The NeverEnding Vegas Vacation

NOTE: This trip report will be in multiple parts with latter parts coming 24-48 hours apart. I tend to bold location changes and events. Please keep this in mind when reading.

Day 1: Tues. 6/8/21 Even a Pandemic Can't Shake My Day 1 Pattern

After 21 long months partly thanks to this thing called Covid-19, my girlfriend, M, and I finally returned to Vegas! We planned to stay five luxurious nights at MGM Grand, followed by two perfectly serviceable nights at Flamingo.

Since we were “fully vaccinated”, we were okay with flying in a small metal tube. The inbound flight to Vegas via Southwest Airlines incurred no issues.







We made it to Vegas!!!



Because of the Uber/Lyft issues, we decided to not bother with it this trip and only took taxis when needed. Ironically, the guy that took us to MGM Grand had the last name of Disney. Our other favorite place to go!!!

Since M signed up for the MLife Credit Card to receive free self parking if we bothered to rent a car, we also decided to go to the “invited guest check-in” line. They were kind enough to hook all of our reservations together and set us up with a nice room. One problem. The a/c was clearly NOT working, so per tradition, we had to move rooms. This time we decided to just wait in the keys/info line. We probably should have went back to the invited guest check-in because she was annoyed with our requests and having to hook our reservations together properly. You can probably foreshadow from here.

This room was cooler, but not as cool as we preferred. But we decided it was “good enough”.





Time for food where we didn't take pictures! This time it was Pieology, which we like, but all the locations near to us have closed. Still as good as ever! Then off to our first of many afternoons at the MGM Grand Pool!





After the pool, we decided it's a good idea to take the Monorail to explore some of the north part of the Strip since we were down on the south side of the Strip for a good chunk of the trip. But stop at Linq station first so we could get some In-N-Out for a quick dinner. But not before some shots of the Go Pool and the Linq promenade from the platform.







In-N-Out was pretty packed, but we found a seat. And since it was fast food, we forgot the pics. Doh. We squeezed into O'Shea's for a costly Frozen Bailey's. Then we pressed on to Westgate because I personally wanted to see the atmosphere at the Superbook during a Golden Knights playoff game. It was decently busy, but busy in not a good way. No way I was getting served at the bar!

Progress on MSG Sphere









Took a pic of “The King” on the way out.





Now it's 8:30 pm, and I still hadn't had my first beer of the trip. Shit. Went to Sahara as they usually have a craft beer or two on tap.



But of course, the tap system was totally screwed up, so no craft for me!



Played my go-to, 7/5 Super Aces Bonus (98.85%), but still quadless at the bars there of course.




M struck first blood on a penny unit.



After the Knights beat the Avs, I joined her at the penny units. And of course 6 minutes later, I was also on the board with “Wankers” (quad 6s). Ugh.



Bummer we didn't have time for “The STRAT”. They actually have decent comped craft selection.



In-N-Out didn't hold us too well, so we decided to hit up Earl of Sandwich for a bit more sustenance.

But first we swung by Paris since I was in the mood for a strawberry daiquiri slash we hadn't been there in awhile. Bellied up to Gustav's Bar. The machine I decided to play is this one.



Now what is notable about this CET bartop? Well, it still has 7/5 Triple Bonus Plus (97.67%)!!! It actually has all the paytables CET bartops had before the “Great Purge of 2015”. After we were done with our drinks, I tell M that we needed to come back here later. Did we actually come back later in the trip? FUCK NO!!!

But the pic above has the machine unit numbers in it, so if any forum member wants to play a “better” CET bartop, have at it!

Then we went to Earl of Sandwich and split a Hawaiian BBQ sandwich and a Caesar Salad. It was pretty good, but too much ham and not enough chicken for me. I told M that next time I'm going to ask for all chicken instead.

We then took a quick peek into Cosmo to see if @GlenCoco was still up and at 'em. But he was already in bed. Figured no big deal since we like Cosmo and their pool. But best laid plans...

From here, we figured we would just hike back to MGM Grand and called it an early night since gambling was a bust for us, and we had a full week here.





Day 1:
O'Shea's -$20
Westgate -$10
Sahara -$28.60
Paris -$5

Day 1 Total: -$63.60
Trip Total: -$63.60

 

Day 2: Wed. 6/9/21 Don't Trust Drunk People to Watch Your Shit

I don't think I slept too well last night since the room still was a bit too warm than what we were used to.

View from our room



Ate Original Chicken Tender today, but failed on pics of course. While M went to the MGM Grand Pool, I planned to meet up with a Vegas local who is one of my Untappd friends, “Big G.”. While M was at the pool, he was willing to drag me out to HUDL, a local brewery.

I got a quick flight of four beers here for $10. Very fair price considering what I got.











These were the beers in picture order.

