Trip report - Monte Carlo 06/16/03-06/20/03

Well, here goes nothing, hope you all enjoy!

Monday, 2am ET, drove from Brantford, Ontario, Canada to Detroit airport in Michigan, approximately 3.5 hours. Panic set in when I saw the line for security, but thankfully it moved quite quickly. Flew out at 8am America West. Got a deal of $324 air/hotel included staying at the Monte Carlo. Flight was smooth and uneventful and arrived at 9:00am Las Vegas time. (4 hour flight and 3 hour time zone change). Took taxi directly to hotel and tried $20 trick...no luck, but since we were getting married, we decided to upgrade to the Monte Carlo suite for an extra $40 bucks per night. Our friends Shawn and Melinda kept their deluxe room. We were able to get into our rooms immediately which was awesome, considering the long day of travel. Room was absolutely stunning..very large and comfortable. But as everyone said, we did hear the plumbing and people talking next door. Our room was 9-101, so as soon as we got off the elevator, we turned left and had to walk no further. At first I was concerned about hearing the elevator, but not once did I hear noise from there. After dropping our luggage, we were all starving so we headed downstairs to the breakfast buffet. At $9.99/ person, this was a great deal. The food was good and served it's purpose. We headed down to the pool all afternoon before heading off to the room for a quick nap. Later in the evening, we met up with the other couple traveling with us, Shane and Sue-Anne who opted to stay at the Barbary Coast ($199 air/hotel included) and decided to try the dinner buffet, which was again, a good value for our money. We spent another couple of hours bumming around and the six of us decide to call it a night and head off to our separate rooms/hotel. Tuesday is our big day! We are getting married and I couldn't be happier. We started the day out again at the breakfast buffet and headed back to the room around 10:30 to get ready for the limo to pick us up around noon. Lane, our limo driver was the best, if you ever get married at the Little White Wedding Chapel, ask for him as your driver, you will not be disappointed. Lane then drove us to the courthouse to pick up our licence, and what a breeze. We filled out the applications beforehand from their internet site, so we hopped right into the line. Only about six couples ahead of us. For other Canadians, it was easy, with no hassles. Lane then drove us all to the chapel where we had made previous arrangements to get married in the outdoor gazeebo. Very pretty and the traffic noise wasn't as bad as I expected. We had to wait for our minister to return from another wedding, but we were still married at our scheduled time. The ceremony was quick, but very beautiful and everything went smooth and perfect. After taking some pictures on the chapel grounds, Lane drove us to the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign. He pulled his superstretch limo right off the highway directly under the sign. No problem four wheeling that baby. We took lots of video and several pictures. From there, Lane drove us around for a bit then dropped us off at the Rio. My husband (hehe) tipped him generously as he made our special day even more endearing. At around 2pm we headed off to the VooDoo lounge for drinks to celebrate, but the dang place was closed...grrr..headed over to the Impanema lounge for some drinks before heading over to the dinner buffet at 4pm. Well, I must say this is one huge place to eat. It's bigger than our local mall. Well the boys certainly had their fill of food and enjoyed everything till the last drop. I hate to say this, but I enjoyed the dinner buffet at the Monte Carlo better. It was more my type of food, but the majority vote was for the Rio. But, besides that, a good and filling time was had by all. After dinner we took the shuttle back to Harra's for a fun evening of gambling and just hanging out. I had a blast on the penny slots at the Barbary Coast. Around 11 pm, my new husband and I walked from the BC to Bellagio to catch the fountain show, then continued on back to the Monte Carlo. I won't bore you with further details of the evening...(hehe). Woke up Wednesday morning, and since being still full from the Rio buffet, the four of us headed down to the pool for a couple of hours in the hot sun and a fun time in the lazy river. Seeing 4 grown adults acting like kids, must have drove the real kids nuts...but as I said to myself as I lazed on my floaty thing, outta my way kiddies, this is my Disneyland!!!LOL Wednesday afternoon Richard (my hubby) met up with Shane to go play some poker at the Mirage, and Sue-Anne and I casino hopped for some non-stop gambling. Shawn and Melinda are not gamblers so they just toured around for the day. The ate at the Blackhouse and said it was the best steak they ever had, the also scored free Lance Burton tickets by touring a time share, but never had to do the actual tour as when the company found out they were Canadian, would not allow them to go, so they shipped them back on the van along with the free tickets. We didn't make any money, but didn't loose a whole lot either. Sue-Anne and I were totally hooked on these double play triple play video poker machines in Harra's and spent about four hours playing deuces wild. I grabbed a taxi back to the MC at around 11:30 pm to meet back up with my new husband. Now, not to bring politics into this lovely storey, but I'd like to share the conversation I had with the taxi driver on the way back to MC. He was from Indonesia and asked where I was from. When I told him Canada, his first response was "oh, you guys don't like to go to war" My response to him was, that as Canadians in general, we are not against the war, but are mostly a peace keeping country...after wars, we go in and...keep the peace. He nodded his head politely until I said "also, it takes guns, tanks and an army to fight in a war, I don't think our hockey sticks and figure skates would get us too far" I never seen a stranger laugh so hard, but that is the reality of our country and all we would have to offer...LOL, no offence to other Canadians reading this....but you know it's true. Anyhoot, called it a night. Thursday morning we headed off to the pool again, but it was a bit cloudy and we didn't stay long. Holy kid fest. Did every family with children decide to check in this morning? The three guys headed off to Gameworks for an afternoon of being manchildren while the girls headed to the Alladin for some shopping in the Desert Passage mall. After a few hours we met back up with guys. Shane and Sue-Anne headed back to the BC and the rest of us took a taxi over to the the Hard Rock, to eat at the Pink Taco. If you like mexican food, this is the place to go. Our server was working his second day on the job, so we drove him a little nuts asking for things, which he had to check on first. I never realized that a "Ceasar" was a canadian thing. (same as a bloody mary, only made with clamato juice) He did an excellent job and the food was fantastic. From there we toured the casino and checked out all the memoribillia (sp) and grabbed a taxi down to Freemont Street to see the light show. I've seen it many times, but the other couples have never seen it. After the first light show, we took a taxi back to the MC for some more gambling then called it a night. Friday was our last day, which we spent just touring the strip. We stopped into the Paris hotel, and boy were we impressed. I think we will stay there next time we come. We headed off to the airport around 8:30ish as our flight was leaving at 11:20 pm. We arrived back in Detroit at 6:00 am after a very bumpy ride home due to thunderstorms in Nebraska. Well the Nebraska thunderstorms (turbulance) lasted about 1/2 the flight home but eventually settled down thank goodness. Grabbed our cars and headed back to Canada. After our 3 hour drive home, my kids and 3 cats welcomed us back with open arms. I pretty much slept for 20 hours on and off, but was back to my normal self today. Well, thats it...hope you all enjoyed!

