Trip Report for October 2nd-6th
Transportation:
Southwest Airlines from Kansas City. I had a morning flight and it landed 35 minutes early. I love it when that happens. I paid over $300.00 for the ticket as I also did on my June trip, so the days of cheap flights are over. This was also the first time I have been to Las Vegas in October.
Car Rental:
Alamo. I got my usual subcompact, this time a Chevrolet Aveo. I like the smaller cars because they’re easier to park. I also like the kiosks at Alamo. No one there at all when I checked in.
Hotel:
I spent all four nights at Sam’s Town. This was the first time in four years I have spent any money on hotel rooms. I used to get comped at Silverton, but they decimated their video poker inventory so I stopped playing there and the offers stopped coming. The Palms stopped sending me offers, but I had crossed them off my list because they pulled all the 100% plus video poker. Sam’s Town downgraded my offers from free nights and a food credit to a postcard with various free and reduced rate nights despite me giving them the same amount of play. Station Casinos has been sending me tons of free room offers but I decided to use this trip to play at a couple of other places to try to generate something.
Dining:
I paid more for food on this trip than I did on my previous four trips combined. I don’t like doing this, but I wanted to use this trip to try a couple of new things.
Fatburger: I ate there my first day in town while I made some sports bets at Green Valley Ranch. I had not eaten there in a few years, but I’m coming back more often. Fantastic hamburgers. I love the place. Grade: A
Cravings Buffet at the Mirage: I hadn’t eaten the buffet at the Mirage in about ten years. I had originally wanted to eat at Carnegie Deli, but it was overwhelmed so I opted for the buffet because it had fewer than ten people in line. I hate paying for buffets but I wanted to try this out. I thought the food was good, but it’s pricey at $26.99. I wanted to try some prime rib and the carving station had nothing but medium and well-done. That's inexcusable. They brought out another one while I was still there and it was the same. Who the hell eats well done prime rib? I hate well done beef. Other than that, it was pretty good, especially the desserts. I had carrot cake and cheese cake and they were both excellent. Overall, this would be a decent place to eat with the LVA coupon, but I won’t eat there again and pay full price. Grade B-.
Red Rock Buffet: I used my Station points and had this one comped. I had breakfast and this one is a notch above the other Station Casinos. Better tasting and better prepared food. Try the breakfast brisket burrito. Grade A.
Green Valley Ranch Buffet: Another comped buffet. Maybe a tiny bit lower quality than Red Rock, but better than most other Stations. I had breakfast and it was good. Something I really like about this buffet is that the hostess who seats you writes down your drink order and leaves it on the table for the server. They also bring you the little alcohol wipes with your drinks. Grade A-.
California Prime Rib: The prime rib special at the Market Café in the Cal is something I’ve had before. The price is $8.95. Self-serve bagged salad bar. I had prime rib with mashed potatoes and green beans along with the cherries jubilee dessert. This is ok for the price, but not a really great quality cut of meat. Grade B-.
Sam’s Town Breakfast Buffet: Definitely below average in quality and selection. Grade D.
Sam’s Town Dinner Buffet: I ate the dinner buffet on Wednesday and it was billed as “Southern Barbeque Night”. At Sam’s Town, “barbeque” means they cook, beef, chicken or ribs in the oven, then place them in a pan and drown them with cheap barbeque sauce. Real barbeque is smoked for hours. This is not barbeque. I don’t understand why Boyd can put out a nice spread at Main Street Station and a buffet worse than Golden Corral at Sam’s Town. What made it worse is that I paid $10.00 for it. Grade: D-.
Roast Beef Sandwich at Sam’s Town Sports Book: I paid $6.49 for a sandwich and a bag of chips. I could have a bigger one for $5.00 at the Subway in Sam’s Town. The sandwich quality was good, but the price is too, high. Grade: B-.
Sam’s Town Monday Night Football: You get a free beer in a plastic cup and choice of a hotdog or hamburger. I had a hotdog, then paid $2.00 for a hambuger to compare quality. Both are pretty good. This was the best meal I had at Sam’s Town which tells you something about the buffet. Grade: B. For value, it’s an A.
Gambling:
I spent my first day at Green Valley Ranch. I wasn’t going to play there, but saw on the kiosk I had a 6x points day and two three points days available. I used the 6x points at GVR. I racked up a huge number of points even playing FPDW and 10/7DB. I decided to spend the next two days at Stations to use the 3x points. My second day I played at Red Rock and came out a winner. Red Rock has been my personal ATM since it opened. The third day I played at GVR again. With the new slot club and multi-point days, it's easy to rack up tens of thousands of points. At the end of the trip I cashed out since there’s no point to keeping points for food when they are the same as taking cash.
