Las Vegas "In My 5 Year Working at the Wynn I Never . . . " November 2010

“Hi, I’m JaXPrat. And you have come to my trip report like most for information.

But unlike other trip reports, we’ve filled it with surprises.

Even we are not sure where they are, though.”

Pre-Trip Preamble

I bought the package for this trip back in August for my husband’s birthday. Being a Okie and OSU grad, he is a huge Garth Brooks fan and never had a chance to see him. I got a deal at the Wynn Tower suites for 2 front row tickets, $600 spa credit, $300 Switch credit, $150 Country Club Jazz Brunch, and $100 GB merchandise. We have wanted to stay at the Wynn for a long time so were were pumped to finally have an “excuse.”

Day One

Arrival

As usual, we flew SW direct and were lucky enough to get exit row seats on the way over. We nearly always get a limo with Presidential and he was waiting at baggage claim. We are way past the “picture at the sign” but he did take us on the loop through downtown so we could enjoy our champagne. We talked shows and he suggested Terry Fator highly, so we added it to the list.

The Tower Suites Check-In

You are important here, even if you are not IMPORTANT. Everything is Feng Shui and from the moment I walked in I felt I had taken the biggest exhale of my life. Since there was a big Tony Hawk event, there were many skaters buzzing in and out of the lobby, including a very nonchalant Shawn White. Cool. Robert, the most distinguished concierge I have ever met (he will come up again later, my husband is still trying to copy his mannerisms) printed out our Garth Tickets and set hubs up with a shave at the spa on Tuesday. Our room was not ready yet so we decided to give the Wynn buffet a try (thank you line pass!).

Wynn Champagne Brunch

We keep trying buffets even though we came to the conclusion we are not buffet people. We still try to get one in per trip and this time we had two. The high points on this one were a white fish dish, BBQ hen, a pancake, cheese/cured meat/olive station, and a few of the desserts. Refill service was slow, and most of the other food was average including the bacon. I give Aria’s champagne brunch higher marks. We will try Bellagio at some point, but not in any urgent way.

Quick advertisement: By the Wynn buffet near the bathrooms you will find Levi, one the men who rents space to shine shoes. Hubs swears by a good shoe shine so I went in with him for my first. Go see Levi - it is $6 well spent!

Breeder’s Cup

After some slots and blackjack that put us ahead by a bit, we headed over to the sports book. We felt like we were cheating somehow not being at Churchill Downs, and chatted with a lot of folks in the area who though because we live in Louisville, KY we somehow knew something about how the race would go down. I wish. Naturally, we had Makers and a cigar to watch Zynyatta almost pull it off. There were more than a few wet faces around me, and not because of a lost dollar.

The Room

Yes, Steve Wynn does verbally greet you when you turn on the TV. The room was great, and we had an okay strip view, however we are beyond caring about that after we had the un-toppable killer view from Mandalay Bay last time. It is not the size of the room that is impressive, but rather the quality of the details and bed and the linens and the obscene amount of toiletries. We have a couple hours before the show and decide to take a nap. Thankfully the automated curtains almost totally block out the light!

Garth Brooks

While hubs is a huge fan, I knew about two of his songs, but I am a personal fan because I used to work for IATSE in college and he always went out of the way to make sure the local crew had access to craft services and extra pay.

The show blew my mind!

If you have not read the countless reviews, this is like a memoir of influence set to music, comedy, tearjerker stories, and appreciation for the fans. Rare is the performer who can command that level of attention and not come off as an ego-maniac. He came out in jeans, tee-shirt, guitar, and baseball on a bare stage save for a stool and a couple water bottles. It really felt like you were sitting in on a jam session with your buddy talking about the old days. He moves through each decade singing songs from some of the greats a well as some of his own and has great stories about his family, James Taylor, George Strait, and his own early days. He had the whole audience singing “American Pie” and “Low Places” and laughing at many of the tales he told, many of which where he made fun of himself and some of his own music. Trisha came out (not a country fan so again, I knew who she was but not a lick of her music) and she sang a solo and duet that was killer. After the show, we chatted with a few neighbors, all of whom were awestruck. One of the husbands had planed the trip as a surprise and told his wife an hour before the show they had tickets!

I would see this show again without hesitation, even with the new price hike. I feel like I really got to see something special because once his contract is up with Wynn, it is back on the road with the cowboy hat and pyrotechnics. Oh yes, and without the “Hi, I’m Steve Wynn” voice-over introduction.

Eastside Lounge

So maybe the dueling piano guys were not Garth Brooks caliber talent, but we had no problem meeting our 2-drink minimum and enjoying the tunes. The place had a wait so next time I would make reservations. The all organic cocktail menu had more delights on it than I could get without a trip to the hospital, so I picked two (one of which was a fruit-punch mocktail that I had them add rum to). It was an all request-show, and when the players got to Alisha Keys, an inebriated craps player crashed the party and tried to lead everyone in the bar in some hand waving. It worked. Security let him finish the song before scooting him out. Ahh, those lovely Vegas moments.

Society Café

What better way to top off the night with mini-chili dogs, wings, and beer. This gets us thinking we need to ask the concierge about hot dogs. Naturally, they are closed down for the night, but the receptionist at TS, after laughing at us in surprise, called one of her coworkers who excitedly said “Pinks – open until 3! We never get that question.” Somehow we feel good about that and march off to bed "where like most, you came here looking for sleep, but unlike most other beds, there are a few surprises." Like, wow, turndown service - have not seen that in a while!

Day Two

Started with a purifying facial at Wynn. The spa is smallish and very warm with gold/pink/red hues. There are the usual whirlpool, sauna, steam room, cold plunge, and experiential shower with an assortment of tea, juice, fruit, water, and coffee. If they could move the Aquavana experience from Canyon Ranch it would be perfect! I snuck in some pictures because the place was dead. Friend me on face book if you want to check them out:

http://www.facebook.com/JaclynEM

The staff is excellent and my facial was well done considering the shape my face has been in lately. The gym was also well stocked and I hit the free-weights before grabbing a shower and heading back to the room.

A Visit to the Concierge

Not that we did not trust our gal from last nigh, be we needed to know what smooth-operator Robert suggests. Thus, the title of this TR – “In my 5 years working at the Wynn I have never been asked for a hot dog recommendation! I have to think.” Thanks to his super-powers and a gentleman waiting in line behind us, the consensus was the Country Club put out a good dog and it was worth a special order if it was not on the brunch menu.

Country Club Jazz Brunch

Now this was a buffet worth going to! We were seated outside with a view of the golf course and with all the lush greenery and waterfalls, I momentarily forgot I was in Vegas. This brunch has a cold station inside with fruit, veggies, pastries, desserts, fish, meats, cheeses, and salads; a warm station outside with carved meats, pasta, and sides; and kitchen menu with, oh yeah, a hot dog. . . . plus a pulled-pork eggs Benedict that was rockin! The band played a lot of my favorites of the genera, including “St. James Infirmary” so I was won over several ways.

A Private Event

One of the wine guys we met a couple of trips ago invited us to a small party at this house in the north end. This was my first venture into Las Vegas suburbia and it bares a striking resemblance to most suburban areas I have visited in the southwest. Great party, great people, but not "Vegas" Vegas related so I will skip the story.

