Las Vegas 22 April - 15 May 2014
22 April
Checked in for our 9.25am United Airlines flight to Newark.
Took off on time and enjoyed a lunch of beef with carrots and potatoes, salad,
a roll followed by chocolate cake for dessert. I watched Saving Mr Banks and
American Hustle before a snack of a hot cheese and ham roll with potato crisps
and a chocolate for afters. We landed in Newark an hour early after descending
with a great view of the Manhattan skyline.
We queued for quite a while at
passport control and then claimed our luggage and rechecked it onto the next
flight and made our way through security again. We had about 5 hours to wait
for our next flight so we took it in turns to go for a walk and just before
boarding we bought 2 bagels with cream cheese to eat on the flight along with
the complimentary mini Toblerone which was handed out at Hudson News. Once
airborne the flight attendant handed out a free gift to everyone courtesy of
The Cosmopolitan Hotel, which included sugar free mints, 2 for 1 at the Wicked
Spoon buffet, $25 free play and a few other offers - fantastic. There is no
entertainment on this flight so we tried to have a nap without much success. I
read my book and Jim listened to music on our 4 and three quarter hour flight.
Arrived in terminal 1 and had to go to terminal 3 to claim our baggage, then
caught the shuttle bus back to terminal 1 to catch the 108 to the Stratosphere.
We checked in and were allocated room 16124 which is the same room we had last
April only on a higher level I think. We really loved this room as it had an annex with wardrobe, fridge, easy chair and table in it. The window sills are very deep and get the sun every morning so we had no problem doing laundry at night and leaving it on top of a towel on the window sill and by morning it was completely dry 😊
We unpacked and went down to the casino but didn't stay long as we were both exhausted.
23 April
Only slept for about 5 hours as our body clocks are all over
the place. Managed to doze on and off for another couple of hours before
getting up and having breakfast in the McDonalds in our hotel. Spent time at
the pool then bought our 30 day reduced fare bus tickets ($32.50 each) at the
Circle K garage just along the street from the Stratosphere and caught the
Deuce to downtown. Started off in El Cortez with $10 free play from the ACG
($4.50 profit) then headed up to the Plaza for $5 free play from the ACG ($2.70
profit) and then $5 free play from the ACG in Las Vegas Club ($3 profit). Jim
bought his litre and three quarters bottle of vodka in the California Hotel's
gift shop for $12.16 and we then caught the SDX back to our hotel. Rested for
10 minutes and then caught the Sahara Express (SX) to the Palace Station for
our 2 for 1 buffet - ACG coupon ($8.64 total plus tip). Came back to our hotel
and fell asleep for a couple of hours then had showers and gambled in the
casino for a few hours.
24 April
Woke up early again and had breakfast in McDs in our hotel
then used the Internet in our room for a while collecting chips from myvegas
and sharing social rewards. Spent time at the pool then caught the SDX to the
Cosmopolitan where we both played our $25 free play handed out from our flight.
We walked away with a $23 profit - job done! Whilst we were walking past the
Bellagio, the fountains started up with Luck Be A Lady so we stopped to film
them.
We then caught the 202 over to the Rio and Jim took the long walk up to
the LVA office to collect our members rewards coupon book whilst I waited in
the Rio race and sports book. We then crossed over to the Gold Coast to play
$10 get $10 free play from the LVA coupon book ($6.15 profit) and then caught
the 202 down to the Silver Sevens for a 2 for 1 buffet (ACG $9.72 total).
Afterwards we walked up to Ellis Island where we both had a play $10 get $10
free play (ACG and LVA) where we made a profit of $30 altogether. We then
walked up to Ballys and through to Paris to catch the SDX back to our hotel.
Fell asleep for an hour and then went down to the casino for a couple of hours.
25 April
Had breakfast and spent time on the Internet. Caught the
Deuce to Aria and picked up our prebooked tickets for Zarkana courtesy of
myvegas.
