conversation about the old country. Several of our waitresses during the week were from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Macedonia.
THE TRIP
Saturday 7/16 - I stayed up and at 12:01am I printed all of my boarding passes straight through to Las Vegas. All A passes! We left the house at 5am and arrived at the parking facility around 6:10am. We were shuttled to the Philadelphia airport and checked out bags curbside. It's a good thing we got there a little early; the security lines were very, very long. Everyone was patient and it went as well as could be expected. Our plane arrived from Raleigh, NC just in the nick of time for Southwest to disembark all the passengers, go over the aircraft and board all of us heading west. We arrived in Phoenix right on time but were delayed in departing because of the huge number of people in the airport trying to switch planes etc etc etc. We took off only 10 minutes late. The pilot said he would try to make up the lost time. He did. I think we were in the air a grand total of 38 minutes between Phoenix and Las Vegas.
McCarran was a zoo, but an organized zoo. We got our bags after a short train ride, a nice long walk to the very last carousel in the terminal. After just a few minutes waiting our bags, all of them, showed up and we were off to catch one of the Avis shuttle buses. We left the terminal and immediately determined that it was going to be a hot week! Since I had booked my “Avis Preferred†reservation on the internet through the AARP all of the required paperwork was completed. The bus dropped us off directly at our vehicle which was running with the A/C on and an Avis attendant there to assist us with our bags. I had booked a Chevy Uplander van since there were 5 of us in the group. A good choice, it was very roomy without being too big and served us very well for the entire week.
It was around 1:45 when we finally left the Avis facility. A tradition we have always had when arriving in Las Vegas on a Saturday is to attend the 2:30pm Vigil Mass at the Cathedral across the street from the Stardust to satisfy our Sunday obligation. I always enjoy this visit to the Cathedral. It gives me a chance to get my head back on straight after a long day of travel.
After mass it was off to Walgreen’s for some supplies for the room. This Walgreen’s was kind of expensive but considering the location, I guess not too bad.
Finally off to the Rio for check-in; being a Diamond Card holder we were escorted into the new Diamond Check-In Area; very nice, very plush and no lines whatsoever. Check-in was smooth, our rooms were 1545, my son and his wife were in 1347 and my daughter was in 1690, all in the Ipanema Tower. Rooms 1545, 1690 were renovated, 1347 was not. The renovations are ongoing one wing of our floor was closed for renovations as well as a couple of other wings on different floors.
After settling in a bit and a nice hot shower, we headed of to the Sao Paulo Café for a light supper, After a long day of travel and the time change no one was super hungry, we were all tired but knew we had to stay up so that we could be semi-normal come Sunday morning.
After supper we all headed off in separate directions. I parlayed a $20 bill on a dollar Double-Diamond slot into $500 on a nickel King of the Nile slot. Then it was off to bed for me.
Sunday 7/17 – Up sort of early at 8am and off to breakfast. The kids went to the pool before the heat of the day set in. I went up to the room and read the paper and just sort of vegged for a short while. Around noon the 5 of us gathered and headed off to the Gold Coast using the instructions Gregrio provide on this forum. It was a profitable walk for my wife. She took $400 out of a nickel Cleopatra slot and get this $1,243 our of a penny Mr. Cashman. I pretty much stayed even and I don’t remember what the kids did. For those who may be wondering the liquor store and the gift shop in the Gold Coast have been combined into one room. The liquor prices are very reasonable and there is a good selection of brands and sizes. I liked the Gold Coast casino. It was much quieter than the Masquerade Village in the Rio.
Late afternoon and back to the Rio. Dinner was at 6pm at Bamboleo. I’m not much of an expert on Mexican food so my opinion is what it is to me. We all enjoyed our meals, the Fajita I had was wonderful. I really enjoyed it. After dinner the kids were off to the Penn & Teller show. I was able to get them half price tickets which was a bonus for their budget. We spent the rest of the night playing the slots at the Rio.
Monday 7/18 – A laid back day. That was the plan anyway. Started the day off with a nice breakfast followed by a prolonged session at the pools; followed by a nice nap in the room. For some reason I was running on empty today. Must be age catching up with me. About 4:30 or so we went over to the Orleans to check it out. It’s a nice place, had a hot dog from the cart in the Sports Book to tide us over to dinner which will be much later at the Bootlegger’s Bistro. Then being the tourists we were, we went over to the Las Vegas sign, parked at the Klondike (What a seedy joint this is!), and took lots of pictures. Off to the Bistro we went.
What a wonderful place this is! Here we hooked up with the rest of the family for our 8:30 reservation. There were 14 of us surrounding this big long table. Since it was Monday, it was Celebrity Karaoke Night with Kelly Clinton. The meals were fabulous! Not one thing bad. I had the Bootlegger Mixed Antipasti (Shrimp Scampi, Calamari and Toasted Ravioli) as an appetizer that I shared with three other people. My main course was the Bistecca French Sauté USDA Prime (NY Steak Sautéed to Perfection, Topped with Mushrooms and a Peppercorn Wine Sauce). Fabulous and large! So bring a big appetite. The entire bill for 14 people with drinks, a handful of appetizers and soups, and assorted main courses was $500 including the built in 18% gratuity for groups. www.bootleggerlasvegas.com
The Karaoke show started with Kelly Clinton doing a couple of numbers and making a fuss over me because she liked the way I looked and my chrome dome. Like Santa Claus, she said. Then a parade of other singers followed, all excellent. Not a clunker in the group. No big names tonight, just a lot of back up singers, lounge singers and up and comers; an outstanding night of entertainment for the price of a meal. Back to the Rio for a little more play.
End of Part 1
)! Maybe I can talk the gang into seeing the Rat Pack when we're out there in September and if not then, maybe during MM3. 142 degrees??????? OUCH!!!!
