Trip Report Six Nights in Las Vegas Beginning September 12, 2014
THE TAKEOFF
My wife and I left Boston via JetBlue, early AM, non-stop and got in about 11:30 AM. With Dollar Express we rented a car for the week with rates starting at about $320 for a midsize, but after many re-bookings got it down to $194 for a full-size Nissan Altima.
L-O-N-G DOLLAR EXPRESS RANT (Start)
Dollar Express keeps changing their Express pickup procedures. I went directly to the parking garage to the Dollar kiosk (which is now shared with Thrifty). About eight people were waiting in line. To the right was an open walkway and an employee there told me if I had a dollar Express reservation to just pick any car in the car size reserved. I loaded our bags into the car we chose only to discover there was no key or key FOB in it. So I removed the bags and picked another car only to find that all doors were locked. I asked a different employee walking by for help and she asked to see my paperwork. I had only the reservation confirmation paper work I had printed at home. She said I would have to go back to the kiosk to get my paperwork. The line was still about eight people long and I was upset that I had just wasted 15 minutes and was back at the end of a long line again where I started.
While in line, a different employee walked by and I told her the story and she said I needed to get out of the kiosk line and check the electronic screen to the left of the kiosk and find my name and there would be an assigned car in an assigned space number and my paperwork would be in the car. I got out of line and checked out the electronic screen, and finally found my name, but all that was displayed next to it was TBD (to be determined). In the meantime, two more people took my place in the kiosk line and the line was about nine people long. Now I was steaming angry.
A few minutes later another employee walks by and I tell him about my misadventures and he takes it upon himself to go into the kiosk and get my paperwork and walks me to the row of full size cars. He says I can take any one of them. I tell him I wanted the silver Altima, but there is no key inside. He says that is impossible. So he looks inside and can't find the key. He apologizes and says I can take one of the other two Altimas. I said I wanted the charcoal color one, but it is locked. He says that's impossible, but checks it and it is locked and inaccessible. I look over at the remaining Altima that was horsesh-t brown and tell him I'd take it if I can get it started. Lo and behold it was not locked; the key was in it; and I started it. We load the car and head to the exit gate booths. Here we find two lines of cars with about eight cars in each line waiting to get through the car checkout/exit gate booths.
After about another 15 minutes we are about two cars from the booth. It is much brighter here than the area where I picked out the car, so I decide to do a walk-around the car to check for any damages. I notice the sides of the rear bumper are severely chipped and scratched with missing paint and on the passenger door an area about the size of a golf ball has a large ding and missing paint.
Upon finally making it to the car check-out booth gate I tell the agent about the damage and ask her to note it on the paperwork. She says she doesn't do that here and that I would have to pull the car back into the car pick-up area where I got it and find an employee there and have him do it there. I said if I do that I would then have to go back to the end of the eight car queue and wait in line again to get out. She simply answers: "Yes sir". I refused to leave and wanted her to look at the damage and note it. After words were exchanged, she leaves me and waves the car behind me to the left side of her booth and begins to check him out. I tell her I want a supervisor, but she seems to ignore me. Finally another employee walks by and I tell him I want a supervisor. She hears me tell him and he agrees to go get one. Upon hearing this, before finishing up with the other customer, she walks back over to me and says to me, write the damage on the back of the paperwork, which I do. She then decides to process the paperwork and initials my comments and dates it and completes the paperwork, and says to me: "You're all set to go". What a clusterf... Dollar Express was on this day.
DOLLAR EXPRESS RANT (Finished)
GETTING ACCOMMODATED
We then ate at Bahama Breeze on Paradise using a $50 gift certificate received as a gift (good food at reasonable prices). We then went to Albertson's on Flamingo for water, coffee and assorted grocery items before checking into the Wyndham Grand Desert Resort on Harmon and Koval (near MGM Signature and Ellis Island ) for 6 nights. We stayed in a one bedroom (three room) condo via a timeshare trade through RCI. The unit was spacious with one and one half baths, a full-size, fully-equipped kitchen with granite countertops. The unit also had two HD flatscreen TVs, in-unit free washer and dryer, and a very nice shared outdoor pool. All aspects of the facility were high quality and in excellent condition. We've stayed at other resort condos in Vegas such as MGM Signature, Palms Place , Elara, and Holiday Inn Desert Resort and this was as nice or nicer than these others.
