I've enjoyed everyone's TRs, but I haven't written one in a long time. Seemed like I had nothing of interest to report about. Tried to think of some different things that happened this trip.
I'm not one to recall every gambling session, and have been in a dry spell for jackpots; no unique meals to report about; but I'll tell a couple of good things from our trip Feb 23-28.
Wynn has been snubbing me for a while, so when I got an e-mail offer for 2 free nights with a slot tournament, I went for it. Husband, friend and I went together, non-stop flights both ways which is always good. We had snow and ice predicted for the afternoon before and morning of the flight, so we bunked in at the Holiday Inn by our airport, got shuttled over to the airport morning of the flight, and the Holiday Inn allowed us to leave our car parked there for $10 for the whole week! Really nice folks.
Flight was uneventful. Taxied to Wynn without problems. Checking in, I didn't qualify for the "high floor with panoramic view" that our friend had with her offer, though I could pay $30 extra per night for one. No thanks, I took the ordinary folks room, which turned out to be plenty high AND a corner room with two floor-to -ceiling windows, truly a panoramic view, and a lovely room at that.
This may sound weird, but my husband has to daub his eyes twice a day for 10 minutes with a very warm (almost hot) wet washcloth. Alleviates the need to put drops in every 2 hours all day long. At home he uses the microwaves it to get it very warm. The microwave alleviates the need to stand at the tap and run water forever until it is hot enough. He was kinda whining that he wouldn't have the microwave oven while in Vegas. I asked the Wynn housekeeper if they had a small microwave for medical need, she said "certainly, no problem", and delivered a nice, full size microwave on a cart to the room, no charge. Pleasantly surprised at that.
The slot tournament, held in Encore, was sort of a cattle drive, but overall pretty well done. Long lines to sign in and get your play time the day before. Each group had three rounds of play back to back in the session. Our names and machine numbers appeared in lights above the machines for each round, as well as on the machine screens. They were 2 minute rounds, a different reel game than I had seen for tournaments.
As you banged away on the button, every so often a big balloon would pop up on the screen and you had to slap it to get the big points--either 1000, 2000, 2500, or 5000. You needed to get a lot of balloons during your round for any hope of doing well, and you had just 4 seconds to slap the balloon or it would disappear and no points, so you kept one hand up ready and waiting to slap. In my group of 23 contestants, I came in 11th, 21st, and 3rd. One girl in my group came in first place twice! There were sessions all day. I didn't bother to check in the evening to see if I placed because I'm sure I didn't. There wasn't a banquet or anything, just winners posted in another area.
I found out that Wynn also has a daily slot tournament open to anyone, but this one I did is one of four this year that come with free nights. Apparently it is quite popular, because another friend of mine tried to register after I did and was told it was sold out. There are three more, one in June, one in August, and one in December. I've signed up for the December one, again for the free nights.
First night, dinner was at Society Café in Encore. I selected 3 sides for my meal. Two were good, especially a Brussels sprouts dish. I can hear you all groaning now (Brussels sprouts, ick!), but it was really good, good sauce. The so-called "grilled asparagus with hollandaise sauce", was, well, awful, and I sent it back and they took it off the bill. I know grilled asparagus and sauces very well, and this wasn't it. Right now I forget the 3rd side...I guess it was fine. Husband had a hamburger, as he has little curiosity to try different foods. Very good fries came with it, but as Westie would say, 2.5 forks up for the burger, not bad, just OK. And husband knows his burgers!
Society Café does a wonderful omelet, so we went back there for breakfast. They had rap music blaring so loud, and it finally occurred to me to ask the manager about it. She apologized, said they had turned the volume up in the Café to drown out the noise from the slot tournament which was going on just outside the Café. She promptly had the volume turned down...wish I'd spoken up sooner 'cause we were almost through eating. Of course I 'sandwiched' my complaint in between complementing the food and the server, which the server thanked me for doing.
The other notable thing was that I broke my year long curse of no jackpots in Vegas.
I had sort of gone on strike against playing VP, having such a long dry spell, and doing well on penny Quick Hit machines. So when the penny machines seemed to be turning on me, I sat down at a dollar VP machine in Encore, and in about a minute got Aces/Kicker on DDB for $2K. Amazing how that lifted my spirits for the rest of the time.
Then we moved on to Bellagio, 3 free nights, food, free play, etc. the usual. The most notable thing there was that while we were in VIP checking in, there was Dogg the Bounty Hunter (isn't his name Dwayne?) and a big guy who we guessed is his body guard. We had was no doubt it was Dogg, and at first he kidded with us "no it isn't me" when my husband said something, then he said "yeah, it's me", and we walked out of VIP together, and he was really friendly.
