we left a mark!! Oct-9-15. Aladdin/Ballys

This is long, but in my mind, well worth your time !!

Well, our trip started with a 4.5 hrs drive from Toronto to Detroit
Metro.. did this to save some $$$… worth it this time… but would not do
it again.
No problems with traffic nor customs, but the extra gas $$ and
ridiculous $72 in parking (72 us = 115 cad) made us realize that this
was unlikely worth it, not to mention the death feeling I had knowing I
had to drive back after a red eye flight with no sleep.

So arrived to Detroit Metro VERY early, cautious but unnecessary. The
only good thing to come from this was the business class upgrade for a
mere $40, WOW what a steal... but hey!!! remember we drove all the way
here to save some $$, but now with the extended gas, parking and
upgraded seating, we might have well simply left from Toronto, it would
have not been much more money.. if any at all. Although the 1st class
upgrade was well worth it, $40 for free booze on a 4 hr flight to Vegas,
you know your going to spend that anyways. Well, we were…
What a great way to make the flight pass so fast. Tons of free booze and
cards in 1st class.
Spirit air did a great job, nothing to complain about, nothing at all.
Budget, but you get what you pay for. (FYI, we paid 180 us for this
ticket, + the 40 of course)

OK, so we arrived in Vegas, 5 of us, Myself (Maxx), Rusty + Wells (Vegas
Virgins), Nash and PIG.
5 guys with lots of stuff + golf equipment, thinking ahead, I had
reserved a SUV from Thrifty car rental. Great idea, lots of room and had
gotten a great rate. Problem!!! Forgot that Seinfeld was so right.
Reservations don't mean you have a vehicle reserved in the car rental
world. So what would we do, much inconvenience, but hell we were on
vacation so I let it go. So here we go the 2 of us in the Kia we had
gotten (ya thanks for the upgrade.. SUV…Kia… sweet) and the other 3 in a
shuttle bus behind…wait… well, what was the purpose of this rental car
then?? We all needed to get around town together??
Well, our gracious Thrifty employees (ya right!! They even had the balls
to feed us attitude when we questioned what was going on… SUV… Kia???
knobs). Well rest assured that we didn’t leave that place without a
guaranteed for that SUV in the morning… yup I had to drive back at 7:45
and pick it up before the golf round. SWEET!! All that extra time to
spare was getting filled up nicely driving back to the car rental…ok, so
I get there 8 AM as planned... but WAIT!! No SUV… they held it in the
system but it somehow miraculously got out of the system... aaaaaaa…
ohhhh wait someone put a message in the comments and it has been put
aside at the back for us.. great save!!.. but wait!!! Attendant cannot
find the damn thing… where did it go??? Oh well, bummer for Maxx…we got
nothing, but for a mere $61 more a day, you can grab that nice fancy
concord or convertible there…are you NUTS??? Now I’m about to get
mid-evil on someone… I try to stay calm, manager please I say… Sorry
sir, management meetings all morning, can’t disturb them. Now I get
angry, and all I can say is that I left with a convertible for the day,
with a double promise of having this SUV by the next morning, (with a
free days rental of course for the hassles… yaaaaa). If you happen to be
in line when I did this… I’m sorry for the display!! And yes it was
busy, 8AM in Vegas on a Thursday. So to complete the rental story for
our trip, called 1st next AM (oh yes I’m getting smarter!!) You should
have seen us in this convertible… the KIA was bigger inside, we were
forced to keep the top down because otherwise the 5 of us didn’t fit at
all… not to mention we had to rent rental clubs for $50 *2 cause there
was no damn room in the trunk for more than 2 sets. So I call, ohh sorry
no SUV… dear god… do they even have ANY?? Is this a trick?? Well a 10
min conversation with management… ok … yelling session had my SUV at the
lot within 2 hrs for me to pick up, got there for the 3rd time… busy as
hell… oh my what a total disaster. After some sneaky moves to the front
desk/chasing management, I FINALLL managed top hop out into this SUV on
day 3. YEEAAAHHHH… oh and as my own form of punishment and self
accomplishment, I didn’t stick any gas in any of those tanks… not even
that SUV… too bad…eat it!!
Ohhhh, sorry, not over.. dropping the sucker off, they had charged me
the full rate for an SUV for a full week…man oh man... another visit to
the managers office, I felt like we were buds now.. he applied a 35%
discount to my dislike, but I didn’t have the patience nor time to
hassle over another 10-15%. End of rental story!!
Moral… don’t rent from Thrifty… or if you do… don’t count on any
specific car type. (I only say this because I hope to god the day never
comes when I show up and they have nothing at all)

