This was our 20th trip to Las Vegas and we stayed for 23 nights at the Stratosphere. Our son (Ross) joined us there for 8 nights from 10 - 18 April after spending 4 nights in New York along with his friend (Scott) who flew in on a different flight and stayed for 6 nights from 10 - 16 April.
Due to problems connecting to the internet in our room on our netbook we decided to go to the Viva McDonalds every morning opposite the Riviera for breakfast from the 3rd day onwards. This was probably a good move because after having breakfast we usually walked back to the Stratosphere therefore getting some much needed exercise after all the buffets we were eating!
Tuesday 7 April 2015
Enjoyed the hour long flight from Edinburgh down to London Heathrow and transferred to the B gates via lift, train and escalator for our ten and a half hour flight to Las Vegas. Flight was good as we had managed to get bulk head seats when we checked in yesterday and we watched the movies Horrible Bosses 2 and The Theory of Everything. Had chicken tikka masala for dinner and slept a little before a snack of sandwiches and a scone with clotted cream and jam. Had a little turbulance when landing as it was quite breezy. Collected our luggage and caught the shuttle bus over to terminal 1 and caught the 108 local bus to the Stratosphere and checked in. Unpacked and spent an hour in the casino before going to bed exhausted (9am UK time).
Wednesday 8 April
Woke up early as usual as we haven't adjusted to the 8 hour time difference yet. Spent ages trying to connect to the Internet but no luck on the netbook as the signal isn't strong enough - eventually connected at the business center but only long enough to get our daily spin on myvegas before it stopped working. Walked to the Circle K garage next door to buy our 30 day bus passes but they didn't have any. Neither did 7 11 so we kept walking all the way to Walgreens at Charleston where they had 15 day passes so we went with them. Caught the 206 to the Walmart at Decatur to buy Smirnoff vodka for our son who arrives on Friday. There is also a shop beside Walmart called Smart & Final so we checked the price of Smirnoff in there first and it was a few dollars cheaper than Walmart so we paid $15.49 plus tax for a litre and three quarters bottle. What a bargain. Jim bought new training shoes in Walmart (sneakers I think they are called in the US) then we caught the 206 and the Deuce back to the Stratosphere and then walked to catch the SX bus over to the Palace Station for our 2 free lunch buffets courtesy of myvegas. Took part in a free slot tournament before we left to catch the bus back to the Strat. Fell asleep for about 3 hours as we were exhausted then visited the casino for a couple of hours before calling it a night.
Thursday 9 April
Woke up at 6.30am and after breakfast we travelled Downtown to meet up with our friends from Wales, Carole & Gerry. We had coffee in the McDonalds in the Plaza where they were staying and we showed them how to play myvegas on our netbook with the free wifi. Chatted for a couple of hours and then said our goodbyes and caught the SDX and the 202 over to the Rio and Jim walked to the Las Vegas Advisor office to pick up our Members Rewards coupon books. Caught the 202 to the Silver Sevens and ate a 2 for 1 buffet there ($10.80 LVA coupon) then walked along to Swenson to catch the 108 back to the Strat. We napped and then went down to the casino.
Friday 10 April
Caught the Deuce along to the Viva McDs opposite the Riviera and had breakfast and logged on to myvegas and checked emails. Came back and relaxed at the pool for a while.
Had a nap as we had been up early again. Hope we get accustomed to the time difference soon. Caught the 108 to Silver Sevens for another 2 for 1 buffet ($14.04 ACG coupon). It's seafood night not that we eat a lot of seafood but it is handy for us to eat there as it's on the 108 bus route which goes to the airport and we were on our way to meet our son who is flying in after spending 4 nights in New York. Arrived at the airport just before his flight landed and waited at baggage claim for him. Caught the 108 back to the Stratosphere and got him checked in. The girl on registration kindly gave him a room just along the corridor from our room. The flight that Ross's friend was flying from Newark to Las Vegas was unfortunately delayed for 3 hours so he didn't arrive at the Stratosphere until about 2.30am. Ross stayed up and waited for him - he got a room on the 18th floor in the select tower.
Saturday 11 April
Had breakfast at the Viva McDs so we can get Internet connection then walked back to the Strat. It must be national bicycle day today as there were over a hundred cyclists coming down the Strip on bicycles of every shape and size.
Relaxed at the pool and met up with Ross and his friend (Scott) when they were having brunch at McDs. By this time Jim & I were getting hungry so we nipped over to the Palace Station for a free lunch buffet courtesy of myvegas. Met up with Ross & Scott at 6.30pm and took the Deuce to the Mirage to pick up all our show tickets from myvegas. Caught the SDX to Downtown where we showed R & S the Container Park and the praying mantis duly performed to music and fired flames for us.