We then walked to the Bellagio to see the conservatory. We then
crossed over to Paris and booked tickets for the Jersey Boys using our Total
Rewards points accumulated with using Social Rewards. We had a total of $100
and we were going to get the $75 seats and pay the extra but we got talking to
the booking clerk and she was amazed that we were here for 23 nights and that
we were seniors (we had told her about our reduced fare bus tickets - that's
how she knew) so she told us that we could have $99 tickets for half price as
we were over 60! So we ended up with better seats and not having to pay
anything - what a bargain! Caught the SDX bus back to our hotel and just had
our dinner at McDs then took our ice cream sundaes back up to our room to eat
whilst watching TV. Fell asleep for an hour, had showers and then went down to
the casino.
26 April
Had breakfast and then Jim watched the soccer at the sports
book whilst I took advantage of the Internet access. It is cloudy and cold
today with some rain - we didn't come here for that kind of weather! Took the
SDX downtown and played $5 free play in both the Las Vegas Club and the Plaza
(LVA coupon book) and came out with $5.30 profit. We then headed to the Fremont
where we had a 2 for 1 buffet (LVA book) $15.12 total. Our $10 free play (LVA)
in the 4 Queens gave us $4.23 and our $10 in Binions gave us $9.40. We visited
the Downtown Grand for the first time and joined their players club - each of
us receiving $3 in free play which we turned into $6 cash.
We then caught the
Deuce back to our hotel and watched some TV before going down to the casino.
27 April
Met up with Carol from registration for breakfast at 8am
this morning at McDs. She had just finished a very stressful night shift and
had had all sorts of arrogant people checking in with various demands. We don't
envy her working conditions and think ourselves extremely lucky that we are
both retired. We chatted with her for ages as she is so easy to talk to and we
are lucky to have found a friend in Carol. We then relaxed in our room for a
while then spent time at the pool. We caught the SDX to Fremont Street and
walked down to El Cortez to use the $10 free play from the LVA book $7.06
profit. Walked across to the Container Park to have a look round. It was nice
to see that it was quite busy and there was a display of young dancing girls on
stage.
We then walked up to Main Street Station for our 2 for 1 buffet (LVA
book) $12.88 total. Came back to our hotel, showered and went down to the
casino.
28 April
Had breakfast and spent time at the pool then took the SDX
down to the Fashion Show Mall to enquire about some bracelets in Macy*s for a
friend back home. Discovered that they will be reduced in price in a couple of
days so will go back then to buy them. Crossed over to the Wynn where we
discovered that they were filming Mall Cop 2 in the shop esplanade area of the
hotel. Watched the crews for a while and then took photos of the carousel and
hot air balloon made out of flowers.
Next we walked along to Encore and took
photos of parts we hadn't seen before.
By now it was 4.30pm - time flies when
you are wandering round hotels so we made our way up to Circus Circus for our
free dinner buffet for 2 courtesy of myvegas. We are not food connoisseurs by
any means and we can always find something to eat in even the cheapest buffets
and we enjoyed this one. We called into some souvenir shops on our walk back to
the Strat pausing to take photos of the new SLS Hotel and Casino
and then relaxed and watched some TV (WWTBAM and Dancing With The Stars)
before going down to the casino.
29 April
Had breakfast and spent time at the pool.
Had showers and
set off down the Strip to have our prepaid meal (courtesy of cashback from our
credit card) at Planet Hollywood in the Forum Shops. It is now in newer premises
on the third floor but we weren't impressed with the new seating. We felt we
were sat too low down for eating a meal and too far from the table. On
hindsight we should probably have asked for different seating but it didn't
occur to us at the time. Our choice of meal was from a predetermined menu of
about 5 choices and Jim chose the chicken breast burger and I chose the BBQ
pulled pork sandwich. Our waiter told me I was lucky to get it as it had been
taken off the main menu. I found out why when our meals eventually arrived and
whilst Jim's was fine, mine had bits of gristle and a bone about 2 inches long
in it. I had eaten most of it when I discovered the bone and then couldn't eat
any more. We mentioned it to the waiter and he apologised but that was it. We
were not impressed. If our meal hadn't been prepaid I think we would have
refused to pay for mine. We definitely won't be back. We then made our way to
Aria to see Zarkana courtesy of myvegas.
