Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: August 09, 2009 to August 13, 2009 Hotel Stayed At: ORLEANS Report by: KTINCA <> From: CALIFORNIA

AUGUST 9TH-13TH OUR UNSCHEDULED SUMMER TRIP

When we sat down early in the year to schedule our time off work and plan our trips, we decided that May and October would be set aside for Las Vegas.
The first week in August would be used for a trip to San Diego. We were really looking forward to a Sunday at Delmar and a day or two at the Zoo, as our last couple of visits had included the Wild Animal Park.

Unfortunately my wife had to reschedule her vacation due to work commitments. We did however find out about 6 weeks in advance. The next week she informed me that she could get away the 2nd week of August. I knew how stressful it was for her at work, with pending work furloughs, job reassignments, and even retirements and layoffs. So I wanted to make sure we could get away somewhere. Knowing that any plans I made could be subject to change or cancellation, I of course thought of Las Vegas.

Checking our offers, I found an invitation to a VP Tournament at Orleans, which included a room for Mon-Wed of that week. So I booked it. But the airfare was awful, so I waited. The next week or so I received a Ding for a flight to LAS (but not back home) so I booked a flight for Sunday. I then called Orleans and added Sunday to our trip. Checking every day I was able to get a decent return rate and we were set.

But I wasn’t really going to believe we were going until we were actually on the plane! Because of this we didn’t make any plans. No shows, or even restaurants. A few days before we left my wife made a spa reservation, and I did arrange to meet some friends for a drink on our last night. And of course I had to play in the tournament 2 days, but that was it.

One more thing: The week before we left my wife received the list of the 24 days between August and July that were mandatory work furlough days. The first one was Monday Aug. 10th. So the first day of her vacation was without pay. Oh well, at least we did get to go.

Sunday August 9th
Flight at 11:40am to Las Vegas was full. No problems and we arrive at 1pm. Walk to baggage and arrive just in time to pick up our bags. I hear a lot of people talk about waits for checked luggage. And so they choose to pack as light as possible, and just carry on instead. Using mini-bottles and ZipLock bags, and then trying to jam their stuff into overhead compartments. I don’t know what airline they are using, but I have never had to wait more than 10 minutes at McCarron for our bags.

The airport seems quiet, but we walk outside and get a major shock. No cab line. Sunday at 1pm and not a single person in line! We know things are slow, but this is crazy. So we walk directly to our cab. “Hi. Orleans please.”

As we are riding to our hotel, for some reason my glasses don’t feel right so I take them off and find that the frame is broken. And it’s broken in a place that would be very difficult to tape, thus rendering them useless. Of course I have sunglasses, and they are even bifocals, but you can’t spend 5 days in Las Vegas hotels and casinos with sunglasses.

We get to Orleans, and after the airport were surprised to find it busy. But there was no one at the invited guest line so we got our room quickly. This was my wife’s first stay at Orleans so I wanted a nice room. We ended up with one on the 20th floor near the end of the hall as we requested.

The rooms at Orleans are comfortable, reminding me a little of Bally’s. They are around the same size, with the separate area for a couch, chair, and a
Coffee table. King size bed, a desk, and an older TV, which shows the races simulcast from the casino, a plus for us. The bathroom has the large sliding door, with the closet and vanity area in one room, and the toilet and tub/shower in another. The men will really appreciate that the showerhead is quite high, although the water pressure isn’t that great. And of course it has the small window, which opens above the tub. Our view was of the Rio, Palms and north end of the strip from the room, and almost the entire strip from the bathroom.

The first afternoon of our trip was spent at Fashion Show Mall. Mostly at Lens Crafters having a new pair of glasses made. It does amaze me that they can take my old glasses, analyze the prescription (It was Sunday and they couldn’t call my doctor), and make a new pair in less than 2 hours. And they even got both prescriptions fairly close. $300 later and I’m good to go.

