August 2014 Las Vegas Trip Report
Well, we recently returned from a seven-day vacation to Las Vegas and wanted to break down the details of our trip for you. It was, by far, our longest visit to Las Vegas and one of our best. We got to visit some places that we’d never seen and enjoy a lot of sightseeing on this trip.
Tuesday, Day 1 – Travel Day
It has always been a problem of mine that the night before a vacation, I can never sleep! This was no exception. We were on the eve of our longest visit to Las Vegas and I finally fell asleep around 3:00am and had to wake up around 6:30am.
Our flight was a straight shot from the Nashville Airport directly into Las Vegas. I highly recommend a direct flight if at all possible. We traveled on Southwest and arrived at the airport around noon for our 2:00pm flight. We made it through security and baggage with no issues and stopped for pre-flight cocktail and snack at Rippy’s in the Nashville Airport.
One treat for our flight was a friend of ours gave us some free drink tickets for our flight! We put those to good use and even enjoyed the free TV feature that Southwest offers. The only problem was the iPad’s battery depleted somewhere over Oklahoma.
We arrived at the Las Vegas Airport around 4:15pm local time, waited for our luggage and jump in a taxi in route to the Wynn Hotel and Casino. One of the first things I noticed during the taxi ride was the new Ferris Wheel attraction called Linq. It sets nicely on the Strip, but that’s as close as we got. Not a big fan of Ferris Wheels, but if you are, I would recommend a visit.
We arrived at the hotel and proceeded to check in. We were granted a King Standard room with a view of the Strip on the 26th floor. I would have liked to have been higher, but the view was great regardless.
Our Room
The rooms at the Wynn are nicely appointed, fresh with a modern décor. The bed is amazingly comfortable and the flat screen TV swivels so you can adjusts its’ angle to make for optimum viewing. The mini-bar was stacked full of beverages and snacks. I did treat myself to a $7.00 Heineken as we unpacked.
The bathroom was fabulous! A huge tub with a separate stand up shower (bench included) and the water pressure was perfect. No waiting on hot water either. There was a toilet in it’s own closet, which is nice for privacy too.
Once my wife and I finished unpacking, we headed down to the casino area at the Wynn. It was a Tuesday evening and the place was very busy and the table limits were high (as expected). Most of the table games were either $10 or $25 minimum bets and very few seats were available.
We decided to head over to the Mirage across the street. We took a 5-minute taxi ride, of which 3 of those minutes were waiting on red lights. The fare was $10 between the properties. What is interesting is that most all cabs now offer credit card payments. I would recommend using cash since there is a $3.00 processing fee for this service.
We enjoyed the casino at the Mirage (as you’ll read more about later) and since we are longtime MLife members, we enjoying gambling at their many properties along the Strip. We spent the evening trying our luck at the $1.00 Flaming Red Sevens slot machines as well as either the 3-Card Poker or Let It Ride tables. We did find a fun 3-Card Poker table that occupied most of the evening, with a $5 minimum bet. We enjoy a table that is very social and enjoy interacting with the other players as much as the game itself.
As the night extended, we decided to grab a quick bite to eat at Carnegie Delicatessen right off the casino floor. We both ordered a sandwich (which we should have split). I had the Carnegie Haul (pastrami sandwich) and my wife had the “Ah, There’s the Ruben.” Both were the size of basketballs and we only ate ¼ each of them. Once dinner was over, we jumped back into a taxi and took the short ride back to the Wynn for our first nights rest.
Wednesday, Day 2 – Pool Day at the Wynn
We live in Nashville on Central Standard Time, and since we are early risers anyway, we found ourselves starring at each other at 4:15am Wednesday morning. I wondered down to the 24-hour coffee shop just right off the casino floor and grabbed two cups of coffee and a salmon bagel. This salmon bagel was amazing, so much that it was our breakfast for the next 4 consecutive mornings!
After watching the morning news and the hotel tours on the TV, we got up and headed down to the pool in our bathing suits. The pool at the Wynn opens at 8:00am. We arrived at 7:50am at the pool entrance and were the 3rd in line. What we did not realize is that the chair service attendants do not arrive until 9:00am, so we seat awkwardly in a random chair waiting for an attendant to help us.