It was slightly better than the last
time we saw it a year ago because they have changed the operatic music to
something slightly less operatic. The performers/acrobats are all very talented
but there isn't anything holding it together like a story and the clowns that
come on in between acts definitely need some new material - they are just not
funny. We made our way back to the Strip and walked up to Paris where we caught
the SDX back to the Stratosphere. Spent a few hours in the casino.
30 April
Had breakfast and set off to the Fashion Show Mall to buy
the 2 bracelets in Macy*s for a friend back home. They have now been reduced
plus there is a 25% extra off for a family and friends event. Caught the SDX
down to Planet Hollywood and priced the tickets for Vegas the Show then walked
up to have a look round the Cromwell. What a difference from when it was Bills.
Next we wandered down the Linq looking at all the bars, shops and the High
Roller.
Walked through O'Sheas to the Quad and had a look round
there before playing a couple of slots in Harrahs to keep our Total Rewards
cards active. Caught the Deuce outside Harrahs and transferred onto the 206 at
Charleston. Went to Arizona Charlies at Decateur for our 2 for 1 buffet (LVA
coupon) $7.65 total. Played a few slots before walking over to Walmart to look
at training shoes for both Jim and myself as we both need a new pair. Couldn't
find our sizes so left and caught the 206 then the Deuce back to the
Stratosphere. Spent a couple of hours in the casino.
1 May
Had breakfast and sat at the pool for a little while before
catching the SDX to Bonneville and then the BHX to Sam's Town. We were planning
on seeing our friend who works at Bogart's Leather Store at Sam's Town but we
didn't set off early enough to catch her before she finished at 1pm so we went
to Walmart opposite Sam's Town and managed to get new training shoes each and
Jim got some cargo shorts too. We crossed over to Sam's Town and went into
Bogarts Leather to see our friend's boss who would tell our friend that we
would try to make it down to see her tomorrow before 1pm. Caught the BHX up to
Arizona Charlies and played a few slots whilst we waited for the buffet to
open. We had another 2 for 1 coupon from the LVA book - this time it came to a
total of $8.75 for the two of us. Played a few more slots when we came out of
the buffet and walked away $5 up. Caught the BHX back to Bonneville and then
the SDX back to the Stratosphere. Watched some TV and played some myvegas
before going down to the casino.
2 May
Had breakfast and then phoned home. Caught the Deuce to Bonneville
and we were on schedule to catch the 11.40am bus to Sam's Town to visit our
friend. The only trouble was that someone had - now, how can I put this
politely - left a deposit on the bus. They then had to take it out of service
so we had to wait for 20 minutes for a replacement bus. By this time loads of
people were waiting along with a few disabled buggy users. We left about noon
and because there was a bus missing the bus got really crowded and the driver
was forever stopping for a few minutes to let buggies off and take on more
which resulted in the journey taking about 50 minutes instead of 25. We managed
to see our friend before she finished work at 1pm and chatted for quite a while
with her. We then caught the BHX back to the Stratosphere and sat at the pool
for a while. Next we decided to go to the Palace Station for a 2 for 1 buffet
(LVA book) total $8.64. We returned to the Stratosphere for a well deserved
rest before heading down to the casino.
3 May
Had breakfast and Jim watched some English soccer on TV
whilst I caught up with emails and myvegas. Decided to go see the 1pm Mac King
show at Harrahs so we caught the Deuce and got there just in time to be told
that he is off until Tuesday. We wandered out of Harrahs into the Quad and we
were handed a leaflet on the way in with all sorts of coupons on it. One of the
coupons was for a free pull on the slot to win prizes at Harrahs so we went
back there and we were awarded not with restaurant or show comps but with a
free plastic shot glass! Another of the coupons was for $5 free play at the
Quad but when we were in line at the Total Rewards desk we read the small print
which said you must be staying at the hotel. We watched the dealertainers in
the Quad for a while and then took part in a slot tournament in Margaritaville
with another of the coupons. Didn't hit anything big so don't think we'll
bother going back there at 6pm for the results. We then crossed over to the
Bellagio and took photos in the conservatory before catching the tram to Monte
Carlo.