The day wasn’t a total waste. My wife got to tour the mall for the first time.
She even got to see a Fashion Show. She was very impressed with the production if not the fashions, children’s clothes from Dillards. And luckily she found a new shop, Coldwater Creek. She had seen the catalog, but never been to one of their stores. So all Sunday afternoon cost us was one pair of glasses, one dress, and one reversible wrap. And I thought this was going to be a cheap trip!

Because we were there anyway, we decided on Maggiano’s for dinner. We had a nice window table and enjoyed people watching. It was quite crowded and the service wasn’t that great. It wasn’t that our waitress wasn’t trying, but she just had too many tables. It was simply a case of too many customers and not enough employees. What Maggiano’s does excel in is portion size. But the waitress was quite helpful. We started with an appetizer of stuffed mushrooms. She suggested we get ½ an order, and I said “But we are going to share it.” She said “Trust me, it will be enough.” And it was. 6 very large mushrooms, and really quite filling. We each ordered ½ Ceasar’s Salads, and she said “Let me bring side salads instead”. So I ordered ½ order of Rigatoni. And my wife chose ½ order of Linguini with shrimp. We couldn’t finish. We are not small eaters, and this was our only real meal of the day. With Iced Teas, the check came to $56, and of course we left a very nice tip.

We walked over to Encore to catch a cab. This was the first time we had been there, as it opened in the winter and we just didn’t bother on our May trip. We walked around and weren’t really impressed. The pool, which is important to us, is way too small. Nothing else about the hotel or casino seemed all that exceptional. But we know that like Wynn, you probably have to be a guest at the hotel and take advantage of the amenities to appreciate it. I’m sure we will stay here eventually, as we get decent offers from Wynn. But there is no rush, and it won’t be this year.

Then it was back to the hotel to play a little VP before retiring. In walking through the casino my wife found a new slot that captured her interest, it’s called “Reel ‘Em In”. It’s a penny video slot with a 40 cent bet. It is one of the new “shared interaction” games where everyone plays for the bonus at the same time. Four players all watch 2 large video screens, while four different characters have different fishing contests. And of course everyone wins something when this happens, so they all root for each other. My wife played this game for 30-45 minutes, got ahead, and I made her stop when her $20 buy-in turned into $60. Just like the fish in the game, she was now hooked, lol. And this would be her game of choice the rest of the trip.

Monday August 10th
No pool this morning, as this is my wife’s spa day. We are morning pool people when in LV, but it wouldn’t be a big part of this trip. Breakfast at the Courtyard Café, the Orleans coffee shop. It is pretty much what you expect from Orleans, not fancy but a decent bargain. And the graveyard and breakfast specials are popular. My wife had ham steak & eggs and I had lox & bagel. It does bug me a little that they don’t give you a lot of cream cheese, and it costs $1.75 for a little more. They do have keno runners, which I like in a coffee shop, and this works out great for those who don’t like to stop gambling just because they have to eat.

We take the shuttle to Bills around 11am, as my wife has a reservation at Qua for noon. This is a first for my wife. Not only is she visiting Qua for the first time, but it is the first time in Las Vegas that she is staying at one hotel and visiting the spa at another. Obviously not as convenient as using your own hotel spa, but remember we are at Orleans. And this did give her a chance to try Qua, as we never stay at Caesars.

My wife loved Qua. She liked the facilities, especially the heated lounge chairs, and the Roman tubs. She was there to utilize the $99 massage special, and was very impressed with her masseur Aaron. The service was excellent, and she had fruit and Iced Tea for lunch, and enjoyed her afternoon. She now ranks Qua near the top of her list with The Bathhouse and Wynn.

While at Caesars I decided to see if we could get tickets to Bette Midler. We had no shows reserved for this trip, and found out that Bette would be starting her new engagement the next night. We have wanted to see her, but we just hadn’t timed it right on our previous trips. Fortunately tickets were available, and we were even able to get an upgrade for the mezzanine price.

