LAS VEGAS 2008 THANKSGIVING TRIP REPORT
Trip Started: Thursday 11/27/08
Length: 8 Days
Stayed: Red Rock (one night comp'd with no resort fee), Wyndham Grand
Desert Resort (One Bedroom Suite near MGM Grand Signature on Koval)
Highlights: Getting a $1,250 Hand Pay on Loose Deuces Wild VP, Jersey
Boys, LOVE at 50% off, Satellite Radio in the Rental Car
Arrived from NH by Southwest Thanksgiving late afternoon and with a
Dollar rental car traveled to have dinner at Twin Creeks Restaurant
at the Silverton. The Twin Creeks room was very nice. We got the
special: the full-course turkey dinner for $28 PP. Had excellent
squash soup, a great salad as well as an excellent assortment of
breads. But it took four attempts to get a salt and pepper shaker
brought to the table. Next, the turkey was dry and the sausage
stuffing left a bad taste in our mouths. Additionally, we have had
better instant mashed potatoes than the starchy and tasteless mashed
potatoes served here. The green beans were good though and the meal
ended well with an excellent pumpkin-flavored cream brulee.
After dinner, went to Red Rock Resort (RR) for a one night comp'd
room (with no resort fee). I'd rate the RR rooms as nicer than Green
Valley Ranch, equal to the Venetian, and just below the Wynn. We had
a view of the enormous pool area and the Red Rock mountains. The room
was large, comparable to Venetian size. The walls were chocolate
brown vinyl wall covering. Although there were adequate lights around
the perimeter of the room, there was no lighting in the center of the
room. So with dark walls and no lights in the middle of the room,
the room was dark some may call it romantic. But if you were
unpacking at the foot of the bed in the center of the room it was
dark. So for any activities that required a reasonable amount of
light, you had to move to the perimeter of the room to accomplish it
or wait for daylight.
The bathroom, however, was as nice as any with dual sculpted sinks
and marble and mosaics -- easily on par with the bathrooms at the
Wynn. The bed came with exceptionally large and comfortable pillows.
Additionally, we got two Red Rock monogrammed bathrobes to use.
That evening I had two separate sessions at $0.25 FPDW and $0.50 and
$1.00 Loose Deuces Wild (LDW) VP. The first session I lost $300 and
the second session $100.
DAY TWO: FRIDAY
The next morning I played another couple of hours of VP and
essentially broke even. I then did a solo northwest Las Vegas coupon
run. I had a cache of matchplays (MPs) and Freeplays (FPs) from ACG,
POV, Casino Player, and other sources. So I drove to Sante Fe Station
where I managed to use two $25 matchplays (MPs) from POV. I went one
for two for a $25 profit, but lost $20 playing FPDW VP. I came back
south to Rampart Casino and won a $20 MP from ACG for a $40 profit
and then next door at Suncoast I played a Las Vegas Review Journal
(LVRJ) $20 MP coupon (good for the month of Nov.) that I lost plus
another $20 lost at FPDW VP.
From there I drove the short distance back to RR where again I played
$0.25 FPDW and then $0.50 LDW. I was up about $17 when lights started
flashing and music started playing -- and the machine shut down. I
had gotten four deuces playing LDW which unlike FPDW pays $625
instead of $250 at the $0.25 level. And I was playing at $0.50 level
which paid 2 x $625 or $1,250. The attendant came over right away and
later returned with a guy in a suit. She handed me back my license,
and he handed me a dozen Benjamin's plus a couple of Jacksons, etc.
along with a (loved and hated) W-2G.
After noon check out time we got a quick lunch at Suncoast bagel and
deli restaurant. I had a cup of matzo ball soup and half corned beef
sandwich on rye and my wife had a bowl of the same soup with a bagel.
My half sandwich was great with moist, warm, heavily-stacked lean
corn beef on very fresh and thickly-sliced rye bread. My cup of soup
was at least a pint. My wife's bowl was served in a large Styrofoam
container that appeared close to a quart or larger. The soup was
excellent and despite eating plenty, my wife took away more than half
of the container (with a cover) for future meals.
