Actually began this adventure flying from Milwaukee to Denver on June 16, 2009. Stayed a few days in the beautiful Rocky Mountains w/my sister and her husband before leaving our three girls with them for our six day, five night adventure in Vegas.
The drive from Grand Junction, CO to Vegas was exactly seven hours. We arrived at 2:00 Vegas time (gained an hour) and found ourselves stuck in traffic on I-15 the minute the Stratosphere came into view. Since we had a few hours before check in, Tony (DH) wanted to stop at Hooters for the '200 in free slot play' gimmik. I told him it was a gimmik, but he didn't care, think he just wanted to see the Hooter girls. Of course the 200 went 'poof' faster than you can spell 36DD. We each got $5 in free slot play for signing up and $20 mps.
We decided to burn through the $5 free slot play and leave. As we're outside waiting for the valet to bring us our car, I say, hey, do you want to go back in and use the $20 mps from our funbooks? Sure, he says, so back in we go...mistake.
I lost that 20 bucks on red at the roulette wheel. I said when planning my itinerary and calculating how I was going to use mp's that if I bet on roulette I'd always bet red. So that I did. Ok, well, w/the lost mp and another five bucks of our own money in the slots we left Hooter's at -25.
I told Tony not to worry, we were headed back down Tropicana (TERRIBLE congestion on Tropicana heading east by the way) to the Orleans for our four free drinks and then the 2-for-1 Seafood Buffet. Now, one thing I have to mention about our eating schedule is we tend to swing with the 'blue hairs' when it comes to meal times. I like to eat in Vegas twice a day...breakfast and an early dinner, and by early I'm talking before 5:00 most days. Anyway, we were parched so we belly up to the bar for two free bottles of beer. We then go sign up for a card and each get another $5 in free slot play. Now Tony is a very amateur VP player. He likes 50 or 100 play VP and he also found some multi-play video BJ which he liked. Me, I like the blazing seven penny slots with those 'free spin' bonuses. So we parted ways for a few minutes, each heading to our preferred bank of slots. Within about 10 minutes, I turned by $5 into $25 (betting max bet on every spin) when it's other people's money, I almost always go w/max bet. Tony turned his $5 into $10...that's probably the best he'd do on VP or video BJ the entire trip...so we cashed out, headed back to the bar for two more free drinks, then got in line at ten minutes to four with a bunch of senior citizens. One blue hair runs my toe over w/her scooter on the way to the VIP buffet line. She turns around and glares at my foot, wondering what the hell it was doing in her way.
Ok, I made the old lady on a scooter up, but I thought it was funny. This would be our one and only dinner buffet on the trip and I thought it was good for $20 (two people). Tony is in the food industry and said the Salmon is some of the best he's had. I loved the stuffed shells, they tasted like crab cakes..yum. They also had crab legs, hot and cold, but no instruments for opening the darn things! Overall, we gave the Orleans 3 1/2 forks, especially good for the value...don't know that I'd pay full price to eat there again.
Onto the Flamingo for our first of two nights comped. It took almost an hour by the way to get from the Orleans to Flamingo via Tropicana to Flamingo's self park garage. Now it's about 5:30 by the time we get in line to check in. It's Friday evening, and they have two, yes TWO people checking in this huge line of people. Awful. Finally got up to our room about 6:30. When we booked our reservation I requested a King size, NS on highest floor possible. Well, considering our level of play it's no surprise we ended up on the 7th floor. It turned out to be ok though because the elevator lines were atrociously long as well and being on the 7th floor you're usually the first one on and off at your floor (one good thing about overlooking the casino roof).
