Las Vegas Trip Reports

My wife and I go to Las Vegas each summer as an opportunity to get away on a vacation without the kids (though they are all on their own now except our 16 year old son). We love Vegas. We have the boats in Indiana and though they are a good escape they are not Las Vegas. We are small rollers (vp, Pai Gow Poker, and slots). We love the shows, the food and the people. We have stayed at one hotel for the entire trips until last year when I made multiple reservations for our stay. We like the difference in hotels though the moving can be a pain. We also rented a car again this year. Having a car has taken away one thing that we always enjoyed and that is walking the strip and going into all the different casinos and gambling a bit then moving on. Therefore our list of visited casinos is much shorter than it has been in recent trips.

We flew out of Indianapolis on Sat, July 30 at 2:10. Indianapolis has been the cheapest place for us to fly Southwest. Columbus does not have the better rate so the past couple times to LV we have driven to Indy and flown from there. We arrived and checked in with no problems and our flight was on time. Very good flight. Smooth and arrived 20 minutes early. I like the direct flights and at 5:20 LV time we were there. We went to Dollar and picked up our car. Things seemed a bit unorganized at Dollar as a group of people were standing under a tent, no line, no order seemingly. Attendants were driving up cars and would get out and say “mid-size” and whoever needed a mid-sze jumped in and off they would go. A Dodge Stratus came up and I had ordered a Dodge Stratus or “similar” mid-size, so when the attendant asked who wanted a mid-size, my wife and I took our bags to the trunk, put them in and off we were to the BC.

We had stayed at the Barbary Coast last year for three nights. BC is a nice, comfortable hotel. It had one of the best rates for a Sat night stay so I booked it. We also like to gamble there. They have good slots and Pai Gow Poker for $5 ($10 at busy times). We checked in with no problems and were given a 4th floor room overlooking Ballys and the Bellagio fountains. BC doesn’t have all the extras that some of the others have but we like it. It is nice to sit at the window at night and look down the strip. After checking in we headed down to the casino. We were to meet two friends at TI at 7:00 and we wanted to check out the casino first. We sat down at the Pai Gow table ($10) and began playing. As with all Pai Gow games it is a slow sociable game. We like it. It is simple, no pressure, and drink service is very good. We played for about 45 minutes before we decided we had better head down toward TI because our friends would be calling us soon to meet with them. They called as we were approaching Venetian and we finally found them (after searching for a while because the crowd around TI for the Sirens show was still milling around). We decided to go to Kahunaville for some drinks and food. I had heard a lot about Kahunaville on this board but had yet to visit it. We were told it would be about a fifteen minute wait so we went to the bar and had a drink. We were called to a table. I had a crab cake sandwich (outstanding) and my wife had a cheesesteak sandwich (outstanding). Our friends had eaten in mid afternoon so they just had drinks. Kahunaville soon became very rowdy as the bar tenders (one on each side of the bar) began a competition juggling their bottles and putting on their show. The bartender each tried to get their side of the bar become the loudest as they performed their act of juggling bottles and pouring drinks from stacked cups. Finally our side won the yelling match and the bartender began pouring into patron’s mouths. She went up and down the bar pouring a shot right from the bottle into people’s mouths. My wife was able to crowd up to the bar and get a shot. Overall we had a great night. Our friends had been at Vegas all week and were flying back in the morning. We had passed Mystere and my wife and I had seen it last year. When we raved about it, our friends wanted to see if they could get tickets and go see the 10:00 show. They were lucky enough to get tickets so we left them as they went up to the show and we went back down the strip to the BC. We again jumped in on the Pai Gow table and played till about midnight. One thing about Pai Gow is that you get can win slowly and then you can lose slowly. It is a good break from slots and vp. We ended the night around even with our Pai Gow play.