One treat that we do each visit to the Wynn’s pool is rent what’s called a Lily Pad. This is basically a 6-foot diameter day bed that in the water at the pool’s edge. There are 10 of these Lily Pads located at the furthest pool area, past the Cabana bar (which offers table games). They are rented by the day and since it was a Tuesday, the cost was $200 (normally $400) for the whole day.
This is a separate pool area off the main pool and it offers European-style sunbathing. However, the overwhelming majority of the pool guests were covered in their swimsuits with a few random topless sunbathers that tended to hide deep in the rows of chairs. It was not a distraction and very tame.
My weakness at the pool is Pina Coladas. I had two of those starting at 10:00am (it was noon in Nashville, so okay, right?) and we also order lunch from the grill that was brought to us by the pool attendants. What a great way to spend the morning/afternoon at the pool! The service was prompt and very friendly. Most of the guest at the pool this day were older and mainly couples or groups. The music playing over the loud speakers was canned DJ techno-music, meaning I did not recognize any of the songs.
The temperature kept rising (104*) and so did the crowd, so we packed up and left the pool around 1:00pm. We headed back to the room to change clothes and freshen up for the evening. We had an early dinner at a great place in the Wynn called Allegro.
This is a casual restaurant right off of the casino floor that does allow reservations. Note: make certain to download the Open Table app on your phone. You can make reservations at most all restaurants in any of the Vegas hotels. This was a great time saver and very convenient. Allegro, oddly enough, stays open for dinner until 5:00am! They say the have a huge crowd come in right after the night clubs close around 3:00am to grab a bit to eat.
After dinner, we took our $10 taxi ride back to the Mirage and played the table games until about 11:00pm. It was fun because we found some of the same people we had met on Tuesday night. One person at our Let It Ride poker table actually hit a four-of-a-kind, which paid off great and made the evening even more exciting. The dealers were fun and participated in our conversations and seemed to be rooting for us to win, which made the evening more entertaining!
Thursday, Day 3 – Tour of the Strip & Downtown
We awoke early this morning, but not as early as Day 2. I was down in the coffee shop by 6:15am with the same agenda as the day before, coffee and salmon bagel. We continued our morning routine of channel surfing and getting ready for a new day in Las Vegas.
We ate brunch at the Terrace Pointe Café in the Wynn. The wait was a little long, but once we were seated, the service as fast. I enjoyed the chicken tenders while my wife had the Caprese Panini. Both dishes hit the spot and gave us the energy we needed for the fun day ahead.
Once brunch was completed, we headed to the taxi stand and made our request to the attendant that we wanted to get our picture made at the Fabulous Las Vegas Sign. The advice he gave us save us a ton of time as well as money, so if you are planning to visit the Las Vegas Sign, then may I recommend the following.
Let your cab driver know that you want them to pull up in the bus drop off line once they get to the Las Vegas Sign. Once there, jump out of the cab on the driver’s side and simply lean up against the railing while the taxi driver takes your picture. You’ll typically see a long line of people waiting so they can get right below the sign, but avoid this if you are willing. The line moves very slowly plus there is no place for a taxi to pick you up at this landmark. You’ll have to walk about 4-6 blocks before you can fine a place to flag down a ride back to your next destination. Our cab driver obliged our request and we hopped back into the cab and headed the ¼ mile over to the Mandalay Bay. I tipped our cab driver an extra $5.00 over the normal fare and tip amount, which she appreciated.
The rest of the day was a quick visit to a lot of hotels/casinos as we wondered our way back to the Wynn (a 2.8 mile walk back). Here’s a quick update of the places we stopped and some things we saw at the different hotels. Note: we have a logic that we use when we walk from hotel to hotel. Each casino we visit, one of us has a maximum of $20.00 to use in that casino to gamble with. We leave when one of the following happens… we lose the $20 or we’ve won $100. That way we don’t blow the bank at one casino and even if we lose at every casino, we’ve only lost $20 at each visit.