Since today was the last day of the Bellagio fall conservatory
display we headed over there and checked it out. As usual the display
was exceptional. After the tour of the conservatory we drove over to
the Atomic Test Museum a few blocks east of the strip on Flamingo. It
is part of the Smithsonian. There are many artifacts, including
various pieces of original equipment used at that time and a number
of audio-visual displays one of which additionally sprays you with a
warm breeze that you would have felt if you were actually watching
the test from an arguably safe distance. Some of the info was a bit
redundant. But for $12 at full price (or less if you can nab a
coupon) it's a worthwhile way to spend a couple of hours during the
day.
At about 4:00 PM we checked into the Wyndham Grand Desert Resort
(WGDR) (one bedroom timeshare suite behind Planet Hollywood and MGM
Signature at Harmon and Koval) staying there through the following
Thursday. We bypassed the free sh-t they were handing out if you were
willing to "tour" the facility (tour is a euphemism for a somewhat
hard-core sales presentation). This was a trade of a timeshare I have
owned in Hilton Head, SC for about 20 years, so the only cost was the
RCI trade fee. This is a nice place and the unit had a fully supplied
kitchen, living room, large hot tub, a washer/dryer in the unit, and
two TVs.
That night we had tickets to see Frank Caliendo (an impressionist) at
TI. Frank was overexposed during baseball playoffs pushing his new
TBS show Frank TV. Apparently Mystere was dark that night as the show
was held in the Mystere Theatre. Despite the annoying commercials for
his TV show on TV here he was actually exceptionally talented,
intelligent and funny. His Charles Barkley and John Madden
impressions were particularly spot on and of course his trademark
George Bush routine was hilarious.
After the show we drove to the Peppermill. I had an enormous fruit
platter that comes with a full loaf of banana bread and my wife had
oatmeal. The leftovers provided snacks for a few days.
DAY THREE SATURDAY:
In the morning I began an east of strip coupon run, hitting
Terrible's, Ellis Island, and the Hilton. Overall I broke even. At
the Hilton, however, I lost $100 at LDW VP. From there I drove to
Boulder Highway where I played MPs at Arizona Charlie's, the
Longhorn, Eastside Cannery, and Sam's Town. This run produced a $30
profit thanks to a double down on a $20 Sam's Town BJ MP (LVRJ Nov.)
that paid $60. Next, I drove over to Fiesta Henderson and used a $25
MP, but lost.
From here, I decided to drive to downtown Henderson to the Rainbow
Club Casino to play their rare 10 coin x $0.25 FPDW VP. The interior
neon lights and mirrored ceilings are cool reminiscent of the
Peppermill Restaurant and Lounge on the Strip. They also have
oversized multi-LCD screens on the walls with fantastic ever-changing
HD natural scenes of Alaska, various national parks, and other
photogenic scenes from around the country. Also this place has a
great eclectic mix of casino music with music from Frank Sinatra,
Johnny Cash, the Beatles, and Hoobastank, etc. After few hours of
play, however, I dropped $300. The casino does not have a player's
club so there are no points or comps.
About 2:00 PM I drove back to the Wyndham as we had plans to meet my
wife's friend (from New England) who coincidentally was visiting her
sons here who owned a home in Summerlin and worked in Vegas. We drove
out to Summerlin and spent the afternoon and part of the evening
there and had a home cooked meal of lasagna with her friend, her
friend's husband, and her friend's two sons. One son is a poker
dealer at Boulder Station and the other was in mortgage banking, but
decided to move into a more stable profession and will be working as
a door man at the Spearmint Rhino. He said the security check at the
Rhino was more stringent than at CitiCorp.