The next morning we used our coupon from the discount book given to us at check in for coffee and muffins. BC has a small coffee shop (Seattle’s Best, I think). We usually get our caffeine fix there and then head out to walk the strip. Since we would be checking out in a couple hours and heading to Mandalay Bay, we decided to stay a BC and play slots and Pai Gow. We played some slots (no luck). My wife likes Jackpot Party and BC has one of the few new Super Jackpot Party slots that I saw on the strip. I had seen a SJP at Barona in San Diego a few weeks ago and had good luck on it. We played it and the new bonus rounds are lots of fun. You have a chance to save your party by choosing a party favor after you lose in the bonus round. Plus the bonus round has multipliers and extra bonuses also. BC also has some good vp. They have mostly nickel and penny vp now. Their quarter vp has become fewer and fewer. They even have a good number of 9/6 games. We checked out of BC and drove down to MB. We have stayed at Luxor most of our nights at Vegas and have always liked the MB. We have said we wanted to stay there so this year I believe their rates were within our budget. I scheduled us a Sunday and Monday night stay. We checked in quickly and up to the 8th floor. Our view was of the airport. We were in one of the towers that would not allow much view of the strip though I could see MGM and Trop and San Remo. One of my reasons for choosing MB was I wanted to use their beach and pool area. We decided to have lunch at Raffles Cafe (another suggestion from this board). I had fish tacos and my wife had a tuna sandwich. Again we were very satisfied with the food and the service. We had planned to make this trip one where we did new things. New restaurants, new casinos, new games, new shows, whatever we could find that we had not done previously at LV. So far we had done that. My wife had always wanted to see the Scintas at the Rio. When we go to Vegas we usually go to at least two shows in the evening and one or two in the afternoon. I had asked at Harrahs at the booth outside the Carnival Court as to whether 2/1 tickets were available for Scintas. They said I would have to check at the Rio. So after lunch, we drove to the Rio and went to their ticket window and asked about Scintas tickets. No 2/1′s they said. So I bought two tickets at around $66 each with tax. Now we have been visiting the Tix2night or Tickets4tonite boots that are located on the strip (one near Coca Cola, one near Hawaiian Village and now one at mall down byWynn) to see what shows were available at 1/2 price. When we heard no 2/1 were available for Scintas we did not check at any of those places. Were we surprised when on Tuesday we went in to the 1/2 price place near Harley Davidson and saw 2/1 for Scintas at about 32 per person. Never again will I buy tickets until after I go into one of those outlets to see what they have for that day. I can’t exactly remember the name of those places but now they have two different outlets and the names are very similar but they are advertised around town. We gambled at the Rip playing different slots that we had not seen a some of the other casinos. I have always thought the slots at Rio were very tight. I like the casino but have stayed away from it because we have never had much luck there. We played there until we decided to go back to MB and to the pool. We knew we had a couple hours till we had to get back to Rio for the show at 7:30. I had read also that the VooDoo Cafe was an excellent place to eat so after the show we decided to eat there. At MB, we had a great time at the beach. Drink service however left a lot to be desire. After not seeing a drink girl come around I decided I would just go up to one of the bars and order myself. There was a line of about 6-7 standing in line waiting. When there was only about two or three before me a guy walked up and stood beside me. When it was about my turn to be waited on, this guy brought a good looking young girl (well built in her skimpy bikini) and put her in front of him. She evidently knew the bartender’s name because she called his name out and of course he waited on her before waiting on me and a couple others who had been waiting much longer. After they left I told the guy beside me that next time I was going to grab some good looking babe and bring her up to the bar and have her order for me since that seemed a quicker way to get drinks. The MB wave pool and pool area in general was jammed with kids. Even though it was crowded it was a good time just being in the sun and the water. After all it is Vegas water. After a couple hours we went back up to our room and dressed and headed to the Rio. The Scintas we had always heard good things about but we did not know many details about them. They were great. Two brothers, their sister, and a drummer with a different name (we assume he married the sister) comprised the Scintas “family” show. However it was not always a “family” show. The one brother was very talented playing many different instruments and especially the piano. He constantly jabbed at the other brother with little satirical comments. They did impressions, comedy (the two brothers did an Martin and Lewis segment that was really good) and when a serious song was needed out came the sister (Chrissie) and she had a big voice for a little girl. They constantly reminded everyone of the importance of family and how much their father had been a strong influence in their lives. He had been a firefighter for 30 years. They even did a salute to him playing some of his favorite songs. They did have some sexual innuendo so taking children may not be the appropriate thing. Overall I would recommend it very much. After they show we went up to the VooDoo Cafe. We were told it would be about a 30 minute wait (even though tables seemed open) and they sent us into the bar. Our bartender was a nice guy and even though the did try to talk us into one of their signature 20 some dollar froze drinks, I had a couple drafts and my wife had a margarita. He did say we could go out to the patio and wait. I had heard about the view from the top of the Rio but neither my wife nor I was prepared for the beauty we saw. We walked outside and it just took our breath away. We could look at the strip and all around LV from one area. We loved it there. It had just slight breeze and was as close to heavenly as I have seen. After about 15 minutes of wandering around and gazing at the beauty of LV we went back in, checked on our table and were seated at a window seat looking north. We could see downtown Vegas and Palace Station. We ordered (Sea Bass for my wife, strip steak for me) and waited. We waited and waited and waited asking about our food a couple times. Finally our waitress came over and said it would be up soon. Now if the Cafe was packed I could understand but we were seated at around 9:50 and our food arrived at 10:50. It was outstanding food to say the least and I would not hesitate to go back but still the wait was a bit ridiculous. The 4 people beside us came in half hour after we did and recieved their food about the same time. We ate and then went up to the VooDoo Lounge for a while, again going outside to spend some time looking at the lights of LV. We finally went back to MB and gambled a while and then off to bed.

