Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: May 11, 2006 to May 21, 2006 Hotel Stayed At: Texas Station/Aladdin/Terribles Report by: MarginCalgary <> From: Calgary, Canada

DOLLAR CAR RENTAL

$265 total for a 10-day rental of a full-size car. An upgrade coupon and a smile landed us a shiny black Chrysler 300 Touring, chrome wheels and leather seats – and a spacious, comfortable ride for 4 people.


TEXAS STATION – Thurs/Fri/Sat - $49/$69/$69

The rooms are a good size, comfortable, and quiet. No coffee makers, but you do get a safe in your room, which is nice. The bathrooms are fairly large, and we found them to be a bit dark (especially in the shower), but the water pressure was good. The pool is quite small, not made for swimming really, but plenty good enough for cooling off in the heat of the day. We pretty well had the pool to ourselves until about mid-afternoon when a few families with small kids arrived (which called the end to pool time each day for us). The water temperature was wonderful – warm enough to be inviting, but just cool enough to be refreshing.

For those of you unfamiliar with Texas Station, it is located about a 10-minute drive northwest of downtown. The casino is quite large and offers a good variety of vp and slots. There are several restaurants, plus a buffet. We particularly enjoy the clam chowder offered at the Texas Star Oyster Bar. The buffet offers a nice variety of choices, and is particularly notable for their chili’s and ribs. The Texas Cafe is fair to middlin’.

ALADDIN – Sun/Mon/Tues/Wed/Thurs - $49 per night

Never one to shy away from a potential upgrade, I slipped the check-in clerk a $20 and was upgraded to the 51st floor. The 50 and 51 floors of the Aladdin are only accessible with a room key. We noted the surreptitious glances we got from people in the elevator when we used our key in the elevator. A very satisfying little tone was made when the button was activated, just in case anybody missed seeing us unlock the buttons to our floor. Frankly, it doesn’t take much to entertain us, so as soon as everyone in the lower floors had left the elevator, we always enjoyed a chuckle. Probably the security staff watching the elevator-cameras were having a chuckle of their own every time they saw us being so highly entertained by the looks we got from the other guests.

We didn’t get a suite or anything, and our room was similar to the regular rooms below us, with some exceptions. We were able to compare the rooms because the friends we were traveling with were assigned a regular room several floors below us (they did not attempt the $20 trick). Apart from our room seeming to be slightly longer than theirs (maybe this was just an illusion), the differences between our rooms were: we had a closet in the hall, our room had high ceilings, there was an LCD TV in the bathroom, nicer bedding, a larger window and a different colour scheme. The best part of our room, however, was the absolutely spectacular view of the Bellagio fountains that we were afforded – which we enjoyed immensely.

My husband, Mario, went looking for ice when we first arrived in our room. He returned shortly after, saying he couldn’t figure out where the ice machine was or for that matter if there was a pop machine on the floor, so I called downstairs and asked where the ice machine was located on our floor. I was advised that we were to call “our butler” and he would deliver us anything we needed. I took the ice bucket down a couple floors and never did call the butler, although thinking back maybe we should have done it “just for the experience” as it will probably be the only time in our lives that we will actually have butler service at our fingertips.

Yikes, that pool water was cold – despite the daily +100 degree weather! Admittedly, I’m a total wuss when it comes to getting into a cold pool.

Prior to our trip I had read certain negative comments about the Aladdin, which expressed some annoyance or inconvenience as a result of the ongoing construction as the hotel transitions into Planet Hollywood. Yes, the check-in is one floor up from the casino level. Big deal – we found our way there easily and there were plenty of signs to direct us to check-in. We had to take the elevator up from the valet level anyway, so what’s the problem with getting off the elevator two floors up instead of one? We didn’t wait long to check-in – and a line-up is a line-up no matter which floor you’re on. There are some areas walled off in the casino because of construction, but it affected us in no way whatsoever. We heard a few bangs and a little construction noise early in the morning, but the noise of the casino drowned that out once it got busier in the day. It didn’t bother us or affect our enjoyment of our trip or stay at the hotel one way or another.

TERRIBLES - $79 Friday/free Sat. with coupon from the POV

We requested a room overlooking the pool area on the 3rd floor, and the view from the room was very nice. The rooms themselves are fairly large. There is an area with a table and chairs over by the windows, which is nice. The bathroom is small and consists of a toilet and tub; the mirror and sink are separate – outside the bathroom. Coffee maker, ironing board and iron, but no safe.

The room smelled – how do I describe it?? Old, I guess would be the best word. However, once we got the air conditioning going and opened up the windows for a while, the smell dissipated, and we didn’t notice any smell for the rest of our stay.

The pool area at Terribles is actually quite nice, with lots of trees and greenery. They have plenty of lounge chairs around the pool. Several tables with chairs are placed here and there throughout the surrounding garden area, and it’s actually a very nice place to take your muffin and coffee in the morning and read the paper before you start the day. I found the pool quite cold, but again, I’m a wimp. Just like the pool at the Aladdin, once I got in the water it was fine. The hot tub was merely lukewarm. I don’t know if the heater was broken or if it was turned down, but in +100 degree weather, it really didn’t matter that much to me anyway.

We had breakfast at the Bougainvillea Café one day. Service was ridiculously slow given the number of people in the restaurant that morning, and the food was okay. We didn’t eat at the buffet, but have eaten there in the past and it is decent but unremarkable.


