MacMaroon
Tourist
This trip to Las Vegas sprung out of the fact that I thought my 70+ year old father should see his sister in California one last time. He was reluctant to do so, but after mentioning that we would be stopping in Las Vegas for three nights before we came home sealed the deal.
I took both my parents and we first visited Calgary for the world famous Stampede, then we headed down the Columbia River to Portland, and then on to Los Angeles. After spending four nights visiting relatives, we were off to Sin City!
Monday, July 18th, 2005
Our first stop was the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, and my parents began to gamble as soon as we hit the casino floor. It had been seven years since we were last in Las Vegas, and found the machines to be quite different. For one thing, to our surprise, there were a lot of multi-denominational machines where you could play for as low as a penny. Second, I sadly noted that the machines printed out tickets instead of spilling out coins. I like hearing the coins fall down, but I realized the tickets kept our hands from getting dirty. Anyway, my parents had fun playing for pennies on the machines, while I walked around the casino trying to take it all in. After a while, my parents got tired, so we took the tram over to the Luxor.
It was a bit difficult to find the tram, but after asking several staff members, they pointed us in the right direction. There weren’t many seats in the Tram, but a few nice people made sure my parents were able to sit down, which I thanked them. When we arrived at the Luxor, the exit led us outside in the blazing heat, which was quite unbearable to us Crazy Canucks from the Great White North.
We entered the Luxor and it was as I remembered it! It was amazing to see the hotel rooms hang off the sides of the pyramid structure. While I was marveling at all the statues, my parents were heading for the slot machines. We didn’t play here too long, but my mother found a pretty good machine called Bandita. She played that for quite a while before the casino took her money. Instead of going outside in the heat and taking the tram to the Excalibur, we decided to take the moving walkways. It took a little longer, but it was much cooler.
The Excalibur Casino was huge inside, and my parents quickly found machines and started playing. I decided to take a look around and ended up across the street at the Tropicana and got a free spin on their slot machine, which I didn’t win anything. They gave me a bunch of coupons and I had to walk across almost the whole length of the casino to join their slot club and get a free deck of cards. Whoopee! After my impressive gift, I trekked all the way back to Excalibur, and found my parents. They had won quite a bit of money playing on the penny slots! I think it was the Enchanted Forest or Robin Hood machine, but they ended up with over $30, which for a penny machine is very good! I cashed them out and we went upstairs to the Food Court for some supper. We all had Quizno’s Subs, which we had never had before. They were actually quite good and I would eat there again.
After eating, we headed back to Mandalay Bay to get the car and drive downtown. Thanks to members of this board, we took Frank Sinatra and then Industrial, instead of The Strip. This was a whole lot quicker, and we were parking at the Golden Nugget garage in minutes.
We checked in and after some minor problems, we headed to the casino downstairs, where my parents quickly disappeared. I headed to the players club booth to join and get my free $10 in slot play, which did not last long on their tight machines. I then headed out the door to my favourite casino on my last visit, the Fitzgerald and broke even after about an hour playing Cash Inferno. I came back to the Nugget where my parents had an unsuccessful night at the machines.
If you are interested, you can view the photos I took of the South Strip area by clicking on the following link:
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/203242/index.html
I have also written a review about the Golden Nugget, which you can find by clicking on the following link:
http://las-vegas-hotels.tripadvisor...-r3743158-Golden_Nugget-Las_Vegas_Nevada.html
Tuesday, July 19th, 2005
As recommended by everyone on this message board, we headed out to the Main Street Station for their breakfast buffet. While we each loved the atmosphere in the Buffet room, we found the food was not as good as everyone said.
After our disappointing meal, the question became where would we gamble today? I made numerous suggestions as to where we could go, and while my father was indifferent, my mother decided that Circus Circus would be a good place to go… After a few hours of not winning, we got bored and I suggested we take a short walk over to Slots-A-Fun. We each received a fun book upon exiting Circus Circus, and one of the coupons was for two free pulls on a slot machine. While my father and I did not win, my mother won $1.75! Whoopee! They quickly headed for some machines and I decided to look around the place. It was quite packed, but it did not have any machines that I liked, so I left out the front door.
I looked across the street and a sign intrigued me….Penny Town, so I headed across the busy Las Vegas Boulevard for the Riviera. As I entered, I looked around and noticed quite a few low denomination machines, so I thought this was the place for me. I immediately joined their slot club, and was given $10 in free slot play. The Golden Nugget did the same thing and that didn’t last long, so I wasn’t expecting much play with it. Well, I played and I played and I played, and I still had the free $10 they gave me. I thought I had better go get my parents and bring them over, as they probably would enjoy this. It was not hard to find them at Slots-A-Fun as they were trying to flag one of the attendants so they could cash out. They don’t spit out tickets like the other casinos, so if you don’t like a machine, you have to wait for someone to cash you out, even if it is only ten cents (or whatever). That kind of sucked, so my parents were very happy to hear about Penny Town...