Scorched Meadows – Hazy (6.3%; 4.25 sips)
Salty Swabber (9.4%; 4.25 sips)
Sample of new batch of Scorched Meadows Hazy using Cryo Citra (4.75 sips)
Big Foozy (13.1%; 4 sips)
115° Imperial Stout (12.3%; 4.25 sips)

Unfortunately plans changed for him and had to cut it a little short. Had a good time meeting you Big G.! Hope we can meet up again sometime! Craft beer at the casinos this trip were pretty disappointing.

Speaking of that, since I arrived back MGM Grand a little early, thought I would hit up Whiskey Down for a bit. But Goose IPA is the best they have now.



I hit medium sized “wankers” though!



Eventually M texted me she's back up in the room. So we regrouped to prepare for our dinner plans.

Dinner was at Wolfgang Puck's Lupo at Mandalay Bay.

We didn't eat here, but I liked their sentiment.





We got to Mandalay Bay a bit before our reservation, so I checked out Rhythm and Riffs and grabbed a Lagunitas IPA (6.3%; 3.75 sips). Paytables were not very good.



Fast forward to Lupo



Traditional bread service



I decided to give Stone Delicious (7.7%; 3.5 sips) one more try. Nope malty mistake as it was probably old keg.



We both ended up having chicken parmesan.



Dinner wasn't a knockout as the parm was a tad overdone. But it was good for the price since we had a myVegas BOGO.

All the while, I kept in contact with @vtamanda since she and her husband were staying at Delano. Fortunately, they were just getting back to Delano as we wrapped up dinner, so we were able to have a nice chat. I also learned she was quite the rugby player in college. And by looking at her, I figured she was “a back” when she played, but she said she often played number 8, which is one of the forward positions. I'm a fan of the game, but I couldn't imagine playing it. I would probably get killed!

After Lupo, we decide to go back to MGM Grand as well. Pics from walk back.





Soon after, I went up to the casino bar as they had Space Dust (8.2%; 4.25 sips) on tap.



The best thing I could pull is this though. Ugh.



Now while I'm here I had a nice chat with a guy from Brooklyn, and he was sorta new to the game, so I would help him every now and again. He had much better luck on his machine than I did on mine.



Well, I had stuck a $100 into my machine and it had $76.25 left when I stupidly asked him to watch my machine when he went to the bathroom. Well, when I returned from the bathroom, my money was gone. My dumbass immediately freaked out. He offered to cover me, which in retrospect I should had immediately taken. But me, the idiot, said no, let's see if security could fix this for me because I had seen it successfully done in the past. But security was slow as hell, and the thief was not stupid and cashed the ticket at a kiosk nearly immediately. The guy that I asked to watch my machine was getting antsy, and wanted to move on.

When security said there was nothing they could do, I asked my neighbor, “Well, are you going to cover me?” Well, yeah, he reneged on his original offer and only wanted to give me $20 now, even though he was up over $1600 in my presence. Oh my blood was boiling now, I snatched the $20 out of his hand, and when he was leaving my drunken self called him an asshole. Soon afterward, security returned, and offered me a $50 food credit for 2 for what happened. When they looked at the video, they must have saw I was not responsible. But they also insisted that I “call it a night”. After their offer, I was in a lot better mood considering what happened, but I was buzzed enough to comply with their directive anyway. Might have saved me more money in the end.

Day 2:
MGM Grand: -$35.75 (includes $50 food credit and $20 cash reimbursement)
Mandalay Bay: -$14
Luxor: -$1

Day 2 Total: -$50.75
Trip Total: -$114.35

 

Day 3: Thurs. 6/10/21 A Knight to Remember

Well not surprisingly, M wasn't thrilled when I came in pretty late. But she was more understanding when I explained what happened. In an ultimate display of cheap bastardism, this afternoon we were planning to rent a U-Haul pickup truck for 4 days. While she ran off to the pool in the morning, she got a notification that our rental location was moved. And then soon afterward a call from the new place demanding a lease agreement in Vegas to rent the truck. We didn't have one and they moved to cancel our reservation. FUCK! So we might be without a car this trip. Partly thanks to this, get off to a pretty late start, but eventually decided to eat at Fatburger for lunch.



Well, when we got to Fatburger, the a/c wasn't running indoors and we questioned whether to eat there at all. Eventually, we decided to use our Nine Fine Irishmen award for lunch.

Along the way...



So we redeemed that award at the MLife desk, and then proceeded to go there to eat lunch. One problem. It didn't open until 4pm!!! So we went back to the desk, and they insisted the award will be valid for at least a couple of days. We couldn't wait until 4pm to eat. So what do we do? Decided to walk all the way back to Fatburger. Sigh. Good news, the a/c was now running properly. Bad news, forgot to take another food pic. Haha

Stopped into Target after lunch to pick up a few Gatorades, a gallon of water, and some snacks. And most importantly, a bottle of 50 SPF sunscreen. That Target location is not very marked up, fyi, so if you need some essentials along the South Strip, go there!