We decide we're ready to hit the strip and a show. I buy two tickets w/my 2-for-1 for the 8:00 Vinnie Favorito right there at the Flamingo. It's about 6:30 maybe 7:00, hmm, what can we do for an hour? I remember I got free drink coupons for Bill's plus some matchplays. We go to Bills and the first bartender gives us two bottles of beer for our two free drink coupons. Nice. I go to the BJ tables to use my mp's. All they have open is this 'single deck' BJ where you have to hold your two cards and all the funny ways to signal 'hit' or 'stand'. Dealer keeps yelling at me and two other women because we don't know the 'rules' for this type of BJ. I make up my mind when leaving Bills $-60 that I'm not playing anymore single deck BJ...yuk. Also, the second bartender wouldn't let us have bottled beer w/our free drink coupons just draft swill. I did end up drinking a lot of their $.99 frozen lime margaritas over the course of the week, however, and so it wasn't a total loss. They make them w/Sauza tequila which is a good brand.
Ok, so now it's like 7:15. Oh and by the way, I lost $-40 on my mp's and Tony lost another $-20 on Jackpot party slots all in about 20 mins. I'm ready to get the hell out of that clip joint, but we still have about 45 mins 'til showtime. I say, well, I think the Venetian is next door, and they will give us each $15 free slot play. He says, let's go. Well, the Venetian is NOT right next door to Bill's, much further than I remember, but we get there w/our speed walking in about 10 mins. I go to the Player's Club sign up. The young, good looking, club-ling reminds me I signed up online, so he gives me not one but TWO free $15 slot plays...woo hoo! I burn all $30 in a one dollar machine, betting the max...won a TOTAL of four dollars the whole thirty dollars through. Tony is sitting there betting his pennies and tells me that's what I should stick to. I agree. He ends up cashing out with $16. Ok, so now it's about 7:40 and we have to get back to the Flamingo for Vinnie.
We get seated by 7:50, front row, but on the far left of the room. I won't go into too much detail as Vinnie is
everything you read about and more. All I'll say is he is funny, and yes he heckled us, but we got him back because I told him my name was Ellen, Clark's wife. Then he asked 'Clark' what he does...Tony's pretty quick because he has no idea I was going to do that and he replies, "food preservatives". Now as any Vacation freak knows Clark Griswold is in the food preservative business. Vinnie didn't catch on and asks Tony what they put in Twinkies to keep them fresh. Tony replies, 'yellow dye #6' like some big expert. Pretty funny stuff.
Ok, so we should be beat, and we are just a little. Seven hour drive through Utah and Arizona on the way to Vegas, Hooters, Orleans, Flamingo, Bill's, Venetian and Vinnie and it's 9:00. We just can't allow ourselves to go to bed in Vegas that early on our first night in town. So I say to Tony, Excalibur and Luxor have 'win cards'. He says, let's go.
Now, two years ago, we stayed at the Ex and I distinctly remember walking from the Ex to everwhere else on the strip w/out blinking an eye, even the Stratosphere on one particularly ambitious day. I walk 3-4 miles about 4 tiimes per week back home (except during our brutal WI winters) so I'm thinking we're at the mid-way point on the strip (Flamingo) and it shouldn't take to long to get to the EX. Well, half an hour later, we arrive at the Ex exhausted and in no mood to do ANYTHING but get our butts back to Flamingo and in bed. We're here now, I say, so let's make the best of it. Ex only gives you $15 for $10 buy in, so that was disappointing. We played roulette and after running all the chips through came out ahead $+14. We're a little energized from the 'big win' and decide to stroll over to Luxor. Luxor gives us $30 for $20, so a little better wincard deal. We run all $60 down to five/$5 chips. They also have a higher minimum than the Ex so you lose the money faster. We do manage to order two bottles of beer from the cocktail waitress. Tony is getting mad at me for losing all our buy in. I take my last five chips and halve them on ten numbers. What do you know, Red #9 hits, and I'm suddenly up $+90! I lose another ten waiting for our drinks. We tip the waitress and go cash out w/$80. So after our $40 buy in cost, we leave the Luxor up $40. And yes, we walked all the way back to Flamingo and promptly crashed for the night. So I'm happy to end the day up $10, a free $20 buffet, 12 free drinks, and resting my head in a free room at The Flamingo!
