My sister and I met up in Vegas for our annual week Nov 6 – 13. She got in first and picked up the car at Alamo ($125 all in for a mid-size). She gave the lot attendant a tip and got our usual upgrade to the Chevy Impala. And what a nice car this was! As we drove we kept finding new things – it would send an alarm if you drifted out of your lane. It had an indicator in both side mirrors to tell you if someone was in your blind spot. It even had a back-up camera. A really nice car.
She gambled a few hours at Bally’s/Paris until I arrived (she won $60). She picked me up and we headed to the M Resort for a 2-night comp stay. Our room had a view of the pool and a long distance view of the strip. Very nice. They even sent chocolate covered strawberries up to the room!
We swiped our cards for the daily multiplier (8x slots/2x VP), gambled for a while and then went to have the buffet. She had a free buffet, while I had a ½ off offer and paid the rest with points. The M Resort recently changed their slot program and now your slot points expire after 6 months, so we would need to use all the points we earned or we would lose them before our next trip in May. We love their buffet and I indulged in my favorite Vegas meal – crab legs and champagne.
Our gambling luck wasn’t going too well until we both had good hits on video poker. I hit a straight flush and 2’s w/kicker playing .50 DDB. She hit Aces w/kicker playing .25 DDB.
During the evening I played the new Gremlins slot (the payouts seemed to be pretty low) and the new Buffalo game (that wasn’t hitting either). I played Pai Gow and lost $100 there and dropped another $100 at 3-card poker. We called it a night fairly early.
Saturday we got up and immediately swiped for the daily multiplier (10x slots, 2x VP). We both had free entries for the ThanksWinning Invitational Slot tournament. We played two 3 minute slot sessions, 1 each Saturday and Sunday. We were able to earn up to 2 addition entries per day with additional slot play. The gift of the day was an M Resort hoodie with 500 slot points earned and you could earn up to 3. I got one and my sister got 2 hoodies.
We drove over to Gold Coast to check in. We weren’t staying there but my sister had an invitation to a bingo tournament that required the stay. They’ve redone the rooms and the furniture is much nicer, but the bathrooms are still small. We had lunch at Ping, Pang, Pong – walnut shrimp and fried rice – the food was outstanding. We could have had the Dim Sum but passed. Judging by the way some of the Dim Sum items looked, we won’t pass up that opportunity again – looked absolutely fantastic. My sister paid with points but noticed you don’t get usual 40% discount when paying with points. Still a great place to eat!
We then drove over to Paris to check out the Great Gift Wrap-Up. I didn’t have enough points this time to get anything, but my sister had enough to get a few gift cards. I got my picture taken with Santa while we were there. Santa was holding a sleeping puppy at the time!! They had a few puppies you could hold while getting your picture taken. I just assumed they were pups up for adoption and thought that was a really nice thing to do. My mistake – the pups were for sale!! I think the people working the event were the only ones buying the dogs – not exactly an item you can pack up in your suitcase!
We went back to the Gold Coast and gambled around until the bingo tournament started. One of the new slots I saw there was A Christmas Story slot. Great graphics!
We met up and went to the bingo tournament. They held it in one of their ballrooms and had set up a very nice spread of appetizers, drinks and an ice cream sundae station.
I didn’t receive an invitation to the bingo tournament but my sister shared her entry with me and we each got a 6-card bingo pack and a dobber to mark our cards. We played 12 games of straight bingo and double bingo with 1 coverall. We just assumed the people there were invited because they played bingo. Boy were we WRONG! After the first few games we realized this was going to take a whole lot longer than it should. Apparently this was the first time many of these people even played bingo! We had way more bogus bingos than real ones. It got to the point where it became comical. The high point (or low point if you will) came when we were doing the coverall. For those of you who don’t play, you have to cover the entire bingo card (that’s 24 numbers) and it usually takes at least 50+ numbers called before anyone has a realistic chance at bingo. Well, we had one individual call “bingo” after only 20 numbers had been called – absolutely no chance for it to be valid. This set the bingo caller off into a fit of laughter. I guess after probably more than 20 false bingos during the evening, this one took the cake. We didn’t win, but my sister did pick up a lot of left over bingo dobbers to take home with her. She regularly plays bingo at Potawatomi in Milwaukee.