Having stayed here before on several visits, it is always one of my favorite places to stay in Las Vegas. It is a very large property so you don’t feel crowded and there is plenty to do. Their pools are amazing as well as the restaurants and the hotel rooms. The only draw back is that is located at the end of the Strip. This really doesn’t bother me, but some people like to be in the middle of the action. The casino was the least crowded of all the ones we visited today and I had to actually go to the bar in the casino to order a drink for my wife and me, because there were no cocktail attendants to be found in the whole place.
If you visit or stay at the Mandalay Bay, you’ll want to visit the Shark Reef. It is a must see attraction during a visit to Las Vegas.
We finished our drinks and the allowed $20 in a hurry and made the short indoor walk over to the Luxor Hotel and Casino adjacent to the Mandalay Bay. The Luxor was built during the huge ‘theme mega resorts’ craze in the early 1990’s.
This property is actually pretty cool if you enjoy the theme-style hotels. There is something pretty cool about being inside a pyramid. It is surprisingly the 2nd largest hotel in Las Vegas (2nd to the MGM Grand) and the 6th largest in the world. If you stay inside the pyramid hotel, you can actually look down to the bottom of the hotel. We actually got a drink pretty fast and our $20 lasted twice as long as it did in the Mandalay Bay.
We exited out the front of the Luxor and took the 90-second tram ride over to the Excalibur Hotel and Casino. Now, it had been a long time since my last visit to the Excalibur. My last visit there was in 1996. While the outside of the Excalibur looks somewhat laughable compared to the more recently designed hotels, the inside of the hotel was as nice as most of the properties you’ll visit while in Vegas. From what I learned, they completed a 4-year renovation of the property that was completed in 2010. I lost my $20 in four quick spins of the roulette wheel so we headed out of the property towards the New York-New York Hotel and Casino.
Ever since this hotel opened in the late 1990’s, it has always been one of my favorite ones to visit. There is so much to see and the attention to detail to replicate NYC is quite impressive. While I’m sure a native New Yorker finds the hotel out of balance, I appreciated the things the hotel has to offer.
One of our favorite attractions during this visit to Las Vegas was the visit to the Hersey’s Chocolate World located inside the hotel. This place was a two-story trip to paradise to anyone who loves chocolate (my wife in this case). There are a ton of novelties to buy as gifts for those back home, but the coolest things were the Chocolate Sculptures of the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. Made complete of Hershey’s chocolate, these are the perfect opportunity for a selfie!
As you wander through the hotel and casino, you’ll see the attention to NYC detail throughout. The names of the sections of the casino are named after New York landmarks and even the ‘Hearts’ in the deck of cards are replaced by ‘Apples’. The food in the food court looked authentic to NYC and there was a pretty good crowd on hand enjoying pizzas, hot dogs and sandwiches.
We left the NYNY and headed down the Strip and worked our way through the new City Center down to the Aria Resort and Casino. This place was amazing! We have already decided that this will be the place we stay during our next visit to Las Vegas.
It has the upscale attention to detail that the Wynn and Bellagio offer, but does not quite offer the same ‘uppity’ attitude (if that makes sense). Since it is a newer property, the staff was extremely helpful and the place was very clean and new feeling. I’m looking forward to visiting this property more in the future and seeing what more the place has to offer.
It’s hard to tell where the property begins and ends as it winds its way through the City Center. I tried my hand at roulette again and did not have any success, so we headed for the tram that connects you to both the Monte Carlo and the Bellagio.
We by passed the Monte Carlo and made our next stop at the Bellagio. We’ve stayed at the Bellagio on four different occasions. One visit was for a business conference that I was in charge of putting together. The property did a great job of hosting our conference.
This visit was going to be a quick visit, just to see what was new in the hotel lobby and spend our $20. It turned into our longest visit!
The hotel lobby was packed with people! The conservatory and botanical gardens inside the property are a must see for everyone who visits Las Vegas. Plus, you don’t want to miss the Bellagio Fountains outside the hotel. The best place to view these is from one of the restaurants that overlook the lake during the evening. You’ll never forget it!
The reason this was our longest visit was that my wife finally got her lucky hand going at the penny slots! While they are called penny slots, they still accept bets of $1, $2 and $3 per pull; so don’t be fooled by the penny nomenclature. My wife was down to her last $4 credit in the machine and hit a small jackpot of $37. Not to bad, but then kept hitting small jackpots until she now had $140 in credits. So our rule was met by winning $100, so it was time to leave.