I'm still in Colorado right now (6/25), so I'll try to write my Day 2 entry tomorrow or later tonight.
The drive from Grand Junction, CO to Vegas was exactly seven hours. We arrived at 2:00 Vegas time (gained an hour) and found ourselves stuck in traffic on I-15 the minute the Stratosphere came into view. Since we had a few hours before check in, Tony (DH) wanted to stop at Hooters for the '200 in free slot play' gimmik. I told him it was a gimmik, but he didn't care, think he just wanted to see the Hooter girls. Of course the 200 went 'poof' faster than you can spell 36DD. We each got $5 in free slot play for signing up and $20 mps.
We decided to burn through the $5 free slot play and leave. As we're outside waiting for the valet to bring us our car, I say, hey, do you want to go back in and use the $20 mps from our funbooks? Sure, he says, so back in we go...mistake.
I lost that 20 bucks on red at the roulette wheel. I said when planning my itinerary and calculating how I was going to use mp's that if I bet on roulette I'd always bet red. So that I did. Ok, well, w/the lost mp and another five bucks of our own money in the slots we left Hooter's at -25.
I told Tony not to worry, we were headed back down Tropicana (TERRIBLE congestion on Tropicana heading east by the way) to the Orleans for our four free drinks and then the 2-for-1 Seafood Buffet. Now, one thing I have to mention about our eating schedule is we tend to swing with the 'blue hairs' when it comes to meal times. I like to eat in Vegas twice a day...breakfast and an early dinner, and by early I'm talking before 5:00 most days. Anyway, we were parched so we belly up to the bar for two free bottles of beer. We then go sign up for a card and each get another $5 in free slot play. Now Tony is a very amateur VP player. He likes 50 or 100 play VP and he also found some multi-play video BJ which he liked. Me, I like the blazing seven penny slots with those 'free spin' bonuses. So we parted ways for a few minutes, each heading to our preferred bank of slots. Within about 10 minutes, I turned by $5 into $25 (betting max bet on every spin) when it's other people's money, I almost always go w/max bet. Tony turned his $5 into $10...that's probably the best he'd do on VP or video BJ the entire trip...so we cashed out, headed back to the bar for two more free drinks, then got in line at ten minutes to four with a bunch of senior citizens. One blue hair runs my toe over w/her scooter on the way to the VIP buffet line. She turns around and glares at my foot, wondering what the hell it was doing in her way.
Ok, I made the old lady on a scooter up, but I thought it was funny. This would be our one and only dinner buffet on the trip and I thought it was good for $20 (two people). Tony is in the food industry and said the Salmon is some of the best he's had. I loved the stuffed shells, they tasted like crab cakes..yum. They also had crab legs, hot and cold, but no instruments for opening the darn things! Overall, we gave the Orleans 3 1/2 forks, especially good for the value...don't know that I'd pay full price to eat there again.
Onto the Flamingo for our first of two nights comped. It took almost an hour by the way to get from the Orleans to Flamingo via Tropicana to Flamingo's self park garage. Now it's about 5:30 by the time we get in line to check in. It's Friday evening, and they have two, yes TWO people checking in this huge line of people. Awful. Finally got up to our room about 6:30. When we booked our reservation I requested a King size, NS on highest floor possible. Well, considering our level of play it's no surprise we ended up on the 7th floor. It turned out to be ok though because the elevator lines were atrociously long as well and being on the 7th floor you're usually the first one on and off at your floor (one good thing about overlooking the casino roof).