After bingo we headed back to the M Resort.
Since my husband stayed home to take care of our dogs I told him I would make some NFL bets for him. He won one and lost one. I also made him a few Super Bowl bets. He bet both the Cardinals and the Panthers to win (they’re both still looking good too!)
Sunday we got up to another beautiful day in Vegas. The weather the whole time we were there was just perfect. Sunny 60’s-70. Just gorgeous. We gambled a bit – I played my freeplay and hit kicker 4’s for a quick $200. We also played our second day of the slot tournament, but didn’t do well enough to place.
We checked out of the M Resort and headed towards downtown to the Bronze Café (a Westie recommendation) for lunch. We drove right by the place at first because it’s right when the road divides. We circled back and parked in the lot for the LGBT building. We both ordered a sandwich, but really should have just ordered one – they were quite large. THE LGBTQ is a bacon, bacon jam, greens, tomato, cucumber and basil aioli sandwich on a really good ciabatta roll. The Complicated Order sandwich is the LGBTQ plus turkey and avocado. The sandwiches were just awesome!!! They had some interesting sounding side items, but we already had way too much food to eat. Next time! The people working there couldn’t have been nicer. The surroundings are a little odd though. If you eat there, your choice is a table in the library set up in the front of the building or tables outside.
We continued our way downtown to Main Street Station (MSS) and played there a bit before heading to the Smith Center (it’s about a mile or so behind MSS). We parked for free in the area in the parking garage designated for the Discovery Museum (a parking attendant suggested it). We had tickets for Clint Holmes at Cabaret Jazz inside the Smith Center. We had seen Clint perform many, many years ago at Harrah’s and just loved him. He’s quite the entertainer. The Cabaret Jazz is a wonderful little venue. I don’t think there’s a bad seat. We purchased seats at a table about 4 tables from the front. We sat with a really nice local couple – the man was 94 years old and had played with Frank Sinatra, so he really enjoyed the band. Clint was in fine form and shared the stage with Earl Turner – a frequent entertainer on the Vegas front. They introduced some local celebrities in the audience – Pia Zadora (right across the aisle from us), Dennis Bono and Frank Sinatra impressionist Bob Anderson (2 tables in front of us). The show was just amazing. Earl Turner should absolutely have a show of his own – he reminded me of a young Lou Rawls. It’s a shame Clint only does his shows the first weekend of each month – that rarely coincides with our trips. But from now on, if Clint is playing while we’re there, sign us up!!!
After the show we stopped at the Bellagio to pick up our LOVE tickets for tomorrow night and see a few Bellagio fountain shows. It was already getting dark so the fountain show was just that much more special. I hit a straight flush while at Bellagio!
We continued on to the Orleans to check in for 2 comped nights. Thanks to Westie for posting some Gold Coast/Orleans coupons for a 5x point multiplier and $10 match play – we had no problem using them (as some had reported). The coupons don’t expire until 12/30, so if you have them I don’t think you’ll have any problem using them at Orleans.
I didn’t have much gambling luck, but played some video poker, slots, blackjack and keno. I was watching the end of the Dallas game in the keno lounge. Lots of Cowboy fans in Vegas!!! Every time Dallas had a good play there would be a cheer in the keno lounge and then 2 seconds later a cheer would go up in the nearby bar/lounge (a little TV delay, I guess).
Monday we drove over to the Palms and had their lunch buffet using the LVA 50% off coupon and paid the rest with points. While at the Palms my sister hit quad Aces (no kicker) and I got 4’s w/kicker.
We went over to the Gold Coast for their bonus day (I read recently that they are discontinuing this extra bonus day). But we got to enjoy the extra multiplier (5x VP/10x slots, free Bingo blue pack and a free VP tournament). Unfortunately, we didn’t do well at bingo. It was double/triple payouts and we both got down to 1 number a few times, but alas no bingo. We each got the 50 points necessary to earn a free entry into the VP tournament but didn’t do well there either.
