It was time once again for a solo trip to the City of Sin. This trip would be a last hurrah at the Stardust before it closes on November 1st. I was also "Spending one night in Paris" to quote a popular film...
September 23
I picked up a rental car from the local Hertz for $16.99 a day. It was a Pontiac G7 with about 10K miles on it. It was a pretty nice car with plenty of power at a price that couldn't be beat. I was on the road by 12:00 which as usual was later than planned. With a stop at Tommy Burger in Barstow for some of their kick ass chiliburgers, I pulled into the Stardust valet before 4:00. There was virtually no traffic the whole way even at the 15/Beltway which is always jammed.
My host is now at Orleans since the 'dust is closing but was still able to hooked me up with a room and full RFB even though they were "sold out." I asked for a room high up and got one in the West Tower but no strip view. I like to look out the window, damnit! Still the view or the valley and mountains wasn't bad. I relaxed for a little while then went downstairs, pulled a marker and played some VP for a while. They still have a handful of decent machines including 5 play NSUD. Although it was a down session, the machine gave up several hours of play.
Afterwards, I headed over to the Orleans to pick up a property map and the place was packed. There was some sort of event going on in the arena and parking was a nightmare. I ran in, got the map and split. Then it was over to TI/Mirage. Map runs have taught me the art of the casino hit and run. Using self parking, I hit both place and was back in my car in 20 minutes! I ordered room service for dinner and the burger they have was as good as ever. It is one of the many things I will miss about the Stardust. After eating, it was back downstairs for another crack at the NSUD machine. Once again, I managed to get a few hours play but no deuces so it ended up another down session. I hit the newsstand for some munchies then called it a night.
September 24
I was up pretty early and went downstairs to get coffee and some last pictures of the SD. I have taking literally hundreds of pictures in Vegas casinos and this was the first time I was told I couldn't. I knew you weren't supposed to, I just have never been called on it.
After saying my goodbyes, it was off to Paris to try to check in. It was only a little after 9:00 but I gave it a shot. The woman at the Diamond check-in desk tried to get me a room but no dice. I then walked over to Bally's for some breakfast and to settle into the Sports book for the Jets game at 10. The breakfast place was much busier that I thought and by the time I got my food, it was standing room only in the book. Its no fun to watch a game standing up! At halftime, I walked back to Paris to try again and this time I got the room. It was near the top floor, with direct views of the Eiffel Tower and the Bellagio fountains. It was one of the better views that I have ever had in Vegas. The room itself was decent, nothing spectacular. I quickly dropped my bags and headed over to the Paris Sports book to catch the end of the game. It was also SRO but I got to see the Jets pull out a nice win at Buffalo.
After the game, I headed over to Caesars for some VP. The week before I got to there, Harrah's completely destroyed the VP inventory at Bally's where I had planned on playing. I played a few hours of some 5 play JoB but still didn't have any real luck. I wasn't getting killed, it was just a slow drain. I then headed out for another property map run. I drove to Mandalay Bay then jumped on the monorail down to Excalibur then walked over to Luxor (bought a T-Shirt with a dragon on it along the way!) then through the mall back to Mandalay Bay. 3 casinos and about 2 miles of walking in 45 minutes! It was about dinner time so and I didn't know what I wanted to eat so I just ended up going back to Paris and ate at the coffee shop then relaxed in the room for a while.
After dinner, I wandered back over to Caesars for some more video poker. I sat down at the same 5 play JoB machine and finally started getting some decent hands. I was getting quite a few 3 to a Royal and I said out loud to the machine "If you keep giving them to me, I am going to hit one." Sure enough, a few minute later the beautiful site of a Royal popped up. Since its still early, I continue to play the same machine. No more than 10 hands later after holding just 2 cards, the other 3 fill in for a second Royal! I have only once hit 2 Royals in the same trip, now I have done it within 5 minutes! It was quite a rush. I played a little longer and cashed out the biggest ticket I have ever had. Flush with cash, I decided to be a bit foolish and take a few pop shots. A quick try of 5 play Multi-Strike got the heart pounding at $25 a hand. It started out well but quickly turned bad and that game is brutal when things are bad! I moved over to the .25 Spin Poker machines, which are a little less volatile and managed to get about an hour worth of play before finally crapping out. It was getting late so I called it a night and headed back to Paris. I got in the room just in time to catch the last 2 Bellagio fountain shows which is always a nice way to end an evening.
September 25
I woke up pretty early again and drove out to Green Valley Ranch to give them some play. Since good machines are pretty much a dying breed on the strip, I think GVR is probably the best alternative. On a Monday morning, the place is a ghost town but the drink service was still surprisingly good. By day 3 in Vegas, I just want the water to keep coming. I am still giddy about the 2 royals the night before and decide to go up to .50 5 play. I proceed to get my ass handed to me in short order. After burning through several hundred, I come to my senses and drop back to quarters. Of course, this is when my luck turns and I actually get a few hands! I played for a a couple of hours and racked up some Station points to keep the offers coming. It was back to Paris to pack up and check out.
When I was checking out, I just asked that the 1 meal on the room be taken out of my Reward Credits. She checks the computer and say that I don't have any. I walked in the door with over 25,000 and easily earned another 5 thousand the previous day at Caesars. She calls over to a guy sitting at the desk and he says the same thing. I had a problem earlier in the year with combining Total Rewards accounts and I am still having problems. He picks up the phone and calls over to Caesars who says that they see them but he was in the wrong system. Nice job! After clearing that up, I was on the road by 12:30 and made incredible time once again, pulling into my driveway at before 4:30.
Some Random Musings...
I will miss the Stardust... It was hardly the nicest joint in town but they made me feel like a king when I walked in there. It had everything I wanted in a casino and now it is gone, to be replaced by a multi-billion dollar behemoth.
Harrah's once again kills another casino by wiping out the last playable game at Bally´s. That was a short lived home! Caesars has the games but I don't know if I have the play to justify staying there. My current offers are for free rooms only during the week. I can stay at any other Harrah's property on weekends but they have already flushed those places down the toilet.
It looks like I may have to change my game to something else if I want to continue to stay on the strip. I would rather be on the strip but GVR is about as close to a strip casino as you can get and I doubt they will be gutting their inventory any time soon. They have also been very generous with the offers despite only playing there once before this trip. I will stay there at least one night during our annual pre-xmas trip in December.
