After starting (but failing to complete) a few TRs the last few years, this format seemed to work for me back in October. So here we go….
Just got back (12/18-12/22) from our second visit in a little less than two months. We’ve visited twice in a year in the past, but never this close together. My daughter gave her steady a four-night stay at Aria for his Golden Birthday (24 years old on September 24th), and she thought it might be fun to have Mom and the Old Man there to act as guides. The Old Man thought that was a WONDERFUL idea and obliged.
Travelling party included Mom (Tammy), Daughter (Carrie) and the Steady (Cody). Also meeting us for two days were some former neighbors of ours who drove in from Scottsdale.
The Digs: Well, if the daughter was going to be staying in Aria (Dad did find a deal, by the way), situating her mother in something a ways further down the hotel pecking order wasn’t going to gain me anything but four frosty evenings. With that in mind, took advantage of a promo offer at Vdara.
My usual comfort zone is downtown close to the low limit BJ tables, which, quite obviously, Vdara misses on a few levels. I half expected to hear the Beverly Hillbillies theme playing in the background as I approached the desk to check in. “Come and Listen to a Story about a Man named Twagner”…..
But they were very nice to me even though I didn’t have my hair uniquely styled and wasn’t wearing a $200 shirt.
City Center itself has been debated here several times. I can only add one man’s opinion – not necessarily right or wrong/good or bad – just an opinion.
We were 46th floor, two rooms off the elevator, over-looking the Bellagio fountain without any obstruction from the Bellagio structure itself. They call that “Lake View”. Living near the shores of Lake Michigan, not exactly my definition of a “Lake View”, but what the heck! Had the Rio off to my left, and a nice slice of the Strip to the right, with Cosmo on my extreme right. Mountains in the background. Awesome view.
Standard suites include kitchen facilities; a 2-burner stove, nuke and a small fridge. Our room had the divider that breaks the main room into two; a sitting area on one side, bed on the other, with separate TVs facing each.
The hotel itself is more understated than others on the strip. I do believe someone earlier this year described the complex as something you might see in a large urban setting (Chicago, for example), as opposed to a “Vegas Resort”. No palm trees, pirates, circus clowns or over-the-top decorations, but I still felt an upscale impression.
A few things about the room. Overall, I liked it, but didn’t quite get the green chair in the sitting room. It was REALLY green, as if someone left it there by accident. There was noticeable rippling in the carpet around the divider. I would imagine a product of poor quality material, a case of the Mondays for the carpet guys, or maybe a combination of both. I wouldn’t see it lasting very long without ripping totally in its current state.
While the view was wonderful, the windows aren’t ceiling to floor, so one needs to be standing pretty near the glass to take it all in. There was also a fairly substantial ledge running along the length of the lower window/wall intersection. It was wide enough to accommodate several large potted plants, but unless you brought a fern along that needed extra sunshine, not sure if the value was necessarily there.
The hotel has one small bar with a light menu, and one restaurant that served breakfast and lunch. A “market place” is currently under construction, and will be a welcomed addition. There is no dedicated self-parking in the Center for Vdara, meaning valet only unless you want to walk from someone else’s ramp. There is the prerequisite pool and spa, but no gaming.
Based on the location of the property, getting to and from the Strip is a bit of a hike.
Now – all of the above isn’t necessarily good or bad. It all depends on your point of view. Quite often we walked through the hustle and bustle of Bellagio to get “home”. Once there, you might find a few folks lingering around in the lobby, but all was pretty quiet. The contrast was very striking for the two neighboring hotels. In other words, for someone looking to “get away from it all” without actually being THAT far away from it all, the Vdara might be the perfect fit.
Would I stay there again? Probably not. Had little to do with the property itself - I actually liked the place – I would say it’s all about logistics. Logistics - - - and the green chair. Last year we stayed at Encore, and if I high-end it again, I would probably lean that way.