We drove over to park the car at Paris (we love the easy access to their parking garage) and walked down the strip to the Mirage for the 7pm LOVE show (compliments of MyVegas). We stopped first at Carnegie Deli for a free piece of cheesecake (also courtesy of MyVegas) – we shared a piece of cherry cheesecake and it was really good! The show was well attended and we really enjoyed it. We hit Carnegie Deli again on the way out for another piece of free cheesecake. We selected the chocolate mousse cake this time and picked at it over the next few days – another great cheesecake!! We walked back up the strip and enjoyed a few more fountain shows before we went back to Orleans for the night.
Tuesday morning my sister ran downstairs to get us some breakfast sandwiches at Fuddruckers before we checked out. We had a $10 dining credit to use up and that worked out perfectly.
We played a little and earned enough points to play the Turkey Spin kiosk game – we both got 3000 points ($3).
We checked out of Orleans and drove over to Scientific Gaming near the airport for a tour of their slot machine manufacturing area. I had read a trip report on the Vegas Message board about a slot group that got a tour during the gaming convention. I contacted Scientific Gaming on the off chance they would give us a tour too and was very surprised that they were happy to accommodate us. We got there a little early so we killed a few minutes in the parking lot – we were rewarded with a downpour of rain for about 5 minutes. Rare to see much rain in Vegas.
While we waited for our tour, we were invited to play some of the slot machines that filled the lobby area. They had a large selection of some of their old favorites and some new games that have yet to hit the casinos yet. We really loved playing the Cher slot machine – great bonuses and great music. We also saw a Simpsons slot where they were introducing some sensory refinements. During one of the bonuses you can put your hands under an area and it will feel like donuts dropping into your hands – we didn’t get to actually experience that bonus, but it sounded really cool. Our tour was conducted by the Senior Director of Operations – we were feeling pretty special at that point! He took us through their manufacturing area and you could tell the obvious pride he took in their facility and personnel. He told us a lot of really interesting and cool things. We enjoyed the tour tremendously. I did warn him that I would be including this information in my trip report and he did ask that if people wanted a tour, they gather a small group rather than do 1 and 2 people at a time. This was a real treat for us and something very different from our normal Vegas “entertainment”.
After the tour we drove over to Green Valley Ranch to check in for 3 comped nights courtesy of MyVegas. We parked in the parking garage and had to walk through the convention area and then up and down in elevators to get to the check in area. It seemed like a long way, but after checking in we never had to go back there so it was all really convenient.
We stayed in the tower nearest the casino. The room was lovely and the beds were super comfortable. The only problem we had was you had to use your room keycard to access the room area and sometimes you had to swipe your card 5-6 times before the door would release. We appreciated the extra security, but sometime it was a real pain.
We just loved Green Valley Ranch!!!! The really had everything – lots of great gaming (no commission Pai Gow, Free bet blackjack, LOTS of video poker and even bingo), great restaurants, a huge shopping district and even though we didn’t use it, a lovely pool area. I hope we played enough here to get some future offers. We thought initially we might be too far from the strip, but the access to 215 is just around the corner and we were back to the strip and surrounding area within minutes.
We ate at the buffet using the LVA 2-4-1 coupon and points.
We spent the rest of the night just getting to know the place and gambling our butts off!!
Wednesday we started by gambling at GVR and earning entries to their Senior Day slot tournament. We each earned 5 entries and played them all that morning. I had one session where I was the session winner with 103k points. Some of the regulars assured me that would be enough to get some money.
We took off for lunch at nearby Truffles n’ Bacon on Eastern Ave. with a $10 restaurant.com coupon. It was a casual place famous for their bacon jam. We ordered the “Not Your Mama’s Grilled cheese” and “Sinful Tater Tots.” Both contained the bacon jam. We loved the grilled cheese, but by the time we started eating the tater tots smothered in bacon jam, it got to be too much. Definitely a case of too much of a good thing.
We did our best to finish lunch and then headed for Southpoint to pick up tickets for Thursday’s Dennis Bono radio show taping. We played a while at Southpoint where I found a new slot I hadn’t heard about before – The Family Feud. I played that for a good bit and did fairly well on it – good bonuses where you had to actually correctly guess which were the most common answers on the survey.
When we got back to GVR later they had the results of the slot tournament up and I won $25 – yeah!!