I then went to the poker room to see if they had a game to keep me occupied for the afternoon. This was the first time I had been to the current poker room at Caesars. The room is very nice, but unfortunately on Monday at noon there weren’t any games being played. Two tables were still in play from a tournament, but no live games.

So I walked over to Bellagio. There I was able to get into a $4-$8 game after a ½ hour wait. This was a fairly boring session for me. I was able to play for 3 hours, but the cards were so bad that I didn’t get to play many hands, and when I did it was usually only to see the flop. I won a few small pots, but wound up with a $68 loss.

We had to go back to Orleans before 5pm so I could register for the tournament. This tournament required 3 sessions. I was assigned noon and 5pm on Tuesday and noon on Wednesday. I also found the pay table being used was Double-Double Bonus, a game that I do not play. Not only that, but it was even a BAD DDB game with a 7/5 pay table!

So I went looking for a machine to practice a little, and I found the same machine at the nickel level. Normally I would never play any machine with a bad pay table, but I needed to change my style of play. And I needed to practice so I could play this game quickly. When you are used to playing JOB it isn’t easy to switch to this game. You have to try and teach yourself that when you are dealt AJ468, you should hold the Ace instead of the Jack. And you have to teach yourself to break 2 pairs and draw 3 cards, instead of drawing 1 card and trying for the full house. These are hard habits to break, when you are trying to play quickly.
So I played nickels, and wouldn’t you know it; I get a straight flush. The only one of the entire trip, and it’s on a nickel machine!

We weren’t really hungry. So we walked around looking at the menus of the different restaurants and ended up at Big Al’s Oyster Bar. We each ordered Clam Chowder, small salads, and Iced Teas. It was a perfect light dinner. We always enjoy Big Al’s, and dinner was only $29.

A little more VP, and a long session of Reel Em In for my wife, and we called it a night.

Tuesday August 11th
Our morning started about 8:30. We went down and had a breakfast of muffins and coffee outside, waiting for the pool to open. For some reason the pool at Orleans doesn’t open until 9am. We spent a couple of hours at the pool, but had to leave at 11am because of the tournament.

This was my first VP Tournament, but the format was fairly simple. Each session you were given 1250 credits and had 15 minutes to play them. If you did not use all the credits in time you lost what was left. This meant you had to play 250 hands in 15 minutes, or average one hand every 3.6 seconds. There were 343 entries, and dollar amounts were given to the top 175 scores.
Complicating this a little for me were my new glasses. So I had to figure out whether to use the top or bottom lenses of my bifocals. But I did manage to figure it out as I played.

Not much to say about the first session. I didn’t get any big hands or 4OAKs and ended up with 845 credits, which I knew wasn’t a good score. But I did complete all the hands with about 30 seconds to spare, and it was a learning experience. I think I made about 5 mistakes: once keeping a higher pair instead of 3’s when dealt 2 pair, once holding an Ace instead of a pair, and the rest holding smaller face cards instead of an Ace.

We decided it wasn’t worth leaving the hotel, as I had to be back at 5pm for my next session. So we lounged around the casino that afternoon. I also went and picked up my free chair. Orleans has an August promotion and the gift this week was one of those folding Directors Chairs that people use at outside events. If you earned 500 points between Monday and Friday you earned a free chair, and 1000 points earned a 2nd chair. And 500 points is really easy to earn, so starting Monday you would see people walking through the hotels with the chairs constantly. My wife decided she wanted these, so we both picked up a chair.

Knowing there wouldn’t be time for dinner between my 5pm tournament and seeing the show at Caesars, we decided to have a meal at 3:30pm. So we just grabbed sandwiches at the Café.

My 2nd tournament session went a little better. I still didn’t get any big hands, but I did get a couple of small 4OAKs and ended up with 1460 credits. And more importantly to me, I think I only made a couple of mistakes. At least I had enough points so that if I hit a royal flush in the last session I might hit the board and get a decent check.