After signing them up in the Riviera Slot Club, they were off like bandits ready to play with their free cash! When joining their club, they gave me a wooden token good for a free drink at Hound Doggies and a coupon to enter a prize draw, which I did. After playing a while on the penny Wheel of Fortune machines, they announced that they would be having their prize draw. They announced the number, and I could not believe that I was the winner! I won two tickets to see the nude review Splash, after paying a small administration fee. Not exactly winning, but nonetheless I won just the same! After finding my parents to tell them the news, I decided to leave the Riviera and go for a walk down The Strip.
I went into the Westward Ho, Stardust, and New Frontier casinos, but I passed on the new Wynn Las Vegas, as I don’t think I would have fit in there (hehehe)! I also checked out the souvenir shops and got some pretty good stuff for co-workers (please see my other post). I returned to the Riviera only to find Elvis singing in the lobby! I thought he was dead, but I guess the tabloids were right after all! I ended up finding my parents, and they were still playing on the money the casino gave them. In fact, my mother was $30 ahead, and my father was $20 ahead. After a while, they cashed out and we headed to Hound Doggies for something to eat. Everything on the menu was 99 cents, and they had quite a selection! We each had a hot dog and a drink, and were serenaded by Elvis, who was wandering around Penny Town while we were eating.
After our meal, I dragged them over for the free slot pull, and while we each got a free mug, my father also won a keychain! Whoopee! After that, my parents wanted to continue gambling at the Riviera, so we stayed a little while longer before heading back to downtown to our hotel room.
When we got downtown, my father wanted to continue gambling, but I was able to convince my mother to see the Fremont Street Experience. We had never seen it before, so we didn’t know what to expect. We saw Speed, Smoke, and Spinning Wheels, which was pretty good. After it was over, we headed to our room for the night. My father came in shortly after saying he had won a few dollars at the machines.
If you are interested, you can view the photos I took of the North Strip area by clicking on the following link:
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/203271/index.html
Also, you can view the photos I took of the Fremont Street Experience by clicking on the following link:
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/203062/index.html
Continued....
I took both my parents and we first visited Calgary for the world famous Stampede, then we headed down the Columbia River to Portland, and then on to Los Angeles. After spending four nights visiting relatives, we were off to Sin City!
Monday, July 18th, 2005
Our first stop was the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, and my parents began to gamble as soon as we hit the casino floor. It had been seven years since we were last in Las Vegas, and found the machines to be quite different. For one thing, to our surprise, there were a lot of multi-denominational machines where you could play for as low as a penny. Second, I sadly noted that the machines printed out tickets instead of spilling out coins. I like hearing the coins fall down, but I realized the tickets kept our hands from getting dirty. Anyway, my parents had fun playing for pennies on the machines, while I walked around the casino trying to take it all in. After a while, my parents got tired, so we took the tram over to the Luxor.
It was a bit difficult to find the tram, but after asking several staff members, they pointed us in the right direction. There weren’t many seats in the Tram, but a few nice people made sure my parents were able to sit down, which I thanked them. When we arrived at the Luxor, the exit led us outside in the blazing heat, which was quite unbearable to us Crazy Canucks from the Great White North.
We entered the Luxor and it was as I remembered it! It was amazing to see the hotel rooms hang off the sides of the pyramid structure. While I was marveling at all the statues, my parents were heading for the slot machines. We didn’t play here too long, but my mother found a pretty good machine called Bandita. She played that for quite a while before the casino took her money. Instead of going outside in the heat and taking the tram to the Excalibur, we decided to take the moving walkways. It took a little longer, but it was much cooler.
The Excalibur Casino was huge inside, and my parents quickly found machines and started playing. I decided to take a look around and ended up across the street at the Tropicana and got a free spin on their slot machine, which I didn’t win anything. They gave me a bunch of coupons and I had to walk across almost the whole length of the casino to join their slot club and get a free deck of cards. Whoopee! After my impressive gift, I trekked all the way back to Excalibur, and found my parents. They had won quite a bit of money playing on the penny slots! I think it was the Enchanted Forest or Robin Hood machine, but they ended up with over $30, which for a penny machine is very good! I cashed them out and we went upstairs to the Food Court for some supper. We all had Quizno’s Subs, which we had never had before. They were actually quite good and I would eat there again.