Jim put a bet on the Kentucky Derby but had no luck then we walked back
up the Strip to the side of Ballys to catch the 202 to the Silver Sevens for a
2 for 1 buffet (LVA book) total $10.80. Came out just in time for a 202 down to
Swenson (couple of stops) where we were just in time for the 108 to take us
back to the Stratosphere. Relaxed for a couple of hours and then went down to
the casino.
4 May
Had breakfast and caught the 108 to Bonneville where we took
the HDX to Boulder City as they were having a Jamboree over the weekend, a
journey of an hour and twenty minutes. Took our time and looked round all the
stalls and at all the classic cars on display.
At one point we were handed a
free yoghurt and a free fruit ice-lolly which were very welcome in the heat of
the day. We then visited the Goat Feathers Emporium which we hadn't got round
to looking inside last September. Headed home on the bus and stopped off at the
Railroad Pass casino to have a look at their museum.
Before we went in we saw
the Nevada Southern Railway train which runs from Boulder City to the Railroad
Pass casino and back again. We must try and ride it one day.
We then jumped on
the bus again and got off at Fiesta Henderson for a 2 for 1 dinner buffet (LVA
book) $9.72 total. We then travelled back to the Stratosphere picking up a
gallon of water and a couple of bottles of tonic water in White Cross Drugs on
the way. Relaxed in the room for a while and Jim finally made it down to the
fitness center for the first time this trip. Spent time in the casino and we
actually won for a change!
5 May
Had breakfast and spent time at the pool. Caught the Deuce
to the Tix4tonite outlet at the Fashion Show Mall and purchased tickets for
Vegas The Show at the Saxe Theater at Planet Hollywood for tonight and Recycled
Percussion at the Quad for tomorrow night. Jumped on the Deuce again down to
Harrahs and walked through to the Quad to exchange our Tix4tonite vouchers for
real tickets with seat numbers then walked to the Saxe Theater to do the same
with the Vegas the Show vouchers only they are for general admission so we have
to queue up and sit where we like. Caught the Deuce back to the Stratosphere
and had a carry out meal from McDs in our room before showering and getting
ready for our night out. Arrived early and joined the queue. Eventually were
allowed in at 6.45pm and took our seats. The show was very good - it depicted
Las Vegas from the 1940s right up to date with singers and dancers
impersonating the stars of the 50s 60s etc. There was a good variety of acts to
keep everyone happy from cabaret singers, acrobats, magicians and dancers. It
lasted for about 90 minutes and cost us $49 each minus $4 from a Tix4tonite
coupon we cut out of the magazine in our room.
Just missed the SDX so we had to
settle for the Deuce for our return journey. Spent a few hours in the casino as
usual.
6 May
Had breakfast and spent time at the pool. Caught the SDX
down to Hooters where we turned $10 free play (LVA coupon book) into $6.55 then
walked up to the Hard Rock Cafe for our prepaid meal courtesy of cashback from
our credit card. Really enjoyed our meal and then caught the Deuce up to the
Quad where we went to see the show Recycled Percussion. On the way in you
choose a piece of metal and a drumstick with which to play along with the
act.
It is a really up tempo, uplifting
show with lots of audience participation. The group work really hard, playing
on all sorts of makeshift drums and playing along to songs from the 60s right
up to date.
There was a section where they got about 10 men up on the stage and put monkey masks on them all and had them dancing along to records which was really funny. There was also another part where they announced it was "cookie time" and we all got a bag with 2 chocolate chip cookies in it. For the $32 each we paid at Tix4tonite we thought it was good value and it was certainly different from anything else we have seen. When we came out from the show it had turned very cold with a strong breeze. We hurriedly took photos and film of the High Roller all lit up and of Spiderman on the side of the bell tower at the Venetian (he was there for a couple of days as the new Spiderman film had just come out)
and made our way to
the bus stop to get back to the Stratosphere. Spent time in the casino as
usual.
7 May
Had breakfast and spent about 5 minutes at the pool before deciding
that it was too cold to sunbathe. Decided to go down to the Plaza for a game of
bingo instead. It was triple pay out on certain games and one woman was lucky
enough to shout bingo on the "hot ball" to win over $1000 then she
won another twice after that! Popped into the Golden Gate and took some photos.