I had her cash out the ticket and as I was processing the ticket, she hit another small jackpot again! Long story shot, we stayed at the Bellagio hitting these small jackpots on penny slots for 3 hours! We had a blast and walked out of the Bellagio with $300 from our original investment of $20 at this casino (we’ll forget the $20 we lost at the last 5 casinos!).
Since our visit to the Bellagio took longer than anticipated, we went ahead and took a cab to Downtown Las Vegas (we had never been). We decided to postpone our Las Strip Tour to another day.
Downtown Las Vegas
The 20-minute cab ride from the Strip to Downtown Las Vegas was fairly easy, but I see now why you would not want to walk. We arrived at the front door of the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino. The lobby of the hotel was very small and compact. The first thing I noticed was that the place was PACKED! There were people everywhere. Once you walked past the lobby, you’ll see the outdoor pool where there was standing room only. As you go through the casino, it reminds you of all the older Las Vegas movies you’ve seen. Low ceilings, charismatic dealers, outdated furnishing, etc. We decided to head out to Freemont Street to check out everything that we’ve heard about.
I guess you will appreciate the Freemont Street Experience more during nighttime than we did during the middle of the afternoon. As we wandered up and down the street, it reminded me a lot of Bourbon Street in New Orleans. If that atmosphere is something you enjoy, then Downtown Las Vegas is the place for you!
We headed into Binion’s Hotel and Casino and even got our picture made with a Million Dollars! Again, the place was very tight, smoky and older. I guess if you own a downtown property that is paid for, you just sit back and collect the income. There didn’t appear to be any renovations in progress. It was more of a “take it or leave it” destination. However, there were a lot of people walking around and enjoying themselves.
We got back into a taxi and took our 20-minute ride back to the Wynn.
Once back to our hotel, we got showered and changed for dinner. We ate inside the Wynn at Mizumi. This is an amazing Japanese restaurant that offers a full menu. They even have the hibachi style dining. They offer what is called robatayaki. This is similar to kabobs. They have many different options of these to choose from, so I highly recommend getting 3 or 4 of them for your table. I ordered the Sushi platter and was not disappointed. If you enjoy Japanese food, then I highly recommend this place!
We wrapped up the evening with some brief attempts at the penny slots at the neighboring Encore casino, but since we had a long day on our feet, we were ready for bed and a relaxing day 4.
Friday, Day 4 – Pool Day #2
We awoke rested and ready for day 4. Since the weather forecast for the next several days look cloudy and rainy, we decided to make day 4 another pool day. But instead of going back to the Wynn, we decided to check out the pool at the Mirage. So we put on our suits and took the $10 taxi ride to the Mirage.
Today was the most uneventful (on purpose) day on our agenda. We arrived poolside at the Mirage around 11:00am and stayed through the afternoon. We visited with other couples that sat next to us and really enjoyed the downtime. My wife enjoyed her collection of magazines and I enjoyed the people watching. If you ever visit Las Vegas for more than 3 consecutive days, I highly recommend one day to recharge your batteries, and the best place for us to do so is at the pool.
Since the shadows where getting longer and the pool bill was now at $200 (lunch, $13 drinks each, tip, etc.) it was time for us to head back to our room. Again, we took the $10 cab ride and headed back to the room where we decided on room service and an early night in.
Saturday, Day 5 – More Sightseeing
We woke up this morning well rested and ready for another day of sightseeing along the Strip. We repeated our morning routine of coffee and salmon bagels and left the hotel around 10:00am. We took a cab down to the MGM Grand and started our adventure there.
This property has always been a favorite of mine. I started visiting here right after they opened in 1993. When it opened it was the largest hotel in the world. Did you know, that if you stayed in a different room every night at the MGM Grand, it would take you 18 years and 281 days to complete!!
Even though the MGM Grand is huge, it is laid out in a manner that is very easy to navigate and understand. The casino somewhat wraps around the front of the property while the hotel amenities branch off nicely. Once you remember which set of elevators is yours for your room, the rest is downhill.
