My adult son and I had a great 4-night trip recently and wanted to share with all of you some highlights. It’s been a while since having a trip and filing a trip report.
General:
Breeze Airlines recently opened a non-stop route from Gulfport/Biloxi (MS) to LAS and even had an introductory sale 30% off their already low prices. Both of us flew for a combined total of $397 and that included a fee for carryon bag both ways. Lowest price I’ve ever paid for the trip, made even better from the fact it was N/S. Great Airbus jet with good legroom. Flying Breeze was a breeze! I read that Breeze is coming soon to New Orleans too which might give SWA from competition from there to LAS.
Booked a Nissan Altima for the four nights from Dollar Express for a total of $207. Booked early and glad I did; the price only went up and up as the trip got closer. Right before the flight it was up to around $270 so glad I booked early.
Thanks to LVA, booked four nights at Downtown Grand and had $156 in resort fees waived. Total hotel charge was $224 with taxes and fees for check in Monday and check out Friday. A word of warning: when I booked months ago, I called their 800# on their website. I thought I was talking directly to DTG but apparently, I was talking with Reservations.com and did not realize it. While booking the room, I mentioned I had an LVA coupon waiving the resort fee and she said, “sure, just show that to the clerk when you check in.” Well, when I did so, the desk clerk said he could not accept the LVA coupon since I had booked the room “thru Expedia or someone like that.” I assured him I had not done so, but he was adamant that I had. I was about to blow a gasket when he called over a supervisor, she looked things over, and allowed us to use the coupon and waived the fee. Very nice of her, she did not have to do that. I eventually figured out I indeed had gotten passed thru to Reservations.com when I booked the room, so it was my fault and I got lucky it worked out. Lesson learned; next time, call the local area code # for the hotel and not the 800# they post on their website and MAKE SURE I am talking directly to the hotel. Maybe stick with online next time.
Had to pay $20 for valet the first night until I could figure out how their free guest parking worked the other nights at self-park across the street. People had commented about what a long walk it is from self-park to the Grand tower and they were right, especially for someone like me with a cane, but we got used to it after a while. The other towers would have been a lot closer but they must put coupon users like me in the older Grand tower. At the front desk, they give you a bar code to scan to get in and out of the self park garage; it worked well.
LVA refers to Vegas as “Cone City” and very true. Construction barricades and cones on Strip and side streets are everywhere but nothing much seems to be going on, even during the work week. Had several close calls with other drivers merging at the last second when a lane disappeared.
Drove the Strip just one time to wave goodbye to the Mirage. I have mixed feelings about the Mirage. I could never afford to stay there (however, spent many nights at Casino Royale across the street), but did enjoy a great meal at the deli there years ago and loved the Beatles show LOVE there. Old timers tell me how Mirage screwed up Vegas; how Steve Wynn’s intent to do away with rooms, meals, etc. being used as loss leaders (to get people to come in to GAMBLE) took root in town and changed Vegas for the worse forever in their opinion. I wish I could have experienced the old pre-Mirage Vegas.
GAMBLING:
My son and I each had a great trip; I had an $1809 profit and he was close behind at $1700 or so. I am almost exclusively a 25-cent VP player and he is too but he likes to mix in some “silly slot machines” sometimes. I told him I would budget (waste) a couple hundred on slots this trip so we could play side by side. Glad I did as I had a couple of really good beginner’s luck hits on Huff N Puff, Wille Wonka and the NFL slot (the Saints, baby!). On Huff at DTG, just missed out on a $15,000+ grand payout on an 80-cent bet. I’m sure it wasn’t really that close but they sure make it look like it was! My son got really excited; I didn’t know what was going on.
As a protest (and to support LVA), I refused to spend a penny at Boyd, Stations, Caesars, MGM, etc. I was so adamant about it I refused to even spend money at the Fremont food court when my Louisiana chicken-tender obsessed son wanted to try Huey Magoos there for the first time. I sat with him while he ate there. He ranked them very high but still just a notch below his beloved Louisiana-based Raisin’ Canes’ tenders. I went across the street and used the 241 LVA coupon at the terrific American Coney Dog at the D. Was great as always.
