This Trip Report will mostly be by memoir as I never take
notes and just decided 4 months later to write one!
A little background:
I visit Vegas at least once a year and have been doing so since 2001 and
my traveling partner is usually my younger sister so has also been going since
2001. This year after 3 years of also having a third this year it was just use
and having traveled so much with each other to Vegas in the past, no
explanations is needed in our plans or what we are doing and when, unlike
taking newbie’s or others who don’t go as much.
My hotel for the trip would be the Orleans. I have stayed
there many times and usually have two nights comped, I did as well for this
trip but the offer ended on the day I was checking in and the website wouldn’t
allow me to book those comped nights because it was the last day of the offer
for some reason. I called they said they couldn’t do anything since their
system wouldn’t take it as well, so I had to email customer service. I sent an
email and it wasn’t replied to until 6 hours later, telling me……………
I had to call!! WTH so I replied to that email saying I did
and got a reply right away from a customer service supervisor explaining to
call in and tell them to book me under the offer and to use her name as an
authorization. So I called back and they started to give me the same answer
until they I explained to the lady on the phone what the supervisor said, she
asked me the supervisor’s name. The customer service person on the phone said,
“Oh ok she is a supervisor” and preceded to book my offer. The supervisor had
her name and business address on the email she sent, so I sent her a nice hand
written thank you note with a $5 Starbucks card, as she had saved me a hundred
dollars. Moral of the story never give
up on a comp offer! After I got back
the supervisor emailed me making sure I didn’t have any troubles with my stay
and thanked me for the Starbucks card, saying she really needed a good coffee
the day she received it. I’m glad it made her day and all she did was type a
few extra words to help me!
ONTO THE TRIP
We always fly out of Midway on Southwest and it usually is
without issue, but we took a trip out in December that had cancel flights,
plane deicing, weather delays and a wait for a pilot to arrive with enough
hours to get us back home. But that’s a WHOLE other trip report, which I do not
want to write as it was not a fun Vegas trip!!
So up early (4AM) to make it to Midway, the flight was on
time and we had Southwest first class seating as no one took the middle seat
between us, first win. Landing about 10
minutes early to a beautiful sunny Sunday morning in Las Vegas. The funny thing
about arriving early on a Sunday morning in Vegas is you see all the people who
Vegased to hard over the weekend and just need to get home!
Bags were waiting as we got to the claim area as per usually
there, unlike Midway ugh, and off to the rental car facility. We used Dollar
and skipped or actually walked to the kiosk in the garage as I have their
loyalty card. Why do people not know about this FREE benefit with all the car
rental companies?!?
Was giving my paperwork was told to pick out a car from the
numbered line, we chose a 2017 Toyota Camry, at first I has going to get a
Nissan but saw the Camry and since I have a Toyota at home I new how to work
everything . Checked out and onto brunch in less than 30 minutes after landing.
Brunch was at Boarder Grill at Mandalay Bay, if you have not
been I recommend it highly! We discovered it last year and this was our second
time, it did not disappoint. It is not a buffet, but they bring you a stream of
small plate Mexican inspired things and oh yeah you can also get bottom less
mimosas for an addition price(about $12) and it is not just OJ there are
several different mixes to try. Our server this year was Gasby, although it was
a lady I asked her if her parents were big fans of F. Scott Fitzgerald and she
said yes. We sat there for 3 hours eating and drinking, oh yea the seating is
outside by the Mandalay Bay pool under trees so very relaxing for Midwesterners
who usually have to endure cool weather in late April!
Now thanks to the MLife credit card I have pearl status and
do not have to pay for parking at MGM properties, but for the second time in a
year the machines did not want to recognize my card upon leaving. Minor glitch
but a push of the “help” button fixed it and we were on our way to check in.
Check in was a breeze at the Orleans and asked for was given
a high up South facing room.
We always have a Spring meet up with our “Vegas Friends” and
that was the purpose of this trip, the first meet up was at the Beer Park at
Paris. I have never been to the Beer Park before and was a little hesitant
because of the added “entertainment fee” or whatever they call the
surcharge! But I must say the service
and the view of the fountains was great. We all stayed there for several hours
and we never felted hurried by the staff to leave so they could turn the table
and if you read the menu you can get a better deal by ordering flights of beer
instead of just a single beer.
We were planning on going to secret pizza for dinner but
after the brunch feast and several beers we decided to call it a night and
return to the Orleans.
There is something really exciting about that first morning
when you wake up in Vegas! If you don’t watch the morning show on Fox5 you are
missing out, it is light hearted and silly the perfect way to get your news and
weather on vacation.
Breakfast today was back at Mandalay Bay, but at the buffet
and it was free thanks to MyVegas. The buffet is ok and has varied throughout
the years, but we ask for a table by the windows to take in the pool and
beautiful views. The rest of the day was taken up by walking around touring
what is new in the Mandalay/Luxor area after breakfast and some video poker at
the Orleans. The front bar at the Orleans has a progressive at both the quarter
and the dollar level and the quarter level was up over $2000! I was just
walking up to the bar to take a run at that when just before I reached the bar
someone hit, oh well.
