It’ll Be Sweet 2 Repeat (4/19-4/25)

On our October trip we got a free upgrade to a Cosmo wraparound suite and came out $500 ahead after five days (our first winning trip without any handpays). The question is, can we repeat?

The itinerary is definitely a repeat of our last couple trips. Leaving home on Friday morning, driving through some of the most beautiful scenery in the country on Saturday and arriving in Vegas Saturday night. Five full days in Vegas before we turn around and drive back home for two days next Friday/Saturday.

We ensured a wraparound suite repeat by paying to upgrade our comped room to a wraparound…the total upgrade charge was $900 for the six nights which seemed reasonable. Even including the two nights we had to pay for all along on top of our four night comp it’ll be a little over $200/night to stay in a wraparound and that’s if nothing gets comped on the back end.

Plans for the trip are also something of a repeat. My sister-in-law is flying in Sunday and leaving Thursday so I’m sure there will be some time when my wife is hanging out with her and I’ll be day drinking my way around Cosmo. Dinner reservations at Beauty and Essex, Mastro’s, Blue Ribbon, and also trying Best Friend for the first time. We may also make a day trip downtown, but we’ve been threatening to do that for like the last five trips and we never do.

I’ll update tomorrow if anything interesting happens on day one of the drive, but I expect this report to really get going when we arrive in Vegas Saturday night!

 

Made it to Fort Morgan, CO after an easy and uneventful day of driving.

Fortunately our hotel is not nearly as creepy as the Fort Morgan Hotel in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.



It is, however, directly across the highway from the filming location of the truck stop/diner in Dumb and Dumber where Lloyd and Harry ran afoul of Seabass and his buddies. The diner is no longer there.



It’s a good thing we didn’t leave a day earlier because I-70 in the mountains was closed this afternoon due to snow, according to the front desk clerk. Fortunately the weather looks much better tomorrow.

Looking forward to getting to Vegas in another 24 hours and change and getting the gamble started!

 

We stopped for lunch in Georgetown, CO at a little place called Scooter’s Smokehouse. It doesn’t look like much but I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The brisket sandwich is out of this world, the fries are hand cut and perfectly cooked, and the Mac and cheese is flavorful and perfectly cheesy.

The clouds gave way to sun while we were there and yesterday’s snow was very pretty.


We hit a small snag when the navigation system gave us a detour because apparently westbound I-70 was briefly closed due to a crash up on Vail Pass. By the time we got to the detour point it must have been reopened but the overhead sign said 80 minutes to Vail where it would usually be 25 or so, so we took Highway 91 down to Leadville and then US 24 back up to the interstate. It took 65 minutes so we saved 15 compared to waiting it traffic, but it added 40 minutes or so to the normal drive. We got some bonus mountain scenery and it was cool to see the drive to Leadville in the snow since we’ve done it in the summer already on a couple of our CO vacations.

By the time we got to Glenwood Canyon it was warmer and sunny. Pics from the Grizzly Creek rest area.


The rest of the drive was uneventful. I’ve always wondering in the 80mph zones if there’s a little less grace on speeding but I did confirm that the Utah State Patrol won’t blink at 5 over even in an 80 mph zone when I passed one of them sitting in the median while I had the cruise set at 85. We didn’t stop as much as we normally do since we were tired and lost some time to the detour and thankfully the drive on Flamingo and Las Vegas Blvd was very fast unlike when we were here in October with the F1 setup closures.

Checkin was a breeze and we got our wraparound in the Boulevard Tower like we’d hoped. It’s a lower floor which is fine except the room could definitely use a refresh.

We decided to go down and gamble for a bit and lost $200 quickly. A $23 Buffalo bonus was the best we could manage. But we’re here, we’re on vacation, and we’ve got five days to change our luck!

 

Even for us that would be a daunting drive, but I can’t recommend the drive from Denver to Vegas enough. Just beautiful scenery the whole way. If it wasn’t for the fact that we’ve done it so many times we’d have stopped and taken way more pictures along the way.

 

We woke up a little earlier than expected and got coffee and donuts from District and brought them up to the room to enjoy in the terrace. Then I was itching to get back to the gambling.

I had $450 in free play on my offer so we converted it on $1 bonus poker. Despite no four of a kinds it was a successful conversion into $500 cash. So we got back the $200 and then some to give us a cushion for the day. We played a little more, got a couple of mimosas, and hit a couple of slots. Her sister got here a little after 11 so we’re taking a quick break in the room since she’s storing her stuff here until she checks in and then it will be back downstairs to keep playing.

 

Thank you Chandy!

 

Left Chandelier even, but my wife lost $200. We had a great time playing though. We hung around Cosmo playing for a bit and losing slowly, then got Hattie B’s for a late lunch. After that, my sister-in-law checked into her room and got settled. We decided to check out Planet Hollywood since it’s so close and we hadn’t been for years. Had some nostalgic fun on the Red Hottie and Triple Double Diamond Deluxe with Cheese machines and then lost $200 in a flash on Ultimate Aces. $7.50 a hand goes fast with no quads. SIL had a nice $550 bonus on a slot though.

We were all dragging so we went back to Cosmo and my wife and I had a nap despite the noise from Marquee day club until 6. Dinner tonight is at Beauty and Essex, then most likely gambling at Cosmo until the day’s bankroll gives out or we give out.

 

Dinner at Beauty and Essex was fantastic as always.






After dinner we went up to the terrace and opened a bottle of Veuve we brought with us. Eventually we went back down to the casino where we had a nice run on the new-ish Stinkin Rich machine.

And a good Pinball bonus.