On the other hand, we hired a driver who used to be one of the managers of the poker room at Bellagio who was full of stories of celebrities behaving badly (Paris Hilton, the entire crew from Jersey Shore), thieves, and carting around some of the richest people I have never heard of (like the guy who invented frozen burritos). Entertaining, but ASD is no match for Presidential.

And the Evening Continues Into Morning

We always seem to wind up at Parasol Down so we opted to sit in the Up bar instead. I am still in love with the spicy lemon drop cocktail from the last visit, but we were itchy to take in the night view of the strip and head to our favorite romance lounge, Petrossian Bar in Bellagio. Since the piano player had retired for the evening, we opted to sit at the bar and have a great chat with the staff. They specialize in classic cocktails and we always order the traditional side car to start. I opted for a Singapore Sling for round two and let me tell you, I was slung! Hubs and I traded "I love you mans" as we stumbled back down the strip around 3am and feeling like this whole trip was a second honeymoon.

The Wynn will do that to you.

Day Three

Don’t Speak to Me of Breakfast, Speak to Me of Rum!

. . . and cookies.

. . .and maybe some coffee, but that’s it! Thankfully The Drugstore Café was stocked with what we needed to wake the heck up and get our butts over to Mandalay Bay for a late lunch at RM Seafood. Having met one of the chefs the previous evening, we were allowed a look at the kitchen and were able to tip back some brew with RM himself who was in town and sociable with everyone in his place. If you are a sushi person, here is what you order:

Ringo Roll

Futo-Fireball Roll

Shot and Roll

Don’t read the menu, just order and eat and thank me later. Honorable mention goes to the selection of loose-leaf teas and the chic server uniform.

Strip Action

Woe is the number of porn slappers soliciting on the strip, for it is cold and many of their numbers have gone into hibernation for the winter. I am pleased! We walk over to NYNY and it is windy! After hubs buys a CD from a random mixmaster on the bridge for a $20 “donation”, we catch a cab back to the Wynn and have the driver put in this sure-fire musical masterpiece to revel in the beat. After browsing through the first several tracks, hubs decides the poor guy needed the $20 more than we did.

Switch

We needed to use our credit otherwise this would not have been my first choice, despite to cool theme of a restaurant automatically switching it’s décor every quarter hour or so. Figuring we are in need of vegetables, I start with the field greens and tomato while hubs gets the endive-bosc pear salad. So far, delicious, especially with a respectable Rhone wine from a very personable sommelier. Then the steaks arrive. Quick fact, Costco sells USDA Prime with a lot better marbling than what they have at Switch. I would swear the cow was choice grass-fed which is great if you are on a diet and don’t require a dental apparatus to chew, but not if you are anticipating the delicious juicy fatty fat fat flavor of a New York Strip. In other words, the steak was fair – that’s it. However, the roasted garlic, Parmesan fries, and woodland mushrooms were well done and the Lemon Frangipane dessert cake was the best sweet of the trip.

Thoughts on the Beautiful People

If I were a hard bodied young male looking for a stays-in-Vegas moment, I would hit Aria – Wynn just did not attract the quality to their clubs. Even Bellagio was an upgrade. For myself, I quite enjoyed the man cornucopia at Mirage. We agree being on the wrong side of 30 is far better than having to compete for attention in the current meat market spray-on mini-dress fashion – if I still have my abs when jeans with bare midriffs are back in style, watch out!

Rhum Bar

Yes, speaking of a club scene I CAN get into, we arrive at Rhum Bar and our favorite chill n’ groove spot in Vegas. The classic 1944 Mai Tai, the Hemingway, the Totonga, some drink with raspberries in it – all were mine! This particular Pink Sugar Monday had a great Reggae band and between sets, an awesome DJ that played, among other gems, “I Want to Sex You Up” without a hint of irony. You better believe the patrons were getting funky while laughing. Spying a group of baby marines (was 21 really that long ago), hubs buys them a secret round of drinks after watching them strike out, uniform and all. It takes the boys a while to figure it out, but they do and we have a lovely time welcoming them home from Afghanistan before they have to return for a second tour next year. Alas, the good times close up around 1am on weekdays, so it is back to the Wynn for a win.

Oh Right, Gambling!

Normally a black jack man, hubs had come out even for the trip thus far and we decide to play slots. I am a Wild Cherry girl mainly because you never win or loose big but you can play for a long time on $0.50 a pull and with it, many rum a cokes. Not in his right mind for strategy, hubs proceeds to win a $1300 jackpot – our first hand-pay ever! While waiting for the cash, I make the bad call of following his slot advice (as if there is such a thing) and blow nearly $200 on one of the glittery machines that I normally can’t stand. Now I have 200 more reasons why I don’t play those beasts! I shoot him the raspberry, as I am pleasantly inebriated but ready for bed, while he proceeds to win another $500. Hot dog – monthly mortgage is paid!

Or is it?

Day Four

Tableau

On the advice of many a Wynn expert, we decided to get in a good breakfast before hitting the spa. Now I have marinated a lot of things in my life, but bread? In white chocolate and orange honey? I kept looking to see if something was stuffed in the French toast, but no, it was just that smooth. Hubs had the duck and eggs which was so rich, he couldn’t finish it, but we traded enough bites to polish most of it off. Apparently we were smiling like twiterpated teenagers because one of the bussers looked under the table “to see if there is a reason you are smiling that big at each other.”

Encore Spa

More opulent, larger, brown/blue/gold décor with a juice bar are some of the distinguishing characteristics from the Wynn spa. And their robes lacked pockets. Since I had some time before my treatment, I did the shower, sauna, steam, whirpool, cold plunge, and experiential rain routine before lying in the heated stone lounger. One thing I neglected to mention before is those of you who are in any way nude-phobic, both spas had a mix of unclothed and suited patrons. I had the Good Luck Ritual with a male therapist who beat me up in the manner I requested. This treatment is a head-to-toe massage with an oiled scalp massage followed by a hand and foot scrub. I felt like I needed a recovery drink! I followed my therapist’s advice and hit the water again before getting ready for a late lunch with hubs.

ZooZa Crackers

Our intentions for a light lunch and Okada for dinner were thwarted by the call of New York deli. I went for the triple-decker roast beef and turkey on rye while hubs got a burger the size of an appetizer plate and smothered in a multitude of heavenly toppings and washed down with Newcastle. We could barely make it to the room as the food and the previous night’s merriment caught up with us.

Terry Fator

A 2-hour nap and a couple of more cocktails at Rhum Bar were all we needed to perk back up just in time for the show. This is another performer I knew little about, but we were in the mood for comedy. Our seats were in the center of row J. The pre-show performance from the DJ was a hilarious flow of dance moves moving from clips of one pop song to the next. The show itself was pretty clean with the adult themes subtle enough for kids. He sang one of his original songs, “Horses in Heaven” (sappy me teared up) and he is donating the proceeds of sales from that single to St. Jude. In addition to donating some of his revenue to veteran charities as well, Fator thanks vets every performance and both hubs and the WWII vet next to us enjoyed taking the moment to stand and be recognized. I love that he also thanks the crew and acknowledges the band by introducing them and showing pictures of all of the performers when they were little as a curtain call. Great show!