Had a wander down Fremont Street and saw these bar stools outside Binions and couldn't resist taking a photo of them
and caught the
Deuce back to our hotel. Showered and caught the SDX to Mandalay Bay for our
free dinner buffet for 2 courtesy of myvegas game.
We then caught the SDX back
and spent time in the casino.
8 May
Had breakfast and spent time at the pool. When we came back
to our room Jim felt unwell so lay down for a while. He got worse developing
diarrhea and then he was sick. Luckily I carry Immodium with me so he took that
and I encouraged him to drink water at regular intervals to keep hydrated. He
slept on and off and used a cold wet cloth on his forehead to bring his
temperature down. I had a carry out meal from McDs to keep me going and then
went down to the casino by myself when Jim was feeling a bit better. It just
wasn't the same - I like someone with me to share the highs and lows of playing
slots.
9 May
Jim felt slightly better today and so after a light
breakfast we ventured to the MGM Grand where we had discovered via facebook
that the Ka theater is open to the public from 11am - 1pm every Friday. It was
very interesting and staff were on hand to answer any questions we had. We have seen the show twice.
This is what replaced the Lion Habitat at the MGM Grand.
We then
caught the 201 along Tropicana to the Orleans were we both had a play $10 get
$10 free play courtesy of LVA book and the ACG. We did not too bad and came
away with a profit of $16.43. Caught the 201 and then the SDX back to our hotel
and rested for an hour. We then walked the short distance to the Circle K
garage for some sandwiches and bananas to have for a light dinner in our room.
Went down to gamble for a few hours.
10 May
Met up with Carol from registration for breakfast after she
had finished work at 8am. We chatted about anything and everything and before
we knew it 3 hours had passed! We said our goodbyes and promised to meet up
again in September when we return for our next trip. We took the SDX to the
Fashion Show Mall stopping to take a photo of how the Treasure Island shops are progressing
and walked down to Harrahs for a free slot pull (no win again
but a consolation prize of a plastic shot glass with Total Rewards on it). Next
we crossed over the Strip to Caesars Palace as we've never visited there for
quite a few years. Had a look round the Celine Dion/Rod Stewart/Shania
Twain/Elton John gift shop and viewed the menu outside Gordon Ramsey's Pub
& Grill. Next we went in search of No 9 Noodle restaurant as I had heard
there was a display of goldfish outside it. We eventually found it and took
some photos.
We wandered around a bit more and then crossed over to
Margaritaville for a slot tournament, where our scores were so bad we didn't
even wait to have them recorded. We then walked back up to the Fashion Show
Mall, dropping into the Mirage to pick up our 2 free boxes of popcorn from
playing myvegas, and took note of the prices of some of the shows that we are
thinking about for our next trip. We caught the SDX back to our hotel and had a
carry out Burger King/McDs meal in our room. Had a nap as we were up early to
meet Carol this morning then watched some TV before going down to the casino.
11 May
Had breakfast then caught the bus to the Linq. As it is
Mother's Day today it was buy one get Mom free for tickets on the High Roller
so we thought it was an excellent opportunity to experience it. After buying
tickets we went through bag search and I was handed a white carnation for Mom's
Day.
We hesitantly boarded the pod with about 10 other people and it very
slowly started it's ascent. It was a lovely sunny day so we got some great
photos and film. We even saw the Bellagio fountains from near the top.
We
didn't think we would ever venture onto the High Roller but we really enjoyed
the ride. Walking back up the Linq we popped into the Ghirandelli chocolate
shop where they hand out a free chocolate to everyone. We then did the slot
tournament in Margaritaville and the slot pull in Harrahs. Jim won a 2 for 1
buffet but we are running out of days and still have free buffets to take from
myvegas. We walked through the Venetian stopping at the Race & Sports book
for a rest and then onto the Palazzo to see their flower display.
We then
caught the Deuce up to Sahara where we purchased a Philly Cheesesteak Subway to
go and ate it in our room watching the end of a golf tournament on TV. Went
down to the casino at night.
12 May
Had breakfast and spent time at the pool. Took the bus down
to Mandalay Bay and visited the Shark Reef which took us about 20 minutes to go
round. We had free tickets courtesy of myvegas and if we had paid $18 each I
think we would have been very disappointed. There are supposed to be 2000
animals in there but I think that is a gross exaggeration.