The Gaming: As noted, my normal modus operandi is a spot on the cheapest BJ table I can find, all of which were a good country mile from where I was parking my carcass at night. Walked about and hit the $5 tables that I could find. All of us played at O’Shea’s Saturday night and I even made some money. Ended up at Bill’s 3 or 4 times even though I said I wouldn’t (darn 6-5) and spent one afternoon at the Monte Carlo before they bumped the rates for the night crowd.
Took a drive to the Fremont and plopped down on my $3 table there Monday night, and hit that nice little $2 table at S-O-F Tuesday afternoon. Because I drove, that cut down GREATLY on the sauce those two sessions, but such was life for me this visit. I would say that was probably good news for the bottom line at both Fremont and Slots-of-Fun that day!
Played quite a bit over the duration and lost in the range of $220 for the four days; but that includes tips and I do tend to cocktail a bit (!!!) while playing when not faced with a drive. Thought that loss was acceptable.
Tammy, on the other hand, did VERY well. In case you hadn’t read my TR from October, she generally keeps me in the dark when it comes to the win/loss tally. She played BJ with me a lot this trip, and I did notice that her chip stack was always bigger than mine. She also hit some tasty mid-range jackpots on her slots.
She took a tally last night when we got home, and despite paying cash for several things (and financing the kids a little) she pretty much came home with all of the money she arrived with. That counts spending for the three days prior to Vegas when we were visiting her parents in Mesa, which included a visit to the new Walking Stick casino there. She maybe made $400-$500, perhaps more. Like I said, I’m once again not “in-the-know” on the outcome, but judging by her overall disposition - - I think we did just fine!
And to cap off the trip, after about a three hour session at Bill’s on our last night (she won – I didn’t) we walked to the MC food court for a late snack. On the way back through Aria at about 1AM, she wanted to play a machine quickly. I rarely play slots as my luck on them is abysmal, but decided to drop $20 into one with a lofty goal of a $10 profit.
Well – Light My Fire – if I didn’t end up winning $70.50. Offsetting my BJ loses, I ended up the day with a net profit of - - - -TA DA - - two dollars and fifty cents - - bringing my net gaming loss for the trip down to about $150.
In the end, Tammy won and I got a lot of entertainment value out my $150 investment.
The Grub: Tammy and I are pretty much driven by coupons, so the LVA MRB pretty much dictates our diet! But this time we had “Cadillac Carrie” with us, who for some reason does not share her father’s addiction to coupon dining.
We did promise her the Paris buffet as we took her there a few years back. It was Saturday, meaning I ended up hitting a long line and the brunch prices – a cost factor that I didn’t realize until I arrived at the register after waiting in the aforementioned long line. The little menu board that WOULD have announced that little bit of information to me was not working. Initial thought by me - - conspiracy.
Aside from the bubbly, not sure if I saw anything that warranted the extra $$$, so I would probably advise skipping brunch there if I were you. As noted in October, service was suspect again. I will address in my random notes later.
Took advantage of a 50% off deal at Marinelli’s at M. Nice place. Food was fine, but didn’t exactly “rock”. Tammy had a salmon special that was good, but over-priced I thought at $42. Most of the Italian fare in the mid-20s. Basic meal with a single round of drinks was about $145 for four pre-deal. And Carrie just had the appetizer pizza for her entrée.
Thought with the promotion, place might be kind of busy - - but it wasn’t.
Used the Palms coupon for Garduno’s brunch on Sunday for five of us. We had a man down at that point. Cody was suffering from a case of “morning-after-first-night-of-first-Vegas-visit-virus” that day, so I kind of thought it wise if he maybe passed on a heaping plate of Mexican food at that point. Profuse sweating when he got off the elevator was a pretty solid clue.
This brunch is another of those that is a matter of taste. While you have your standard made-to-order omelets, waffles and French toast, the bulk of this deal is Mexican food. That includes their chips and salsa bar and made to order fajitas. Then there’s the margaritas. They keep your glasses as full as you want them!
Personally, I liked it and would return, but I may have been in the minority. The fact that five of us ate for $45 dollars wasn’t exactly a minus either!
