Not leaving the house in this 100-degree “Texas Summer” weather, so I have a lot of time on my hands making it a LONG trip report.
My best friend and I met in Las Vegas from Sunday, June 18 – Friday, June 23 for our semi-annual trip.
Uneventful, but full flight from DFW in the AM. Free flight using my AA miles. Got car rental through Costco, $225 for 5 days. Originally had a reservation I made in April for about $440, but that kept coming down. To get the best rate, I cancelled and rebooked the car several times before the flight.
At the airport I took the shuttle to the car rental. Noticed that about 80% of the advertising on the shuttle bus was for MGM. Black and gold signage was all over the top area of the bus, just above the windows. They were touting what a great place it is to go to and gamble in (Yeah, right!!) Looks like they put a small portion of all the money they’re making by eviscerating their player’s clubs into advertising.
Had a good price on 4Q rooms, got a promotion, paid for 3 nights, with 2 nights free. Also got the “Club 55” discount on the 3 nights as well. Got the 4Q “Fun Book” on check-in. Had BOGO at Binion’s coffee Shop, Magnolia Coffee shop, Whiskey Liquor Up at Binion’s and promotions for some other places…great deal.
4Q takes good care of us, got our “usual”, quiet, 14th story room, far away from Fremont Experience. They even list the specific room we have stayed in previously on the reservation request…excellent customer service. Room cleaning was optional, need 24 hours’ notice. Didn’t use room service but did trade out our towels a couple of times
Made the usual “pilgrimage” to Chicago Pizza at 4Q. A pitcher of Ramblin’ Reck and large “Miracle Mile” meat thin crust pizza in 100-degree weather, was perfect.
Played a lot of VP at 4Q, maybe 3-4 hours a day. It looked like they added more 9/6 machines than when we were there in December. I counted 3 in the area by the cashier and found at least one more in another area of the casino. The pay tables on a couple of these machines were unusual (at least to me) in that the $.25 and $.50 denominations paid 9/6, while $1.00 was lower, at 8/5…don’t understand that. Obviously, I only played at $.50 level, which had the better payouts.
I once again subscribed to Vegasadvantage.com and had an up-to-date listing of the casinos that had the games we liked, with table limits. This always saves us a lot of time by leading us to casinos that we can play the games we like, without costing $15-$25 a hand.
We went to the Downtown Grand specifically because of the LVA coupons and Vegasadvantage.com information. We don’t usually go there but it was positively worth the trip. Wound up spending much more time there than I had planned and it might be my second favorite casino now. Low table limits, friendly dealers, nice assortment of games, etc. Played a lot of Ultimate Texas Hold’ Em. Broke even after about 3 hours
I HAD to have the $2.00 Nathans hot dog and beer at the DG cart. This cart is probably the BEST value in Las Vegas. As Anthony said in one of his recent posts, DG is one of the few casinos who still appreciate the “average” player. We will be back in December.
Stopped at the Golden Nugget, and left after about 15 minutes. Some of the worst VP odds I’ve seen downtown. Tables were full on a weekday afternoon.
Our 4Q promotional flyer for June/July was personalized with a total of $100 in comps at Whiskey Licker Up at Binion’s. Comps had a fast expiration date, so we used it this trip.
Interesting story at Binion’s. Had a “failure to communicate” / language issue. Walked into the Binion’s casino and asked a dealer, who was at an empty table, where “Wiskey Liquor Up Restaurant” was. (It’s THEIR restaurant). English was a second language to the first dealer, and she said I could “Get liquor at any of the bars”. Repeated myself clearly, and got the same answer. Went to a second dealer, next to her, and got essentially the same answer. Once again, English was a second language to her as well. Neither of them apparently was aware of their own restaurant, didn’t listen, or simply didn’t understand me. Binion’s should consider doing a more training for new employees, or improve screening…
The pit boss heard the conversations and understood what was happening. He smiled, came over, and took the time to literally walk us up to the restaurant. It was about 5 minutes, other end of the casino, up some stairs, through a few corridors, not easy to find from inside. Really appreciated his personal attention.
The food at Wiskey Liquor Up is excellent and portions are ENORMOUS. Not realizing the size, we made the mistake of ordering both the Wagon Train appetizer for two, a “Drunken” hamburger and Shrimp Po Boy. Waaaay too much food!!!, the appetizer alone almost would have been almost enough for a meal for two. Could have fed three or four people with what we ordered. Burger must have been close to a pound, thick strips of bacon, fried onion strips…perfectly cooked. Shrimp was also plentiful and exceptional. Bill was $80 and used the $100 in credits.
Took advantage of the free picture with the Binion’s Million Dollar display. Fast and easy. You take the picture yourself. using a computer screen with step-by-step instructions. Within 10 minutes they sent a PDF to my e-mail address. Again, a nice touch by Binion’s. 4Q/Binion’s continues to impress me (most of the time).
Used the LVA downloadable coupon for the South Point Casino breakfast buffet. Must again agree with LVA, best buffet value in Las Vegas. A few good surprises are mixed into the breakfast food selection. The Italian section was awesome. The Italian sausage was particularly tasty, lots of fennel, coarse grind – perfect. Gelato was superb! Went back twice.
Played Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em at South Point for about 3 hours after breakfast. Friendly dealers, reasonable limits, and nice assortment of table games. Overall, it was a winning session. In my opinion SP is also one of the few remaining “good” casinos. Be interesting to see if we start to get some mailers from them.
Made the mistake of going to Ellis Island. Didn’t realize how bad the road construction is. Been coming to LV since the 80’s and never saw it this bad. BOTH Harmon and Koval were a disaster! Koval, in front of Ellis Island, was particularly a mess. Construction was most likely because of the upcoming formula race. A road section that would normally have taken 5-6 minutes, took 25 minutes (NO exaggeration)
Only two lanes on Koval were “open” and even one of those was being closed intermittently as large construction equipment was being shuttled back and forth. I know that the race will bring people/money for a week or so, but this is construction is inconveniencing thousands of people, every day, for months. Good thing for the mayor that tourists who are stuck in traffic can’t vote.
Even with the traffic jam outside, tables were all full at Ellis Island. This was at 1:00 PM midweek. Given the high limits and poor odds on the strip, Ellis Island is a gambling oasis. Brought a mailer that I had to the Players desk and got some free play. Played VP for about an hour and lost a little. Fought the traffic and returned to the “sanity” of Fremont.
Magnolia Coffee Shop at 4Q is as good as ever. Prices have gone up, as expected, but it is still one of the best deals of any coffee shop at any casino. My guess would be that it costs about 50-60% less than a casino coffee shop on the Strip. Pays to get there early, opens at 7. By 8 or so there were 15 – 20 people in line waiting to get in, and this was on a weekday morning. Binion’s Coffee Shop also served us a nice breakfast. Like Magnolia, they serve good food with reasonable prices, but have a shorter menu.
Had a 4Q Fun Book BOGO for the Taco stand as you enter the 4Q casino. Food was adequate, wouldn’t go again, there are a lot of other, better places to eat in the area.
Flight home was cancelled because of weather at DFW. I originally booked a midnight flight back to DFW. Rebooked on a 5AM flight back. I wound up spending the night in the terminal.
The room, car, and meals cost the two of us about $800 - $400 each…PLUS gambling, of course. I lost about $300-$400. While Las Vegas is nowhere near the bargain that it used to be, it can still be relatively inexpensive, if you do your research.
Just booked our December at 4Q and caught a 25% discount on the room rate. Good way to start, but still hoping for a November/December promotional mailer!
That’s it.