I had a great coupon run, the best ever. Believe it or not, I won every single one of the 6 match play coupons I played, even the terrific $50 ones from Plaza and DTG. Also won $10 at Ellis and $25MP at D, GGate and ElCortez (from boarding pass). Bet all on Black on roulette except EC where it had to be played on blackjack. BTW, waited on Single 0 table to finally open up Plaza before I played it there.
Got a Royal at South Point. Like I said, I walk with a cane and I sometimes get tired so I told my son I needed a rest break and flopped down at a triple play 85BP slant top and he played next to me. About ten hands later, four to a royal pop up on the three hands, I elbowed him and said “watch this” and dang if the Queen of Diamonds came out. That’s about the only time I remember being happy I don’t have the energy I used to have anymore. First royal in Vegas for me in 3-4 trips going back to 2016.
At that point, my son was about even for the trip but he took care of that one great day where he got two quarter royals. The first was a 75BP bartop at Ellis Island (he wanted to get one of their amber beers there). Held three but got the other two. I got 4OAK there but was miffed when it paid only 100 coins instead of the usual 125…that was the last hand I played there. I don’t think I’d ever seen that particular downgrade before. Will check better in the future.
We went to his beloved In-N-Out Burger for lunch (his treat, LOL). We were headed back to DTG anyhow and he was nervous carrying all that cash so while he headed up to the room to put it in the safe, I told him I would meet him at Furnace Bar where I played their 75BP now that they jerked out the older good progressives they used to have there. About five hands after he rejoined me there, he held three to the royal again and got the other two for his 2nd royal of the day in less that a couple hours. So, he made another happy run back up to the room safe.
For several years I have been getting monthly mailed offers from the Palms. I turned their $60 FP into a $200 profit on their 25-cent SuperDDB in the HiLimit room when I I filled out two 4OAK on a triple play. Glad we stopped in!
Also stopped next door at the Rio where we wanted to use our $25FP coupons from LVA with 200 points earned. My son looked it up and said it was $10 c/i for a point on VP but only $1.25 c/i per point on slots so we played Wonka slots after signing up. I had not stepped foot in Rio for probably 20 years or so; it seemed pretty depressing. Hope the new owners can make it work. Club person assured us after earning our points that we should be getting nice room offers from them soon. Not many people there on a Wed. afternoon.
I kind of kick myself for misplaying the nice 4Q Summer promotion where you can get $140 in FP, a $50 food comp and mug (don’t forget the mug!) with 1,200 points earned in a month. I generally avoid uprights since my arm and shoulder hurt bad after playing awhile. In retrospect, I should have sucked it up and played dollars instead of quarters and I probably could have earned the good promo with minimal wear and tear on my shoulder. I figured this out on the flight home…too late LOL.
After intending many times over the years to make it “all the way out” to Henderson to visit casinos there, we finally did this trip and had a blast at Emerald Isle. Played 5-cent 10-play 96JOB for a couple of hours and broke even. We each used the LVA couple for the wheel spin (I got 15, son got 10). Very old school, labor-intensive promo, took two employees to watch us spin and fill out the paperwork. Fun! We enjoyed a free lunch from the players club after our play (we had been prepared to use the LVA 241 lunch) and enjoyed their free breakfast skillet. It was so hot in the car when we left, I could barely touch the steering wheel. What a great place…we’ll be back.
About my single longest stretch of play was at Sand Dollar bar at the Plaza. I steeled myself to get to FP version of 96JOB by stepping up to 50-cent. The allure of the $2000 Royal with a $500 FP add on thanks to LVA coupon was so strong, I had to give it a hard try, but no luck. Five different times I held 3 to a royal and got the 4th, but not the 5th card. Once I got a 4OAK and the friendly bartender noticed my little fist pump and he asked if I had got a royal. “Oh, you’d know if I got a royal,” we laughed. He said he had paid out two royals with the LVA coupon. I told him I meant to be his third but it didn’t happen. I told him I was from humid Mississippi and he said you must be dying in this dry heat out here so he just kept pushing cold bottles of water at me.
