This is a report on my trip that took place starting at 6/30, and ended 7/9, 2000. The trip was taken by my wife & I and also my sister Sandy. We met up with my neighbor a couple of days too.
This is going to be a little diffent, as I wasn't feel so well about 1/2 way through this trip and later on my wife got sick also, so not to bore you, I'm going to do an out line and then a good & bad about the trip in little snippettes.
We arrive at the Philly airport to find out that the Chicago leg is already delayed on AA. We board our flight to Chicago, after we are all on board we sit in the plane while they change a tire, 1 1/2 hrs later we get in line for take-off, 1 hr later we are airborne. However by the time our plane touches down in Chicago, our delayed flight was to have already taken off....OH, but no, it's now been pushed back to 11pm take-off. We dine on McDonalds for dinner, when we go back, AA has aranged bristo meals & snacks & soda's for us all atthe airport gate. Seems we now have a 12 midnight departure, We finally get boarded and take off about 1am. We finally arrive and pick up our national rental car a Old's with 184 miles on it and then are at our Flamingo Hotel at 4am in the morning. So we are tired and are starting our trip sleep deprived.
We did a lot of gambling, seen no shows, did a little sight seeing.
Did the Vacation Village spin for the airfare, we all lost, but everyone had a dollar more then they started with! LOL Played free bingo there. Then went to get our free hot dog & beer for a $10 buy in. For the second time in as many trips....no hot dogs. This is again another fine example of a bad promotion. Don't offer something and then come back with a no...sorry! Go to the darn store and get more dogs if your out of them, this is an easy fix, which managment choose not to do. We then try to use a free spin coupon for the quarters deluxe, and ask 2 change employee's that where sitting down at a machine chatting if they could help us. There exact words where, "go over to the machines and play awhile, we'll be there then" We left, doubting if we'd ever return!
In & Out Burger, this place is jumping. I've never tried this chain, and while I'm a big fan of fat burger, I must admit they also have a decent product for the price. I mention price because they are about 1/2 the cost of fat burger. I beleive fatburger uses fresher ingredients, and you can't beat the milk shakes at Fatburger, but I must admit the fries at In & Out are more to my liking.
Silverton; Nice experiance here. Where given temporary slot cards by the change girl, about 2 min. later when I incerted my card, it had already been prossessed to read my name...pretty cool & quick. Fast cocktail service, 9 out of a possible 10
Orleans; We'd stopped in here a lot over the course of our trip, I scored a mild win of $400 on BJ and my wife had a couple of hot runs on the triple play machines (all nickel) We also had one buffet this trip and that was at the orleans. I hated it!
Boulder Station; I like this place, can't seem to really win too much here, but the dealers smile, and talk, just generaly kind people inside, both gamblers & the hired help.
Glod Coast; We were looking for Dirty Ricky, but we never found him. We must have checked atleast 5 differnt days looking too. Ricky, soory we missed you, but there is always September! <S> The GC seems to have some of the strangest customers inside the place at 3am. The Gold Coast is a gold mine of people to watch!
The mediterrean Room at the GC was wonderful. I recomend it to anyone looking for a good meal, but doesn't want to pay fancy prices. No table cloths, but the service was excelent and very attentive. This one we will do again on another trip.
FlamingO garden bar; the only place I gambled inside the flamingo. It's so nice to be at that bar. It's become like a locale friendly bar for us. There always seems to be people we know from past trips there. This trip was no exception. Joe C. If your reading this, I must agree with you, those machines at the bar,s*ck! LOL But it's the bartenders we come to see. Tom & Lynn, are two of the best guys working at he Hilton.
Best I could do here was A's twice here.
PF Changs: always a favorite, we weren't disapointed.
Arizona charlies east: Gail S, my players card was waiting for me atthe booth, just like you said it would be. I like the feel of this place also. Hope they make out alright here. I enjoy the BJ here, but Beverly, Sandy & my wife, think the casino is too small, and has too much VP multi denom games for their liking.