Next we did freeplay in El Cortez from the LVA book and by that time it was 9pm so the boys rushed to see the light show and then went for a 2 for 1 buffet in MSS. Jim and I caught the Deuce back to the Strat and gambled in the casino. We were gradually losing until we hit 72 free spins on a China Shores slot playing 20c a spin. Our bonus came to an amazing $67.12! so we were back to being up for the trip so far.
Retired at midnight and we were in a wonderful deep sleep when someone banged repeatedly on our room door at 4.15am. Thinking that something had happened to R & S Jim looked through the peephole. We are very wary about opening our door. It was a crazy lady who was probably drunk and couldn't find her room. Jim told her that she had the wrong room and it took us ages to get back to sleep again.
Sunday 12 April
Had breakfast and spent time at the pool. Had a nap and showers then met up with the boys. Caught the SDX to the Luxor for our free dinner buffets courtesy of myvegas then made our way over to the MGM to see Ka.
Walked to Hooters to do freeplay from the LVA book then caught the SDX back to the Strat and gambled in the casino. Amazingly we had another big win - this time on the Wolf Run slot playing 20c a spin again. Single spin came to $65.50!
Monday 13 April
Had breakfast and spent time at the pool. Met up with R & S and caught the Deuce and the 202 over to the Rio. Ate at the World Carnival buffet using a 2 for 1 coupon (LVA book) and paid the balance of $30.99 with Total Rewards points accumulated from watching videos etc on Social Rewards.
Made our way along to the Penn & Teller theatre where we had tickets to see a recording of the TV show Penn & Teller Fool Us hosted by the British chat show host Jonathan Ross. There were 6 magicians appearing all hoping to fool Penn & Teller - 2 of them succeeded - then Penn & Teller performed one of the illusions from their show. It took over 4 hours to record the show with breaks for them to set each magicians props up but we were warned that it might take that long. The boys enjoyed it especially the comedian who entertained the audience during breaks and also Jonathan Ross was quite amusing.
The show will be shown on the CW channel on 8 July so you can look out for it. Don't think you will see us in the audience as we asked to be seated quite far back.
Made our way back to the Strat and gambled for a little while - no big wins tonight.
Tuesday 14 April
Had breakfast and we were going to spend time at the pool but it was closed due to the high winds. Travelled down to the Bellagio instead to film and take photos of the conservatory.
We also filmed round about Aria and Vdara as Jim's brother and his wife are staying in Vdara when they come to Las Vegas in August. Crossed over to Planet Hollywood and had a free sandwich in Earl of Sandwich for signing up to their emails
and we were going to have a look round the shops at Ballys but the wind was so powerful that it nearly blew us off our feet and the dust that it was blowing up was incredible - you could hardly make out Trump Tower in the distance. Instead we caught the SDX back to the Strat and relaxed before another successful gambling session. This has never happened to us before!
Wednesday 15 April
Had breakfast and instead of walking back from the Viva McDs we caught the Deuce as there is a very cold wind today. Put on some extra layers and ventured out to the Tuscany Suites. Jim used an ACG $10 freeplay coupon which gained him $2.69 and I got $5 freeplay for signing up to their players card which netted me $12.91. We were very impressed with the selection of slots that they had. When we were waiting to go through passport control when we arrived at McCarran airport we got talking to a couple from Scotland (Dougie and Alison) who were here for 3 weeks staying at the Tuscany Suites. We had exchanged email addresses and were going to meet up with them at some point before we went home. We received an email telling us that Dougie had been taken ill and was in hospital with heart problems so we decided to ask at registration if they could ring their room for us. We spoke to Alison and she had just returned from the hospital. We went to see her in her suite and chatted for a while and asked if we could be of any help. Fortunately they come to Vegas twice a year so they know their way around and Alison knew how to get to and from the hospital on the local buses. They also have friends who live in Vegas. After we left there we walked up to Ellis Island and used an ACG and an LVA play $10 get $10 freeplay. Didn't fare too well and lost $3.10 on the ACG and lost $1.70 on the LVA. Caught the 202 down to Silver Sevens for a 2 for 1 buffet (ACG $10.80) and then caught the 202 back to the Strip and went on a discovery mission to try to find the Hilton Grand Vacations Flamingo as some friends back home were thinking about staying there next year. Walked back through the Flamingo and then had a wander round the new shops at Ballys before catching the SDX to the Strat. Relaxed then gambled in the casino - not so much ahead now but still ahead!
