Welcome to yet another insanely long Las Vegas trip report! I left NYC on December 13 and flew back home late night on December 30. This is my favorite time to be in Vegas. The weather is perfect. The week before the week of Christmas is usually pretty dead. There used to be a lot of promos such as point multipliers at this time. Those seem to have slowly gone away though.
I had started to document my planning of this trip, including the many changes to hotels as offers came in. It ended up getting completely overwhelming, even to me. So I’ll spare you that part of the planning process.
I decided I could not stay in any hotel I had stayed in during the past five years. The reason for this? Some people have traditions in Vegas, I have bad habits. I cannot tell you how many times I have made the loop from my room at Fremont, to the Dunkin Donuts, to my favorite machines (of which there are only three: Ultimate X, that one quarter DDB machine, and the Cleopatra Keno near the live Keno.) I wanted to break the cycle, and decided I would set a rule that I can only stay in hotels that I have either never stayed in before, or have not stayed in for many years. The only exception would be that I could stay one night at Four Queens, because I had accidentally purchased a $50 credit on the Binions game, so it would be going to waste if I did not use it. This worked out PERFECTLY because from the time I purchased this non-refundable award, and the time this trip came along, that voucher was good for a night at Apache. This meant I could see a new Binions room for FREE.
Booking this trip proved very difficult to do inside those parameters. It was very hard for me to not stay at Fremont, especially when I had an offer, and when there is a Dunkin Donuts inside the casino. It was VERY difficult for me to agree to paying a resort fee at Park MGM, when on the same night I could be at Fremont for $0, just to adhere to my rule. At least my Park MGM offer came with $40 free play and $50 resort credit. But I told myself that the resort fee was a price I was paying to not be a degenerate making a beeline to my favorite machines.
So in the end, I signed up to pay resort fees on EIGHT nights.
On the day I left for Vegas, it looked like:
3 comped nights at Paris: Paying only the resort fee. I have not stayed here in so many years. Possibly longer than ten years? This offer may or may not come with $70 free play. The offer for $70 free play is showing in my account. But there is a glitch with the offer code that shows it needed to be booked by August, for dates good through 2020. This is obviously incorrect as the offer that supposedly needed to be booked by August, is still showing in my account in December. Let’s see how this goes.
1 comped night at Park MGM: Paying only the resort fee. I have only stayed here when it was Monte Carlo, over a decade ago. My offer came with $40 slot play and $50 dining credit.
2 nights comped at Downtown Grand: 100% comped, no resort fee, $10 in free play to use twice. I have stayed here before as Lady Luck, never as Downtown Grand. This was double booked with two nights at Fremont that I booked just for the freebies. $10 slot play and $20 dining. Yes, I will check into a hotel for a measly $30 in freebies.
3 nights comped at Fitzgeralds….er I mean The D: The room and resort fees were comped but I did pay $10+ tax per night for a smoking room. My last stay here was a very long time ago, which was also coincidentally the last time I had a comped offer from them. This came with $25 dining and $20 free play. I double booked this with El Cortez, for the freebies. It came with $25 dining and $25 free play.
3 nights comped at Wynn, via their mobile app: 100% comped, no resort fees. I last stayed here a million years ago. I am hoping for an upgrade to Encore, which would have me finally staying at every Strip hotel.
2 nights comped at Treasure Island: 100% comped, no resort fees, $100 free play and 30% off spa services. I have never had a comped offer here. My last (and only) paid stay was over a decade ago. This was double booked with one night at Apache, using a voucher from the Binions app. I kind of did want to stay at Apache, but I also kind of hate non smoking rooms. So I’ll check in just because it is free, and to see the new rooms.
4 comped nights at The Linq: I last stayed here when it was The Quad. I had previously stayed numerous times when it was Imperial Palace. I used to love booking it for my first night, so I could stand on the balcony and see the Strip. The balconies are long gone. This was a late offer that included $70 free play and $150 resort credit.
A lot of people get really horrified about hotel changes. Honestly, I don’t see the big deal. I have comps at all these places, which means I play at all these places. If I am going to go and play at these places anyway, why not take an extra few minutes to check in and restart my trip? It really doesn’t make a difference in my future comps. I always hop around and my offers are based on that.