Palm; Again, a can't miss tradition with us now in Las Vegas. It was great, service was great, till the end, check was very slow in coming to the table, when I have 3 other people that want to gamble at the table with me! LOL
Caesars; Pia Gow Tables where way up in min bets. So I stuck to VP here. which is sad, because I couldn't find any full pay nothing, and settled for a dueces Wild machine, and held my own for a couple of hours.
Santa Fe, Morgue would be the best discription of the place now. No one seems to care that works there. I heard they where all notified that they will loose there jobs when Stations takes over, but they are welcome to re-apply for there jobs! I guess that would put a damper on morale.
Fiesta; Seen the pipe organ in operation. Played BJ, lost badly
Texas Station; singlr deck BJ, decent penatration into the deck, $10 min bet. I played a couple hours, had a nice time. Wife lost her butt on the VP machines, Sandy took a beating on the slots.
Main Street Station; They have a new promotion, where if you get 15 blackjacks and get your card stamped within 24hrs for those 15 BJ's you get a free polo shirt. Mine only cost me $400. Ate at the Brew pub a couple of times, and the Black Chip porter is still my favorite beer when in Las Vegas. The Valet guys remember my name, they didn't park the car in the lot, they always kept it right up front, waiting for me. One time, they seen us standing inside the casino by the exit doors, before I could give them my ticket to get the car, they had it waiting for me. <VBG> I tip $2 which is not heavy, by my standards. But if they go above and beyond the call of duty, they get a little more.
Sue was delt a royal here on a triple play machine (nickels) for $600.
We had a very small talkvegas meet, on the 4th of July at 3pm. Supermom and us! LOL Actually, those that have met me before, know I like the smaller meets, because I get to actully talk & meet the new people. <VBG> Well, supermom can hold her own in a conversation, so we never had nothing to talk about! <S> She's a heck of a person, and has some great experiances to share with us, now, if we only could get her to post MORE!!!! She has a lot to share. Supermon, if you are reading this, how long of a wait did you have for a taxi?
Picnic at Tom's; Was invited by a friend to a picnic and stoped by for a couple of beers. Tom has a nice house and pool and had a very enjoyable time with him and his other guests. We also got a chance to meet the rest of his family, the 2 dogs and get better aquainted with his girlfriend. BTW, we think she's a heck of a girl. Told him I want to be invited to the wedding. He just laughed, but they are good togeather. we'll see, I guess.
Key Largo; OK, my new favorite dump. The machines are full pay, the people friendly & clean. I like the coffee shop, and cocktail service fast as well as machine attendents. We only stoped one time here, but Sue wants to go back again already for September.
Venetian; Seen Shac throwing the dice as mentioned on the BB in another post. I was delt the A's with a kicker on a triple play machine (nickel) for $300. I was happy. The Valet is a mess here. Each time it seems to get worse. How is the self parking, as on my next visit, I don't want to valet ever again.
Special note, the slot personel, seemed much more friendly then I've ever noticed before, and no lines at the coin booths. I wonder if someone got wise and made some corrections?
Jokers Wild; A Boyd place, that I really had a good time inside. Visited 3 times this trip, a win a loss, and a draw, but I left with a good feeling all 3 times. The dealers are very nice here. Valet excelent! Kept the car under the porch so it wouldn't get so hot inside the car for us. He understood a tip! [img]http://www.talkvegas.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img] Coffee shop was nice, food prepared the special way I asked them to do it for me. Special requests are not usually handled very well in coffee shops.
Barleys, Casino in a shopping center on Sunset Rd. Played a little BJ, walked away with a couple of hunderd, and had a nice meal in the restaurant. This place is owned by Stations.
SunSet Station; We also visited this place a lot this trip. We all had mixed results. I like the place more each visit though. I played Pia Gow Poker, BJ, VP here.
lunch in the coffee shop, nothing great, slow service. Had a kryspy Kream donut here too. It was delicious, even though it wasn't hot.
