This was our 31st trip to Las Vegas. We were booked to stay 4 nights in the Sahara, 4 nights (2 nights each) in the Wynn courtesy of the Wynn slots app then 13 nights in Excalibur which was booked along with our British Airways flights. Once you check out of Wynn you have to wait 72 hours before you can make another booking through the app so we also spent another 2 nights each in the Wynn during our stay in Las Vegas.
Our son, Ross, and his husband, David, arrived on 11 April staying 9 nights in Excalibur. We wanted them to experience both ends of the hotel spectrum whilst they were there so after paying to upgrade to VIP level 3 on his Wynn app our son was able to book the maximum 2 nights at the beginning of his holiday and then another 2 nights after the 72 hour gap.
When we moved up to the Wynn both times we only packed one case to take with us as we didn't have to check out of Excalibur till the end of our holiday. The inconvenience of moving hotels was easily outweighed with the luxury of staying at the Wynn which is a 5 star hotel. To get to VIP level 3 on the Wynn slots app you have to pay approximately £170 or $200 but you don't pay any resort fee when you stay there when you book via the slots app so even if you only stay 2 nights it works out at £85 or $100 per night and if you stay another 2 nights later on like we did it works out at £42.50 or $50 per night which is a lot cheaper than booking through the Wynn website where the rooms start at around $200 per night plus the $51 resort fee.
Wednesday 30 March
Had breakfast in the British Airways lounge in Edinburgh airport as we are lucky enough to be travelling business class or Club World as BA call it. Our flight down to Heathrow was very smooth and we were served lunch on the way.
Made our way to the BA lounge where we relaxed for a few hours. That's when the problems started! The IT system went down so nobody knew when their flight was boarding. This went on for ages then when the system came back on nearly every flight was delayed. Our flight gate was called so we went to the gate where we were told every so often when they would start boarding only to be told of a further delay. We were really confused because we couldn't start boarding because the Chicago flight which was at the same gate as us was waiting for 20 people. We waited and waited and waited and where these 20 people were we had no idea. Eventually most of them turned up except for one passenger with a dog! Why they were holding up their flight and our flight for one person I will never know. When the person eventually turned up she had a dog in her handbag. When we boarded Jim was picked for an extra security check along with loads of other people so that held us up more. We took off 3 hours late but we were lucky seemingly as lots of other flights were cancelled altogether. Our flight was smooth and we were served dinner and then another meal before landing.
Unpacked and played a little in the casino before going to bed exhausted.
Thursday 31 March
Had breakfast then walked to Bonneville Transit Center to buy our 30 day reduced fare bus tickets passing these places on the way there.
Caught the 206 bus to Walmart to stock up on goodies then walked up to the 99 cent store for more. Caught the 206 bus back to Bonneville then the 108 bus to our hotel. Rested then had a Subway meal for dinner followed by an ice cream sundae from McDonald's for dessert! Spent time in the casino at night still playing on our original $20.
Friday 1 April
Had a late breakfast then Whatsapped our son back home. Caught the 108 bus to Bonneville then walked to Fremont Street. Played slots in Binions then had dinner in their cafe courtesy of the Binions app game. Watched the first light show which just happened to be Mr Brightside by the Killers which was our son, Scott's, favourite song and we played it at his funeral nearly 12 years ago. After that emotional moment we walked along to Bonneville and caught the 108 bus back to the Sahara. Played slots at night and not a bonus to be seen so we are not still playing on our original $20.
Saturday 2 April
Had breakfast then caught the Sahara Express (SX) bus over to the Palace Station. Played all our favourite slots then caught the bus back and packed our suitcases in preparation for tomorrow's move to the Wynn. Went back over to Palace Station for a Chinese meal for our dinner. Played slots at night and not many bonuses again but better cocktail waitress service tonight 😄
Sunday 3 April
Had breakfast then checked out of the Sahara. Checked into the Wynn and we were assigned the exact same room (2453) that we had when we stayed at the Wynn in August 2019 but it has been remodelled so looks totally different.
Unpacked then rested before walking over to the Fashion Show Mall for dinner. Played slots at night but still not many bonuses. Got chatting to a lovely cocktail waitress and she kept us supplied with drinks!
Monday 4 April - my birthday
Had breakfast then spent time at the pool.
Caught the Deuce bus to Fremont Street and had pizzas in Chicago Brew inside Four Queens courtesy of the Four Queens slot app. Caught the Deuce bus back to the Wynn to relax for a while. Requested a "turn down" service and went down to the casino. We played for the whole night on $20 as we got a few good bonuses. Returned to our room to find that housekeeping had made our bed (we had missed housekeeping that morning) left some chocolates, bottles of water and his and hers slippers for us to keep. Lovely memento of my birthday at the Wynn.
