theking0075
Tourist
The king and his queen (female wife, not queen, queen) have returned from what can only be called the best Vegas trip EVER! So let’s begin. We arrived at the B’ham airport about an hour and 15 before departure. This was the first trip on Southwest for both of us so we didn’t know that when you check in determined your boarding zone. We ended up in zone B. Not sure if this is the way it is on all Southwest flights, but only like 5 people were in zone B, 3 in zone C, and the rest in zone A. The king and his queen ended up in the back of the plane, across the aisle from one another, which wasn’t so bad. The king ended up next to a talkative young lady and her boyfriend of 7 YEARS (just marry the girl already). They were catching a connecting flight in Vegas to Yosemite National Park. If the king were to ever go to Yosemite, his connection would have to go through some other city than Vegas cause when the king is in Vegas, he stays in Vegas. 6 completed crossword puzzles later, we have arrived!
The airport is still under construction, but baggage claim has been completed since the king’s last visit. The taxi line was LONG, but moved quickly so we were on our way to the Hilton Grand Vacations Club at the Hilton in under an hour. Everything good you have heard about HGVC is true! There was no line at check-in, the staff was very friendly and we were up in the room immediately even though it was 2 hours before check-in. The king was bothering the girl behind the counter about an upgrade so she showed him all the rooms that were available and let him pick the one he wanted. He picked 1126, right over the pool and a good view of Sahara, Circus Circus, and Wynn, but the rest of the strip view is obstructed by Jockey Club condos. With this room the HGVC folks are really reeling the king in. The room is nice in the places you notice at first glance, but not so nice in the places you wouldn’t. Cheap wall paper, carpet, and furniture, but a washer and dryer (which allowed the king to pack light a do laundry every other day), full size coffee maker, double sinks in the bathroom, and two TVs! These places were made to be sold after being shown for only 15 minutes!
Quark’s Bar
The queen wants to unpack but the king is ready to head to the Hilton for lunch at Quark’s. The king wins out and we are on our way. The walk to the Hilton is very short and the nearest door is right by Star Trek the Experience. The décor of Quark’s is not as good as it should be. Just because you paint everything silver, doesn’t mean it looks like a space station. At 2:30 on a Saturday the place was not even half full but the service was VERY SLOW! The staff’s uniforms look more like those of BJ dealer’s at Caesar’s than starfleet officers. The king started with a Klingon Blood wine then had a Romulan ale. To be the best drinks in the galaxy, they tasted a lot like Old Milwaukee died red or blue. Captain Kirk searched the universe for it’s best drink and it turns out he just needed to be told that Old Milwaukee had a taste as great as it’s name.
The king (once he finally gets to place an order) orders chicken marcella and the queen has a chicken quesadellia and the rings of orion (big onion rings). Not very high quality food here and the sauces are terrible. The characters walking around however, are excellent. The king expected them to look somewhat cheesy, but they look like they are right off the set of the TV show. Plus, they come by and speak with you and are never out of character! Almost made up for the bad food and service. Bottom line, this is a fun experience for a treker, but not a place to go for good eats. I give it a 5/10.
The king has that itch and soon will require cards and chips be placed in front of him. First, however, knowing he will do lots of playing at the Hilton he heads to the player’s club. He receives his card and is told to take it to the Supernova booth where all he has to do is spell MILLION and he wins a million bucks. The king immediately thinks, “I’m a freakin MILLIONAIRE!†M-I-L-L-I-O-N, easy, right? Must be some catch. Surely the Hilton isn’t given a million dollars to every one who can spell million. Maybe I have to spell it in Arabic or something. The king hands his card to the guy at the booth and quickly says, “M-I-L-L-I-O-N, now is that a check or do I get cash?†Turns out they have a touch screen and the letters are hidden behind planets. The king spells MILLIE and is done. Spelling Millie gets you a t-shirt, L or XL, neither of which will fit the king so he gives it to his father when he returns and the man literally has not taken it off since! The queen spelled MILLA and got a Hilton key chain.
