I want to start out by thanking everybody for all the great advice. Even though we didn’t have time to do everything, we still had a great time. I’ll give my impressions first of all in case you don’t want to read the details – Food –Lindey’s at the Flamingo - Good, a little expensive and good service. Orleans buffet – Excellent and a great value. Cheese Cake Factory – Great and big portions. Sidewalk Café at Bally’s – Good with good prices. Transportation – They won’t take more then 4 people in a cab. If you have a party of 5 or more, get a limo for an hour. $38 an hour from LVL. $18 w/tip from the Flamingo to downtown via I-15. I think it’s quicker to walk on the Strip then to walk all the way to the backs of the hotels to catch the monorails/trams. Crowds – It wasn’t too crowded. I’ve been out for the NCCA tourney and that’s much worst. Casinos - $3 tables at O’Shea’s, IP, Casino Royale. 1 $2 table at Bally’s Drink Service – Good at all place we played. The Gory details – Monday - We (3 couples of mid 30’s, me (Rick) and 5 Vegas Virgins) flew ATA out of Chicago – Midway. We checked in at the skycap, and went into the terminal and saw that the check in line was about 100 deep. I’ve never understood why people don’t spend the 3-4 bucks for the skycap instead of standing in line. We met 1 of the couples(Eric and Amanda from Columbus OH) at our gate and waited for our flight. I got a call from the other couple(Dave and Julie from Crown Point IN) and they’re almost there. We got some food and a beer and waited for our flight. The phone rings and it’s Dave again, Julie forgot her driver’s license and they have to go back home to get it. So they had to take a later flight. So we got on the plane, it was about 10 minutes late leaving. Smooth flight, bland pizza rolls and pretzels for snack. I had a couple of $4 beers to get in the Vegas spirit. We arrive 10 minutes early and proceed to baggage pickup. We’re going to check in for the Flamingo at the airport. We get our bags and start walking to the shuttle to go to terminal 1. As we’re walking, Our LVL limo pulls up 30 minutes early. The driver says he’ll take us to terminal 1. We load up and go to check in. No waiting at the desk. I get upgraded for being a Hilton Honors member to a bigger room with a king bed and strip view (Room 10094) and the room is ready. GREAT!!!!! Eric and Amanda were offered a pool view with a king, but they opt for 2 queens with a strip view. The whole check in process took about 5 minutes. Off in the limo to pick up beer, pop, and snacks. The driver starts to jerk us around about our time. I told them our flight arrived at 12:40, but we wanted to be picked up at 1:15. Well, as I said before, he was 30 minutes early. We wanted to take a ride down the Strip before going to the hotel. The driver said we only had to 1:45, since this is when he picked us up. I didn’t want to start the trip off with a problem, so we ended up going from Harmon past the Venetian and to the Flamingo. We go up to our room to dump our bags and Eric and Amanda put their stuff in our room until their room is ready. The room was great with a great view of Caesar’s. We headed down and everybody is hungry. But there is no way I’m eating until I at least play 1 hand of BJ. We find the $2 table (it’s at the end toward the pool and the buffet) and proceed to win $22 in 10 minutes. THIS WHY WE COME TO VEGAS!!!! We ate at Lindy’s, pretty good food, but a little expensive. We headed north down the Strip and have ups and downs at craps and roulette at O’Sheas, and Imperial Palace(soon to become our hangout), We stopped at Harrahs to check out the disco band. We hung out there for a while and consumed several yards O drinks. We ended up at Casino Royale where Eric wins $35 buck on #36 in roulette. We headed back to the Flamingo to wait for Dave and Julie. They arrived and we head back out on the strip. We head back north and go to the Mirage and TI. The girls are getting tired, so we walked back to IP, and bid them nighty night as they turn in and we hit the craps table. The staff was great and the drinks were very plentiful. The dice were hot and the crowd was rockin’. THIS IS WHY WE COME TO VEGAS!!! I finished up about $50 for about 3 hours. We played some BJ and won a little more. It’s about 2am and we’ve been up for almost 24 hours, so we called it a night. Tuesday – Amanda got up early and saved us seats at the pool. We all go down and swim and chit chat about our kids. Nice pool area. Pretty crowded and you can bring your own drinks. At about 11, we decide we’re hungry and we’ll try out to the famous Orleans buffet for lunch. So we grab a cab and headed out. The buffet was great with Cajun, BBQ, Mexican and a lot of other types of food for $14.50 for 2 people(What a deal!). We sat down at a $3 BJ table and my wife and I won $100 in about an hour. We really liked this place. We’re huge fans of New Orleans and the décor is pretty accurate. We hung out there for a little more and took the shuttle back to the Barbary Coast. I hit the craps table at IP for a little while and we decided we’re going downtown. We get cleaned up and head down to get a cab. We learn that cabs can’t take 6 people even if it’s a van, so we have to take 2 cabs. The fare from the Flamingo to Fremont st. was $18 w/tip. Now this is how Vegas is supposed to be. Big, Bright and Cheesy as hell! We walk around for a while and I decide it’s time to get on the Grain Train (Thanks Steve) and get a drink at La Bayou. I ordered the Brain Freeze and it performed as advertised. Next it was time for a famous shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate. My friends weren’t too impressed, so they went to the buffet at Main St Station while my wife and I enjoyed the shrimp. As we were leaving, I noticed the $2 crap table. I told my wife I’d be there a while. She said ok and went to find the rest of the party. I bought in for $40. It took a while to get a beer, but luckily I still had my Brain Freeze. Once the beers started coming, they didn’t stop. This is the funnest craps session I’ve ever had. Everybody was screaming and the dice were again hot as hell!!!!! The couple next to me kept hitting $25 hard ways and I was doing well with my modest bets. I quit after about 3 hours to meet everybody else. I cashed out for $195 and was pretty hammered. I bought the group a round of daiquiris