April 2011

Wow – I haven’t been to Las Vegas since August of 2009. It’s been such a long time and I’m not sure if I remember how to write a trip report anymore! I may do this a little differently than in the past.

Transportation and Hotel
I departed on April 26 and returned April 30. American Airlines has reinstituted their early morning flights between Chicago and Las Vegas (7AM on the 26th, 6:15AM on the 30th) which makes me happy. Of course, I don’t like getting up at 4AM to catch a flight but the advantages are that the flights are rarely delayed, I get to my destinations early, and my upgrades usually come through. Everything went according to my wishes and I was a happy camper.

I didn’t get a car on this trip. I traveled solo and my intentions were to gamble, relax, explore the new hotels, eat a lot, and see some shows. I had no desire to go off-Strip.

I was back at NYNY this time. Since the MGM properties started their new M Life program, I had been getting a lot of offers from many of their properties but NYNY made me the best offer of all. Four comped nights in a Jacuzzi suite and $500 in free play. Plus I received a personal phone call from my casino host of many, many years and that was a nice added-touch. I really enjoyed my room and made a lot of use of that Jacuzzi.

The downside is that NYNY is rapidly becoming a casino that isn’t really catering to Video Poker players anymore. They’ve taken out most of their Triple Play machines and the only ones that exist are in their High Limit area at $1 or higher denomination, which is fine, but there are exactly TWO All-Star Poker machines (which I like because it offers the Super Times Pay game) and only 4 others which are regular Triple Play machines. Sometimes I like a change of scenery and but there were no other places to play TP VP in the casino. All of my other favorite machines are gone.

I spoke with my casino host about this and she said that management feels they don’t make enough money off of VP machines and that’s why they’re gradually disappearing in favor of more video slots. That’s too bad because I’ve always enjoyed this casino, they’ve always treated me well, and I’ve been very, very lucky there (more on that later). At this point, I’m not sure if I should give up on NYNY altogether.

Gambling
Lots of good news here. The gambling gods were looking down on me with a smile, maybe because I hadn’t been in Vegas in over a year. And as I’ve said, I’ve always been lucky at NYNY.

Video Poker
I arrived at the casino around 10AM, checked my luggage because my room wasn’t ready, and found a VP machine that I’ve been very lucky on in the past (I was playing Triple Play at the $1 level the entire time). In the first 5 minutes of playing, I held an Ace and King of Diamonds and up popped the other 3 cards for the Royal Flush. I couldn’t quite believe it. Later that day, I hit Aces with the Kicker, and the machine also DEALT me 2’s with the Kicker. Later in the trip, I hit Aces with the Kicker 2 more times AND got dealt 2’s again with the kicker. This was all on the same machine. I’ve already had 2 royals on this machine in the past. I went home with 6 W2G forms (oh joy).

I should also add that all of my wins were playing regular VP and not Super Times Pay. Super Times Pay killed me and I probably would have made a lot more money on this trip had I stayed away from STP!

Slots
As a diversion from VP, I played some slots and found a few I fell in love with. They have a 2nd Generation “Wizard of Oz” slot called “Ruby Slippers” which I became instantly hooked on. It’s a lot of fun and the sound on these machines is incredible. There’s surround sound and the speakers are equipped with bass woofers in the seats that are so loud they make the seats vibrate when you hit a jackpot. The bonus feature with the Wicked Witch is a hoot and there’s an instant bonus with Dorothy’s ruby slippers that occurs at random (similar to the Glinda bonus on the original Wizard machines). At one point, Dorothy’s slippers awarded me with a bonus of over $1,000.

There’s also another Wizard of Oz “Community Play” game which is 3-reel spinners. As you play, random bonus rounds show up and everyone playing gets into the bonus round. The Wizard appears and gives everyone 7 free spins and all sorts of extras are thrown in. Again, the sounds on this game are incredible and it’s a lot of fun. One day, I was playing with a very fun couple and we were winning like crazy. The woman next to me won over $1,000 and she was only betting 80 cents per spin. I was betting $2 per spin and ended up winning about $500.

I also played Sex and the City which is fun and I made a few bucks at it. Less fun was Lord of the Rings which was somewhat dull by comparison to the other games.

Table Games
As usual, I did pretty good at Craps but I never seem to win at Blackjack. It seems like everything I win at Craps I give back at BJ. I can’t figure that out. I know basic strategy at blackjack and practice on my computer all the time. I do pretty good on my computer but for real money, I never seem to win. I can’t tell you how many times I’m sitting there with a 19 or 20, and the dealer is showing a 6 and then draws to a 20 or 21. Arrggghh!!