“Hi, I’m Steve Wynn”

We went to meet a friend at Parasol Down and none other than Steve Wynn himself was walking from a private party in Lakeside to SW steakhouse. Much as I wanted to introduce myself (I think you know how), he had his people around him and his new blond wrapped in his arms. Actually, she was guiding him more than anything else – I am not sure how much vision he has left, but I doubt there is much. After sampling every cocktail on the soon to be expired seasonal menu, we decide to end the night at Strattawhere I suspect we saw our waiter get fired on the spot after screwing up several orders, including ours. At least the pepperoni pizza and Caesar salad were delicious and the back-up staff was courteous.

Last Morning

Obiously, we did not pack the night before and hubs had run out of clean shirts. I ran down to the country club pro-shop and got him a swanky golf polo for the ride home. He was pleased. I also had to collect all of the "sweet Dreams" and "Good Night" notes the nightly turndown service leaves on the pillow. These will come in handy on random occasions! We had a 9:30 flight out - SW changed their to direct flight from 5pm and I think I may prefer leaving in the morning. Afternoon flights are such a tease. We grabbed complementary coffee from Tableau, checked-out at the desk, and had the concierge print out our boarding passes (no Robert, bummer). We left about 8:20 and got to the airport in time to by a hot dog for the flight and bored with our group - no exit row this time, the flight was packed again.

Giving up the ghost(s)

For the past several trips we have meant to check out the Rio and Palms, but have yet to make it over there. We have resigned ourselves that unless we see Penn and Teller, we probably never will. This is also the second trip in a row we ran out of time and missed afternoon tea at Mandarine Oriental. We will get to Pinks next time.

Spa vs Spa

I give the edge to Encore if you are getting a treatment since the hallways in the Wynn carry background noise into the therapy rooms. I give the edge to Wynn if you want to chill out since it is a bit more intimate and calming in design. But overall, Canyon Ranch at V/P is still my favorite.

Casino vs Casino

I had the good vibes from Wynn this time and it paid off. Last time it was Encore. This just demonstrates the randomness of gambling! It is such a pleasure to loose your money at W/E - the dealers and cocktail staff were all pleasant which was not the case at V/P or MB on our last 2 stays.

Hotel vs. Hotel

We are officially spoiled on the Tower Suits, although the term "suit" is a misnomer. We normally go with regular rooms but have stayed in the Suite Calais at Paris (pre-renovation . . . have they been renovated?), the 750GR suite at Mandalay Bay and a luxury suite at Palazzo (arguably neither of which are suites but rather lofts). Size and layout-wise, these are more suite-like then the regular TS rooms. However, I knew this before reserving the room so was not remotely disappointed that I did not have sweeping spaces in which to lounge in my Wynn embroidered robe and slippers. The bathroom was the best we have had and, hubs always feels this in necessary to include, the toilet paper was the good stuff. Normally we like to try other places and I do want to hit THEHotel and Caesars at some point, but while the economy allows, we will defiantly book W/E TS for our next trip.


Originally posted here

Las Vegas Anniversary 2010

This trip was in celebration of our 3 year anniversary and quite possibly the last visit for a few years, so we wanted to soak in as much as possible. Due to a last minute story assignment, hubs came in a day after I did leaving me an entire day to myself to get in theoretical trouble.

Saturday

Packed and bumpy direct flight in as usual on Southwest from SDF and airport was pretty busy when I got in at 2pm to meet my Presidential driver. I have never come to Vegas by myself before and I was a bit bummed hubs wasn’t there to enjoy it with me . . . I got over it quickly!

Flamingo Check-In and Impromptu Spa Visit

No one bothered to help me with bags when we pulled up so I lugged it all in myself. No big deal. Check-in was quick with no eye-contact or offers to upgrade my GO Room and I was told my room would not be ready until 5ish. I got a handful of coupons that were not useful for me personally, but included lots of food, show, and happy-hour specials among many of the HET properties. I booked through the TR website which was about $50 less than if I had booked through any of the promo codes.

Since I had time to kill, I checked my bags with the bell desk and went to see if there was a massage available in the spa. Luckily I slipped in just in time and had a great massage by the same therapist George Wallace and Donny Osmond use – since he used to be a nurse and is trying to go out on his own, we chatted the entire massage about small business ownership, LV living, and healthcare. He gave a great deep tissue bonus since I was shortchanged a bit on time.

The spa was functional with your standard sauna, steam room, warm and hot whirlpools, and basic toiletries/styling tools. They charge almost as much as the “better” spas for the same services, so I would not go back unless on a promo and I could get the same therapist again.

Flamingo GO Room

I had a nice view of the gardens and it was a modest hike from the lobby elevators. The hallway carpet and fixtures are showing wear, but not enough to be bothered by. I heard no noise from the hallway either walking through or from my room.The room looks just like the pictures on the website and I appreciated the coffee maker and small fridge that came with it. The Bell Hop was up in 5 minutes and gave me a tour of the room features. Despite the water going everywhere in the bathroom, the shower was awesome – high pressure with two extra heads you could turn on around waist level (or in my case, rib level). The bathroom in-mirror TV and equipment in the main area worked well and the bed was comfortable.

Flamingo Casino and Amenities

Despite wanting to chill at Bugsy’s Bar and taking advantage of some of the roving happy hour $5 martinis that occurred at different bars every few hours, there were not a lot of food options that drew me in. I was not in a mood to gamble and the air-freshener perfume that was piped in was just a hair too much to hang around for very long.

Dinner at in Venetian and turning in early

I met Evoni and her husband for dinner at Timpano Tavern– great conversation as usual and hope we can meet up again. This is one of the new eateries and it was okay for a casual dinner. I had one of their signature cocktails, the Dragonberry Hurricane, and was pleased. The prawns were big enough for all of us to share and the sauce was a perfect dipping sauce for their bread. My seared tuna was over seasoned (could not taste the tuna) and the onion soup at Panera was more flavorful than theirs. The cheesecake lollipop tree was fun and I am a fan of their single-serving dessert selection, especially the chocolate-raspberry cake.

On the way back I had to stop by Walgreen as a poison ivy reaction I had the week prior was going nuclear all over my back at this point and in need of first aid. Carnival court was the usual fun experience although the novelty of drunken frat boys hitting on me has defiantly waned. I briefly considered checking out Harrah’s piano bar or catching the late performance of O, but the travel exhaustion came on fast and I decided to hit the hay around (shock) 10:30.

Sunday

Flamingo Habitat

This has been on my to-do list for the past several trips and I finally got a chance to enjoy it. I was up nearly at dawn and practiced my photography skills for a couple of hours. It is very peaceful in the morning and I got some great pictures of the wild life and gardens. The Bugsy Memorial could probably use an update since it still has Hilton owning Flamingo, but it was still cool to see.

Margaretville Breakfast and Check-Out

I milled around Caesar’s and Bellagio, but all of my favorite places to eat were mobbed. I headed back to Flamingo and had a nice mimosa and omelet at the 3rd floor bar in Margaretville. I sat between two sets of hung-over gentleman trying to recover from bachelor parties and enjoyed the stories and pre-marriage advice. I did the in-room check-out right at 11am and hailed a cab to Mandalay Bay.