Got back to the room and M wanted to go to the MGM Lazy River again, but I wasn't not up to it. While she was at the pool, I noticed we could get a refundable rental at Dollar for $264 all-in for the remaining 4 days for our trip. This was more than the U-Haul, but not by a lot. So I text her that we should consider it. Unfortunately, there were major issues with her account to “skip the line” (essential at the moment imo), so she had to sign-up again. She did it all while at the pool, so now we had a rental car for the rest of the trip.

Now we had to prep for one of the major highlights of the trip. Going to the Golden Knights game!!! We were able to get a good offer from the moderator of a myVegas Facebook group, who has season tickets, but couldn't attend because he is in Canada. I ended up wearing pants, which was a bit uncomfortable for 90F outside. I probably would have survived with shorts in the rink since they were upper deck seats. @GlenCoco was also attending the game (and had nicer seats than us), so I had been texting him hoping to meet up before/during the game.

Walked over to NYNY to catch the beginning of The March To The Fortress, but not before a bit of “Texas Tea” first.









I have been an old school Nordiques fan ever since I was a kid. When I was a kid, I tended to root for the teams that weren't very good; don't ask me why. So when the NHL came up with the “Reverse Retro Jersey” this year, and I saw the Avalanche's release, I knew I had to have it. Best Christmas gift ever!!!

It's the best “Reverse Retro” in the NHL, imo.



This guy had a rough night.



Now we began to make our way to T-Mobile Arena.












Now before going into the arena, a guy gave me a solid pat on the back. I hoped it was @GlenCoco because I texted him my get up, and I was one of the very few that was wearing one of these “Reverse Retros” and the only one I saw with Grubauer on the back. Alas it was a random Avs fan, but it was still noteworthy. His seat actually was four seats to the right of us!!! I needed more rarities like that on the video poker machines!

Once in the arena, we explored the concourse. I was pretty impressed.









View out toward Toshiba Plaza







The rally towel they gave us, courtesy of Cosmo







Knights Starting Lineup





Sir Richard Branson sounded the opening siren. Sorry we didn't make it to your hotel this trip.



Opening Face-Off







Now I didn't want to miss the pregame festivities, so M decided to “hold it” before the game. Once the game began, being a good (read: stupid) boyfriend, I suggested to her to go use the bathroom now since the puck dropped in the first period. Before she even got to the concourse, BAM! Devon Toews (that's pronounced “Taves” for non-hockey fans) gave the Avs a 1-0 lead. Even I wasn't ready for that!

I was more ready for Nick Holden's goal 52 seconds later.







M took a pic from another section during her travels.

Let's play “Where's Tring?”



M was also kind enough to bring this back for me. Ridiculously priced at $16, but I needed an Untappd check-in here! Duh!!!



Knights take the lead!!!



Good look of the guy on my jersey



M's new friend!!!



Wayne Newton and Lil' Jon doing a skit at intermission.



2nd Period: A view of Fleury now





Now this was interesting. Mikko Rantanen was about to take a shot on the power play and I got it. Just above the chick's head.



Unfortunately for Knights' fans, it got past Fleury.



M took a picture at virtually the same time.



Which one looks better folks? We have different phone models.

M also snapped a pic of the Avs celebration a second later.



Cheerleader performing next to us



Iron Mike



MAKE SOME NOISE!!! Brought to you by Megabucks...haha



Yeah, we were pretty much the only people with masks on.





Knights Retake The Lead!!!



M's panoramic picture taken from her video above.



Toshiba Plaza at 2nd intermission. I thought there would be more fans out there. But then again, it is Vegas.



3rd period action



Knights get insurance!



Referee Francis Charron signaling the goal!





William Karlsson with the puck



First Avs penalty leading to an NV Energy Power Play!



Explanation on “Shame”.



Missed chance



Avs now being down 2 pulled Grubauer and have an empty net. Here is me catching Max Pacioretty preparing to take a shot at the empty net (lower left).



He scores!!!



The Flamingo on the screen is ready to party!



Knights win 6-3!!!





Ryan Reaves and Goalie Robin Lehner bodycheck each other in celebration



Scoring the Victory Flamingo!





Handshake line...”Viva Las Vegas”!!!

M hates that song btw thanks to the Bally Bazaar Shops testing audio with it at 5am one trip. Yikes!







Saluting The Crowd





First Star of the Game Alex Pietrangelo



Crowd leaving the game. Anyone unmasked and unvaccinated was an idiot here if you ask me.





Fleury Fleury!!



Unfortunately, couldn't find a good time to meet with @GlenCoco. Hopefully next time!

After the game we headed to NYNY to eat Nine Fine Irishmen. Except for one guy behind me walking out of T-Mobile saying “Grubauer Sucks”, most people were very kind and commiserated with me over the result. But in reality, I was okay with the result. The atmosphere of the Knights winning the series was well worth it!