We caught the bus up
to the Cosmopolitan and had a look round the Liberace exhibition
before walking
back down to the MGM Grand to eat at their buffet courtesy of myvegas. It was
OK but we've eaten at better buffets. I think it was so expensive because they
had crabs legs and oysters.
We used another myvegas reward to get back to our
hotel with a ride on the monorail up to the old Sahara and jumped on a 108 for
the short distance round to the Stratosphere. Decided we would go for a game of
bingo at the Plaza downtown and watch the new Who lightshow at 10pm. Caught the
SDX back and spent a few hours in the casino.
13 May
Had breakfast and spent time at the pool. Showered and
caught the bus down to Monte Carlo for our last myvegas buffet.
There was no
queue so we got straight in and were pleasantly surprised with the choices
available. There were no oysters or crab legs but we are not seafood lovers so
that was no problem. The drinks were self service as well so there was no
waiting for a refill - you just helped yourself. We caught the tram to the
Bellagio and walked over to Paris for the 6.30pm Jersey Boys show. It was 2
hours long with an 8 minute interval and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The guy who
played Frankie Valli was a fantastic singer and you don't realise how many hits
the 4 Seasons had until you start singing along with them all. We've heard that
Clint Eastwood is making a film of the Jersey Boys so I hope he gets someone as
talented as the chap who played Frankie tonight for the part of Frankie Valli.
Caught the bus back to the Stratosphere and played for a few hours in the casino.
Caught the bus back to the Stratosphere and played for a few hours in the casino.
14 May
Had breakfast and spent time at the pool. Caught the SDX
then the BHX from Bonneville to Sam's Town where we met up with our friend, Ann
from the Bogarts Leather store for a cup of tea and a chat. A couple of hours
later we said our goodbyes and before we left Sam's Town we played a $10
matchplay on the slots (LVA coupon) and walked away with $11.65 profit. Caught
the BHX back to Bonneville and the Deuce to the Stratosphere. We redeemed a 2
for 1 for the buffet in the Stratosphere and our points almost covered the
cost.
We then took a trip up to the top of the Tower at dusk before packing our suitcases and going down for our final session at the casino.
15 May
We then took a trip up to the top of the Tower at dusk before packing our suitcases and going down for our final session at the casino.
15 May
Had breakfast and caught the 108 bus to the airport. Checked
in and at first our flight was only 24 minutes delayed which stretched to 3
hours. Eventually took off at 2.15pm (3 hours 5 minutes late). As we only had a
layover of 2 hours 27 minutes in Newark it was touch and go whether we would
make our connecting flight. Luckily, when we arrived in Newark our connecting
flight was 2 hours delayed so we managed to catch it. Arrived back in Edinburgh
only an hour and a half late.
Final thoughts:-
The Stratosphere is still our preferred hotel to stay at but
they have put the resort fee up 3 times in the last couple of years and instead
of only charging the resort fee for just the first 5 nights of your stay they
now charge for all nights that you are there. Luckily we were on the 2nd level
of players card and qualified to only pay the first 5 nights. When we return in
September we hope that the same applies. We also hope that they will still
include internet access with the resort fee as we found this extremely useful,
not only for keeping up to date with emails, myvegas and social rewards but for
looking up time tables for buses and prices of shows.
In future we might pay the extra to fly with British Airways
instead of United (our trip in September is already booked and paid for flying
with United so we will have to take our chances with the connections then) as
we would only have a short flight down to London and then a direct flight
straight to Las Vegas. Also we would have seat back entertainment all the way
on the long haul flight.
We gambled every night for 2 – 3 hours playing from 10c to
25c a spin and averaging it out over the 23 nights we lost just under $10 per
night which we think was pretty good. We treat it as entertainment rather than
trying to win a lot of money which is just as well! As always the cocktail
waitresses looked after us well especially Sommer, Melissa, Amy, Suzie and
Kris.
We will continue to play myvegas on facebook to get MLife
rewards and also share social rewards to get CET rewards for our September trip
as these two programmes saved us a lot of money.