Bette Midler was everything we expected. The production was first rate with the promised cast of thousands. She did an amazing job, displaying an unbelievable energy. It’s hard to imagine that she is older than we are. It was opening night for this engagement, but if you didn’t know that you couldn’t tell. There were only a couple of small glitches, and the timing of the routines was excellent.

After the show we decided that we weren’t really hungry (again) but felt we should eat something. So we decided to have dessert for dinner. We headed over to Jean-Phillipe at Bellagio, where my wife had a truly decadent chocolate crepe made with little bits of brownies, chocolate and chocolate sauce. I chose a berry crepe, made with strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, with sauce and of course a huge amount of whipped cream. This was possibly the best meal of our entire trip!

Took a cab back and played a little more VP, because you see my wife was still a little short for the points needed for a 2nd free chair. Once she earned the needed points we picked up 2 more chairs and called it a night.

Wednesday August 12th
Breakfast again at the Café. We had to stick around the hotel this morning. I had to get our boarding passes at 11:40, and then play my last tournament session at noon.

Over breakfast we discussed our dilemma with the chairs. You see we now had 4 chairs and had to come up with a way to get them home. The chairs fold up and fit in a little bag with a shoulder strap, but they are still 3 feet long. Too big to qualify as a carry-on, on the plane. My wife thought we could just bind them together and check them like golf clubs. I said maybe, but not for free. So while we were waiting for our breakfast to be delivered she called Southwest, and found out it would cost $50 to check them. So we tried to think of other options.

Actually we thought this problem was really funny. All these people were walking around with chairs and probably didn’t realize it was going to cost them to get it home. We pictured people arriving at McCarron carrying their chairs, and then abandoning them rather than paying extra charges to bring them home. It’s hard to believe Orleans didn’t think of this when they chose this item as a giveaway.

After breakfast we went to the players club (where the chairs are dispensed) and she asked if they had one of the boxes in which the chairs were originally packed. The lady thought we were strange, but we explained we had 4 of them and needed to get them home. They tore apart all the boxes, but she found one. It worked out well because the chairs were delivered 6 to a box.

At 11:30am we went to the business center to sign up for our boarding passes. For those who do not know, Orleans guests are allowed 10 minutes of computer usage free daily. But I’m not in Las Vegas to sit on a computer, or to communicate with the outside world. So the only time we used them was for this purpose.

My last tournament session was not that productive. I got one 4OAK, and ended up with 1278 points. I did however get a shot. With 3 hands to go I was dealt AKJ of diamonds, and the 1st card I drew was the 10. The Q did not come, but at least I had a chance. I was also pleased that I only made a couple of mistakes in my play.

Back up to the room and we packed up our chairs. There was a little extra room in the box, so my wife threw in a few dirty clothes, lol. Then I had to lug this big, and now heavy, box through the casino and up to the business center on the mezzanine. D*mn, I’m not as strong as I used to be.

So we shipped the box home via UPS. It weighed 32 pounds and cost $32.94.
Understand we are talking about chairs that probably would have cost $19.99 at CVS, $9.99 when on sale. But they were free!
And they say ORLEANS on them. Which means every time we bring them to the grandkids soccer game or to an outdoor concert, I get to tell this story. All things considered a small price to pay.

At 3pm we went to the tournament awards ceremony because I figured I would get a check. It turns out I made a HUGE MOVE the last day. I started the day in 114th place and ended up 112th. This earned me $25. But of course it also included the free room, and more importantly gave us a reason for this trip. And I did enjoy the experience.

We then took the shuttle to Gold Coast. Gold Coast is our favorite off-strip hotel, and most trips we spend an evening there. As we were going to Rio later this was a perfect opportunity.

We started with some Pai Gow Poker, and it was just brutal. The dealer got a string of hands that chased everyone away, including the two of us. But we moved to a table that was more normal. We played for an hour and I not only recovered but ended up $50 ahead.

