We headed out of Sky Harbor (Phoenix) to Vegas right after work on Friday. It was me and my friend from work making the trip (both ladies). The flight was full but aside from a minor delay on the runway as we waited for clearance, the flight was uneventful and within fifty minutes we had made the short flight to Vegas and were heading for the baggage claim and then the rental car shuttles.
I was very impressed with the changes made to the rental car facility since the last time I rented a car in Vegas (probably ten years ago?) A shuttle takes you the short distance to the offsite rental car facility on Gillespie St. and the centralized location makes the rental process simple, easy and convenient. Within fifteen minutes or so we had my GPS programmed for the Plaza and we were headed downtown.
Spoiler alert* if you are not interested in my opinions regarding the room at the Plaza then just skip right over this next paragraph*
Check-in was simple and our room on the fifteenth floor was adequate for our needs. Nothing fancy but the upgrades made to the Plaza rooms were pretty nice. A few things I noticed offhand, the fixtures are nice but they seem slightly disconnected. By that I mean the decor didn't make sense. You had modern furnishings like the desk chair, the sink vanity and the flat screen TV. Then you had a classic purple lamp, a chair and a black and white print of the "old" Plaza. The arm chair that was in our room (1509) seemed like it was well worn in and like it could stand to use a good washing. The room had an inroom safe but it was quite narrow and would not have fit much more than the minor amounts of cash and 2 i-Pads we stored in it. A laptop would definitely not have fit. The room also had an iron in it but we didn't find that until the last day because it is hidden under the sink vanity, which was kind of a strange place to hide it? One final observation, the towel robe hook in the restroom was secured to the door by what looked like piece of cheap cork board that was nowhere near the same color of the door. This sort of rigged furnishing really cheapened an otherwise decent room.
The first night we were pretty beat from our long day of work and then the flight, so we went downstairs and had a late dinner at Hash House a Go Go. We enjoyed a couple of beers and I had a grilled cheese sandwich (with Prosciutto/avocado/tomato) that was absolutely delicious. My friend had a portabello wrap which she described as equally delicious. I will say that while the food was good the menu was crazy expensive. My advice to everyone would be to utilize the restaurant.com coupons available for this establishment. I didn't realize we were going to be eating there, so I didn't pick any up and I did regret it.
After that we hit the Plaza casino for a few slots before bed. I started on a Ghostbusters slot and promptly lost $20. Feeling adequately warmed up, I headed to a Goldfish video slot. Within 6 spins I hit a free spin bonus and I won approximately $182 (18,114) in pennies. I decided that if I stopped now this win would supply a good chunk of my gambling budget for the remainder of the trip. And so, that was exactly what I did! We were both exhausted even though it was pretty early yet (10pm).
On Saturday morning we were up at 4am. We each had our own queen bed and while comfy, for me the lack of the awesome mattress like the one I had at home had me tossing and turning quite a bit. I blame this and my excitement for a full day in Vegas for waking me up so early. We laid in our beds chatting for a bit before we ultimately decided to wake up, get showered and head over to Main Street station for their champagne brunch.
The champagne brunch was mediocre. A lot of the foods were not adequately heated and the selection in my opinion was lacking from prior visits. The champagne was flavorless but when mixed with orange juice made a decent mimosa. If memory serves me correctly I had a piece of sausage, some breakfast potatoes and a piece of french toast drizzled with strawberries. For "dessert" I had three donut holes that were as hard as a rock. I was only able to take one bite of a donut hole before I sadly gaveup the fight. I also sampled a tamale that had watery masa and an overabundance of chili powder and a mini-chicken fried steak with cream gravy that was pretty darn good.
After breakfast we headed to the Main Street casino to try our luck. In relatively short order I lost $60. The machines in this joint just swallowed up my cash without hardly a bit of play. It was somewhat disappointing but I didn't push my luck. We decided to move on with the rest of our day.
We hopped in the rental car back at the Plaza, headed back down the death trap curved parking garage and headed to the LV Outlets at the opposite end of the strip. We visited the Coach outlet (Coach bags for $99, oh my!), Zales, Gymboree, and a really neat hat shop. There was a lot to see at this shopping center and I am excited to return when me and hubby go back to Vegas for his birthday next month.
After the Outlets we took a quick drive over to the Pinball Hall of Fame. I always make it a point to visit this place because the old games are awesome and it is relatively inexpensive entertainment. After about thirty minutes or so of playing the games, we decided to head over to Ellis Island for lunch.
Food was at the restaurant in Ellis Island (not sure of the name but it is not the BBQ place). My friend ate something with mushrooms and I had the Island Sampler. I have had this before but forgot how huge it was. I made nary a dent in it before my stomach felt like it was going to split open. Afterwards we played some VP with minimal losses (approximately $40 for me) and we headed back to the Plaza.