Carrie bought Cody his trip, but was going to hook him for a dining experience along the way. That came Monday – at Jean Georges Steakhouse in Aria. By contrast, Mom and Dad ate at Du-pars in the Golden Gate on a coupon. Darn spoiled kid. I wonder who’s fault that is!!
The Entertainment: We’re not big “show” people, but try and do at least something when we visit. Just showing the kids around took up a lot of time, but on the last night decided we should maybe spend a coupon (no surprise there) and go somewhere. Considering location and timing, I picked the Vinnie Favorito coupie out of the MRB, headed to the Flamingo, and spent that.
About three quarters of Vinnie’s deal is zeroing in on people in the crowd and letting them have it with both F___ing barrels blazing. They warn you about that when you buy the ticket…
“Are you offended easily?”
“Does the 'F' word bother you?”
Despite that, based on their facial responses to the material, I think there were some people in there that MAYBE should have thought about answering yes to one of the above and opted to see Louie LOL instead.
I would imagine he has a framework of material in place, and will simply apply that to the subjects available on any given night - - in other words, the white couple from Kentucky, the black guy, the guy with the big head, the older lady sitting up front, guys without dates, etc.
EVERYBODY gets roasted – which is the point – EYERYONE is treated the same, even though on the surface one could perceive the opposite. If you “get it”, you will laugh hard. If you don’t, Louie is at the Station.
There was one guy that ended up being a perfect find for Vinnie; a guy named Osama from Saudi Arabia. I kid you not. In Vinnie’s world, that had to be the Mother Lode of audience members - his own personal Royal Flush of terrorist material.
About Town: We took the kids to the Dam, but the weather was so awful it made it tough to really enjoy. Cody is interning with our DOT, so this project was sort of like a Holy Grail for him. He was trying to read a lot of the stuff on the way up to the walkway of the bridge, but the rains started to kick in hard, and that, combined with the wind, put a damper on that experience.
It was still worth the drive, but it was disappointing.
Headed to Ethel Ms to view the cactus garden one night. I’d say somewhere in the range of a third to almost half the lights were out. Here on the Tundra, we make sure we use Christmas lights outside that will take excessive amounts of moisture. My guess is, Ethel did not.
Carrie and I had our pictures taken with Santa, so we still had fun and a good laugh or two!
Lots of good deals in the Fashion Show Mall - - or at least I was told that. We almost needed to buy a suitcase to get our stuff home!
Went for a walk Sunday morning to find some soda to stock our fridge. There’s a walkway between Aria and Vdara down to the street, then along Cosmo out to the Strip. I was tickled pink to find a straight shot to the street, only to find that the sidewalk ends at the entrances to the Cosmo ramp, and you apparently aren’t supposed to walk in front of them. Sidewalk does start up again down the street aways. So I dodged a few taxis, ran the gauntlet and crossed the divide to where the sidewalk commenced. I only took this route early in the day, choosing not to risk becoming a taxi hood ornament at night.
Popped into the Cosmo for a look-see. Now this was Sunday after the opening, so even though it was maybe 9 or 10 in the morning, I expected a few people to be milling around. So did the Cosmo I think, as they had all sorts of dealers lined up. But - - there was almost literally - - nobody.
As I’m walking around, EVERYONE on staff seemed to be looking at me. I don't think it was paranoia, I actually think they WERE all looking at me for the simple reason that there was no one else in there to look at!
I thought it was sort of funny – me in my designer WalMart shirt and Old Navy jeans being the best dressed dude in the joint.
We stopped for cocktails at night, and the place was much busier, and by the way, it’s pretty cool there!
And finally, Thumbs Up & Down:
Thumbs Down: Certainly no one’s fault, but the weather, quite simply, sucked. Rain, wind, and, at best, gloom & drizzle every day. That really contributed to the Vdara/logistics situation described above. I don’t mind walking at all, but walking and drowning is less than desirable.
Fog was so thick Wednesday morning as we were getting ready to leave that I COULD NOT SEE the Rio right across the interstate. So much for departing views from the room!