Monday morning we got up and went down to the Mandalay Bay Buffet. I know that some have not been overly impressed but we eat their breakfast buffet at least once every trip and have not been disappointed. Again it was good food for the money, convenient and satisfying. After lunch we took off for down the strip. We went into Excalbur, Luxor, Monte Carlo, MGM, and then down to Tix4tonight or whatever the one is near the Harley Davidson Cafe. My wife had always been intrigued by the hypnotist and how many shows had hynotists as the star. She had wanted to see Anthony Cools (read about him in some of those show magazines you get in your room). So we bought 2/1 tickets (about 32 a piece)to see Anthony Cools at Paris on Monday night. We just continued down the strip going into each casino and gambling a bit here and there with nothing to show. Win a little here, lose it in the next machine, I think with slot machines you just have to outlast them. In the late afternoon we walked back to MB and went to the pool. We hurried and dressed because the show was at 7:30 so we drove down and parked in the parking garage at BC. We walked over to Paris and went into the show. Now if you are going to judge the Anthony Cools show and the first few minutes or on the preshow, you will walk out. However, once he gets his volunteers on stage and goes through the hynotism routine with them, it gets hilarious. He finally ends up with about 7 on stage (after starting with 20). These 7 look like they are awake but they do things that even if they were in on the trick I don’t see how they would do them. No one can be consciously aware what they are doing if they do what he has these seven do. I could tell you details but it would be X rated on this board. However, it was hilarious. Don’t go to that show if you are offended by language or sexual situations. After the show we went to the cafe St. Louis in Paris to eat. Again we wanted to do something different. I had a prime rib sandwich and my wife had a seafood sandwich. I also had a bowl of clam chowder. I would rather have eaten earlier and think I could have enjoyed the meal more rather that so late at night because the portions were so large that one could not eat all of it. We drove back to MB and my wife was very tired so she went up to the room and I went back to the casino. I headed over to Luxor and gambled at a vp machine (nickel) and finally hit a few quads and ended the evening with a Jackpot Party game and left Luxor for the night with a few payout tickets in my pocket. Still nothing big but what great entertainment.

Tuesday
Keeping with our plan of doing new things, my wife and I had a quick breakfast of a coffee and donut and we checked out of MB. We decided not to go to Luxor yet as it was before 11. We walked around MB and Excalibor until we could check in at Luxor. The lines as usual (our only compaint about Luxor) was slow. We were given an East Tower room. This was the first time we were in a Tower room. I had requested one so we could choose next year between the pyramid and tower rooms. Nice but I think I like the pyramid better as it is closer to the casino and the pool. We put our bags in the room and decided to head down the strip and parked at BC. We again jumped around the mid strip casinos finally ending up at BC in the late afternoon. We spent the afternoon playing Pai Gow, slots, and vp. We were doing very well at Pai
till we decided to go for dinner at Bellagio Buffet. We had never been to Bellagio Buffet in any of our previous four trips to LV so off we went. We were definitely impressed. Everything imaginable it seemed. I had venison, buffalo, chicken and prime rib. I stuffed myself on shrimp. My wife is not a big eater at buffets but she also ate very well there. Our server was very attentive and had coffee for us with our desserts. We were very impressed and will certainly try again. After the buffet, we walked around Bellagio and then decided to go downtown. We drove downtown and parked in Golden Nugget parking garage. Though downtown is not a place I would want to walk to far to get to, the parking garage was well lit. We stayed and watched two shows of FSE and gambled in a couple places. I had not been to many of the downtown casinos and wanted to walk around in them. My wife after a couple hours wanted to go back to Luxor as she just did not have a great feel for downtown. Too crowded, too old, just not the same as the comforts of the strip. Back to Luxor for a short night of gambling for my wife. Midnight she was back in bed and I was on the floor looking for the vp machine I had played the night before. It was not as hot as previously but still some good payouts for a nickel machine.