We went to the 7pm bingo session. The cash ball was up to $23k so there were about 200 people playing. Their bingo hall is pretty small compared to some of the others, but it was very nice. I came THIS close (fingers really close together) to winning the $23k cash ball game. If the last 2 numbers had just been called in the reverse order, I was in the BIG money. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, but I did get the bingo and got $125. My sister also got a bingo on a different game, but she had to share her bingo with 10 other people and got $23.
We took a break and had planned on getting a snack at the Tides restaurant with a free appetizer from MyVegas, but since it was Veteran’s Day they wouldn’t honor the coupon on a holiday so we shared a sub at Capriotti’s instead.
I went to the 11pm session of bingo and there were only 28 people at this session. I can’t lose, right???? Oh sure I can, but the odds of winning really couldn’t have been better. Note for the future – GO TO THE 11PM BINGO SESSIONS!!!
Thursday had us heading out to Anise Tapas & Grill on Durango. We had a $10 restaurant.com coupon. It was just terrific!!! The started us out with complimentary bread crisps with onion jam (so, so tasty). We shared orders of avocado emanadillas, moussaka sliders and Paella. The paella was a little bland, but the other 2 items were just awesome. We will definitely come back here!
After a great lunch we went to Southpoint to see the Dennis Bono radio show taping. We have seen the show several times before and really make an effort every trip to see it. It’s free, all you need is a player’s card to get a ticket. The lineup for today’s show: Janien Valentine (from the Scintas), Ronnie Rose (jazz/blues singer), Skye Dee Miles (jazz and soul singer from Rose, Rabbit, Lie @ the Cosmopolitan), Laura Wright (singer from Jubilee and Divas 3), Nick Lewin (comedy magician) and Mariano Gonzalez (harpist from the Bootlegger restaurant). Another great show and we enjoyed it immensely.
After the show we played some slots and played our free entries in the senior day slot tournament – didn’t do too well in this one. We remembered to check ourselves in for out Southwest flights home tomorrow and both got decent boarding numbers.
We went back to GVR to get some more play in that will hopefully generate some room offers for our May trip.
We played around and had absolutely no luck whatsoever! My sister was smart and took a break to go see a movie, The Martian (she liked it very much). I should have gone with her. It was a pretty dismal afternoon.
We planned to go to Hank’s Steakhouse for dinner and use our $30 MyVegas voucher. We should have done a little more research – we thought we’d be able to just walk in at 6pm without a reservation, but they were already very crowded. The best they could offer was an 8pm reservation and they actually got us in at 7:45 (there was a big convention at GVR that week).
We had a lovely dinner and shared a huge cut of prime rib, au gratin potatoes and broccoli w/hollandaise (they also had an exceptional bread basket). Service was friendly and definitely not stuffy. After the discount, the bill came to about $50 which included the tip.
We quickly left the restaurant and went over to the bingo hall for the 9pm session of Rock Shot Bingo. It was a $25 buy-in for 10 electronic games. This is not your normal bingo. There was a DJ just blasting out music, a disco ball, and when somebody got a bingo, everyone at the table got a shot! At the beginning they handed out fake moustaches and had a contest to see who wore them better – lots of fun! I got the first bingo of the night for a cool $100 and a complimentary bottle of chocolate liqueur. The “shots” were pineapple tasting – not too high in alcohol content. It was fun.
We planned to go back for the 11pm session, but I got sidelined by a nice win at Keno. I hit my 4/4 and had played a keno special so I got $250! Yeah me!
My sister made it to the 11pm bingo session and again, there was hardly anyone there. She got a bingo too!!
Later that night I did manage a royal flush – unfortunately it was only nickel video poker, but it was a total surprise – I only held a queen. Still $200 is $200!!!
Friday was check-out day. Pooh! We had breakfast at the café at GVR using a $10 off $20 purchase reward from MyVegas. Food was great!
We played a bit at GVR and got to do a kiosk spin where we both won some slot points. We checked out and drove to M Resort to cash in the last of our points before leaving. I also cashed in my husband’s winning NFL bet!
We returned the car and headed for the airport. I didn’t get the TSA pre-check this time and the security line was long, but it moved quickly. The flight home was a direct flight so it went quickly. Another trip in the books! I came home with 2/3 of my bankroll so I consider it a very successful trip!
While waiting for our flights home, we made our “best of” list this trip:
Best Show – Clint Holmes
Best Meal – Anise Tapas/M Buffet
Bet Promotion – Bingo tournament @ Gold Coast (despite all the bogus bingo’s!!)