Tuesday 5 April
Caught the Deuce bus to Fremont Street and had breakfast in Magnolias in the 4 Queens courtesy of the 4 Queens slots app and it's apparently where Santa has his breakfast too 😂
Caught the Deuce bus back to the Wynn and spent time at the pool. Went for a wander through the Palazzo and the Venetian then played some slots in Casino Royale ($10 down) and then Harrahs ($33 up). Had a Subway meal for dinner as we had such a big breakfast. Played slots at night and kept nipping out to watch the Lake of Dreams shows every half hour.
Wednesday 6 April
Had breakfast and chatted for ages with a couple from South Shields who are here for the first time and staying in the Venetian. Walked down to Resorts World where I signed up for a players card and received $25 free play. Walked out $33 up 😄 Spent time at the pool then caught the Deuce bus to Fremont Street and had dinner in Binions cafe courtesy of the Binions app. Caught the Deuce bus back to Wynn and packed our suitcase ready for moving to Excalibur tomorrow. Played slots at night and watched a few shows at the Lake of Dreams every half hour.
Thursday 7 April
Had breakfast then checked out of Wynn at 11.45am and then checked into Excalibur at 12.45pm for our final 13 nights. We were offered a couple of different rooms and decided that a view of the pools, the Allegiant Stadium, the T-Mobile Arena and the mountains was the best option.
After unpacking we went out for water and Sprite in Target and wine in Walgreens then had a pasta dinner from Pizza Hut in the food court in Excalibur. Played slots in Mandalay Bay at night.
Friday 8 April
Had breakfast then caught the Deuce then the 201 bus to the Walmart on Tropicana. There is also a Ross Dress for Less store there so we had a look round there and then popped into the Dollar Tree before catching the bus back. Had a Chinese meal for dinner and played slots in Mandalay Bay at night. The casino was full of young people who had been to see the South Korean boy group BTS at the Allegiant stadium and also people coming out from the MJ One show in Mandalay Bay. We were lucky to get any cocktail waitress service at all.
Saturday 9th April
Had breakfast then caught the Deuce bus to Fremont Street and met up with some friends from Canada in the McDonalds in the Plaza who are also here on vacation. We haven't seen them for many years so it was good to catch up with them. Caught the 109 bus to the Sketchers outlet on Flamingo as I need a new pair of trainers but I couldn't find any that I liked. Caught the 202 bus to the Strip and walked through the Bellagio (will go round the conservatory during the week as it was far too busy on a Saturday) and caught the tram to Park MGM then walked through NYNY and back to Excalibur. Dinner was a pizza from Pizza Hut and at night we played slots in the Luxor.
Sunday 10th April
Had breakfast then went to Mandalay Bay and I redeemed a $25 Konami free play reward from the myvegas game with a $19 profit. Walked through to Excalibur and Jim redeemed a $100, $50 and $25 free play reward from the myvegas game which we will play later. I also redeemed a $25 konami free play in Excalibur to play later. Spent time at the pool then caught the CX bus (Centennial Express) to Fremont Street for dinner at Binions courtesy of the Binions app.
Played slots at night in Luxor.
Monday 11th April
Caught the CX bus to Fremont Street and had breakfast in Binions cafe courtesy of the Binions app. Our Canadian friends were also having breakfast there and they chatted with us on their way out. Our son, Ross, and his husband, David, are now safely on board their flight to Las Vegas and will hopefully arrive about 7pm tonight unless the very high winds today maybe divert them to a different location. Caught the CX bus back from Fremont Street and I redeemed a $25 konami free play in the Luxor - $33 profit. Played some of our free play in Excalibur then headed back to our room. There is a weather warning for very high winds and dust storms so we hope that the boys don't have a bumpy landing. Had a Subway for dinner then caught the CX bus to the airport to meet them off their plane. They landed safely but it took ages for the plane to get to a gate and ages for their luggage to come through. Caught a taxi to Excalibur and they checked in and were allocated a room on the same floor as us.
Tuesday 12 April
Had breakfast then walked the boys through Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, NYNY, Park MGM then took the tram to Bellagio and took photos in the conservatory. This display is one of the nicest we have seen in the conservatory.
