April 2017 Trip to Vegas

My “We still want you dead”…

but GOD will show you how $100 bank roll can last for 10 days trip to Las Vegas. 

(everything else will just cost ya!)

Twelve years enough?

Keep denying that any of this happened right?

So they all know I had to go back and were harassing me the whole time but I was determined to go back again in April. This time for 10 days. There’s just too much I needed to do. I paid for part of my trip in February and March. When I made my plane reservations… #6TR9F4? Fabulous! The whole time I was packing I was getting threats and they followed me the whole way screaming in my skull but I made it to the airport in plenty of time for a delayed flight. The foreclosure was going well and I didn’t find out until June I had made the mistake. I’m not losing my life or my benefits over this ridiculousness. 

In the mail I had received 4 coupons from the D which included a B1G1 free night, $5 off of Laughternoon, $10 slot play and a $10 match play… and a nice letter from Binions with $20 free play.

In myVegas I had a one night comp from Mandalay Bay, a comp for the Australian Bee Gees redeemed and the third one I decided on a B1G1 drink for the myVegas meet up at the Mirage. I even added a few more from the non-MGM properties. A free Hexx bar, a Mob Museum audio, a Mob Museum membership upgrade… there was a mix up on a House of Blues gig I needed to verify and a House of Blues Gospel drink. I wasn’t able to use any of them… but that’s what I had planned. 

I made a 4 day reservation with the D (3 plus one free) and then added a Super Bingo tournament on my last 3 days at the Plaza. In between I would stay at Mandalay Bay on the comp night and I was hoping I could add another 2 nights under the Crown and Anchor membership with $150 resort credit. I would just have to wait until I got there money wise. Once again I wanted to go to the North Premium Outlet and downloaded a map and information to receive a pass if I got there this time. 

I made a reservation for Tournament of Kings at Excalibur before I left but decided against adding any more shows. I read in the Allegiant booklet on the way there… I had heard about the Great Vegas Festival of Beer downtown, Steve Martin and Martin Short, Green Day.. but was surprised that Tim Allen would be in town and that Cindy Williams was doing Menopause the Musical. At the most I thought I would add a ticket to the Smith Center for An American in Paris if I won at Bingo. Oscars at the Plaza said something about maybe even a shuttle available with dinner on the website (?) so I would check when I got there. I found the Allegiant Fremont deal of spend $25 get $50 by showing your plane ticket and the Allegiant El Cortez deal of $10 free slot play and a free drink by doing the same.

Transportation from the airport to the D was $10 cash on the Showcase shuttle this time as I thought I had to wait until the next day to buy my flat fares from Uber. I decided I needed 10 rides and had no idea I only had to pay $5 up front to activate. Oh well… I look at the shuttle as its own Vegas tour by the time everyone is dropped off and stalling until midnight so my deposit would go through on my card was the goal anyway.

April 2nd to 5th

at the D was MUCH better this time! I was on a lower floor but it was the same type of Deluxe King smoking room inside. I tried their coffee bar every morning… first with a fruit frappe using an in room 20% off coupon and then mochas the other two mornings. I went back to American Coney Island to try the hot dog loose burger with a $1 comp off from my last trip and the D grill on my last night for a prime rib dinner which was excellent… also using a $5 coupon provided. I played my $100 through the Sherlock Holmes slots the first night I got there. The $10 free slot play coupon was no problem on another machine (went quick) but for some reason I had to get the floor manager involved on the $10 table game match play coupon. They kept reading it as expired when it wasn’t and by the time it was straightened out I decided to wait for the next day… and won on blackjack! I received another $10 comp and finally earned enough points for one entry towards the Dodge Viper and read that they were doing a semi-finalist type thing every month until December. I wanted to try and play craps but was too intimidated. They have these cute dice I want to buy in the D store and I like the photos in the rooms they have for sale. 