GETTING ENTERTAINED
When I go with my wife, the trip is always entertainment-heavy, but having gotten up about 3 AM EST to make our early morning flight, on the first night we just stayed in.
At the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay on Saturday night we saw Bob Saget, who is filthy in a nice way, quick-witted, and funny. Sunday night we saw Raiding the Rock Vault at Westgate (former LVH) using a Travelzoo discount voucher. The show had highs and lows but mostly highs with a number of good to excellent semi-famous musicians and singers, enthusiastically doing a plethora of live, widely-known rock songs.
On Monday night using an Las Vegas Advisors (LVA) discount code, we saw Million Dollar Quintet, a musical about the rise and fall of Sun records and their stable of stars including Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis; Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. Tuesday night we went to The Improv Comedy Club at Harrah's (tix4tonite 50% off). The first two acts lacked energy and IMO were lame, but the final act more than made up for it. Unfortunately I can't remember his name, but I didn't stop belly-laughing from beginning to end.
Wednesday night saw The Fab (a Vegas-based Beatles tribute band) at Mizuya Lounge at Mandalay Bay (no cover; two drink minimum). These guys can play any and every Beatles song spot on. Although they take requests, they may not get to it as they have a few set songs they play and may have too many other requests. We stayed about two hours and they never made it to our request, "Here Comes the Sun", but at least played what would have been my second choice, "I'll Follow the Sun".
With my wife during the afternoons we grabbed some free slot play here and there, but other than going out for lunch, otherwise did not do much during the afternoons this trip other than sit out by the pool one afternoon.
GETTING GRUB
Most mornings, I got up very early and had a muffin or some other breakfast pastry with coffee. Saturday started out solo about 4:00 AM getting coffee and banana bread at the Peppermill. Many drunken Friday night clubbers still sobering up there. Later, I picked up my wife for lunch and went to the Earl of Sandwich at the Palms. The Palm's website used to indicate a 15% discount for showing your player's card. After we ordered, I gave the order-taker my player's card for the discount. She said that the card would now have to have upper tier status to be eligible. Since I hadn't played yet there this trip, I was only at the basic Palm's player's club membership level, so no 15% discount for me. Still, the food as always was great and prices reasonable. After a show that evening, we had a late night dinner at the Peppermill. I had eggs and Canadian bacon and my wife French toast. As usual the portions were large and the food, service, and ambiance excellent.
On Sunday for lunch, we had lunch at the less-busy In & Out Burger on Maryland Parkway . The food was fresh and good as usual. I really like their shakes. For dinner about 10:30 PM went to the Grand Lux at the Palazzo only to find out they were closing for the night. We then walked over to the Venetian and the Grand Lux there was open all night. My wife had a Zen noodle plate and I had a club sandwich. We also shared a dessert. The food was very good but the service was slow that night.
On the ride back to the condo we passed Ellis Island . The scrolling electronic sign for the now-owned, adjacent Super 8 motel boasted "No Resort Fee". I thought to myself, wouldn't that just be assumed by patrons at a place like a basic Super 8 motel. Then I thought, that is not saying much for the motel if that's the best thing they could advertise about their motel on their large scrolling sign.
On Monday for lunch, I brought two personal size pizzas from Settebello's in Henderson back to the condo for my wife and me. Later for dinner with my brother and his fiancee we went to the Palm's 24/7 Cafe. My brother and I each had their $9.99 prime rib special, which was very good. His fiancee and my wife had entrees from the regular menu. I gave the cashier my Las Vegas Advisors (LVA) 50% off coupon (up to $50). The cashier indicated that the two prime rib specials would not be eligible for the discount, but everything else we ordered would be. So after doing a bit of math, we saved about $20.