Since we were at NFI, I felt like this was appropriate (4.2%; 4.25 sips). @IrishDave would be proud!





When we looked at the menu, we noticed they slashed it big time. We struggled to decide what entrée we even wanted. I was in the mood for steak, so I got the NY Strip and M went along with it. It wasn't the best, a bit on the tougher side, but still pretty tasty. The mashed potatoes we ordered with the steak were also excellent.



We then checked out Hershey World, and we were still a bit hungry, so we got this. A giant S'More! Messy but tasty!





Then went briefly back to the room for M to change.



Line for Hakkasan



Then went to Park MGM to the West Bar for more Space Dust! Off to a good start, but four Aces would have been nicer!





I remembered that 10 play offered nickels, so I moved to that route.


A 5X quad for M!!!



A painful “Dave” for M.



Premium quad!



Straight Flush for M!!!



Premium quad for M!



More “Wankers” for me!





Now M was getting tired and we headed back to MGM Grand, but of course I had a bit more energy with my Space Dust fuel. “Yo bartender, Jobu needs a refill!”



But it was rough. No quad pics at the bar in the next 90 minutes. Ouch.

Day 3:
NYNY: +$6.40
Park MGM: -$19.90
MGM Grand: -$36.85

Day 3 Total: -$50.35
Trip Total: -$164.70

More to come!!!

 

Thanks everyone!!!

Pics, lots of pics helps me remember. This one was a bit more of a struggle because we took less pics in certain spots. And I can thank M for most of that. I don't usually take many pics outside of gambling.

If we actually were STAYING at Cosmo, I could possibly see it. But we really do love going everywhere. It's a token benefit of being a flea. Were not super concerned about concentrating our play in one place/company.

 

Day 4: Fri. 6/11/21 A Day to Forget

Well, we hit the pool again in the morning iirc, and M was in a good mood. But we had to cut that a little early because we needed to pick up our rental car. Around this point, M was having major buyer's remorse over the rental car because she was having SO much fun at the MGM Grand Pool. And I suggested that we take the CX to save money trying to go get the car. Well during the annoying walk to the bus, she increased her remorse.



She now flat out told me she wanted to cancel the car. In theory, I think it might have been possible without penalty since we had a non-prepay reservation, but the fine print was as clear as mud. And she YELLED at me for not reading the cancellation rules yesterday! Why the hell would I think you'd cancel at THAT point?!?! And when she logged in, it looked like she might still have to pay if she canceled. So she begrudgingly kept the reservation. We were borderline arguing while on the buses to the rental center. We skipped an ~hour line by signing up for their program beforehand.

Then we had another bad issue for us. “What to eat???” She suggested Chili's at the South Outlet Mall, but I ~balked at it. I came up with other suggestions, and she balked. Then suggested South Point Hot Dog Cart for a snack. Line huge. We left. We kept disagreeing. As we approached MGM Grand, she as the driver basically said “fuck this” and drove us back to the room.

And we went to the elevator, both very pissed off. And guess what, our key doesn't work! Remember that employee that was annoyed with us on Day 1? Yeah... So we had to go back in line to get our keys fixed. The person we dealt with was very nice, and she offered a $50 MLife food credit for the inconvenience. She asked which reservation we wanted it under, and we decided M's, so we needed to use it tonight. She then ate Goldfish crackers in the room and eventually went to the pool. You'd think I would fucking learn to feed this woman, but apparently not.

I looked up restaurants while she's at the pool, and we eventually decided that Public House at Luxor might be our best choice. But when I decided this, there were still issues. No reservations between 6:15pm and 8:45pm. Shit. So at the last minute I grabbed 6:15 pm and figured we'd be late. In the end, I called them because we would be significantly late. They apparently weren't packed though and said we could easily be moved to 7 pm.

Food was not shabby, but it's a bit of a bummer that we liked the app better than our main courses.

The app in question, spinach artichoke dip



Also started off with a local beer. Bad Beat Hoppy Times IPA (7%; 3.75 sips). It was pushing on age though, can slightly foamed up upon opening. Standard for an old IPA.



We sorta remembered to take pics of our mains before eating too much of them. M had a Philly Cheesesteak, and I had a Chicken BLT, hold the LT.



Since MGM Grand got rid of it at Whiskey Down, I decided to get one of my and @Jpw711 's favorite IPAs, Big Dog's Peace, Love, And Hoppiness. But unfortunately this one was clearly old, and the hops were totally faded. This one was a struggle to drink even. Disappointing.



Took the tram back to Excalibur, so M was able to get this pic.



And this



Now we're back at MGM Grand and we decided it's a good idea to work on some freeplay. She had a total of $150 thanks to myVegas, and I had $25 from myKonami. My conversion didn't end up bad thanks to this. But why couldn't it have been a “Quick Quad!”