I swiped my player card and played at Fremont on the Allegiant deal and won a free Paradise buffet for dinner that night. It was seafood night but they also had a slice of pizza for me and a roast beef dinner type mix I settled on after looking around with mashed potatoes and a roll. I missed having a dinner salad but saved room for their desserts. They have these really awesome rectangles and I tried the brownie cheesecake and pecan pie ones which were delish! I also went back to Dunkin’ Donuts and to play the $10 free play comp from my last trip in the middle of one of my nights I stayed at the D. There was a Juke Box Hero promo I received 39 tickets for but I was only able to use the 10x multiplier at the time.

The Crown and Anchor nights for the 7th and 8th had gone up in price so I added 2 more nights at the Plaza and had them attached to my Bingo Tournament reservations so I could stay in the same room. I had written MGM to see what hotels allowed smoking and they told me Mandalay Bay and the Bellagio. I decided on Mandalay Bay for Thursday with a Resort King comp room, went through mobile check-in the night before requesting smoking and it’s non-smoking. I call the front desk and they said I could go ahead and smoke and pay the $300 fee or upgrade to the smoking optional suites for more than that. NO! I made my THIRD reservation to the Plaza downtown and left. 

I had bought a ticket to Tournament of Kings because it was cheaper than the comp one offered on myVegas (and I got what I thought was a better seat.. front row in “Norway” seat 5 versus an aisle seat up top straight on. Although next time I might take that view, I was able to see the king etc. this time) I went on a Friday so I could see the free open house pre-show at 4pm. I checked in with Mlife and met a woman who had moved there from Kentucky behind the desk. I peeked into their shop and Dick‘s Last Resort and I played some video poker before the show. I thought the food was excellent and the tomato soup was my favorite! (would make a great bloody Mary… just add the pickle and the bacon!) There were two families on either side of me though… and I should have allowed the girl to take my picture and grabbed the kids on either side of me as I was impressed by most of the ones I peeked at on the table after the show.

My other comp was for the Australian Bee Gees and I had really good seats but I just didn’t feel like going back to Excalibur the next night on Saturday. Three days in a row to that area I just couldn’t handle. The good news was while I was at the Plaza they had a 70s trib band called Wonder Boogie on the stage near the bar. I couldn’t believe how I knew all the words to the songs and they played enough Bee Gee songs.. and they were probably better after watching the clip on Excalibur‘s website! We acted like geeks and we knew it.

Caught the Fremont experience when I got back to downtown. It was dedicated to Heart and the graphics on Viva Vision were really well done. I spent most of my observation of Fremont Street on my way back and forth to Walgreens. I saw Mickey and Minnie, Rael the Imperial Aerosol Kid, Darth Vader and ELVIS! The first night they had a “end sex trafficking” protest group that I thought was important but I’m not sure many helped them. I got 2 more Venofye samples… probably they could see I was under stress. 

My new favorite store is the Native American store! I had fun looking around making a want list: shoes, postcard and arrowheads… the leather feathers they had for your hair looked too much like a roach clip and so they were too heavy for my hair (the dream catcher ones were more of what I was thinking with a thinner type of attachment) I think I made a mistake by asking if they had a wooden nickel. It was a Knotts Berry Farm joke my dad and I had when I was a little and I noticed the funny paper money they had on the counter so I didn’t think they would mind!

I saw the cutest purse for $60 in one of the kiosks that I made note of and stopped by the ABC liquor store to look around noticing the flip flops. I had high hopes of winning something at Bingo! All I ended up buying extra was Downey Wrinkle Reducer for my T-shirt and the dress I brought… and a Sunday paper to check on the rentals/house prices. They had the article on U2s song being filmed downtown. 

At Binions I had the $20 free play turning into another $5 comp two days in a row and got another three free pictures. This time I found the free spin machine on the way in and they had a coupon for another set of slots near where the picture was taken. The ice cream machine at Nathan‘s was broken so I didn’t get my root beer float or waffle cone but I got another luggage tag.

At the downtown Grand I got a B1G1 Bloody Mary and a free beer at the Freedom Beat. I played video poker and then watched a money machine promo that was fun to cheer on. Because the second Bloody Mary was getting harder to finish I sat at the bar in the middle and talked to a few people about relocating to Las Vegas. 

I felt sick to my stomach so I decided to go to Denny’s and order a hamburger with a 20% off coupon from the Vegas 2go magazine and then they gave you a coupon for 2 pancakes I ate the next morning by answering a survey on the back. I laughed at the wedding package but why not? I liked their bar area.

