October 27 - November 6, 2015: Las Vegas Trip Report

October 27 - November 6, 2015: Las Vegas Trip Report

After the stress of selling my home, buying a condo, packing, and moving, I needed a vacation to unwind. Needless to say, Las Vegas was calling my name! It's my favorite travel destination where I can get away from the "real world" for awhile and just concentrate on having a good time.

Planning a Vegas adventure is half the fun...

I booked my roundtrip flight on Southwest Airlines and I always opt to pay extra for their Early Bird Checkin which guarantees you a spot in the Group A boarding. Once you get use to SWA's boarding procedure, it's really not too bad, especially when you're in the first group to board the plane. I always manage to get my favorite aisle seat.

Something else that I noticed is that SWA's flight attendants seem to be friendlier than other airlines that I've used in past including American and United ...or maybe I've just been lucky, so far ...LOL.

I had several casino offers for complementary rooms, but the Orleans has alway been good to me in the past. I had an offer for 4 free nights with $40 in food credit, so I decided to book the Orleans for my entire 10 days. When I checked the reservation calendar online, it showed that no rooms were available for 5 of the 10 nights ...Yikes!  So, I called the Orleans and they did have a premium deluxe room available for all 10 nights! 

I'm lost without a car, so I always have a rental car when I'm in Vegas. I usually choose the rental car company based on my discount offers and whatever specials might be available. Although, I have a preference for renting Mustangs whenever possible. The only company that had one available was Hertz, so I used my AAA motor club discount and reserved a Mustang convertible.

For entertainment, I reserved tickets through the MLife website for Terry Fator@Mirage and Carrot Top@Luxor. Both shows have been on my "to do" list for quite awhile.

MyVegas was a bust this trip. I couldn't find anything that I liked and all of the good stuff was sold out.

The only other event I had scheduled was attending the LasVegas4Ever Halloween meet at Henessey's. I attended their first "Mega-meet" back in 2009, so I was looking forward to seeing some familiar faces again and meeting some new board member too.

So let the good times roll!

Day 1, Tuesday Oct. 27:

I reserved a ride with Echo Limousine and arrived at MDW (Midway airport in Chicago) way to early as usual ...LOL. I was TSA Precheck, so getting through the TSA security line was quick.

The weather in Chicago was cloudy, cool, and it started raining shorty after I arrived at MWD.  There was no severe weather, so no delays and my flight was on schedule.

An egg and cheese croissant for breakfast...

The flight to Vegas was uneventful which is alway good. I was watching movies on my iPad for most of the flight. I download the Furious 7, Jurassic World, and Avengers Age Of Ultron onto my iPad before leaving home. Our plane landed at LAS before 2pm. It was close to 3pm after I picked up my rental car. A silver 2015 Mustang Convertible...

The check-in line at the Orleans was fairly long, but line moved right along. There was a small problem checking in, since they didn't have the premium deluxe room that I had reserved, so they ungraded me to an executive suite for no extra charge.

The Executive Suite is nice, but it's starting to show it's age. They've been renovating their deluxe rooms, so maybe the suites will be next on their agenda.

I brought my GoPro camera with me, so I also shot a video of the room...

Restaurants at the Orleans...

There are several changes, in regards to the restaurants at the Orleans.

The Prime Rib Loft is using a section of the Courtyard Cafe while their restaurant is being renovated.

Canal Street was boarded up with work going on behind the walls. I'm not sure if they are going to reopen or if it's turning into a new restaurant. 

Costa Cantina, the Mexican restaurant is history! I dined there on my last trip and thought their food was pretty good.

The Orleans Steak & Seafood is a brand new restaurant located across from the French Market Buffet. I dined their twice during my trip ...more on that later.

After stopping at the sushi bar at Koji's for dinner, I spent some time playing VP (mainly Deuces Wild) and pretty much broke even for the night. I was up by about $400 at one point, but that didn't last long ...LOL.  Overall, VP at the Orleans was terrible this trip, so I spent more time playing slots ...Buffalos!

Day 2, Wednesday Oct. 28:

I usually don't eat too fancy for breakfast, so I ended up at the McDonald's at the Luxor and had the hot cakes with sausage and coffee. I wanted to pickup the tickets that I reserved for Carrot Top and Terry Fator, but it was too early, so the Box Office wasn't open yet. I had about an hour to kill and I spotted a Buffalo Stampede slot in the casino which I've never played before. In fact, I'm rather new to the Buffalo slots, so I was surprised when I discovered all the different varieties of Buffalo machines.

Anyways, I put in a $20 bill and hit the max bet. After a few spins, three Gold coins popped up on the screen and low and behold, Free Games! This was the start of my winning streak on the Buffalo Stampede slots.