Hope they make it there. I was there about five hours and there were never more than 10-people in the bar (almost none of them playing) on a Thursday evening. They had a good musician there playing for tips. Sorry, but did not get his name. Hope LVA can get the $500 bonus coupon back in future years so I can get another crack at it. Dropped $225 there.
DINING:
I let my son make most of the dining decisions and we gravitated towards inexpensive or coupon fare. He went to college in the Midwest so that meant a trip to White Castle downtown, which was good once we got the food but they were so understaffed to where they only had a self-check in kiosk working for people to place their orders. Most people were either too wasted or too confused to run it, so it took forever for the line to move. I went to save a table and once my son finally had his turn, it only took him a few minutes to order.
I got a $10 food comp at Plaza and used it at Pop Up Pizza. It was ok, not near as good as Pizza Rock downtown. Hope LVA can someday get back the good 241 coupon it had from Pizza Rock some years ago.
At some point around 6 p.m. I wanted a sugar hit so got a couple of donuts at PinkBox at Plaza. Was not impressed; maybe they had been sitting around all day. Will give them another trip next trip but earlier in the day. Or maybe I’m just spoiled with our great Mississippi Gulf coast donut shops run here by Cambodian immigrants.
Had the $2 Hot Dog/PBR special at DTG. It was OK. I think it was Anthomy Curtis who commented once on a Beer Fridays episode that buns need to be steamed. As usual, he was right!
I insisted on one meal, the free English Breakfast at the Crown and Anchor after using the LVA coupon after earning 200 points ($200 c/i). We had been to the “big” Crown on Tropicana many times but now that it just closed, we had to find our way to the “baby” Crown on Spring Mountain. Was easy to find and just as good as always. We each had great Fullers London Pride beers while playing 75BP for quarters (a pleasant surprise, I seem to recall Trop location only had 65BP). Was early morning so charming bartender had plenty of time to chat. She said Trop location landlord really jacked up their rent so the owner just pulled the plug rather than signing another lease. She said the fun trivia night at Trop that was on Thursdays she’s now doing on Saturday nights on Spring Mountain. They were recently covered up with people during the Eurocup and CopaAmerica soccer tourneys. Plan to make this a regular stop in the future. My son’s “free” breakfast cost him $40 but I truly ate for free. I asked her about the “urban myth” that Brandon Flowers of The Killers (from Vegas) wrote their big hit “Mr. Brightside” after accidentally finding his girlfriend at the time with another guy at the Trop Crown location? She said it was absolutely true, that she and her co-workers all know The Killers really well and some of them drop by usually when they are home. She said they are supposedly doing a residency on the Strip soon. Talk about turning heartache into millions!
My son is a big sushi fan (I’m allergic) and he had heard about and wanted to try Umiya Sushi all you can eat for $21.95 as long as you come after 9 p.m. It’s just west of the Palms on Flamingo. They had a chicken terryaki for me. My son raved about the sushi. He downed five big rolls in his hour of allotted time. He figured out he ate about $56 in menu priced sushi for the 21.95 AYCE. We’ll go back someday. I was so impressed with the operation; great service, fast arrival of food, even the people clearing the tables were busting their butts. When we left at 10, there was still a line outside to get in. We had a reservation.
I always overplan dining options on Vegas trips, so here’s where we did NOT make it to: Freredom Beat (DTG), LeThai downtown, Palms AYCE buffet (LVA online), Palms pizza place ($35 Palms mailer food comp), Jackson’s Bar (free steak with LVA coupon with play), and, of course, the great LVA 241 at the café at Ellis.
Sorry to go on so long, but I don’t get many Vegas trips anymore. My wife of 45 years has been diagnosed with dementia and I am her 100% care-taker. Everyone tells me the importance of finding “me time” and “take care of myself,” and that’s what this trip was. Our daughter drove down to stay with my wife so we could make the trip. My wife loved visiting Vegas and we had some wonderful trips together, but they are all a blur to her now. My patient son had to listen to me saying “your mom and I used to do this,” “I remember when your mom and I ate here,” etc.
One last point: I find it remarkable that LVA doesn’t have hundreds of thousands of subscribers instead of just the 15,000 or so it has. It’s the best $50 you can spend before planning a trip.