I spent a couple of nights downtown playing about three hours at Four Queens and an hour at Las Vegas Club. I hit four queens four times playing at the Four Queens, once while playing Double Bonus. I joined the slot club at Las Vegas Club and got $5.00 free play which lasted me about 30 minutes. I then went back to the club and collected another $10.00 in free play that lasted another 30 minutes. I found some Kings or Better Jokers Wild and fed a hundred dollar bill into it and saw too late it was a coin out machine. I played it for a while and found I really like that game and plan to play more of it in the future.
I played the last day at Sam’s Town. The full pay games are slow and since it’s $2.00 to get one point on the FPDW, I only got 2700 points for $5400.00 coin-in. It takes 5400 to get a dinner buffet comp so I had to pay for it. Boyd better get it’s act together because Stations slot club is light years better than this and has better food and hotel rooms.
I played over 20 hours of video poker in four days so I’ll see what the mail brings for my trip next spring.
Random Thoughts:
I love Alamo rental car kiosks.
I met Jean Scott at Sam’s Town.
The Bellagio fountains played “Viva Las Vegas” when I was walking by.
I just love Fatburger.
I enjoyed a nice fireworks show on Tuesday night. Something going on at Sam Boyd Stadium. Perhaps UNLV dropped football?
Saw Cosmopolitan for the first time. I always go to the new places, but it’s the usual Strip ripoff and I won’t be back.
Also saw the “new” Plaza. There were all of ten people eating at Hash House A Go Go at 6pm. Casino was pretty dead and the video poker sucks.
Warm Springs Road was a river after the rains.
It rained more in Las Vegas on this trip than it’s rained in Kansas City in the last month.
I like how GVR does the drink orders and gives you hand wipes at the buffet.
I like the 4 Queens and Las Vegas Club, but it’s too damn hot in those places. Turn your AC on you cheapskates.
Green Valley Ranch has a bank of FPDW right under an AC vent that blows like an effing hurricane.
Red Rock is my favorite casino hands down.
Station Casinos has a great slot club, great video poker, good mail offers and good food.
Sam's Town needs to upgrade the buffet and speed up the video poker machines.
I like playing Kings or Better Jokers Wild and plan to play more of it in the future.
The Conservatory at Bellagio is always nice.
The buffet at the Mirage needs to look up the meaning of “rare”.
The barbeque at Sam’s Town is an absolute joke.
After the weather being hot my first day, I enjoyed the 70 degree weather the rest of my stay.
I lost $265.00 dollars this trip, which is a vast improvement over the last few.
Still haven’t had a winning trip since August of 2009.
Hope you enjoyed the report.
Transportation:
Southwest Airlines from Kansas City. I had a morning flight and it landed 35 minutes early. I love it when that happens. I paid over $300.00 for the ticket as I also did on my June trip, so the days of cheap flights are over. This was also the first time I have been to Las Vegas in October.
Car Rental:
Alamo. I got my usual subcompact, this time a Chevrolet Aveo. I like the smaller cars because they’re easier to park. I also like the kiosks at Alamo. No one there at all when I checked in.
Hotel:
I spent all four nights at Sam’s Town. This was the first time in four years I have spent any money on hotel rooms. I used to get comped at Silverton, but they decimated their video poker inventory so I stopped playing there and the offers stopped coming. The Palms stopped sending me offers, but I had crossed them off my list because they pulled all the 100% plus video poker. Sam’s Town downgraded my offers from free nights and a food credit to a postcard with various free and reduced rate nights despite me giving them the same amount of play. Station Casinos has been sending me tons of free room offers but I decided to use this trip to play at a couple of other places to try to generate something.
Dining:
I paid more for food on this trip than I did on my previous four trips combined. I don’t like doing this, but I wanted to use this trip to try a couple of new things.
Fatburger: I ate there my first day in town while I made some sports bets at Green Valley Ranch. I had not eaten there in a few years, but I’m coming back more often. Fantastic hamburgers. I love the place. Grade: A
Cravings Buffet at the Mirage: I hadn’t eaten the buffet at the Mirage in about ten years. I had originally wanted to eat at Carnegie Deli, but it was overwhelmed so I opted for the buffet because it had fewer than ten people in line. I hate paying for buffets but I wanted to try this out. I thought the food was good, but it’s pricey at $26.99. I wanted to try some prime rib and the carving station had nothing but medium and well-done. That's inexcusable. They brought out another one while I was still there and it was the same. Who the hell eats well done prime rib? I hate well done beef. Other than that, it was pretty good, especially the desserts. I had carrot cake and cheese cake and they were both excellent. Overall, this would be a decent place to eat with the LVA coupon, but I won’t eat there again and pay full price. Grade B-.
Red Rock Buffet: I used my Station points and had this one comped. I had breakfast and this one is a notch above the other Station Casinos. Better tasting and better prepared food. Try the breakfast brisket burrito. Grade A.