Started out solo Tuesday AM again getting coffee and warm banana bread at the Peppermill. My wife and I then had a very late lunch at Maggiano's where we used a $50 gift card (someone had given us) and a $10 off email coupon sent to us from Maggiano's for our anniversary (the 10th). As usual all was good there. After an evening show, we went to the Peppermill for a late night snack. My wife and shared hot oatmeal and a large strawberry shortcake, along with coffees.
On Wednesday afternoon, we went to Green Valley Ranch (GVR) to do the lunch buffet with an American Casino Guide (ACG) 2-for-1 coupon. Unfortunately it was senior's day and the line was about 40 people long. So we opted for the GVR Grand Cafe where I had a $10 off coupon also from ACG. I had a cup of chicken noodle soup and half of a corned beef sandwich. My wife had a club sandwich with sweet potato fries. All was good there. At GVR I noticed that the highly-touted Pizza Rock restaurant located in downtown LV will be opening a branch at GVR, which was under construction.
Wednesday night after a show at Mandalay Bay , we decided to try Rick Moonen's new RX Broiler restaurant which was supposed to be comfort food with a twist. It was so dark in there that I couldn't read the menu without holding the light from my cell phone over the menu. Just about every item had one too many ingredients, thus contained one ingredient I did not like. I finally settled on a couple of small plates that were not really what I wanted, but at least they did not contain items I did not like. After we finally ordered, about five minutes later, the waitress returned to tell me that they were out of one of the items I had ordered. At that point, we left and hastily looked for another restaurant in Mandalay Bay as it was getting late. We settled on the House of Blues restaurant. The food wasn't bad. I had a pulled pork sandwich with sweet potato fries and my wife had a Cobb salad.
With our flight leaving on Thursday night, I made a reservation at The Steakhouse at Circus Circus (CC) for an early 4:30 PM dinner. For lunch, at the condo, we had sliced apples and cheese to tide use over until 4:30 PM. Both meals at CC came with bread, salad, potato, and a vegetable side. My wife had a petite filet and I had the Porterhouse. We both had baked potato and asparagus as sides. The food, service, and ambiance were all very good. I paid for most of the check with my Circus Circus player's club points that I had accrued.
GOIN' GAMBLIN', ETC.
The vast majority of gambling was done alone in the mornings. I had matchplays and free slot play (MPs and FP/FSP) from American Casino Guide (ACG) and Las Vegas Advisors' Members Rewards Booklet (LVA MRB), and other sources.
Saturday started out about 5:00 AM at Circus Circus (CC) playing 50c Aces and Eights (A&8) video poker progressives that pay 100.25%+ (with perfect play) in the long run. The + is for the added progressive return, up at the time from $2,000 to $2,600 on the royal, and up from $25,000 to $30,000+ on the sequential royal. After about two hours of play, however, I dropped $300 and watched the royal payout slip back to $2,000 after a very happy guy in the machine opposite me hit it.
While there I also got the $45 of chips for $30 Wincard deal. After a few hands of blackjack (BJ) I cashed out losing $30 of the $45 in chips for a $15 real money loss. I also walked across the street to the Riviera to play their Wincard deal of $30 in chips for $20, but it is now only available for new player's club member signup and not for existing members. I did play a $10 MP on roulette, but lost. Next I went to Westgate (fka LVH which was fka The Las Vegas Hilton) to exchange a show voucher for actual tickets for tomorrow's Raiding the Rock Vault show. Despite the voucher stating the box office opens at 9:00 AM it didn't open until 1:00 PM, so while there decided to play some 25c Full Pay Loose Deuces Wild (FP LDW) Video Poker (VP), but lost $20 and left.
Later after my wife and I ate lunch at the Palms, I played an ACG $10 MP there on red and won $20.
Next, I dropped my wife off for services at the Catholic church next to Encore, while I returned to Westgate to exchange my Travelzoo show voucher for the actual tickets for Raiding the Rock vault. Again while there I played FP LDW VP, but dropped another $20 for a $345 loss for the day.
