Vegas trip report -- a Royal success!

[knagl]

I recently got home from my 12th trip to Las Vegas.  It was a complete success!

I'm not going to write a whole trip report, but here's the key stuff:

We stayed at:

• The M Resort for our first two nights (free - marketing mailer with free room nights, $50 in resort credit (we used it for food), and $50 in slot freeplay).
• The El Cortez Cabana Suites for the next three nights (free - marketing mailers with a total of $50 in food and $50 in slot freeplay).
• The Golden Nugget for our last three nights ($39, $39, $49 for a Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday night from an e-mail offer - no inclusions)

We had other free nights we could have used at a few different properties, but figured that $127 + tax for three nights including a Friday at the Golden Nugget was a pretty darn good rate.  We've stayed there before and enjoyed it, plus it was nice to not have any gaming requirement for our last three nights (the e-mail offer wasn't tied to my player's club card -- it was just an offer sent to everyone on their e-mail list).


We ate at (in no particular order):

• Studio B Buffet - M Resort
• Red Cup Cafe - M Resort
• Seasons Buffet - Silverton
• Bay City Diner - Golden Gate
• Sirrico's Pizza - New York New York
• Courtyard Cafe - The Orleans
• Feast Buffet - Red Rock Resort
• Flame Steakhouse - El Cortez
• Cafe Cortez - El Cortez
• Firelight Buffet - Sam's Town
• Garden Court Buffet - Main Street Station
• Snaps - Eastside Cannery
• In-N-Out Burger - I-15 & Tropicana

I'm sure there were a few other places we ate at that I can't remember off the top of my head.

Notes: The Studio B Buffet was excellent as always, and they were running a strong promotion where you could earn a free buffet with a certain number of points, and you kept the points.  That kept the buffet line long most of the time, but worth the wait. 

We ate at the Silverton buffet both Friday nights when we were there.  It was their seafood buffet with beer and/or wine included, normally $22, but a 2-for-1 with a silver level or higher players' club card, and then used points to help pay for the one. 

Red Rock has changed their buffet hours -- there is now a gap between lunch and dinner (closed 2:30p - 4:00p).  We used a 2-for-1 coupon there and for the price, this is hands-down the best buffet in Vegas.  Wynn has a few things that RR doesn't, but for the price point RR is the winner. 

The Bay City Diner inside the Golden Gate is a gem.  The food isn't spectacular, but it isn't bad, the service is awesome, and the prices are reasonable. 

We were disappointed with the Flame Steakhouse at the ElCo.  We got a coffee shop quality server with semi-fine dining prices.  Everything is a la carte (the $30 steak or lobster does not include a potato or salad).  Our tab before coupon was over $80 for two of us -- it didn't feel like an $80 dinner at all.  After coupon it was about $40 which was fair for what we got, but we'll probably go elsewhere next time. 

Cafe Cortez was great during the day, but they've virtually eliminated their entire menu during graveyard Sunday - Thursday.  In the overnight your choices are a salad, a cold sandwich, or a ham and eggs breakfast.  That's it. 

Finally, we tried the Firelight Buffet at Sam's town for dinner one night because we were already there.  With a 2-for-1 the two of us ate for $10 total.  The buffet wasn't spectacular, but for $5 a piece it was just fine.


Casinos we set foot inside of:

• M Resort
• El Cortez
• Golden Nugget
• Fitzgerald's
• Four Queens
• Binion's
• Fremont
• Golden Gate
• Las Vegas Club
• California
• Main Street Station
• Red Rock Resort
• Stratosphere
• Wynn Las Vegas
• Encore Las Vegas
• Venetian
• Palazzo
• Casino Royale
• Bellagio
• Planet Hollywood
• MGM Grand
• New York New York
• Monte Carlo
• Luxor
• CityCenter / Aria Casino
• The Orleans
• Skyline Casino (Henderson)
• Sam's Town
• Eastside Cannery
• Ellis Island
• Silverton

We used the Valet at the Mirage, but never went inside this trip.  We also were on the tram when it took us to Mandalay Bay, but we didn't get off the tram.

Casino/gambling notes: What a trip!  Three Royals between the two of us!  A progressive for $1,100 hit by my partner at the M Resort at the Ravello Lounge bartop machines, a $1,269.75 progressive I hit at the bartops at the Stratosphere, and a flat $1,000 my partner hit at the bartops at Fitzgerald's. 