After eating, we headed back to Mandalay Bay to get the car and drive downtown. Thanks to members of this board, we took Frank Sinatra and then Industrial, instead of The Strip. This was a whole lot quicker, and we were parking at the Golden Nugget garage in minutes.
We checked in and after some minor problems, we headed to the casino downstairs, where my parents quickly disappeared. I headed to the players club booth to join and get my free $10 in slot play, which did not last long on their tight machines. I then headed out the door to my favourite casino on my last visit, the Fitzgerald and broke even after about an hour playing Cash Inferno. I came back to the Nugget where my parents had an unsuccessful night at the machines.
If you are interested, you can view the photos I took of the South Strip area by clicking on the following link:
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/203242/index.html
I have also written a review about the Golden Nugget, which you can find by clicking on the following link:
http://las-vegas-hotels.tripadvisor...-r3743158-Golden_Nugget-Las_Vegas_Nevada.html
Tuesday, July 19th, 2005
As recommended by everyone on this message board, we headed out to the Main Street Station for their breakfast buffet. While we each loved the atmosphere in the Buffet room, we found the food was not as good as everyone said.
After our disappointing meal, the question became where would we gamble today? I made numerous suggestions as to where we could go, and while my father was indifferent, my mother decided that Circus Circus would be a good place to go… After a few hours of not winning, we got bored and I suggested we take a short walk over to Slots-A-Fun. We each received a fun book upon exiting Circus Circus, and one of the coupons was for two free pulls on a slot machine. While my father and I did not win, my mother won $1.75! Whoopee! They quickly headed for some machines and I decided to look around the place. It was quite packed, but it did not have any machines that I liked, so I left out the front door.
I looked across the street and a sign intrigued me….Penny Town, so I headed across the busy Las Vegas Boulevard for the Riviera. As I entered, I looked around and noticed quite a few low denomination machines, so I thought this was the place for me. I immediately joined their slot club, and was given $10 in free slot play. The Golden Nugget did the same thing and that didn’t last long, so I wasn’t expecting much play with it. Well, I played and I played and I played, and I still had the free $10 they gave me. I thought I had better go get my parents and bring them over, as they probably would enjoy this. It was not hard to find them at Slots-A-Fun as they were trying to flag one of the attendants so they could cash out. They don’t spit out tickets like the other casinos, so if you don’t like a machine, you have to wait for someone to cash you out, even if it is only ten cents (or whatever). That kind of sucked, so my parents were very happy to hear about Penny Town...
After signing them up in the Riviera Slot Club, they were off like bandits ready to play with their free cash! When joining their club, they gave me a wooden token good for a free drink at Hound Doggies and a coupon to enter a prize draw, which I did. After playing a while on the penny Wheel of Fortune machines, they announced that they would be having their prize draw. They announced the number, and I could not believe that I was the winner! I won two tickets to see the nude review Splash, after paying a small administration fee. Not exactly winning, but nonetheless I won just the same! After finding my parents to tell them the news, I decided to leave the Riviera and go for a walk down The Strip.
I went into the Westward Ho, Stardust, and New Frontier casinos, but I passed on the new Wynn Las Vegas, as I don’t think I would have fit in there (hehehe)! I also checked out the souvenir shops and got some pretty good stuff for co-workers (please see my other post). I returned to the Riviera only to find Elvis singing in the lobby! I thought he was dead, but I guess the tabloids were right after all! I ended up finding my parents, and they were still playing on the money the casino gave them. In fact, my mother was $30 ahead, and my father was $20 ahead. After a while, they cashed out and we headed to Hound Doggies for something to eat. Everything on the menu was 99 cents, and they had quite a selection! We each had a hot dog and a drink, and were serenaded by Elvis, who was wandering around Penny Town while we were eating.
After our meal, I dragged them over for the free slot pull, and while we each got a free mug, my father also won a keychain! Whoopee! After that, my parents wanted to continue gambling at the Riviera, so we stayed a little while longer before heading back to downtown to our hotel room.
When we got downtown, my father wanted to continue gambling, but I was able to convince my mother to see the Fremont Street Experience. We had never seen it before, so we didn’t know what to expect. We saw Speed, Smoke, and Spinning Wheels, which was pretty good. After it was over, we headed to our room for the night. My father came in shortly after saying he had won a few dollars at the machines.
If you are interested, you can view the photos I took of the North Strip area by clicking on the following link:
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/203271/index.html
Also, you can view the photos I took of the Fremont Street Experience by clicking on the following link:
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/203062/index.html
Continued....