10X hit for M



Of course eventually I peeled off to find more Space Dust at the bar. But I “paid” for the beer with more bad cards. About an hour later, M texted me and said that she just might go up to the room because slots were just eating her freeplay I told her to find me at the bar. We talked a bit, and we both decided to go up to the room. But for me, it's mainly because I felt guilty about not going up with her for some reason. She said I could stay down there to play. But no, I didn't. Went up to the room by 11pm on a Friday night, and then stewed over all the horrible decisions I had made so far. Going up to the room didn't make M feel better either since we barely talked as I was in a huge mood. Like I said, a day to forget.


Day 4:
MGM Grand: -$25 (includes $25 freeplay)

Day 4 Total: -$25
Trip Total: -$189.70

 

Day 5: Sat. 6/12/21 Getting “Dusted” with JSR1968!

Well, the morning got off to a frosty start. I tried to suck up to M a bit, asking her if she wanted to go to the pool this morning. She was hesitant, because she figured there would be a line to get in the lazy river by the time we got there. But I insisted, and she begrudgingly agreed.

Well, she was totally right as usual. About a 7-minute line to get into the pool complex, and about 30 minutes to get into the lazy river. She was pretty pissed. Chatted with a nice couple from Alabama while waiting though. When we finally got in, at least her mood changed. She really, really loves that lazy river.

But thanks to the line and even me enjoying myself a bit, I gave @JSR1968 heads up that I won't be on MGM Grand floor until about 2 pm. He texted back and said, “Sitting at the end across from Whiskey Down”. Well, my poor reading comprehension thought he meant he actually was AT Whiskey Down. Because that weekend they were having a blackjack tourney there. So suits asked me if JSR was playing in the tournament, what was his name, etc. Then I reread my text and note the phrase “across from”. Ohhhhhh...

Found @JSR1968 soon after and had a nice time catching up with him. And he got to hear our clusterfuck of a trip so far first-hand. Second trip in a row where he made an explicit effort to schedule a trip to overlap with mine. Clear sign of a good friend. Unfortunately, he had been playing for a few hours and couldn't hit the side of a barn. Since I was so short of time leading up to meeting JSR, I made one notable mistake. I did not eat lunch.

Speaking of lunch, M had hers at the pool with her friend “Leo The Lion”. Leo was filled with a frozen drink that I brought to her from outside the pool complex. Hey, that saved like $20!!! The bartender was an ass though and made me fill the lion myself. He only gave me the refill volume in plastic cups.


Also someone at the pool told M that they loved her “gold puppy cup” hahaha


Let the Dusting begin!!



And today was even going to be even MORE dangerous because of who was working the casino bar that afternoon. It was Alex, who took care of me very well in April 2019. He's like, “You don't remember me??” And I had to take a double take. But wearing a Nordiques hat made me pretty memorable at least. Lol But Alex is one of those guys where if you drink the same thing, he'll tend to refill your drink without even asking. I really like those kind of bartenders, but gotta watch out with that. Especially with Space Dust! I also asked him why did Whiskey Down got rid of “Peace, Love, and Hoppiness”. His response, “Because they're assholes!” hahaha

Unfortunately, only pic I took was one of these annoying full houses where you pull trips to make it. Give me quad 2s dammit, it's more likely!



JSR1968 was still struggling with video poker, and he was thinking about taking a nap considering he got up before 5am. Ouch. Well, I told him that we'll probably be free later tonight and that it was good to see him once again!

M cleaned up and met me in the casino. We stopped by the Pandora Store and she got this.



And this point she's noticed the Space Dust emanating from me. Yeah, I was quite buzzed. For dinner we decided on Grand Wok since we still had a $50 food credit for me being an idiot getting my TITO stolen.





This would clearly be the happiest she would be all night. Oops...



We really both loved our food though. M had the orange chicken, and I had kung pao chicken. I really loved my dish because M told me that I repeatedly said how great it was...whoops. But it was really good! We both agreed we would consider paying full price to eat this again in the future. And with Strip restaurant prices, that's rare for us to say!

Thought about going to GVR, but for some reason I can't remember, we decided to stay on the Strip and went to Oyo instead. I think it's because M wanted to drink a little and not worry about the car. This was a bad idea because it was an easy place for me to resume getting “Dusted”.

Believe it or not, Oyo had some of the new Game Kings. They were pretty kind to me too.

Stupid “Dave”



Another SF draw miss.



3s full of Jacks the hard way



Jacks full of 3s the easy way



And the older machines were even nicer to me



But now I needed to go to the bathroom, and it wasn't just to pee. Well, I was in there a little over thirty minutes. I think it was because I also passed out briefly on the toilet...ugh. M had to play “mommy” from that point and made sure I got back to the room okay. The next day, M said that I was pretty much a drunken mess. Worse than the “Tunica BBQ Pizza Incident”, @Jpw711. I certainly got “Redusted”. Doh! But at least I won today!!!