If I WOULD stay at Vdara again, someone would have to guarantee me no rain - - without 100 degree temps, of course!
Thumbs Up: There was much debate here earlier this year regarding the match-play-less MRB. We used three additional coupies this trip from our book and the GG one from my brother’s loaned book.
This time I used the Palms, South Point Buffet and the Vinnie ticket. Now I know you can get 2fers other places for Vinnie, but you can’t get them any handier than having it in your pocket. The Vinnie coupie actually allowed me to buy-2, get-2. With that, it brought my savings this trip on minimal coupon use to $183. Add that to the $266 from our first trip and my combined savings on the 2010 book was $349. As noted in the October TR, that’s not counting any slot match-play results or the free stuff from Terribles.
I stated in that TR, that I could live without the MPs even though we always made money on the Coupon Run, and I still maintain that opinion. We still found a great deal of value in the book. I have no complaints at all, and have re-upped for 2011. Thanks for the efforts LVA!
Thumbs Down: I had my second straight unpleasant experience with a rental car agent. In October it was Alamo, this time Thrifty. Perhaps being a sarcastic and obnoxious jerk is now a pre-requisite to working the rental car counter.
Talking down to me, and trying to brow-beat me into buying upgrades, gas, this coverage or that, GPS units, etc isn’t exactly how I would envision that a company might train their employees to treat and hopefully retain their customers, but I guess I must be wrong.
The Alamo guy in October – the first time I said “no” – I could literally see his facial expression change, along with the tone of his voice.
And this Thrifty guy – well – he was quite simply a dick. The cops were going to pinpoint me as a tourist and pull me over and blah, blah, blah. At one point, he sarcastically says to me, “Do you plan on driving, AT ALL?” I should have said, “No JackAss, I plan on renting this car from you because of your winning personality and then letting it sit in your garage to save gas.”
I generally don’t waste my time in verbal confrontations with pricks because it’s not worth the aggravation to me, but I made my mind up that I’m not going to take that from another one of those clowns again.
By the way, I tried the “Wild Card” for the first time. I ended up with a Malibu for less than the smallest car rate. Perhaps that’s why Mr. Congeniality was so intent on squeezing more money out of me. Could have had a Grand Marquis even, but Carrie thought that would make me look too old!
Thumbs Down: I mentioned the Paris buffet that we’ve enjoyed in the past. I noted back in October that the service had slipped and wondered if it was just a “bad day”. Well, it wasn’t. We never saw the first guy that filled our champagne glasses again.
A second server was in the neighborhood at one point. Poor lady was stressed. Tammy asked how long her shift was, and she sort of took that as an opportunity to vent. She was a longtime employee and told us how the corporate culture had changed; how staff cuts had led to the situation that evolved to the service level decrease we noted. “That’s why we have that”, she said, pointing to the long line. It was clear she had pride in her job and was personally offended by the way things were turning.
We ended up, then, with our own bottle so we didn’t have to wait for Wrongway Feldman (or whoever that first guy was) to return again. Upon leaving, I gave her a hug and handed her a tip that I hope she didn’t share!
Not sure that we’ll return to the Paris buffet. My guess would be, no.
Thumbs UP: Rambled enough, but had to note that it’s quite a thing to be able to hang out with your little girl – who isn’t exactly a little girl any longer – in Vegas. She graduated from college in spring and was lucky enough to land a job at the place she was interning. I looked at this as a celebration of all that – and wasn’t even all that upset that she made me eat at places I didn’t have coupons for!
Sunday we ended up at Wolfgang Pucks in Crystals – “Why don’t you come and meet us” – she said. So there I sat - - couponless. We had pizzas, crab cakes, salad with stuff in it I couldn’t pronounce, and at least a couple rounds of drinks. Neighbors joined us for a cocktail as well. Tammy and I laughed afterward that we probably spent more in that one meal than we usually do for our entire week trips!
But we had a great time – had a good server – and got to spend time with my little girl all grown up. So I didn’t even mind paying a little extra for fancy-schmantsy pizza!
