November 9
This was a solo 1 nighter to take some web site pics and to get a quick VP fix. I hit the read from OC about 8:45AM with quick stops for gas and at McDs for breakfast I pulled into the Excalibur at a little before 12:45PM. There was only a bit of congestion and virtually no construction on the entire length of the 15 from Victorville through Vegas. I valet parked and was hoping for a quick check-in because I wanted to catch the Jets-Raiders kick off at 1:00. No dice! The check-in desk was absolutely packed with a Moose Lodge convention in town. It took more than a half hour to get through the line and up to my room. They offer 6PM check out for $25 so I took them up on it. I was in Tower 2, on the 13th floor with a lovely view of the A/C unit between towers. The room wasn't anything special nor was there any real problems. It was actually quite similar to the room at the Sahara that we had not too long ago. There is no bath tub, just a stand up shower. There also isn't a safe in the room, which kind of blows. I proceeded to unpack and watch the first half of the Jets game. At half time, I walked over to the Luxor food court to have some Nathan's Hotdogs for lunch. Afterwards, I watched the rest of the game at the Luxor sports book.
After the game, I wandered around Luxor and Excalibur checking out the game selection. It was pretty weak as was expected. Not finding much in the way of decent VP, I found some medieval theme nickel video slots and played those for a little while without much luck. After getting a little play out of my $20, I went back to the room to catch NFL Primetime to get the days stats (I am a Fantasy Football dork!) I then decided on hitting the Gold Coast buffet for dinner. Had I known it was "Steak Night," I would have opted for a Station buffet. It was $10.99 for dinner and although it is a good buffet, the addition of mediocre steak didn't justify the price increase. For the regular price, it's one of the best buffet deals in Vegas. After dinner, I got a cup of coffee and walked around the GC checking out the devastation to their VP inventory. My god!!! They have some of the worst crap I ever seen! They actually have the balls to offer 6/5 Bonus in a 3/5 play machine. Yes, I want to play an 88% game at 5 times the normal rate! With pay tables like that, I would be better off playing nickel slots. Good luck competing with the Palms, geniuses! I guess they figure the lush amenities of the GC would compensate for bad VP. Judging by the pay tables and the amount of people in the place, my bet is the new policy isn't going to work for them as well as they planned.
I then went back to the Excal to watch the end of the late football game then walked over to Luxor to play some VP. I found a 8/5 Bonus machine at got some play out of it but eventually lost the rest of the days stake. I hit Krispy Kreme on the way back to my room, which is hands down, the best reason to stay at Excalibur. After pounding down my donuts, I called it a night.
November 10
I woke up a little before 8AM. I love my morning coffee/VP session but I didn't want to play at Luxor again so I went over to the Palms for some FPDW. If you earn 300 points in a day, you get a buffet discount so I figured I would play enough to score the discount and then pay for the rest with my points that I have accumulated over the years. I first got my cup of coffee then settled into VP. I burned through $60 pretty quickly and was only going to feed the machine another $20. A few hands after I put in the last $20, I was dealt 3-2s. Sure enough, the 4th one comes up for $250! Woo-Hoo, my first 4 deuces! Afterwards, the machine starts hitting pretty good. I played for quite a while a finally cashed out $200. I walked over to the buffet and it was closed! Apparently I planted my ass at the VP machine so long I missed breakfast! So I had another 15 minutes to kill before lunch so I tried my hand at a 5 play 8/5 machine. After another decent run, I cash out up another $100 and hit the lunch buffet. It is an alright buffet, nothing I would write home about. The selection was a bit limited during lunch. Overall, I actually prefer the GC's across the street.
After lunch, I drove over to the Rio to pick up a gift for Lisa. She loves those glass flower things that they sell all over Vegas. I remembered that a store in Rio had deals on them and it was right next to the Masquerade parking garage. I quickly parked and ran in. I was back in my car in less than 10 minutes. It had to be the shortest trip to a casino ever! I then went back to the room to relax for a little while. After taking a quick break, I got back in the car and drove down to Bellagio. I wanted to scout VP machines at the B as well as Caesars as well as pick up some property maps for the web site. I parked at the B and checked out the Autumn display in the Conservatory, taking pictures of course. As always, it was done rather well. I then walked across the Strip to the Flamingo for a property map and they were out of them! I then walked over to Harrah's and got a map from them. Next, it was over to the Mirage, then on to Caesars. I wanted to scout VP before deciding where to stay on our December trip and I am glad I did. I wanted to see if there was any 3/5 play 8/5 Bonus and neither Bellagio nor Caesars have it in quarter demons. So much for that! I guess we are staying at the Golden Nugget, which is probably more within lines with our budget anyway. I haven't walked the strip like a tourist in a long time as there was quite a bit of change that I hadn't seen. The Flamingo has a "Carnival Court" knock-off in between it and the Barbary Coast. They had a DJ, a large BBQ with food and beer specials. At the other end of the Flamingo, they are adding a Margaritaville that looks like it will be enormous. Caesars looks like they are adding yet another hotel tower and the Forum Shop expansion is well on its way. The new tower at Bellagio is at about 8 stories.
After walking what seemed like 10 miles, I drove back to the Excalibur. I watched a little TV and started packing up the room. I then went downstairs, took some pictures of the Ex and got a property map. I started getting hungry again since I apparently didn't do enough damage that the Palms buffet so I went back to Nathan's again. I just love that place and since I can't get it in So Cal, I might as well load up on it while in Vegas! After Nathan's, I walked back to the room, grabbed my bags and checked out. After filling up, I was on the road by 5:30PM and back at home a little after 9:00PM.
Some Random Musings...
After going over 3 months without a trip to the Promised Land, it was nice to get the fix. Going solo definitely has its pros and cons. It is great to be able to gamble until your hearts content without having to worry about what anyone else wants to do. It's all about you! The downside is, it really sucks to eat alone at a restaurant. It also was a bummer seeing couples strolling along having a great time together. It definitely made me miss Lisa.
I noticed quite a bit of change going on in town. The Harmon Rd. freeway over pass looks close to completion. Frank Sinatra Dr. is open from Mandalay Bay to Monte Carlo. It will great once it goes all the way through to Industrial Rd. You will never have to drive the Strip again! They are building yet another luxury condo tower. This one is at the intersection of Industrial and the new Harmon overpass on the west side of the freeway. It seems like no matter how many times you come to this town, it is always different each time. The countdown is now on for our pre-xmas trip in December!