MGM Grand offered us a fun time on some slot machines that we did not find at the other casinos. The staff was very friendly and the place was very busy, yet did not feel crowded. We stayed at the MGM Grand for a few hours, mainly because my wife got a lucky few small jackpots early in the day, rather than later! We left the casino and made our way by foot to Planet Hollywood.
Note: this is where we made a mistake. The walk from MGM Grand to the Planet Hollywood is a 30-minute walk. Use the monorail that is connected to the MGM Grand to head north on the Strip!
Our first visit to this property was when it was Aladdin, and we wish that it still were. We have never been fans of the Planet Hollywood brand in any city and the same is true for Las Vegas. I’m sure that it appeals to a wide group of people and, since it was very crowded, a lot of people enjoy the property.
Something we’ve done before, but not on this trip, was a tour of the Miracle Mile Shops shopping mall. As you can guess, the reason it is called this is because it is 1.2 miles of shopping! Every retail brand you can imagine is here and it is a great way to spend a day doing something else besides gambling.
We stayed at Planet Hollywood long enough to catch our breath and then headed out the front door to Paris Las Vegas.
When this property opened late 1999, we had a great time staying here. Not much has changed with this property since our visit 14 years ago. I think the inside of this property is very well appointed and the architecture is fantastic.
What you will notice first and foremost is the ½ scale replica of the Eiffel Tower on site. You can take an elevator up to the top and have one of the most amazing views of the Strip (and Bellagio fountains). You’ll notice that the back leg of the Eiffel Tower comes right down through the casino floor. Additionally, if you are looking for a great show while in Las Vegas, the Jersey Boys is a great show indeed!
We both played our $20 here (since we didn’t play at Planet Hollywood) and lost it in a hurry at the slot machines. So we continued our path northbound along the Strip and made our next stop at the Venetian.
The Venetian open in early 1999 and sits where the old Sand’s Hotel & Casino use to be situated. Although we have never stayed here, I make it a point to visit this property every time I visit Las Vegas. It is one of the only properties where you feel you are actually in another country (in my opinion). The architecture is amazing and the details of the hotel, lobby and exterior are immaculate. If you’ve never visited this property, please make plans on doing so.
You’ll find gondola rides inside the hotel along a real river that also has a ceiling that changes as the day outside changes. There are numerous replicas of the city of Venice and I would encourage you to wander through this property and simply enjoy its’ features.
The casino is tight in some places and open in the middle. We did not have any luck here and the only thing that was won was a boost to my wife’s ego since a young college guy told her how pretty she was! We made our way from the Venetian over to the Palazzo Hotel and Casino.
Out of all the hotels and casinos we visited, this one was my least favorite. Maybe I am missing something, but this property does not offer much to people who do not stay here. The huge Sand’s Convention Center is attached, so maybe that is the big draw of visitors. They do boast an ‘all-suite’ hotel, but we have never stayed here.
Each time I come through the property, I am ready to leave as fast as I can. So this is what we did. Maybe I am missing a part of the property that everyone seems to enjoy, because the place is always crowded! If you know what I’m missing, please let me know! I’ve heard there is a Lamborghini Dealership on site, but I’ve never given the effort to find it.
We stayed here all of 15 minutes before we complete our adventure of the day and returned to the adjacent Wynn Hotel to wrap up our day.
Once we returned to the Wynn, we headed to the room to refresh and had dinner again at the Allegro. This time I had the pepperoni pizza and shared it with my wife. It was wonderful and the best pizza I’ve had in a long time.
After dinner, we tried our hand at some four-card poker and suffered through the $10 minimum bets. Luckily my wife did get some good cards and our $100 investment turned into $250 over a 30-minute period.
We took our small winnings and headed to the room, as we got ready for a record-breaking day 6 in Las Vegas.
Sunday, Day 6 – Day at Bellagio & SW Steak House
It seemed that our bodies started to adjust to the time change and we awoke this morning at 8:15am. What I found is that the coffee shop gets crowded at this time of the morning, so what usually took 5 minutes to complete now took 30!
As we waited for our day to get started, we debated on what to do for our last full day in Las Vegas. Since it was cloudy outside, we knew the pool was not an option. We had seen most of the places on the Strip that we wanted to see so we ruled out another sightseeing day. We thought about heading over the either the Rio or the Palm but decided against it.