Thanks for reading!!
Just got back (12/18-12/22) from our second visit in a little less than two months. We’ve visited twice in a year in the past, but never this close together. My daughter gave her steady a four-night stay at Aria for his Golden Birthday (24 years old on September 24th), and she thought it might be fun to have Mom and the Old Man there to act as guides. The Old Man thought that was a WONDERFUL idea and obliged.
Travelling party included Mom (Tammy), Daughter (Carrie) and the Steady (Cody). Also meeting us for two days were some former neighbors of ours who drove in from Scottsdale.
The Digs: Well, if the daughter was going to be staying in Aria (Dad did find a deal, by the way), situating her mother in something a ways further down the hotel pecking order wasn’t going to gain me anything but four frosty evenings. With that in mind, took advantage of a promo offer at Vdara.
My usual comfort zone is downtown close to the low limit BJ tables, which, quite obviously, Vdara misses on a few levels. I half expected to hear the Beverly Hillbillies theme playing in the background as I approached the desk to check in. “Come and Listen to a Story about a Man named Twagner”…..
But they were very nice to me even though I didn’t have my hair uniquely styled and wasn’t wearing a $200 shirt.
City Center itself has been debated here several times. I can only add one man’s opinion – not necessarily right or wrong/good or bad – just an opinion.
We were 46th floor, two rooms off the elevator, over-looking the Bellagio fountain without any obstruction from the Bellagio structure itself. They call that “Lake View”. Living near the shores of Lake Michigan, not exactly my definition of a “Lake View”, but what the heck! Had the Rio off to my left, and a nice slice of the Strip to the right, with Cosmo on my extreme right. Mountains in the background. Awesome view.
Standard suites include kitchen facilities; a 2-burner stove, nuke and a small fridge. Our room had the divider that breaks the main room into two; a sitting area on one side, bed on the other, with separate TVs facing each.
The hotel itself is more understated than others on the strip. I do believe someone earlier this year described the complex as something you might see in a large urban setting (Chicago, for example), as opposed to a “Vegas Resort”. No palm trees, pirates, circus clowns or over-the-top decorations, but I still felt an upscale impression.
A few things about the room. Overall, I liked it, but didn’t quite get the green chair in the sitting room. It was REALLY green, as if someone left it there by accident. There was noticeable rippling in the carpet around the divider. I would imagine a product of poor quality material, a case of the Mondays for the carpet guys, or maybe a combination of both. I wouldn’t see it lasting very long without ripping totally in its current state.
While the view was wonderful, the windows aren’t ceiling to floor, so one needs to be standing pretty near the glass to take it all in. There was also a fairly substantial ledge running along the length of the lower window/wall intersection. It was wide enough to accommodate several large potted plants, but unless you brought a fern along that needed extra sunshine, not sure if the value was necessarily there.
The hotel has one small bar with a light menu, and one restaurant that served breakfast and lunch. A “market place” is currently under construction, and will be a welcomed addition. There is no dedicated self-parking in the Center for Vdara, meaning valet only unless you want to walk from someone else’s ramp. There is the prerequisite pool and spa, but no gaming.
Based on the location of the property, getting to and from the Strip is a bit of a hike.
Now – all of the above isn’t necessarily good or bad. It all depends on your point of view. Quite often we walked through the hustle and bustle of Bellagio to get “home”. Once there, you might find a few folks lingering around in the lobby, but all was pretty quiet. The contrast was very striking for the two neighboring hotels. In other words, for someone looking to “get away from it all” without actually being THAT far away from it all, the Vdara might be the perfect fit.
Would I stay there again? Probably not. Had little to do with the property itself - I actually liked the place – I would say it’s all about logistics. Logistics - - - and the green chair. Last year we stayed at Encore, and if I high-end it again, I would probably lean that way.
