Saturday, September 27, 2008
Vegas Recap: Part Two
I miss my favorite town...
Here's part two of our August trip.
Wednesday we only slept in a little since we were still in an EST mode. The plan was to drive to Red Rock Canyon in the morning before it got too hot out. Along the way we stopped at the Red Rock Casino and ate at their breakfast buffet. I had a 2 for 1 coupon which made it a screamin deal. It was a solid, though not incredible buffet. It's pretty hard to screw up breakfast though.
I was very impressed with the Red Rock casino. The decor was nice and the games were solid. I'd be willing to stay there if the location wasn't so poor. I also think this trend of charging a resort fee on top of the advertised rate is ridiculous and Red Rock is one of the worst offenders. I believe they charge a $20 resort fee!
Red Rock Canyon was a great diversion and I'd definitely recommend it for anyone staying more than a fee days in town and wanting to mix things up a bit. We hiked around a little, saw a few lizards and bought some cool rattlesnake T-shirts for the kids.
On the way back to MGM we stopped at Suncoast and The Orleans. The Mexican restaurant at The Orleans, Don Miguel's, had half price appetizers and $1 margaritas. After a light lunch and some limited play we headed back to the MGM Grand. Mrs. Royal took a nap and I played a little BJ/ Pai Gow Poker finishing up a small amount.
The plan for dinner was Ellis Island steak special. We get our name on the list and are told it will be about 45 minutes. Mrs. throws a few bucks into a penny slot and I head for a BJ table. On the way I remember that I need to get a couple of $1 chips for myself and my dad (we both collect them). The 'tub' craps table happens to be open with no one playing so I figure why not? This tub table is about 1/3 the size of a normal craps table and can be run by one dealer instead of the normal 3-4 dealers. I buy-in for a couple hundred and immediately hit a point and a come bet. The dealer is nice and I keep rolling solid numbers. I throw down $8 for $1 hardways (two ways) and immediately roll a hard eight!
The roll ends up being fantastic and we actually miss the last call for our meal seats because the Mrs. gets stuck in some slot bonus round. They end up seating us anyway. It's way too much food for $6.95 and the root / microbrew beer is darn solid.
That's pretty much it for day two.
Here's part two of our August trip.
Wednesday we only slept in a little since we were still in an EST mode. The plan was to drive to Red Rock Canyon in the morning before it got too hot out. Along the way we stopped at the Red Rock Casino and ate at their breakfast buffet. I had a 2 for 1 coupon which made it a screamin deal. It was a solid, though not incredible buffet. It's pretty hard to screw up breakfast though.
I was very impressed with the Red Rock casino. The decor was nice and the games were solid. I'd be willing to stay there if the location wasn't so poor. I also think this trend of charging a resort fee on top of the advertised rate is ridiculous and Red Rock is one of the worst offenders. I believe they charge a $20 resort fee!
Red Rock Canyon was a great diversion and I'd definitely recommend it for anyone staying more than a fee days in town and wanting to mix things up a bit. We hiked around a little, saw a few lizards and bought some cool rattlesnake T-shirts for the kids.
On the way back to MGM we stopped at Suncoast and The Orleans. The Mexican restaurant at The Orleans, Don Miguel's, had half price appetizers and $1 margaritas. After a light lunch and some limited play we headed back to the MGM Grand. Mrs. Royal took a nap and I played a little BJ/ Pai Gow Poker finishing up a small amount.
The plan for dinner was Ellis Island steak special. We get our name on the list and are told it will be about 45 minutes. Mrs. throws a few bucks into a penny slot and I head for a BJ table. On the way I remember that I need to get a couple of $1 chips for myself and my dad (we both collect them). The 'tub' craps table happens to be open with no one playing so I figure why not? This tub table is about 1/3 the size of a normal craps table and can be run by one dealer instead of the normal 3-4 dealers. I buy-in for a couple hundred and immediately hit a point and a come bet. The dealer is nice and I keep rolling solid numbers. I throw down $8 for $1 hardways (two ways) and immediately roll a hard eight!
The roll ends up being fantastic and we actually miss the last call for our meal seats because the Mrs. gets stuck in some slot bonus round. They end up seating us anyway. It's way too much food for $6.95 and the root / microbrew beer is darn solid.
