Note:  This is an older Las Vegas trip report that I am posting for the entertainment of Las Vegas addicts and anyone else who loves fun.  It was written back in 2008.  Most of this information is now outdated and some places mentioned no longer exist.

Friday, December 19, 2008 – Day Eight of Twenty One

I wake up at the El Cortez. Again my notes start off with me whining about my trip being almost half over. I am also mad at myself because tomorrow is supposed to start my $170/day budget, but I’ve gone so far into the future that I’m now down to about $130/day.

Today I am up at 9:00. First day of the trip I have woken up to an alarm clock, first day of the trip I have sort of slept in.

I head over to McDonalds for breakfast (Seriously, yes. Seriously, suck it)

After eating, I then come back and do the El Cortez daily free slot tournament. I get nothing. I go back upstairs and pack and whatever and I find my shirt that I nearly cried over losing last night. Eeeeeeee! Now if only I could find the metaphorical shirt I seem to have lost in every slot machine I have sat down at.

I check out and store my bags at the Bell Desk. I stop for some nickel vp. I hit 3’s for $20.

I decide I will go to the movies today. This will stop me from gambling and give my brain a long overdue break. I hit Neonopolis and buy a ticket for Four Christmases. I swear they used to have matinee rates for $3.75 but I dont see them displayed and they charged me seven bucks. Yet another check in the “loss” column.

The movie – WHY GOD WHY. The movie is not playing to fit the screen. It’s on the screen, but i’ts also on the walls at both the top and bottom of the screen. At some point after about half an hour, someone comes and “fixes” it. So now it’s all on the screen, but the picture is all smooshed down so everyone looks like an obese midget. I really wish you could all understand just how terrible this was. I mean is this really happening? I can’t even get the movies right?

After the movie break, I go back to the El Cortez and I try some Multi Strike Super Times Pay before grabbing my bags for today’s move. I get threes on the bottom line and then fives on the bottom line later on. I love four of a kinds.

I grab my stuff and take a cab to the Riviera. As always, the cab ride comes with the typical questions. “Your’e moving hotels?” “You didnt like this hotel?” and so on. The cab came to $14 and i paid $18.

I use the kiosk to check in and a bunch of other people are doing this as well. You can tell that the check-in-ling who is assigned to help kiosk users wants to break down and scream “HELLO IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE”. I am done fairly quickly and even the check-in-ling is surprised to see I am done so fast. I say outloud “it’s not rocket science!” and you can tell she is pleased that SOMEONE said it in front of the other people, who could not for the life of them read the screen and make their choices. They do let you pick which tower you want. I don’t know which tower is which so i picked the San Remo tower. I’m still not sure if I picked the right one or not.

I get room 3404 – don’t let the number fool you, it’s on the fourth floor. They consider the FIRST floor floor 30 according to the elevator lights. Liars.

I also noted the $500 fee for bringing in outside food. I hope they don’t confiscate my Diet Pepsi!

My room is boring. The fan in the bathroom sounds like a helicopter taking off.

It’s now 3:12 and instead of going out, I decide its time to stop it with the losing. I already went to the movies today, and now I will sit in my room and rent a movie on the television since it’s going to cost me less than going out. I get “What Happens in Vegas” because OF COURSE I DO. It costs me $11.99. It’s stupid as expected, but I deserve that because I am in Las Vegas watching a move about Las Vegas, because I lost all my money in Las Vegas.

Once the movie is over, I walk over to the Sahara to try their daily free pull, get nothing.

Then I spot it – the new love of my life. Invaders From the Planet Moolah!!! Someone is playing it. So I go and try some nickel video poker. I get zilch and then check back and Invaders From the Planet Moolah is now free! The woman next to me has her crap all over my machine so I push it back onto hers and she is visibly annoyed. She grows more annoyed when I start winning. The volume on this machine was set quite loud so she was very aware when the bonus hit. Very quickly, I hit for FIFTY FREE SPINS. During the free spins, I got FIFTY MORE FREE SPINS.  With the reels cascading every time I won, that was over 100 “hands” and the entire time my SO LOUD machine was playing SO LOUD.   The woman next to me was SO MAD.  The total bonus ended up being $88.60.

The woman next to me has now had it. She cashes out her remaining ten cents and storms away leaving the ticket in the machine so it keeps beeping. I take this as a sign that she left it for me. Wooooo, more found money.

I cash out and do my now daily ritual of getting on the 108 bus to Terribles before heading to Planet Hollywood. I do the Terribles free daily slot tournament and get a horrible score. I drop $30 in Star Trek, gets me nothing. I didn’t play enough to come back for the tournament tomorrow. I ’m sure not going to keep blowing money just to play a free daily tournament. I leave and head to Planet Hollywood for thier daily free pull. I hit nothing. I lose $15 here and make a break for it.

I walk over to the Barbary Coast (YOU CANNOT MAKE ME CALL IT “BILLS” BECAUSE THAT IS A STUPID NAME) and take the free Boyd shuttle to the Gold Coast for dinner. I am on the shuttle at 7:34 pm.

I get to the Gold Coast and wait on the long line for a while before I realize its the Friday night seafood buffet. I’ve done this about three times in my life now. I don’t like seafood and I have a mental block that the Gold Coast has Friday night seafood. I keep putting it on my itinerary and forgetting that I can’t/won’t eat it. So since dining options here are slim pickins, I ended up eating dinner at TGIFridays.

On my way through the casino, I spot and play an Invaders From the Planet Moolah machine. On my second $10 bill in, I get a $30 bonus.

After eating, I head back to Invaders From the Planet Moolah. I turn my first $15 into $70. I cash out and keep going. I hit one line win for $20.30. I get down to my last 20 cents and put my $70 ticket in, because it has some change on it, to make a 50-cent bet. I get a win for close to $40.

I take the money and RUN to the shuttle, which I am pleased to announce, had just pulled up – no waiting.

I take the shuttle back to the Barbary Coast. I decide to walk from here back to the Riviera. I stopped only for Starbucks and pictures, none of which really came out because my camera hates night time. It killed a bunch of time that cost me nothing.

Encore opens in only three days!

Back at the Riviera, I lose $60, some of it on Invaders From the Planet Moolah.  I hit my room at 11:15 with $40 to add to tomorrows budget.