Thursday, November 28, 2013 – Day Three of Eight, Part Two

[This is part four of a ten part trip report.  To start at the beginning, go here.]

This is my first stay at Fitzgeralds since they did a name change.  The new owners would like us to call it “The D”.  Yeah well I would like them to pick a name that is not stupid, and to also bring back the neon rainbow and pot of gold outside.  So it looks like neither of us are getting what we want.  Fitzgeralds it is!

Now that exact spot looks like this:

I have to say, upon walking in, I was impressed.  One huge thing was that they redid the floors.  There is now a solid walkway from the entrance to the registration desk.   No more rolling your bag on carpet (unless you enter from Fremont Street, which to be fair, is not the main hotel entrance)

I got room 2134.  I stood outside the door for a few seconds, really excited to see what was behind it.  I have stayed in this hotel 23947838247 times as Fitzgeralds.   I have seen pictures of the new rooms online and they look fantastic.   I am building anticipation as to what I will see behind that door.

Then I open the door.  And I am really surprised that I instantly hate this room.  The beds look great:

But the rest of the room looks so weird.  It actually looks hollow and cold.  I am so confused.  Why does this room look so empty?

Then it hits me.  The super huge entertainment center thingy is gone.  This is what the rooms used to look like:

Without that big entertainment center, and with the walls now barren, it just looks so hollow.  I don’t like it.

You also used to be able to take pictures of your room view.  Now, if try, you get this:

Because of this:

The bath products are no longer that vanilla soap I used to overtip housekeeping for extra bars of.  They now have Bath and Body Works products.   Upgrade much?

The wall safes are also gone.  I discovered they do have safes inside  the new dressers though.  I never would have known this if I had not read the Hotel Information book.

I am staying here on an offer for three comped nights, plus $50 in free slot play and $25 dining credit.  First thing I do is go downstairs and play the $50 in an attempt to get bazillions.   It doesn’t work.  Not only do I not get bazillions, I don’t even get to play because my money goes too fast.

I am slot crazy right now.   You can’t stop me.  I will play every slot machine in this casino.   GET OUT OF MY WAY ALL OF YOU.

I decide to play $20 of my real money on an Epic Monopoly slot game.  If you have never played this before, allow me to explain.  There are four games.  If you get a wild symbol or a bonus symbol on the first main hand, it transfers over the the other hands.   There is also a feature where Mr. Monopoly randomly pops up and gives you either wilds, or multipliers.   If you get multipliers and any of them land on the first main reel, those are also transferred over to the next three.

So if let’s say, reel two gets a 2x multiplier, and reel one gets a 5x, you will now have a 7x on reel two because the 5x will transfer over.

I didn’t get any multpliers.  But I did have my boy Monopoly toss out four wilds, all on the first game.   So they tranferred to all three remaining games.  Oh I love you.

This win slows me down and I end up with $115 left for today.  Don’t forget I went nutso in the Bellagio this morning as well, so this is a huge deal!

I go to my room at 2:30 for a nap.   I can’t sleep.  At all.   I tried to log onto the internet, it’s not working.  I try reading a book.  Oh hey, this is working.  I am suddenly getting very sleeeeeeeeeep….zzzzzzzzzz.

I wake up a few hours later and go back out at 8:00.  First stop, the 24 hour Starbucks at the Golden Nugget.  I LOVE YOU 24 HOUR STARBUCKS AT THE GOLDEN NUGGET.   I try and get a Caramel Brulee Frappucino but they do not have any brulee.  This is unfortunate because my entire purpose of getting it was to find out once and for all what the hell “brulee” is.  I for sure have no idea. Instead I ordered a Green Tea Frappucino and watched the barista make it for me in a blender clearly marked “non-dairy”.  Sorry vegans.

Tonight I shall visit the Downtown Grand.  This used to be the Lady Luck hotel and casino.  The name “Downtown Grand” is not stupid in any way, so I am allowing it.

I signed up for a new player’s card.  New sign ups get anywhere from $3-1000 in free slot play.  I got $3. Naturally.

I played and lost on Monopoly.  Then I found what should have been the greatest find in all of life – Four Card CLEOPATRA KENO!  Oh my god!  I love this game and you are telling me I can play FOUR GAMES AT THE SAME TIME?  GAHHHHHHHHHH!

But alas, this game was not as happy to see me as I was to see it.  It would not give me any bonus, no matter how much I put into her.  Well fuck you then, I’m out of here.

On my way out, I passed one of those Rascal scooters with an adorable Shih Tzu sitting in the basket on the front, while her mommy played slots.  She ruled.  Her mommy, who brought a dog into a casino, I am not so sure about.  That poor baby was inhaling second hand smoke like a mother fucker.

I left here and went to Fremont to play my favorite Super Times Pay poker machines.  I love this game so much, and this particular bank is my favorite in all the world.

The woman next to me was playing five card quarters.  So at six quarters a hand she was playing $7.50 a pull.   I may not have noticed it, but she didn’t have any idea what she was doing. So she would continually ask the man she was with for help.  I wanted to scream.  He kept leaning over her shoulder to push the “deal” hand so the hands would go lightning fast after she drew.  By doing this, he is entering my personal space. At some point, she is dealt a straight and asks him what to do.  He tells her to hold it.  She asks “hold all the cards?”  OH MY GOD YOU ARE PLAYING $7.50 A HAND AND YOU DON’T KNOW TO HOLD ALL THE CARDS.  WHAT ARE YOU DOING.  PLEASE STOP.  OR AT LEAST, PLEASE STOP DOING THINGS THAT MAKE ME OVER HEAR WHAT YOU ARE DOING.  PLEASE I BEG YOU.

Finally I hit a low four of a kind with a kicker. If you do not play video poker, you do not know what I am talking about.  This is a hand worth 800 credits, or $40 if you are playing nickels like I am.  I cash out and head to Dunkin Donuts for iced coffee.

Then I go a bit nutso again.  But this time it’s okay because it is night time and I can lose the rest of my budget because it is night time.  So I do exactly that.

I won on NOTHING.  Sucks to be me!

After I am done with losing the last of today’s budget, it’s off to bed.   The time is midnight.  Good night.

OH YEAH WAIT HOLD ON A MINUTE.  I said I would be posting my itinerary daily to see if I followed it.  Here is what I had planned for today. The only thing I did was check into Fitzgeralds and use my $50 free play.  If I had bothered to look at my itinerary, I for sure would have went to the Gold Coast.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Breakfast: Gold Coast 8-3, free with 200 points LVA coupon
Gold Coast 11x points slots/6x points video poker
Ellis Island 3x points
Check into Fitzgeralds $50 free play/LVA coupon
Lunch:
El Cortez 2x points newsletter
El Cortez $10 free play LVA coupon
El Cortez ATM $30 free promo
Dinner: Fitzgeralds $25 dining credit

Want to read more?   Here are parts five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten!