TR Las Vegas 21 - 28th September - America/Canada Discussion Forum, Holiday Forums

TR Las Vegas 21 - 28th September

HeidSFost

2004-10-01 14:52:18

Hiyas all

Well just got back pretty much.

Flights were with AA in biz, and very nice too. Straight over to LAX from LHR, and then a short hop to LAS. Flights were good and food was nice, and me bum wasn't numb at the end of it!

Stayed at Bellagio in a lake front room for 3 days. Room was fantastic, beds were to die for! We got line passes for Cafe Bellagio and the Buffet for the duration of our stay, and it made life loads easier, food was as good as you expect it to be. Conservatory was being remodelled for their Autumn display, and it will look fantastic - same theme that we saw last year, but they have added some flying geese!

Weather was in the high 90's every day (apart from Tuesday we were leaving, when it rained!).

Saw O again, and of course loved it. I won't spoil it for anyone, but will say again - you have to see it!

Went to the Fashion Show Mall to have a look round some shops, and also to have a look at the new Wynn hotel - it's very big! I am looking to have a stay there next year, before we move downtown.

Friday we moved downtown to the Las Vegas Club - had to tell the taxi driver how to get to the hotel entrance - I think he was a bit embaressed about that! Got a nice room in the North Tower with a fridge and coffee maker, and popped over to the ABC store to get provisions. The new owners of the Vegas Club have made lots of good changes - new carpet, painted walls, new slots, new tables and craps tables for the table games and lots more staff. The staff we know from past visits are much happier with the new owners, and it's done the place good.

The new Fremont Street lights are fantastic, the Area 51 show is great!

We had a slot tournament to go to on Saturday and Sunday - we didn't do any good in it, but we got a free t-shirt and I won one round, so for a while it was pretty exciting!

Went over to the Boulevard Mall and hit Lane Bryant and Torrid, my two favourite clothes shops in Vegas, did some damage to the credit card, and recovered to do some gambling

Three card poker, slots, roulette were my main downfalls - I did manage to put 15,000 points on my slot card in 4 days!

Monday I went to the Golden Nugget Poker Room (Tony, they have moved the poker room from behind the swimming pool to where the keno area used to be, next to the snack bar).

I entered the 11am tournament 43 entrants, $55 buy in, limit poker first hour no limit after - 3hours 35 minutes later, I walked away $284 richer after coming 6th! My first experience of playing live poker, so I was pretty chuffed!

Krispy Kreme at Fitz, is very good, and really cheap compared to the prices here.

Tuesday came far too soon, and the last thing we did in the casino was book for Vegas' 100th Birthday weekend next May - so now I have more flights to book!

Splitting hotels is nice, but I need more time downtown to fit in everything I want to do, plus the food and drink bill is more than halved if you stay downtown.

Cab to the airport was good (we usually shuttle it, but due to mum's bad back we took a cab instead). Security at the D gate at the airport was fantastic, we walked right through, a nice change from recent waits there I have had.

Couple of drinks at the AA lounge in LAX, and then wine with dinner and I had 6 hours solid sleep on the plane, and have had minor jet lag problems (couple of hours awake last night, and 1 hour wednesday night). As I had to come to work Thursday afternoon after the flight paying extra for biz has paid for itself. Also I am now gold status on American Airlines, so should be easier for me to get upgraded next flight!

All in all a really good trip, great weather, good gambling, and was sad to leave. Not long til May!

Any questions, just shout!

Heid
xx

lesley74

2004-10-01 18:04:08

vegas

Sounds like you had a great time! And the weather held up for you too. We had some bad weather this year (around 9th september), but it seems to have passed over and kept clear for you most of the time.

You never specified many restaurants - I take it you actually did eat that Bellagio buffet a few times?? We went over there one night but the queue was horrendous so we headed for Bally's instead.

Can't believe you booked for next May already!! Where are you staying - is it LVC?

pebbles

2004-10-01 19:37:05

trip report

Good report, Heid, sounds as if you had a great time.

How was security getting in to USA? Has it tightened up yet, and did you get fingerprinted and photographed?

How long is the flight going the way you did, and was it V-expensive to upgrade to biz class?

Pebbles

HeidSFost

2004-10-01 20:35:24

Hiyas

We ate at Cafe Bellagio and the Buffet, we didn't need to use the line passes for Cafe Bellagio at all, but the line passes for the buffet came in VERY handy!

I found the dinner buffet a bit of a feeding frenzy, but the breakfast was ok. Both mealtimes I would say visit, as the food is exquisite.

For the strip, that was the only places we ate, downtown we ate at the Upper Deck, Carson Street Cafe and the Bay City Diner. We are creatures of habit, and also with my mum having mobility problems, we have to stick close to places that are close by. We have done strip places like Cheesecake Factory before, so we aren't really missing out.

The flight was £1700 each, we worked out that economy plus on United with 36inches of seat pitch was £1400 quid, and Premium Economy on Virgin was £900 and was only 38 inches, so we went with Amercican and 50 inches of seat pitch, and I have to say it was worth it. Probably won't be able to afford it again, but I found a good deal, as the normal price is 3k and up. I went through ebookers, and although I had to fight with them to get what I wanted (they tried to swiz me on an online booking I made), I got what I wanted in the end.

Security was fine, very quick through LAX and LAS - they didnt start photos and fingerprints until yesterday. Plus we were travelling out and into vegas on quiet days. Sunday, Friday and Thursday are the days to avoid travelling into and out of Las Vegas.