The Gaming: As noted, my normal modus operandi is a spot on the cheapest BJ table I can find, all of which were a good country mile from where I was parking my carcass at night. Walked about and hit the $5 tables that I could find. All of us played at O’Shea’s Saturday night and I even made some money. Ended up at Bill’s 3 or 4 times even though I said I wouldn’t (darn 6-5) and spent one afternoon at the Monte Carlo before they bumped the rates for the night crowd.
Took a drive to the Fremont and plopped down on my $3 table there Monday night, and hit that nice little $2 table at S-O-F Tuesday afternoon. Because I drove, that cut down GREATLY on the sauce those two sessions, but such was life for me this visit. I would say that was probably good news for the bottom line at both Fremont and Slots-of-Fun that day!
Played quite a bit over the duration and lost in the range of $220 for the four days; but that includes tips and I do tend to cocktail a bit (!!!) while playing when not faced with a drive. Thought that loss was acceptable.
Tammy, on the other hand, did VERY well. In case you hadn’t read my TR from October, she generally keeps me in the dark when it comes to the win/loss tally. She played BJ with me a lot this trip, and I did notice that her chip stack was always bigger than mine. She also hit some tasty mid-range jackpots on her slots.
She took a tally last night when we got home, and despite paying cash for several things (and financing the kids a little) she pretty much came home with all of the money she arrived with. That counts spending for the three days prior to Vegas when we were visiting her parents in Mesa, which included a visit to the new Walking Stick casino there. She maybe made $400-$500, perhaps more. Like I said, I’m once again not “in-the-know” on the outcome, but judging by her overall disposition - - I think we did just fine!
And to cap off the trip, after about a three hour session at Bill’s on our last night (she won – I didn’t) we walked to the MC food court for a late snack. On the way back through Aria at about 1AM, she wanted to play a machine quickly. I rarely play slots as my luck on them is abysmal, but decided to drop $20 into one with a lofty goal of a $10 profit.
Well – Light My Fire – if I didn’t end up winning $70.50. Offsetting my BJ loses, I ended up the day with a net profit of - - - -TA DA - - two dollars and fifty cents - - bringing my net gaming loss for the trip down to about $150.
In the end, Tammy won and I got a lot of entertainment value out my $150 investment.
The Grub: Tammy and I are pretty much driven by coupons, so the LVA MRB pretty much dictates our diet! But this time we had “Cadillac Carrie” with us, who for some reason does not share her father’s addiction to coupon dining.
We did promise her the Paris buffet as we took her there a few years back. It was Saturday, meaning I ended up hitting a long line and the brunch prices – a cost factor that I didn’t realize until I arrived at the register after waiting in the aforementioned long line. The little menu board that WOULD have announced that little bit of information to me was not working. Initial thought by me - - conspiracy.
Aside from the bubbly, not sure if I saw anything that warranted the extra $$$, so I would probably advise skipping brunch there if I were you. As noted in October, service was suspect again. I will address in my random notes later.
Took advantage of a 50% off deal at Marinelli’s at M. Nice place. Food was fine, but didn’t exactly “rock”. Tammy had a salmon special that was good, but over-priced I thought at $42. Most of the Italian fare in the mid-20s. Basic meal with a single round of drinks was about $145 for four pre-deal. And Carrie just had the appetizer pizza for her entrée.
Thought with the promotion, place might be kind of busy - - but it wasn’t.
Used the Palms coupon for Garduno’s brunch on Sunday for five of us. We had a man down at that point. Cody was suffering from a case of “morning-after-first-night-of-first-Vegas-visit-virus” that day, so I kind of thought it wise if he maybe passed on a heaping plate of Mexican food at that point. Profuse sweating when he got off the elevator was a pretty solid clue.
This brunch is another of those that is a matter of taste. While you have your standard made-to-order omelets, waffles and French toast, the bulk of this deal is Mexican food. That includes their chips and salsa bar and made to order fajitas. Then there’s the margaritas. They keep your glasses as full as you want them!
Personally, I liked it and would return, but I may have been in the minority. The fact that five of us ate for $45 dollars wasn’t exactly a minus either!