Dinner was at Gimaldi’s and although it smells really good
as you pass by the restaurant, the pizza is just ok. Afterwards we met up with
our friends’ downtown, I’ll say I can only take downtown for a few hours and
then I want to leave. It’s just not fun to be in a sea of humanity with the
canopy it makes me feel very claustrophobic and I am not that way at all just
something about it. We hung out at Banger Brewing.
and at the D to play the Sigma Derby which were both fun.
Side funny story, one of my friends had been battling cancer the last year or
so and was finally given a clean bill of health before his trip. Last year’s
trip he did not drink because of the cancer treatment, but this year hit it
hard and we were all standing outside the D talking when he disappeared all of
a sudden, he reappeared a few minutes later and we asked him where he went he
said just to the bar to do shots. Got to
love drunks in Vegas using all the opportunities to further their cause!
Gave a lift to a pair of our friends who were staying at
Harrahs and were in no state to drive. The best part of the drive back was the
discussion on the number of toilets on the strip and how much poop was moved in
any given day by the sewers. Ah talking
to drunks in Vegas is always fun!!
Next morning we would have the Orleans buffet for breakfast
and one of our Vegas friends joined up since she just happened to be there for
the slot tournament and was by herself anyway. The buffet was alright, but the
service was lacking. I judge the service in a buffet on how empty my drink
glass gets/asked if I would like a refill. Let’s just say I was lucky to get a
refill on 1 ice tea that morning.
We decided to take a drive over to South Point, since
neither one of us had been there before and I have heard good things about the
place. Pulling up and parking I guess I never realized how big the building is,
as the porte cochere is huge! Signed up for the slot club and was informed
about the raffle today, it was earn 300 points and you get to spin the prize
wheel. Sat down at a full pay video poker machine and it treated me well,
earned the 300 points and cashed out up $60. We took a stroll around the casino
and discover that they have a whole bar dedicated to Crown Royal. My sister
commented that the crown & coke she ordered from the cocktail server was
actually crown, unlike some other casinos, so that is why it was the real thing. Before we left I spun the wheel and earned a
free lunch buffet, well since we had just had a breakfast buffet it was not
something I was going to use that day.
My thoughts about South Point are that it is somewhere I
will come back to as they have a ton of full pay video poker and they have a
lot of promotions. The strange thing is that they do not market via email, as
they never asked for one and the players club website does not have a place to
put one in either. They do however place their promotions on their Facebook
page and have someone updating daily with some clever stuff.
Leaving we headed to the Bellagio as I have an appointment
for a Royal Shave at the spa. This is something that I make a point of doing on
every trip. For those of you gentlemen who haven’t experienced a Royal Shave, I
suggest you pony up the $65 plus tip and get at least one in your lifetime. It
is a combo straight razor shave and facial with hot and cold towels. The reason
I go to the Bellagio spa is that the barber, his name is Johnny and is a Vegas
native and a great barber. He also has a lot of insights into all things Vegas
especially things pertaining to MGM corp since that is his employer. We
discussed the paid parking/valet thing and how it really upset the big players
who drive in, when it all started, he also does a fair number of private
barbering for celebrities and pro sports players. He never gives me a lot of details
but does let me know whether they are jerks or not. HEHE
After my shave we toured the conservatory and it smelled
great as always, but the Spring display
had the big samurai and the back of it did not really have anything to look at
which I found unusual for one of their displays.
This evenings dinner would be at China Poblano at the Cosmo.
It was an interesting combo of Mexican and Chinese food but the high point had
to be the Salt Air Margaritas.
All in all it was reasonably priced meal from a celebrity
chief in Las Vegas, which is kind of a surprise.
The rest of the evening was just some gambling and then bed.
Up around 6ish this morning, still it’s sleeping in for
Midwestern time! Do the usual watch Fox5 until I call my sister at 7 to arrange
meeting time to drive to breakfast. Today we will be going to the Green Valley
Ranch casino buffet. I love GVR and mainly because of all the wonderful
employees that they have there. It was Wednesday so that is the 50+ bonus day
and there is always a points multiplier on VP & slots, but if you live out
of town you have to go ask the slot club to activate them for you. Their slot
club has many sweet older ladies during the day to help you out and they always ask if I want the free
Starbucks coupon as well that they give away that day. I always say no as I can
get all the drinks I want at the buffet. The buffet was up to its very good
standards with great service and as an added bonus for me that they have
packets of Stevia on the table with all the other sugar alternatives. It’s the
little things that make me happy about this place that is one of them.
After we eat we played a little in the casino, I think I
doubled my $20 on a full pay VP machine.
Today we were going to check out Henderson a little bit. Since we both
love Las Vegas so much and the weather, with the exception of the Summer, is
the stuff of dreams for a Midwesterner!