Sunday morning returned to Circus Circus to play A&8 VP and lost another $300. In the middle of this, I did another $10 MP across the street at the Riviera and won $20 on red. I next went to SLS for the first time. Having been to the Sahara in its waning days, the common areas of SLS appear to have had plastic surgery and new makeup, but you could still recognize the old bones of many elements of the Sahara .
I got $5.00 of free slot play for signup and after running it through kept $2.50 of it. Next I played 25c Full Pay Pick-A-Pair (P-A-P) aka Pick'Em for a while and won $40. That ended gambling for the day down $238 and down for the trip $583.
Monday morning returned to Circus Circus to play A&8 VP and lost another $200. In the middle of this did another $10 MP across the street at the Riviera and won $20 on 1-18. I next went to SLS and again played 25c P-A-P VP for a while and broke even. In the afternoon, my wife, brother and brother's fiancee and I did a downtown coupon run with coupons I mostly supplied. After hitting ElCo, Las Vegas Club, and the Plaza, most won some money and I was up $5.00. That evening we all went to SLS, so they could get their free slot pay for signup, and while there I lost $20 playing 25c P-A-P VP. That ended gambling for the day down $195 and for the trip down $778.
Tuesday morning returned to Circus Circus to play A&8 VP and lost $200 again. I then did another downtown coupon run by myself hitting Binions, 4 Queens, Las Vegas Club, and the Plaza, and in the end netted +$20 downtown.
L-O-N-G LAS VEGAS CLUB PARKING GARAGE RANT (Start)
I had heard that all casinos downtown were now charging for self-parking so I parked at the Las Vegas Club garage and paid $5.00. Since valet spaces are on the first few floors, I had to park on the fifth floor. Unfortunately, the elevators would not go down, so I had to walk down five floors through a nasty smelling, garbage-strewn (some of which smelled and looked like human waste) enclosed stairwell. I said to the woman at the garage entry kiosk that had taken my money that I had to walk down five flights and I'd like a refund since the elevators were not working. She said she couldn't authorize it, but I could talk to someone at the Player's Club window inside. I went inside and the player's club window was not open and the woman at the abutting cashier's window said that the player's club window wouldn't be open today, so I would need to go to the player's club window at the Plaza. There the woman stamped my parking receipt with a refund stamp that said Plaza Hotel and said to go to cashier window and they would refund my $5.00. The woman at the cashier window said the receipt was from the Las Vegas Club garage and she couldn't reimburse me for parking at that garage because that garage was not reimbursable. I explained about the elevator not working and she said that only a supervisor might be able to authorize a refund. She called for one, but after about 7 to 8 minutes one never showed up or called. All the while I very nicely kept adding on reasons to her why I should get a refund (she was somewhat empathetic but also starting to get somewhat annoyed). Finally she cracked and reached into the draw and gave me a $5.00 bill, probably in part just to get rid of me (my strategy worked ;).
L-O-N-G LAS VEGAS CLUB PARKING GARAGE RANT (Finish)
GOIN' GAMBLIN', ETC. (Continued)
I then did a near-strip coupon run hitting Gold Coast, Palms, and Orleans , netting +$45.
That ended gambling for the day down $135 and down $913 for the trip.
Wednesday morning returned to Circus Circus to play A&8 VP and got lucky only to have a $100 loss (sarcasm intended). It seemed that each time three cards to the (non-sequential) royal rendered at CC throughout the trip, I would also get a high pair on the same hand thus negating the chances of converting the three-cards-to-the-royal to an actual royal. After many hands like this, although I know better than to believe this, it eventually began to feel like I was being "royal blocked".
From there, I went to SLS and played 25c P-A-P. I had a somewhat rare and frustrating hand having been dealt 2-3 and 4-5, all clubs. No matter which of the two cards on the right you discard (and you must discard one on the right), you are throwing away a chance at a straight flush. One also runs across a similar dilemma when dealt a four of-a-kind, e.g., J-J and J-J. Nevertheless, the good news is that I finally won something substantial, winning $200 at this P-A-P session with the help of a four-of-a-kind paying $150.
I next did a mini-coupon run of FSP and MPs at Ellis Island and Hooters winning a total of $45.
