Las Vegas Trip Report, Short Version
Accomodations. Two nights at the Paris, two nights at Wynn, two
nights at Fremont, and one night at Harrah's all comped. A lot of
moving but kinda fun to stay at different places. The Fremont was
the only one who would comp us over the weekend otherwise we would
have skipped downtown this trip. Going from the Wynn to the Fremont
was a major shock and made the Fremont seem even seedier than it is.
We liked the Paris and especially enjoyed their buffet. They now
have a Harrah'sTotal Rewards booth but still use the Connection card
for slot play. However we could `pay' for meals from our comp
account and we played enough to cover all our food. I liked that we
didn't have to "pay for the room" before we could get any food comps.
Loved Wynn, and we were able to access the four remaining full pay
VP machines most of the time. Fifty points on my new Red card got
us a trip to the buffet for two and it was great. I managed to also
get comped for a breakfast buffet the next morning. But when I
tried for another dinner buffet, they flatly refused even though
Lucky Lucy and I were both playing on my account. Said we were way
overcomped as it was. So Lucky Lucy got out her new Red card and
put 50 points on it. No problem, another trip to the buffet for two.
Downtown was a bit of a disappointment and the Fremont downgraded us
from a gold card to silver. We always stayed downtown when we first
started visiting Las Vegas several years ago and loved it. But
there seems to be a change in the people staying there. It used to
be a haven for low-roller but serious gamblers. Oh the place is
still full of little old Asian ladies feeding slot machines but
there is also a large contingent of `hooligans' who just want to get
drunk and raise hell. Or maybe it is us that have changed. Maybe
after staying at Bellagio, Venetian, and Wynn, we have come to
appreciate the finer things in life. 
The Fremont St Experience
has also gone to pot (my opinion). They spent maga-bucks to upgrade
to higher resolution but reduced the size of the screen in the
process. But the real problem is the shows suck. It is like
watching silly cartoons on a really big TV. Not worth the effort.
Harrah's is about the same as always, lukewarm, mediocre, plain
vanilla. They are renovating their buffet so they closed the
Italian place and are using it for buffet meals. We had breakfast
there once and it took longer to get in than it took for the meal.
The rest of the time we took the shuttle to Rio and enjoyed their
most excellent buffet and they have a separate entrance for
Diamond players.
Shows. We only took in one show this trip, Zumanity. I though it
sucked big time! Now we are not prudes, we knew there would be
nudity. I was expecting exotic and erotic but what we got was crude
and vulgar. The acts were not that great either. I got the
impression that if these performers were not willing to take off
their clothes they would be parking cars and waiting tables for a
living they were not that good. A big disappointment for a Cirque
show.
Gambling. Not good. We played mostly quarters or fifty cent VP but
couldn't hit the big ones. We didn't have any huge losses but we
each lost 3 to 4 hundred a day but that was for eight days
straight. So ended up dropping around $5K for the trip, by far the
worst loss for any trip to LV. The biggest win I had was a straight
flush on a dollar machine for $250 but it was mostly just feed in
the Bennies and watch them disappear.
But all in all a fun and enjoyable trip and we will be back.
Rick