Your BEST memories on your FIRST trip to Sin City??

My first trip was in March of 1982 after my then husband played in a North American Seniors Hockey Tournament (which his team from Canada won) in Phoenix Arizona. The whole team then flew after the tournament to Vegas for 3 days before heading home. We stayed at Circus Circus and that was the only time I was there. The couple that arranged the whole trip were sort of prudes and ended up with a room with a round bed and mirror above it. They immediately went back to the front desk and asked to be moved. We never let them live that one down. We ended up going to a show (I can't remember where it was held) but it was "Kenny Kerr" Boylesque midnight show. It was awesome. We had a table right by the runway and Kenny would walk up and back during the show while talking etc. At one point he stopped by me and said "I bet you are wondering where I've put
IT which is exactly my thoughts. I was so glad that the theatre was dark and I'm sure my face went beet red. Over the next approximately 20 years I always went to see his midnight show. As far as Circus Circus was concerned I was disgusted because I always saw small children sitting on the floor just outside the casino waiting for their parents and it was always way past midnight. That's why I've never been back to that establishment. I don't really know how many trips I've had but quite a few for sure. I don't intend to go back until I hear tell that the bean counters have smartened up and that the machines are paying a lot better. I've got 6 good casinos within a two hour drive from home so can save a large flight cost etc.

Diane

My first trip was in '91. I always went to Reno, but a couple of buddies had moved down to work so I thought I'd try LV once. Little did I know!

My first impression came as I was taking Bell Trans to the IP. The shear size of the hotels just amazed me. I got checked into my second floor room with a balcony over the pool facing east. Lucky break. After unpacking, I ran around for a few hours playing and looking. I was hesitant to eat in a decent restaurant solo, so I tried the room service at the IP which turned out to be great. Played and drank more that night before eventually crashing.

The next day I planned to visit my friend that worked at Arizona Charlies when thjey still had a bowl. I took a cab and at one point jokingly asked the driver if it was in Nevada or Arizona. I had seen it on a nonproportional map that didn't seem far. Suprised hime out of the blue. We had a good lunch and made plans to catch up more. I borrowed his car and found my way to the Gold Coast to suprise buddy number two that ran the pro shop in the bowl. Mission accomplished, so I moved on.

The major distinction I found between Reno and Vegas was that in LV, I didn't have to play BJ 12 hours a day to fill my time. The other difference was the distance between casinos! Not the same as Reno. Excep[t for the elavators, I had no complaints about the IP. In fact I had room service one more night. A NY strip one night and prime rib the other. Both were great and $12-13 dollars before tip. I loved it. I knew before I left that Reno was a thing of the past. I was hooked. I'm not one for packages, but I'd take that one again. Room and four nights at the IP for $179! I can't stand the strip and I'd do it again.

Good Luck!
Ric at Joes

My first trip to vegas was the summer of 1981. I was 16 years old and this was an expensive trip. We lived in Hawaii at the time and this trip was two weeks long and started in Los angeles to vegas then to salt lake city, idaho, portland, etc etc then ending in los angeles fly back home to hawaii. Imagine doing a road trip with the airfare cost of a trip to hawaii for a family of four.

Got off track...sorry, we stayed at the travel lodge next door to circus-circus (one room me and sis slept on the floor) Since I was too young to gamble I ended up playing the games upstairs and watching the circus acts. I remeber walking down the strip looking for arcades to play games. I remember westward ho had a small arcade. One day I walked from circus-circus all the way down to the dunes (now the bellagio)

One funny thing was we had breakfast at the buffet at circus-circus and I was delighted to eat all the captain crunch cereal I wanted!

Went dowwntown which at the time was starting to get seedy but there were no strip clubs. Got a coupon to get a free keychain with our initials on it at the golden goose casino. They also had a drawing every 30 mins where you could catch flying money in one of those plexiglass enclosures. They also had a coupon for a giant pretzel (10 flavors) and a free beer or soft drink or for the same price they had the worlds largest taco. Now the reason I know this part so well is my mother just cleaned out a drawer and found the original coupons. As for the golden goose casino...the neon and facade is still there but it is now part of the girls of glitter gultch strip club. I also remeber seeing the 1 million dollars on display at biinions. At the time it was on display in a window along the street. One thing that perplexed me was in the windows of the golden goose they has two human animatronic puppets (lion and Panther) in a similar flying money enclosure promoting all the above items. When I saw them I knew immediately that they were made by the chuck e cheese company. I kept thinking that these things are only going to appeal to kids and not the clientelle that was walking around.

The next time I made it back to vegas was august of 1990. Worked swing shift and friends picked me up at work. The idea was each would drive for about 2 hours but this was 11pm at night and an hour into the drive everyone is in a deep sleep. I find vegas and the only place I really know is circus-circus so I park in the garage and no one wants to wake up and go in. I was around 4am so I go into the casino and with no clock and no windows I play for about 3 hours. I go to the elevator to go to the garage and when the door opens it feels like the a/c on the elevator was broken as it was kind of humid and hot. When I got to the floor the doors open up and I am hot with a heat that made the inside of the elevator feel cool. I turn the corner and there are my friends sitting in the car with the doors open and they are all drenched in sweat. The rental car had power windows and I took the keys...and that stall I parked in was a direct view of the east so when the sun came up it heated up that car fast. As they are cussing me out I looked over at the old sahara and they had a sign that showed the time and temp and at 7 in the morning it read 92 degrees.

Sorry for rambling so much but these are really fond memories.

It was 1999 and deciding where to go (My wifes boss started letting us use his miles every year and has ever since,great guy.haven't paid for airfare anywhere since 98),so we pick vegas. Stayed at maxim and will nefer forget the red shag carpet on the walls in the hallways. One wall of the room was a giant litho of the strip from like 1965 or something.
_got over the intimidation of sitting down at a BJ table. Had a great dealer who taught me all the ins and outs of playing at a table.
- Walked the entire strip from flamingo north to strat and back. Remember walking from strat to CC and a drug deal happen in front of us. Distances in vegas became very deceiving.
-loooooooooooooooong drive to grand canyon.
-one of top 5 hangovers ever after playing BJ all night.
-found a slot across the street at ballys we hit every morning and paid every day. Was pocket cash for the day.
-remember being pretty impressed with fremont st.

JOHN

October 2009 on my honeymoon back then when I use to be with my wife. I was 33 years old and my sister made me use our wedding gift money from her to book a trip to Vegas. Best thing that ever happen!

1. Got ripped off by taxi cab, paid $44.00 from the airport to NYNY.
2. All the awesome neon.
3. Won $700 on the wheel of fortune slot machine by just inserting $1.
4. I couldn't wait to go back again and again!