Pockets of Sanity

Casinos Revisited

Vegas Recap #2: The Casinos

We visited a number of casinos in Nevada, both on and off the Las Vegas Strip.  My biggest complaint about the casinos in Vegas is that for the most part they're all interchangeable.  Themed casinos don't seem that different from one another once you're inside.  I want dealers and waitresses dressed to match the theme of the casino, damn it.

And the slot machines... every casino has the same slot machines.  Why can't each casino have something unique, something you can only play at their casino?  Or at the very least, why can't each casino have at least one bank of machines with that hotel's name or logo on the reels?

Anyway, here's what I thought about the places we went:

* Bally's - We kinda dug the Bally's casino.  It was laid out well, colorful and brightly lit, and my bride won a ton of money in their slot machines.  Plus their Sidewalk Cafe delivers an affordable, quality meal.

* Caesars Palace - Different, but not different enough.  I liked the wide open casino with huge ceilings... but no one's in a toga?  Boo.

* Circus Circus - I'd joked to my bride for a year that we needed to stay at Circus Circus.  I'm glad we didn't go through with it.  I waited 45 minutes for a seat at the only $3 blackjack table in the joint, all while dodging thousands of screaming children running around like chickens on crack.

* Downtown / Golden Nugget - We went into all the casinos downtown at the Fremont Street Experience, but the only one there to make any kind of impression was the Golden Nugget, which seemed like it had been renovated extensively.  We commented that if we had to stay downtown, it would probably be at the Nugget.

* Excalibur - Where are the knights?  The busty maidens?  I don't remember much else about Excalibur except disappointment.

* Hard Rock - The Hard Rock casino was another favorite of ours.  The casino is mapped out very well, in a big circle surrounded by an outer walkway that leads you to the hotel or to shops and restaurants.  Slot play here got us a comped dinner at Ago, their upscale Italian eatery. 

* Harrah's - The draw of this casino seems to be that you can walk into it straight from the strip.  Seriously, one moment you're outside and the next you're smack dab in the middle of the casino.  We had a 2-for-1 for the Harrah's buffet, which turned out to be better than average.

* Hooters - The casino was kinda sad (it was a former Howard Johnsons, which explains the rather drab appearance), but the people were really friendly and I'm sure at night the energy levels pick up considerably.

* Imperial Palace - Another themed casino that doesn't look any different than most other casinos.  There's some Asian font on some of the signage... that's about it.  The buffet here was tiny and disappointing.  Curiously though, this hotel seemed to be the home of the youngest and hottest cocktail waitresses we saw all week.

* Luxor - This is the hotel/casino shaped like a pyramid.  And while it looks impressive from the outside, the inside is unremarkable in just about every way.  My opinion might have been skewed somewhat by the fact that there was very loud construction being done inside the hotel while we were exploring, but still... for an Egyptian themed experience, there didn't seem to be much inside that complimented that.  I expected at least to see Jim Brown running around in his costume (ala Mars Attacks).

* Mandalay Bay / The Mirage / MGM Grand - These three all kinda run together in my mind, and since they're all owned by the same company that's no surprise.  I really liked The Mirage though, and wouldn't mind staying there at some point.

* New York New York - Another well laid out casino, with an interesting theme inside which (gasp!) actually matches the name of the hotel!

* The Orleans - There's something compelling about casinos that you can pull up in front of and park at like you're going to Target.  Unfortunately that's about all that was noteworthy about it.

* Palazzo - This is the casino that's linked to the Venetian, where we stayed.  Like morons, we didn't even realize this until the day before we left, as we were wandering through our hotel and stumbled upon a brand new casino.  There seemed to be more table games here than in the Venetian, but we still liked ours better.

* Paris - Decent, but not particularly memorable.  What was memorable was deciding to take a trip up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and then remembering that I'm not a fan of heights.

* Planet Hollywood - Despite the fact that it was pretty warm in the casino and there was what seemed like an hour wait just to sign up for their slot card program, I still liked Planet Hollywood and would consider staying there in the future.  The Fox show Prison Break was filming there during our visit.

* Primm Valley - One day we drove out to the Nevada-California border and visited one of the three casinos located right off the Interstate.  It wasn't that bad.  Kinda quiet, kinda outdated, but decent.

* Rio - I would stay at this hotel in the future... if I was single.  The Rio definitely has a theme going, and that theme is sex.  Even the bowling alley here is advertised as being a sexy experience.  Penn & Teller seems like an odd fit for this hotel, considering how everything else in the place is either promoting rock hard abs or giant hooters.  To the best of my knowledge, neither Penn nor Teller qualify.

* Tropicana - One of the few "old school" casino hotels still on the strip, the Tropicana just didn't seem to have much to offer.  The casino doesn't look much different than any other casino in Vegas, which is a shame because with so much history in the place you'd think there'd be so much opportunity to really make the place feel like a top-notch old school experience.  We were disappointed.

It Wasn't Unusual

Vegas Recap #1: The Shows

The daily recaps kinda ran out of steam there towards the end of the trip, as there was uh... less and less free time for blogging.  So now I will take a look back on the week that was.  First up, let's revisit the shows.

Monday: The Beatles' Love - I've already gone on record as saying this is the greatest thing I've ever seen or heard on a stage.  My opinion has not changed.  My opinion probably will not change either.  I'm listening to the soundtrack again as I type this, and the next time I go to Vegas I'll definitely see this again.