Night 1 (wed), check in at 12.30 AM to Aladdin… what the hell is with this
line??? It’s 12:30.
45 minutes later, checked in… no upgrades available. Booooooo!!
Got a rate of $59 from VLTB online… wow what a steal for this place.
Great rooms, great hotel, very pleased with it. Staying 2 night total (5
guys… so.. 2 rooms (though I should share that), no we are not gay, not
that there is anything wrong with that!!)
So a few hrs of play at the BJ tables nets us a couple hundred and a
light buzz (couple losers and couple winners) ... wow what a long day...
time to hit the lights on this eventful day…3PM lights out.

Day 2 (Thursday)Early morning game of Golf at Paiute, sweet course. Get back to the hotel, BJ for a few hrs, then head over to NYNY ESPN Zone to watch my Leafs open the season on a 6-0 Pittsburgh blowout. Great 100$ pick-up. Although we spent close to 75 sitting there eating and drinking for 3+ hrs. Crap.. that's about all i remember about daytime... all I can tell you is
that after a few more hrs of BJ we decide to head out to find a club, hell…
take that convertible out for a drive down the strip... thank god I was
driving, the boys in the back wanted out ASAP.
Spent some time cruising the strip and ended up checking out Hard Rock.
Not impressed, not my scene… everybody there seemed so cocky and stuck
up, giving you looks and so on… ok guys, back to Aladdin for more BJ
before bedtime.
8,9,10,11,12,1 PM wow… it’s now 1 PM (yes, sat there at the same table
for over 8 hrs straight) and our pit boss set us up for a late check out
of 1 and were are already there without having our crap ready. Ok then,
time to get off this table… wow now I remember what walking feels
like... SWEET!!
8 hrs of play and a friendly pit boss got us 5 free buffet comps (only 3
of us were playing, but here knew that there were more in our party),
late check out (which we didn’t even really use), and some free passes
to Curve the nightclub. Ohhh and a net win of over $700 for me... great
start to this week-end of gambling.

So we stumble over to Ballys to check in for the remaining 4 nights… any upgrades??
But of course… how much??? But free of course… Sweet, as we desperately
needed this as this time all 5 were staying in the same room. Get to
the room… hey this is not a JR Suite?? This looks the exact same as the
last room we had at Ballys… well, it’s great, big enough, clean… I’ll
take it. By now I’m tired of complaining, Thrifty’s car had taken almost
80% of it. Ok by now it’s somewhere along 3 PM… I desperately need
sleep... time for a nap.
Wake up a couple hrs later, crap.. can't sleep.. my body and mind are aching but
i just can't manage to stay asleep. Well, guess it's time to get up and play some cards.
Spend the afternoon between Bally's pool, the sportsbook and BJ tables.
Well, night time, time to show the boys around town. Rusty and Wells are up for it, and Nash and Pig are down and out for the night.
So we start by going across the street to Bellagio to check out the fountains, have a few drinks and look around.
Take the tram to Monte Carlo and have a few drinks at the Pub (great place!).
Then, walk over to NYNY to check out Coyote Ugly.. huge line.. forget that.. we got more stuff to check out.
Over to Mandalay Bay, wow what a site.. sit and play BJ for a few hrs... think i lost a little.. but oh well, what's new. Ok, back to NYNY to check out Coyote Ugly, get in without any line-up (3AM by now), not a bad place, worth checking out, but not worth lining up for. Ok, across the street to MGM, drop a cool 700 on less than 10 spins of Roulette.. crap, crap, crap, let's get outta here.. walk back to Ballys and head up to bed around 5:30 AM.