Mandalay Bay

The driver dropped me off away from the bellhop area so I walked my luggage into an extremely busy lobby full of conventioneers. I found a friendly face and waited about 20 minutes to check in. I booked with a Travelzoo promo that gave a 750GR suite for the same as a regular room and provided 2-4-1 breakfasts at house of Blues and Foundation Room access (no resort fee since I booked before they instituted it - we got free wi-fi anyway!). They had a room ready right away, but I asked nicely if she could give me a high floor with a view if I were willing to wait and if she could do anything special for our anniversary. She provided 2 spa passes (we later changed it to a f&b credit since hubs is not a spa guy) and a fabulous room right off the elevator with the best strip view I ever had (room 29-201 for those that are interested). I tipped $20. I checked my bags at the bell desk and headed over to Luxor.

Bodies

I had a free pass and picked up the rest of our MGM show tickets at the box office. No photos allowed but they will take your picture outside the exhibit – I skipped that. The exhibit was excellent for the novice, but as someone who has taken many science classes, it was a bit anti-climatic. I did enjoy internally cursing out the QL muscle when I saw it featured on one of the bodies and found the stages of fetal developments extremely interesting and the best part of the exhibit, especially since we are finally thinking about taking the baby plunge. It took an hour to get through, but if you are not familiar with anatomy & physiology it would probably take 2 hours to do the exhibit justice.

Aurora Lounge, Mizuya, and Airport Pick-up

I had a pear cocktail that was decent, but nothing spectacular – no happy hour specials, although they were pushing the Sex in the City 2 cocktails hard at all the MGM bars. Mizuya at Mandalay had a beer and sushi roll happy hour special that was lackluster – I am spoiled by the sushi we get at home and their spicy salmon roll was pretty underwhelming. Hubs wanted me to pick him up at the airport to start our anniversary trip off right, so I had a limo pick me up and do the champagne experience. Hubs had been in France and we had not seen each other in a week so it was well worth it. The driver forgot to take us to the sign, but we were too busy being excited to care.

Shang Hai Lilly

From this point on, take for granted that if restaurant.com has a discount for it, we used it. This was one of the best meals of the trip – potstickers, spring rolls, sea bass, and kung pao chicken were all exceptional and the service was top notch. Their sidecar was off, but the lycii cocktail and selection of Alsase wine more than made up for it. The almond cookies at the end were better than any fortune cookie. We both liked the décor and felt there was enough space between tables to have a private conversation. It was about ¼ full which was not surprising since it is classed as fine dining and there are a few other Asian restaurants at MB with lower price tags.

Monday

Strip Run

Woke up at 6 and finally conquered our goal of running the strip (MB to Sahara)! We ran on the MB side until we reached City Center then crossed over and ran that side until reaching Encore where we had to cross back over due to some sidewalk maintenance. We took a lot of steps and had very few stops along the way. The shell of Fountanblu “opening fall 2009” was pretty depressing, there were several sewage-smell pockets on the north end, and I am still peeved they took out the Stardust with this area of the strip in need of more action. We took in Circus Circus for the first time together and I thought it was a fine place to pick up a bottle of water and throw a few dollars down on black. We were too early to catch any of the circus acts or take advantage of the $20/20 minute reflexology treatments that sounded heavenly after a 4-mile run. Frankly, the atmosphere was much better than Excalibur although location and report of bad rooms takes it off my cheapo weekend getaway list for now. We walked back passing many fellow runners on the return trip to MB.

Lunch at Raffles Cafe

After a refreshing shower, we went to Raffles for a much needed meal. Our waitress was elderly and pleasantly scatterbrained and apparently causing some upheaval with other members of the staff. Hubs liked his hamburger and my tomato soup with grilled cheese was just fine. The Herschel Walker wings were breaded and deep fried with no sauce, which were okay, but we prefer our wings naked and sloppy. At this point, we are feeling the need to laze, so hubs went to the room and I went to the spa.

The Bathhouse

I imagine that if East Germany during the cold war had a state-spa for government officials, it would look much like the Bathhouse. It is institutional black cinder block with rains from the ceiling that makes you wonder if the dungeon is leaking. It is the perfect spa for people who feel guilty for spaing, dislike the typical warm tones found in other spas, or who can’t stand fru-fru environments. I had an excellent sun-facial that, as usual, I slept through, and spent a couple of hours in the warm whirlpool, sauna, steam room, and chill area. In comparison to the other spa folk milling about, I felt a bit under-jeweled and overfed, but not enough to harsh my mellow. I was not pressured to buy products or upgrade my service, which I appreciate. They have several $100 special on facials, massage, wraps, and nail services and the lounge is stocked with many juices, tea, water infusions, fruit, snack bars and nut mixes.

Luxor

After getting back to the room, hubs went to the cigar shop at MB and was a bit disgusted at the selection, storage, and knowledge, but he picked up a Padrone anyway and we decided to head over to Aurora in the Luxor for a few drinks. I had a decent Mai Tai and hubs enjoyed a cigar with his bourbon. I finally got the Dean Martin slot to pay out something and hubs put all a $20 on black then walked away a winner. We spied another cigar store and he purchased 4 new ones and was much happier with this shop.

Stripsteak Dinner

One of the few thumbs down experiences of the trip. We were seated quickly off of the bar area and our waitress’s costume was about two millimeters away from wh*re. I have no problem with this in lounges, the casino floor, and sports bars, but when paying $50 for a steak, I should not be able to tell if the server has waxed lately. After months of yearning for the highly touted duck fat fries, we both came away with the feeling we were just served McDonalds fries doctored with some spices. Hubs had a tasty chicken dish and I had a solid bone-in ribeye with the truffled mac and cheese that everyone seems to have on the menu and I did not like as much as I thought I would. The wine menu did not have a good balance either. It was not horrible or great, but it was nowhere near Botero. Next time we will try Cut or Craftsteak.

Carrot Top

Since this has received such excellent reviews, we figured we would pocket our dislike of CT based largely on the old AT&T commercials, and give him a try. We got these on a pick 2 for $75 promo and our seats were toward the back of the theater. No problem – it is an intimate theater and you can see everything. The warm up act was lame, but Carrot himself had us laughing beginning to end. As many have mentioned, he had a lot of recent news in his comedy act, which was about 50/50 props and stand-up. The theater was packed and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Because he keeps the act fresh, we would defiantly check him out again in the next few years.

Aria & Mandarin Bar First Impressions

We walked over to City Center and my first impression at night was that if they ever decide to re-theme the strip, this one would be perfect for a DC or Marvel comics home. I would love to see spidy crawl up the Harmon or see the bat signal come up from between the Veer towers. I thought the Aria casino was beautiful with all of the glass and metalwork hanging from the wall and ceiling, but hubs hated the brown. The vanilla scent was subtle and was not the super-sweet fake version you get in a lot of candles or diffusers. I wanted to take in the view from Mandarin bar and it did not disappoint. Hubs ordered a lemongrass mojito but returned it since the stalk of lemongrass stuck in the glass to replace the traditional sugar cane did nothing for the flavor. He got a Cavilier instead (a side car plus apricot and almond flavors) which was one of the best cocktails of the trip. My Golden Leaf/Mandarin cocktail was pretty good, and came with a 24K gold flakes floating on top (a little antibiotic for my itchy and now peeling back!).

Hubs is feeling the jet lag from his overseas flights and we decided to go enjoy the incredible night view from our room back at Mandalay. In an unprecedented move, we actually took a cab rather than walk.

Tuesday (our anniversary!)

We had some of the leftovers from Stripsteak that did not keep well and decided to put a ban on truffled mac and cheese for the remainder of the vacation. Bank of America calls about suspicious credit card charges despite notifying them the dates I would be out of town in Las Vagas – I was happy with this extra protection for about 30 hours until they did something that really p*sses me off. More on that later.

