Belated Laughlin trip report

15 of us old guys, 62-68, stayed at the Golden Nugget Laughlin.  Party central was the 2900 square foot Gold Rush Villa.  4 of us stayed in the Villa, while the balance stayed in standard rooms... literally a max 3 minute walk from the villa.  The villa is quite magnificent, and free by Vegas standards at $5000 for three nights.  We pool our money for room expenses since they give all 15 a villa key card.  It amounts to 3 nights at $425 per person since standard rooms are so cheap.  The villa sits 25 feet from the Colorado River, so we had remote control boats, flying drones...and a remote control alligator.  It was fun watching and listening to those walking the river freaking about an alligator in the Colorado.  We managed not to get kicked out and already have a contract to return next October.  I won $150 which I understand is a victory.  The villa is a stand alone, walled in compound, and includes an outside hot tub, fire pit and great grill.  One of our California buddies mules in food and booze, so we eat in the villa more often than not.  The $60 hot dog steamer works shockingly well.  I didn't buy a drink the entire weekend, as I drink while playing BJ and in the villa.  Scratch that...I had one Bourbon at dinner one night.  Great trip.

Sounds like you guys had fun, pulled some shenanigans, ate and drank well.  Happy Holidays. 

Glad u had a great time!

$5000 for three nights sounds utterly insane...for Laughlin, anyway. But if you were willing to pay it...!

I stayed at the Laughlin GN last year between Christmas and New Year's. $69 for three nights, including tax (resort fee waived). I was amazed at the high prices in the (mostly deserted) restaurants. I ended up driving across the river to eat. Lotsa good choices.

It was like a ghost town. I wandered all around, looking for decent gambling opportunities. There weren't any. Surprisingly, the Riverside poker room was fairly busy. I joined a hi-lo Omaha game. The average age of my opponents was 117, and I suspect two of them were actually dead. The rake was atrocious, but so was the opposition. I eked out a $45 win.

I have to say that the GN room was roomy and comfy. And I found a couple of good places to eat (Chinese and Thai) across the river. So as a way to burn up three days of your life...it's OK.

That said, it was one of the most depressing places I've ever been in for any length of time. It's like Vegas combined with an old folks home.

I'm glad Boiler had a good time. The gang meetup made all the difference, I'm sure.

I can't get myself to return to Laughlin.  Vegas isn't that much further when driving from AZ.  Back in the day, I loved the Ramada Express and the Colorado Belle.  The Belle had a great brewery that I always enjoyed when I first arrived.
Sounds like a shell of its former self from 20+ years ago.  I'll have to make some sort of major excuse to visit again.  Maybe a side-trip to Oatman!  ;)

There have been three eras of Laughlin. The first was when the various casinos opened and their huge parking lots became de facto RV parks. That didn't fly, ultimately, because of no place to get water, no place to get groceries, and no place to dump poop. The second was when they attempted to style themselves as a geezer-friendly bargain, laid-back alternative to Vegas. That worked for a while. The third era is now, as Laughlin slowly crumbles and grows dormant. What's ultimately killed them is the ghastly weather (10 degrees HOTTER than Vegas!!) and the place's isolation. Covid did a number on them, too.

Laughlin has never become an actual town. There's the casino row, then several miles uphill, a bunch of ticky-tacky housing lining the Needles Highway. Nothing else. No shopping, no parks, no entertainment outside the casinos. They must have schools...? Anyway, no sane person wants to live there. Bullhead City is an actual community, and not nearly as repulsive.

15 guys hang out in the villa much of the day watching football, eating and drinking.  We cooked corn beef hash/eggs/bacon/fruit for breakfast one morning, brats and Italian sausages (plus peppers/onions/sourkraut) one afternoon.  The hot dog/cooked sausage steamer ran the entire weekend.  We had chips, nuts, crackers, dip, vegetable platter and on and on, plus a full bar.  Because of the food and and booze that Scott muled in from Foutain Valley, CA, I spent a total of $225 for food and drink while in Laughlin, including a $100 dinner at Saltgrass.  Since we split total rooms costs 15 ways, most of us spent around $750 for food, drink, and room costs.  We did spend another $90 per guy for the nine of us who needed rental cars.  While counterintuative, the villa saves us money.  I do conceed that Laughlin is a more sleepy than we would like and it's hard to get on table games.  We don't play slots.

I'm considering going back to Vegas and staying at the El Cortez in 2027.  The Jackie Gaughan suite runs substantially more at $8000 for three week nights and $10,000 for three nights over the weekend.  Standard rooms costs, while cheap by Vegas standards, are substantially more expensive than our Laughlin deal.  Another consideration is Eagle Colorado, but the two suites that I've found there are very expensive...$13,000 plus for three nights.

BTW, a comparable villa on the Vegas strip would run $35,000 for three nights.  The same can be said for Green Valley Ranch and Red Rock.

Sounds like a great time with friends!  I had to take a look at the room, looks nice.

https://www.goldennugget.com/laughlin/meet/gold-rush-villa/

Hey, you hung out with your boys, enjoyed some good food, drinks, and played a little.  Nothing wrong with that.  

Sounds like you had a good time and it is great you guys had this friend group all these years.