Day 3 (Sat)

Wake up around 8:30 AM.. wow 3 hrs sleep.. feels great!! Time to get up and gamble..
Spent most of today simply drinking and gambling at Paris, Ballys, Caesar's.
Ran over to pick up tickets for Harra's improv.. boooooo!!! terrible waste of time and money...
Went over to Curve the night club at Aladdin.. also a big booo... i wasn't wearing enough Gucci cloth to fit in here. Decent club if your ready to pay $8+ a drink, and want fit into this crowd. Stayed at Aladdin, played some cards and ended the night playing BJ at Bally's.

Day 4 (Sunday)

Get up 10 AM, time to head over to TPC Sumerlin for the final round of the Invensys Classic.
After some confusing and long directions, we finally get there... look for Mike Weir.. shit he's already on 18... run there and cheer his final put of the day... run over to the scoring booth and score an autograph from both Mike and John Houston. Sweet!! Sit by 18 and watch the final group all choke, ending the possibility of a play-off.
Back to the hotel for another gambling session.
Decide to head out to the pool for a few hrs and a few fancy drinks... very nice..
back inside for more BJ. Ok, time to head out to dinner, how about PJ Chang's at the Aladdin... looks like fun, lets do it. Great food, good price, good idea.
So, what will the final night bring us, another round at the Monte Carlo Brew Pub.
I'm beat after a few hrs of drinking, time to head home and hit the bed, wait.... always time for a few last hands of BJ with Rusty at Paris, pick up a cool $350 and head to bed exhausted.

Day 5 (Monday)

Up at 8 AM, time to go play round 2 of golf, this time at Revere at Anthem... wow what a sweet community, think it's for retired folks, but still a nice place. Played relatively well, me and Rusty took Nash and Mike for a ride, picking up something like 13 strokes in the final 4 holes to win it by a few. Thanks to that easy looking 100 yard par 3, I think we picked up 8 strokes on that hole alone... must i say.. yes there's water!
Back to Ballys for the afternoon, time to nap... wait time to gamble, well get both in during the remainder of the trip and get ready to head home...absolutely exhausted. Flight was fine, drive home was a total bitch, but not as bad as i had thought. 1 PM Tuesday Toronto time, I'm home, safe sound, exhausted and with some extra cash in my pocket.

Fair to say that this Vegas trip was the best so far, keeping in mind that winning $$ always helps the feeling.
Cheers!!

 

Sounds like a good time! Good thing you didn't let Thrifty ruin your vacation. How much were the green fees where you played?

 

Hey Max--

Great trip report! Man, all these reports in the last few days are making me go crazy with anticipation...

Yeah, I'm trying to concentrate here at work and get things done, but dang, it's hard...

All that golfing and gambling, plus having 2 Vegas Virgins along for good luck...Oh man, it sounds like a great trip...

So, when's the next trip??

Mikey

 

Green fees were under $50 per guy for Pauite and like $35 for Revere at Anthem..
absoltuely unbeleivable.. on ebay. EZlinks... i highly recommend them...

We sure are awaiting the next trip.. almost took a last minute back the week-end after.. on a last minute deal.. my buds are hooked.. Dang women!!! they just can't stand being without us.
hahaha. Looks like it will have to wait t'ill next April (brother's convention at Mandalay).. free room!! i'm thinking I should take advantage of this!! and it also looks like we'll be making this an annual.. hell 4 yrs... i think it already is?? damn!!! sweet!! So the troops will be back for sure by end of Sept!. Cheers! guys!!
Maxx.

 

Ohhhh.. and called and complained to Thrifty's.... and they are sending me $100 voucher.. ..
cool.. well worth the mouthing off i guess.

 

max - Wow - sounds like you guys had fun - Next time we are out there we are making it a must to bring the golf clubs... glad you had fun

oh yeah - I hate rental cars _ they suck - some how we ended up witha KIA for a SUV - on our last trip to LA - they suck!! ..but after an hour of complaining & a lot of attitudes flying we only ended up paying 110 bucks for a 5 days rental!