Been a bit since I’ve done a trip report. We went from frequent visitors to a gap of over five years. Last scheduled trip, with our first stay at The Cal, ended up going down the tubes along with pretty much everything else during the “Mask Phase” of my life. Since then, we’ve stuck closer to home with several casinos within easy driving distance here in Wisconsin. With that background, on with the show.
With what I’ll call a casino host to casino host connection, we secured a four night stay at Wynn. Just for the heck of it, wanted to stay downtown for a night before flying home for “old times sake”. Covered that with a Plaza night on the LVA coupon. We were there end of July into August. As George Jones sang, “hotter than a two dollar pistol”.
Rather than day by day, going to go with my general observations by property on the post-Covid landscape of Las Vegas today. I had mentioned in a previous post that Advantage Rental Car left us quite literally standing at the curb as they folded up tents. Fortunately Fox covered our reservation and life was good.
Once again, officially an LVA member. Had to pick up our books as I ordered late. Good thing, as I goofed something up and the staff was very patient in sorting out my mistake. Gave me a chance to browse the bargain bin and add a couple books to my library at a great price!!!
Main Street Station: Opening night, we decided to go downtown. I did know this but forgot. Buffet not open on a weeknight, so did eat at the brew pub. Coming down the escalator from the skywalk, with the full view of the gaming floor, it was shocking to see that the place was pretty much customer-free. Food was good. Server had to do pretty much everything by herself. MSS, at least on this night, was the poster child for the notion that “Vegas is Dying”.
Palms: HAD to do the seafood buffet with the BOBO coupon of course! Couldn’t get a ressie, so got there plenty early to get in line. That was fine, because we spent a couple hours at the tables; reasonable limits and 3:2.
Was told in the stand-by line that we should be able to be seated 20 minutes after the opening bell. The lady that told me that hit it right on the head almost to the second. As far as the food, the four of us were in agreement. It was $40 OK with the BOGO, but not $80 per person OK without it. First time through, I had a full lobster and a tail that were pretty cold. Second time through, I had two tails that were still warm. Best play was to cut the tails up and mix them with the lobster mac, creating lobster mac on lobster steroids.
Highlight was actually the made to order pasta that was outstanding. When we left, there literally was no line, either way; ressie or stand-by. If I would have had a working crystal ball, I think we could have stayed at the tables longer, then walked right in. My first bites were cold I think because the food comes out to be available at 3:00 and then sits there for a spell while diners are seated.
DT Grand: Was looking at a post about issues with this property. Not sure that I ever had this happen before, but it happened here twice. We were in line at the players club, got to the front, and was told by the boothling that she had to go help with a hot seat drawing. So there we stood. A few days later, walked up to the club and this time no one was there at all. Once again, standing at an unstaffed player’s desk. Security guy walked by and said she was helping with a hand-pay. Line getting longer and someone asked at the cashier. She was told there that they were at lunch and would be back in about 45 minutes! Freedom Beat closed. Was thinking about staying there as we get back into the normal Vegas cycle. WAS.
Resorts World: The heat kept us from strolling the strip like we usually do, but did want to take a peek inside here. Looking down from an upper level toward the casino floor, it’s kinda like the Grand Canyon. A great big open gap with not a lot of living things to be seen. Junior’s was hopping that Sunday morning, but that was about it. And I’ve eaten at one of those in New York so that did little for me!
I did find it a little odd that the self-park garage is not attached at all to the resort itself. It’s actually a bit of a walk. Anyway, looking down from that upper floor at the barren casino landscape, I was reminded of the immortal words of Frederick Fleet, lookout on the Titanic…..”Iceberg, dead ahead!”
Plaza: I had done this before and apparently forgot what I had learned. If you’re residing in multiple hotels on the same trip, do not START with the nicest one. END with the nicest one.
Saw various YouTubers staying in rooms at the Plaza and their bathrooms did NOT look like our bathroom. Still had the old tub, not the walk-in shower. Sink with no stopper. Control handle on the refrigerator temp control was broken and was just in place for show. Had to have the air on or die, and the unit sounded like there was a helicopter in the room.
We had to be up early to get to the airport so the train rumbling by didn’t wake us as we were up already. We laughed about that. Of course, we wouldn’t have heard the train anyway with the Huey helicopter in the room circling Khe Sanh drowning out everything else.
One thing to note. LVA coupon is 25% off the room rate. Keep in mind, that’s room rate only and does not decrease the resort fee, etc. I think it saved me $7 or something like that. In the immortal words of Forrest Gump….”That’s all I have to say about that”.
Golden Gate: That last day we spent quite a bit of time here. Played my longest BJ session there. We had a good table going and I liked our main dealer. Cocktail service was good. Walked back in later in the night and a transformation had occurred.
I know the Stevens model is blaring music and dancing boobs, but my personal opinion is that maybe that casino is not structurally conducive to that to begin with. Even the cocktail server’s attire changed to show more cleavage. Seems like leaving that one – with the close quarters and low ceilings – a little more old school would be just fine. But that’s just me. Perhaps if Credence Clearwater Revival was blaring, I’d have a different opinion.
Unfortunately what will become a core memory of the trip occurred here. I will try to paint a picture in as few words as possible. This guy was cleaning up – let’s say “south of the border”, front AND back - in a sink with his pants, etc, down around his ankles. Didn’t appear to be a street person, but maybe he was. Welcome to the Fremont Street Experience! Enough on that topic! In general, the direction the FSE is going isn’t maybe our cup of tea any longer. However, we did make an appearance on at least one livestream as I looked back and saw us!
The Wynn: Ironically, when our last Vegas trip ended up on the rocks, so did a trip we had planned to Disney World. Aside from Vegas, DW is our second most visited place, albeit a distant second. And we will be going back there as well in a few weeks! So, yes, Vegas has evolved from a cost perspective, but Vegas may even take a backseat to Walt when it comes to squeezing one’s wallet dry.
That said… 25th floor, strip view. Property met my expectations in terms of service and accommodations, and those were set pretty high as we have stayed at the “neighbors” before; Encore and Palazzo. By contrast, the bar was MUCH lower at the Plaza and they flunked.
Ate at Sinatra, the little café and Charlie’s at the sports book. I’m not into the high limits at the tables, particularly at 6:5, but I can relax at the machines for a while even though I know they’re not exactly the greatest gamble in the world. Cocktail service was pretty doggone good, too!
And that place was hopping. There is the notion that “young people” are turning their collective backs on Vegas. Here, tables were busy. Bars were busy. It struck me various times that I was much closer to the walker and electric scooter crowd than to the VAST majority of partiers in there. Last minute, we decided to try and get into the buffet on a Sunday midmorning. Jammed. Vegas did not appear deceased here.
Here’s why I brought DW into the conversation earlier on. I had just read a thread on a DW forum – sometimes heated – about the definition of “value”. If you’re paying up the nose for something and understand that you’re paying up the nose for something, can you still find “value” in that experience? Premise is that value doesn’t necessarily equal dollars spent, and is a very subjective concept. And quite a bit of that depends on an individual’s ability to pay up the nose for something and not really be affected financially.
I do have some recency bias going on here because most of the Wynn stay was comped, I will admit that. But because there was such a sharp contrast between the two experiences – downtown vs Wynn - I do believe when we debate a home base for our next visit, it will probably not be downtown. Some will say…”you’re a part of the problem, you’re knowingly bending over”….and they might be correct in that. But I’m pretty sure I’m not going to run into that dude in the bathroom at the Wynn if I choose to go back there and pay out of pocket!
Thanks for reading.