I kept getting those Gold Coins and with all of those free spins, the credits kept building up and up and up ...LOL. A slot manager was nearby and she was all excited with all the free spins I was hitting. Since this machine was new to me, she was pointing out the different combinations of wins as they came up on the screen which was cool. Needless to say, I was drawing a big crowd after a while, so I forgot to take photos before I cashed out.

The slot manager also told me, if possible, to try and cash out under $1300 to avoid having to pay taxes. The free spins stopped when I was just over $1200, so I cashed out and stuck in another $20 and kept playing for awhile. The machine stopped hitting, so I cashed out at just under $50.

I spent the rest of the afternoon roaming around the strip. I stopped by the Wynn and was surprised that Popeye was still there. I thought they were going to move him to a new location.

Later that evening, I met up with a local friend back at the Orleans for dinner. We ended up at Koji's. We ordered the Roasted Duck, Honey Walnut Shrimp, and Spicy Eggplant. Koji's is one of my favorite restaurants at the Orleans and their food is always good and consistent.

Day 3, Thursday 10/29:

I decided to take a drive out to Red Rock Casino to get a replacement players card, since I misplaced my card from my last trip. I didn't see any Buffalo Stampede slots, so I played the original Buffalo for a while with no luck. After grabbing a slice of pizza at Villa, I decided to head back to the Orleans.

That evening, I had a ticket to see Terry Fator's show at the Mirage. His show is a must see for those who haven't seen it yet. It's one of the best shows that I've seen in Vegas!

After the show, I took a walk around the strip trying to decide where to have dinner.

Every place that I wanted to try was packed, so I ended up back at the Courtyard Cafe at the Orleans. I ordered the Butterfly Jumbo Shrimp which came with either soup or salad. I opted for the homemade chicken noodle soup. Everything was pretty good, but the breading on the shrimps was a bit too salty.

After dining, it was back to the Buffalo Stampede! ...and look what happened...

Those Gold Coins kept popping up again! This was the first of two hand-pays of my trip at the Orleans. I also had 2 smaller wins of $800 and $200 that night on the same machine. I only had about $500 in total losses up to this point, so I was still way ahead in the win department!

Day 4, Friday Oct. 30:

The highlight of the day was attending the LasVegas4Ever Halloween meet in the Claddagh Room at Hennessy's Tavern on Fremont St.

For my readers who don't know "LasVegas4Ever", it's a Las Vegas website/discussion board for Vegas fanatics. Lots of friendly members on board who share their travel adventures by writing trip reports, blogs, reviews (hotels, restaurants, etc.), and everyone shares information for planning trips, gambling, etc.

The meet started at 4pm, but I got delayed in traffic, so I arrived around 4:30-ish or so and a good number of members and some of their friends were already present.

It was nice seeing some familiar faces who I've met at the first meet back in July 2009 including Blonde4ever (LV4E's webmisstress) and TrawnaJack.  It was also a pleasure meeting some other board members for the first time including Otto, Kodidog, Marg, Mario, Howard, and several others.  I didn't take any photos at the meet, but a few members shared their photos on the LV4E board and on the LV4E Facebook Group.

The meet ended at around 7pm and I was debating whether to stay downtown or head back to the Orleans for dinner.  I valet parked at Mainstreet Station, so I headed in that general direction and decided to try the new Steak and Seafood restaurant back at the Orleans.

The Orleans Steak And Seafood Restaurant...

From what I've been told, the new restaurant opened a couple of weeks before my visit.  It's a fine dining restaurant with an "a la carte" menu and as the name implies, they specialize in steaks and seafood entrees.  Their menus and hours can be found on the Orleans website, but here's the link to their Dinner Menu


I found the wait staff to be very friendly and accommodating throughout dinner.  To start out, they served a freshly baked mini loaf of bread with butter which is very good. It was so good that I ate the whole loaf ...LOL.

For the entree, I ordered the 12 oz. Prime Rib (medium rare) and a baked potato with butter, sour cream and chives.  I wish I would have remembered to take a photo, since everything looked so delicious.  The Prime Rib was cooked perfectly, tender, juicy, and with lots of flavor.  I didn't need to add any other seasonings at the table.  The baked potato was also cooked to perfection.

I was impressed with both the food and service, so I made a repeat visit at the end of my trip.

Buffalo!

After dinner, I headed over to those Buffalo Stampede slots again and my favorite machine was open.  After about 30 minutes or so, those gold coins started appearing and the credits started adding up again!  I cashed out with this...

...but I continued to play for awhile until the machine stopped producing.  I put back in a little over $100, but I recycled quite a bit of credits over about an hour and a half before moving on to play some VP.

I usually don't play 3 or 5 play VP, but I thought that I'd give it a try, since I was playing with my winnings. I was on one machine where I was switching between 3 play and 5 play Deuces Wild which kept hitting, so my $100 lasted for about 2 hrs of play before I cashed out with a $57 profit.  That was the best VP play I had on this trip.  No Royals, but a couple of 4OAKs which came far in-between.