Best Hotel – M Resort
That’s it – ‘til May when all the sister’s get together. Thanks for reading!
- Linda in TX
She gambled a few hours at Bally’s/Paris until I arrived (she won $60). She picked me up and we headed to the M Resort for a 2-night comp stay. Our room had a view of the pool and a long distance view of the strip. Very nice. They even sent chocolate covered strawberries up to the room!
We swiped our cards for the daily multiplier (8x slots/2x VP), gambled for a while and then went to have the buffet. She had a free buffet, while I had a ½ off offer and paid the rest with points. The M Resort recently changed their slot program and now your slot points expire after 6 months, so we would need to use all the points we earned or we would lose them before our next trip in May. We love their buffet and I indulged in my favorite Vegas meal – crab legs and champagne.
Our gambling luck wasn’t going too well until we both had good hits on video poker. I hit a straight flush and 2’s w/kicker playing .50 DDB. She hit Aces w/kicker playing .25 DDB.
During the evening I played the new Gremlins slot (the payouts seemed to be pretty low) and the new Buffalo game (that wasn’t hitting either). I played Pai Gow and lost $100 there and dropped another $100 at 3-card poker. We called it a night fairly early.
Saturday we got up and immediately swiped for the daily multiplier (10x slots, 2x VP). We both had free entries for the ThanksWinning Invitational Slot tournament. We played two 3 minute slot sessions, 1 each Saturday and Sunday. We were able to earn up to 2 addition entries per day with additional slot play. The gift of the day was an M Resort hoodie with 500 slot points earned and you could earn up to 3. I got one and my sister got 2 hoodies.
We drove over to Gold Coast to check in. We weren’t staying there but my sister had an invitation to a bingo tournament that required the stay. They’ve redone the rooms and the furniture is much nicer, but the bathrooms are still small. We had lunch at Ping, Pang, Pong – walnut shrimp and fried rice – the food was outstanding. We could have had the Dim Sum but passed. Judging by the way some of the Dim Sum items looked, we won’t pass up that opportunity again – looked absolutely fantastic. My sister paid with points but noticed you don’t get usual 40% discount when paying with points. Still a great place to eat!
We then drove over to Paris to check out the Great Gift Wrap-Up. I didn’t have enough points this time to get anything, but my sister had enough to get a few gift cards. I got my picture taken with Santa while we were there. Santa was holding a sleeping puppy at the time!! They had a few puppies you could hold while getting your picture taken. I just assumed they were pups up for adoption and thought that was a really nice thing to do. My mistake – the pups were for sale!! I think the people working the event were the only ones buying the dogs – not exactly an item you can pack up in your suitcase!
We went back to the Gold Coast and gambled around until the bingo tournament started. One of the new slots I saw there was A Christmas Story slot. Great graphics!
We met up and went to the bingo tournament. They held it in one of their ballrooms and had set up a very nice spread of appetizers, drinks and an ice cream sundae station.
I didn’t receive an invitation to the bingo tournament but my sister shared her entry with me and we each got a 6-card bingo pack and a dobber to mark our cards. We played 12 games of straight bingo and double bingo with 1 coverall. We just assumed the people there were invited because they played bingo. Boy were we WRONG! After the first few games we realized this was going to take a whole lot longer than it should. Apparently this was the first time many of these people even played bingo! We had way more bogus bingos than real ones. It got to the point where it became comical. The high point (or low point if you will) came when we were doing the coverall. For those of you who don’t play, you have to cover the entire bingo card (that’s 24 numbers) and it usually takes at least 50+ numbers called before anyone has a realistic chance at bingo. Well, we had one individual call “bingo” after only 20 numbers had been called – absolutely no chance for it to be valid. This set the bingo caller off into a fit of laughter. I guess after probably more than 20 false bingos during the evening, this one took the cake. We didn’t win, but my sister did pick up a lot of left over bingo dobbers to take home with her. She regularly plays bingo at Potawatomi in Milwaukee.
After bingo we headed back to the M Resort.
Since my husband stayed home to take care of our dogs I told him I would make some NFL bets for him. He won one and lost one. I also made him a few Super Bowl bets. He bet both the Cardinals and the Panthers to win (they’re both still looking good too!)