Once back at the Plaza we decided to walk over to Gold Spike and El Cortez before dark. It annoys me that Gold Spike still hasn't converted to the Ticket in Ticket out technology (kind of like Mermaids). This makes you more apt to lose everything rather than wait for a $6 handpay. I quickly got annoyed by this and we decided to move over to El Cortez to use our free play coupons. Losing continued to be the theme, whether it be VP or video slots, I couldn't win or even get any sort of entertainment value out of my play. I dropped another $40 and we decided to hit Fremont St. and start heading back towards our hotel. We visited the Toy Shack so I could see if they had any Power Rangers for my two sons. Their inventory has grown but they didn't have much for children my sons' ages so we headed out onto Fremont St. to check out some of the casinos. We hit "the D" and this place was LOUD. I felt like all the employees were trying very hard to make it seem like they were having a lot of fun. But their dance moves seemed lackluster and their exuberance seemed forced. Despite the somewhat uncomfortable surroundings I still managed to win back a little bit of what I'd lost on slots, playing Blackjack. I think I went up $35??
After that we hit Binions and I decided I was all gambled out (for the time being). So I took a seat at the bar and enjoyed a Miller Light on draft and took in the Chicago Bulls/Dallas Mavericks game (Go Bulls). About twenty minutes later we decided to head back to the hotel so we could relax for a bit before the dinner we had planned at Triple George.
Back at the Plaza I grabbed a coffee at the downstairs coffeeshop. I had an iced Caramel Machiatto and it was very tasty and refreshing. We relaxed in our rooms for about two hours. We entertained ourselves by watching some TV (the rest of the Bulls game for me) and playing on our i-Pads. I also hit the gift shop downstairs to grab a big can of beer for us to split before we headed out for dinner. At $3.50 for an oversized can of Coors, this was a better deal than the bar.
Around 7:30 we headed out on Fremont St. and towards Triple George for dinner. I was a bit disappointed because I felt the food was not as good as it has been in the past. My ribeye felt a bit tough but my friend said her Shrimp Scampi was wonderful. The sourdough bread was simply delicious and the potatoes with my steak were absolutely yummy!
After dinner we hit Four Queens, Golden Gate and the Las Vegas Club. I lost money at Golden Gate and Las Vegas Club (about $50 at each) but won at Four Queens on the Lord of the Rings video slot ($110). This helped me to minimize my overall losses for the night. At about midnight we plodded our way back to the hotel and crashed hard.
In the morning we did not wake up until almost 9am. My eyes were bloodshot from the massive amounts of beer and the smoky casinos. But, we had a bit more time before our 7pm flight so we packed up our belongings, headed back out to our rental car and tried to find a way to keep ourselves busy.
We tried to hit the Peppermill for breakfast but the wait was quite long. So instead we hit the Riviera. I won $20 on a matchplay and another $30 with the few hands of Single Deck I decided to play. Remembering I had promised to pick up a gift for my son, I headed to the magic shop they have right off of the Casino Floor to see what I could find. I ended up finding him a magic kit for kids which I knew he would love (and he did once I gave it to him). After that we headed back out to the rental car so we could hit Ethel M's in Henderson for some chocolate souvenirs. I took a few pictures of the Cactus Garden while we were there but it was too warm to stay outside for too long. Once we were done we finally decided we could wait no longer to eat so we headed over to Green Valley Ranch so I could use a BOGO coupon at the Feast (MRB). Brunch was a little pricey $13.99 even with players card, but the selection was decent. I had a piece of roast beef, a salad and a scoop of mashed potatoes. For dessert I had a mini brownie. I thought this was a fabulous meal but there was a bit of a wait to get in, so keep this in mind.
Afterwards we gambled a bit (lost $40) and then decided to head over to the Hard Rock Casino. The drive over was quick but we could quickly see that there was a long line to get in through the parking garage. We decided to "Google" to see if we could figure out what was going on and it appeared some sort of DJ was there for a grand opening? Either way, too many cool kids for us so we decided to head back to Ellis Island for some cold waters and some low limit gaming before we headed to the airport.
Right at 4pm we left Ellis Island, used the GPS to get to the rental car return facility (worked like a charm ) and then took the shuttle to the airport. Check-in at Southwest was super quick but the wait at the security was something else. That being said the line moved quick and I think TSA did as good of a job as possible given the HUGE crowds.
Flight home was quick, and before I knew it I was back home with hubby and my two beautiful boys.
Overall, I had a lot of fun. The food was very good (for the most part) and I was able to use several gaming and food coupons which was terrific. I came back with about 2/3 of my gambling budget (I lost about $80 total once you net my two big wins and all the minor losses). I also calculated I used a total of $110 in coupons. I am excited for my next trip which will be next month with my husband for his b-day. We are driving for that trip (ugh) but either way...it should be a lot of fun!
