Vegas Again! part 2, 3/7 - 3/10 - now with pics!

Ok heres part 2...
We had at this point finished the tour with the band, dropped everyone off at the airport, returned the rental van, and I picked up a rental car from
Long Beach Airport. Budget charged me $160 for 4 days (had a coupon code applied to that) and allowed me to pick up in Long Beach and return it in Vegas. It was a Ford Focus.
Only myself and 2 other guys continued on the trip. We spent Sunday night in Long Beach and after a day of doing stuff in Hollywood we hit the freeway up to Vegas..

Monday
After an uneventful drive, we got into Vegas around 7pm and checked in to the Excalibur. I had received a promo rate of $40 a night there (and later we found out that alot of people staying there jumped on that deal) so for what we got, it was perfect. I asked nicely for a room with a nice view, and got it. 25th floor in tower I, facing the Luxor and Mandalay Bay. But boy was it far as hell from the elevator; we had the last room on the end. Also, the Excalibur isn't one of the easiest places to find your way around. I got the hang of it before we left, but it was still annoying.
The room was your standard vegas room, somewhat dated but clean and had a big bathroom. There was only one problem with the room, the batteries in the remote control where missing but I had an extra (too lazy to call down for one).
One very interesting thing was the window opened all the way, not sure if that was a mistake or not. And something I never had seen before was hundreds of bugs flying over the Luxor spotlight. The first night it looked like moths, and the second night it was moths and bats. Hundreds of them. It got so bad that they actually turned off the Luxor light. A bellhop later told us it’s moth season in Vegas and they all where attracted to the light, which also attracts the bats.

After checking in, they gave us 2 for 1 coupons for the Kings Court jousting dinner show. Since I don’t eat meat, I let the 2 other guys go to the show while I just hit Del Taco near gameworks. They said it was pretty good, sounded like your typical Medieval Times. After we ate we where at a loss to do (and after being on tour, I wasn’t half as energized as I usually am on my first night of Vegas), so we went to Déjà Vu to see some strippers. Nothing too eventful, not too impressive either, $25 cover, included unlimited free sodas (because its fully nude it doesn’t serve alcohol). About 15 – 20 girls working, half of which where just “okâ€, only a few hot ones. The Lapdances where decent however, I later learned from my companion that touching was allowed. Doh.
We got out kinda late but decided to walk down through the Luxor to Mandalay and played spot the “working girl†game. We turned in pretty late for the evening.

Tuesday
Woke up late Tuesday, and used our coupon for the Excalibur lunch buffet. This buffet is pretty sub par in my opinion, and while was worth the money we paid to get in (half off) I wouldn’t voluntarily go to this buffet again. But we still ate a lot and went down to the Caesar’s mall to walk it off and check out the new sections of the mall. The additions where very nice and we had to ride the spiraling escalator. We walked a lot and went back to the room to relax a bit, but I decided to hit the pool at the Excalibur. The pool is pretty nice, but nothing super special. When I got down there in the late afternoon, the water was actually roped off! I was puzzled, so I just went into the Jacuzzi. While I was in there I overheard that a little kid pooped in the pool!! So from the Jacuzzi we got to watch the lifeguards fish it out and where told the pool would be closed for the next 24 hrs while they super chlorinated the pool. I also made friends with two girls on spring break from upstate NY. We all had a great time watching the expressions of everyone’s faces when they found out what happened to the pool. And nobody got the “are you sure its not a snickers bar?†joke. Grr. Anyway, the girls invited us later to hang out that night with them at Coyote Ugly, and while I despise that place, I figured why not and told them we’d see them later. Of course we didn’t show. Oh well.
After that we went downtown, finally! I managed to not win and lost only a little at the Golden Gate. Grr, that’s my place, they are supposed to make me win!

