This is our view from the 14th floor of Bally's North Tower.
Up bright and early on Day 2 and caught the very first SDX to downtown at 9:10 am. We walked to MSS for the BOGO breakfast buffet. Adequate offerings, though drink choices could be better. I wanted chocolate milk which they didn’t have, so I ended up with watered down OJ. The biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, and french toast I gobbled down were very good and our price after coupon was $7.50. That’s hard to beat, so for both quality and value I give this one 4 1/2 forks.
After playing some full pay JOB at the MSS and hitting my 2nd 4OAK of the trip (first one was at Harrah’s Council Bluffs in Iowa on the way out here) we still end up down $15 due to Mr. T’s shitty play and inevitable losses, but the coin droppers are fun and I'm happy with my play. Yes, I am very proud of my 4OAK's. You will see many photos of them so enjoy!
On our walk back to Fremont Street, we got our first couples picture of the trip in front of the MSS train car. I'd never seen this before and thought it was a good photo op. We found some drunk lady stumbling down the road with a friendly but raspy voice to snap it for us. She was very pleasant and surprisingly focused as it turned out to be an excellently centered shot. Bravo.
We headed to the Plaza next in order to redeem our $5 Western MP’s. They were quite friendly and honored them without hassle. Thank you to the LVA poster who told me about this!
As usual, I lost on red, but T-Bone won, and we left the Plaza up $5.
Next screwed around at Binions for awhile - they have this promotion where you earn 5 points and get to swipe your card. I lost $10 earning the five points, but then swiped and won $10 free play.
Big T won a free draft beer on his swipe. After all the horsing around and four free beers, we left with a small $3.50 loss.
Side note: my beer of choice this trip was Michelob Ultra. I ordered this at every casino, and I believe all but one place carried it in bottles, so I figured a nice way to title this year’s TR was to throw in the word “ultra” as it was a pleasing part of each day.
Our final downtown stop of the day was the El Cortez where we ran our free play through ($10 each using ACG coupons), drank 2 more Ultras and cashed out +$11.
Always love going to the El Co. It’s a good vibe and nice people. The walk over there isn’t nearly as seedy as it used to be. They’ve done a nice job cleaning up “Fremont East” downtown.
It’s late afternoon, and we’d had our fill, so we decide to hop the Deuce for our return to the strip. Met some great bus friends which made the ride pass quickly. One sweet married couple (had to be well into their 60’s) said this was their 45th trip to Vegas. I told her I’ve yet to hit a royal flush and she said she’s only gotten two in her life. Sigh.
They were staying at the MGM on a comp, so I figured they must do pretty well in the end, even without an abundance of royals. What gave me a kick was the ole man. He was talking about how much he still likes to tie one on, and what fun he still has getting drunk.
Now you’d expect this from a toothless bum, but this pair was very well dressed and put together and you’d never guess by looking at them what a wild streak they still had. Then his wife hiccoughed, covered her mouth daintily, and said, “Whoops, I’ve had one too many mimosas today.” I loved it.
We hopped off the deuce at Circus Circus and said good-bye to our bus friends. They called after us, “Look for us at MGM this week so we can party!”
The CC/Slotsafun win cards are much easier to procure than in the past. After getting your voucher from the players club, you simply give the cashier $30 and she hands you BOTH $30 ($5 chips) plus $15 ($1 chips) in non-negotiables all at once.
This time, I stayed away from the roulette table and we opted for craps instead. Unfortunately the outcome was pretty much the same as the dice just weren’t rolling in our favor. We crapped out pretty consecutively, and after cashing out with only $35 of our original $60 buy in we realized a net loss of $25.
Over to the Riviera to use our MP’s and investigate the $1000 loss rebate rumors which are TRUE. They have ended the promotion. We played our $10 MPs on the single zero roulette table and whaddaya know I FINALLY won my first bet on red. Mr. T lost his - boo hoo- I smugly departed the Riv with my hard earned $10 profit.
I felt my luck changing at this point so we ventured over to Treasure Island next. Prior to our TI stop, I had looked full pay JOB on vpfree2.com and they were listed as having several machines.
We scoped out the casino, and sure enough I found a $.50 full pay machine. Put in $80 and started playing at max bet. I scored several small hits, maybe even one full house, but after playing awhile Mr. T said he was hungry and I should cash out. I did and my play resulted in a +$30 net win. Sweet.
We decided on the Mirage Cravings buffet for dinner. After reading much hype and glowing reviews, I have to say I was pretty disappointed. Especially considering what they charge. I guess we should have waited and gone to their weekend champagne brunch, nonetheless, their Thursday night dinner left something to be desired, and at whopping $35/person. Wow. What a rip.
Fortunately we used our MRB coupon so it was only $35 total, but compared to Planet Hollywood’s Spice Buffet (which is $5 cheaper) this place doesn’t hold a candle. Cold crab legs, limited seafood offerings, terrible desserts...Blech. Even with a coupon, I don’t know that I’d go back.
We’d definitely not return for this dinner, but maybe I’d try their breakfast or brunch. It wasn’t horrible, but like I said, you get a lot more bang for your buck over at PH. As lacking as the selections were at Mirage, I still managed to stuff myself so full that the best I could do was pole vault my ass to bed after that.
Fell asleep about 9pm, but woke up at 2am which is where I’ll begin Day 3.