SHOWS

JERRY SEINFELD (Caesars Palace)

I was so excited to see his show, and I must say I was slightly disappointed in it.

The warm-up comedian was much (and I stress much) funnier than Jerry was. His last name was Pappa (I may be spelling that wrong), and I remember him being introduced as the star of a sitcom called Come to Pappa. Never heard of it, personally, but he was hilarious. I thought the guy across the aisle from us was going to burst a blood vessel, he was laughing so hard.

Jerry undoubtedly has a large body of work that he draws from, but I was a little surprised to see how unprepared his show was. He would walk back and forth on the stage and say, “let’s see, what should I talk about next … hmmm … okay, my wife” and then launch into his routine for that. He touched on many of the very subjects that his warm-up comedian had already covered – it was different material of course, but it felt repetitive somehow. It was surprising to me, but you could have heard a pin drop in the theatre for several minutes at a time while Seinfeld was on stage. I guess I was expecting more of the type of situational “what’s up with that??” kind of humour that I see from Seinfeld on TV. And I guess I expected it was going to be a laugh a minute, and it wasn’t. He was on stage for under an hour, and I expected he would give us maybe an hour and a half of his time. I’m not saying his show was crap, I’m just saying it did not meet my own personal expectations of it.

HAIRSPRAY (Luxor)

This is a musical broadway-type show. It was good, although I enjoyed Mamma Mia more. I’m wondering if the black woman with the absolutely incredible voice was the same woman we saw in We Will Rock You (as I recall, I think she played a queen bee or something in that show). Her voice was far and beyond that of the rest of the cast – the power and quality of her voice is truly awe-inspiring.

KA (Cirque de Soleil – MGM)

Wow, absolutely freakin’ incredible. Mario and I thought it was probably one of the best shows we’ve ever seen. On the other hand, the friends we were traveling with have seen 5 or 6 different Cirque shows, and they thought it was rather disappointing – they prefer the ones that highlight more individual artists – like contortionists and the like.

GAMBLING

Over the course of 10 days we won a few nice little slot jackpots for around $300 each. Being low rollers, and given that we tend to play pennies most of the time, that’s probably all you can expect from our bets of 60 or 80 cents at a time.

We played poker at the Imperial Palace a couple times. The first day, we spent about 3 hours at the table, and between the 2 of us we won over $200.

The next time we played poker, Mario lost $60 and I won around $60, so we came out even. We were surprised when one of the ladies at the table came over to me as she was leaving the game and asked if I was Marg from Calgary. I told her I was, and she said she recognized Mario from a meet picture she’d seen. Thanks for introducing yourself, Kodidog – it was very nice to meet you!

We visited several other casinos during our trip, including Orleans, Gold Coast, Sunset Station, Red Rock Station, Monte Lago, Rampart, and Green Valley Ranch. We thought Red Rock Station was very nice, but to tell you the truth the one I liked the best was the Rampart.

MEET – May 18 at the Monte Carlo Brewpub

We met LasVegasNorm for lunch prior to the meet, which is always a pleasure. A retired school principal, he has a lot of interesting stories to tell, and he’s a virtual bottomless well of knowledge and information when it comes to Las Vegas and the surrounding area.

The turnout for the meet was good, and the attendees included Norm, Ktinca and his wife, Eileen, Gapch (Georgia Peach) and her son Bret(t), Rosie from Boston, Jeff and Nancy (N and J from NJ – so nice to see you again!!), JeanWA, JoeVegas, his wife, Beckie, and his mom, Debbie. Sorry if I forgot to mention anyone.

LAKE LAS VEGAS

One day we drove out to Lake Las Vegas, which is just a short ways out of the city of Las Vegas. It’s the area where Celine Dion lives, for those of you who are her fans. The area is modeled on Tuscany, and it is quite beautiful, with a lake (well, duh), golf course (which I understand is a public course), many single-family homes and condos, the Monte Lago Casino and Hotel, other swanky hotels, and shop-lined streets. There is a lot of new construction in the area, and it is not hard to understand what the attraction is. We did go back early one evening, so that we could see the lake and street area in the evening. A wedding reception was going on that night at one of the outside restaurants, and the music and festivities that could be heard throughout the village area only served to make the evening visit more enjoyable.

NOTABLE MEALS

As many times as I’ve heard people rave about the steak special at Ellis Island, we’ve never taken advantage of it until this trip. $4.95 for a side salad, excellent filet, choice of potato and green beans. Coffee was something like 75 cents. My only criticism would be that our waiter sucked. The 4 of us ate a very good dinner for a total of under $30, including tip.

Breakfast at Café Lux in the Venetian. We love this restaurant and always enjoy their small breakfast buffet, which I think is around $13 a person. The coffee is excellent, the fruit is fresh, the made-to-order omelets are light and tasty, the pastries are wonderful, and the juice is fresh-squeezed.

Gold Coast $9.95 Texas T-Bone Steak Special. A great deal for a very good meal in the Monterey Room.


I think that about covers the highlights of our trip, without giving you a blow-by-blow account of our 10 days in Las Vegas. It was a busy, fun trip, and I’d go back tomorrow if I could.
MarginCalgary <> - Calgary, Canada    3065

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