Carrie bought Cody his trip, but was going to hook him for a dining experience along the way. That came Monday – at Jean Georges Steakhouse in Aria. By contrast, Mom and Dad ate at Du-pars in the Golden Gate on a coupon. Darn spoiled kid. I wonder who’s fault that is!!
The Entertainment: We’re not big “show” people, but try and do at least something when we visit. Just showing the kids around took up a lot of time, but on the last night decided we should maybe spend a coupon (no surprise there) and go somewhere. Considering location and timing, I picked the Vinnie Favorito coupie out of the MRB, headed to the Flamingo, and spent that.
About three quarters of Vinnie’s deal is zeroing in on people in the crowd and letting them have it with both F___ing barrels blazing. They warn you about that when you buy the ticket…
“Are you offended easily?”
“Does the 'F' word bother you?”
Despite that, based on their facial responses to the material, I think there were some people in there that MAYBE should have thought about answering yes to one of the above and opted to see Louie LOL instead.
I would imagine he has a framework of material in place, and will simply apply that to the subjects available on any given night - - in other words, the white couple from Kentucky, the black guy, the guy with the big head, the older lady sitting up front, guys without dates, etc.
EVERYBODY gets roasted – which is the point – EYERYONE is treated the same, even though on the surface one could perceive the opposite. If you “get it”, you will laugh hard. If you don’t, Louie is at the Station.
There was one guy that ended up being a perfect find for Vinnie; a guy named Osama from Saudi Arabia. I kid you not. In Vinnie’s world, that had to be the Mother Lode of audience members - his own personal Royal Flush of terrorist material.
About Town: We took the kids to the Dam, but the weather was so awful it made it tough to really enjoy. Cody is interning with our DOT, so this project was sort of like a Holy Grail for him. He was trying to read a lot of the stuff on the way up to the walkway of the bridge, but the rains started to kick in hard, and that, combined with the wind, put a damper on that experience.
It was still worth the drive, but it was disappointing.
Headed to Ethel Ms to view the cactus garden one night. I’d say somewhere in the range of a third to almost half the lights were out. Here on the Tundra, we make sure we use Christmas lights outside that will take excessive amounts of moisture. My guess is, Ethel did not.
Carrie and I had our pictures taken with Santa, so we still had fun and a good laugh or two!
Lots of good deals in the Fashion Show Mall - - or at least I was told that. We almost needed to buy a suitcase to get our stuff home!
Went for a walk Sunday morning to find some soda to stock our fridge. There’s a walkway between Aria and Vdara down to the street, then along Cosmo out to the Strip. I was tickled pink to find a straight shot to the street, only to find that the sidewalk ends at the entrances to the Cosmo ramp, and you apparently aren’t supposed to walk in front of them. Sidewalk does start up again down the street aways. So I dodged a few taxis, ran the gauntlet and crossed the divide to where the sidewalk commenced. I only took this route early in the day, choosing not to risk becoming a taxi hood ornament at night.
Popped into the Cosmo for a look-see. Now this was Sunday after the opening, so even though it was maybe 9 or 10 in the morning, I expected a few people to be milling around. So did the Cosmo I think, as they had all sorts of dealers lined up. But - - there was almost literally - - nobody.
As I’m walking around, EVERYONE on staff seemed to be looking at me. I don't think it was paranoia, I actually think they WERE all looking at me for the simple reason that there was no one else in there to look at!
I thought it was sort of funny – me in my designer WalMart shirt and Old Navy jeans being the best dressed dude in the joint.
We stopped for cocktails at night, and the place was much busier, and by the way, it’s pretty cool there!
And finally, Thumbs Up & Down:
Thumbs Down: Certainly no one’s fault, but the weather, quite simply, sucked. Rain, wind, and, at best, gloom & drizzle every day. That really contributed to the Vdara/logistics situation described above. I don’t mind walking at all, but walking and drowning is less than desirable.
Fog was so thick Wednesday morning as we were getting ready to leave that I COULD NOT SEE the Rio right across the interstate. So much for departing views from the room!