Then came the actual trip planning. A lot of people do not like making plans for Vegas. I love making plans for Vegas. I spend so many hours planning trips, only to arrive in Vegas and forget I ever did that.
I normally have an insane itinerary that is both color coded and detailed. It has very few things to actually do other than switch hotels, casino promos and planned coupon runs. For this trip though, in an attempt to not spend the entire time gambling degenerately, I had to find things to do. I decided to do one thing per day.
What counts as a thing?
I had the same question myself.
In the past, I would put faraway locals casinos in this category. Nothing like spending an hour on a bus to gamble in an unfamiliar casino, right? But this defeats the purpose. So I decided that a thing would be a show, a spa treatment or an attraction that you paid for. So no, walking past the Bellagio fountains while between degenerate sessions at Cosmo and degenerate sessions as Cromwell, did not count.
I knew I wanted to see the Friends parody show at The D. Why has no one ever told me this exists?
I used a MyVegas reward for Ka. I fell asleep through this show in the theater the last time I actually saw it. I also fell asleep in my bed rather than going to the show the last time I had a ticket for it. But hey, it is a “thing” and it is free.
I also added a rule that I had to eat somewhere I have never eaten at before, every day. As I was planning the trip, I had to switch this to “eat somewhere you have not eaten in years.” Downtown doesn’t really have too many places I haven’t eaten at, at least once. The idea was pretty much to break my bad habits and force me to not follow the same pattern as normal, so this rule worked. But it would be stupid to give up dining credit. For places like Boyd properties or El Cortez, there aren’t many choices to use these at places I don’t eat at regularly.
As the trip came closer, there were so many changes and additions to my planning. Offers came in, hotels were changed. Then Vegas.com had a crazy Black Friday promo where for every purchase, you got a $50 credit emailed to you the next day. I ended up booking so many things that it would be impossible to actually do them all.
Finally, the day is here. The day I am leaving for Las Vegas! IT IS HERE IT IS TODAY I AM LEAVING TODAY FOR LAS VEGAS.
I worked from home and treated myself to a Lyft to the airport as it was storming outside. The airport was a mess. TSA were very short staffed. I was flying Mint so I had Even More Speed, which means I can skip the TSA line. Normally it would take about 3 minutes to get through security. Tonight it took over an hour. The line was full of assholes who would not prepare when they got close to the front of the line. They would wait until the last second to take their shoes off, and to take their liquids and laptops out. At some point, people decided it was okay to cut. It was not. I yelled at a couple who tried to cut me, and then just kept going about how I don’t understand why people wait until the very last second to take their liquids out of their bags. I definitely caused a scene. The TSA worker definitely slow clapped my tempter tantrum.
Once I was finally through security, I could hear the last call announcement for my flight. I made it, without time to stop for the restroom. The doors closed before I had even settled in my seat.
Tonight I am flying JetBlue Mint for the first time ever. This is very exciting to me. I have never had a lay down seat on my flight before. I had ordered a Plane Eats meal, since fancy food is not my thing. My meal didn’t make it on the flight. I was offered to pick anything from the pay menu, and it would be free. I picked a sandwich. Guess what, they don’t have anything from that menu. I ended up with a cheese plate, and a whole lot of apologies.
I had my own cabin so it felt private when I was laying down, even though the door only comes up a couple of feet of the ground. So anyone walking by me could look down and see me sleep. I don’t think the seat was as comfortable as I have read about. Your feet go into this little cubby, which felt weird. But overall, I loved having no one near me and being able to lay down.
I arrived in Vegas at midnight and took an Uber to Paris, which is my first hotel of this trip. For some reason, I have 50% off Uber on the app. That was a nice surprise.
Check in was dead. Huge plus of arriving at this time of year.
I was given room 1690, which was the last smoking Strip view room and the check in person had to get permission to give it to me. This was the room type I booked, but I suppose they may have needed it for someone more important than me. Luck was on my side and I was given my keys and sent off to my room.
Night view:
Room view I took the following morning:
I did the thing I always do on night one. I write in my notes about how I feel like I could just go to bed and not gamble the first night, but then decide to anyway. Fuck it, I deserve a reward for surviving the flight, right?