Time for a little single deck BJ and things did not start off well at all on this trip. This was the king’s worst run of BJ EVER! Lost the first 8 hands and 12 of 13 total. If not for splitting 8’s vs a 7 with a double down, I would have been done much sooner. The queen was having better luck so the king decided to take a tour of the casino. The Hilton casino is very small to be in such a large hotel. The sports book was nice and the king got some action on Tony Stewart in the NASCAR race since he was 11-1 and had won 5 of the last 8 races. The sports book staff was very friendly, but I’ve never met someone at a sports book that wasn’t friendly. Probably cause they never have to deal with losers. If you lose a sports bet, you just throw away the ticket. You don’t head back to the counter unless you win. The new Hilton poker room will be in the back of the sports book. It looks like it will be a little small, but nice.
The king then got his first exposure with the Star Wars slots. A lot of fun, but they seem tight at the Hilton. Played them three time and didn’t get many hits. The king and his queen then head back to the room to watch the race. Stewart isn’t doing too well, so at 7:00 we are off to the Mirage. This will be the king’s first ride on the new monorail, which is OK. Not as nice as the one at Disney and as expected all stops will force you to walk through all the shops and the Casino of the place you end up before you get out to the strip.
We exit at Harrah’s and head across the street to the Mirage to pick up the Ray Romano Tickets. We have a few minutes before dinner at Onda’s so we play a little VP. The queen is hitting left and right, but the king is struggling (this is a common theme for this trip).
Onda’s
Business casual is the dress code but the place is full of folks in shorts and t-shirts drinking and being very loud. This kind of destroys the mood for the place. The service and the food however, were excellent! I had the veal and the queen goes for the lasagna. The veal was tender and cooked to perfection. Also the garlic and oil dipping sauce for the bread is very tasty! I’d say Onda’s was about 7/10. A little too loud, but the food and service are good!
Still had a few minutes before the Ray show so the queen wants to head back to her red hot VP machine. The king hits the slots and is still having NO LUCK. Just not his day, I guess.
Ray Romano
The Mirage theater is all theater seating. The seats are a little small, but OK. Jon Manfrellotti who played Gianni on the show is the opening act and he is pretty funny. Ray does his show at a very slow pace and some bits are very funny. I’m a huge Romano fan and noticed some of his bits are rehashed from as many as 10 years ago. They end the show taking questions and making fun of people. A good show and I am glad we went, but I saw Carrot Top last year at the MGM and overall preferred his show to this one.
Well, I have to take a break for a few hours and since I’m at the end of day one, I’ll post this now and give you days 2-6 later.
The airport is still under construction, but baggage claim has been completed since the king’s last visit. The taxi line was LONG, but moved quickly so we were on our way to the Hilton Grand Vacations Club at the Hilton in under an hour. Everything good you have heard about HGVC is true! There was no line at check-in, the staff was very friendly and we were up in the room immediately even though it was 2 hours before check-in. The king was bothering the girl behind the counter about an upgrade so she showed him all the rooms that were available and let him pick the one he wanted. He picked 1126, right over the pool and a good view of Sahara, Circus Circus, and Wynn, but the rest of the strip view is obstructed by Jockey Club condos. With this room the HGVC folks are really reeling the king in. The room is nice in the places you notice at first glance, but not so nice in the places you wouldn’t. Cheap wall paper, carpet, and furniture, but a washer and dryer (which allowed the king to pack light a do laundry every other day), full size coffee maker, double sinks in the bathroom, and two TVs! These places were made to be sold after being shown for only 15 minutes!
Quark’s Bar
The queen wants to unpack but the king is ready to head to the Hilton for lunch at Quark’s. The king wins out and we are on our way. The walk to the Hilton is very short and the nearest door is right by Star Trek the Experience. The décor of Quark’s is not as good as it should be. Just because you paint everything silver, doesn’t mean it looks like a space station. At 2:30 on a Saturday the place was not even half full but the service was VERY SLOW! The staff’s uniforms look more like those of BJ dealer’s at Caesar’s than starfleet officers. The king started with a Klingon Blood wine then had a Romulan ale. To be the best drinks in the galaxy, they tasted a lot like Old Milwaukee died red or blue. Captain Kirk searched the universe for it’s best drink and it turns out he just needed to be told that Old Milwaukee had a taste as great as it’s name.