After downtown, big mission of this trip was to go see “Bite†at the Stratosphere . $10 off coupons are pretty easy to find, so we got tickets where only $30. It’s a one of those topless shows, vampire/gothic sort of theme that they dance to classic rock hits. The idea was too completely funny to me so we had to go. I’ve never been to a real Vegas show so this was a first. While I’m not one for theatre or stuff like that, I actually really enjoyed it. It got hokey here and there but overall a great show, hot girls and worth the $30.

The last big event of the day for us was the Spearmint Rhino. Now up to this point I hadn’t been to any strip clubs in Vegas that impressed me, but we over heard a guy at the Déjà vu club telling someone to leave and go to the Rhino. I figured if other strip clubs are sending people there, they cant’ be doing anything wrong. And he was right, they have 150 girls working on shift all the time and it was out of control. Just imagine walking into a room full of hot girls in thongs (no I didn’t see a single ‘so-so’ girl the whole night) roaming around in packs. $20 cover and $20 lapdances. It’s a topless only place and the lapdances aren’t done in private, but right out where you sit at watch the action. Not gunna bore you all with the specifics, but it made my friend very poor that night, and I did my fair share too.
Before we went home, did the normal round of walking through Luxor and Mandalay Bay to spot the working girls, a very large selection on this night. Turned in at like 3am.

Wednesday
Woke up super late, hit the pool, and it was actually open. Ran into those girls again, who turned out they didn’t go to the Coyote Ugly last night because one of them couldn’t get in. They told us to have dinner with them at 8 at the Nine Fine Irishmen in the NY-NY, and stupidly I agreed again.
For lunch, in and out burger. I love it and ate it about 2 times a day on tour, so after 2 days of not eating it, I needed my fix.
I hadn’t caught the new Borg 4-D ride at the Hilton, so we did that. The wait to get in there was unbearable, they claim they had some “photo opps†they had to wait on, but I don’t buy it.
During the seating of the 4-D ride, some guy next to me got in between a guy and his wife and tried to sit between them. A confrontation was forced and then a shoving match broke out. I thought I was gunna have to hop in but security whisked the guy and his wife away before I knew it. I don’t even really know what happened but everyone was talking about it after the ride.
Also, I was beginning to notice the abundance of Nascar shirts and hats etc.. After the ride we went to the Sahara to gamble and was inundated with Nascar people. Of course I found it was Nascar weekend coming up, ugh! (I hate Nascar ps)
After losing at the Sahara (yea a real bad BJ and roulette session), we went to the Nine Fine Irishmen to meet those girls. They where actually there but they had already eaten. So we got suckered into driving them around with us. We later realized that these girls had NO money; so anything we suggested we do, they kinda shrugged at. We ended up going mid strip and walking around the Mirage, Venetian, Harrah’s, etc.. It was nothing too eventful just walking around and talking to them. We eventually realized that they weren’t gunna be into us and just wanted us to do stuff for them so we dropped them off at the Excalibur. At this point we where so hungry we could have eaten the slop at the Boardwalk buffet, but instead we went to the Peppermill. I’d heard so much on this board about the Peppermill I had to try it. Holy awesome. The place looks cool, the menu is big, and the food was delicious. This is gunna be another must do Vegas thing for me.
Didn’t do the late night looking for working girls tonight, it was too late.. bedtime at 3am.

