Summer of Cal/Nev – Day 48
It’s my last day in Las Vegas for this trip. You’d guess I’d try to cram in everything I didn’t get to this trip today, but you’d be wrong. For me, it’s time to go. I am going to visit a couple things that I had to do before I left, and that was to get to the Wet ‘n Wild Las Vegas and I had promised a reader a picture of the aquarium at the Silverton.
However, first things first: I wrote out yesterday’s report and if you read that , you know that it was a particularly long one and I didn’t get out of the room with my laptop to send it in until almost 11 AM, so I was already off to a late start to the day. The Java Coffee outlet was busy today and I stuck with a coffee and a bran muffin, even though the Krispie Kreme glazed donuts were screaming my name at the counter.
I was able to get everything sent off and read some questions and comments, which I will get to in tomorrow’s report. I took the laptop back up to my room and dropped it off and headed back down to the casino to use my free play from the slot tournament. I chose the full pay Aces Bonus and put in the entire $100 free play and plan to follow the Book of David (timberwolf—not the other guy) and once the free play was used, cash out whatever was left. The first thing I discovered is that you don’t get any points when you use your free play. This was a topic of David’s and mine yesterday during our lunch at Strip Burger. Some casinos allow you to get points during free play and others do not. Even within the same company, they’re not consistent. Harrah’s Rincon doesn’t give you points, yet Harrah’s Laughlin does. ‘Tis a puzzlement.
I played out the $100 and with the help of catching quad 8s and later quad 2s. I managed to cash out $135 which more than makes up for my tournament and room charge as well as the resort fees, so it’s all good. As a little extra bonus, today happens to be Thirst Day. The slot club is giving away six packs of Pepsi for players. I grabbed my six-pack and put it in the car for later.
It was already 2PM (where does the time go?) and I drove out to the Wet ‘n Wild on Ft. Apache in West Las Vegas. You might remember that I put in the wrong information a few days ago and Siri sent me to the entire other side of town. This time, I was able to drive right to it. They wanted $5 for parking, but I managed to park just off the property on the street and walked over to the park. The admission fee is $39.95 (ouch!) per day and there is also a night time price of $24.95. Of course, all I wanted was some pictures for this report, so I went into the Group Sales office and handed the girl my Las Vegas Advisor business card and said I’d like to talk to someone who would let me take a couple of pictures inside for this report. She went into the office and brought out an assistant manager, Mike, who then took the card to the General Manager. The GM said it would be fine and told Mike to be my guide and answer any questions I might have about the park.
Mike took me to the most popular rides and gave me some information about the park. No, this Wet ‘n Wild is NOT affiliated with the one that closed a few years ago that was next to the Sahara Hotel. In the summer, they average about 3000 people per day (I estimate that with kids and group ticket discounts, that’s just over $11 million for a five month season). They completely shut down in the winter (end of September) and there are no special events during the off months.
Wet 'n Wild Las Vegas on Ft. Apache Rd
Mike, my guide through the park
Mike was very helpful and allowed me access to any of the rides for my pictures. I had him keep my card and suggested he look up this report on the Free for all Vegas side. So, if you’re reading this Mike, thanks again!
I then got back on the 215 and drove back into town with a stop at the Silverton to get a picture of the Aquarium. I also wanted to get a picture of all the Jelly Fish in the large display over the bar in the Mermaid Lounge, but there were only a couple. I have no idea what happened as there used be hundreds. Today is the last day for the pull-tab promotion, so I went over to the high limit area and played some 8/5 Bonus on the 100-play and played dimes for 10 games at a time ($5 per dealt hand). This turned out to be a horrific session. I was never dealt anything over two pair and was given seven or eight dealt dead hands (thank goodness I wasn’t playing all 50 hands). Before I could blink, I had lost the $100 profit from this morning. I did manage the 500 necessary points and went back to the pull tab. Before I selected it, I asked the boothling if the car had been picked yet, and he said yes, someone got it last night (a little suspicious to me that no one would have picked the grand prize until the second to the last day of the promotion—but I am a promotions cynic). As I was fishing around in the box of pull tabs, I told him the best prize now available to me was the “anything but a t-shirt prize.” What did I select? A t-shirt, of course. He laughed and said, it was the last day, so I could pick any of the prizes except the food coupons. My choices were an all-in-one tool, a Tupperware type container and a tote bag. I chose the tool. So, I took my $100 all-in-one-tool and called it a day.
The Silverton's Aquarium
I drove back to the Orleans and will pack my things so that I can get a very early start as tomorrow will be one of my longest drives of the trip, which is to Bishop, California by way of Barstow. I’m also writing this report tonight (Wednesday) so I can get it posted and that will be one less thing I’ll need to do tomorrow before I leave.
It’s been a great time in Las Vegas and Laughlin this trip, though I readily admit, I was here much longer than I had ever intended when I first began booking this summer’s itinerary. My time with family and friends here was wonderful and the ECLVA group was particularly a great time I’ll always remember. But now I’m looking forward to checking out some more California casinos (new places I’ve not seen before seems almost like a treat after these places I’ve seen seemingly hundreds of times). I’m also really looking forward to meeting friends in Reno, which is only a couple of days. So, there’s still much more to come.