The king (once he finally gets to place an order) orders chicken marcella and the queen has a chicken quesadellia and the rings of orion (big onion rings). Not very high quality food here and the sauces are terrible. The characters walking around however, are excellent. The king expected them to look somewhat cheesy, but they look like they are right off the set of the TV show. Plus, they come by and speak with you and are never out of character! Almost made up for the bad food and service. Bottom line, this is a fun experience for a treker, but not a place to go for good eats. I give it a 5/10.
The king has that itch and soon will require cards and chips be placed in front of him. First, however, knowing he will do lots of playing at the Hilton he heads to the player’s club. He receives his card and is told to take it to the Supernova booth where all he has to do is spell MILLION and he wins a million bucks. The king immediately thinks, “I’m a freakin MILLIONAIRE!†M-I-L-L-I-O-N, easy, right? Must be some catch. Surely the Hilton isn’t given a million dollars to every one who can spell million. Maybe I have to spell it in Arabic or something. The king hands his card to the guy at the booth and quickly says, “M-I-L-L-I-O-N, now is that a check or do I get cash?†Turns out they have a touch screen and the letters are hidden behind planets. The king spells MILLIE and is done. Spelling Millie gets you a t-shirt, L or XL, neither of which will fit the king so he gives it to his father when he returns and the man literally has not taken it off since! The queen spelled MILLA and got a Hilton key chain.
Time for a little single deck BJ and things did not start off well at all on this trip. This was the king’s worst run of BJ EVER! Lost the first 8 hands and 12 of 13 total. If not for splitting 8’s vs a 7 with a double down, I would have been done much sooner. The queen was having better luck so the king decided to take a tour of the casino. The Hilton casino is very small to be in such a large hotel. The sports book was nice and the king got some action on Tony Stewart in the NASCAR race since he was 11-1 and had won 5 of the last 8 races. The sports book staff was very friendly, but I’ve never met someone at a sports book that wasn’t friendly. Probably cause they never have to deal with losers. If you lose a sports bet, you just throw away the ticket. You don’t head back to the counter unless you win. The new Hilton poker room will be in the back of the sports book. It looks like it will be a little small, but nice.
The king then got his first exposure with the Star Wars slots. A lot of fun, but they seem tight at the Hilton. Played them three time and didn’t get many hits. The king and his queen then head back to the room to watch the race. Stewart isn’t doing too well, so at 7:00 we are off to the Mirage. This will be the king’s first ride on the new monorail, which is OK. Not as nice as the one at Disney and as expected all stops will force you to walk through all the shops and the Casino of the place you end up before you get out to the strip.
We exit at Harrah’s and head across the street to the Mirage to pick up the Ray Romano Tickets. We have a few minutes before dinner at Onda’s so we play a little VP. The queen is hitting left and right, but the king is struggling (this is a common theme for this trip).
Onda’s
Business casual is the dress code but the place is full of folks in shorts and t-shirts drinking and being very loud. This kind of destroys the mood for the place. The service and the food however, were excellent! I had the veal and the queen goes for the lasagna. The veal was tender and cooked to perfection. Also the garlic and oil dipping sauce for the bread is very tasty! I’d say Onda’s was about 7/10. A little too loud, but the food and service are good!
Still had a few minutes before the Ray show so the queen wants to head back to her red hot VP machine. The king hits the slots and is still having NO LUCK. Just not his day, I guess.
Ray Romano
The Mirage theater is all theater seating. The seats are a little small, but OK. Jon Manfrellotti who played Gianni on the show is the opening act and he is pretty funny. Ray does his show at a very slow pace and some bits are very funny. I’m a huge Romano fan and noticed some of his bits are rehashed from as many as 10 years ago. They end the show taking questions and making fun of people. A good show and I am glad we went, but I saw Carrot Top last year at the MGM and overall preferred his show to this one.
Well, I have to take a break for a few hours and since I’m at the end of day one, I’ll post this now and give you days 2-6 later.