Thanks for reading my trip report! I hope someone finds something in this report useful.
I was very impressed with the changes made to the rental car facility since the last time I rented a car in Vegas (probably ten years ago?) A shuttle takes you the short distance to the offsite rental car facility on Gillespie St. and the centralized location makes the rental process simple, easy and convenient. Within fifteen minutes or so we had my GPS programmed for the Plaza and we were headed downtown.
Spoiler alert* if you are not interested in my opinions regarding the room at the Plaza then just skip right over this next paragraph*
Check-in was simple and our room on the fifteenth floor was adequate for our needs. Nothing fancy but the upgrades made to the Plaza rooms were pretty nice. A few things I noticed offhand, the fixtures are nice but they seem slightly disconnected. By that I mean the decor didn't make sense. You had modern furnishings like the desk chair, the sink vanity and the flat screen TV. Then you had a classic purple lamp, a chair and a black and white print of the "old" Plaza. The arm chair that was in our room (1509) seemed like it was well worn in and like it could stand to use a good washing. The room had an inroom safe but it was quite narrow and would not have fit much more than the minor amounts of cash and 2 i-Pads we stored in it. A laptop would definitely not have fit. The room also had an iron in it but we didn't find that until the last day because it is hidden under the sink vanity, which was kind of a strange place to hide it? One final observation, the towel robe hook in the restroom was secured to the door by what looked like piece of cheap cork board that was nowhere near the same color of the door. This sort of rigged furnishing really cheapened an otherwise decent room.
The first night we were pretty beat from our long day of work and then the flight, so we went downstairs and had a late dinner at Hash House a Go Go. We enjoyed a couple of beers and I had a grilled cheese sandwich (with Prosciutto/avocado/tomato) that was absolutely delicious. My friend had a portabello wrap which she described as equally delicious. I will say that while the food was good the menu was crazy expensive. My advice to everyone would be to utilize the restaurant.com coupons available for this establishment. I didn't realize we were going to be eating there, so I didn't pick any up and I did regret it.
After that we hit the Plaza casino for a few slots before bed. I started on a Ghostbusters slot and promptly lost $20. Feeling adequately warmed up, I headed to a Goldfish video slot. Within 6 spins I hit a free spin bonus and I won approximately $182 (18,114) in pennies. I decided that if I stopped now this win would supply a good chunk of my gambling budget for the remainder of the trip. And so, that was exactly what I did! We were both exhausted even though it was pretty early yet (10pm).
On Saturday morning we were up at 4am. We each had our own queen bed and while comfy, for me the lack of the awesome mattress like the one I had at home had me tossing and turning quite a bit. I blame this and my excitement for a full day in Vegas for waking me up so early. We laid in our beds chatting for a bit before we ultimately decided to wake up, get showered and head over to Main Street station for their champagne brunch.
The champagne brunch was mediocre. A lot of the foods were not adequately heated and the selection in my opinion was lacking from prior visits. The champagne was flavorless but when mixed with orange juice made a decent mimosa. If memory serves me correctly I had a piece of sausage, some breakfast potatoes and a piece of french toast drizzled with strawberries. For "dessert" I had three donut holes that were as hard as a rock. I was only able to take one bite of a donut hole before I sadly gaveup the fight. I also sampled a tamale that had watery masa and an overabundance of chili powder and a mini-chicken fried steak with cream gravy that was pretty darn good.
After breakfast we headed to the Main Street casino to try our luck. In relatively short order I lost $60. The machines in this joint just swallowed up my cash without hardly a bit of play. It was somewhat disappointing but I didn't push my luck. We decided to move on with the rest of our day.
We hopped in the rental car back at the Plaza, headed back down the death trap curved parking garage and headed to the LV Outlets at the opposite end of the strip. We visited the Coach outlet (Coach bags for $99, oh my!), Zales, Gymboree, and a really neat hat shop. There was a lot to see at this shopping center and I am excited to return when me and hubby go back to Vegas for his birthday next month.
After the Outlets we took a quick drive over to the Pinball Hall of Fame. I always make it a point to visit this place because the old games are awesome and it is relatively inexpensive entertainment. After about thirty minutes or so of playing the games, we decided to head over to Ellis Island for lunch.
Food was at the restaurant in Ellis Island (not sure of the name but it is not the BBQ place). My friend ate something with mushrooms and I had the Island Sampler. I have had this before but forgot how huge it was. I made nary a dent in it before my stomach felt like it was going to split open. Afterwards we played some VP with minimal losses (approximately $40 for me) and we headed back to the Plaza.
