Tourist for a Day (Las Vegas: fit in, hotels, home)

yellowsnow · 02-26-2012, 02:39 PM

I needed to have some fun so I took a day off and played tourist. Had a great time and I would recommend it to anyone. Las Vegas is still a blast!

Parked the car in a garage downtown and hopped the Deuce to Mandalay Bay. A 24 hour pass is $7 and they have kiosks that sell tickets. I'd never been there and it was OK. Pretty and what you would expect but nothing to write home about.

Next we went to the Luxor, Excalibur, and the Tropicana. The Tropicana is NOT a dump anymore and it really looks nice. They have a great freebie deal if you get their player's card. $200 free play. If you lose $200, you get 1/2 of it back right away as free play and you get the rest as a comp the next month.

Then on to the MGM to play the Lions Share. I didn't win the big jackpot but I did win.

On to the Cosmopolitan. It was my first time there and I will go back again. It's beautiful. Their slot deal is great. Sign up for the card and lose $100, and they give you $100 free play. I lost the $100, got the free play and went to the best VP machine I could find and got back...exactly $100. One notable thing about the Cosmopolitan, they have wonderful employees. They were all happy, helpful, and seemed to genuinely want me to have a good time. Very impressive. It was a younger crowd and my first exposure to the club scene.

Wow! When did most of the females under 40 start dressing like hookers? Hootchie Mama's, etc? And those shoes.... I thought you were supposed to be able to walk in them before you wore them out and about. They weren't walking, they were tottering. Many were barefoot and carrying the shoes. Walking barefoot one the Strip....EWWWW! Nasty. Most of the 'dresses' were spandex and just about crotch length. A few looked pretty hot but most of them were 5 pounds of bologna in a three pound sack. It was an education.

Went to the Bellagio for the first time too. It's beautiful. The floors are artistry with all the inlay and mosaic work. The garden was decorated for Chinese New Year. Hermes is there and in the window was the bag of my dreams for a mere 35K. I just don't fit in at the Bellagio and IMHO, the casino was just OK. They did have a $10 VP progressive and the payout for a Royal was 46K.

We were getting a little hungry so we ducked into one of the food courts. All we ended up with was an ice cream cone because I couldn't bring myself to pay those prices. A Subway sandwich was $12 and a Wendy's single was over $6.

In front of Paris, we caught the Deuce and went back to downtown. After gambling our way back to the car, we ordered pizza and drove home. We left at about 3pm Friday and got home at 11am Saturday. What a night!

I've got to do this again. Maybe if I save for a few months I can start at the Paris and keep on working my way to the Stratosphere.

jfkIII · 02-26-2012, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

Wow! When did most of the females under 40 start dressing like hookers? Hootchie Mama's, etc? And those shoes.... I thought you were supposed to be able to walk in them before you wore them out and about. They weren't walking, they were tottering. Many were barefoot and carrying the shoes. Walking barefoot one the Strip....EWWWW! Nasty. Most of the 'dresses' were spandex and just about crotch length. A few looked pretty hot but most of them were 5 pounds of bologna in a three pound sack. It was an education.

LOL. I call those dresses...Marlee Maitlin mini dresses.

eventusstultorummagister · 02-26-2012, 05:24 PM

Interesting comment re: Cosmo employee attitude, I love happy/shiny people! I'm a sports bettor and usually lay action at the offstrip local casino (out of convenience) but lately I am beginning to grow tiresome of the mullet-haired 3 tooth crowd.

Robustus · 02-26-2012, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

Went to the Bellagio for the first time too. It's beautiful. The floors are artistry with all the inlay and mosaic work.

I love those floors too. People (usually not from Vegas) often complain that Vegas is "fake", which I obviously understand, but much of the actual construction of some of the big resorts is quite intricate and beautiful.

irishspy · 02-26-2012, 07:13 PM

I am in alinement the Aris is beautiful and is the center piece of Las Vegas. The other casinos are great and just walking through them is a day journey. The only draw back from a visitors point of view is after you go to Las Vegas any other casinos such as Atlantic city,Foxwood,Montreal and etc seem like going to the county fair. I just wish the air fare was cheaper maybe that is something the casino's need to work on I am sure many more people would return sooner and more often if some sort of comp could be offered for ticket prices. Fremont ST. is a great place and offers a change compared to the strip. I just hope the economy does not crash again or at least before I retire (soon) and get to Las Vegas to live. Good post Yellow snow.

PinkString · 02-26-2012, 07:33 PM

Tourist for a day or night can be fun. We do this once in awhile, usually on a hot summer night. Then of course my husband can't pry me away from the fountains at the Belllagio. Not only is it entertaining, but it's cooling as well.

macgeek · 02-26-2012, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkString

Tourist for a day or night can be fun. We do this once in awhile, usually on a hot summer night. Then of course my husband can't pry me away from the fountains at the Belllagio. Not only is it entertaining, but it's cooling as well.

I always LOVE to hear the water cannons and watch the water shoot into the sky, one of my favs!

Jonathan

von949 · 02-26-2012, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

When did most of the females under 40 start dressing like hookers? Hootchie Mama's, etc?

In front of Paris,

Makes it hard for Metro to distinguish between the real and the look-a-likes.

Still never been to the Paris. Will check it out sometime this summer.

ElleTea · 02-27-2012, 07:09 AM

Yeah, barefoot in the strip = BLACK feet. UGH.

I wore 5 inch platform stilettos one night and walked for about 4 hours before we had dinner. They were probably hobbling because they were in pain! Also, the marble floors in a lot of the hotels are not easy to manuever in shoes like that, it's like a skating rink. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to change and I gave up and took off my shoes. to say my feet were dirty is an understatement. I had blisters and a bruise/blood blister on the bottom of my foot that was there for 2 months. But, damn! I looked good!

The next night we got smart and brought a bag with flip flops to change into when we couldn't stand it anymore...and one friend took her black Chuck Taylors which looked cute with her fancy dress!

owelles · 02-27-2012, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElleTea

Yeah, barefoot in the strip = BLACK feet. UGH.

I wore 5 inch platform stilettos one night and walked for about 4 hours before we had dinner. They were probably hobbling because they were in pain! Also, the marble floors in a lot of the hotels are not easy to manuever in shoes like that, it's like a skating rink. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to change and I gave up and took off my shoes. to say my feet were dirty is an understatement. I had blisters and a bruise/blood blister on the bottom of my foot that was there for 2 months. But, damn! I looked good!

The next night we got smart and brought a bag with flip flops to change into when we couldn't stand it anymore...and one friend took her black Chuck Taylors which looked cute with her fancy dress!

Next time go on a Wednesday and check out the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art. Locals get in for $8 on Wednesdays. I think this is the best locals deal in town by far.

Las Vegas Art - Fine Art Gallery at Bellagio