We head over to MGM for a memorial visit to ‘witchcraft – always delicious! Dean Martin gave me a little more love at Luxor on the walk over, which was a good omen since we had to hop the monorail to Sahara to pick up our Rat Pack tickets for that evening. I have not been in Sahara in years and I really enjoyed the casino feel. Most of the people playing $1 blackjack were doing crazy strategy, if you can call it that, so hubs went over to the $5 table and broke even after a few cocktails.

We grabbed the monorail back up the strip and stopped off at Flamingo so he could see the habitat. When we got to MGM, there was some kind of kids camp at Rainforrest Café that looked like a good time. The lions were out and feeling playful, but no chance to get pictures with the cubs. We get back to the hotel and got gussied up for the show and headed back to Sahara

Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack

We got 2-4-1 VIP tickets through half price shows (lower fee than Goldstar) and tipped the usher for a good seat. Hubs and I are huge fans of the era and “our song” is “All the Way.” I admit I got misty eyed as the boys came out – none of them looked like who they were playing but they really captured their swagger, vocal styling, and nuances of speech. Most importantly, they all looked like they were having a great time. Due to smoking rules, Dino was handicapped by having to carry an unlit cigarette. We gave them a standing O and they were all there for a meet and greet after the performance. The guy who played Frank stayed in character for that – he really nailed Sinatra. There are different actors depending on the night, so if you happen to be in town on a Tuesday, put this show on the to-do list.

Parasol Down

We had some pre-dinner cocktails with Patricia, the head mixologist of Wynn, and got to sample everything on the new menu. I think the strawberry one or the ginger Collins were my favorites of the group (Canton Ginger seems to be the hot ingredient about town). There is also one with an absinthe wash that I did not care for, but absinth is icky to me. No changes have been made to the Lake of Dreams shows since we were last there.

Encore Beach Club/Surrender

We got to sneak into the employee “play day” at the new club. It is an amazing pool scene with all of the grandeur you would expect from a Wynn property. Since I am on the wrong side of 30 and have no desire to prance about in 4-inch heels and a bikini not meant for water, I doubt I will actually pay to go there, but it is really exceptional. Surrender is the ulta lounge night party counterpart to the pool and was not 100% finished the night we were there. I much prefer lounges to nightclubs so this one, as well as Blush, may make it to a must-do list in the future.

Society Café

Keeping in theme, we were going to eat at Sinatra but we missed the last seating. This was a lucky misfortune because Society really fit our style. A couple of couple things about us – my husband realized he wanted to marry me over a Nathan’s hot dog at the MGM and did a surprise engagement dinner with the ring on a hot dog (…blogger.com/blogger/…ring_ring.0.jpg). When we saw spicy pigs in a blanket on the menu, we knew we chose the right place. Also, we did lots of appetizers rather than a sit down dinner at our reception, so we kept the tradition going by ordering lollipop wings, ahi tuna tacos, and prime beef sliders. And a bottle of champagne. We were also introduced to the cocktail “Delicious” which is a beautifully fragrant and refreshing concoction made with raspberry vodka, ginger, citrus, and agave.

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As we were leaving Wynn, a drunken 20-something began profusely complementing hubs on his brown hat with a feathered brim. He asked if he could borrow it for the night and tried to grab it off his head when hubs gave him the stare down, pointed at the feather and said “I killed the pheasant.” The look on the kid’s face was priceless

Palazzo

Since we were walking back to MB, we decided to take a turn into the v/p complex. A few blackjack wins were countered with my losses at the Star Trek machine (will I ever learn?) and we headed down the rest of the strip.

Bellagio

It was really late and our favorite bar, Petrussion Paris, was hopping. We managed to get a seat in the back and ordered an Armagnac sidecar – our official house cocktail should anyone want to swing by for Derby someday. On a trip to the bathroom, hubs met Leroy, one of the guys who does shoe shines, and for a mear $7 plus tip got the leather buffed and softened to a condition like never before. Gentleman, support the local economy by extending the life and comfort of your shoes – go get a shoeshine in the Bellagio! We stumble "home" to again enjoy our view.

Wednesday

The Café

2-4-1 mimosas, a tableside coffee carafe, vanilla custard pancakes with macerated blueberries, applewood smoked chicken sausage,Portugal spiced sausage, and a house eggs “café” benedict – a perfect breakfast. Service was pleasant and speedy and of course the atmosphere was subdued hip. If we stay at THE Hotel next time, I imagine this place will be a morning staple.

Private Garden Cabana

Despite many trip to Vegas, we have not been to any of the pools. I decided this would be a great time in the trip to relax, renew, and detox with a cabana. We chose the private garden and it was the best thing we did the entire trip! The key-entry area has 8 cabanas, most with their own Jacuzzi, and share a private pool.

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It reminded us a lot of the resort we stayed in for our St. Lucia honeymoon. It was in the 80s and breezy, the cabana girls were attentive but not intrusive, and the vibe was mellow. We were told this was one of the most chilled-out areas of the poll and only occasionally a boisterous group of family with young kids chose this area. We had about 3 drinks each and took advantage off the free water and mixers in the fridge. I got an awesome teriyaki beef salad for lunch while hubs opted for the shrimp noodle salad. We briefly went out and took a turn in the Lazy River and wave pool, but we quickly retreated back to the zen zone. We hung out from 10 until nearly 6 and wished we could have booked another day. With the cabana came a 20% deal at any of the fine dining places at MB (can’t use with other promos) which would be a significant savings if you had a group. This is on the must repeat list!

Bank of America Can Stick It

Due diligence turned into a nightmare when I got back to the room and listened to a message informing me that my account went under a periodic review and they dropped my credit line to about $200 over the balance BEFORE I left for Vegas. Periodic my foot – there are no coincidences! I get my dander worked up then calmed down and they grant me just enough for what I had budgeted for the trip, but nowhere near what it had been just 2 days earlier. Thankfully we had cash in the bank to cover the rest of the trip. We are making big strides to reduce our debt to mortgage and student loan only and this just fueled the fire even more (so no more Vegas for awhile, - ho hum).

Burger Bar

My father-in-law was in town for a conference so we met up with him at Burger Bar. We split a nutella shake three ways that was gone in about 2 minutes because it wasa so delicious. We each did a name your own burger – I like that you can choose the type of meat you want and that the toppings are there o enhance the flavor, not cover it up. I had a kobe (I know – it’s a farce) with prushito, mozzarella, and pesto with the fat fries. F-I-L had a peppercorn burger that he enjoyed much more than he thought he would (he is a local dive and chain restaurant guy) and hubs had the angus with a concoction I cannot remember. We left full and happy.

CSI Experience

Since F-I-L had some MGM perks, we got 241 tickets to CSI. There are 3 crime scences and you can read the descriptions before you choose one for your experience. The first tip I want to pass on is that if there is more than one person in your party, you should each pick a different crime scene. One inside, you have access to all of the crime scenes but only the paper report for one. Had we researched this a little better, our group could have done all three. It took less than an hour to solve the crime and at the end you take a computer test and they will email you the criminologist certificate. Or you can buy it in the gift shop. I asked one of the staff if anyone ever fails and he said “only really drunk people” although there have been a few who got frustrated and left. The souvineer shop was mostly cloths and a few knickknacks. Hubs thought the whole thing was lame and nowhere near as awesome as STE, but what is?