Sunday we got up to another beautiful day in Vegas. The weather the whole time we were there was just perfect. Sunny 60’s-70. Just gorgeous. We gambled a bit – I played my freeplay and hit kicker 4’s for a quick $200. We also played our second day of the slot tournament, but didn’t do well enough to place.
We checked out of the M Resort and headed towards downtown to the Bronze Café (a Westie recommendation) for lunch. We drove right by the place at first because it’s right when the road divides. We circled back and parked in the lot for the LGBT building. We both ordered a sandwich, but really should have just ordered one – they were quite large. THE LGBTQ is a bacon, bacon jam, greens, tomato, cucumber and basil aioli sandwich on a really good ciabatta roll. The Complicated Order sandwich is the LGBTQ plus turkey and avocado. The sandwiches were just awesome!!! They had some interesting sounding side items, but we already had way too much food to eat. Next time! The people working there couldn’t have been nicer. The surroundings are a little odd though. If you eat there, your choice is a table in the library set up in the front of the building or tables outside.
We continued our way downtown to Main Street Station (MSS) and played there a bit before heading to the Smith Center (it’s about a mile or so behind MSS). We parked for free in the area in the parking garage designated for the Discovery Museum (a parking attendant suggested it). We had tickets for Clint Holmes at Cabaret Jazz inside the Smith Center. We had seen Clint perform many, many years ago at Harrah’s and just loved him. He’s quite the entertainer. The Cabaret Jazz is a wonderful little venue. I don’t think there’s a bad seat. We purchased seats at a table about 4 tables from the front. We sat with a really nice local couple – the man was 94 years old and had played with Frank Sinatra, so he really enjoyed the band. Clint was in fine form and shared the stage with Earl Turner – a frequent entertainer on the Vegas front. They introduced some local celebrities in the audience – Pia Zadora (right across the aisle from us), Dennis Bono and Frank Sinatra impressionist Bob Anderson (2 tables in front of us). The show was just amazing. Earl Turner should absolutely have a show of his own – he reminded me of a young Lou Rawls. It’s a shame Clint only does his shows the first weekend of each month – that rarely coincides with our trips. But from now on, if Clint is playing while we’re there, sign us up!!!
After the show we stopped at the Bellagio to pick up our LOVE tickets for tomorrow night and see a few Bellagio fountain shows. It was already getting dark so the fountain show was just that much more special. I hit a straight flush while at Bellagio!
We continued on to the Orleans to check in for 2 comped nights. Thanks to Westie for posting some Gold Coast/Orleans coupons for a 5x point multiplier and $10 match play – we had no problem using them (as some had reported). The coupons don’t expire until 12/30, so if you have them I don’t think you’ll have any problem using them at Orleans.
I didn’t have much gambling luck, but played some video poker, slots, blackjack and keno. I was watching the end of the Dallas game in the keno lounge. Lots of Cowboy fans in Vegas!!! Every time Dallas had a good play there would be a cheer in the keno lounge and then 2 seconds later a cheer would go up in the nearby bar/lounge (a little TV delay, I guess).
Monday we drove over to the Palms and had their lunch buffet using the LVA 50% off coupon and paid the rest with points. While at the Palms my sister hit quad Aces (no kicker) and I got 4’s w/kicker.
We went over to the Gold Coast for their bonus day (I read recently that they are discontinuing this extra bonus day). But we got to enjoy the extra multiplier (5x VP/10x slots, free Bingo blue pack and a free VP tournament). Unfortunately, we didn’t do well at bingo. It was double/triple payouts and we both got down to 1 number a few times, but alas no bingo. We each got the 50 points necessary to earn a free entry into the VP tournament but didn’t do well there either.
We drove over to park the car at Paris (we love the easy access to their parking garage) and walked down the strip to the Mirage for the 7pm LOVE show (compliments of MyVegas). We stopped first at Carnegie Deli for a free piece of cheesecake (also courtesy of MyVegas) – we shared a piece of cherry cheesecake and it was really good! The show was well attended and we really enjoyed it. We hit Carnegie Deli again on the way out for another piece of free cheesecake. We selected the chocolate mousse cake this time and picked at it over the next few days – another great cheesecake!! We walked back up the strip and enjoyed a few more fountain shows before we went back to Orleans for the night.