Shows
Viva Elvis – I enjoyed this much more than I expected. I had read and heard not-so-great things about it when it first opened but I suspect it’s been changed since then. Colonel Tom Parker’s part has been cut way down and wasn’t a distraction as I first heard. I thought the live band was excellent. Some of the numbers were spectacular. The ones that stand out are “Return to Sender” which featured some impressive marching/dancing as Elvis was going off to war, “Jail House Rock” with people in prison outfits dancing and spinning all over the place, “Bossanova” which had some nifty dancing and video clips of Elvis, and an impressive trampoline sequence with guys dressed as super heroes to a song I can’t quite remember (“Gotta Lotta Living to Do?). I enjoyed some of the slower numbers as well, with the female soloists singing their hearts out. The only part that was strange was a song with 4 women dancing with stripper poles. It sort of seemed out of place and it made me a little uncomfortable, since there were 4 kids sitting in front of me.

Love – I did the backstage tour that JMT recommended. I thoroughly enjoyed this. It was fascinating seeing behind the scenes and I learned a lot of things I didn’t know plus got a lot of my questions answered. The woman who gave the tour liked me as I asked a lot of questions and kept the conversation going. The other people on the tour were very quiet and seemed almost bored. Seeing the show that night was my 3rd viewing of the show. I’ve seen it twice before – once from the front, the other time about halfway up the theater. This time I was in the 3rd row and to be honest, I think the show is better seen from farther back. There is so much going on that you can’t see everything from the 3rd row. Still, I loved the show all over again and it was interesting to see some of the costumes and performers we saw during the tour. I’d really like to take the “O” tour the next time I’m in town.

Meals
I didn’t hold back on eating on this trip:

CraftSteak (MGM Grand) – I swear by this place. I sit at the bar and Alexis the bartender always remembers me. I can’t believe she can remember my name after all this time. I feasted on their excellent filet mignon and fries. Absolutely delicious. (Also, I watched my Chicago Bulls win but my Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres both go down the tubes!)

Seablue (MGM Grand) – Another favorite of mine. Although very pricey, I had a grilled octopus for an appetizer (so rare to see on a menu and something I LOVE) and Chilean Sea Bass for my entrée. One thing I forgot about is that they give you this delicious warm bread (sort of like Indian Pan bread) and 3 spreads to put on it. Everything was excellent.

Nine Fine Irishmen (NYNY) – Had a Shepherd’s pie for lunch which was great.

Gonzalez y Gonzalez (NYNY) – Beef enchilada’s which are A+. Margarita’s are great too.

Burger Bar at NYNY – Only opened a few weeks ago. A decent thick burger. Fries were good too.

Jaleo (Cosmopolitan) – I had to try something new on this trip so this was my choice after exploring all the new restaurants at Aria and Cosmopolitan. It’s a Spanish Tapas place which probably wasn’t a good place to dine alone but I liked what I had – seafood Paella and grilled shrimp.

RM Seafood (Mandalay Place) – They took my favorite thing off the menu (grilled shrimp on risotto). What a bummer. So I had to “settle” for pulled-pork mac & cheese. Delicious!

Todd English’s PUB (Aria) – Very cool bar with a lot of Comfort Food choices. I settled on grilled ham and cheese which I loved. The fries, however, were just okay. The place was mobbed and the service was a bit slow but I’d probably go back sometime.

Hash House a Go Go (Imperial Palace) – nice to have this place on the Strip, instead of having to drive to Rainbow and Sahara. Had my favorite brown sugar and banana pancake. Only ate half of it. Burrrp!

Krispy Kreme – Of course, I had to have my Krispy Kremes!

As I said, I didn’t skimp on food on this trip. I probably put on 900 pounds.

Exploring New Hotels
Aria – I’m not that impressed with this place. I found the casino dark and hard to navigate. There are some real bottlenecks in here. The VP paybacks were not favorable – 7/5 on quarter DDB Triple Play, 8/5 on dollars. Most machines have fixed seats which are too close to the machines and aren’t comfortable. Most of the restaurants didn’t entice me, except PUB mentioned above, and Michael Mina’s American Fish restaurant which I might try sometime in the future. I did like, however, the water features outside at the main entrance.

Crystals Shopping Center – Architecturally nice but dead. Lots of expensive shops with no customers. I liked the water-spin-thingys on the ground floor but that’s about it. I couldn’t believe the unfortunately-named bookstore “Assouline.” Where would they come up with a name like THAT??!!?? I like bookstores but this place had nothing but a lot of expensive photography books that didn’t interest me and not much else.