Tropicana

I wanted to take a quick look at the ongoing renovations on the way back to MB. They are still deconstructing the entrance to the hotel and we got to hear a delightful cell phone argument on the way in. The musty smell is gone, but, wow, were the lights bright and white. It felt like a grocery store casino! We did a lap and walked out. Lighting and torn up entryways aside, I am interested to see what it looks like when everything is completed.

Thursday

House of Blues

We took advantage of our 2-4-1 breakfast deal and they serve up a good omelet with an upbeat attitude! Hubs had a decent bloody Mary and my Singapore Sling had to be altered due to lack of ingredients. When the server told me it was “full of alcohol,” I did not expect a 16oz glass of gin with a splash of grenadine and sour, but I rolled out happy with a to-go cup.

Mac King

We spent the morning on various gambling at Luxor and Excalibur before hitting Nathans in NYNY using an ACG coupon. We decided to take a walk down the strip and check out Mac King. The$ 9.99 drink-for-entry (really about $14 after tax and fee) was well worth the comedy magic show. He had several people come up from the audience to include in tricks and ended with a great disappearing act. I would suggest coming warly since the drink line is outrageous and understaffed, and so you can have your picture taken (he inserts a cute surprise when you go to pick it up). Since he is a native Louisvillian, we had a nice chat after the show and we purchased a 50-majic-trick lunchbox for my niece.

Rhumbar

Ahh, one of my favorite lounges! Hubs had one of his cigars with a fine rum while I tried the Spanish Trampoline (think tangerine mojito) and Tatonga (spice and mango rums with pineapple, lime,, sugar, and bitters). I enjoyed both, but my favorites are still their Mai Tai and Hemingway. It is amazing that with all of the rum and coke I drink while gambling, I rarely get tipsy. Half a cocktail here and I am nearly on the floor! Service is always great here and the atmosphere is comfortable chic.

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Believe

Since we lounged a little too long, we grabbed a taxi back to MB to get ready for the show. It is a shame we lost the lunchbox and photo somewhere between Rhumbar and our room! We fully expected Believe to be so lame we would laugh about it over dinner, but were pleasantly surprised. Coming in, we thought Criss Angle was a huge tool and had never seen Mind Freak. They must have changed the show a lot since, contrary to the reviews, he was onstage most of the performance, the trapdoors and wires were well concealed, and he interacted with audience frequently. He did your standard illusions that probably most of the magicians perform on the strip perform, but he had a gorgeously twisted back drop with the avant garde Cirque flair as his hook rather than wildlife or comedy. I was a big fan of the memorial dedication to all of the rabbits that had perished in the line of duty serving magicians. The clown character that finds its way into most CDS shows was instead a magician assistant, the costumes were spectacular, and despite a few “I am so awesome” moments from Criss, this was very entertaining.

I long ago stopped comparing CDS shows to each other because, other than having a parent company name in common, the subject matters have little to do with each other (it is kind of like comparing the Wizard of Oz to Luxor – they are both MGM creations but it is hardly logical to compare a movie to a hotel). I would highly recommend this show to people who like illusion magic, appreciate modern art/dance, and enjoy dark humor.

When we came out of the theater, the Lakers/Suns game was just about to come to an end and the sports book was packed with LAfans (boooooo!). Since it was our last night at MB, we figured we would give the Foundation Room a whirl.

Aureole

We had previously had one of the best meals of our lives here at Thanksgiving and put aside expectations of a repeat. We were seated inbetween two couples and felt a little crowded in our personal space. Hubs flaked out on me when he found a bottle of wine he wanted to try and opted out of the awesome 3-course tasting menu. We started with seared ahi tuna, I chose salmon while he devoured the lamb, and we finished it off with a trio of ice cream and coffee. We were not allowed to combine the 20% off cabana discount with restaurant.com, and since the $50 off worked out better, we went with that. Had we maxed out the cabana with 10 people (heck, even 6), that discount would have been a steal! Although this was a great meal, we decided we were kind of “foodied out” at this point.

Foundation Room

Well, I got in for free, hubs had to pay $20. The place was packed with men and a few attached women. That people actually pay for bottle service here makes me scratch my head. Yeah, it is groovy and it has one of the best views of strip an iPhone can capture (since the view has a copy write attached to it and you can not bring up “professional gear”), but we did not stay long enough to order a drink. It just was not our scene, I guess. Being in psych, I had to ask security if they had a jumper plan for those that had a few to many and really wanted to throw it ALL away in Vegas. As it was put “once they cross the railing, there is nothing I can do if they want to jump.” Apparently this has happened only once and not during the public hours. Hubs decided to stay up and gamble while I went back for a final turn in the whirpool.

I am signing off for today and will be back with our last 2 days at Aria. For now, scroll forward through these photos for night shots of the strip from our room at Mandalay and Aria, and some interesting views from City Center:

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Friday

Checking-Out of MB

We order up room service to enjoy what little time we have left with our view – no late check-out available. It was your basic coffee, oatmeal, and fruit morning. I pack up everything we will not use again with one bag to carry us through the rest of the trip. Check out stinks – not the process, just the fact! We agree this was the best overall Las Vegas resort experience thus far and are a little nervous about the change to Aria. I doubt we will hotel hop again. It only took about an hour round trip, but it kind of interrupts the established trip vibe. My brother is meeting us today and calls to let us know he landed and is heading over to the Monte Carlo. We grab a cab and head over to Aria.

Aria Second impressions, Check-In and Room

The bellhop was great – he was really excited about the hotel and assured us we would have a great time. My initial casino love dwindled a bit when I realized the metal art I liked so much made the midday noise level several dBs higher than it ought to be. The staple of casino design is busy (ugly) rugs with a bare ceiling so your focus goes to the gaming. At Aria, there is so much to look at the casino feels like an afterthought. Well, except that the lack of wall-to-wall carpet and plethora of metal and glass creates a fabulous echo that give the impression the place has 1500 people in it when there are only 50.

Vegas was already filling up with the Memorial Day crowd but check-in was moving along smoothly. . . with faces as wooden as the casino décor and robotic as the room controls. The lady at the reception desk did not look at me once and when I asked about upgrades she gave me the "$30/night for strip view" without a commitment to the up-sell. I do not think she would have noticed if I used a $20 bill as a paper airplane let alone “the sandwich” routine. She did give us a high floor and we had a nice view of Vdara. She did not let me finish the question about the player’s club perks for this reservation – she pointed in the direction of the casino and said “I don’t know anything about it - go to their desk.”

Room 26-135: Only 6 or so floor included in this elevator bank so there was never a wait during the trip. All of the room electronics worked well and the bed was plush. This place would (and I guess does, in some fashion in the other buildings) make a great apartment. The bathroom configuration was innovative with the walk-in shower leading to the bath. If you are one of those people who complain that the frosted glass in the MGM Grand’s West Wing commode is not enough privacy for you, the door in this bathroom that makes the commode private may not be to your liking. There is a really nifty wood sliding door that closes off the bathroom though.

There are already some nicks in the wood furniture so I am not sure how well the room will hold up in 5 years. Doubtless the technology will fail at some point, but there are enough backup switches that it should not be a deal breaker. The bellman was up in 5 and had obviously been to the same personality-training seminar as the receptionist. Even in Flamingo they provided a tour of the features in the room. Thankfully I am tech savvy, but there is a learning curve for those who are not!