I lost my entire daily budget on dollar Double Double Bonus video poker. I kind of had to, ya know?
I am off to bed at 2:30, psyched as all hell to know I still have over two weeks left in this trip. Anything can happen.
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This is so exciting. I can’t wait to get through the whole report!
I really enjoyed reading about your adventures! Your pictures are awesome! I always wait for an entire post, rather than in piecemeal. That means I usually don’t get to comment or ask questions- call me instant binder I guess. I always posted My trips on LVA trip reports and thoroughly enjoyed Your reports there as well. I Admire your stamina-that’s one long trip! Congrats on bringing some bank roll home. Stay safe and well until the next time.
!
Thanks Kris! It is definitely more difficult to leave comments on full reports because by the time you get to the end, you forgot what your comments were. But I am okay with that 🙂 Thanks for reading and commenting!
Thanks for sharing. Your reports are always fun to read. Thanks for posting in its entirety-rather have that than installments (I get sidetracked and never get to finish some-which is a bummer)
Thanks for reading and commenting! With you and me, that is two votes for posting in entirety.
i read this in one shot. LOVED it all. i’m a die hard Wayne Newton fan, but i agree with how he looks in pictures LOL
Thanks so much Debra! Poor wax Wayne.
Loved this trip! I read the entire thing in one sitting – I loved it like that rather than wait for the next day, the next day…. It sounds like you had a fabulous trip… and its funny that no matter how many days it never seems enough… unless the money runs out! 4 or 5 days has been my limit so 18 days makes me a little jealous! You must walk many miles every day — even with Uber and a bus. Thanks for taking the time to write this and also share all those wonderful pics – and oh, yes, next time take pics of your food…
Thanks so much Nancy! When I am on the Strip, I definitely walk many miles, including several just in the casino.
I am glad to see people like reading it in full. With live reports being so popular right now, I wanted to make sure things hadn’t changed.
I was so thrilled when this popped up in my email! Yes, the post-the-whole-shebang-at-once style is the way to go, and I loved it! Thank you, and good luck on your trips later this year.
PS, I hope you sent our pal Flusher the link to this. He probably needs a little Vegas infusion!
I am so glad people are voting for posting it all at once. It makes it a bit more intense to proofread on my end. As I was scrolling forever through the entire thing, I was hoping people actually prefer this!
I have asked Jimmy Poon to please slip Flusher a note that this report is here 🙂
I like the all at once method. It’s much easier to follow along and remember what happened 6 days ago when I’m reading all at once.
YAY! I am so glad people liked reading it all at once.
I love to “Binge” anything and everything, so this is another vote for “Entirety!”
Loved it! I’m high-risk for COVID, so I may not see Mecca for a few years. This helped to remind me of the past and how wonderful life used to be. I can’t believe that I’ve been without Vegas for almost 4 months already – I’m usually there anywhere from every other month to every 3 or so.
Thanks for putting in the work. It was a fun ride as always.
I can’t believe it has been less than three months since the last day I was anywhere other than my neighborhood. It truly feels like a year.
I hope there’s a vaccine soon so you can return to normalcy.
Thank you for reading, and thank you for voting for entirety!
Why did you stop? It’s like reading a book. I want more chapters!!!
Aw, thank you so much! I’ll be back in two months.
I have enjoyed reading your report in it’s entirety this morning when I should be working! I love your trip reports and was very excited when I got the email notification this morning about this one. Sounds like a great trip
Thanks so much Zoe!
I am so happy to see this I’ll even forgive you for taking 5 months to post it!
Hahaha, thanks Jan!
Hi,
Loved your report. Thanks for taking the time to do it. While reading it I realized that I do miss Vegas. I haven’t been in 5 or 6 years after going faithfully for 35 years – a couple of times a year. Your report reminds me of the Vegas I remember. But they are not looking for my demographic anymore. It will be interesting to see how much it changes, again, when they get back to business.
Never stop writing. You are good at it and it is so much fun to read.
Kathy
Thanks so much Kathy!
I am curious to see how Vegas will change post-pandemic. Caesars has already upped their offers to entice me back. I am curious if other properties will follow and turn it back into a gambling town. We shall see…
Post all at once please. You write very well.