We managed to hit quad 9's and a difficult hand of kings full of queens for a $40 bonus at Casino Royale, but then couldn't hit quads for the longest time and lost all of our bonus money there.  We pretty much broke even, but would have been ahead about $100 if we could have just hit the darn "any" quad. 

I managed to hit the top award on a quarter Top Dollar slot at Wynn -- 1000 credits ($250) on my 3rd offer.  I also hit a nice 500 + 100 credit wheel spin on a $0.25 Wheel of Fortune game for $150 at El Cortez. 

We also both had a few nice Time Machine hits thanks to the Glenda-like wild reel bonuses.  I forgot just how much I love Time Machine -- the awesome soundtrack makes that game.

We saw Ka by Cirque Du Soleli this trip.  It was very good, but we preferred The Beatles' "Love" Cirque show more.  After Ka we walked across the street and down the strip to the grand opening of the Aria casino at CityCenter.

I have plenty of pictures!  Here are just a couple of samples -- click on either of them to see the entire album, starting with the Royal, and then click the "Next" button in the upper right corner, or click anywhere on the picture to advance to the next picture.  The pictures are roughly in three groups -- places we went to, good slot machine/poker hits, then CityCenter and Aria pictures.





Click here to see all of the pictures.



All in all, we came back about $1700 to the good from a gambling standpoint, or about $800 ahead when you factor in airfare, hotel, food, and car rental.  A great trip!

[slot monkey]

Nice report knagl, it's always sweet when you can walk away a winner!

Hope #13 is just as good.

Happy New Year!!!!!

[stayouttadabunker]

Man...That Aria is very very nice isn't it?
I'd like to see that place!

[Thor777]

FANTASTIC...Super Great to see someone come out ahead of the game and have a great time doing it! 

[daddy2yea]

Wow what a great trip you had.  Thanks for the pictures I enjoyed looking at them. 
I can't wait to go back    Mike

[uniman]

Glad to hear the trip went good! Even hit a 12 chime Big Ben! Nice Aristocrat game.
Thanks for the pics.

[CaptainHappy]

Kevin,

Thanks for the trip PICs and report! Sounds like it was a blast, and profitable as well! 

K+ for sharing!

Now I am going to have to make a Vegas fun only trip some time to see all of the new stuff!

CH

[StatFreak]

...
I'm not going to write a whole trip report, but here's the key stuff:
...
...
...
...

If that was the short version, I'd like to see the novel full report..  

I'm glad to hear that you had such a wonderful time on this trip.
on all of those great wins and coming home with their money!  
     

And thanks for posting those pictures and giving us a look at some of the latest and greatest in Vegas. I'll have to check out the City Center the next time out.

[knagl]

Thanks for the nice comments, everyone.

I forgot that we ate at In-N-Out Burger on our last day -- how could I forget that?!  I edited it into the trip report.

Stat- I've written a detailed, drawn out trip report in the past that was paragraph after paragraph after paragraph -- a true novel!

[StatFreak]

I took a69mopar to In-N-Out while we were visiting in Laughlin. He didn't think that it would be worth the bother and was insistent on just getting a burger at Carl's Jr. or some such nonsense, but I wasn't having any of that. I know that he enjoyed it very much, but the story doesn't end there.

He ordered a double double, fries, and a shake, and I ordered a 3x3 animal style minus pickels, fries, and a soda. I picked up our order, and it seemed to me that his burger had only one patty on it, but since they sometimes slide over I let it go. My burger was, as usual, exactly as ordered. Well, he finishes the thing and then tells me that there was only one patty in it!    It was too late to have them do anything, but I told the young lady about it anyway for future quality control.

Now, I've been eating at In-N-Out for almost 20 years and have never had a mistake in an order. NEVER. I have never known anyone else who has, either, and I've gone there with groups of friends and with co-workers for lunch more times than I care to remember. Then Wayne tells me that this sort of thing happens to him all the time and not to worry about it. So we meet up with Mrs. Mopar a little later and sure enough, she just smiles and says, "Yup, that's Wayne. If anything can go wrong with an order, it'll happen to him."  

I'm not saying that it's a karma thing, but I have to admit that it had me thinking.  

Wayne, next time you're out here we'll make sure that you get two patties, and we'll make sure that Mrs. Mopar gets to join us.