The next morning, my wife decided to go to the pool for a while and I thought I would walk to San Remo. I had never been there but since it would be changing to a Hooters Casino this upcoming year, I wanted to see it. I’m glad it was my only trip there. A real dump and needs to be changed. By the time I got back to Luxor, I called my wife and while she dressed for lunch, I gambled in the casino on some slots. We had a 2/1 at Luxor lunch buffet given to us on check in. Luxor Buffet is not one of the elite but for lunch it is ok and at 2 lunches for $15 we could not pass it up. We ate a lunch actually the salad I made was very good. The rest of the lunch left something to be desired but it sufficed. We hopped in our car and off to Wynn. While at Vegas we found some side streets to travel so we did not have to navigate the strip. We traveled north and south on the road east of the strip (Koval) and west of the strip along I15. This saved us a lot of time in our travels. We parked at Wynn’s garage and went in. The first thing that we see is a line of people waiting to get into the car dealership. Amazing. We walked around the hotel and went to the garden area and to the waterfall. We loved it. We loved the color and comfort. We decided that we would stay at Wynn someday. We found some machines to play and after getting our cards we sat down at some machines. My wife sat at a Jackpot Party for a penny at around noon. #10 in the machine. I wandered around the casino playing various games. I did not find any five cent poker unless it was in triple or five play so I played some triple play. I went back to see my wife. We sat together and ordered margaritas. They were promptly brought to us. They were the best margaritas we had had while sitting at a machine and we were at 1 cent machines. I moved over to a game called Alien. I had never seen it before. Most of the machines at Wynn are the flat topped kind not the upright so the comfort and ease of playing was much better. I continued playing Alien, my wife continued playing jackpot party and we continued ordering margaritas. I had a lot of fun with the bonus games on Alien but the creatures were ugly but it had great audio with the game. Finally my wife had to put another five in her machine (it was around 3:30). She had played over three hours on ten dollars. She had so many parties and was so happy. For her gambling is entertainment. She played another half hour and we decided to leave but we were definitely impressed with Wynn.

We went to BC and parked and began playing Pai Gow. We wanted to see Big Elvis. We love him though I am not an EP fan. We played Pai Gow for a while then decided to go over to the slots to play and listen to Big Elvis. I sat down at a vp machine and my wife sat down at a penny slot called Unicorn. I had some wins and immediately cashed out as I always do when I have a winner. I then put back in some money and play on it. Soon my wife lets out a yell and I look over and her machine is going crazy. There are wild cards everywhere and it is ringing up points. It stops at 5559 or so points. I look at her and say that is $55 dollars on a penny machine. You just won us dinner. Not bad for a $5 dollar investment. We were up at Pai gow also and went back to the table after Big Elvis finished. By seven thirty we were up about a hundred playing Pai Gow. So we got up from the table and wanted to eat Italian. Off to Caesars to check out the restaurants with our slot fortunes to pay for dinner. We finally settled on Spago which isn’t really Italian but my wife had eaten there in March when she and a girl friend had gone out for three days. She said she had the meatloaf then and it was great. I am a meatloaf lover so that setteled it. We went in and immediately were impressed by the service. I had a draft and my wife had a glass of wine. She ordered a pasta dish and I had the meatloaf. Our server was great. We loved our food, were completely satisfied and left the restaurant $60 poorer with tip.