DAY FOUR SUNDAY
In the morning I did another solo coupon run hitting Ellis Island,
Terribles, Hard Rock, the Hilton, the Sahara, and the Goldcoast ($25
LVRJ MP). I won $10 despite a bad beat at the Hard Rock where I had a
$10 MP and was dealt a pair of 8's. So I split the 8's and was dealt
another 8. So I split that pair of 8's and was dealt yet another 8.
Anyway with four hands out there, I lost all four hands for a $40
loss.
Also, along the way I played a bit of VP at the Hilton (LDW) and the
Gold Coast (9/6 JoB).
Later, I picked up my wife and we drove to the Venetian for lunch. We
ate at the casino food court at San Gennaro that has excellent fries
and very good sandwiches and salads. For the rest of the afternoon we
played one cent and two cent, 50 hand 9/6 JoB VP at the Palms
together.
We were planning to see Bobby Slayton that night, but
. my wife
LOVES the Beatles-inspired Cirque du Soleil show LOVE. We have
already seen it twice. I reminded her at the beginning of the trip
that we have already seen it twice and that it was very expensive and
that it was not going to be on the agenda this trip. She agreed but I
could tell she was disappointed.
Earlier in the morning just for the hell of it I decided to stop by
Tix4tonite next to the Peppermill to see what they had and they had
10:00 PM LOVE show tickets at 50% OFF. So $140 tickets were $70 plus
tax. So I bought a pair, but didn't tell my wife. I kept thinking of
a way I could get her to the Mirage at about 9:00 PM without letting
on about the tickets.
I came up with this story, that I heard in the Revolution Lounge
tonight there would be a pretty good musical group there and that we
could catch Bobby Slayton another night. So she had no clue that we
were going to see LOVE. For dinner we ate at the Bahama Breeze
restaurant on Paradise. Good food at fair prices in a decent
ambience. Then we arrived at the Mirage and I had to exchange the
tix4tonite voucher for the actual tickets, so I tell my wife that we
need to pick up our Revolution Lounge tickets at the LOVE box office.
We got there and it's about 9:15 PM. Finally, I hand her her ticket
and she looks at it. It is now beginning to dawn on her that we are
going to see LOVE tonight. She was on cloud nine. As usual, the show
was excellent.
DAY FIVE MONDAY:
The next morning I decided to hit the poor side of town. I hit a few
casinos with MPs. I began at the Speedway with a measly $5 POV MP. I
had heard that a son of one of the top MGM-Mirage execs had recently
bought the place and was trying to clean it up and turn it around. I
had never been there before and wanted to check it out. It was larger
than I expected and unlike many of the other north Vegas grind joints
had very high ceilings. Anyway, I laid the MP and $5 on the table and
the dealer was puzzled. She called the pit boss who said that she
didn't think the new owner accepted the coupons since the name was
legally not the Speedway any longer, though they hadn't got around to
changing most of the signs yet. Anyway, she said she would ask the
manager. Finally he showed up and was very gracious and said the MP
was no problem. After all that, I lost. But now I can at least say I
was there. From there I moved on to the nearby wonderful (sarcasm
intended) Silver Nugget and Poker Palace where the MPs netted me $20.
I next meandered over to Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho on Rancho
Drive where I managed to lose three MPs for a loss of $60.
Somewhere in my travels I was told that Coast Casino had put out a
major coupon-laden insert in the LVRJ last Friday that would be valid
for the entire month of December. Oddly, we had the LVRJ delivered to
our room at RR on Friday, but there was no insert included in the
paper. Perhaps Station Casinos (the owner of RR) didn't want their
guests to get them and they removed them?
Anyway, I stopped by the LVRJ headquarters on W. Bonanza (just north
of the downtown) and attempted to get a few copies. I got there in
the morning and found the area where you could buy back issues. The
woman asked what issue I was interested in. I told her last Friday's.
She kinda smiled and said do you want the entire paper or just the
Coast Casino insert. I guess she'd done this drill before. I said
just the insert would be fine. She said they wouldn't be available
until at least 1:00 PM, and maybe not until 3:00 PM. So I left and
drove over to Palace Station, the Hilton, Terrible's, and the Hard
Rock where I did a few more MPs and eked out a $20 profit.