That's pretty much it for day two.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Vegas Recap: Part One
Sorry for the trip report delay. It's been a busy couple of weeks with both Kindergarten and soccer starting for daughter.
Vegas Recap: Part One
We arrived on a Tuesday with the flights being painless.
Since we planned to visit Red Rock Canyon and a few ‘locals’ casinos it made sense to rent a car this trip. We rented through Thrifty after having signed up for their Blue Chip program. Once we figured out where to go the rental was easy. The easiness actually made things complicated as we were sure there had to be more to it. Nope!
I had three nights free at the MGM Grand with only an additional $100 charge for Friday night. Four nights there for only $100? Ship it! Check in was quick and we got our room right away even though it was only 11 AM. The room was nice as expected though not incredible. No upgraded flat screen TV, etc.
Our first stop was at Fatburger at it hit the spot! The Mrs. had never eaten there was and was duly impressed.
Keeping the fat theme we picked up a couple of souvenir glasses filled with Fat Tire. The MGM Grand Sportsbook had a deal for $9 you received a filled souvenir glass and refills were only $5. It was a large glass in the 32oz range. Not the greatest deal ever, but since we were staying there it seemed to make sense. We did take advantage of the discounted refills several more times on the trip.
I had some free play at MGM and we spent that while checking out our surroundings for the next few days.
Mrs. took a nap and I had a great run at BJ buying in for $300 and cashing out over $1500!
After that we took the short walk to Hooters and Mrs. Royal joined their slot club and won with her $25 sign-up match play!
I played in the nightly tournament at the MGM which was just a glorified 3 table turbo SnG. $60 + $10 (house) + $10 (dealers) is just brutal rake, but consistent with most of the low / medium Vegas tournaments. I won a decent pot the first hand when my QQ somehow managed to avoid a straight flush draw with an over (K). It was pretty much tread water for the next hour and I finally busted in the middle when my 66 shove ran into 88.
After the tournament we went to Tamba for Indian food. It was my second time eating there and once again it did not disappoint.
Overall it was a great start to the trip. We were up, had some good meals and some good drinks. As usual I drank too much on the first day and could feel it the next morning.
Vegas Recap: Part One
We arrived on a Tuesday with the flights being painless.
Since we planned to visit Red Rock Canyon and a few ‘locals’ casinos it made sense to rent a car this trip. We rented through Thrifty after having signed up for their Blue Chip program. Once we figured out where to go the rental was easy. The easiness actually made things complicated as we were sure there had to be more to it. Nope!
I had three nights free at the MGM Grand with only an additional $100 charge for Friday night. Four nights there for only $100? Ship it! Check in was quick and we got our room right away even though it was only 11 AM. The room was nice as expected though not incredible. No upgraded flat screen TV, etc.
Our first stop was at Fatburger at it hit the spot! The Mrs. had never eaten there was and was duly impressed.
Keeping the fat theme we picked up a couple of souvenir glasses filled with Fat Tire. The MGM Grand Sportsbook had a deal for $9 you received a filled souvenir glass and refills were only $5. It was a large glass in the 32oz range. Not the greatest deal ever, but since we were staying there it seemed to make sense. We did take advantage of the discounted refills several more times on the trip.
I had some free play at MGM and we spent that while checking out our surroundings for the next few days.
Mrs. took a nap and I had a great run at BJ buying in for $300 and cashing out over $1500!
After that we took the short walk to Hooters and Mrs. Royal joined their slot club and won with her $25 sign-up match play!
I played in the nightly tournament at the MGM which was just a glorified 3 table turbo SnG. $60 + $10 (house) + $10 (dealers) is just brutal rake, but consistent with most of the low / medium Vegas tournaments. I won a decent pot the first hand when my QQ somehow managed to avoid a straight flush draw with an over (K). It was pretty much tread water for the next hour and I finally busted in the middle when my 66 shove ran into 88.
After the tournament we went to Tamba for Indian food. It was my second time eating there and once again it did not disappoint.
Overall it was a great start to the trip. We were up, had some good meals and some good drinks. As usual I drank too much on the first day and could feel it the next morning.
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