Day 5:
MGM Grand: +$7.50
Oyo: +$47.50

Day 5 Total: +$55
Trip Total: -$134.70

 

Day 6: Sun. 6/13/21 We Finally Play Off-Strip and at Cosmo!

Again M was not happy, shocker. Had to play off the rest of M's freeplay at MGM Grand. Tried the new “Madonna” machine and set freeplay on fire. Then just decided to burn the rest off on DDB at the bar. Nope. Overall conversion was $74.34 out of $150. Yikes. Saw that Alex was already working his shift, so I took a quick moment to say goodbye to him. He saw M with me, and he said to her, “Watch out for him.”, and she just nodded her head. We decided to run out to the South Outlet Mall for a bit after checking out of MGM Grand, and she hemmed and hawed over this rose gold Pandora bracelet starter set she first saw yesterday at the MGM location.





You could buy this life-sized stuffed version of “Chance” for only $750!!! haha He's technically a Gila Monster.



This time, I didn't balk when the topic of Chili's comes up. See I can learn!!! No pics of course because no one gives a fuck about food at Chili's. But our “3 for $10's” were fine.

Now we wanted to check-in at Flamingo. Problem is, it's so packed in the garage that we had to park at the top level. This sucked because there is no elevator access for the top floor and is uncovered. We decided not to drag the bags with us and check-in. Had to navigate through this line.





But it went quicker than we thought because they forced people to mainly check themselves in via kiosks now. But we were picky jerks that prefer certain things. Mainly no adjoining door. We feared that the kiosk won't honor that request and just randomly assign us a room. So when we got to the front of the line we pretty much asked to deal with a real person. A girl helped us get a room with our preferences, but she said we had to finish the reservation on the kiosk to print keys. Well, we tried, and it told us to see a representative. Sheesh. We eventually got the people that help Diamond and 7 Star guests who had full-service stations.

Room was fortunately ok from first glance.









Artwork from our floor lobby





Of course, we now had to visit the Go Pool. But in comparison to MGM this was a disappointment to us. This was a sit and drink all day pool, and we're too cheap for that. We're no @Gaggles. Lol



Left the pool and we looked at the habitat. We thought it was interesting because one of the flamingos was sleeping sitting down. Not used to seeing that.



Now we ran off to Green Valley Ranch, so M could squeeze a round of bingo in.

Allegiant Stadium





M set up and ready to go!



Not surprisingly I passed on bingo. Should I have? Ummm...

The main bar I usually play when I visit GVR was filled with regulars. Ugh. Found a Super Hot Roll video poker machine to play. I played 8/5 DDB Plus because when you can play that game on a gimmick game?!?!



Found a seat at the sportsbook bar instead. Got a Four Peaks Hop Knot (6.7%; 3.75 sips)



After a bad enough beating at the bar, I moved over to the penny units, and M joined me as bingo was now over. 98%+ VP for pennies is always welcomed for us. M didn't get any bingos. But she got this.



Now the quads finally started coming for me on pennies...ugh





Premium for M. Coins!!!



Now it was pushing after 8, and we were getting hungry, so we planned to hit up Ellis Island BBQ for dinner.

Pics along the way...

We ended spending much more time at this casino than expected...



Yeah, never got back here.



Never even stepped in here!



Tried Ellis Island's Let's Get Hazy IPA, the bartender claimed this was their regular IPA, but I didn't believe her unless they totally overhauled it. This looked and tasted like a hazy. (6.3%; 4 sips). M had a root beer, which was really, really good too (4.25 sips)!



We both got the chicken and baby back ribs combo. It was excellent as usual, especially the chicken imo. @Wanker751 was kind enough to give a BOGO coupon from the LVA book.



Now went back to the bar to play and get another beer of course. I have played 7/5 ACE$ (98.25%) at the bar before, but this trip I noticed they also offered 8/5 Super Double Bonus (98.61%), so of course, you all know what I had to do.

Another one of these annoying full houses, it wouldn't just give me quad queens for $150 instead?!?! Ugh. The bar wasn't kind to me.



On the way out, I found another Super Hot Roll game, and it offered one of my favorite variants of all time, Super DDB. That on a gimmick game? Yes, please!



Now it's pushing 11pm and wanted to get the car back to Flamingo We struggled to find any decent spot and circled the garage. When we re-entered again to look, we saw this sign.



Well, now we could find good spaces!



Now while we were out at Ellis Island, we called the front desk because some lights in the bathroom didn't work. Well they replaced those while we were gone. But now when we turned on the bathroom lights, this happened. Fuck is this room haunted?!?!?!



Then moved to Cosmo to meet up with @ted_nancy for the first time in almost 3 years.

M is a big fan of “Alice in Wonderland”.


Another major video poker enthusiast (probably a lot more than me even), @ted_nancy and I had a good time catching up on things and taking stabs at the Chandelier bar. Unfortunately, the VP machines were not very kind.

I tried to order a raspberry lemon drop, but the bartender said he couldn't do it without getting two tickets. Ugh. I guess I'll have ANOTHER Space Dust then.