To explain, we would both move right away, but our Mom is still with us
and we won’t leave here and she won’t move there although she loves it there as
well (dam grandkids!!) So before our trip doing some internet research I came
across the Del Webb community in Henderson called Anthem and found some youtube
videos that made it look really nice, so we had to check it out. We plugged
into the gps the address for Anthem’s community center and off we went. Let me
tell you that I will live there when I move out there, the place is on the foot
hills in the South Eastern valley and you can look out over the valley to the
North. As we drove back to the Orleans we noticed that there is everything;
stores, dinning, banking right with in short driving distance from that
community.
Back at the Orleans it is 50+ day as well so I play some VP
to get my entries to the cash give away and exploit the points multiplier.
Needless to say I didn’t win any of the free cash but I did replenish my
account with points for another free breakfast for a future trip.
Drove back to the strip to explore Coke/M&M World and
since I had a 2 for 1 boozy shake at the Blvd creamery from MyVegas we decided
to grab those and people watch. The shakes were ok but………..
the after effects were not!!
It hit my sister almost right away afterwards, me it took more time.
She was ok after a little while, so were proceeded to over
to the Bellagio for another MyVegas 2
for 1 at the buffet. Besides the free parking, the line pass is the other
benefit of having a Pearl card so we skipped the line and went in, this is when
my AFTER EFFECTS kicked in! I just had one serving of some food and I had to
make a bee line to a wash room, I came back and tried to eat again but another
trip to the washroom was needed. I didn’t get to enjoy the buffet, but since
they were remodeling, it was limited selections anyway. That dam shake ruined
my system for the rest of the night!
We meet up with friends afterwards at the cigar bar inside
the of the forum shops, everyone else had drinks I had water because of the
reasons in the previous paragraph. It was great spending time with friends and
my night ended after that, but they went for sushi, yea my system was not ready
for raw fish tonight, NIGHTY NIGHT.
Same morning routine as previous days but a little sad as it
is the last whole day in Vegas. We were off to Sunset Station for breakfast.
Their buffet is similar to the one at GVR and the service is good as well. We
played a bit in the casino afterwards but no wins. The casino was a little
quite today compared to our visit in December, but in all fairness it was busy
that day because they were giving away bottles of booze for 300 slot points and
you got to keep the points!
I should mention that today would be groupon day, as we had
two to use today. The first was for the
Wayne Newton museum at Casa de Shenandoah. I was a little skeptical as its
Wayne Newton! I was really surprised, the museum is on his former home (he
lives somewhere else in the valley) they transport you via bus to it from the
other side of Sunset Road where the reception center is located. We were the
only ones for the tour at this time, so we had our own personal tour guide
through the place and it is filled with Wayne’s stuff, including his private
air plane, several cars (Rolls Royce) and a ton of clothes, pictures,etc. The tour guide had a lot of stories about
Wayne and the property, including that Wayne had to build a higher fence to
keep his neighbor Mike Tyson out of this horse pasture. According to the guide
Mike would get drunk and climb the fence and chase the horses and also Wayne
was afraid that Mike’s tiger would attack the horses if it got into the
pasture. So Mike Tyson did actually have a tiger at one point and it is not
something the writers of the movie the Hangover made up!
Back at the Orleans for some afternoon drinking and
gambling. Today the Orleans is giving away Emeril Lagasse cutting boards for
earning 300 points, so of course I had to get one of those for the kitchen.
Which I did, since 300 points on $0.25 VP is only about two comped drinks worth
of play for me!
Dinner tonight was at Pampas Brazilian grille to use the
second of those Groupons. This deal was 2 complete meals including drinks and
desert for $99 but my sister bought it on a 40% off day on Groupon, so you do
the math and it was cheap for 2 to eat in Vegas. For those of you who don’t
know what kind of restaurant this is, it is a Brazilian grill place where they
just keep bring long swords of grilled meat until you tell them to stop. I
think this deal is on going on Groupon and I would highly recommend it!
Afterwards we walked off our stuffed bellies and watched
several fountain shows until we got tired and when back to the Orleans.
Last morning in Vegas before our afternoon flight home.
Breakfast was at the Palms buffet, it was disappointing with limited selections
and we learned afterwards that they are remodeling it so not we understand why
it not so good.
Went to the room pack up and check out. To kill some time,
my sister place a multiply penny VP machine and she was rewarded with her first
ever Royal Flush. She was so happy to finally get one, she really wasn’t upset
that in was only on a penny machine!
Last meal in Vegas for us is always at the In-n-Out on Trop
and Dean Martin. Delicious as always and I discovered that they have a little
tray of peppers by the ketchup dispenser. How long has this been there, I’ve
been going there for years and I’ve never noticed?!?
Gassed up and returned the car and off to airport for the hell
that is TSA! Took a little longer than normal because of shift change, but I
did see a guy taken to the back room for further inspection because he was
being stupid!
Flight took off and landed on time and back to the sadness
of not being in Vegas anymore.
Hope you enjoyed my recap of the trip.