Later in the afternoon after lunch at Green Valley Ranch (GVR), my wife in an unusual move insisted that she wanted to play some video poker there before we leave (she rarely gambles). I really was done playing video poker for the day, but she stretched her $20 out on a 5c Jacks or Better machine for a significant amount of time. Across the aisle were some Optimum VP machines that I kept trying to ignore, but as time passed I convinced myself that this might be my opportunity to significantly reduce my losses by playing LDW VP that pays $625 for four deuces instead of standard full pay deuces wild (DW) VP that pays only $250. Of course, the more frequently occurring lower-paying hands pay less, so without getting four deuces or better you generally lose money faster on LDW than DW. After putting $40 in, within a short time I unexpectedly pulled four deuces for $625. In the end there, I unexpectedly won $570.
Later that night before the Fab show at Mandalay Bay , I told my wife I was going to do their Wincard deal of $30 in chips for $20. She asked me if she also got the deal would I play the chips (since she doesn't really understand or play table games). I said sure. So armed with $60 in chips for $40, I planned to play a little $15 blackjack. All of the $15 minimum tables I saw, however, only paid 6-5 on blackjack and I refuse to play 6-5 blackjack. Why encourage it? If nobody played it they wouldn't have it. The $25 tables paid 3-2, but that was a higher minimum than I wanted to play and the $25 tables that I saw were full. So I decided to go with my old MP standard: even money bets at roulette. After numerous $15 bets on red, black, high, low, odd, and even, after running all the Wincard promo chips through, I walked away with $110 in real chips for a $70 profit.
That ended gambling for the day and for the first time I had an up day, winning $785 for the day, therefore for the trip I was now down only $128.
On Thursday morning, having had my fill of losses at Circus Circus (CC) each morning, I decided to forego CC and instead go to Boulder Highway at which I had some FSP and MP coupons, and a few alternative VP opportunities. I started at Sam's Town where I had a $10 FSP coupon that ended in a $0 gain. I did get a Dunkin Donuts coffee there and found some FP LDW VP machines that could be played at 25c, 50c, or $1.00. Having been lucky at GVR at this high variance game, I decided to risk $100 in hopes of getting four deuces paying $625 at 25c. Well after playing though a total of $300 playing mostly 25c (with some 50c hands and a very limited number of $1.00 hands), with no four deuces coming my way, I called it quits, $300 lighter.
Driving next door to Eastside Cannery, I played a $10 MP. Since the roulette wheel was not open, I played the pass line at craps. It was short-lived when I threw a three on my come out roll. I next moseyed to the Longhorn (across the street) to play a $5 MP at blackjack. With everyone else at the crowded table playing no more than $3.00 per hand, I felt like a high roller playing $5.00. My 10-9 won, when the dealer busted and I won $10, and got back on Boulder Highway .
Further south on Boulder , I pulled into the Skyline Casino in Henderson to play their rare $0.25 x 10 coin FP Deuces Wild (FPDW) VP. They are ancient coin-droppers, but otherwise worked okay. There are no player's cards or points awarded here, however. Nonetheless, with four deuces potentially paying $500 and a potential long-term return of 100.76% if played perfectly, money can be made on this game. Still, at first the smoke wasn't bad, but after I became surrounded by two old female smokers, eventually the smoke became unbearable. As it worked out, I didn't hit four deuces, but I kept getting exceptionally good cards otherwise, and at one point was up more than $200. I ultimately escaped winning $175 for the session.
THE END
That ended my gambling for the day and for the trip: down $125 for the day and down about $250 for the trip. Not too bad of an ending considering I was down $1,000 for the trip at one point (with Circus Circus essentially responsible for all of that loss).
So about 4:30 PM Thursday at the CC Steakhouse we had our mostly comped steak dinners (paid mostly with player's club points), and late Thursday night we took the Jetblue non-stop, red-eye home to Boston, leaving about 11:50 PM and pulling into Boston about 8:00 AM EST Friday.
That's all folks -- and thanks for reading this.
ST