and we went out to enjoy a couple of light shows (especially the Rat Pack), saw them filming a commercial, and had our picture taken with the oldest Elvis I’ve ever seen. We played 2 deck BJ at the Shoe and won about $30. We caught our cabs back to the Strip and stopped at Harrah’s to hear another band. I was way too drunk by now and couldn’t drink anymore. We stayed there for a while and then stopped at IP for 1 more dice session before bed. We broke about even and called it a night around 3am. Wednesday – God I feel like crap!!!! We hung out in the room for a while and my wife goes for a swim with the other girls. She comes back hungry and I suggest we go across the street at the Cheese Cake factory. We walked over and through the Forum Shops. We get a table right away. The last thing I felt like doing was eating (The Grain Train ran me over!!) My wife ordered a Mexican pizza and said it was great and way too much food. I drank my ½ glass of Sprite and we walked back to the Flamingo. The girl’s head out shopping and the boys wanted more dice. Being the only Vegas veteran, I say, “Let’s head to the HO!!!” We stopped at Slot O Fun and head right for the $1 table right at the entrance. I ordered a 7 and 7 hoping for a little hair of the dog cure. The table goes ice cold, so we head next door to the HO. Right out in front was Elvis. We talked to him for a while and he had a show at 5. We figure we had to stay for the show. My friends get a ¾ hot dog and I still didn’t feel like eating, so I hit the BJ. Once again lost a little, so we try the dice. Still no luck, but still way up from yesterday. Dave and Eric got us a table for the show, and I end up cashing out down about $20. The show was real cheesy with Elvis singing karaoke style, but he was very entertaining and seemed to really care how the show went. He performed for about 30 minutes. We got our picture taken with him and I tipped him $10 for his effort. We caught a cab back to the Flamingo because everybody had different dinner plans. Eric and Amanda were celebrating their 10th anniversary and had reservations at the Top of the World. Dave and Julie were going to go try to get tickets for EFX at the MGM. Jenny and I gambled for a while and then got dressed and decided to go find a place to eat. We went to Barbary Coast, but they had an hour wait. We walked over to Bally’s and decided on the Sidewalk café for prime rib and crab legs. We got in in about 10 minutes. The service was good and the food arrived pretty quickly. The food was pretty good, and for $13, a good value. We walked down to Aladdin because Jenny wanted to get her folks presents for watching our 5 year old. We walked around the shops and she bought her mom some bath stuff and I bought her dad some Red Rectum hot sauce. We walked through the casino and heard a band playing. We walked up the stairs and there was a great disco/dance band playing. We ordered a couple of drinks. Dave called and said they were able to get tickets to the show and they were finishing dinner and would meet us at the Aladdin. They showed up in 30 minutes and we watch the band for a while. I still wasn’t feeling great so we decide to head back to the Flamingo. We saw the fountain show at Belagio and soak in the energy of the Strip. As much as I didn’t want to, I was beat and we decided to call it a night. I can’t believe I went to bed at 12:30 in Vegas!!!! Thursday – Boo Hoo, we leave today. I got up early and head to IP for 1 last craps session. I cash out up $29 and decide that I’ll end on an up note. Jenny slept in and then got up and packed. We decided to go to Lindy’s for a quick breakfast. There is a 20-person line, but we got right in by sitting at the counter. Our flight was at 1:45 and I reserved a LVL for 10:45, because we have to pay for the whole hour and we wanted to get our picture taken at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. “Vegas” Danny shows up promptly and we head south to the sign. Danny was great. There is a turn around right by the sign, so we all jumped out and he took our pictures. Then he took us back and we had our picture taken in front of the sphinx at the Luxor. We got to the airport and there is no wait. Yee Haw. We got a bite and basically relax waiting for our flight. The flight was a little late and there were several people that had obviously had kept the party going until they stepped on the plane (I really really envy them, I still wasn’t feeling that great from Tuesday night). The flight was uneventful and I watched Spider Man as Jenny read and slept. It took a while to get our baggage at Midway, but not too bad. What a great trip!!!!!! I came out ahead and paid for the hotel and 1 plane ticket. We’re already talking about doing it again in the future. “Make sure to take max odds!!” Rick Garinger
Lets see here...Gambled at the IP and the Shoe, ate at the Orleans and the Golden Gate, drank too much... My kinda trip!! Great report! Mikey
As I sit here with a 2-day old hangover (not even from Vegas, it's not fair ) I love to discover I'm not the only one! Sounds like you had a great time!! It's expecially nice to read a trip report with couples travelling together--we'll be doing it for the first time next week, just one other couple, and we haven't really done it before (just family, and everyone knows that's different ) Looks like you all did some stuff together and some stuff alone and all managed to have fun! What flavor is the Brain Freeze? Is that where they mix all the flavors together?
From one parrot head to another - The Brain Freeze is orange flavored and deadly. The couples thing worked out great because my wife and I don't shop well together and the girls were able to shop while we hit the tables. Phins up!!!
Hey, Great trip report ... craps, riding the grain train, more craps... the ho, slots a hell, and the IP ... damm... you tour vegas the same way I like to tour Vegas... well, expect, you forgot to tell about the late night session at the strip bar. Nice report... reminded me of my last trip (stayed at the Flamingo too).. and your mention of me made me laugh, I was drinking the Brian Freeze as well.. damm good... and packs a punch. Anyone want to hear about my Montreal trip report this weekend?
Had to go somewhere that you could use a passport instead of a driver's license huh? pjrox.... great report! sounds like a great trip!