Trip Report 8/22 - 8/25

I'll start by saying that I had to plan this whole trip for 6 people leaving from 3 different cities...I have much more respect for travel agents.

Thurs. the 22nd

Well, our alarm went off at 4:30am but we managed to get up and finish last minute packing in enough time to be out of the house at 6am. We had a direct flight to Las Vegas on America West. We wish we'd have known they didn't feed you b/c 6 hours later we were really hungry.

We arrived safe and sound at the Mirage around noon and they had our room ready. We were on the 19th floor, rm. 19066, awesome view of the strip and volcano. The rest of my family wasn't getting there until 2pm so we took a little nap to compensate for getting up so early. I went and signed up for the Players Club card. The new merger lets you use the card at Mirage, Treasure Island, MGM Grand, Bellagio, NYNY, Golden Nugget, and Beau Rivage. (although at the moment it's only accepted at Mirage, T.I, and MGM) Bellagio and Beau Rivage should be online by the end of the year, and NYNY and the G.N. early next year. Anyway, my father, step mom, brother and sister-in-law pulled up in a stretch black limo at 2pm. I told them I'd have waited if I'd known they were going to take a limo They get checked in fine. Father had the same view as me, in rm. 17070, and brother had a nice pool view in 23026.

After everyone was settled in we walked across the street to the Venetian. My Dad likes wax museums so as soon as he saw Madame Tuseuds he dragged us all in there. I was surprised how real they all looked. It was kind of freaky to be looking down at something and then look up to see Larry King staring at you. After we finished there we walked through the shops, went to the casino and hit some slots. This was the only time I won anything all week

By 6pm Tim and I were starving after not eating all day, so we hit the buffet. Between all of us I think we ate the shrimp and crab legs, kielbasa, pork loin, prime rib, pasta, fish, tacos. It was all very good. I had a really good desert... a chocolate sponge cake, with raspberries and vanilla mousse. The cookies were also very good. After we'd made gluttons out of ourselves we hit the Mirage casino. Tim hit the black jack table and won about $200. Everyone else lost at the slots. We headed to bed after the long day. It was only 11pm, but it felt like 2am to us.

Fri. the 23rd

We woke up about 7:30am. The pool opened at 8am so we headed down to stake out chairs since we heard it got crowded. We got out there at 8:15 and there were already a bunch of people. I managed to get 6 chairs right by the stairs, so I was happy. It was pretty hot but I grew up in Texas so it's no big deal. About 10 everyone else made it down. The pool water was REALLY cold for some reason, but it felt good after a while. Poolside drink service was really good. Some body was there within minutes of flipping up our little flags. We got the huge souvenier cups of daquiries for $9...i know, but we get to keep the cups... The pool was very nice, the water slide was amusing. We all met for lunch at the Caribe Cafe. The food was very plentiful. For the six of us to get drinks, appetizers, and entrees it was about $70, not too bad. My dad and step mom went over to Ceasar's to gamble and shop, the rest of us ran over to T.I. to pick up the tickets for Mystere. After that we walked all the way down to NYNY b/c my sister-in-law wanted to ride the Manhattan Express. i was excited b/c I love roller coaster and my boyfriend won't ever ride them. After we got there she decided she didn't want to ride it. My brother threw a tiffy since we'd walked all the way down there for it. We just put him in front of a slot with a bloody mary and he was alright. We were teaching Alison to play BJ. We lost, but Tim won another $50. We went over to MGM and played a little more at a $5 table. I played a wheel of fortune slot and lost $20. We walked back to the Mirage and met up with my parents. They had lost money in the slots too. Since we'd eaten such a big lunch nobody was really hungry for dinner. We headed over to T.I. about 9 and had drinks in the Bucaneer Bar. We went to the theater. Everyone really loved the show. Tim and I saw "O" a couple years ago and loved it, so I wanted to see this Cirque show also. I had reserved the tickets in July, and our seats were perfect. We were in the center section, 2nd row from the stage. It was great. Not so close that we were craning our necks, but close enough that we could see the people's facial expressions. We got back to the Mirage around 12:30 and Tim and I went to bed. Everyone else stayed for a little to gamble.