Tuesday morning my sister ran downstairs to get us some breakfast sandwiches at Fuddruckers before we checked out. We had a $10 dining credit to use up and that worked out perfectly.
We played a little and earned enough points to play the Turkey Spin kiosk game – we both got 3000 points ($3).
We checked out of Orleans and drove over to Scientific Gaming near the airport for a tour of their slot machine manufacturing area. I had read a trip report on the Vegas Message board about a slot group that got a tour during the gaming convention. I contacted Scientific Gaming on the off chance they would give us a tour too and was very surprised that they were happy to accommodate us. We got there a little early so we killed a few minutes in the parking lot – we were rewarded with a downpour of rain for about 5 minutes. Rare to see much rain in Vegas.
While we waited for our tour, we were invited to play some of the slot machines that filled the lobby area. They had a large selection of some of their old favorites and some new games that have yet to hit the casinos yet. We really loved playing the Cher slot machine – great bonuses and great music. We also saw a Simpsons slot where they were introducing some sensory refinements. During one of the bonuses you can put your hands under an area and it will feel like donuts dropping into your hands – we didn’t get to actually experience that bonus, but it sounded really cool. Our tour was conducted by the Senior Director of Operations – we were feeling pretty special at that point! He took us through their manufacturing area and you could tell the obvious pride he took in their facility and personnel. He told us a lot of really interesting and cool things. We enjoyed the tour tremendously. I did warn him that I would be including this information in my trip report and he did ask that if people wanted a tour, they gather a small group rather than do 1 and 2 people at a time. This was a real treat for us and something very different from our normal Vegas “entertainment”.
After the tour we drove over to Green Valley Ranch to check in for 3 comped nights courtesy of MyVegas. We parked in the parking garage and had to walk through the convention area and then up and down in elevators to get to the check in area. It seemed like a long way, but after checking in we never had to go back there so it was all really convenient.
We stayed in the tower nearest the casino. The room was lovely and the beds were super comfortable. The only problem we had was you had to use your room keycard to access the room area and sometimes you had to swipe your card 5-6 times before the door would release. We appreciated the extra security, but sometime it was a real pain.
We just loved Green Valley Ranch!!!! The really had everything – lots of great gaming (no commission Pai Gow, Free bet blackjack, LOTS of video poker and even bingo), great restaurants, a huge shopping district and even though we didn’t use it, a lovely pool area. I hope we played enough here to get some future offers. We thought initially we might be too far from the strip, but the access to 215 is just around the corner and we were back to the strip and surrounding area within minutes.
We ate at the buffet using the LVA 2-4-1 coupon and points.
We spent the rest of the night just getting to know the place and gambling our butts off!!
Wednesday we started by gambling at GVR and earning entries to their Senior Day slot tournament. We each earned 5 entries and played them all that morning. I had one session where I was the session winner with 103k points. Some of the regulars assured me that would be enough to get some money.
We took off for lunch at nearby Truffles n’ Bacon on Eastern Ave. with a $10 restaurant.com coupon. It was a casual place famous for their bacon jam. We ordered the “Not Your Mama’s Grilled cheese” and “Sinful Tater Tots.” Both contained the bacon jam. We loved the grilled cheese, but by the time we started eating the tater tots smothered in bacon jam, it got to be too much. Definitely a case of too much of a good thing.
We did our best to finish lunch and then headed for Southpoint to pick up tickets for Thursday’s Dennis Bono radio show taping. We played a while at Southpoint where I found a new slot I hadn’t heard about before – The Family Feud. I played that for a good bit and did fairly well on it – good bonuses where you had to actually correctly guess which were the most common answers on the survey.
When we got back to GVR later they had the results of the slot tournament up and I won $25 – yeah!!
We went to the 7pm bingo session. The cash ball was up to $23k so there were about 200 people playing. Their bingo hall is pretty small compared to some of the others, but it was very nice. I came THIS close (fingers really close together) to winning the $23k cash ball game. If the last 2 numbers had just been called in the reverse order, I was in the BIG money. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, but I did get the bingo and got $125. My sister also got a bingo on a different game, but she had to share her bingo with 10 other people and got $23.