We decide we're ready to hit the strip and a show. I buy two tickets w/my 2-for-1 for the 8:00 Vinnie Favorito right there at the Flamingo. It's about 6:30 maybe 7:00, hmm, what can we do for an hour? I remember I got free drink coupons for Bill's plus some matchplays. We go to Bills and the first bartender gives us two bottles of beer for our two free drink coupons. Nice. I go to the BJ tables to use my mp's. All they have open is this 'single deck' BJ where you have to hold your two cards and all the funny ways to signal 'hit' or 'stand'. Dealer keeps yelling at me and two other women because we don't know the 'rules' for this type of BJ. I make up my mind when leaving Bills $-60 that I'm not playing anymore single deck BJ...yuk. Also, the second bartender wouldn't let us have bottled beer w/our free drink coupons just draft swill. I did end up drinking a lot of their $.99 frozen lime margaritas over the course of the week, however, and so it wasn't a total loss. They make them w/Sauza tequila which is a good brand.
Ok, so now it's like 7:15. Oh and by the way, I lost $-40 on my mp's and Tony lost another $-20 on Jackpot party slots all in about 20 mins. I'm ready to get the hell out of that clip joint, but we still have about 45 mins 'til showtime. I say, well, I think the Venetian is next door, and they will give us each $15 free slot play. He says, let's go. Well, the Venetian is NOT right next door to Bill's, much further than I remember, but we get there w/our speed walking in about 10 mins. I go to the Player's Club sign up. The young, good looking, club-ling reminds me I signed up online, so he gives me not one but TWO free $15 slot plays...woo hoo! I burn all $30 in a one dollar machine, betting the max...won a TOTAL of four dollars the whole thirty dollars through. Tony is sitting there betting his pennies and tells me that's what I should stick to. I agree. He ends up cashing out with $16. Ok, so now it's about 7:40 and we have to get back to the Flamingo for Vinnie.
We get seated by 7:50, front row, but on the far left of the room. I won't go into too much detail as Vinnie is
everything you read about and more. All I'll say is he is funny, and yes he heckled us, but we got him back because I told him my name was Ellen, Clark's wife. Then he asked 'Clark' what he does...Tony's pretty quick because he has no idea I was going to do that and he replies, "food preservatives". Now as any Vacation freak knows Clark Griswold is in the food preservative business. Vinnie didn't catch on and asks Tony what they put in Twinkies to keep them fresh. Tony replies, 'yellow dye #6' like some big expert. Pretty funny stuff.
Ok, so we should be beat, and we are just a little. Seven hour drive through Utah and Arizona on the way to Vegas, Hooters, Orleans, Flamingo, Bill's, Venetian and Vinnie and it's 9:00. We just can't allow ourselves to go to bed in Vegas that early on our first night in town. So I say to Tony, Excalibur and Luxor have 'win cards'. He says, let's go.
Now, two years ago, we stayed at the Ex and I distinctly remember walking from the Ex to everwhere else on the strip w/out blinking an eye, even the Stratosphere on one particularly ambitious day. I walk 3-4 miles about 4 tiimes per week back home (except during our brutal WI winters) so I'm thinking we're at the mid-way point on the strip (Flamingo) and it shouldn't take to long to get to the EX. Well, half an hour later, we arrive at the Ex exhausted and in no mood to do ANYTHING but get our butts back to Flamingo and in bed. We're here now, I say, so let's make the best of it. Ex only gives you $15 for $10 buy in, so that was disappointing. We played roulette and after running all the chips through came out ahead $+14. We're a little energized from the 'big win' and decide to stroll over to Luxor. Luxor gives us $30 for $20, so a little better wincard deal. We run all $60 down to five/$5 chips. They also have a higher minimum than the Ex so you lose the money faster. We do manage to order two bottles of beer from the cocktail waitress. Tony is getting mad at me for losing all our buy in. I take my last five chips and halve them on ten numbers. What do you know, Red #9 hits, and I'm suddenly up $+90! I lose another ten waiting for our drinks. We tip the waitress and go cash out w/$80. So after our $40 buy in cost, we leave the Luxor up $40. And yes, we walked all the way back to Flamingo and promptly crashed for the night. So I'm happy to end the day up $10, a free $20 buffet, 12 free drinks, and resting my head in a free room at The Flamingo!
I'm still in Colorado right now (6/25), so I'll try to write my Day 2 entry tomorrow or later tonight.