Sat. the 24th

We slept in until 9:30am figuring everyone else can fend for themselves at the pool. My Father had hit the big jackpot on the wheel of fortune slot.(not the prgressive, the 1000 on the wheel) We made it down but only stayed for a little while. Everyone kind of did their own thing today. Jeff and Alison spent most of it at Ceasar's Forum Shops and Harrah's. My parent's went over to T.I. to play the Mega Bucks slots since the progressive jackpot was up to over 12 million. We stayed at the Mirage and played $10 black jack. It was the only low limit table that was using a shoe, so we actually did pretty well. I got bored after a while and went to play slots. It seems that the theme of the week for my gambling streak was to hit a big jackpot, and then not stop while i was ahead and end up losing it all in the end. Oh well, it's only money right. Tim ended up only $50 on BJ, where as he was up a couple hundred when I left. I swear, if I'm not there to reel him in he'd be betting $100 a hand.

We all met up for dinner at the buffet at 7pm. We picked the right time to go b/c as we were leaving our table for the first trip to the buffet there was about 50 people in line. As we were leaving the line was out the door. Lucky break for us. After dinner we went downtown to look for low limit tables. Tim and my sister in law hit the black jack and my brother and I hit the slot machines at the Golden Nugget, Fitzgerald's, and Binion's. Everyone but Tim lost their money. There were also no light shows b/c there were street concerts, and it was really crowded so we headed back the to Mirage about midnight. We called my Dad(he has a bad back so he wasn't venturing to far from the hotel) He came down and hit the atm off for about the 10th time and we got back to gambling. Tim finally lost...not that I'm happy he lost, but it's only fair. He lost a couple hundred bucks, but he was still pretty even for the trip. I, once again, was up $150, but ended up losing all but $20. Oh well. We headed back up to the room about 2am, and packed up for the next day.

Sun. the 25th

We all got up and met at the Roasted Bean. The line was kind of long, but my iced mocha and blueberry muffin was really good. It was huge, the blueberries were big and juicy, and it had some crumby stuff on top. My parents left around 11:30 since they had an early flight. The rest of us went over to the Forum shops to do some last minute shopping and gambling. Tim was influenced by the high roller next to him and started betting $50 a hand. I had to walk away. We went back and did some last minute losing at the Mirage before we left for the airport at 1:30pm. I also went to cash in my points at the player's club. I'd racked up about 2000 points in slot play. I got $20 cash back, and the food/bevarge charges taken off my bill, as well as my room rate reduced down to the casino rate. So, it saved me a bunch to sign up for that card.

The wait at the airport wasn't bad. I got pulled over at security...that's always fun. This time we were smart and stopped to eat before we got on, and we also got some sandwiches to go since they don't feed you. We got back to Boston around midnight.

All in all it was a fun trip...even better since it only cost me about $200 since my father picked up everything. The Mirage was a great hotel, and great location. The food, room, pool, drink service, players club, everything was great. The bloody marys in the casino were good. No skimping on the vodka. It was a pretty relaxed trip compared to the other's we have had to Vegas. We weren't worried about all the stuff there was to do, and just relaxed, ate, and gambled. I'm already planning our next trip in April for just the two of us, so we'll have another chance to do things we didn't do this time. It was fun though. Maybe next time I'll win some money!!!

[ August 26, 2002, 07:13 PM: Message edited by: Lmadrid ]

 

We went back and did some last minute losing at the Mirage before we left for the airport Too funny....LOL!!!!

Sounds like a great trip! I hope to take my Mom there soon! By the way, you are to be commended for your travel agent skill!

 

Don't you just Love the Mirage? I know we do, and yes we buy those giant frozen drinks at the pool too...I have one at home I use as my water glass. We were surprised at how reasonable the Carib Cafe is there, especially with the amount and quality of the food. We will definitely eat there again (especially since it's open late!).

I like cruizing through the forum shops too.... great people watching, some good restaurants, and even some cool "guy stores" where I can actually have fun shopping!

You mentioned being relaxed and not trying to do too much.... that's totally how we are. We know we'll be back, so there's no rush...makes for a much more enjoyable trip.

Glad you had fun, thanks for sharing!

T.

 

Caribe Cafe was great. It gives portions like Cheesecake Factory but is a little cheaper. My recommendations: the pulled pork Barbeque sandwich, the meetball on foccacia bread sandwich, spicy buffalo chicken sandwich, the nachos. i can't remember what my brother had, but all of us enjoyed our food alot. Plus, the lines aren't as long as the buffet. And, since I was planning this trip for 6 people, I only booked one show, didn't worry about planning activities b/c everyone would just do their own thing. It was very relaxing, and like you said, gives us a reason to keep coming back.

April can't come soon enough!!!

 

I hope the rest of your family appreciates your organizational skills! Sounds like everyone had a great time, contributing to the business success of the Mirage by donating lots of $$