Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: October 22, 2008 to October 28, 2008 Hotel Stayed At: GOLD COAST & SOUTH POINT Report by: KTINCA <> From: CALIFORNIA

BREEDER’S CUP TR OCTOBER 22nd-28th 2008

We ended up staying at off-strip hotels this entire trip. This wasn’t our original intention. After booking the flights, I looked at our current offers and reserved Planet Hollywood for the entire 6 nights. I wasn’t really expecting to spend all 6 nights there but I wanted something booked, just in case. My plan was to spend Wed-Thurs at PH, and then move to Wynn for the last 4 nights. But we never received a decent October offer from Wynn.

We later received an offer from South Point, and decided that after 4 hectic nights on the strip it might be nice to just rest a little, so I booked SP for our last 2 nights. The more we thought about enjoying being off-strip, and the fact that we really don’t like the weekend crowds, the more the idea of avoiding the Strip completely appealed to us. So when no offer from Wynn came, we decided to stay at Gold Coast the other 4 nights. We really like Gold Coast and visit it many trips, but had never stayed there.

Wednesday Oct. 22nd
Our SWA flight left Oakland at 6pm with a grand total of 45 people on board. Small crowds at both airports, and practically no cab line at McCarron. This was a theme for our entire trip. LV is definitely much less crowded than normal.

We arrived at Gold Coast around 8pm and there was no line at registration. My wife had up-graded our reservation to a premium (renovated) room for an extra $10 per night. Not exactly a budget-buster as it brought our rates to $39 Wed-Thu and $79 Fri-Sat. We were given a quiet room on the 7th floor, and were very impressed. GC has done a fantastic job with the renovations, and we would have been very comfortable in this room.

Ten minutes later we get a call from the front desk. It appears they had given out all the refrigerators for the day. So even though we had one reserved AND called and reminded them of the need twice before arrival there were none available, and we would have to make do. Other options were suggested but were not acceptable. So after some discussion, and approval of the manager, we were upgraded to a suite for our stay.

I read lots of Trip Reports and have never seen any info on the Gold Coast Suites, so I am going to include a description. I think they are all probably on the 10th (top) floor and are twice the size of the normal room. Oh, and they are real suites with separate rooms, not just larger rooms with separate areas (Venetian, Rio, etc.). They also appear to have been partly renovated, although some of the furniture is still older.

The living room has a 6 ft sofa, with coffee table and a large chair (very old-fashioned). Across is a 42” LCD TV. Also a desk with internet access. There is a dining area with round table and 4 leather chairs. There is a full wet bar with sink, fridge, 1 cup coffee maker, plenty of cabinets, and a very small 13” TV. The room had a dozen lights inset in the ceiling, in addition to the light over the dining room table. The view from our dining room window was of the Palms and to the left Mandalay Bay & Luxor.
This room worked out great for us, as we could use the table for our handicapping.

The bedroom had a king size bed, with 2 large nightstands with drawers. Across from the bed there was an armoire with 32” TV, and 3 large drawers. The furniture was out of date but comfortable. There was a 6 foot closet with mirrored doors.
The bathroom was small, with just a shower/tub combo and the toilet. The vanity was outside, with just one sink but plenty of drawers and excellent lighting.
The view from the bedroom was mostly from Mandalay Bay to City Center. But the window was by the closet and could not be seen from the bed.

We were happy with this suite, it worked very well for us this trip, but it doesn’t measure up to the real suites at the newer hotels.

It was after 9:30pm by the time we were finally settled. So dinner was at the Monterrey Room. We were lucky they were even open. In a few days they would no longer be serving meals except from 1am-7am. The space was being used by the buffet the rest of the day. We did have a $10 per day dining credit so at least dinner only cost $11.

A little VP, and it was up to sleep. When we both work on our travel day and then fly in at night, we’ve learned that there’s no sense in trying to do much, or we pay for it later.

Thursday Oct. 23rd
We didn’t really do much this day. The only thing we had planned was lunch at Ping Pang Pong. We had never been there and wanted to try the Dim Sum. We were very adventurous and tried a lot of new things, so the bill was much larger than it probably should have been, but we enjoyed the experience.

After lunch my wife went to the pool to rest in the sun, and I took the shuttle to the Strip and walked to Wynn. We had desks reserved in the racebook at Wynn for Breeder’s Cup Friday & Saturday and I wanted to check on them. I wasn’t pleased with the location, but Sharon was kind enough to move them.

Played a little $1 9/6 JOB at Wynn for a small profit. Then I walked over to Palazzo and played some quarter 8/5 JOB. It absolutely killed me to walk across the street to play worse machines, and I won’t play short pay machines for $1 under any circumstances. But I wanted to let Palazzo know we existed for future offers, as I’m sure they will be giving away a lot of rooms in 2009. And of course I gave them most of the meager profits from Wynn.

Dinner was at TGIF, which had just opened at GC. There were more employees than customers, so the service was great. It was kind of fun watching everyone try to learn. The hostess told the waiter to take us to table #42, so he had to take out his little chart to find it and a supervisor even came to help, lol. But everyone was nice, and happy to have us there. I hope they find a way to make that attitude last.

A little Pai Gow Poker, and then it was up to the suite to finish handicapping the next day’s Breeder’s Cup races.

Friday Oct. 24th
The next 2 days revolve around the races. We take them seriously and this is the reason for our trip. I’m going to include results and even commentary for my own records.

Breakfast at the buffet. The Gold Coast buffet is a case of getting what you pay for, nothing fancy, although IMO it is better than the one at Orleans. Many think it’s a good value, and hard to argue at $5.99. Our room included a $10 per day dining credit (maximum 2 days). This was taken off dinner at the coffee shop the 1st night and lunch at Ping Pang Pong the 2nd day. But for some reason it was also given to breakfast this day, so the bill was only $2.82.

We took a cab to Wynn for today’s races. We had reserved desks, brought our own headphones to plug into our TV’s, and were able to enjoy the races in comfort. Wynn did a much better job this year, helped by the fact that the crowd was much smaller especially Friday. The service was excellent, and the crowd and betting well managed.

For those unfamiliar with Breeder’s Cup this is horse racing’s premier event and now takes 2 days. There are 5 races Friday all restricted to female horses, and 8 races Saturday, which are mostly male (but also open to fillies & mares). The purses range from $1-$5 million. Owners, trainers, and even jockeys often plan their whole year pointing towards this day.
Horses come from all over the world, and there is no comparable event in US sports.

My Results:
RACE/CHOICE/RESULT/WINNER/RETURN
F&M SPRINT/Ventura 5-2/1st/Ventura/$7.60, $3.40
JUV. TURF/Laragh 7-2/3rd/Maram/ DD $133
JUV. FILLIES/Only Exactas/Stardom Bound
F&M TURF/Mauralakana 5-1/out/Forever Together
BC LADIES CLASSIC/none/Zenyatta

Notes: I also bet the 2nd (non-BC race) my horse finished 2nd. I didn’t like the 2yo race, so I only played exactas and lost $20. I wasn’t about to bet against Zenyatta, so I bet a match play that race taking Ginger Punch against Music Note. Both ran badly with Music Note just beating Ginger, so I lost $20 that race. Eileen had Maram, and I think cashed 1 other race for a small loss.
My total for the day +$65.

We didn’t stay long at Wynn. Played a little VP, then it was back to Gold Coast for a little rest and work on tomorrows races.

Dinner was at the Cortez Room. This was the first time we had been there since they moved. We ate in the bar area instead of the main room. Our servers were new, and there were minor glitches but nothing that spoiled our meal. The atmosphere isn’t the same, but the food is still excellent and very reasonably priced.

We played Pai Gow Poker for a couple of hours and called it a night.

Saturday Oct. 25th
Breakfast today at TGIF. Again excellent service and decent food, and we were given a $5 discount due to our previous visit.

Back to our desks at Wynn only to find we have been moved to accommodate a group, not a problem but would have liked knowing in advance.

Saturday’s Results;
RACE/CHOICE/RESULT/WINNER/RETURN
MARATHON/Delightful Kiss 8-1/4th/Muhannak
TURF SPRINT/Get Funky 9/2/out/Desert Code
DIRT MILE/Lewis Michael 5-1/3rd/Albertus Maximus
MILE/Goldikova 8-5/1st/Goldikova/$5.60, $4.00
JUVENILE/Street Hero 6-1/3rd/Midshipman
JUV. TURF/Westfalia 5-1/2nd/Donativum/$5.40
SPRINT/Street Boss 3-1/3rd/Midnite Lute
TURF/Eagle Mountain 6-1/2nd/Conduit/$9.60
CLASSIC/Duke of Marmalade 10-1/out/Ravens Pass

Notes: My smallest bet of the entire 2 days was on the Classic, $4WP. I learned a long time ago that you don’t have to bet more on bigger races.
My top choice of the day was Goldikova (not exactly a brilliant choice 8-5 favorite). I keyed her in a number of bets. She was the key horse in my only DD of the day, paid $30.40 with Midshipman. And she was the single in my only pick3’s of the day, which paid $114.40. She saved my day and was the difference between winning and losing, because I didn’t have that many winning horses this year.

For the second year in a row I got hurt by a bad ride from John Murtaugh . This year it was Westfalia. Not only was this horse my choice that race but it was the other key horse on my pick3 tickets. I would have had a much better day with a better ride.
And just so you don’t think I’m the kind that whines about these things, or always blames the jockey; Last year I was the beneficiary of one of the truly great rides in BC history by Rafael Bejarano on Ginger Punch.

Eileen wasn’t having a very good day, but she hit Midshipman & Donativum to get her even, and then had Henrythenavigator which paid $22 to place the last race to put her in the plus column.
My total for the day +$122.

Dinner tonight was at Casa Di Amore. The limo picked us up at 7:30pm, and the driver Johnny was friendly and willing to talk, as usual. And we had more time than normal staying at Gold Coast instead of on the Strip.
We were concerned that the economy might be having a major affect on their business, and they are not immune but right now they are still very popular, although some weekdays are slow. We remember 5-6 years ago just after the ownership change when times were very tough for them, and hope this period isn’t too big a problem.

Being Saturday night, even with a reservation we had to wait at the bar for 15-20 minutes.
Dinner was everything you expect from CDA. I had the Baked Mosticcioli and Eileen had the Stuffed Salmon special. These are complete meals with salads & sides. Along with 2 drinks, 2 Ice Teas, and coffee after dinner the total bill was $70 ($45 after the restaurant.com certificate was deducted).
Never a rush, and we stayed to listen to George sing an extra set over coffee.

Something happened to me for the first time after dinner. The waitress brought back my credit card and the receipt with a notice that said “please call”. She had to explain to me that the payment couldn’t be processed. I had heard of others who had a problem when they were traveling, because the bank thought there might be possible fraud or the card was stolen, but never figured it might happen to me---especially in LV, which I visit 3-4 times a year.
So I went outside and called the bank. Someone checked and told me that wasn’t the problem, and that it was probably a problem at the restaurant. The restaurant tried again and it turns out that my card had been de-magnetized. Fortunately I remembered that my wife has a card just like it, with the same number.
Everyone was very nice, but unless you’ve been through it you can’t imagine what it feels like to be told at a popular restaurant that your credit card was rejected.
Fortunately for Johnny, I always tip the limo driver with cash, lol.

Sunday Oct. 26th
Breakfast today was the Gold Coast Sunday Brunch, $10.39 each. Being the high-rollers that we are, we used the massive amount of points earned the last 4 days and ALMOST had enough to pay for breakfast.
Buffets are totally wasted on me. For breakfast I had lox & bagel, some bacon, a banana, 2 mini desserts and coffee.

An hour of VP and it was time to pack and switch hotels. On to South Point.
We had never even been to South Point before, but had heard good things and were looking for a place just to rest for a couple of days.

Arrived at registration around 12:30pm, and requested a quiet room on an upper floor. The clerk said that based on our package rate ($49 with a few perks) the best she could give us was a room on the 9th floor. I asked about upgrades and was told for an extra $10 per night she could give us one of the rooms in the new tower on the 23rd floor. I agreed and tipped her $20. The reason I mention the tip is because the extra $20 never showed up on our bill.

We were very impressed with the room. Everything was new, as this tower had just opened in July. The room was 500sq ft, but because of the design seemed larger. There was a desk and a chest of drawers, with a 32” HD TV (no HD stations). A small dining table with 2 chairs, and a 5 ft sofa & coffee table.
A King bed with 2 bedside chests with drawers. And 2 lights set in the ceiling above the bed for reading.
The bathroom was a decent size, with a tub/shower combo.
It was very comfortable and functional, and an amazing room for the price structure.
The only negative was the fridge that was brought up. It was old and a little too noisy.

Made a tour of the casino and found the eight 9/6/90 JOB machines that I had heard about. But to my surprise found these were the ONLY JOB in the casino. Plenty of other options DW, BP, etc., but no other single line JOB. Also they didn’t have my wife’s favorite slot machine, nickel video WOF.

My wife wanted to spend some time at the pool. She really enjoyed the very large hot tub with waterfall.
So I headed to the poker room, and after a wait of an hour, was able to get a seat in the $3-$6 game. The only other games they had were $1-$2NL and $2-$4, and I’m just not a good enough player to play in games that small. I played for an hour and then we started losing players, and in another 30 minutes the game broke up.
I went upstairs and my wife asked how I did. With a straight face I told her “Not well. I made $8 playing poker, but lost $10 playing VP”.

We weren’t that hungry or up for anything fancy so we had dinner at the Coronado Café. We liked this place a lot. The room itself is beautiful with really high ceilings and pleasant décor. The service was excellent, and the food was good for a casino coffee shop.

Our free time in the evenings here were spent mostly playing quarter VP with a little pai gow poker, and for my wife a few penny slots for variety.