But later on in the night, he figured out if he gave me well liquor, the price could drop below the ticket threshold. Whatever works.



Since @ted_nancy isn't a huge drinker, the tickets began to pile up, and I was able to grab a “Mr. Miyagi”. Unfortunately, the quads were certainly NOT piling up for either of us.



After a sound beating on 6/5 Super DDB (97.69%), I moved to nickel 9/5 TDB w/DSTP (97.51%). What a tease, @IrishDave!



Just after 3am, finally! Haha M was also getting tired and a bit bored with our dorky VP chat.



Waved the flag at Cosmo down ~$100. And @ted_nancy wished he only lost $100! Ugh. It was good seeing you again, despite the shit luck! Got back to the room about 3:30 am.

Tough day for me.

Day 6:
Green Valley Ranch: -$22.14
Ellis Island: -$47
Cosmo: -$103.75

Day 6 Total: -$172.89
Trip Total: -$307.59

 

Day 7: Mon. 6/14/21 Something Crossed Off the Video Poker Bucket List!

At the beginning of my September 2018 trip report, I created a “bucket list” of video poker accomplishments that I would like to receive. This was the list.

1. Handpay
2. Deuces while playing quarter+ Deuces Wild
3. Dealt Aces (hopefully on a good game for it!)
4. A spade Royal
5. A kicker quad while playing TDB or TTB.
6. Two royals in one trip.
7. Really unlikely - Make a mathematically correct Royal holding AT suited.

During that trip, I crossed off 4 and 5 and haven't crossed off any other since. But on this day I crossed off another!

Another view of the pool area from our room to start the day.



We checked out the Habitat to see if the flamingos were more awake. We thought it would be cool to take a pic of the flamingos with us having our masks on. We were totally failing on a selfie, and eventually a lady asked if we wanted her to take a pic of us with the flamingos. We obviously said yes.





Duckies with a Black Swan!



Look who parked next to us last night. Haha



We decided we wanted to run off to Red Rock as M was eager to put in another bingo session.







We decided on Red Robin for lunch in Downtown Summerlin. If you haven't noticed yet, we aren't foodies. But service was quick, which was a good thing. We didn't have tons of time before the 1 pm bingo session.



I balked on bingo again.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Holding the pair of Jacks instead was better by 69 thousandths of a cent. Giggity!





Surprisingly, this was the only time this trip I played a video poker machine with a long-term payback over 99%. Very unusual for me. But maybe it will pay off?



After bingo, M found a “Cats” machine to play. She didn't do too badly.

“Congratulation You H... Credits”





Afterward we briefly went back to Downtown Summerlin to check another Pandora store, and M hemmed and hawed over that rose gold bracelet again. The street parking for some of those stores was very annoying though.

Now we took the car to the Aria garage (free parking), so we could walk to Cosmo's Boulevard Pool. Now I know what all of you are thinking. “Hey Tring, why didn't you park at Bellagio and walk from there?” Because I am a fucking idiot, and M has a bad habit of going along with my decisions?

But after a longish walk, we finally get to one of our happy places.









Not Safe for @IrishDave!



While we were at the pool, I had been keeping in contact with @KCnATX for the past few days, and informed him that we were at the Cosmo pool. He was planning to go to Game 1 later that night, so I figured it was a longshot. But he was kind enough to find me at the pool for a few minutes and had a nice chat. Sorry you had to stare at my poor, pasty white physique! I was pretty insistent on wearing my SPF 50 this trip. Haha I'm also glad you saw a Knights victory! Hope to spend some time playing VP at the bar with you soon!

Now on the way back to the Aria garage, we decided it's a good idea for me to redeem my $25 worth of myKonami free play at Aria. Unfortunately, the Double STP machines at Row 802 and 804 were taken. So I thought, maybe I should check if the All Star II units offered the same paytables. Indeed they did. And this ended up letting me get a profit from the freeplay.



Now we wondered what we should do next, but M got her MGM Grand folio, and she didn't think the charges didn't add up right. Ugh. I really didn't want to drag our asses back to MGM Grand since we had been there so much this trip. But I knew from past experiences, that arguing with people over charges AFTER you leave was never fun. So drag ourselves back there, and fortunately the employee was pretty sharp and could see where the discrepancy was. The person that offered us that $50 food credit at any MLife restaurant didn't apply the credit correctly. He saw a note in our file to add it though, so he just did it himself.

So at this point, why not visit the Pandora at MGM Grand again? The same employees that helped M on Saturday helped her again. And remembered that I was pretty tipsy on Saturday. Whoops...

But they were nice enough and were able to finally convince her with this rose gold starter set. They also mentioned that if you went to the concierge (I think they meant MLife desk) that she could get tier credits for her purchases. So we thought what the hell. With those Pandora purchases and hotel charges, she actually made Pearl on her own!!!