Thursday 16 April
Had breakfast and met up with our son and went Downtown to do some freeplay. Started off at the Downtown Grand where Ross signed up for a players card a received a free t-shirt. Then it was 4 Queens and then Binions. Caught the SDX then the SX over to Palace Ststion for a 2 for 1 buffet. Just scraped in at the lunch price at a minute before 4pm ($7.56 ACG coupon). Called back at the Strat to change for our 7pm performance of The Beatles Love at the Mirage.
Loved the show as always (4th time seeing it)and you are now allowed to take photos as long as you don't use a flash. Watched a volcano show when we came out.
We then walked through the Venetian and Palazzo
and over to the Wynn to show Ross the statue of Popeye.
Caught the Deuce back to the Strat and gambled in the casino for a few hours. Ross was so tired with all his late nights that he went straight to bed.
Friday 17 April
Had breakfast and spent time at the pool as it is a bit warmer today. Met up with Ross after he had checked in for his flight tomorrow and took the bus over to the Palace Station for a 2 for 1 and half price single buffet (LVA coupon total $12.96 for the 3 of us). Jim and I both put $5 through a slot to enter the draw on 26 April and made a profit of $7! Caught the SX bus back to the SLS and Ross joined the players club and received $6 in freeplay which he turned into $15.25 on a Bridesmaids slot. He also received 50 entries in to a prize draw tonight at 7pm and 9pm where there are 10 prizes in each draw. We waited for the 7pm draw whilst we were there but no luck unfortunately. We jumped on an SDX down to the Linq for a look round as Ross hadn't seen that area before.
We then crossed over and walked down to watch a fountain show at the Bellagio
and have a quick look round the Cosmopolitan before catching the SDX back to the SLS for the 9pm draw. Unfortunately no luck again. Walked back to the Strat and gambled for a little while.
Saturday 18 April
Had breakfast and went with Ross to the airport on the 108 bus. Said our goodbyes and then returned on the 108. Decided that we were quite hungry as we'd had an early breakfast so bought a couple of Burger King sandwiches and ate them in our room. We were going to go down to the pool but decided that it was too hot and they would probably be setting up for the pool party which is on tonight. Relaxed then showered and caught the Deuce to Fremont Street where we used the $5 freeplay in both the Las Vegas Club and the Plaza from both the LVA book and the ACG. Returned to the Strat $12.72 richer! Gambled for a few hours as usual - still ahead which is a miracle!
Sunday 19 April
Had breakfast then took a walk around the Riviera
and after taking some photos we caught the Deuce back to the Strat and relaxed at the pool for a while. Did some laundry then went over to the Palace Station for a 2 for 1 buffet (ACG coupon). We played our $5 through each to qualify for a mystery prize and I received 2,500 boarding pass points which we redeemed against the price of the buffet and along with the other points we had we ended up only paying $1.07 for our 2 buffets! Jim won a $5 off dining credit which is valid from tomorrow for 48 hours so we might be back. Caught the SX then the Deuce down to Harrahs to book tickets for Million Dollar Quartet for Tuesday 28 April and then walked up to the Wynn to check the prices for Le Reve as we are thinking of booking that either at Tix4tonight or directly with the box office. Caught the Deuce back to the Strat relaxed then gambled in the casino.
Monday 20 April
Had breakfast then caught the Deuce down to Caesars Palace and walked down Flamingo to Tuscany Suites to meet up with the couple we met at the airport (Dougie & Alison) as Dougie is now out of hospital. Had coffee with them in the cafe there and chatted for about 3 hours - where did the time go! Used an ACG coupon for $10 freeplay there - $7.36 profit. Walked up to Ellis Island and we both used a coupon for play $10 get a spin for freeplay - I received $10 and Jim received $15. Total profit - $13.68. Walked up to Paris and caught the SDX and bought 2 extra long cheeseburgers from Burger King ($5 for 2) and ate them in our room. Gambled for a few hours as usual.
Tuesday 21 April
Had breakfast then walked back to the Stratosphere calling in at the Hilton Grand Vacations to see what it was like inside. Relaxed at the pool for a while then got ready to go for dinner. Had a 2 for 1 dinner buffet at Silver Sevens before catching the 202 up to the Strip. Watched a fountain show (theme from Titanic) and then caught the SDX down to Excalibur to see the Australian Bee Gees free courtesy of myvegas.
The seating for the show was a disgrace. We were crammed into small hard uncomfortable chairs with no leg room whatsoever and Jim and I were seated behind 2 of the largest people in the audience who had taken up more than their share of space and moved their chairs back so we had virtually no leg room at all. The Australian Bee Gees didn't really sound like the Bee Gees very much so all in all we were very disappointed with the show. Caught the SDX back and gambled for a little while.