Aw, thanks Trish!
I just love your reports and this one was one of the best. I prefer reading the whole report at one time especially when it is so well written. Please go again soon!
Thanks Cathie! I am scheduled to go on July 31. Crossed fingers it works out!
Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer you are not making my Vegas drought any easier. Kidding – I really enjoyed it. I read it in two sittings because I started way too late last night. Loved every word and image. Thank you!
Thank YOU Cindy! 🙂
Wonderful report Jennifer. I love your writing style. I am a fan of the day by day. I read a few days then bookmarked the page to come back to again if I had to stop. I hope your booked trips happen and look forward to your future reports.
Thanks so much Doug, I am glad you enjoyed it!
So glad you are back! I love your reports and your style! I am also a fan of entire trip report posted at once. I read several days already and it gives me something to look forward to while working. My Memorial day trip was cancelled of course so now I am waiting until November and then hopefully December for rodeo. Thank you for taking the time to write and post. LOVE.
Thanks Laura! I hope your November and December trips work out. I am so sorry you missed out on Memorial Day though.
Been following your trips for sooo many years — as a fellow degenerate your thoughts mirror mine to a “T”. Saw your post and saved it for my morning coffee — you are such a wonderful writer/enjoyed every second — kept hoping you’d win big so there would be another week at least. Laughing to myself that you should’ve brought your sister with you for such a long trip/now that would’ve been funny!!!!
Have you been to Hard Rock yet in AC — think you’d really like it there if AC ever opens again.
Another vote for all at once and also some food pics.
Thanks for all your efforts — you really brighten a lot of lives with these reports.
Thanks Lorraine!
I have been to Hard Rock a few times now. There is an Ultimate X machine that was soooooooooo nice to me one day. I would have stayed there forever but it was during the winter and the heat was on full blast. I was sweating to the point I could not take it any longer. I’d love to get some offers from there.
I agree on the food photos. Not sure why I never did that before?
I feel a certain kinship with you. You’re a single girl who likes to gamble, and travels alone, and I’m a single guy who likes to gamble and also travels alone. I went on a Blackjack Run to Las Vegas about the same time you did, 11/12/19-12/6/19. I also went 2/21/20-3/10/20, and lucked out— another week, and everything would have been closed.
My May/June trip to Vegas was cancelled, but I’m going on another Blackjack Run from June 21-July 10. I also like the Fremont, they give good comps, and they’re not pretentious like so many of the Strip hotels. The Palace Station used to be like this, but they went on a renovating kick around 2015 in an effort to become “Hoity-Toity”.
Because of the virus, I’m staying entirely downtown this trip. That way I won’t have to use the buses, and risk exposure. The casinos are limiting the # of people who can stay/ play at one time. They are also erecting Plexiglas shields at the table games, which should be kind of freaky, at least at first. I was told that Craps is limiting their participants to a maximum of six. They are also going to disinfect the slots and video poker machines when you sit down. You also have to play with a mask, which should make things uncomfortable. especially at the Blackjack tables. Counting cards is hard enough, the mask might be too distracting.
The buffets may not be open, at least not in the same way as they were previously. And I wonder what the hotels are going to do about maid service, it might be too dangerous for them to go to each room every day. Good luck in your future trips.
Our next trips are going to be so different. I normally plan out coupon runs for free play. I have to put those on the back burner as like you, I don’t want to be taking buses all over. I considered doing the entire trip downtown, just to make it easier. But I ended up booking two Strip hotels. Luxor so I can use MyKonami free plays, by walking between casinos. I also want to collect birthday free play from Excalibur, Luxor and Park MGM. Then Cosmo sent me an offer for $79 + no resort fee and I could not resist.
I’ve seen some photos of casinos where they removed seats from machines to spread people out. That is not going to work. People will walk up and just stand. I am curious to see if they turn those machines off. I don’t even know if they can turn individual machines off, or if they can only do full banks.
I will be hitting refresh on all live trip reports like a lunatic to see real time reporting on the current situation. If Covid cases spike once Vegas opens, I will cancel my trip entirely.