We stayed at Caesar’s for a while watching the dancers at ghost bar and trying to decide how much clothing they were actually wearing behind that curtain. We gambled a bit. I found a Money to Burn slot. We have that slot here at the boats and it is fun to play but not many are in Vegas. I put in my money got up then made the mistake of not cashing out as is my usual and lost it. I think slots are set up to be cyclical. I think that when they are hitting they really hit, giving one the false notion that you can win a lot of money but then they turn and go south and you begin to lose. But you have committed to the game so you just allow yourself to lose all your money. That is why I like to stay with the cash out the win strategy or play to a limit when things are going bad then change machines. After Caesars we went back to BC and by the end of the night we were down around $60. Pai Gow can be that way. New dealer seemed she hit every big hand. She opened with a full house and things got worse for the gamblers from there. BC has some nice people as dealers though and that is why we like it there. It is a casual place for low rollers to gamble. Around midnight we headed back to Luxor. Since this was our last night at Vegas. We were flying back Thursday around 5 pm. We decided to stay up and gamble at Luxor. We played various machines winning some and losing some and finally around 2:30 we hit the elevator for our room.

Our last day. I had scheduled a non stop from LV to Indy for late in the day so we could spend some time and not rush around. My wife went to the pool and I went to the coffee shop, bought a USA Today and had a quick breakfast. One never knows in Vegas if the world is still there. No clocks, no newspapers, no CNN on the tv. So to get me ready for the shock of the real world I sat and drank coffee and read the news. I met my wife at 11:00 in the casino. I called her and told her I would be at the Alien machine near the buffet. We checked out and drove down the strip. We wanted a place for lunch and she suggested going back to Wynn to see what there cafe was like. However, once we neared Wynn she said let’s eat at the buffet. We checked out the prices at the cafe and at the buffet and figured price would be similar. It was ten till eleven and according to the chart, breakfast at the buffet was over at 10:30. However, when I paid they only charged me for the breakfast buffet. We walked up to the buffet and were surprised because the lunch buffet was set up. We loved the buffet. I again stuffed myself on shrimp and had many other great items. Their sauces set this buffet aside from all the others except the B of course. For less than $30 dollars we ate in style. We played our Alien machines and Jackpot Party again. However this time the slot was cold so about 12:30 we headed back to BC for one last Pai Gow session. My wife who is a really small roller goes crazy in Pai Gow. She always bets $10 on a five dollar table. For someone who hates to bet more than the minimum on a slot she loves to be bold in PG. We sat and had a couple drinks. She learned to love White Russian this trip so she had a couple and I had a draft as I was the driver to the airport later. We played until 2:15 and cashed out $90 up. Off to Dollar rent a car. We dropped the car off and did curbside checkin and went to the gate to wait. And wait. The plane ahead of us was late taking off so we were delayed. The plane we were to be on was delayed. Finally about 1 1/2 hours later off to Indy we were. Immediately the pilot came on and said that it would be a bumpy take off because of the heat radiating up from the desert. What he did not tell us was that the whole flight was to be bumpy. This flight would not be in my top ten favorites. Three of four times the pilot came on and said that he had to turn the seat belt sign on because we were flying over weather. He sat the flight attendants down three times. Once he had come on and had everyone including flight attendants take their seat and a young college kid got up and went to the bathroom at the front of the plane. The attendant came on and asked that no one get up as the pilot had said. The kid came back and the gentleman in the seat ahead of him got up and let a little old lady out to go to the bathroom up front. She was talked to by the flight attendant and when the lady got back to her seat the lady beside her got up and went to the bathroom. Again the flight attendant came on and said that no one should be up as it was unsafe. When the lady got back to her seat the man got up and went to the bathroom. The attendane talked to him, allowed him to go to the bathroom but came on and again said no one is allowed up as the pilot has asked. Amazing as all three from the same aisle got up and went to the bathroom even though the pilot and the attendant had asked no one to get up.
We arrived in Indy around 11:15 Indiana time, 12:15 Ohio time and picked up our baggage, were shuttled to our car and pulled into home around 3 am. What a great trip. I just wish i could get out there more than once a year. I really appreciate all the help this board has given me and hope that I passed along some new info to you.

Posted by bigfishinvegas on LVTalk