Husband asked Dogg "Where is Beth?". He said "Oh, you know she's spending my money someplace." We saw Dogg and Beth in passing several other times, both looked really good. I don't know whether it is because TV adds pounds, or maybe they've dieted, but they looked like they'd lost weight. Not skinny, just not as hefty as they look on the show.
Oh, and please note that Bellagio did NOT have a microwave oven to loan us. The lady said "we can bring you some hot water." No thanks. Bellagio's bathroom water gets really hot, so that worked.
One other good happening was a small jackpot at Caesars. Went over to try to get some of those doubled tier points. Managed to get 1000 which turned into 2000, but I'm still a long way from Diamond, may not earn it this year.
Anyway, friend and I played some penny Quick Hits, and again they are turning south on me, so I went to one of my old standby 3/5 play VP machines in the "garage" area where I have won before. I was dealt three 2s on 5 play DDB, and managed to capture the fourth 2 on one hand and the 2 with a kicker on the other, total $1240 (they count all hands together when it adds up to $1200 or more). So that was another pick me up, spirit wise. Not a mortgage burner, but pleasing.
A new (to me) penny machine I played for hours at Caesars was Double Bubbles. These cute little guys strum ukuleles, and little guys (or gals?) with coconut bras and grass skirts play and sing the Hawaiian song. When "double" appears on a grass skirt it ups the payoff; more doubles, more money. You can play 1, 2 or 3 games, and sometimes volcanos appear and spew a big "bubble" over the games. When three bubbles settle over any one of the games it pays off really good, and my machine was good to me for a long time...until it quit, of course. I even played it at the airport going home! I know this description makes no sense, but if you are looking for something different to play, try Double Bubbles. Very cute.
I had a CET "Celebration Dinner" coupon that would expire March 31st. We had so many other food comps, looked like the coupon would go unused. Friend with us thought to use it to buy items at Payyard, so I got $100 worth of chocolate goodies that I will use as gifts. Glad it didn't go to waste. Now will have another one from making Diamond last year. It may be the last one if I don't put the peddle to the metal at Caesars.
I guess that's it. Slot tourney, 2 jackpots, (though still Royal deficient), celebrity sighting (Dogg and Beth), and a new game, Double Bubbles.
Thanks for reading!
I'm not one to recall every gambling session, and have been in a dry spell for jackpots; no unique meals to report about; but I'll tell a couple of good things from our trip Feb 23-28.
Wynn has been snubbing me for a while, so when I got an e-mail offer for 2 free nights with a slot tournament, I went for it. Husband, friend and I went together, non-stop flights both ways which is always good. We had snow and ice predicted for the afternoon before and morning of the flight, so we bunked in at the Holiday Inn by our airport, got shuttled over to the airport morning of the flight, and the Holiday Inn allowed us to leave our car parked there for $10 for the whole week! Really nice folks.
Flight was uneventful. Taxied to Wynn without problems. Checking in, I didn't qualify for the "high floor with panoramic view" that our friend had with her offer, though I could pay $30 extra per night for one. No thanks, I took the ordinary folks room, which turned out to be plenty high AND a corner room with two floor-to -ceiling windows, truly a panoramic view, and a lovely room at that.
This may sound weird, but my husband has to daub his eyes twice a day for 10 minutes with a very warm (almost hot) wet washcloth. Alleviates the need to put drops in every 2 hours all day long. At home he uses the microwaves it to get it very warm. The microwave alleviates the need to stand at the tap and run water forever until it is hot enough. He was kinda whining that he wouldn't have the microwave oven while in Vegas. I asked the Wynn housekeeper if they had a small microwave for medical need, she said "certainly, no problem", and delivered a nice, full size microwave on a cart to the room, no charge. Pleasantly surprised at that.
The slot tournament, held in Encore, was sort of a cattle drive, but overall pretty well done. Long lines to sign in and get your play time the day before. Each group had three rounds of play back to back in the session. Our names and machine numbers appeared in lights above the machines for each round, as well as on the machine screens. They were 2 minute rounds, a different reel game than I had seen for tournaments.
As you banged away on the button, every so often a big balloon would pop up on the screen and you had to slap it to get the big points--either 1000, 2000, 2500, or 5000. You needed to get a lot of balloons during your round for any hope of doing well, and you had just 4 seconds to slap the balloon or it would disappear and no points, so you kept one hand up ready and waiting to slap. In my group of 23 contestants, I came in 11th, 21st, and 3rd. One girl in my group came in first place twice! There were sessions all day. I didn't bother to check in the evening to see if I placed because I'm sure I didn't. There wasn't a banquet or anything, just winners posted in another area.