Julian Serrano

We met up with brother who thought the room was cool. We decided to try Julian Serano since we are all tapas fans. We tried the mushrrom soup with foie gras cream, ahi tuna tempura (best dish!), chicken croquetts, stuffed peppers, olives, and charcutrie platter (second favorite). We split the churro chocolate for dessert – they gave us A LOT of that spicy chocolate! All in all, a great meal but nothing that would compel me to return for aother few visits.

Gambling at Aria, Luxor and Excalibur

I get my $50 free play from the desk and realize, while the slot technology at Aria is excellent, the available denominations and payout on the machines are not! I burn through my freeplay quickly and we move on.

My brother decides to try and get over his 10-year-grudge against Luxor when he and a few buddies got kicked out for arguing with a dealer. Well, it may take him another 10 years to go back since he went to the roulette table, was in the process of putting his chips down when the dealer calls “no more bets” and she scoops up all of his chips before the ball drops. Time tempers the rage of youth I suppose, because when she told him “tough!” in response to his protest that he was placing the last chip on the table as she was calling it, he just walked away. To add a little extra insult, neither of us could get Top Dollar to give us an offer.

We moved over to Excalibur where hubs won me a rose and an owl stuffed animal on the midway. I forgot to mention we had attended the poker lesson there earlier in the week and enjoyed it more than we expected. Brother played 3-card-poker while hubs got beat up at the blackjack table. I came out even on slots plus a couple of really good rum and cokes.

And Back to Society Café

Hubs had a meeting at Encore at 6 so brother and I hung out to watch the Magic/Celtics game at the bar outside of Wazuzu. The bartender was rather dour and the pineapple punch was so-so. We had a toro roll (delicious) and pork belly buns that were a little bland as the boa bun hid the flavor of the meat. There was also a great fight that broke out on the slot floor - an elderly lady bumped into another playing slots, and the slot gal throws her drink at her and calls her several names before Encore Security makes their presence known about 2.377 seconds into it!

We wound up eating at Society Café again and ordered most of the same stuff as before plus a few chef gifts. We were also introduced to the Monaco, which was a delicious vodka interpretation of a mojito. Service was just as good as before and it is officially on our come-back list next visit.

Best “Walking the Strip Street Moments” of the trip

As we are walking through Carnival Court, a few guys behind us are talking about how they used to collect the porn-slapper cards when they were on a family vacation as kids and their parents were not looking. They then went into a discussion about what they did with those cards, using some terms I have not heard in a while. As their conversation was concluding, another group of drunk 20-somethings, as if to emphasize the point, were heckling the parents of young children walking by: “why are you bringing your kids to Vegas? You are screwing them up!”

And speaking of porn slappers, we saw many games of “slapper go-fish” and “are you smarter than a porn slapper” throughout the trip. There seems to be a lot more of them and are more intrusive, but I attribute it to the holiday weekend.

I am sick that Paris tore out the fountain to make way for a candy store/nightclub. I got the sparkly lollipop when they came out, and the novelty wore off quickly. However, there was an excellent row of street performers in the area, most notably a tall, beefy black gentleman who used a blend of contortions with de-strung badminton rackets and Ashtanga Beginner & Intermediate poses set to music and with a grand finale of shutting himself in a small, clear box.

Lost at City Center

Somehow we walked down the wrong staircase and wound up on the outskirts of City Center. I think we were in-between the Harmon and the coming-soon Cosmopolitan. However, the end result was some artistic architectural photos and the chance to watch a group of tipsy co-eds trying to walk of a flight of steps in stilettos and finding out the elevator was locked down for the night “OMG, I’m not trying to get a workout here!” We walked by the massive line to get into Haze and noted the standard issue girl’s uniform of mini-dress and podiatrist-referral heels, or mini-shorts with tunic (not the worst look to resurrect from the 80s. At least it is comfortable). Have I mentioned how happy I am I do not have to compete in this market? If I were a man, I do not even know how I would pick one to pick up!

Moderna Bar and Bedtime

I saw the piano earlier in the day and was hoping this would be our Aria Petrussion Paris. Not to be. It seems every time I walked into Aria, I started liking it less and less. But their amythest and il cuore di Aria were tasty cocktails and I got a kick out of their morning drinks, some of which came with a side of ibuprofen or Alka-Seltzer. We thought the place was packed by the noise, but one again, the echo fooled us and it was pretty tame inside the casino. We make it back to the room and are immediately in love with the bed. Hubs and I had an unintentional “is the remote or the manual switch more powerful?” fight when trying to close the curtains for his night shots. I set the alarm for open curtains, nature sounds, and bedside lights, and we sack out in the luxurious bed.

Saturday

Aria Buffet

This sleep goes down as the best of the trip! We hem and haw a bit about breakfast, but since we heard good things about the buffet we decided to give it a shot. Hey, how bad could it be with unlimited champagne or Bloody Marys! We are no buffet connoisseurs and we do not always hit one with every visit, but I enjoyed this one much more than when we went to the one inParis. They had a burrito that was New Mexico style amazing! The pizza was just average, but hubs was a big fan of the seaweed salad and bacon cut straight from the slab. I enjoyed the selection of meats, cheeses, rolls, and fresh fruit. The cream puff was seriously yummy. The omelets, crepes, waffles, and pastas other folks were ordering up looked great, but we are trying NOT to have the appetites we used to, so we just grazed until we felt we got the $60ish bucks worth of booze and food.

Encore Gambling

I get this itchy feeling that Encore slots would be good to us, so we head over and finally sign up for our red cards. We play slots for 3 hours, each on about the same $20, and earned extra freeplay. Hubs has never lasted more than 10 minutes before loosing it all, and I rarely last 30, so we count it as successful! I consume a lot of rum and coke and watch as the now open Encore Beach Club goes on a wait-list. The streak of putting it all on black comes to an end for hubs and he blows it on roulette. I, however, have a great conversation with the dealer about space launches and NASA, where her son works. Bro and hubs also come to the realization they are bad luck when they sit at a table together, and that the bad luck may extend to strangers. They watched a guy at their table drop $1400 on BJ in less than 10 minutes. For once, the slots were more kind than the table!

Sahara Gambling

From posh to, well, Sahara. You do not need pretty surroundings to have a great time. Actually, we made a quick stop at the Rivera, which turned out to be dead in comparison to Sahara and about the same quality level. We sign up for player cards here and bro rakes it in on 3-card poker while hubs starts making some money back at black jack. The cocktail service there is lightning fast and I am once again breaking even. I don’t really have a favorite slot machine, but I do prefer the old-style ones where you can only bet 2 credits. I just have a hard time pulling a lever or pushing a button for $4 a pop! I am still playing with the same $20 I started the day with, but it is getting pretty low at this point. We meant to hit the Strat but ran out of time.

A Monorail Conspiracy?

Total Rewards had joined forces with the LV Monorail and now offers $5 in freeplay for new TR sign-ups. We take the monorail back to City Center and find it odd they say Bally’s is the best exit. We go with it, but it is a hike. Since you have to walk though Ballys and Paris then pass Planet Ho to get to City Center, I wonder if this is a HET trick to get you into their properties. If you took the logical MGM station, you would pass through and by MGM properties only on your way back, and I believe it would be faster too. If anyone wants to do an experiment, I would love to here the result. We did grab a quick bagel dog and water at Bally’s using the ACG coupon to help fuel the next few hours until dinner.