Now we decided on Outback for dinner. Yes we suck. But it was good enough for us as usual. Then headed back to Flamingo because we hadn't played CET properties at all while “on the clock”.

Guess who we parked next to again!



I also knew @Sindustry was staying at Caesars Palace at the moment, so I wanted to say hi for awhile.

Walk to CP













So met him and had a nice time catching up. It had been since “Spring Fling” since we bumped into each other in Vegas. @ted_nancy also joined us for awhile as he was double-booked at CP that night and was playing there. Love meeting up with other forum members when I can.

But time was pressing on, so we wanted to hit up Bellagio, so we could visit the conservatory per tradition.

Display from the Shops


We went to the Sportsbook bar first. Don't mind if I do. Another Space Dust of course! Nearly every MLife casino has made this their default Double IPA. Could be worse I guess.



Hit nothing at the bar, but played next to M on one of her all-time favorite machines.



Now here are the requisite photos:























Overall, we weren't that impressed with the current display though.

A bit after midnight, we walked back to CET land.



Around 1 am, we ended up near Harrah's, and M was getting hungry. So she tried to get a slice of pizza from this place.



But while in line an employee told the people in line, “I'm not sure we will have slices for all of you!” So M figures, what is the point?

She's still hungry, but also hurting a bit and didn't want to walk much further. So I offered to walk to Casino Royale and bring her back some White Castle. Only problem. White Castle closed at 1 am on weekdays!!! UGH.

She hit this at Harrah's while I failed to procure White Castle.



So now we decided to head back toward Flamingo. Make it to Bugsy's Bar. M goes to buy terribly overpriced pizza with a huge line at the Flamingo food court. It was unbearably hot at Bugsy's. But they had St. Archer Hazy (6.2%; 4 sips) at least, but tap nearly was not as good as M Resort.



Good hit that kept me afloat.



I watched a woman next to me at Bugsy's Bar never hold a card. First time I ever saw that. I pointed out she could hold cards if she wanted. But she didn't care slash I don't think she was very fluent in English.

Moved over to the main floor. Thankfully it's cooler, and we also found one of the quicker cocktail waitresses that we've found at Flamingo in a long time. So we stuck around a bit.

A Royal! With a Deuce in it...



Uh oh...


M decided to call it a night around 3. I hit this right after she left.

Aces!!! Oh FUCK.



Once I was done with my Lagunitas IPA at Flamingo (6.2%; 3.75 sips), I moved over to Linq because this was our last night!

I ended up drinking the new version of O'Dell's Mountain Standard (6.5%; 4 sips). I think I liked it better as a Black IPA.



Dealt Quick Quad! Shit, wrong game.



Six minutes later. That's more like it.



Six minutes later. On a roll!



Eventually I had to go to the bathroom. And at the time I didn't think much of it, and I just cashed out without covering my machine, which they only have a few of at that bar. When I returned, someone not playing was sitting in that seat. To me, it wasn't worth causing a fuss. So I decided to check out the few Aristocrat units they have. Now some of the games on there have decent paytables for quarters at the bar. I looked at them all and being the math dork I am, I decided to choose the best option available, which happened to be “Airport Deuces” that got the wrong end of a 69. It was 25/15/6/4/4/3 Deuces Wild and paid back 97.64% optimally.

So I played even more Deuces tonight. Of course the machine was quick to give me the shitty paying straight flushes.



From one card wasn't shabby though.



Then two minutes later. THIS!



My heart sank. WHAT ELSE COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS TRIP?!?! I just stared in disbelief for several minutes. This was my first dealt Aces I have received ever since I joined the smartphone world in Fall 2013 and was #3 on my “Bucket List”. I might have got dealt Aces before this, but if I have, it was not memorable. M got dealt Aces in Tunica playing one quarter at the bar almost a decade ago on DDB. She redrew the kicker even. The only dealt quad that I am missing now is dealt 9s. Like I care about those. FML

I finally take a picture of the draw for quints over 12 minutes later. I eventually motioned the bartender in the background to bemoan my bad luck.



Also in that picture, the machine I originally was on had no one sitting at it now. So I returned to it. And within four minutes, just after the stroke of 5, the new corporate conglomerate CETDorado had shown pity on me once again.

Multiplied Wankers!!!



And 150 seconds later! But not dealt 9s to finish the dealt quad cycle for me. Haha



These “Daves” when holding only one card are frustrating.



5:37 am now...it's pretty bright. I'm disappointed that I couldn't meet @Niteshade while doing a “reverse niteshade”. Also bummed I couldn't set aside a good time to meet up with @MikeOPensacola as well.





Less than five hours for me to sleep before our flight home!

Day 7:
Red Rock -$34
Aria +$32 (including $25 free play)
Bellagio -$12.80
Harrah's -$19.05
Flamingo -$17.95
Linq +$101.82

Day 7 Total: +$50.02
Trip Total: -$257.57