Once back at the Plaza we decided to walk over to Gold Spike and El Cortez before dark. It annoys me that Gold Spike still hasn't converted to the Ticket in Ticket out technology (kind of like Mermaids). This makes you more apt to lose everything rather than wait for a $6 handpay. I quickly got annoyed by this and we decided to move over to El Cortez to use our free play coupons. Losing continued to be the theme, whether it be VP or video slots, I couldn't win or even get any sort of entertainment value out of my play. I dropped another $40 and we decided to hit Fremont St. and start heading back towards our hotel. We visited the Toy Shack so I could see if they had any Power Rangers for my two sons. Their inventory has grown but they didn't have much for children my sons' ages so we headed out onto Fremont St. to check out some of the casinos. We hit "the D" and this place was LOUD. I felt like all the employees were trying very hard to make it seem like they were having a lot of fun. But their dance moves seemed lackluster and their exuberance seemed forced. Despite the somewhat uncomfortable surroundings I still managed to win back a little bit of what I'd lost on slots, playing Blackjack. I think I went up $35??
After that we hit Binions and I decided I was all gambled out (for the time being). So I took a seat at the bar and enjoyed a Miller Light on draft and took in the Chicago Bulls/Dallas Mavericks game (Go Bulls). About twenty minutes later we decided to head back to the hotel so we could relax for a bit before the dinner we had planned at Triple George.
Back at the Plaza I grabbed a coffee at the downstairs coffeeshop. I had an iced Caramel Machiatto and it was very tasty and refreshing. We relaxed in our rooms for about two hours. We entertained ourselves by watching some TV (the rest of the Bulls game for me) and playing on our i-Pads. I also hit the gift shop downstairs to grab a big can of beer for us to split before we headed out for dinner. At $3.50 for an oversized can of Coors, this was a better deal than the bar.
Around 7:30 we headed out on Fremont St. and towards Triple George for dinner. I was a bit disappointed because I felt the food was not as good as it has been in the past. My ribeye felt a bit tough but my friend said her Shrimp Scampi was wonderful. The sourdough bread was simply delicious and the potatoes with my steak were absolutely yummy!
After dinner we hit Four Queens, Golden Gate and the Las Vegas Club. I lost money at Golden Gate and Las Vegas Club (about $50 at each) but won at Four Queens on the Lord of the Rings video slot ($110). This helped me to minimize my overall losses for the night. At about midnight we plodded our way back to the hotel and crashed hard.
In the morning we did not wake up until almost 9am. My eyes were bloodshot from the massive amounts of beer and the smoky casinos. But, we had a bit more time before our 7pm flight so we packed up our belongings, headed back out to our rental car and tried to find a way to keep ourselves busy.
We tried to hit the Peppermill for breakfast but the wait was quite long. So instead we hit the Riviera. I won $20 on a matchplay and another $30 with the few hands of Single Deck I decided to play. Remembering I had promised to pick up a gift for my son, I headed to the magic shop they have right off of the Casino Floor to see what I could find. I ended up finding him a magic kit for kids which I knew he would love (and he did once I gave it to him). After that we headed back out to the rental car so we could hit Ethel M's in Henderson for some chocolate souvenirs. I took a few pictures of the Cactus Garden while we were there but it was too warm to stay outside for too long. Once we were done we finally decided we could wait no longer to eat so we headed over to Green Valley Ranch so I could use a BOGO coupon at the Feast (MRB). Brunch was a little pricey $13.99 even with players card, but the selection was decent. I had a piece of roast beef, a salad and a scoop of mashed potatoes. For dessert I had a mini brownie. I thought this was a fabulous meal but there was a bit of a wait to get in, so keep this in mind.
Afterwards we gambled a bit (lost $40) and then decided to head over to the Hard Rock Casino. The drive over was quick but we could quickly see that there was a long line to get in through the parking garage. We decided to "Google" to see if we could figure out what was going on and it appeared some sort of DJ was there for a grand opening? Either way, too many cool kids for us so we decided to head back to Ellis Island for some cold waters and some low limit gaming before we headed to the airport.
Right at 4pm we left Ellis Island, used the GPS to get to the rental car return facility (worked like a charm ) and then took the shuttle to the airport. Check-in at Southwest was super quick but the wait at the security was something else. That being said the line moved quick and I think TSA did as good of a job as possible given the HUGE crowds.
Flight home was quick, and before I knew it I was back home with hubby and my two beautiful boys.
Overall, I had a lot of fun. The food was very good (for the most part) and I was able to use several gaming and food coupons which was terrific. I came back with about 2/3 of my gambling budget (I lost about $80 total once you net my two big wins and all the minor losses). I also calculated I used a total of $110 in coupons. I am excited for my next trip which will be next month with my husband for his b-day. We are driving for that trip (ugh) but either way...it should be a lot of fun!
Thanks for reading my trip report! I hope someone finds something in this report useful.