El Cortez was a little far out for me to walk but the minute I turned down their driveway I had to smile. They also had my favorite Sherlock Holmes slots but I played my Allegiant $10 free slot play on video poker and got my free drink. They win for best made rum and Coke for this trip at the bar. The bartenders wore really sharp period type striped shirts too. I really liked the atmosphere inside… making note that I could get a free box of candy if I had enough points and they had pedicures! The ads on the websites I had seen didn’t really portray what they had to offer! On my way back I made note of the new condos for sale across from the Gold Spike which I peeked into. The only thing I could see was the club area though.. ugh during the day but I’m sure it was fine at night with the lights and music going.

April 6th to 11th

at the Plaza I played their slot tournament all three days. They gave us a coupon book and the first one was free. I won second place and $200 free play that I played all the way through on video poker and was able to add it to my bank roll. The second and third days had a $10 entry fee and I won 10th place once for an extra ticket in one of their drawings. I got two more tickets that day by getting 100 slot points. The only slot machine I played on was a Dean Martin machine that I won $90 on but it was an older machine by the elevators.. along with a $12 comp. 

I stayed in the smoking tower. The first night I had two doubles but moved to a lower floor King closer to the Pickle ball courts. It wasn’t annoying at all and the pops of the balls are kind of soothing. Someone had left a matchbook from the Las Vegas Club and I was able to get a picture of it before they tore it down. 

I played three sessions in the regular Bingo room on the video machines for practice as all I’ve ever played are on paper and it had been awhile. The first session was bought with a coupon and the machines are fun. They had two free drinks and a raffle ticket for a drawing each day I went. Check in was on Sunday with the tournament on the 10th and 11th. We received 2 raffle tickets, 2 daubers and stadium seat as our gift with another $10 in free slot play. They had little key chain lights in a basket and I picked one up for the keys to my shed in the backyard. Bingo lasted to 3pm and served a continental breakfast and box lunch. To play all the games it was an extra $44 for each day but I didn’t win. I was exhausted by the time it was over both nights and never made it to the myVegas meet up at the Mirage on Monday. I really did bring a gift though just in case! I noticed in the pictures when I got home that I probably needed to add to it though if I ever go to one.

The coupon book they gave me for my stay was fun. I used the $10 free slot play, received a free T-shirt, 3 entries for a drawing, two $10 match play on blackjack and roulette, a free fill up if you bought one of the plastic 2 foot tall drinks… and lots of food coupons! I ate at McDonald’s, Pop Up Pizza the first night with a couponed pizza dinner and garlic knots another night, Subway… a really good Mexican place called Zaba’s Mexican Grill.. and got a mocha at the coffee stand Caffelatte. 

My last night I went to the front desk to see if I could get a ticket to see Lovers or Losers The Game Show and they let me in free! Super fun to watch.. they have it like a taped TV show. The winners got a free vacation and it reminded me of Bob Eubanks show The Newlywed Game.

Never made it back to the Mob Museum but they had John Gotti’s Jaguar displayed from there next to the table games with signage on some history… so at least I felt like I had been there! 

Picked up a few local magazines and found an article interviewing Steve Martin and Martin Short. I pretended they were on stage while reading it and saw them for free! 

Transportation fees! I got a flat rate on Uber for this trip.. 10 rides $5 up front. The fee was $3.08 from downtown to Mandalay and Excalibur and back it was the same so I used 4 of those. They dumped one ride to the airport for $5.15 (I was there!) but I got a $5 credit back and just ordered another for $3.08. My airplane was delayed on the 12th so I probably should have checked to see if the Plaza’s free shuttle was available but I didn’t think of it as the one I thought I needed was full the night before. 

TSA pre-check on the way home was awful! This girl pushed me out of the way in line and this Islam guy gave me a dirty look… and they hassled ME on the way through? After 9/11 that’s why we have this stupid crap! I even read the rules three times lol

My parking fees were $88 in the CVG parking lot as they charged me an extra day due to the time I flew back in but we all had fun talking about our trips on the shuttle.