Monday Oct. 27th
Our room came with a couple of free buffets, so we used them for breakfast. I must say I was disappointed. I’m sure this was due to my own expectations. I read a number of LV boards, and on them South Point has always been very highly rated for a local’s buffet. So I was expecting something equal to GVR, which apparently was unrealistic. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, except that the bacon was very narrow and cheap, but it didn’t stand out either. But IMO, it wasn’t even as good as Gold Coast. Of course we only tried breakfast, possibly lunch and dinner achieve a higher level.

We spent a couple of hours in the casino, and then my wife went to keep her appointment at the spa. She had a hot stone massage which she was very pleased with. She liked the facilities, and considers them better than some of the medium-priced strip hotels. She liked that each of the showers had their own theme, with scented products to match---she chose Citrus and later Vanilla Ginger. On Monday the spa was very quiet and she lounged around a little over 3 hours, even dozing off. What she didn’t like was the fact that while there were drinks, there wasn’t any fresh coffee or tea, or any fresh fruit or snacks, like she’s used to at the better spas. And she really didn’t like the fact that they didn’t have hair care products available, so she had to go back to the room to take care of this after her shower.

While she was at the spa, I spent the afternoon wandering the casino. There was no poker game for me, they didn’t even attempt to start a $3-$6 game on Mondays. And I hadn’t done any handicapping for that day’s races. So I ended up just drifting around, playing VP off and on and killing time. So for me this was mostly a wasted and somewhat boring day.

Dinner was at Primarily Prime Rib, a new restaurant on the mezzanine. WHAT A FIND!
Quiet and romantic, with soft lights and even softer music, the way a restaurant should be but seldom is in Las Vegas hotels. Think Prime Rib Loft, but much nicer. One of the things that makes the atmosphere so nice is that the bar is not part of the restaurant.
We both had the small Prime Rib cut which comes with salad tossed at your table and choice of potato ($14.95). Along with a bottle of Kendall Jackson Merlot ($32) and coffee afterwards the total for dinner was $72, an incredible value.
If there is any negative to this restaurant, it would be that the menu is very limited. They don’t even have a steak on the menu. So you really want to go here for Prime Rib.
This restaurant alone is worth the trip to South Point and we will be back.

Tuesday Oct 28th
Breakfast at the café. A nice experience again, and they even start you with complimentary coffee cake before taking your order.

A little last play in the casino and it was time to leave. Checked out, and attached to our bill was a certificate for 2 free nights mid-December/early January.
We took the 11:45am free South Point shuttle to the airport for our 1:45pm flight home. Walked right up to the SWA curbside check-in, and from there directly through security---no line at all. Our flight home was almost full, 20 empty seats so we did have the empty middle seat.

Gambling: You notice there isn’t much about it in this TR, because it really didn’t have much of an effect on our trip. Even though we played more VP than usual, it was almost all at the quarter level, where we usually play $1 machines at Wynn for the better paytables. And because we only played the best JOB machines it was always win or lose a few dollars every session. There were many full houses (all on 9 pay machines) and 4OAK’s but no royals or even SF’s this trip. We played Pai Gow Poker many nights, but this is mostly for fun and we don’t bet large amounts, so again resulting in mostly small wins or losses.
My wife played some slot machines for variety, mostly penny video-type. But she knows that she can’t play too often or it will result in a losing trip. She did have fun though, and I would put in $5 every once in a while to keep her company.
I came back with just about the same amount of cash, which means I made a few hundred to help pay for cabs and tips.

OPINIONS AND OBSERVATIONS
The lack of crowds has to be mentioned. There were no crowds or lines anywhere during our stay, including the weekend. No lines at the airport, registration at either hotel,
restaurants or buffets, hotel cab stands, or even traffic on the Strip. Business is down noticeably. And it is the ONLY topic of conversation amongst cab drivers, waiters and hotel employees. What scares a lot of people is the realization that it is probably going to get worse, at least for a while.

The weather was fantastic, we timed it perfectly and it was 80-85 every day.

From an expense point of view this was the most economical LV trip we’ve taken in years, even though that wasn’t our goal.
Our two hotel bills for the entire 6 nights were less than $700. And that included $150 for the spa, and all meals with the exception of one dinner at Casa Di Amore.

This was the first time we spent an entire 6 night trip off the Strip, and I’m not really sure how I feel about it. The only place on the Strip my wife even visited was Wynn.
It was relaxing, and we have taken many LV trips where our main goal was just to rest and relax. But I’m not sure if it’s the Las Vegas experience that we are looking for.
Even though we liked both hotels, I’m not sure if we will take this type of trip again.

This was my 3rd trip this year, and unless you count Pete Vallee or George Bugatti, I didn’t see a show on any of them. So our next trip, in the Spring, is going to be planned around a couple of shows.

Every trip to Las Vegas is different, this one more so than most for us, but they are all special in their own way.
Thanks for reading.


KTINCA <> - CALIFORNIA    4360

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