Day 5, Sat. Oct. 31:

On my agenda for this trip was to make my rounds of some of the local casino that I've never visited on past trips.  First stop was the M Resort.  I guess my timing was bad, since they were having a give-a-way promotion for card members.  The line at the Players Club booth was a mile long, so I couldn't get near the place to sign up as new member.  I didn't want to play any slots/VP without a card, so I just walked around the casino for awhile to get a feel of the place.  The M Resort is nice, so I'll probably stop by again on a future trip.

After leaving the M Resort, I made a stop at South Point.  I visited the place on my last trip, but didn't sign up for a players card so I decided too this time.  I spent part of the afternoon playing slots/VP.  I also found some Buffalo Stampede slots, but they weren't very nice to me ...LOL.  I ended up losing about $200, so I switched over to VP and was playing Deuce Wild. No big wins on VP either, no Royals, and no 4OAKs.  Whatever small wins I did hit went right back into the machine, so I left after losing another $100.

I thought about heading downtown that evening to check out all of the Halloween craziness, but I was too tired to do anymore walking.  So for dinner, I ended up at In N' Out Burgers.  I always stop by at least once on every trip. They were packed inside and out, so I went through the drive-thru and ordered take outs (Double Double Combo) and brought it back to my room.

Later that night, guess what happened again?  Buffalos!  I ended up with my second hand-pay of my trip.  WOW!!!  It's a good thing that I didn't go downtown ...LOL!

Day 6, Sun. Nov.1:

Another day of nice weather, so I decided to take a drive out to Mt. Charleston to shoot a video of the scenic route along Hwys 95, 157, 158 and 156.  This was my first trip out to Mt. Charleston so I was looking forward to checking out the area.

No need for words to describe Mt. Charleston, since the video speaks for itself...

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to check out the ski lodge, but I plan to head back on a future trip.

Carrot Top at the Luxor...

I arrived at the Luxor early, so I spent some time playing Buffalo Stampede.  After all, this is where my winning streak on those machines began ...LOL. Anywho, there was one machine open, so I stuck in $100 bill and started playing. Unfortunately, the guy sitting next to me had the hot machine. He was getting those gold coins over and over again. Although, he was betting the minimum so he wasn't accumulating a lot of credits.  My machine wasn't hitting at all, so I ended up losing the $100.

What can I say, Carrot Top is hilarious!  I've been meaning to see his show on past trips, but I never got around to it until now.  I had a great seat, 2nd row center stage!  I forgot the name of the guy, but the opening act was a comedian. He wasn't too bad, but definitely not as funny as CT.  

I've seen some of CT's material on TV, but his live show is definitely something that you can't miss.  I'm sure the TV censors would go crazy with some of the props and material that he uses in his live show ...LOL.  About half-way through his show a bucket dropped down from the ceiling on a rope with a bottle of Crown Royal inside.  I wasn't expecting him to head out into the audience passing out shots of CR, but he handed one to me ...LOL.

Back at the Orleans, the Buffalo Stampede slots were not being nice to anyone.  At one point, I was ahead by about $300, but ended up putting it all back in and lost another $100.  I switched over to VP and just broke even playing more Deuces Wild.  Before I called it a night, I donated another $50 to the Megabucks slots.  Well, it looks like I still can't scratch winning Megabucks off of my Bucket List.

Day 7, Mon. Nov. 2:

I spent a good part of the day hanging out with a couple of local friends.  So, nothing too exciting to report.

Although, I was rather surprised when I received a call from a host at the Orleans.  I guess all the time that I spent playing those Buffalo slots and VP showed up on their radar, since I also made it to the next level (Sapphire) on my 3rd day.  I never made it to that level in all the years that I've been playing at the Boyd properties.  The host thanked me for choosing to stay and play at the Orleans and wanted to up my dining credits from my original $40 offer to an amount that I couldn't possibly use up by the end of my trip.  So essentially, all of my dining expenses that I charged to my room were bring comped.  Nice!  Needless to say, I tried to take advantage of that offer as much as possible ...LOL.

That evening, I decided to give the French Market Buffet a try for the first time.  The prime rib at the buffet couldn't compete with the one I had as Steak And Seafood.  This one was rather stringy and tough.  Although, the BBQ ribs and short ribs were very good.

I was surprised to see cajun style boiled crawfish.  These can't compare to the super fresh ones that I alway get when I go to New Orleans, but they were okay.  I went back for more of those! 

I didn't have room for those cookies, so I wrapped them in a napkin and stuffed them in my pocket for later ...LOL

Day 8, Tues. Nov. 3:

I spent a good part of the day just hanging out on the strip.  I parked the car at the Monte Carlo and started walking north from there.

This is the new stadium in back of the Monte Carlo.  I took these pics from the walkway between the self-parking garage and the Monte...