Unfortunately, while at the Hilton, I also lost a quick $100 playing
$1.00 LDW VP.
Next, I went back to the Wyndham and got my wife and we headed north
up I-15 toward the Las Vegas Speedway (this time to the racetrack not
the casino). Heavy construction was taking place on I-15 and traffic
was brutal. We finally got there about 3:00 PM. On the way we noticed
signs: "Do not pick up hitch hikers" as we drove past the Clark
County Correctional Facility. As we passed by here we both gave OJ
the one finger salute. But our real plan was to see the Shelby
manufacturing plant and Museum. We did get to see the Museum where
they have about 20 or so Shelby cars of various vintages and styles,
but there was not a lot of information explaining the significance of
each car. Additionally, although their on-line literature doesn't
explain it, the tours of the plant only take place at 10:30 AM, so we
couldn't tour the plant. Both the museum and the factory tour are
free.
On the way back south I only took I-15 part way and got off and on to
North Las Vegas Blvd. before the construction portion of I-15. I then
went back to LVRJ headquarters and after not too much hassle was able
to snag four copies of the Coast Casinos inserts (only paid for three
at a cost of $2.25) with many coupons valid for the entire month of
December.
The main attraction is the $20 - $25 MPs for Goldcoast, Suncoast,
Sam's Town, and Orleans. Additionally there are a number of point
multipliers and a few restaurant/buffet two-fers and discounts. On
the way back we stopped at the Gold Coast where I played a fresh $25
MP winning $50 and my wife played a $5 POV MP for me on roulette that
netted an additional $10 gain.
That night we had tickets for Jersey Boys: "Oh What a Night!" By
far the best of the Vegas plays we have seen. Exceptional acting,
vocals, and band. The show tells about the beginnings and ups and
downs of the group, the Four Seasons, along with great renditions of
nearly every hit song they ever had (of which there were many.) After
the show since we were at the Palazzo, we decided to have dinner at
the Grand Luxe. For some reason, I had a vegetarian platter that
contained mac and cheese, string beans, and mashed sweet potatoes.
Everything was very good.
DAY SIX TUESDAY
For something different I decided to do a MP coupon run this morning
(I now had a fresh supply of valuable MPs). I first drove over to
Sam's Town and hit a $20 MP for $40. I then drove over to Fiesta
Henderson and hit a $25 POV MP for $50 but lost $10 playing FPDW VP.
Since it wasn't far I returned to the Rainbow Club and dropped a
quick $100 on $0.50 FPDW VP. From there I picked up my wife at the
Wyndham for lunch and we went to In-N-Out Burger on Tropicana and
then went to the Orleans (nearly next door) where we each played a
LVRJ $25 MP. I played BJ and doubled down on an 11 and lost $50 and
she played roulette on red, and black came up for another $25 loss.
From there we went to the Palms and I played a $10 POV MP with
another loss for $10 plus another $60 loss on FPDW VP.
That evening I had free tickets from Goldstar for "Mesmerized" at
Planet Hollywood. The show is essentially a stage hypnosis comedy
show. Other than it took a while to get the participants put under,
it was a pretty entertaining show overall. Since we hadn't eaten
since lunch, after the show about midnight we headed over to the
Palm's 24/7 Coffee Shop. I had eggs and bacon with home fries and
toast. Everything was great. My wife had a nacho dish that was the
size of half a watermelon. She enjoyed hers and took much of it to
go. I used a POV 50% off coupon and we paid the remainder with points
we had accumulated.
DAY SEVEN WEDNESDAY
Having been up as much as $850 early in the trip I had lost about
$650 of it and was now up only about $200. But armed with some $20
and $25 MPs and a 5X points coupon, I was optimistic. It seemed like
a good morning to take a ride out to Summerlin. I first stopped at
Suncoast and got a coffee and an excellent bagel at their bagel shop
and then played a $20 MP (LVRJ) and was up $40. I then gave them a 5
x points coupon (LVRJ) and spent a significant amount of time playing
$0.25 FPDW and $0.50 LDW but unfortunately lost $200. Next door at
the Rampart Casino with a $20 ACG MP I played red, but black came up.