Tuesday: Zumanity - This is the other Cirque du Soleil show we saw.  Now don't get me wrong when I say it was the least of the five shows we saw that week.  I liked it.  It was, well... interesting.  And topless.  But it wasn't "sexy" topless.  It was "arty, fruity circus" topless.  It wasn't like a strip club where you go to admire the boobies.  In this case it was just merely a coincidence that the dancers had boobies that you could see.  I found myself mostly watching this half-man/half-goat dude who seemed detached from just about everything else that was going on.  Bonus points for all the music in the show being performed live.

Wednesday: Blue Man Group - This was a last minute ticket purchase, as we changed our entire plans for the day that morning.  We managed to score better seats than had I purchased them months earlier, as we ended up sitting just about dead center in the fourth row.  I knew of Blue Man Group but hadn't seen anything they'd done before.  My bride however was adamant that we go see these guys.  And it turned out to be a great show.  Clever and inventive, and again, I give them credit for performing all the music live.  Recommended.

Thursday: Penn and Teller - I love these guys and have been a fan since their mid-80s days on Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman.  And while I'd seen a couple of their tricks before (and had one figured out instantly before the big reveal), it was great to finally see them live.  They seem like an odd fit at the Rio though.

Their stage show was appropriately low key.  There was no bombastic band or explosions going off... just two guys on stage doing magic and talking to the audience.  Worked for me.  The show ends with them running out into the lobby, where they remain to take pictures with the audience.  Class acts, these two.

Friday: Tom Jones - I wanted an old school Vegas show experience, and Tom Jones delivered.  For a dude pushing 70 years old, he's still got it.  His voice sounds great.  You worry that shows like this might feel sad if it's just some old guy up there desperately clinging to his former fame, but Tom Jones isn't that guy.  He's awesome.

There was a gaggle of drunken British twats next to us though who would not shut up.  They were just there for the 2 or 3 songs they recognized and then the rest of the time they were just shouting to each other about drunken nonsense.  I hate them.

All in all though, it was a great week of shows.  There wasn't a single dud in the bunch.

It's true what they say about the casinos

Vegas Update #5: Gambling

* I'm starting to write this entry at 3:30am Vegas time Wednesday morning.  I'm just getting in from the casino in our hotel.  I may not finish it before I pass out, but right now I'm riding a pretty cool high from free drinks and successful slot machine-ing.  I'm a little freaked out that the national morning news shows are on.

* Tonight was the first night I'd been fairly restless, and so I wanted to experience the casino at a time of day I hadn't seen it in.  I liked it a lot better this time.  Drinking and winning will do that to you.  Tonight (well the night I'm writing this anyway) I managed to triple my initial slot machine money.  It was pretty sweet and a total blast. Before I knew it, three hours had passed by.  Unreal.

* So far we've been extremely lucky in our gambling endeavors.  Basically we came to Vegas with some spending money in our pockets and a set amount in the bank that we'd use for the trip.  Well we've yet to even touch the money we saved up.  We've won little slot machine jackpots here and there, enough to keep doubling our money and pay for everything we've needed so far.  It's been unreal.

Not Another Food Blog

Vegas Update #4: Food and Drink

* Neither of us are huge breakfast people, so we usually just start our day with some caffeine.  Here's a Vegas tip for you, especially if you're staying in the Venetian: find a convenience store and buy yourself a 12-pack of soda.  There are no easily accessible vending machines in the hotel itself.  If you hit the gift shops a drink will easily run you $3.00 or more.  Food court drinks are a little higher, especially if you want something larger than a thimble's worth.  And a 10-oz Coke from your room's mini-bar?  Five bucks.

Monday we found a local convenience store and bought a 12-pack of Pepsi.  It seemed outrageous at first at $5.89, but it's saved us a lot of dough so far.  And there's a tip you can take to the bank.

See what I did there?

* We've been doing meals rather oddly here in Vegas.  Since we don't usually eat breakfast we have a big lunch, then a late dinner.  So far it's working out well for us.  Monday we had lunch at Bally's Casino in the Sidewalk Cafe, where the average age of the customers there is 97 years old.  The wait staff are all spring chickens in their 70s.

We were starving by the time we got seated, but it didn't take long to get our food.  I had a huge chicken sandwich with fries that hit the spot and kept me full until late in the evening.  Very affordable too, and everyone was very nice.

* Before seeing Love we were presented with 2-for-1 coupons for the Beatles Revolution lounge, so off we went to enjoy some spirits before The Greatest Live Show Ever, Ever™.  It was a rather tasty rum & Coke, which after the discount was a measly five bucks.  Score.

* After the show, well... the lines everywhere were looooooooooooooooooooooong.  We had our sights set on California Pizza Kitchen in the Mirage, but that line never became short enough for our liking.  Instead we explored and gambled for an hour or so before finally securing a table at the BLT Burger.  Decent place, outrageous prices.  I just had a basic burger, and even though it was fairly thick and hearty (I could only finish half of the thing), for $15 I was kind of expecting more.  It didn't seem any more special than any other burger you can get anywhere else.  Give me a cheapo burger from The Shiek any day.  Hell, give me 10 of them for that price.

I never even got a refill on my soda while we were there.  For a meal that ended up costing us around 60 bucks, one refill isn't too much to ask.

* Tuesday we had lunch at Del Taco in the food court between Gameworks and the MGM Grand.  Now that may sound stupid to you, but we do not have Del Tacos where we live.  Both of us have fond memories of Del Taco from our young adulthood though, and so eating at Del Taco was one thing we'd been looking forward to the most on this trip.  And the verdict?  Not as good as those memories we've been holding onto all these years, but still pretty tasty and better than Taco Bell.

Lots, lots more to talk about... but we're off to Zumanity at New York, New York.  More soon.