LAS VEGAS THANKSGIVING TRIP REPORT SUMMARY
Trip Started: Thursday 11/24/05
Length: 7.5 Days
Stayed: Aladdin and Venetian
Highlights:
Paul McCartney Concert at MGM (Best Concert I've Ever Attended);
Unsurpassed French Fries at Take-Out Restaurant at the Venetian
Casino Food Court; Casino Monte Lago (Hidden VP Jewel Within Driving
Distance of Las Vegas Strip); Max's Café (New Restaurant in Alladin
Desert Passage Mall with Delicious Entrees with Sides for Under
$4.00; Wynn Dinner Buffet (Comped for Little Play); Peppermill
Restaurant (Cool Place, Good Food & Drinks); Gold Coast Cortez Room
Restaurant (Pleasant Dining Experience at Reasonable Prices); POV and
ACG Matchplay and Other Coupons; Mac King (Nice Little Afternoon
Magic/Comedy Show -- Very Inexpensive); Palms 100% Payback Video
Poker (Best VP Near the Strip); Leaving Vegas Up About $700 After
Gambling All Week (Priceless).
Lowlights:
Vile Sausage at Bouchon Restaurant; Constant Rumbling Noises, and L-o-
n-g Walk from Rooms to Parking Garage at The Aladdin; Getting Car
Keys Locked in Rental Car When Wind Blew Driver's Door Shut While
Keys Were Still in Car (No Onstar); Gold Coast Lunch Buffet (Better
Food at Junior High School Cafeteria); Dirt-Covered, S-l-o-w, Tiny-
Screen $1.00 Joker's Wild Video Poker Machines at El Cortez; Wife
Continuously Losing At Full Pay Deuces Wild Video Poker.
Humorous Moment: Asian Woman Claiming that the TV in Her Hotel Room
was Possessed.
DAY ONE: THURSDAY
Flew in from Manchester, NH. Ate a very nice and reasonably priced
Thanksgiving dinner at Gold Coast, Cortez Room and after the meal we
went across the street to the Palms to play video poker.
My wife and I have been practicing on Frugal VP and Bob Dancer video
poker software. She focused on full pay deuces wild (FPDW), I focused
on Joker's Wild (JW). Using the software, after much practice she was
playing at an average accuracy producing a theoretical payback of
100.2% and I was playing at 100.5%. The indicated location of the
full pay JW machines on the vpFREE web site was not precise, so I
spent about 45 minutes looking for the full pay JW machines. By the
time I found them (off by themselves in an obscure hallway leading to
the southern garage) we were almost ready to leave, so I only played
about 15 minutes. But I won $20.
We initially stayed at the Aladdin over the more expensive weekend
period and then moved to the Venetian. At the Aladdin, the bathroom
was the star of the show with an oversized semi-pedestal tub, a
separate all glass shower, separate toilet room, and marble floors.
The king size bedding was comfortable, however, the pillows were
small and flimsy. We also noticed a recurring low level rumbling in
the room thoughout the stay.
Later that night we drove to the Peppermill. I had the fruit plate
with a whole loaf of banana nut bread. My wife had a bowl of oatmeal:
everything was abundant and excellent.
DAY TWO: FRIDAY
About 6:00 AM I went on a solo coupon run with ACG and POV coupons.
First went to Terrible's and played a few Matchplay (MP) coupons that
I had been given and one from POV then to Ellis Island. I decided to
head downtown to play POV $5.00 MPs at the Plaza and at Vegas Club as
well. Overall, I won $25.
EL CORTEZ
From there I went to El Cortez (ElCo). The vpFREE web site indicates
they have full pay Joker's Wild (JW) video at 25c, 50c, and $1.00. I
first found the 25c machines and played for awhile and quickly won
$120. I then moved up to the $1.00 level, which is what I planned to
play every morning of the seven day trip. They appear to be the only
casino in the entire Vegas area with more than one machine that
offers full pay JW at the $1.00 level. But, every machine was in use.
Finally, one opened up. It was covered with a dirt film, had sticky
unreliable hold card buttons, and was unbearably slow. Worse, the
machine was so old it had an undersized video screen, which was hard
on the eyes. After playing on the machine for a painful 15 minutes, I
realized I was not having any fun (despite that I wasn't losing). I
was constantly worrying that the hold card buttons weren't holding on
the first push and my eyes were starting to hurt from the unfriendly
screen and thick smoke. I tried a couple of more similar machines as
they became available, but they were no better. I decided playing at
the $1.00 level here was not worth it, as I could run through as much
money per minute/hour on a modern quarter level machine as I could on
this $1.00 level dinosaur and play in a much better/healthier
atmosphere. So that was my one and only trip to the ElCo, even though
I had intended to play there once a day. I left there up about $100
playing VP
MAX'S CAFE
We ate lunch at a new restaurant at the Desert Passage Mall, Max's
Cafe. The restaurant is upscale looking yet prices are not. Entrees
with sides are available for under $4.00. And the food, service and
ambience were all great. I had a full size chicken breast with potato
side for $3.88. You can eat inside or they have a patio area that
extends out into the mall area. We ate at the patio area. It is very
close to where the interior storm takes place, so you can hear the
thunder, see the lightning, and hear the rain when the show begins.
FIESTA HENDERSON
After lunch, we drove to Henderson, to check out the Fiesta Casino.
Again my wife played FPDW and I played fullpay 25c JW. Again she
lost. I managed to pull a 5-of-a-kind, which paid 1,000 quarters or
$250. In addition, I played a $25 MP blackjack coupon from the POV
booklet and won another $50. In the end I left up a total of $240.
ORLEANS
We next headed back and went to the Orleans buffet. I had an ACG 2-
for-1 coupon that is valid on the weekend. The hotel was loaded with
kids (more kids than adults there -- I thought I was at Circus
Circus). In addition, the buffet line was as far as the eye could
see. We couldn't wait, so we decided to try the coffee shop, the
Courtyard Cafe. I had chicken in a pot and my wife had a Chinese
chicken salad. The food was passable, but was overly salty and mine
didn't contain whole chicken but small (probably) previously frozen
and precooked strips. Not as good as grandma used to make.
CONCERT AT MGM
We had tickets for the 8:00 PM Paul McCartney concert. This was THE
best and most unforgettable concert I've ever been to (we were in the
nosebleed seats, but it didn't matter). About two and one half of
nearly pure entertainment bliss, including three encores. His
rendition of "Follow the Sun" (not one of his best-known songs) was
spectacular. And because it is such a short song -- he played the
last verse five times. Other songs included: Back in the USSR; 'Til
There Was You; Please, Please, Me; Baby I'm Amazed; Sgt. Pepper's;
Yesterday (on the original guitar on which the song was recorded);
Baby You Can Drive My Car, etc, etc.
Not only was Paul great but the backup band featured two great
guitarists, a keyboard player, and drummer. They all sang backup as
well as they played. They were passionate and surely weren't just
calling it in. The certainly appeared happy to be there, and it
certainly was a thrill (to watch them), because we were such a lovely
audience (whoops that's the words to one of his songs)...
If the rest of the trip sucked from that point on, the trip still
would have been worth it because of the concert.
(to be cont'd with four more installments)
Steve