Green Valley Ranch Buffet: Another comped buffet. Maybe a tiny bit lower quality than Red Rock, but better than most other Stations. I had breakfast and it was good. Something I really like about this buffet is that the hostess who seats you writes down your drink order and leaves it on the table for the server. They also bring you the little alcohol wipes with your drinks. Grade A-.
California Prime Rib: The prime rib special at the Market Café in the Cal is something I’ve had before. The price is $8.95. Self-serve bagged salad bar. I had prime rib with mashed potatoes and green beans along with the cherries jubilee dessert. This is ok for the price, but not a really great quality cut of meat. Grade B-.
Sam’s Town Breakfast Buffet: Definitely below average in quality and selection. Grade D.
Sam’s Town Dinner Buffet: I ate the dinner buffet on Wednesday and it was billed as “Southern Barbeque Night”. At Sam’s Town, “barbeque” means they cook, beef, chicken or ribs in the oven, then place them in a pan and drown them with cheap barbeque sauce. Real barbeque is smoked for hours. This is not barbeque. I don’t understand why Boyd can put out a nice spread at Main Street Station and a buffet worse than Golden Corral at Sam’s Town. What made it worse is that I paid $10.00 for it. Grade: D-.
Roast Beef Sandwich at Sam’s Town Sports Book: I paid $6.49 for a sandwich and a bag of chips. I could have a bigger one for $5.00 at the Subway in Sam’s Town. The sandwich quality was good, but the price is too, high. Grade: B-.
Sam’s Town Monday Night Football: You get a free beer in a plastic cup and choice of a hotdog or hamburger. I had a hotdog, then paid $2.00 for a hambuger to compare quality. Both are pretty good. This was the best meal I had at Sam’s Town which tells you something about the buffet. Grade: B. For value, it’s an A.
Gambling:
I spent my first day at Green Valley Ranch. I wasn’t going to play there, but saw on the kiosk I had a 6x points day and two three points days available. I used the 6x points at GVR. I racked up a huge number of points even playing FPDW and 10/7DB. I decided to spend the next two days at Stations to use the 3x points. My second day I played at Red Rock and came out a winner. Red Rock has been my personal ATM since it opened. The third day I played at GVR again. With the new slot club and multi-point days, it's easy to rack up tens of thousands of points. At the end of the trip I cashed out since there’s no point to keeping points for food when they are the same as taking cash.
I spent a couple of nights downtown playing about three hours at Four Queens and an hour at Las Vegas Club. I hit four queens four times playing at the Four Queens, once while playing Double Bonus. I joined the slot club at Las Vegas Club and got $5.00 free play which lasted me about 30 minutes. I then went back to the club and collected another $10.00 in free play that lasted another 30 minutes. I found some Kings or Better Jokers Wild and fed a hundred dollar bill into it and saw too late it was a coin out machine. I played it for a while and found I really like that game and plan to play more of it in the future.
I played the last day at Sam’s Town. The full pay games are slow and since it’s $2.00 to get one point on the FPDW, I only got 2700 points for $5400.00 coin-in. It takes 5400 to get a dinner buffet comp so I had to pay for it. Boyd better get it’s act together because Stations slot club is light years better than this and has better food and hotel rooms.
I played over 20 hours of video poker in four days so I’ll see what the mail brings for my trip next spring.
Random Thoughts:
I love Alamo rental car kiosks.
I met Jean Scott at Sam’s Town.
The Bellagio fountains played “Viva Las Vegas” when I was walking by.
I just love Fatburger.
I enjoyed a nice fireworks show on Tuesday night. Something going on at Sam Boyd Stadium. Perhaps UNLV dropped football?
Saw Cosmopolitan for the first time. I always go to the new places, but it’s the usual Strip ripoff and I won’t be back.
Also saw the “new” Plaza. There were all of ten people eating at Hash House A Go Go at 6pm. Casino was pretty dead and the video poker sucks.
Warm Springs Road was a river after the rains.
It rained more in Las Vegas on this trip than it’s rained in Kansas City in the last month.
I like how GVR does the drink orders and gives you hand wipes at the buffet.
I like the 4 Queens and Las Vegas Club, but it’s too damn hot in those places. Turn your AC on you cheapskates.
Green Valley Ranch has a bank of FPDW right under an AC vent that blows like an effing hurricane.
Red Rock is my favorite casino hands down.
Station Casinos has a great slot club, great video poker, good mail offers and good food.
Sam's Town needs to upgrade the buffet and speed up the video poker machines.
I like playing Kings or Better Jokers Wild and plan to play more of it in the future.
The Conservatory at Bellagio is always nice.
The buffet at the Mirage needs to look up the meaning of “rare”.
The barbeque at Sam’s Town is an absolute joke.
After the weather being hot my first day, I enjoyed the 70 degree weather the rest of my stay.
I lost $265.00 dollars this trip, which is a vast improvement over the last few.
Still haven’t had a winning trip since August of 2009.
Hope you enjoyed the report.