I hope your trip goes well and you have tons of luck!
Really enjoyed your trip as always. Any way you want to post is fine with me.
Husband and I began going to indian casinos around San Diego on our yearly trip to the west coast (from Florida). This was after a couple of trips to LV and doing nothing but losing. So after this drought I scheduled a trip to LV this year and you know what has happened to that one.
Sigh, yep. So many people have had cancelled trips. I am trying to not get too exciting about my upcoming trip just in case. But I was able to book Cosmo for $79 and no resort fees and it is hard to not get excited about that.
Loved every single word! Thanks for taking the time to write it all up. I’m an all at once fan also. I love that you tell the good and the bad. If one would believe most trip reports, no one ever loses! You do you! 💜
Thanks Deanna! I hope that one day you don’t love a trip report I write as it only features wins 🙂
Curious abouot buying cigarettes at 7-11. I know that it is more expensive to buy them on the strip (and now at the Walgreen’s at Fremont as well). I was getting them for cheaper at the ampm/arco across from Luxor, but I’ve heard that it’s only a gas station now, no convenience store. Is the 7-11 by Peppermill cheaper than the strip Walgreens?
I honestly don’t remember how much they were, but I do remember thinking they weren’t as cheap as I was expecting. Just for fun, I looked at my credit card statement and I spent $37.52. I would guess I bought three packs and something to drink.
The 7-11 by Oakey used to be my go to. I would get off the Deuce, buy cigarettes and get on the next bus. It has been years since I’ve done that now. I now go off Strip. This is the first trip I didn’t go to a Stations, which is where I normally stock up. Wild Wild West is easiest to get to from the Strip. Just catch the bus on the side of NY, NY. An Uber would be really cheap too.
Dotty’s is cheap, but you have to pay in cash. There’s a bunch of smoke shops all over if you go off Strip. Checking my credit card statement again, I spent $289.99 for three cartons of Marlboro Light 100s before leaving town. That was at a smoke shop next to the Aveda in the middle of nowhere.
Thanks for the info about prices! I had looked at the 7-11 by Oakey as an option before… but then found the ampm across from Luxor!
I’m not sure how Uber accounts work internationally, as I’m from Canada and I heard from a friend that she had trouble using her account when she went to Miami. I’ll have to look into it!
Because I don’t drive, I don’t tend to go off Strip/away from downtown but I’ll take a look at other options!
Uber should work for you. I was able to use it in Prague and Egypt.
I don’t drive either so I always make a special trip to buy several cartons of cigarettes. On longer trips, I’ll go at the beginning and then again at the end. On this trip, there was a smoke shop next to Blueberry Hill so I did my “beginning of trip stock up” there.
Great to know!
I’ve now finished your whole report, and I loved it! Great writing style and I always love gaming pictures 🙂
I have a flight booked for July 29th (that I had to rebook from March 15th), but that will depend on whether the border opens between Canada-US. I really hope so!
Thanks for the kind words!
I wish you the best of luck with your trip! I am supposed to fly out July 31, but I have no idea if that will actually happen. So curious to see where the numbers go after the opening this weekend.
Well if it works out for both of us maybe we’ll run into each other 🙂
Did you see that video from the Cosmo? Good lord.
Oh yes I did. I am actually booked there, paying for a room because it is my birthday fuck yeah! Now, I am not quite sure I will end up staying there. I am not making any changes until I find out if I have to cancel the entire trip though.
Loved reading this! I like the whole thing at once.
Hi Jennifer, thanks for the report. I like how you break it down, and I like your commentary on fellow players talking about inane crap or taking up space at a machine that you want to play. The struggle is real. I’m going to the mecca in 2 weeks…hope to cover half the ground that you did! Nice work-
Thank you! I hope you have an amazing trip!
I finished the Trip report! Bravo! I enjoyed the All at once format. I binged it. It was enjoyable to just keep going. I would’ve commented along the way if there was a break. (But you probably aren’t missing much). Bit I have since forgotten things I might”be chimed in on.
I love 5c ultimate X; it’s my new obsession…and of course Buffalo. It was nice reading Pre-covid vegas stuff. It was all around awesome! The photos were enjoyable as well.