After that our luck started to peter out so we went to bed around 12:30. The noise from Marquee until 4am is incredibly annoying and it’s ridiculous that Cosmo doesn’t soundproof the rooms better (or at all). I guess this is the lowest floor we’ve been on and the first time we’ve been in the corner right over the club but we’ve been in one bedrooms before facing west and I don’t remember the noise ever being so bad.

 

Yesterday we slept in a bit and did coffee and donuts from District again. We played around at Cosmo for a bit and I found a new-to-me video poker game that gave me some love - I think it’s called Double Deluxe Wheel or something.


Slots, however…not so much. After some losing we decided that we were going to take a little excursion to Red Rock Casino (with a stop at the bank to withdraw the rest of our bankroll since it was becoming clear we’d need it). If you’ve read my other trip reports you know my wife loves Fire Poker and sadly Cosmo removed it sometime between our October trip and now. I checked videopoker.com and saw that Red Rock has 3 Fire Poker machines so since I’ve heard good things about the property in general we decided to check it out.

We really liked Red Rock. It’s the exact opposite of how all of the Strip properties have moved away from video poker because I’m pretty sure they have almost every variety you can imagine. We barely scratched the surface because my wife found a Fire Poker and it was nice to her.

The first three pics are of the same bonus.




I went and played some Split Card which did not go well and did a lap of the casino. Apart from the amazing VP selection, they had some older slots I hadn’t seen in years and years like Frog Prince.

We came away thinking we might be interested in staying there a couple nights. I didn’t bother signing up for a card because I assumed my wife had no interest in ever staying there so I’m kicking myself for that. Maybe we’d do a couple nights there and really hammer on VP before moving over to Cosmo.

 

When we got back to Cosmo after Red Rock we took a nap and then headed down to Best Friend for dinner. The food was pretty good although I think what came out first (the street tacos and the chicken wings) was the best. I probably wouldn’t go back because it’s yet another Vegas restaurant that blasts music like it’s a nightclub.

After dinner we played some at Aria before going back to Cosmo. Slots continue to be awful for us this trip…hardly any bonuses. We were dragging after midnight when I wanted to go back to my wheel poker machine which was a good decision.




My wife took a little stab at Dreamcard and it worked out.

I dabbled in quarters and got up above $800 before playing it down to $600.


Despite all the great VP hits we still were down on the day…that’s how brutal the slots have been. But we didn’t lose the full day’s bankroll so that’s good.

Today we’re finishing brunch at The Henry and then probably heading to Bellagio and maybe Caesars.

 

A couple Chandelier hits my wife had…

 

Had a nice WOF hit at Bellagio. I went to play electronic craps and blackjack after that…started with $200 in craps, cashed out about even, lost $100 at blackjack, and then took that $100 back up to $360 at craps.

Meanwhile, my wife hit this:

I’m resting in the room for a bit, debating if I want to go back downstairs where she is playing. Dinner is at Mastro’s tonight.

 

I think I’m addicted…I will definitely be playing it again tonight and tomorrow. I’m sure it was coincidence but I felt like when I would get good multipliers (9x and above) I would at least get something whereas on DSTP I get way too many 8x or 10x multipliers with zero credits.

 

So last night’s dinner at Mastro’s was a little disappointing. Last trip we went there for the first time and my steak was fantastic except that it was a bit rare for me - I always order medium. This time I debated and ended up ordering medium well thinking that Mastro’s might run toward the rarer side. Of course it was more like well done last night. The soups and sides were good and of course the warm butter cake was as well.

After dinner we were stuffed and wanted to get a better night’s sleep so we weren’t going to stay up late. We played DSTP together and didn’t have much to note besides this.

We took it up to quarters and lost $300 quickly. I always debate playing more quarter DSTP but this was a reminder that it goes so much faster if nothing is hitting. Also, it’s a bummer that the new machines do not let you play 1 or 2 hands at 7 credits a hand. I used to play one hand of quarter DSTP all the time.

 

This morning after coffee and donuts from District we decided to do something a little different. We did a tour of Buffalo machines, playing one of every variety that Cosmo has. We put in $20 and either quit when we lost it or quit after a decent hit (not a predefined amount). We ended up turning $360 into $250, but had some fun and it was a nice activity rather than just sitting at a couple machines steadily losing.

A couple of photo-worthy bonuses:


And the full rundown if anyone is interested:

Buffalo Triple Power - lost $20, nothing
Buffalo Gold Wheels of Reward - lost $20, nothing
Buffalo Max - won $83, 1 bonus
Buffalo Ultimate Stampede - won $80, 2 bonuses and a stampede bonus
Buffalo Gold - lost $20, nothing
Chief Platinum - lost $20, nothing
Cash Express Luxury Line - lost $20, nothing
Buffalo Gold Cash Collection - lost $20, nothing
Buffalo Triple Boost - lost $20, nothing
Buffalo Gold Revolution - lost $20, nothing
Jackpot Carnival - lost $20, nothing
Buffalo Deluxe - lost $20, nothing
Buffalo - won $30, 2 bonuses
Buffalo Dash for Cash - lost $20, nothing
Buffalo Instant Hit - lost $20, nothing
Buffalo Link - lost $20, nothing
Buffalo Strike - lost $20, 3 strike features

 

Currently sitting at Petrossian Bar at Bellagio enjoying some good drinks and snacks. This sure beats the hell out of working on a Wednesday!

 

Should have stayed at Petrossian and kept drinking…would have been more enjoyable and also cheaper.

After some quick play at Bellagio (+$100 at electronic craps) we cabbed to Wynn. None of us did great; we had one good Megabucks hit but cashed out even.

Venetian was terrible. I left to walk back to Cosmo while the ladies are going to play there until their dinner at some Vanderpump thing. Back at Cosmo debating how long I want to play before my Secret Pizza dinner.