So now for the trip overall I was only up $20.
Expecting my luck to turn I had one last Fiesta Rancho $25 POV MP
which I won at roulette, and was now back up $70 for the trip
Tonight we had plans to see Bobby Slayton at Hooters. They had a deal
for signing up for their player's club where you could two free show
tickets plus a $20 MP plus some other stuff. So I went back to the
strip area where I scored the two tickets for tonight's Slayton show
and a $20 MP. (Note: the show is not entirely free as you must buy an
$8.00 drink with each ticket). I played the $20 MP on odd and even
came up.
I drove around the corner to the Wyndham and picked up my wife and we
decided to have a large lunch at Maggiano's. I had a $10 off email
coupon and a $25 gift certificate. I had the lasagna, which was
excellent and my wife had gnocchi, (even the smaller lunch portions
yielded leftovers).
I had heard of a new museum called the Erotic Heritage Museum and
convinced my wife to take a look at it with me. But when we got
there, it was in a very seedy area of Industrial Drive surrounded by
porn shops and strip clubs and didn't look "Smithsonian-like". So we
passed.
Later, we headed downtown where outside on Fremont Street they were
featuring some famous and semi-famous country bands. We got there
about 6:00 PM and watched a group called Lady Antebellum. They were
pretty good. Apparently many people knew the words to a few of their
original songs as they were singing along with the group. The group
took a break and I escorted my wife into the Golden Nugget (GN) to
signup for a player's cards signup bonus. They were offering everyone
$10 of freeplay for signup, but now they've changed it to a slot
machine spin whereby you're guaranteed only $5, but could win more.
Has anyone ever won more than the minimum on any of these types of
signup deals? We never have.
She eventually cashed out about $7.00, and we next went to the 4
Queens where I had an ACG $10 signup coupon that I gave her. She
cashed out with about $7.00 again. We then went back to the GN and
she played some more one cent, multi-hand JoB, but eventually it was
time to leave for the Bobby Slayton show at Hooters.
At Hooters, unless you are sitting in the front section of the
showroom, generally the seats are awful. The front section is tiered
seating but the rear section is a level floor and if you are not
sitting in the front of the rear section and you happen to sit behind
someone taller than you visibility is a problem. To make matters
worse, since the hotel is older, wide concrete support columns are
interspersed throughout the room. So with a tall guy in front of my
wife and a wide column further blocking her sight line, essentially
my wife could not see anyone on the stage from her seat.
Anyway, after a brief (lukewarm) warm up act, they played a video of
a bunch of famous comedians sort of damning Bobby with feint praise.
The video was actually pretty funny. Bobby came out. Bobby is a manic
New Yorker, a bit hostile perhaps with a bit of a small man complex.
Other than the seating, I'd definitely commend the show as it is
pretty much non-stop laughs. I will say, however, in a somewhat
similar show, I liked Vinnie Favorito better (who now plays the
Flamingo) -- maybe because he's not from NY.
After the show we went to the Hard Rock to Mr. Lucky's for a late
night supper. I had gotten a cold and I just had a bowl of chicken
soup that was very good and my wife had pancakes that were also good.
DAY EIGHT THURSDAY
Today was our last day here and I got up early, and headed solo to
downtown Henderson to (you guessed it) the Rainbow Club Casino to
play their rare 10 coin x $0.25 FPDW VP. After a lengthy four hours
of play I essentially broke even winning about $30. I was hoping to
pull four deuces which would have paid $500 but they were not in the
cards and it was time to leave.
I went back to the Wyndham condo and packed and we swung by In-N-Out
Burger for a final meal before the five hour flight back to NH. In
the end, I left winning $69.
SteveT