We took a break and had planned on getting a snack at the Tides restaurant with a free appetizer from MyVegas, but since it was Veteran’s Day they wouldn’t honor the coupon on a holiday so we shared a sub at Capriotti’s instead.
I went to the 11pm session of bingo and there were only 28 people at this session. I can’t lose, right???? Oh sure I can, but the odds of winning really couldn’t have been better. Note for the future – GO TO THE 11PM BINGO SESSIONS!!!
Thursday had us heading out to Anise Tapas & Grill on Durango. We had a $10 restaurant.com coupon. It was just terrific!!! The started us out with complimentary bread crisps with onion jam (so, so tasty). We shared orders of avocado emanadillas, moussaka sliders and Paella. The paella was a little bland, but the other 2 items were just awesome. We will definitely come back here!
After a great lunch we went to Southpoint to see the Dennis Bono radio show taping. We have seen the show several times before and really make an effort every trip to see it. It’s free, all you need is a player’s card to get a ticket. The lineup for today’s show: Janien Valentine (from the Scintas), Ronnie Rose (jazz/blues singer), Skye Dee Miles (jazz and soul singer from Rose, Rabbit, Lie @ the Cosmopolitan), Laura Wright (singer from Jubilee and Divas 3), Nick Lewin (comedy magician) and Mariano Gonzalez (harpist from the Bootlegger restaurant). Another great show and we enjoyed it immensely.
After the show we played some slots and played our free entries in the senior day slot tournament – didn’t do too well in this one. We remembered to check ourselves in for out Southwest flights home tomorrow and both got decent boarding numbers.
We went back to GVR to get some more play in that will hopefully generate some room offers for our May trip.
We played around and had absolutely no luck whatsoever! My sister was smart and took a break to go see a movie, The Martian (she liked it very much). I should have gone with her. It was a pretty dismal afternoon.
We planned to go to Hank’s Steakhouse for dinner and use our $30 MyVegas voucher. We should have done a little more research – we thought we’d be able to just walk in at 6pm without a reservation, but they were already very crowded. The best they could offer was an 8pm reservation and they actually got us in at 7:45 (there was a big convention at GVR that week).
We had a lovely dinner and shared a huge cut of prime rib, au gratin potatoes and broccoli w/hollandaise (they also had an exceptional bread basket). Service was friendly and definitely not stuffy. After the discount, the bill came to about $50 which included the tip.
We quickly left the restaurant and went over to the bingo hall for the 9pm session of Rock Shot Bingo. It was a $25 buy-in for 10 electronic games. This is not your normal bingo. There was a DJ just blasting out music, a disco ball, and when somebody got a bingo, everyone at the table got a shot! At the beginning they handed out fake moustaches and had a contest to see who wore them better – lots of fun! I got the first bingo of the night for a cool $100 and a complimentary bottle of chocolate liqueur. The “shots” were pineapple tasting – not too high in alcohol content. It was fun.
We planned to go back for the 11pm session, but I got sidelined by a nice win at Keno. I hit my 4/4 and had played a keno special so I got $250! Yeah me!
My sister made it to the 11pm bingo session and again, there was hardly anyone there. She got a bingo too!!
Later that night I did manage a royal flush – unfortunately it was only nickel video poker, but it was a total surprise – I only held a queen. Still $200 is $200!!!
Friday was check-out day. Pooh! We had breakfast at the café at GVR using a $10 off $20 purchase reward from MyVegas. Food was great!
We played a bit at GVR and got to do a kiosk spin where we both won some slot points. We checked out and drove to M Resort to cash in the last of our points before leaving. I also cashed in my husband’s winning NFL bet!
We returned the car and headed for the airport. I didn’t get the TSA pre-check this time and the security line was long, but it moved quickly. The flight home was a direct flight so it went quickly. Another trip in the books! I came home with 2/3 of my bankroll so I consider it a very successful trip!
While waiting for our flights home, we made our “best of” list this trip:
Best Show – Clint Holmes
Best Meal – Anise Tapas/M Buffet
Bet Promotion – Bingo tournament @ Gold Coast (despite all the bogus bingo’s!!)
Best Hotel – M Resort
That’s it – ‘til May when all the sister’s get together. Thanks for reading!
- Linda in TX