Wednesday 22 April
Had breakfast and walked back to the Stratosphere. Changed and caught the SX out to Red Rock Casino to meet up with our friend Carol who used to work at registration in the Stratosphere.
Went in for the lunch buffet with her and chatted for a few hours before saying goodbye. Caught the 206 to Walmart at Decatur and visited the Dollar store first where Jim bought a new pair of reading glasses then walked over to Walmart. Caught the 206 and then the Deuce back to the Strat and gambled for a few hours.
Thursday 23 April
Had breakfast then walked back to the Strat. We were going to spend time at the pool but it was cloudy so decided to to go the Premium Outlets North instead. We both bought Sketchers memory foam trainers (sneakers) and they were buy one get second pair half price. We then made our way to Bonnie's meet at El Cortez. We chatted with everyone there and took photos.
It was nice putting faces to board member names. Caught the Deuce back to the Strat. Gambled for a few hours - we are no longer ahead but only a little bit down.
Friday 24 April
Had breakfast then bought tickets for Le Reve at Tix4tonight. Walked down to the Fashion Show Mall and bought some Clinique cosmetics at Macy*s for a friend back home. Crossed over to the Wynn and phoned our son at home then in a million to one chance we bumped into Nancy and Jeff from the meet yesterday! We chatted for a while and then made our way to the box office to exchange our voucher for actual tickets.
Caught the Deuce back to the Strat. Got changed and had a Burger King meal then nipped over to Palace Station to play $5 and Open The Vault. I got a mystery gift and Jim got $5 free bet on a table game. Both coupons were valid until 30 April so we will redeem them before then. Caught the SX to the Strip and then the Deuce down to the Wynn for our 7pm performance of Le Reve. We saw this show about 7 years ago and thought it was the best show we have ever seen. Seven years on and it has completely changed but it didn't disappoint. It is awesome! The performers risk their lives every time they take to the stage. The water aspect of the show adds spectacular effects with coloured fountains, fire and acrobats diving from about 100 feet into the water-filled stage. It is an expensive show but we think it's worth every penny.
(These are the VIP seats where you get your own TV set to see what is going on underwater during the show. You also get champagne and strawberries - oh how the other half live!)
Caught the SDX back to the Strat and gambled for a few hours.
Saturday 25 April
Had breakfast and caught the bus to Palace Station. It's cold today with a strong breeze so we won't be spending time at the pool today. Played our $5 through and received extra entries into Sundays big draw. Collected my mystery gift of 2 margarita glasses and Jim used his free $5 table bet on roulette. He placed it on red and black came up - typical! Caught the bus back to the Strip and visited the new Walgreens that opened 2 days ago opposite the biggest gift shop in the world.
Caught the SDX and the BHX down to Walmart on Boulder Highway. Crossed over and dined in the buffet in Sam's Town (2 for 1 LVA coupon $10.80 total). We both played our $10 and received $10 free and made a $28 profit (LVA coupon).
Whilst we were in the casino it came on really heavy rain with high winds so instead of catching the BHX bus we took the Sam's Town shuttle bus to Fremont where we caught the Deuce back to the Strat. Gambled for a little while.
Sunday 26 April
Got up early and after breakfast we caught the Deuce down to the Bellagio where we just missed the first tour of the inner workings of the fountains. This is part of the Las Vegas Science Festival. The tours were every 45 minutes so we waited for the next tour and waited and waited and waited. Eventually the tour guide appeared (about 40 minutes later) and explained that he thought there was only one tour - he apologised and took us down past the north valet to start the tour. He was very knowledgeable and explained all about how the fountains worked and we were allowed to ask questions.
It was very interesting but a bit weary on the legs as we had been standing around for 40 minutes waiting then the tour lasted about an hour. Caught the Deuce to Fremont Street and just caught the 1.30pm tour of the Fremont Street Experience. First was a talk on the lights that were and are now used on the canopy and the type that they will be upgrading to in 2017. Then we were taken in small groups to the video department then the audio department and lastly the control room.
We mentioned to the audio engineer that we missed the Don McLean and the Queen light shows and that we would like to see more Vegas related light shows like the Rat Pack and Elvis and funnily enough he agreed with us and said he was working on that for next year. We will live in hope! That tour lasted about an hour too. Caught the Deuce and carried out a Burger King meal to eat in our room and relax a little. Caught the SX over to the Palace Station for the big draw at 6.15pm - no luck as usual. Whilst we were there I couldn't resist taking a photo of there promotion which features a couple called James and Patricia (same as our names but I think we look a little bit younger!).