Visited Cosmopolitan, Crystals and Aria on the way back to Excalibur. We all packed a small case and caught the Deuce up to Wynn and checked in for a 2 night stay courtesy of the Wynn slots app. Had a Chinese meal in the Fashion Show Mall and at night we all went to see the 9.30pm performance of the Beatles Love Cirque du Soleil show at the Mirage. It was amazing as always.
Wednesday 13th April
Tried to catch a Deuce bus to Fremont Street for breakfast but they were running so slowly that they were jam packed when one finally showed up. We gave up and walked up to McDonalds for something to eat. Jim and I returned to the Wynn and spent time at the pool. At night we all caught the Deuce bus down to Excalibur for our Tournament of Kings dinner show courtesy of myvegas.
Caught the Deuce bus back to the Wynn and enjoyed a night in the casino occasionally watching the Lake of Dreams shows.
Thursday 14th April
Walked up to McDonalds with the boys for breakfast then checked out of Wynn and caught the Deuce bus back down to Excalibur. Unpacked then we all caught the CX bus. The boys got off at the Premier Shopping Outlets and we continued on to Fremont Street and had dinner in Binions cafe courtesy of Binions slot app. Caught the CX bus back to Excalibur. Played the remainder of our free play and ended up with $138 from Jim's $175 free play and $16 from my $25 konami free play.
Friday 15th April
Had breakfast then we were picked up for our trip to the Hoover Dam. Stopped off at the Welcome Sign for photos then we went through Boulder City and stopped at the new Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. It was quite a climb up to it but it was worth it for the views from the bridge down to the Dam.
After a look round the gift shop it was time to leave. Our last stop was a view of Lake Mead.
After we were dropped back at Excalibur we all had our dinner up at the Pizza Hut in the food court. Played slots in Excalibur at night.
Saturday 16th April
Had breakfast then visited the Ross Dress for Less shop and Burlington for a look round. Headed back to our hotel and spent time at the pool. Dinner was a Subway from the food court just north of MGM Grand. Played slots at night in Mandalay Bay.
Sunday 17th April
Had breakfast then caught the 119 bus up to the Wynn and checked in for another 2 nights courtesy of the Wynn slots app. We had the option of a Strip view or a golf course view so we opted for the golf course view and watched the planes coming in to land.
We were going to have dinner at the food court in the Fashion Show Mall but it was closed presumably because it was Easter Sunday. Instead we caught the Deuce bus to Downtown and ate in Chicago Brew at the 4 Queens courtesy of the 4 Queens slots app.
Played slots in the Wynn at night and watched a few of the Lake of Dreams shows.
Monday 18th April
Had breakfast then walked down to Paradise and caught the 108 bus to the new Virgin Hotel (formerly the Hard Rock hotel). Had a good look round and checked out their pool area - very nice.
Tuesday 19th April
Had breakfast then checked out of Wynn and caught the 119 bus back to Excalibur. Unpacked then did a group pull with the boys on Mighty Cash and made a profit of $17 per couple. Had dinner in the Excalibur food court and played slots in Mandalay Bay and Luxor at night.
Wednesday 20th April
Had breakfast then had our last play on the slots in Excalibur. Visited the players club to see what our points equated to. We had $10 free play and when he looked at our account he said he could deduct one night's resort fee from our account because of our slot play which astonished us as we are very low rollers only betting 20c or 25c per spin and we were very pleased with that. As we had a late check out until 6pm we had time to pack, have showers and nip over to the food court at the Showcase Mall for a Subway before checking out and catching a taxi to the airport. Our flight to London was only half an hour late taking off and we arrived 15 minutes early. We were served dinner after take off.
We both watched the film The Little Things starring Denzel Washington and Rami Malek and after sleeping on our wonderful 6 foot flat bed for a few hours we were served breakfast (I'd already eaten half of mine before I remembered to take a photo 😴)
Our flight up to Edinburgh was about an hour late and we arrived about half an hour late. We were served a meal of salmon for me
and Jim had quinoa, fennel and beetroot
We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Las Vegas and having Ross and David there with us for the last 9 nights was very special. We were, at last, able to give them their last 3 Christmas presents (tickets to the Beatles Love show, a trip to Hoover Dam and 4 nights in the Wynn). As our son, Ross, has been to Las Vegas 7 times now he was able to show David around so they could enjoy days by themselves.
We are not big gamblers by any means but here are some of our best wins playing low amounts:-
The Lake of Dreams at the Wynn is really amazing. There are 12 new shows showing on the hour and half hour from dusk till midnight which were developed during the lockdown for the pandemic. Here is a link to explain how they produced the new shows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LenJumue82Y&t=246s