Hyatt; I posted about this under another topic, but everyone should see this place one time. It's lovely, and while it's not for everyone, it's something that should be seen an enjoyed.
Hacienda (old gold strike) This place is real nice inside. Much better then expected. Sandy was here a few years ago, and couldn't beleive how much it's been inproved. I lost my @ss in this one too. Seems I'm a sucker for pretty things. <S>
The Damn, Dam; Yes folks, there really is a Hoover dam, i seen it with my own two eyes. The lake is beautiful, the Dam itself a work of art & engineering. Had a root beer in AZ, and headed back to LV. Total time spent at the dam 20 Min.. LOL
Tropicana; we visited, nothing new here. Valet is still good, drinks still slow, machines still eat you up.
Paris; This was my downfall for behaving. Went to see Alan, but they sent him home early (slow night) and we ended up atGustov's bar with Jimmy. He's a heck of a guy, but quite a ladies man. He just can't turn it off. Anyway, we watched him flirt with every female that came up to his bar till his quiting time. All the while enjoying single malts and expencive french beer. Jimmy is one of our old favorite bartenders that came over from the Flamingo, when Paris opened. He's doing well. Valet at Paris is quick and efficent. Met Alan the following night and then went out for cocktails with a bunch of Paris employee's to the Gold Coast Karoke Bar.
California; 2nd floor bar VP was nice to me on those treasure chest machines.
Las Vegas Club; Had a couple of good BJ runs here. I played some slots here, Sue made camp at a Vp machine that treated her well. When i go to fetch her, she has made friends with her co-players. They didn't want her to leave. LOL
Golden Gate; Had a nice run here to with BJ, however, Sue felt uncomfortable at the machines and wanted to leave early, so we did.
Time to leave and we have a flight through Dallas to Philly. When I check my bags, I ask if the flight is oversold, the ticket agent says yes by 16, I ask to be put on the list of volinteers. We get to the gate and they are asking for only volinteers ending there flight in Dallas, but since I'm already into the system, I'm not denied. Our original flight was to leave at 11:45am, the 3 of us got $500 in vouchers, and the later flight at 12:30pm (45 min. later) through Chicago and arriving 9 min. earlier then the dallas flight. I'd say we did pretty good on this one! LOL They where offering $400, but they raised it to $500, to get more volenteers for the bump. Life is good! [img]http://www.talkvegas.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]
Regrets....I have a few...
1. I started to feel sick the last few days in LV. Nothing I could put my finger on, I just wasn't right. As normal, I kept pushing onward. One morning when we met with my sister at the birds in the Flamingo, my sister commented on how bad I looked. On Sundays flight home, Sue came down with it and is just now back up to speed.
1a. we missed the Lotus of Siam
1b. missed FP changs for a second visit
1c. no comedy show on saturday night as planned
2. traffic was terrible
3. when not feeling so well, I was really not into the BJ, and the VP screens would make me feel sick after staring into them for too long.
4. We never seen our host, we left a goodie bag for her with another person. She had a message for us when we got home on the answering machine.
5. Not getting to meet DirtyRicky
6. No royals for me. <s>
In closing, I had a great trip (as always) and I am still having a great time in Las vegas, Win, Lose, or Draw. I find with each visit, it is becoming harder & harder to go home. Sue & I expect to take some time from the next visit and tour a couple of the developments and possibly look into the purchase of some land. While we are in no way ready for retirement, right now, I can think of no better place to retire. <S>
We leave for Vegas in 6 weeks 5 days....but who's counting? <LOL> On our next trip, the kids (my daughter and son-in-law) will be joining us, as well as my sister. My neighbors next trip won't be till November with us.
Lee-PA
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Lee-PA
Moderator, What's New Forum
lee@talkvegas.com
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