If I WOULD stay at Vdara again, someone would have to guarantee me no rain - - without 100 degree temps, of course!
Thumbs Up: There was much debate here earlier this year regarding the match-play-less MRB. We used three additional coupies this trip from our book and the GG one from my brother’s loaned book.
This time I used the Palms, South Point Buffet and the Vinnie ticket. Now I know you can get 2fers other places for Vinnie, but you can’t get them any handier than having it in your pocket. The Vinnie coupie actually allowed me to buy-2, get-2. With that, it brought my savings this trip on minimal coupon use to $183. Add that to the $266 from our first trip and my combined savings on the 2010 book was $349. As noted in the October TR, that’s not counting any slot match-play results or the free stuff from Terribles.
I stated in that TR, that I could live without the MPs even though we always made money on the Coupon Run, and I still maintain that opinion. We still found a great deal of value in the book. I have no complaints at all, and have re-upped for 2011. Thanks for the efforts LVA!
Thumbs Down: I had my second straight unpleasant experience with a rental car agent. In October it was Alamo, this time Thrifty. Perhaps being a sarcastic and obnoxious jerk is now a pre-requisite to working the rental car counter.
Talking down to me, and trying to brow-beat me into buying upgrades, gas, this coverage or that, GPS units, etc isn’t exactly how I would envision that a company might train their employees to treat and hopefully retain their customers, but I guess I must be wrong.
The Alamo guy in October – the first time I said “no” – I could literally see his facial expression change, along with the tone of his voice.
And this Thrifty guy – well – he was quite simply a dick. The cops were going to pinpoint me as a tourist and pull me over and blah, blah, blah. At one point, he sarcastically says to me, “Do you plan on driving, AT ALL?” I should have said, “No JackAss, I plan on renting this car from you because of your winning personality and then letting it sit in your garage to save gas.”
I generally don’t waste my time in verbal confrontations with pricks because it’s not worth the aggravation to me, but I made my mind up that I’m not going to take that from another one of those clowns again.
By the way, I tried the “Wild Card” for the first time. I ended up with a Malibu for less than the smallest car rate. Perhaps that’s why Mr. Congeniality was so intent on squeezing more money out of me. Could have had a Grand Marquis even, but Carrie thought that would make me look too old!
Thumbs Down: I mentioned the Paris buffet that we’ve enjoyed in the past. I noted back in October that the service had slipped and wondered if it was just a “bad day”. Well, it wasn’t. We never saw the first guy that filled our champagne glasses again.
A second server was in the neighborhood at one point. Poor lady was stressed. Tammy asked how long her shift was, and she sort of took that as an opportunity to vent. She was a longtime employee and told us how the corporate culture had changed; how staff cuts had led to the situation that evolved to the service level decrease we noted. “That’s why we have that”, she said, pointing to the long line. It was clear she had pride in her job and was personally offended by the way things were turning.
We ended up, then, with our own bottle so we didn’t have to wait for Wrongway Feldman (or whoever that first guy was) to return again. Upon leaving, I gave her a hug and handed her a tip that I hope she didn’t share!
Not sure that we’ll return to the Paris buffet. My guess would be, no.
Thumbs UP: Rambled enough, but had to note that it’s quite a thing to be able to hang out with your little girl – who isn’t exactly a little girl any longer – in Vegas. She graduated from college in spring and was lucky enough to land a job at the place she was interning. I looked at this as a celebration of all that – and wasn’t even all that upset that she made me eat at places I didn’t have coupons for!
Sunday we ended up at Wolfgang Pucks in Crystals – “Why don’t you come and meet us” – she said. So there I sat - - couponless. We had pizzas, crab cakes, salad with stuff in it I couldn’t pronounce, and at least a couple rounds of drinks. Neighbors joined us for a cocktail as well. Tammy and I laughed afterward that we probably spent more in that one meal than we usually do for our entire week trips!
But we had a great time – had a good server – and got to spend time with my little girl all grown up. So I didn’t even mind paying a little extra for fancy-schmantsy pizza!
Thanks for reading!!