I found out that Wynn also has a daily slot tournament open to anyone, but this one I did is one of four this year that come with free nights. Apparently it is quite popular, because another friend of mine tried to register after I did and was told it was sold out. There are three more, one in June, one in August, and one in December. I've signed up for the December one, again for the free nights.
First night, dinner was at Society Café in Encore. I selected 3 sides for my meal. Two were good, especially a Brussels sprouts dish. I can hear you all groaning now (Brussels sprouts, ick!), but it was really good, good sauce. The so-called "grilled asparagus with hollandaise sauce", was, well, awful, and I sent it back and they took it off the bill. I know grilled asparagus and sauces very well, and this wasn't it. Right now I forget the 3rd side...I guess it was fine. Husband had a hamburger, as he has little curiosity to try different foods. Very good fries came with it, but as Westie would say, 2.5 forks up for the burger, not bad, just OK. And husband knows his burgers!
Society Café does a wonderful omelet, so we went back there for breakfast. They had rap music blaring so loud, and it finally occurred to me to ask the manager about it. She apologized, said they had turned the volume up in the Café to drown out the noise from the slot tournament which was going on just outside the Café. She promptly had the volume turned down...wish I'd spoken up sooner 'cause we were almost through eating. Of course I 'sandwiched' my complaint in between complementing the food and the server, which the server thanked me for doing.
The other notable thing was that I broke my year long curse of no jackpots in Vegas.
I had sort of gone on strike against playing VP, having such a long dry spell, and doing well on penny Quick Hit machines. So when the penny machines seemed to be turning on me, I sat down at a dollar VP machine in Encore, and in about a minute got Aces/Kicker on DDB for $2K. Amazing how that lifted my spirits for the rest of the time.
Then we moved on to Bellagio, 3 free nights, food, free play, etc. the usual. The most notable thing there was that while we were in VIP checking in, there was Dogg the Bounty Hunter (isn't his name Dwayne?) and a big guy who we guessed is his body guard. We had was no doubt it was Dogg, and at first he kidded with us "no it isn't me" when my husband said something, then he said "yeah, it's me", and we walked out of VIP together, and he was really friendly.
Husband asked Dogg "Where is Beth?". He said "Oh, you know she's spending my money someplace." We saw Dogg and Beth in passing several other times, both looked really good. I don't know whether it is because TV adds pounds, or maybe they've dieted, but they looked like they'd lost weight. Not skinny, just not as hefty as they look on the show.
Oh, and please note that Bellagio did NOT have a microwave oven to loan us. The lady said "we can bring you some hot water." No thanks. Bellagio's bathroom water gets really hot, so that worked.
One other good happening was a small jackpot at Caesars. Went over to try to get some of those doubled tier points. Managed to get 1000 which turned into 2000, but I'm still a long way from Diamond, may not earn it this year.
Anyway, friend and I played some penny Quick Hits, and again they are turning south on me, so I went to one of my old standby 3/5 play VP machines in the "garage" area where I have won before. I was dealt three 2s on 5 play DDB, and managed to capture the fourth 2 on one hand and the 2 with a kicker on the other, total $1240 (they count all hands together when it adds up to $1200 or more). So that was another pick me up, spirit wise. Not a mortgage burner, but pleasing.
A new (to me) penny machine I played for hours at Caesars was Double Bubbles. These cute little guys strum ukuleles, and little guys (or gals?) with coconut bras and grass skirts play and sing the Hawaiian song. When "double" appears on a grass skirt it ups the payoff; more doubles, more money. You can play 1, 2 or 3 games, and sometimes volcanos appear and spew a big "bubble" over the games. When three bubbles settle over any one of the games it pays off really good, and my machine was good to me for a long time...until it quit, of course. I even played it at the airport going home! I know this description makes no sense, but if you are looking for something different to play, try Double Bubbles. Very cute.
I had a CET "Celebration Dinner" coupon that would expire March 31st. We had so many other food comps, looked like the coupon would go unused. Friend with us thought to use it to buy items at Payyard, so I got $100 worth of chocolate goodies that I will use as gifts. Glad it didn't go to waste. Now will have another one from making Diamond last year. It may be the last one if I don't put the peddle to the metal at Caesars.
I guess that's it. Slot tourney, 2 jackpots, (though still Royal deficient), celebrity sighting (Dogg and Beth), and a new game, Double Bubbles.
Thanks for reading!
