Hello all,
First thing, we made it back to Phoenix before the big dust storm hit! 
We went to Laughlin for the "Rockets over the river".
Was comped by the EW for 3 nights, VIP seating, 1 very small apple pie,
2 tickets to the Ted Nugent concert.
Also had $45 freeplay and $15 food comp coupon from the EW monthly offer.
EW has a new non-smoking area near the sports book. Enough said!
The Good:
Fireworks were great as usual. They were on Saturday and Monday
nights. All arial from the lot across from the CB.
They had some spectacular ones that we have never seen before.
Ted Nugent at 63 can still rock with the best of them. He went non stop
for 90 minutes.
At first, we were disappointed that the comp tickets put us way in the
back. After he started, we were glad to be that far back otherwise we
may have had our hearing impaired. 
The Bad:
EW and CB have decimated their vp! We played very little there, mostly
just for the freeplay.
EW Buffet still sucks even with the $15 coupon.
The Ugly:
River Palms that use to be our main stay looks like the Titanic in
vertical decent.
All the vp and slots are on the top floor. Seems everything was closed
on the second floor except for the buffet.
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Did not go to Harrah's, Riverside, or Tropicana.
We usually try to keep our player cards active though.
Golden Nugget - If you want to play the DDJ 100.35%, look careful at the
paytables as they are intermixed with low pay versions.
Pioneer has been remodeled with machine layout since our last visit.
Aquarius - This made be our new Laughlin home if they give us room
comps. We just signed up for player cards for the first time.
Had the Sunday brunch buffet that was pretty good.
Points by machine varies, I think it's $1=1pt on slots, $2=1pt on vp,
and $4=1pt on Optimum Play vp.
They seem to be the play for 25c players. They have a bank of 10
Optimum Play machines marked with "Over 100%" signs.
Here is what they have:
100.17% DB 1-1-3-5-7-10-50-80-160-50-800
100.07% DDB 1-1-3-4-6-10-50-80-160-160-400-40-800
100.00% JOB 1-2-3-4-6-9-25-90-800
99.92% JW2 1-2-5-6-10-20-50-50-100-1000
99.80% TB+ 1-1-3-4-5-9-50-120-240-100-800 similar to WHA
99.73% DW44 1-2-3-4-4-10-16-25-200-800 these are NSUD
99.66% BP 1-2-3-4-5-8-35-35-35-50-800 all 4-Kinds pay the same
99.64% Bdlx 1-1-3-4-6-9-80-50-800
??.??% DDB+ 1-1-3-4-6-9-50-80-80-160-160-400-50-800 (this may be in error)
(Maybe someone can report back on the DDB+ paytable?)
When we got back I got emails from RP and the Aquarius with surveys
concerning our visit!
Dennis
vp-connoisseur
jackessiebabe wrote:
Hello Group!
I have not visited Laughlin in several years. But, since I
will be in the Scottsdale area the end of September, my husband
has suggested a short stay in Laughlin.
It would seem, from reviewing the information in vpFREE2, that
the Aquarius has by far the best VP offerings at this time.
Can someone who has been there recently confirm that?
Do you have an opinion about staying at The Aquarius? Or any
other suggestions about where to stay with host information if
possible.
Thanks in advance!
~Babe
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