Cosmopolitan – an impressive casino with some decent gaming choices. Employees seemed friendly. I was interested in some of the restaurants and tried Jaleo mentioned above. Their French Bistro looks good as does their steakhouse. I eventually found the “hidden” pizza place with the record album covers which were really interesting to look at. I didn’t try the pizza but it looked good.

Summary – all in all, a good trip. It was great to be back. The weather was glorious – so nice to see the sun after an entire month of cold and rain in April in Chicago. I came home almost 9K richer – not quite up to the levels Lee has been winning at lately but still pretty good. I can’t wait to go back – maybe this summer!

That's cool Mike. I'm glad that you made it back to Las Vegas and that you had a good time.

It's interesting that NYNY has changed so much, yet your luck there is still pretty good. Have you thought about staying somewhere else or did you suggest to your host that you might be looking elsewhere?

When you had the filet at CraftSteak, did you have it plain, with a sauce or oscar style? Just curious, because I like my steaks plain, so I usually go with a steak with a higher fat content for flavor.

Jaleo has really caught my eye at the Cosmopolitan. I guess it wasn't really the highlight of your trip?

I'm glad that you enjoyed the backstage Love tour. I had a blast and wish they could take it even deeper. The O tour is on my ever growing to do list. I agree that row 3 is too close, but like most Cirque shows, there is a new perspective everywhere you sit. Also, being very close is significant after the tour since there are so many details that you want to watch for. Did your tour guide mention possible tours at KA or Mystere?

Thanks for the trip report. You've also boosted my to do list for Craftsteak and Viva Elvis (which I haven't seen since the first day of preview shows).

Congrats on your wins!

It's amazing how lucky I've been at NYNY. I didn't really tell my host I was thinking of staying elsewhere but I might return to Bellagio or The Hotel the next time. We'll see.

The filet mignon at CraftSteak comes with a red wine sauce but I think you can order it anyway you like. I think it's the best ever!

Jaleo was good but I don't think it was good for a single diner. Spanish Tapas food is meant to be shared.

The "Love" tour guide told me they were thinking of tours for both KA and Mystere and that most likely, Mystere would be next. She said there might not be much to see with KA because those 2 big stages are the main part of the show and they wouldn't move them during the tour.

She said she thought the "O" tour was a little better than the "Love" tour because it's a little longer and there's more to see.

One thing I forgot to mention was that while we were sitting in the Love theater, there were guys practicing riding this giant tricycle and later they were rehearsing the "Something" number. It looked like one of the girls on the swings was new and they were practicing her part.

WOW! I haven't had time to sign on for a long time, and it's really nice to come here and see a Mike TR .. glad you were able to make it back!

You can still write trip reports<g>, but I think it you should have titled it "Finding a Royal" ... congrats on all that paperwork! Your food choices sound wonderful as usual, but I'm proud that I didn't drool this time .. well, maybe about that pancake at HHAGG<g>. LOL, I stayed at IP on my last trip but didn't eat there because I knew I would think about eating the whole thing.

Thanks for the TR ... nice to see you here!

Great report, made better by all the wins and great food!
I am also getting killed on the super times pay machines lately! so I am loosing the love of those machines!
I hated your food portion of your trip report! You hit a lot of great places and it's one of the things I miss a lot. A C just doesn't compare, at all! What a tease! LOL
I wanted to get out there over the 4th of July, but Sharon can not get away from work. So maybe the end of August ???
Where does the time go?

Sorry it took so long for me to read this one. I'm slacking!
Great report Mike and thank you so much for taking the time to type it all up for us and share your good times!

Great trip report! Mike, can you tell me EXACTLY where that Wizard of OZ machine is? I want to go straight to it next time I'm in Vegas. Also the location of the Royals machine, please.

Vickie -

The Ruby Slippers Wizard of Oz machines are over by the Times Square Bar (where they do dueling pianos). The Community Play Wizard of Oz machines are across from the hotel guest check-in area.

The lucky VP machine is an All-Star Poker machine in the High Limits area. There are 2 of them and this is the one at the end of the row. It's a multi-denomination machines and I was playing it at the $1 level.

Good luck!!

Thanks, Mike D. I'm copying that info down, tucking it away in a safe place and taking it to LV next time I go!

Vickie - I've been unusually lucky in the NYNY casino over the years. But I've gotten increasingly unhappy with their video poker selections. I'm going to head back to LV in August but I'm not sure where I'm going to stay yet. In any event, good luck to you the next time you go!

Mike D-I've not actually gone into NYNY but I will next time I'm there, maybe in August. (Probably to see the Oz machines. I have a liking for them after winning $1100 on my first sitting on the Mississippi river boat at Natchez.) Right after 9/11, New York New York had firemen's t-shirts from all over the country hanging on the wrought iron fence around the place. It was impressive!