I Enjoyed your changed up the old routine philosophy. But Encore can buzz off! And I was glad when you dumped DT Grand to go to your warm and inviting Fremont room and rejoin the money in the safe. 😂 I concur on the Fremont buffet. I have muddled through it to get sustenance before.
I did a monster trip one summer. A Dream trip. I kept stringing together my offers and stayed over a month. I loved doing it.
It’s a trip I’ll never forget. Hope you can pull it off.
Thanks for the kind words! I love Fremont so much. I cannot wait to be back there in my tiny room, with my money in my room with me. 🙂
Your trip sounds wonderful. Just keep going from hotel to hotel to hotel. That’s my heaven.
I first discovered your reports a few years ago when I was a little active at the LV4ever forum. I don’t participate much on any forum these days, but I did spot this report and was so glad I did. As in the past, you did an outstanding report, always fun to read. You really had a lot of ups and downs, but as always, you really do have a great time in Vegas.
You have such an entertaining style of writing and I think your sense of humor is the best. Sorry your overseas trips are on hold, but I hope you do get back Vegas this year. Again, thanks for the fun report and all the best to you in the future.
Thanks so much Mike. I am about to lose my shit if I don’t get on a plane soon. I read today that Nevada’s governor is talking about implementing travel quarantines from people flying in from New York. My bank account agrees with him, but my brain does not.
I’m also in NY, so I’ve been keeping an eye on the quarantine issues in Nevada too. I had reservations for June, but I cancelled. I thought it was too soon after the reopening, so I re-booked for September. My finances also took a hit via the virus issues, but my June trip was paid for back in January and I got full refunds on the air fares, so that took care of the new September reservations. If I’m careful, I can still swing it and have a good time, although I’m also a degenerate and that can be a problem. 🙂
My next trip was supposed to be a long weekend. I booked an actual trip for the first week in November. But the more I am quarantined, the more I need to get out of here. So that long weekend is somehow now a 2 week trip. Which means I should not go in November, because I may “have” to go in December too since I cannot go anywhere else. Those casinos are going to be so psyched when I walk in with my degenerate ways.
Jen
I just loved reading your trip report and it was so nice and long…. the longer the better for me
Since hubby and I do not get to Vegas anymore I really look forward to hearing from you and reading your wonderful reports
The only place we get to anymore is our local casinos which are just fine for us ….
Hope you make it on your summer trip
Thanks so much!
This is mostly a reply to the question Jennifer asked earlier as to whether readers preferred daily posts or one long post at the end of one’s trip.
I only read full trip reports. I don’t have the patience, interest, or memory to go back on a daily basis to read a short post about a single day. If the whole report is not there, whether posted piecemeal or as a whole blob, I don’t read it.
Recently, I’ve noticed this new trend to not post about a completed trip but about an *upcoming* trip. What’s up with that? This is a total bore. I really don’t care about where someone *hopes* to go, yet at least on some sites, that’s the only kind of post I’ve been seeing. This may be pandemic related.
I also don’t care much about the basic facts of where someone went or what someone did. There are a limited number of hotels, casinos, restaurants etc. that everyone goes to. The interesting thing is how people react to what they experience. That’s where Jennifer’s reports shine above all the others!! Simply listing without much detail or color where one went is a bore, but how one felt about what one saw or did or ate or gambled is what makes for an entertaining read. And that’s what makes Jennifer, imo, the queen of trip reporters.
Wow this is such a nice compliment, thank you!!!
I am really glad people like reading them all in one shot. It is oddly a lot more work to get them out in one shot, rather than day by day. So I am glad this is people’s preference. It is mine too. So many times I click on part xxx of a report and I am lost to where the person is. “Woke up, went downstairs and…” Okay where are you again?
I’ve noticed a lot of “upcoming trip” posts. I do think it has a lot to do with the pandemic. People daydreaming and whatnot. Sigh.
Hi. Been a fan of your Las Vegas reports for awhile. Excited to read this one and upcoming trip post. 😊
Thanks so much Rachel!
Thanks Jennifer. That was a very entertaining report and it helps scratch that Vegas itch.And yes I enjoyed reading it in its entirety.Tom Hook
Thanks so much Tom!