I was always planning on going back in May, I want to stay in Wynn Las vegas when it is open, and May seemed to be a good time as it will tie into the Birthday celbrations, we have booked comp rooms at LVC, but if I can add on a couple of days at the start to stay at Wynn then we will do that

Fiance is planning on getting into the WSOP next year, so I might be back in June <ggg>

Heid
xx

TeeCee

2004-10-01 21:57:49

Vegas

Great report Heid. Nice job with finishing in the money in the Poker tourney, I'm proud of ya! What have they done with the room by the pool that was the poker room? Have they changed the dates of the WSOP - you mentioned June but I thought it always ran from April through to mid/late May?
I'm missing Vegas big time and have already got the missus to agree that we'll be going back around September time next year (money permitting)!!

Glad to hear you had a great time.

Tony

HeidSFost

2004-10-02 15:39:33

Hey Tony

They haven't done anything with the old poker room, it's still tented up. As far as I can tell they are going to use it for Special events, like they normally do in December when not so much of the pool space is needed. I am surprised they have moved the poker area over to the Keno area, I did hear they were going to use the area next to Zax, where the really posh gift shop is - certainly it's a bigger area. But the poker area at the mo is certainly intimate<g>.

Dates of the WSOP have been changed to June for next year - all at the Rio as well, apart from the final two days, which will be home at the Horseshoe.

Don't forget you can ring and get poker rate at the Nugget, 4 hours play a day will get you that rate, and the poker staff are really nice.

I am glad you are going back - lots and lots of changes downtown - you have to get there pretty often to keep up!

Heid
xx

TeeCee

2004-10-02 17:08:38

WSOP

Cheers for that Heid, I'd heard a rumour that it might be at the Rio but didn't realise the timing had changed. It'll be interesting to see if it affects the number of entries as June is pretty uncomfortable heat wise and certainly different to April/May!!
It's a bit sad in a way that it's moving (partially) from the Horseshoe, it's funny, I was watching one of the tourneys on Challenge TV the other night, they are showing the WSOP 2004 at the moment and during the Womens Hold 'Em final you can see me and the missus in the background (well, part of me anyway) . I think we'll be staying on the strip next year. After splitting our stay this year between the G. Nugget and the Orleans, we found that it was just a bit of a pain being off strip, nice hotel tho' the Orleans and a very good price but it's a pain waiting for the shuttle bus all the time. I think we might try either the Monte Carlo or NY NY next time around.

How did you find the poker tourney? Was it a bit nerve wracking? It must have been so exciting once you got down to the final few.......I'd be worried about giving away too many tells!

Cheers,

Tony

HeidSFost

2004-10-06 16:47:41

Hiyas

First few hands I was too nervous to think about tells - but you watch and learn as you go...it's really fascinating watching other people play, it's very true what people say about playing the player and not the cards.

My man and I have just signed up at the Grosvenor Victoria on the Edgware road for their card room, so he's eager not to let me get away from him in the experience stakes<g>. They have £30 tourneys at the weekend! We went into the casino on Sunday - very weird compared to Vegas!

We are toying with using Virgin for flights next time, the lure of a non stop is very tempting - and I found a good deal on expedia for direct flights with Virgin and 9 nights at the GN for 798 each - works out cheaper than if you booked flight and hotel separately, it means losing out on our rooms aty the Vegas Club - but the lure of the pool and the spa might just win it for us, plus the beds at the GN are very comfy. We never really liked gambling at the Bugget, as the slots were always super tight, but this time they seemed to be slightly looser.

Tony, you have done Virgon to vegas, I sem to remember that you disliked it (I am not Virgin's biggest fan either), BMI's direct flight is full, and Travelcity don't know if they are going to go with Vegas next year (shame that as I would have gone with them). How is terminal 2 at Vegas, and given the choice would you go direct with virgin, or do a non direct out there?

Decisions decisions!

Heid
xx

TeeCee

2004-10-09 20:37:24

Vegas

Heid,

I certainly wouldn't fly Virgin again, not unless they brought their prices down to be ultra competetive with some of the American airline companies. I know the changeover is a bit of a pain but for something like a 4 hour difference and a little bit of hassle, you can save around £300+ by not going Virgin........that's entry into a few Poker tourneys!! :lol:

I have to say, we had no problems at the airport though, no real big queues, it was all pretty smooth. We had our cases opened and searched by US customs (cable ties on them when we picked them up at Gatwick) but it wasn't a problem.
I was going to look at flying TCD next year so I'll have to see if they continue to fly to Vegas, if not I'll probably try to go AA as I really like them, although saying that I'm gonna keep my eyes on the likes of Expedia and Ebookers in case there's a decent deal for a seven night stay later in the year.
That's a good deal to the Nugget, they aren't as cheap as they used to be, so with a Virgin flight that's a good price, I love the Nugget!

Take care

Tony :wink:

HeidSFost

2004-10-09 21:51:47

Cheers for thet Tony.

As it is .. it's a moot point now, as I seem to have got the deal of the century on BMI, so just waiting to get me hands on the tix, and then we can get planning for next feb.

So I iwll miss the new Wynn opening, and I will miss the 100 b'day celebrations... but it was sooo cheap I had to go for it!

Heid
xx

luci HT Mod

2004-10-09 22:07:12

Hi Heidi

If you would like to write a review of the Bellagio you can do so at Bellagio Hotel reviews

I have asked for the Las Vegas Club to be added to our reviews site, but this may take some time as they is a considerable backlog at the moment.

luci :wave

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