[KirkLasVegas]

If you are a "fan" of In N Out (and who isn't?)
Check this out......

http://www.rajuabju.com/literature/innoutmenu.htm

The "Secret" menu, they sure aim to please. (Yes it is real)


Kirk

[StatFreak]

If you are a "fan" of In N Out (and who isn't?)
Check this out......

http://www.rajuabju.com/literature/innoutmenu.htm

The "Secret" menu, they sure aim to please. (Yes it is real)


Kirk

Of course it's real.   You can see in my post above that I ordered a 3x3 animal style, no pickles. They have a very simple business model. They only sell customizable cheeseburgers/hamburgers, french fries, sodas, iced tea, lemonade, and chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry shakes. The fries and shakes only come in one size. That's it. No bacon. No chicken nuggets or fish patties. No "new" sauces or pineapple, etc. They never change their menu.

The cost of the burgers is linear. There is a fixed cost for each bun+fixings "unit", then a fixed cost for each additional patty and each slice of cheese, and since you're paying a fixed price, it's easy to figure out how much your burger will cost. (I believe that it's currently $0.99 for each bun+fixings "unit" and $1 for each cheeseburger patty. I'm not sure how that breaks down between the burger and the cheese.)

Trivia note: each patty is 1/6lb before cooking, unless they've secretly changed it since the corporation started running things.

The fries are made from fresh potatoes peeled and sliced that day right in each restaurant -- I've seen them doing it. Everything is fresh. They don't even have freezers in any of their restaurants.

[rickhunter]

So a 6 by Meat will yield you  1 pound of hamburger in a bun?  I wonder what the physical limit is, I mean can you order a 100 by meat?

[a69mopar]

I took a69mopar to In-N-Out while we were visiting in Laughlin. He didn't think that it would be worth the bother and was insistent on just getting a burger at Carl's Jr. or some such nonsense, but I wasn't having any of that. I know that he enjoyed it very much, but the story doesn't end there.

He ordered a double double, fries, and a shake, and I ordered a 3x3 animal style minus pickels, fries, and a soda. I picked up our order, and it seemed to me that his burger had only one patty on it, but since they sometimes slide over I let it go. My burger was, as usual, exactly as ordered. Well, he finishes the thing and then tells me that there was only one patty in it!    It was too late to have them do anything, but I told the young lady about it anyway for future quality control.

Now, I've been eating at In-N-Out for almost 20 years and have never had a mistake in an order. NEVER. I have never known anyone else who has, either, and I've gone there with groups of friends and with co-workers for lunch more times than I care to remember. Then Wayne tells me that this sort of thing happens to him all the time and not to worry about it. So we meet up with Mrs. Mopar a little later and sure enough, she just smiles and says, "Yup, that's Wayne. If anything can go wrong with an order, it'll happen to him." 

I'm not saying that it's a karma thing, but I have to admit that it had me thinking.    

Wayne, next time you're out here we'll make sure that you get two patties, and we'll make sure that Mrs. Mopar gets to join us.

I did enjoy the burger and have craved them a few times since.  Thanks again David for insisting and the food of course.  As far as me being the only one at a table of 12 to get a bone in my chicken sandwich or an unidentified object floating in my now half full powerade, a staple in my chocolate milkshake, or things missing from my order, yes it happens to me all the time.  I have to say that Karma has been good to me in almost all other things in life, so it probably throws those things at me to keep me on my toes.  

   I can either have a trip to Reno, Lake Tahoe, or Laughlin, in February or March.  I'll see if things go well enough this month, then decide whether or not to take them up on the offer, who knows, maybe I'll have a double this time.

Thanks again,
Wayne

[rickhunter]

Wayne, the next time you go to vegas head on over to Sam's Town and play their Silver Strike machines. They have now released 3 coins with hot rods (they are silver clad now.  Sometimes you get lucky and get an old coin that is silver, but most are now clads).  I figure it was up your alley.  The Large coin is Silver and has a $200 face value (it's actually 1 troy pound {12 troy ounces} in silver content, so melt value at current silver prices is higher than face value).  You must play for it by winning the smaller coins, and trading 20 of the small coins for the big one.

[a69mopar]

K+ for the info and pics.  We went there last time and I don't remember them, but next time...........

W

[CaptainHappy]

Another quick note about the In-n-out side topic:

Not on the menu, but also available for 4-legged friends is the "PUPPY PATTY" a hamburger patty that is grilled without salt or other stuff that is bad for them! My sisters dogs freak out if they are near a In-n-Out Drive thru!

I think they charge 99 Cents for them? It has been a couple years since we did that though.

CH