Las Vegas Holiday 2007

Las Vegas Holiday

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By 2300 we were back at the Flamingo and M went to bed as she was still tired traveling from east coast time. IME and I walked through Harrah’s and played the big 5 cent WOF while listening to the dueling pianos again (not as good as the night before). We didn’t go into the dueling piano bar as there was a $5 cover charge and we were happy to listen from outside at the slots. Lost a bit of money at the WOF so we walked over to Casino Royale and first played their 1 cent big WOF and lost. Went over to the Nurse video game by the craps table and turned $20 into $40 back to $0 between midnight and 0120 am. We had fun, and that’s what it is all about in Vegas, and we called it a night and walked back to the Flamingo, and hit the sack at 0145 am. Yet another action-packed and fun-filled day in Vegas!

DAY 7) SATURDAY JUNE 30, 2007
This would be our last day in Vegas for this trip. We slept in and woke up at 0815, and decided to fully pack our bags so they’d be ready to go at 1200 noon (as the hotel gave us an extra hour beyond the regular 1100 am check-out time). M told us the night before that she wanted to sleep in, and we shouldn’t call her… and she’d call us when she was ready. So at 0915 IME and I headed downstairs and once again took our seats at the 5 cent big WOF at the Flamingo strip entrance by Bill’s. We tried our luck and lost about $20. As a side note, our one and only complaint about the Flamingo is the extremely poor service by the casino cocktail waitresses on the casino floor. During our entire six days in Vegas, not once did a Flamingo cocktail waitress ask us if we wanted drinks. Each time we wanted drinks while gambling at the Flamingo, we had to pony up the cash (sometimes luckily with a coupon) and purchase drinks at the walk up bar. The Flamingo management needs to address this problem, or stop being so tight-fisted in this regard. We didn’t experience this problem at any of the other casinos.

We then walked over to Bill’s, and I decided to play craps as it was pretty quiet on the casino floor. As I’m new to the game, I prefer that to all the yelling and crowds at night. I wasn’t particularly good and managed turn $100 into $20 after 35 minutes of play. Oh well.. I gave it a try! We then decided to walk over to Paris for some breakfast.

Parisian Bakery at Paris for breakfast
By 0945 we were at Paris and went back to our favourite Parisian bakery and coffee shop and the seemingly long line moved very quickly. I had an apple danish and IME had a chocolate croissant, and we shared a large coffee for $11. Kind of pricey but the ambience can’t be beat, and its very convenient. We sat down at a table and enjoyed our morning nourishment and were very happy to be having morning coffee in one of our favourite casinos. At 1015 we played some slots at Paris and lost a bit, and then tried their large 5 cent WOF and lost some more.

By 1030 we had walked back to the Flamingo lobby and called M to see how she was doing, as it was getting late. Perfect timing as she was ready to come down from her room to meet us. M told us there were very noisy teens or early 20s in the room beside her that were partying and woke her at 0200 am. M complained to the front desk several times before they toned it down, and the hotel offered M a 1500 check-out to compensate for the disturbance. IME and I decided to take our bags down and leave them with the hotel’s left luggage room, and we checked out with one easy phone call to the front desk. Our gambling comps reduced the bill to only a $4 balance (for some local calls and the two pool side drinks) and our room expense was included in the US Airways vacations package deal.

Over to the Bellagio
At 1100 we all decided to show M the Bellagio, so we walked over from the Flamingo. M and I bought some $1 cold water bottles from the hawkers on the overpass between Caesar’s and Bellagio. M was impressed with the Bellagio as we entered through the parade of ultra high end label shops, and then saw the amazing glass flowers on the ceiling of the hotel lobby and atrium. Had a quick look at the casino but didn’t do any gaming. Being fascinated by animals, M wanted to see the Sharks at Mandalay Bay (MB), so we jumped in a taxi over to MB.

At 1200 noon we arrived at MB (taxi cost was $7 plus $2 tip) as the traffic was very light on the strip. We walked straight towards the Shark Reef exhibit, but M was hungry so we stopped at the food court and M explained to the hot dog stand that she is vegetarian, so they very kindly made her a custom grilled cheese sandwich with tomatoes sliced in, and charged he for a hot dog. Now that is superb customer service!! A+++ to the hot dog stand people! We then quickly showed M the huge Mandalay Beach pool complex, and the photo below speaks for itself. There's lots of people and lots of sand, but not too much shelter from the sun. We prefer the lush pool grounds at the Flamingo where there is shade for those that want it.

Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay
At 1300 M went into the Shark Reef exhibit ($15 per adult) while IME and I went for a bite of lunch at the Mexican Pub nearby before the food court. We shared the two taco plate for $8.95 and it was very tasty, although the portion was very small. The home made tortilla chips and salsas were complimentary and were really tasty and made for the perfect compliment to the meal. They offered us more chips but we were full and politely declined. IME enjoyed a cucumber mojito and I had their fresh watermelon juice and both drinks were fantastic. We met M at the Shark Reef just before 1400 and she thoroughly enjoyed it. She saw regular sharks, saw fish, and cousins of the hammerhead sharks, but she didn’t get to see any actual hammerhead sharks as they were rather illusive. The Reef staff had a small stingray in a holding tank for people to touch, which M found very interesting. Overall, M was really impressed and recommends the Shark Reef specially for kids and people who like sea animals.

At 1415 we all cabbed it back to the Flamingo as we needed to get to the airport. We said goodbye to M in the Flamingo lobby and she thanked us for inviting her on the trip. Although M said she didn’t have the stamina to stay up late each night and get up early, she really did enjoy her fist trip to Vegas. Her flight back to Toronto was leaving at midnight so M planned to spend some time at the Flamingo pool and check out the real flamingos and then head up to the Fashion Show Mall for the remainer of her day. At 1430 IME and I collected our bags from the left luggage depot at the Flamingo, and then jumped in a cab and were on our way to the airport. We were sad to be leaving as we had such an amazing six day visit, and can’t wait to return yet again to one of our favourite cities!

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