My wife and I had an uneventful flight from ATL Friday evening, and in fact our flight was actually early getting in followed by a quick trip through the baggage claim. Once we left the airport, the taxi driver hit all of the green lights at the right times and our fare to Paris was the lowest it has ever been in past visits; good omen to start the trip! The check in at Paris was very busy when we arrived at 315pm on a Friday. After 15 minutes of waiting, it was our turn to check in. The attendant was extremely nice and found an upgraded room for us when presented a tip. The $20 trick still works people!!! Our room located on the 28th floor was great and had a view of the Paris pool, Effiel Tower, and the Bellagio fountains. After playing some slots at Ballys and Paris, we had dinner at “The Pub” in Monte Carlo. We had never visited this restaurant on previous trips, therefore we used a MyVegas gaming reward for a 4 course meal with beer pairings. The food was filling and the beer was good. Definitely a nice place to visit for a beer lover or anyone looking to watch a sports event while in Vegas.
After sleeping off some of the jet lag from the east coast, we used another MyVegas gaming reward for the Champagne Brunch at The Mirage on Saturday. To our surprise the food quality and service was great, and we left there very full… like most people when leaving a buffet! Our plans for Saturday consisted of two things, watch our Georgia Bulldogs beat Georgia Tech and attend the Justin Timberlake concert at the MGM Grand. Before returning to Paris’ Le Burger Brassier for the football game, we roamed around The Mirage and Caesars stopping often to play blackjack, 3 Card Poker and our favorite slots. After the rivalry game, it was finally time for the main event of the trip… the concert! We took at taxi down to the MGM Grand from Paris to save our energy. My wife and I enjoyed some martinis at the bar closest to the lobby in MGM Grand prior to the concert, and we very pleased by the quality of the drinks which were priced very fair ($10-12 per cocktail). The MGM Garden Arena was easy to locate and a great venue for a concert; it’s more intimate than most of the typical sports venues transformed for concerts. Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience event was incredible and worth every penny spent on the tickets. We would highly recommend seeing his show if the opportunity was there… he’s coming back to MGM in August 2014. Instead of fighting a sold out crowd for a taxi after the concert, we rode The Monorail back to Paris. That was our first experience using the transit service, and we will definitely do it again on future trips. The daily passes were fairly priced, stations were clean and we always felt safe.
Not wanting to stray from a good thing, we used a LVA coupon for a BOGO Champagne Breakfast buffet at The Mirage. No difference between Saturday and Sunday morning, still great food with quality service. After breakfast we hailed a taxi downtown to Freemont Street for a change in scenery and some gaming time. We started at The Golden Gate and worked our way down to The D stopping at various places in between to play blackjack, 3 card poker, craps, slots and turn in a variety of different LVA coupons. I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or luck, but with every trip downtown we always seem to double our money or get close to even money. We’ll continue to visit downtown in future trips, it’s definitely worth a visit for anyone who’s never been. Next, we grabbed a taxi and visited Ellis Island to use some gaming coupons from the LVA book. I had read previously about the cab fare reimbursement Ellis Island offered and good news is they are still honoring this promotion. But – there is a catch. When we went to the desk to turn in our taxi receipt we were notified you MUST get a printout receipt from the taxi driver, a hand written receipt would not quality for the reimbursed expense. Our taxi driver did not ask/give an option for a printed receipt so be sure to ask your taxi driver if they can do this before spending the cash. A morning and afternoon full of LVA coupon runs mixed in with drinks at the various ‘old Vegas’ scenes, we took a short walk back to Paris from Ellis Island and got ready for the evening.
Sunday evening was spent at New York, New York, and a theme for the trip, we turned in MyVegas gaming rewards for Zumanity tickets and $75 dollars of credit for free drinks to use before the show at “Bar at Time Square”. The bar scene was fair and the service was nice, but what we were most surprised by were the cocktail prices. I had a single barrel Jack Daniels for $10 – I even asked the bartender if that was correct and he said yes! We were pleased with how we used the points, and the Zumanity show was very entertaining and funny. With that said, please be advised if you are easily offended that this show is likely not for you. Historically our luck has not been good at New York, New York so we can’t help but shy away from their casino. We walked across the street to MGM, hopped on The Monorail and found a $5 3 card poker table at Bally's. My wife and I enjoy playing at the tables with the 6 card bonus bet, and we were lucky enough to both hit several big hands and win our money back (gambling, transportation and food/beverage expenses) with that side bet. We would encourage other gamers to take advantage of the 6 card bet, it’s fun and can actually make any bad 3 card poker hand profitable!
Monday was going home day, but not before we used our last MyVegas gaming reward for another breakfast buffet but this time at the Aria. This was our first time visiting inside the casino and it did not disappoint. Everything is very clean and the attention to detail is beautiful. The breakfast buffet was great, however we were disappointed in the service from the waitress. Not a deal breaker, we would certainly give it another visit.
Overall, a wonderful trip. We’ll continue to play the MyVegas game to build up points for more rewards to use on the next trip. I’d recommend anyone not playing the game to check it out – it’s completely free and you can actually get some great rewards! Until next time Vegas…