Viva Elvis

As I stated earlier, I am not going to directly compare this to another Cirque show. The only thing close would be LOVE (which I was lukewarm about), but this is a live music tribute show with circus acts as opposed to a dramatic interpretation show using aerialists and modern dance with recorded music. Out seats were on the aisle of section 204, and we got them through the summer promotion for $88 plus fees. Of course, I am one of the weirdos who likes to sit close up, but these were really good for taking in a fair amount of detail while still seeing the overall picture. The couches close to the stage looked pretty comfortable – I do not think the balcony seats would be that impressive. We decided on this show because, while none of us are huge Elvis fans, it was on all of our mutual “to see” list.

The pre-show show involves lots of girls dressed in 50s outfits giggling and getting the audience excited to see Elvis. Bro got some tasty peanut-butter/banana cashew brittle to snack on but we skipped the drinks. The show blends many circus elements that you see in other CDS shows – the clown, in this case, is Cnl. Parker as a narrator, period dancing, trampoline acrobatics, couples acrobatics, live musicians, huge set changes, and amazing costumes. I believe the Elvis vocals were isolated so the musicians and other singers could perform live with him. I like the 4 female singers they chose and one of the drummers was particularly awesome. I could see Cirque throwing in some guest musicians later on since their blocking is not that complex to learn. One of the things I think they changed from the original version is toning down the performers’ roles when they show live Elvis footage – whenever the footage plays, is where you attention goes. The performers usually did incidental dancing rather than amazing feats that would be likely be overlooked by the audience. Some scenes that stood out were the superhero trampoline act, the entire military sequence (love the flag being made up of the soldiers’ hanging laundry), the tearjerker wedding and honeymoon acts, and the finale where you may get a little gift if you are sitting in the right seat. The whole performance, I wanted to get up and dance. The energy was great with most of the audience getting up and dancing for the finale and remaining up to give a standing ovation. This is another show I would like to see again, and would be a good one to franchise in Memphis, the real home of Elvis.

Dos Caminos

A return trip to our favorite Mexican fusion eatery. We hung out in the lounge for a bit and got no end of amusement watching an older gentleman try to hook up his younger friends with some junior cougars dressed like 20-somethings at the bar. The mojito gave me an odd stomach ache but the spicy sweet Cosmo del Diablo more than made up for it. The asada, lamb, and short rib tacos were as great as we remembered and the spicy guacamole was even better. There were a few bachelorette parties going on and the place was still over half packed when we left around 11.

Casino Royal

Another first for all of us. We figured there was no way we would find do-able table limits in the higher end places, so into the dive we go. The casino was jammed packed with a huge line at the bar that went nearly to the back of the casino. When the guys finally did get a place at a table, the dealers were some of the nastiest they had encountered in any gambling establishment. I know some people have a good time there, but this was not the night to do it. There was a lot of grumbling about tight slots and , while I don’t think dropping $10 in Dean Martin is statistically significant, I did not want to feed this beast.

Worst Street Moment of the Trip

The area between Carnival Court and Flamingo was packed like Haj. I am 5’1” on a good day and I started getting antsy as I moved forward a millimeter at a time looking longingly at the empty sidewalk across the street. I would say “I can only imagine what the kid in the stroller thought,” but since he and the 3 other children I passed in the crowd were crying and wailing, I have a pretty good idea. I am not one to really have an opinion about kids in Vegas – I don’t have any so I can’t relate to the family vacation decision-making process – but come on, tuck them in by midnight, please! One of those cuties could get snatched and disappear in the blink of an eye or get injured in such a dense crowd. After about 10 minutes we escape the mob and cross over to Caesar’s. Although we did not intend to wind up at Bellagio . . . we wind up at Bellagio.

Bellagio

Seriously, $10 blackjack tables on a Saturday night? Are you kidding me? The lowest I saw at Aria was $15 into early afternoon, but mostly $25 and up no matter what time of day. Hubs sits down with a bunch of Norwegian guys who have no clue how to play and he finally comes up ahead for the trip. I play slots here and there and manage to make a few bucks, mostly on the Wild Cherry machines. I also decide someone needs to invent “butt tack” when I see this poor girl’s cheeks fall out of her dress several times. Surprisingly, The Bank line did not look too crowded. We end the night at Petrossian Paris, naturally, for a last round of sidecars. We decide to call it a night sometime around 5am (no late check out from Aria, naturally).

Sunday

Aria – “see ya!”

We get a refreshing 4 hours of sleep, use video check-out, and call the bellman to get our bags. At 10am the ridiculous level of noise in the casino is starting to really get to me and I cannot wait to get out of Aria. However, I somehow had two cash out tickets in my purse from some last minute gambling a few hours prior, and decided to pocket the money rather than re-deposit it in another slot. I forgot to mention that at one point we did take the monorail to city center from Bellagio and we found it convenient, but not so much from Monte Carlo. I think if I were shopping for (and could afford) a loft, City Center would be cool. As for Aria, I just wanted to yank the casino out of the hotel and move it to LA, Dallas, Chicago, or New York. I think I would have loved the place a lot more outside of the strip.

Le Burger Brasserie

We wanted to do Mon Ami Gabi but the guys are both anti-line, so we scratch our brains and decide to grab a burger. By the way, theParis buffet line practically reached to Ballys! We were not expecting much but were deliciously surprised with the quality we received. We split a vanilla milkshake and an order of fries. The guys both had the Le Paris (brie, caramelized onion, and bacon) on a parmesan bun, while I opted for the Promenade (chicken with brie, shallots, and bacon) on an onion roll. Usually I only eat half the bun, but I cleaned it up this time. We go back to Aria and catch a cab to the airport grateful we are getting out before the Monday rush.

Last Thoughts

Tube of Shame – not only are people now purchasing straps to hang these things around their neck while they get their sip on, but they are using them to secure the tubes to their check-in luggage. Does anyone ever use these things again?

Canadians – it seems the entire trip we were surrounded. Every casual elevator chat we got into, at least one person was from Canada. Every show we went to, either an audience volunteer was Canadian or there was a huge contingent in the audience. I asked if there was a holiday going on, and the the reply was, “no, its just still really cold!”

Trends I am over - St. Germaine in cocktails, celebrity pool parties (well, darn, we just missed Paris Hilton and Neyo at Encore Beachclub), organic alcohol

Plans for the Next Trip (new stuff):

Stay at THE Hotel, Bellagio, or Wynn/Encore with no moving

See O, Rat Pack at the Plaza, and Frank Caliendo

Eat at Cut or Craftsteak, Alex, Mastro’s Ocean Club, and Sinatra

Rent a car and see the Hoover Dam and Valley of Fire

Give downtown another shot with gambling and a trip to Firefly

Things we meant to do this time but will do next trip:

Watch someone sky jump from the Strat while we stay safely on the sidewalk

Afternoon tea at MO

Ice Lounge and THE Lounge

Check out Rio, Palms, and M (3rd time on the list is a charm, right?)

Oh, and hubs updated some of the photos for those interested in the Cabana, some Aureole shots, and the Aria standard room (you can get a good look at the pheasant feather!).

…photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Travel-Las-V…

Originally posted here