So we went looking for the WOZ. My wife enjoys this game and so I joined her. We played maybe 10 minutes and Glinda paid her a visit, leaving 4600 credits. Being the spoilsport I am, I mentioned that she might consider quitting while she was ahead. So she left a winner. But of course to balance things out I was required to lose the rest of my $20.
After a little 9/6 JOB at the bar (you have to love Gold Coast) it was time for dinner.

Dinner was at the Cortez Room. It was not our best experience there. It wasn’t awful, but just didn’t seem quite right. Service was a little slow, not enough to cause complaint, but not up to previous standards. They eliminated the anitpasto. My wife had the Prime Rib and it came with horseradish sauce. But our waiter didn’t bring or offer any fresh ground horseradish, and my wife didn’t think of it until she noticed that it was brought to the table next to us. The portion of my side dish was smaller than it used to be. They are obviously cutting back a little. The Cortez Room is still a bargain, and we will certainly give them another chance, but we hope this meal was an aberration.

After dinner we walked across the street to Rio. We hadn’t been there in maybe 7-8 years, so we had to kind of stumble our way around to find the Voodoo Lounge. Even though it was not yet 9pm the girl at the desk asked if we had a pass. Fortunately I had printed one, even though I didn’t think we would need it, so we avoided the cover charge. This was our first visit to Voodoo Lounge so we took a look around and then headed out to the patio.
There we met up with Stephanie (Steph124ny) and her husband Jim. Sally (jack& sally) was easy to find, “Pretty in Pink” as promised. And she was accompanied by her husband and his father, who was visiting Las Vegas for the first time. It was interesting to hear some of his impressions.

We all headed down the spiral stairway to the lower balcony. We hadn’t been down there yet as my wife wasn’t really thrilled with these stairs. But in a group she conquered her uneasiness. We were really enjoying this balcony, where the music was present but not overwhelming and the same with the crowd. But shortly after 11 they decided to close this area, and pushed us all upstairs.

As my wife was navigating the climb up the stairs and almost to the top she dropped her phone. It fell maybe 20 feet and hit the concrete, where someone recovered it. So I ran down and brought it back up, and amazingly enough it still worked. Funny, we’ve been going to Las Vegas for a long time, and it’s only the last few years that we’ve even brought a phone. And even though we don’t use them very often, I know my wife would probably feel lost without it.

The upstairs patio was now packed with young people dancing and loud music, no longer they type of place for us. So we made a hasty retreat. We enjoyed the lounge and of course the view from the balcony. We even had a little lightning during the evening in the distance. This is interesting to us, as we never get to see this at home.

Thursday August 13th
We had to leave for the airport around 9:30 this morning, so we actually had to set the alarm. Somehow this just doesn’t seem right in Las Vegas. We are not big buffet people, but will often go to a breakfast buffet on our last morning to help us make it until we get home. So around 8 am we headed to the buffet only to find it wasn’t open. For some strange reason the Orleans breakfast buffet doesn’t open until 9 o’clock. So it was back to the Café again. I had the steak & eggs special ($5.99) and she had sausage and French Toast.

My high-roller wife then used all the points earned on our trip and paid for breakfast. Well almost. Even with all her points we still had to pay $1.10 in cash. This is typical for us. Others have their rooms comped or charges taken off their bill. If we’re lucky we can have breakfast the last morning, but of course, only at the cheaper hotels, lol.

We had a great cabdriver for our airport run, a true Las Vegas character. An older man who obviously loved what he did. He must have thought we were a cute couple. So he told us stories, and even sang us a song to keep us entertained. He certainly earned his tip, and was a perfect ending to our trip.

We made it to the airport with about an hour and a half to spare because you never know what the lines are like at McCarron. There weren’t any. No line outside to check our bags, and no lines at security. Seventy-Five people on our flight home, and that included some stand-bys.