More tomorrow.
It’s my last day in Las Vegas for this trip. You’d guess I’d try to cram in everything I didn’t get to this trip today, but you’d be wrong. For me, it’s time to go. I am going to visit a couple things that I had to do before I left, and that was to get to the Wet ‘n Wild Las Vegas and I had promised a reader a picture of the aquarium at the Silverton.
However, first things first: I wrote out yesterday’s report and if you read that , you know that it was a particularly long one and I didn’t get out of the room with my laptop to send it in until almost 11 AM, so I was already off to a late start to the day. The Java Coffee outlet was busy today and I stuck with a coffee and a bran muffin, even though the Krispie Kreme glazed donuts were screaming my name at the counter.
I was able to get everything sent off and read some questions and comments, which I will get to in tomorrow’s report. I took the laptop back up to my room and dropped it off and headed back down to the casino to use my free play from the slot tournament. I chose the full pay Aces Bonus and put in the entire $100 free play and plan to follow the Book of David (timberwolf—not the other guy) and once the free play was used, cash out whatever was left. The first thing I discovered is that you don’t get any points when you use your free play. This was a topic of David’s and mine yesterday during our lunch at Strip Burger. Some casinos allow you to get points during free play and others do not. Even within the same company, they’re not consistent. Harrah’s Rincon doesn’t give you points, yet Harrah’s Laughlin does. ‘Tis a puzzlement.
I played out the $100 and with the help of catching quad 8s and later quad 2s. I managed to cash out $135 which more than makes up for my tournament and room charge as well as the resort fees, so it’s all good. As a little extra bonus, today happens to be Thirst Day. The slot club is giving away six packs of Pepsi for players. I grabbed my six-pack and put it in the car for later.
It was already 2PM (where does the time go?) and I drove out to the Wet ‘n Wild on Ft. Apache in West Las Vegas. You might remember that I put in the wrong information a few days ago and Siri sent me to the entire other side of town. This time, I was able to drive right to it. They wanted $5 for parking, but I managed to park just off the property on the street and walked over to the park. The admission fee is $39.95 (ouch!) per day and there is also a night time price of $24.95. Of course, all I wanted was some pictures for this report, so I went into the Group Sales office and handed the girl my Las Vegas Advisor business card and said I’d like to talk to someone who would let me take a couple of pictures inside for this report. She went into the office and brought out an assistant manager, Mike, who then took the card to the General Manager. The GM said it would be fine and told Mike to be my guide and answer any questions I might have about the park.
Mike took me to the most popular rides and gave me some information about the park. No, this Wet ‘n Wild is NOT affiliated with the one that closed a few years ago that was next to the Sahara Hotel. In the summer, they average about 3000 people per day (I estimate that with kids and group ticket discounts, that’s just over $11 million for a five month season). They completely shut down in the winter (end of September) and there are no special events during the off months.
Wet 'n Wild Las Vegas on Ft. Apache Rd
Mike, my guide through the park
Mike was very helpful and allowed me access to any of the rides for my pictures. I had him keep my card and suggested he look up this report on the Free for all Vegas side. So, if you’re reading this Mike, thanks again!
I then got back on the 215 and drove back into town with a stop at the Silverton to get a picture of the Aquarium. I also wanted to get a picture of all the Jelly Fish in the large display over the bar in the Mermaid Lounge, but there were only a couple. I have no idea what happened as there used be hundreds. Today is the last day for the pull-tab promotion, so I went over to the high limit area and played some 8/5 Bonus on the 100-play and played dimes for 10 games at a time ($5 per dealt hand). This turned out to be a horrific session. I was never dealt anything over two pair and was given seven or eight dealt dead hands (thank goodness I wasn’t playing all 50 hands). Before I could blink, I had lost the $100 profit from this morning. I did manage the 500 necessary points and went back to the pull tab. Before I selected it, I asked the boothling if the car had been picked yet, and he said yes, someone got it last night (a little suspicious to me that no one would have picked the grand prize until the second to the last day of the promotion—but I am a promotions cynic). As I was fishing around in the box of pull tabs, I told him the best prize now available to me was the “anything but a t-shirt prize.” What did I select? A t-shirt, of course. He laughed and said, it was the last day, so I could pick any of the prizes except the food coupons. My choices were an all-in-one tool, a Tupperware type container and a tote bag. I chose the tool. So, I took my $100 all-in-one-tool and called it a day.
The Silverton's Aquarium
I drove back to the Orleans and will pack my things so that I can get a very early start as tomorrow will be one of my longest drives of the trip, which is to Bishop, California by way of Barstow. I’m also writing this report tonight (Wednesday) so I can get it posted and that will be one less thing I’ll need to do tomorrow before I leave.
It’s been a great time in Las Vegas and Laughlin this trip, though I readily admit, I was here much longer than I had ever intended when I first began booking this summer’s itinerary. My time with family and friends here was wonderful and the ECLVA group was particularly a great time I’ll always remember. But now I’m looking forward to checking out some more California casinos (new places I’ve not seen before seems almost like a treat after these places I’ve seen seemingly hundreds of times). I’m also really looking forward to meeting friends in Reno, which is only a couple of days. So, there’s still much more to come.
More tomorrow.