Highlights/lowlights:

Monte Carlo - beautiful, clean, good buffets
$20 trick does not work for this hotel, but did get upgraded for 1/2 off the regular price for that week
- noise/plumbing a definate negative for this hotel - too many kids towards the end of week
Wedding - perfect - The little White Wedding Chapel - clean/beautiful grounds - excellent limo service and be sure to ask for Lane
Gambling - Richard won what I lost which was about 350 for the week - pretty good in my books
Rio buffet - Good, but not superb
Pink Taco - Excellent Mexican food
America West - good deals and comfortable seats with very easy check in - will definately use again

 

Hey Spendo,

I'm also from Ontario, Canada. Where were you able to get such good package deals? I've been wanting to go back to Las Vegas for a while, but can't find any good prices. Also, what type of documents did you need to cross the border and were there any delays? How long does it take to get to the airport after you cross the border?
One other thing, we also got married at the little white wedding chapel back in '95.

 

Great trip report! The pool at MC sounds wonderful.

I love reading trip reports that include weddings! And to bad about VooDoo lounge, you will just have to make sure you see it the next time, as it is alot of fun.

 

hey link,

Thank-you for your responses. We got our deal through America West at their on-line site and booked back in Feb. We used our passports to cross the border and had no delays. It took about a half hour to get to the airport after crossing the border. Any more questions just let me know.

Spendo