Then it was back to the real world. Our plane got in about 1pm. I was in the office at 2, and my wife had a doctor’s appointment at 3. SIGH.

Observations, Opinions, and Random Thoughts

We don’t go to Las Vegas very often in the summer because the weather changes our activities. We can’t spend the time we like at the pool and we don’t walk around as much. But this year we got lucky with the weather. The nights were a little more comfortable than usual, there wasn’t any rain at all, and the humidity didn’t bother us as much. The temperature didn’t really break 100 by much and it did cool down some at night. We did get out more than our other summer visits.

Interestingly enough, I didn’t feel there were too many kids. Four years ago we stayed at Wynn in August, and of course there were very few kids there. But we were absolutely amazed at how many kids were at Venetian. And the contrast between the two hotels was overwhelming.
This year we stayed at Orleans, a hotel that is certainly more family-oriented than the strip properties. And there were plenty of families, but they belonged there. There were kids at the pool, but they were not a problem. They walked through the hotel, but never alone. I think the difference might be that most of those that stay at Orleans with kids are there for a family vacation. Instead of some adults that stay on the strip, who bring their kids with them on their vacation.
BTW: We stopped upstairs at Orleans to see the theatre and noticed Kids Tyme. I was very impressed. I’m sure our 7 year-old granddaughters would love this place.

This was my wife’s first stay at Orleans, her impressions: The room was all right. She was worried that the bed was closer to the door than at many rooms in LV hotels, but happy that it wasn’t a problem and the room was quiet. She liked the fact that the casino had higher ceilings and wasn’t as smoky as Gold Coast. And she thought the coffee shop was good, and was glad that it was still open so we didn’t have to eat breakfast at TGIF, like at Gold Coast. But she thought it was strange that the breakfast buffet didn’t open until 9am. Also the same with the pool, as most LV pools open earlier during the summer months. I will also add that this is my 2nd stay, and both times the fridge I got was old and a little too noisy.

We did not rent a car because I didn’t think we would need one. It is quite easy to get by without one at Orleans. The shuttle is very convenient and there is never a long wait. We have also stayed at Gold Coast without a car and found it wasn’t a problem. But we did take more trips to the strip than I had planned. So we took 4 cabs from the strip, one from Rio, and one to and from the airport. At an average of $20 (with tip) that’s $140. Or we could have rented a car for 5 days. With gas and valet tips, it probably would have been about the same.

Speaking of money, with the money spent at the mall and the tickets to Bette, this trip ended up costing a little more than I had expected. In addition we both lost money in the casinos this trip, somewhat rare for us. For my wife it is easy to understand as she played more slot machines than normal. And neither one of us did much on video poker this trip. Of course the fact that we played more 8/5 JOB than normal contributed to this. We did make a small profit at Gold Coast, but not enough to balance our losses at Orleans. But as usual our gambling is strictly for entertainment, and a small part of our expenses.

I enjoyed playing in my first VP tournament, but I can understand why some don’t like them. To a certain extent it tied up 2 days of our trip. I think if I ever play in another I will make sure the trip is longer than 4 nights.

In some ways we are probably not typical frequent Vegas visitors. Many of our trips are primarily to rest. This year we’ve stayed at Four Seasons and Orleans. We’ve stayed at Wynn and Gold Coast, Skylofts and South Point. We love spending time at the pools, so of course we’ve stayed at THEhotel and Mandalay Bay, Mirage, MGM & Monte Carlo. Luxury or economy, they all provided their own unique experiences and we’ve enjoyed them all. That’s part of what makes Las Vegas such a great place to visit.

Our next trip will be a longer one in October. We’re going to the AARP convention, another new experience for us. And we already have tickets to see concerts by Gloria Estefan and Faith Hill. We’re really looking forward to it. So if you think this Trip Report is long, wait until you see the next one.

KTINCA <> - CALIFORNIA    4530

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