After an hour of contemplating our decision, we decided to spend the day over at the Bellagio. We had dinner reservations at 5:30pm at the SW Steakhouse at the Wynn, so we know we needed to be back by 5:00pm in order to be ready for dinner. We got dressed real quick and took a $12 taxi ride over the Bellagio.
We arrived at the Bellagio around 10:30am and found the casino area quite empty. I guess since Sunday was a big travel day, we somewhat had the Casino area to ourselves. We knew that we had 5 or so hours to stay here and we did some quick math as to how we could make our last day’s gambling budget last the longest. We decided on a tag-team approach to the penny slot area.
This meant that one person would get $40 and if they doubled it to $80 on a machine, they would cash out. They would keep their original $40 seed money, continue playing and give the $40 winnings to their partner to wait their turn. This meant if either my wife or me got lucky, that would fund the other’s next round of betting. What this all really means is that it let’s your money between two people last as long as possible since only one person is playing at one time.
On a side note, we had noticed that the Atlanta Braves baseball team had just lost 7 games in a row the night before. So we decided to place a $100 bet on them winning today’s game (surely they would win, right?). As the afternoon continued, we had a great time enjoying each other company, playing the variety of slots and trying to hit a big jackpot. The baseball game started at 1:00pm, so we thought it would be over prior to our scheduled 4:45pm departure time.
As 4:30pm approached, the Braves had just tied up the game in the 9th inning and it was time for us to go. So we tried our best to watch the game on our iPhone while we took the taxi ride back (because if the Braves won, we would get $210 back on our bet). As we arrived at the hotel, the game was still tied 2-2 in the 10th inning. We scrambled to get dress to make our reservation. When we arrived at the SW Steakhouse, we sadly learned that the Braves had lost at the top of the 11th inning and so did our dreams of using $210 that night back at the Bellagio!
Each trip to Las Vegas, we always treat ourselves to at least one nice dinner at a way-to-expensive restaurant. The SW Steakhouse was the perfect spot!
The restaurant is located on the Lake of Dreams inside the Wynn. The location and atmosphere are truly amazing. We were seated immediately and we actually had two waiters that served our table as a team. They did an amazing job.
We started with a seafood tower, which included shrimp cocktail, crabmeat, lobster claws and oysters on the half shell. It was a highlight of the trip! It even included a seafood salad dish that paired amazingly with the basket of fresh bread. My wife has a weakness for a good dirty martini with blue cheese stuffed olives and whenever we visit a steakhouse, she challenges them to the best one they can make. I always know when they are good, because she’ll order a second and she did indeed this evening. Their wine list was extensive and offered by the glass as well as by the bottle.
I order the New York Strip, Pittsburg style to a medium temperate and my wife order the petite filet. My steak came out a little on the middle-rare side, but they quickly returned to back to the grill without complaint. When it returned, it was one of the best I’ve had in a long time.
We let the headwaiter recommend the sides and he chose the Parmesan creamed spinach and the risotto that was not listed on the menu. Both were delicious and a great pairing to our meals. We skipped the offer of dessert and headed back to the casino for a last evening try to win a jackpot. Even though we never won the jackpot in the casino, I do feel we got to experience more of Las Vegas than we ever had in the past.
Monday, Day 7 – Travel Back Home
Our direct flight back to Nashville was scheduled to depart at 9:15am Monday morning. So we awoke at 6:00am to finish packing and headed to the airport around 7:00am. Monday is a great day to travel away from Las Vegas. There was no traffic, no lines at baggage and no wait at the security gate. We arrived at the airport at 7:25am and were sitting at our gate at 7:45am. To pass the time at the gate, we of course started making plans of our next visit to Las Vegas. What do we want to repeat and what do we want to do next time that we’ve not done before.
Visiting Las Vegas has always been one of three vacation destinations that we enjoy the most. Together, we’ve visited the city 20 different times over the last 15 years. Each visit is as unique as any other time. I really have enjoyed watching the city grow into a destination that offers more than slots and blackjack.
I’m already looking forward to our next visit in 2015!