Thursday (last day)
Woke up kinda late again, and this time I went to the pool at the Hard Rock, the guys wanted to walk up to the Fashion Show mall. The pool at the Hard Rock is absolutely gorgeous and It’s a must see for me. It’s the spring so they don’t check as long as you don’t look too out of place. The waterslide, the sand beach, the lazy river, etc.. all amazing. Of course half the pool was closed for renovations too, but that didn’t bother me a bit.
After that I went back to the Excalibur, cleaned up and met up with the guys. Then we hit the Rio Buffet late for lunch. Still the best buffet I have been to. I realize Paris and Aladdin are sweet, but there’s more variety at the Rio and its less expensive then theirs. This has become a Vegas must-see for me.
We went back to our room, packed up and sorta bummed around because we ate so much. Checked out late, the Rio had a 6pm checkout special for $25 so we could shower up and stuff before leaving. After packing up the car, we visited the Green Valley Ranch. I had been to the casino before but this time I got to walk out to the pool area and check out other areas of the hotel. It sucks its so far out because this is a really nice hotel.
Then we hit the souvenir shop on Sahara Blvd, and made one last attempt at gambling. Hit the Golden Gate, caught one really rough BJ table that cleaned me out. So I found another and really kicked ass, but of course I lost so much before It just covered my ass for the week. I eventually lost $40 this week but on my last trip I was up $100.
Rushed down to fill up the rental and return it at the airport. Budget made me wait around awhile, which was weird. Usually other rental companies print out a quick receipt and you’re done. I was there for 15 minutes trying to return it. And they couldn’t give me a receipt because I had rented it from another location. Maybe it was Budget, maybe it was where I rented it from.

We got to the terminal an hour before departure. I hate being this late but check in was smooth, going thru security wasn’t terrible and we walked right on the plane. It was at 10pm Song red eye flight back to boston. Again, I love Song, TV’s at every seat, more leg room and they don’t bug you much, so I can sleep. The only surprise of the trip was an announcement made on the PA saying “are there any medical professionals aboard?†. I was worried someone ate the fish.. *snicker * But turns out someone wasn’t feeling well, and they just had paramedics waiting when we arrived, but didn’t delay the flight.

OBSERVATIONS:

-80 in Vegas when we left, 25 in Boston, snow on the ground. Crap I need to move.

-Up $100 on my first trip, down $40 on this trip.

-I say this every time, but I have to go with gamblers next time.. this is the least amount I’ve gambled in Vegas.

-Spearmint Rhino is amazing, but you will spend more than you can afford.

-NASCAR weekend is a good weekend to avoid, im glad I flew out before the main part of it.

-The Peppermill is amazing, great food and great atmosphere.

-I still need to go to the Hoover Dam during the day.

-Apparently escorts don’t take food stamps, so my buddy says. J

-I still can’t believe someone pooped in the pool. Although the Excalibur had a lot less kids than I’ve ever seen there.

-The combo of Tour and Vegas trip is too much. I was wiped out before i got to Vegas. Plus i spent so much on my tour i was reluctant to spend money in Vegas.

-Waiting this long to write a TR sucks, i gotta get on the ball sooner. I was stuggling to remember things

pics of both trips coming soon

[ April 11, 2005, 09:17 AM: Message edited by: tvon ]

 

There's a club here in Knoxville that advertises that they have 29 beautiful women and 1 ugly one... at least they're honest.

Nice trip report tvon, but I agree, it's better to go with gamblers.

 

excalibur room. i believe the room was 25101


excalibur bathroom


night time view from the 25th floor, tower 1 (the white dots in the light are the moths)


daytime view


daytime looking towards the airport


excalibur pool


Caesars mall


new part of Caesars mall

[ April 11, 2005, 09:20 AM: Message edited by: tvon ]

 

Nice pics overall, but that one of the airport made my heart start to race and my mouth water. I want to be just getting there right now, with the whole trip ahead of me.

 

outside the excalibur


in the excalibur


my home away from home, the RIO buffet


fuzzy take off picture..

 

Nifty pics! The Ex should hire you, you made the place look nice.

Can't believe I missed a "poop in the pool" trip report the first time 'round...

 

tvon,
When we stayed at the Excal. back in June the "poop in the pool" thing happened to us too, the backside of the pool was roped off. The pool boy told us that some kid had pooped in the pool! Loved the pics.
~Andrea

 

Classic! Poop in the pool! Makes me want to bring a Babby Ruth next time to Vegas.

 

Oh yea nice pics. But where are the Spearmint Rhino Pics? I like that place too.

 

haha i dont think mgmt there would of been pumped on us bringing in cameras....

 

Tvon ~ thanks for the pic's - I love the one of the new part of Caesars mall .. . I can't wait to see it for myself in July! Just can't wait!

Thanks