Returned and gambled in the casino as usual.
Monday 27 April
Had breakfast and then negotiated a late check-out on Thursday when we leave. Spent time at the pool then caught the Deuce and the 202 over to the Gold Coast to play our $10 get $10 (profit for both of us totalling $9.46) we then crossed over to the Palms and used a 50 per cent off coupon from the LVA book off the lunch buffet (total $15.12).
We then caught the 104 along to the Orleans and played the same coupons there (profit $11.12). Caught the 201 down to Hooters and used an ACG coupon there (profit $2.48).
Caught the SDX back to the Strat and gambled for a couple of hours.
Tuesday 28 April
Had breakfast and spent time at the pool. Carried out a Burger King meal to our room then got changed and caught the bus down to Harrahs to see Million Dollar Quartet. We really enjoyed the show and the performers played their parts well and were very talented musicians. Caught the bus back and gambled for a few hours.
Wednesday 29 April
Our last full day in Vegas - where did the time go. The last three and a half weeks has just flown by! Had our usual breakfast, walked back to the Strat and spent time at the pool. Caught the SDX to the Bellagio and crossed over to have a look at Hilton Grand Vacations Elara on behalf of friends back home who are thinking of staying there next year. We then walked up to the Flamingo and the Linq and filmed a bit there - walked through to Harrahs to see the Fulton Street Food Hall
and finally walked up to the Palazzo to film their flower display before catching the SDX back to the Strat. We then took advantage of an offer on our players card for a 2 for 1 buffet in the Stratosphere and paid with our points.
Spent some time doing the dreaded packing and then caught the bus to McDs at Riviera to do our on-line check-in for tomorrow night's flight. Didn't manage to get the bulk head seats that we were in on our flight over so had to settle for our other choice. Gambled for a few hours in the casino.
Thursday 30 April
We were hoping to sleep a bit longer this morning as we were late to bed last night but no luck. Some construction/maintenance work seemed to be going on above us and drilling started up before 8am and continued for nearly an hour. When we went down to registration to query our hotel bill (our account on the TV showed that we due to pay money for our resort fee) we complained about the drilling noise and the manager told us that it was on the 25th floor and he was surprised that we could hear it in the 16th! He did apologise and deducted the amount on our bill that had shown up in error. Had breakfast then went over to the Westgate to see if we could see any changes there. We eventually found the Elvis exhibition away along a corridor with no signs to say where it was located.
(This is going to be the Graceland Wedding Chapel but there will be no Elvis impersonators marrying couples!)
The bronze statue of Elvis that used to be outside the LVH is now just in front of registration. Came back and showered and finished off our packing before checking out at 3pm. Had a bite to eat from McDs before catching the 108 bus to the airport. Checked our luggage in and passed through security. Then we had a long wait before our flight was due to take off at 9.25pm. We were about half an hour late taking off but we caught up due to a tail wind. I watched the films Kingsman and Cake and tried to get some sleep without much success due to the knees of the person sitting behind digging into my back every so often. Changed planes at Heathrow for the short flight up to Edinburgh. Weather was about 48 degrees Fahrenheit when we arrived - bit of a difference from the 92 degrees Fahrenheit when we left Las Vegas!
This was our view just before landing which shows the famous Forth Rail Bridge on the right, the existing Forth Road Bridge in the middle and the new construction of the Queensferry Crossing on the left - sorry I didn't zoom in to get a better photo but I was just thankful it wasn't blurred due to the movement of the plane!)
Final thoughts:-
This is the best we have ever done gambling wise - we lost about $86 over the 23 nights but if we add all our freeplay to that we were slightly ahead
Our 3 and a half weeks seemed to go really quickly and there were still some things we didn't get round to doing.
We were very impressed with the Palms buffet which we think included beer and wine but we weren't sure as we don't drink during the day but we saw a few people ordering drinks and not paying.
Wish we could find somewhere reasonable to stay without a resort fee as paying it for 23 nights is very expensive.
We will continue to play myvegas and do social rewards for Total Rewards as this saved us a lot of money - we saw 5 shows and only had to pay for 1 of them. We will also continue to buy the LVA Members Reward coupon book and the American Casino Guide as they include lots of 2 for 1 buffets and freeplay.
Here are a few more photos that I took:-
my last photo of the Riviera before it is imploded later this year
This is the view walking back to the Strat past the new Rock in Rio venue
This photo and the next one are the newly refurbished Excalibur buffet
And finally can anyone tell me where the next photo was taken?