This one is facing the opposite direction towards Aria...

It was mid-morning and I didn't have breakfast, so I stopped at the Food Court in the Monte for a bite to eat.  It's been awhile since I had one of these at Nathan's...

Later in the afternoon, I made my way over to Planet Ho, since I wanted to try the lobster roll at Lobster Me.  Those lobster rolls are yummy!

Walking through City Center, I also spotted this thing and I couldn't help but take a photo of it ...LOL

Back at the Orleans, I didn't get Stampeded by the Buffalos like the day before ...LOL.  To my surprise, I ended up hitting the minor progressive jackpot for $840.  I also accumulated an additional $400 for a total of $1240 before cashing out.

Since I had a late lunch, it was close to 11pm when I went to dinner at the Courtyard Cafe.  I didn't have anything fancy, just a burger and fries.

Day 9, Weds. Nov. 4:

Wednesday was a chilly and wet day in Vegas.  So, I decided to check out a few more local casinos for the first time.  I started out at Sam's Town.

Sam's Town was much larger than I had expected.  I liked the feel of their casino, so I spent some time adding more point to my BConnected card playing ...guess what? ...yup, Buffalo Stampede!  Unfortunately, Sam's Town Buffalos didn't like me very much ...LOL.

Next stop was the Eastside Cannery. After walking around inside the casino for awhile, I didn't get much of a "vibe".  I'm not sure if I would make a return trip, but ya never know.

The final stop was the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson.  Like Red Rock, it's a Station Casino, so I gave them some playtime to see if I'll get on there radar for some offers.  I like the looks of the GVR, even though it's far from the LV strip.  I'm not sure if I would like staying there or not, but if I get a nice offer, I might give it a try.

Pizza Rock!  Wow, I was surprised when I saw that they have a Pizza Rock at the GVR.  Needless to say, I had dinner there before heading back to the Orleans.

When I returned to the Orleans, the parking lot was packed, so I ended up using the valet.  I guess SEMA was in full swing, since I spotted lots of SEMA folks in the casino.

The Buffalos were stampeding most of the player tonight too. No one was winning including me, so I switch over to VP for awhile with very little luck.  I also donate a few more dollar to Megabucks and still no big win ...Darn, I still can't check that off of my Bucket List!

Day 10, Thurs. Nov. 5:

This was my last full day in Vegas, so I headed out to Red Rock Canyon for a while.  I often visit Red Rock Canyon to get away from the craziness of the LV strip, but this time I had my GoPro camera with me so I did the scenic loop drive again and took a video of the entire scenic drive.

Later that afternoon, I spent a few hours hanging out on the LV strip, people watching ...LOL ...before returning to the Orleans.

For my final dinner of this trip, I went back to Steak And Seafood, since I really enjoyed my dinner there earlier in my trip.  This time I ordered the combination special which includes a petite filet mignon, shrimps, a lamb chop, grilled asparagus, and mushroom risotto.  I also order a side of "Pomme Frites" which is basically french fries with a special truffled vinegar sea salt and jalapeño ketchup on the side. This time, I remembered the "food porn" too ...LOL

Everything was very good, except that the risotto was slightly under cooked for my taste.  I was tempted to order dessert, but I was so stuffed that I couldn't eat another bite.

I also have to thank those Buffalos for being nice to me on my final night at the Orleans.  I hit another minor progressive jackpot for about $800 and I cashed out with an additional $400 for a grand total of $1200 for the night.

Day 11, Fri. Nov. 6:

The day we all dread!  Time to leave Las Vegas and return home!  I got an early start as usual. I like to check out in person to make sure all the charges are correct, so I don't receive any surprises down the road.  Everything looked good and all of my dining charges were comped. No resort fees for the 4 comped night too!

After checking out, I drove over to the car rental return which was busier than usual.  A lot of the SEMA attendees were returning home, so there was a wait for everything including the shuttle buses to the airport.  It's a good thing that I got an early start.  At LAS, I didn't receive TSA Precheck on my return flight, so I got stuck in the regular TSA line which was long, but they allowed everyone to keep their shoes on and computers, liquids, etc. didn't have to be taken out of your carry-on.  So basically, it was the same as going through the TSA Precheck line.

There was a delay on take-off, since we were waiting our turn in line on the tarmac.  Although, they made up for the delay in the air and we arrive in Chicago on time.  The line for taxis was also short, so I got a ride home as soon as I exited the door.

Well, another Vegas trip is history...

- I wish that I had booked 2 weeks instead of 10 days!  My Vegas vacations are alway too short!

- I usually don't spend a lot of time gambling, but those Buffalos were so good to me this trip, I spent more time in the casinos than I had planned. So, a lot of my original plans got thrown out the window!  I haven't had a winning trip like this in a long time!

- Now, I have to start planning my next Vegas trip! LOL!