Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: May 15, 2005 to November 30, 1999 Hotel Stayed At: MONTE CARLO--ACM AWARDS PT1 Report by: KTINCA <> From: CALIFORNIA

I don’t take notes so this TR is reconstructed from my sometime questionable memory, along with hotel bill and receipts.

Sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. So I’m going to start with our luggage. Because we had so many different events this trip, we brought 2 normal rolling bags, 1 extra large rolling bag, my small carry-on duffel and my wife’s carry on bag/purse. So help was appreciated everywhere we went.

Sunday May 15th
Took shuttle from off site parking to airport (tip $3).
Checked bags outside with SWA, already had boarding passes (tip $5).
Arrived at McCarron around 10:15am.
Took cab to Monte Carlo (tip $4).
Gave bellman bags (tip $3).

It’s still before check-out time on Sunday of a very busy and expensive week, so I realized our choice of rooms might be limited.
I smile, explain to the clerk that I am a light sleeper and request a quiet room. I also hand her my credit card along with a $20 tip.
She says there aren’t too many rooms cleaned and available yet.

“I have a room on the 22nd floor with a strip view near the end of the hall.”
“Is it near the maid’s storeroom?”
“Yes it is, let me see what else is ready.”
“I can give you a quiet room on the 15th floor with a pool view. I see you need a fridge, let me call for you and have that sent up to your room.”

Room 15188 is exactly what we expect from Monte Carlo, a nice medium priced room.
This is the lowest floor we have been on in any LV hotel in many years, but the view of the pool and partial strip view was still nice. One thing though, these were the dirtiest windows I have ever seen at any hotel, it has obviously been a long time since they were cleaned. We have never seen it like this at MC before.

Call bell desk for our bags (tip $5) and right after that the fridge is brought up (tip$5).
Both MC and Mandalay Bay use the small ½ fridge which fits perfectly under the counter in the bathroom, which I prefer.

For those of you not keeping track we have now spent $45 in tips, and are finally ready to leave our room and start our vacation.

First stop the racebook. On flights my wife watches dvds, while I handicap races to kill the time. It doesn’t matter where we are going, or if I can even place a bet, it’s just to keep my mind occuipied.

Handicapped 5 races, bet 4 of them. Turns out 2 winners & 2 2nds, for a profit of around $60. Didn’t stay to watch them, although we did catch one at MB.

Went to Mandalay Bay to pick up the tickets for our shows Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday nights. Had lunch at Raffles, always good quality.

Because the shows were in different locations at MB, we had to pick up one nights tickets at the box office and then had to schlep all the way over to the events center for the other tickets.
If you’ve read other TR’s you know that disorganized is a kind way to describe MB’s handling of these events.

We’ve learned not to kill ourselves by staying out late the 1st night, so it was back to Monte Carlo for a little VP (Monte Carlo still has 6 remaining quarter 9/5JOB if you know where to look for them).
Room service for dinner and a reasonably early evening.

Monday 16th

Coffee & Danish for breakfast then out to the pool around 9:30. The pool is the reason we are staying at MC (that and the fact we couldn’t stay at Mandalay Bay). My wife loves spending mornings in the sun and enjoys the lazy river.

I stay till around 11:30 (1 pina colada) and that’s about all the sun I can take. Unfortunately I have to use the business center to do a little work, so I can leave my wife at the pool while I toil.
Working on Vacation, actually it took about 10 minutes on the computer (they charged $7 for 15 minutes) but it allowed me to play the martyr.
Then went & played pai gow poker to wait for wife.
Just before 3 my wife returns. They have closed the pool due to high winds. The wind was so bad it was blowing the lounge chairs around. Turns out it was very windy till later that night. Somewhat unusual for mid-may, but we have seen it before in March & April.

Because we were going to the ACM New Artists Show at Mandalay Bay we decided on an early dinner at The Noodle Shop there, one of our LV favorites. Very good food, not too filling, served quickly, and reasonably priced (by MB standards).

Others have mentioned how disorganized it was trying to get into this show .We waited in a couple of lines over an hour, and were near the front of the mad rush as the doors opened. Because it was open seating it was absolutely crazy. We managed to get 2 aisle seats about 12 rows back directly in the middle.

Gretchen Wilson, Josh Turner, Julie Roberts, Josh Gracin & Big and Rich each sang 5 songs and the show took a little over 2 hours. Very high energy show in a small venue.
Everyone has their favorites, we thought Josh Gracin & Gretchen Wilson were outstanding.

Got out around 10:30 and decided dessert at the Chocolate Swan was in order. Unfortunately the one in Mandalay Place was already closed, so we had to go to the more casual one downstairs. It’s pretty hard to go wrong with any dessert called “Death by Chocolate”. Nice way to end an evening.

TUESDAY 17th

Coffee, Danish & back to the pool. This time I made it till about noon. As the week went on every day got a little hotter, breaking 100 on Wednesday and still going up.

Today we were going to the ACM awards which were being telecast live at 5pm. This is a really dumb time for as show as we had to plan our day around it. So we had lunch around 2:30 at the Market City Café which is the Monte Carlo Italian restaurant, felt kind of silly having dinner so early and there was only one other couple there at the time. Food was all right, but don’t go out of your way to come here.

The seating for the awards show in the Events Center was much better organized (not perfect) but of course a big reason for that was assigned seating. We had very good seats, purchased the 1st hour the Academy put tickets on sale (the same section as LyndaLu about 9 rows up).

The show was interesting, with only 12 awards and many performances. But some of the singers sang new releases, rather than singing the songs that got them nominated or invited in the 1st place. Which I’m sure both the live audience and TV fans would have preferred.

The show ended exactly at 8 (thanks to TV) and we hung around MB for a little celebrity watching, but the place was a zoo.
So we went back to Monte Carlo for a light dinner at the coffee shop around 9.

Then we decided on some Pai Gow Poker. My wife really enjoys playing at Barbary Coast where they always have 2-3 $5 tables going and a very casual & friendly atmosphere.
So we took the Tram to Bellagio and walked thru to cross over to BC. Went by the conservatory but it was in the middle of the changeover to the Patriotic theme for Memorial Day & 4th of July.

Played for a couple of hours, both of us losing a few dollars then decided to call it a night.

Was going to try and write this TR all at once, but as usual I talk way too much.
I apologize for the length. Will try and post the rest this weekend.

Part 2 – The move to Wynn

KTINCA <> - CALIFORNIA    3756

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