Las Vegas: December 17, 2014, Day Two of Thirteen

This morning I woke up at Palace Station at 6:33 am. This means I had about four hours sleep after a very exhausting and very long day. This is what Las Vegas does to you. It doesn’t matter than I need about fifty more hours of sleep, there are video poker machines downstairs, who can sleep?

I have a free buffet at Palace Station courtesy of MyVegas. Actually I have two because there is no option to get just one, which is kind of annoying. They are obviously going to track the play to see if the cost of giving away free buffets was recovered via play. My account shows I used two and I only used one. They should consider offering single options.

The buffet was really good and my only complaint is that the entire room reeked of ketchup for some reason.

After eating, I got a green tea Frappucino and began playing. And kept playing. Played and played and played. I chased the hell out of the quarter progressive Royal that was nearing $1600. I went way over what I should have and lost it all. I kept trying to get myself to go up to the room to nap and I could not get there. I am not sure how much I lost because I do not want to know how much I lost.

Back up to the room in time to pack and check out. I am moving to the MGM Grand today, for three free nights courtesy of MyVegas. Seriously, if you are not playing this game, why are you not playing this game?

I took the bus from Palace Station to SLS and hopped on the monorail. The monorail is also free courtesy of MyVegas. I got two free round trips before they got rid of those and four single ride tickets. The tickets are good for a year so I redeemed them all (except one) and whatever I do not use, expire next December. The one I did not redeem, I am saving for when I visit SLS because they give you $5 free slot play with a current monorail ticket. So I will get one when I am ready to go there so the date is within the 72 hour period.

I don’t even try to check in early at MGM since they now charge for early check in. Screw that. I leave my bags with the Bell Desk and go off, completely exhausted. I make my way over to Aria to do their daily slot tournament, again courtesy of MyVegas. I had every intention of winning the $500 free play. I was in first place a few times and ended up in second. But that was only for my session, there was one after me and some jerk knocked me out of second and another jerk knocked me out of third. How rude.

Look how pretty Aria is: My next stop is Bellagio where I have a free dinner buffet courtesy of MyVegas. Today I am clearly the poster child for MyVegas.

I had a slight almost-problem when redeeming my Bellagio buffet.   The one I redeemed required you to be staying at an MGM property, which I am.  But since I had not checked in yet, I did not have a room number and I almost could not redeem it.  This didn’t even occur to me before I got there and once she told me this, it made perfect sense. I was about to cry because I was so tired.  I did not want to walk back to MGM and then back to Bellagio.  And of course, today is the last day of my trip I can use this buffet as the black out dates start tomorrow. The boothling took pity on me and spoke to a manager who allowed me to show my room confirmation as proof I was staying there.  I am eternally grateful for this.

Dinner was very good. At one point a 389646378 member family got seated next to me. There was plenty of space between my table and theirs. One of the little girls plops down right next to me and sits on my camera bag. I actually had to say “You are sitting on my camera” before she gave me a dirty look and got up. I just love people so much.

I ended up taking the monorail back to MGM. The walk to the monorail was longer than the walk to MGM Grand but I am so so so tired and just not in the mood to deal with the Strip. On the Bellagio side, the sidewalks have been reconfigured so you are forced to walk into Aria to get past it. On the Ballys side, you are forced to walk through a strip mall. I hate this so much. So I walked fifty miles to take the monorail, again free courtesy of MyVegas.

I check in and am given room 555 on the third floor of the West Wing. I got so lost looking for it, that I even had to go back to the front desk to get help.

I am not anything resembling a princess who needs a fancy princess room.  The West Wing rooms have quirks. They are small, the window is located behind the bed so it is impossible to look out of, the bathroom is a whole other thing. This thing was designed specifically to make people talk about it, which is like free advertising. When you walk into the room, you are inside the bathroom. The bathroom has no walls, you are just inside it when you walk into the room. Here is the room door, to the right is a wall with a hook to hang your wet towel, next to that is a toilet behind frosted glass.  The shower is also behind a frosted glass door, to the right of the toilet (the shower didn’t make it into the picture) and on the right side of this picture is the sink.

See?  All at the entrance to the room. The bathroom is also mint toothpaste themed. In the room itself, the panel underneath the television was removed so all the wires and electronics were exposed. The closet door was the worst because it would not stay shut. It has an automatic light inside that comes on when the door opens.  So since the door would not stay closed, the light would always be on. I don’t know why I do not have a picture of it, but the closet door is enormous.  It goes all the way to the ceiling and is the same width as the entertainment center.  So when there is light around the edges, there is a lot of edge. It was such a heavy door that my suitcase leaned up against it was not heavy enough to keep it closed.

Yes, I could have called the front desk and requested a new room, no I did not.

Bed: Room view: It is now near 8:00 so I turn on the television to watch Survivor and the television tells me “You are successfully checked out” and turns off. Please television, not now. I would like to thank Survivor for existing because it kept me in my room for three hours. I was totally nodding off and had to actually stand up to not fall asleep. As it is, I missed the last fifteen minutes of the reunion. It honestly makes you wonder how I handle anything in my lifestyle if I cannot handle staying awake for television while on vacation.

This was my itinerary for today, I did everything except the free play at SLS.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Breakfast: Palace Station 7-11, free via MyVegas
SLS – new sign up free play
Check into MGM Grand
Aria Slot Tournament
Lunch:
Dinner:  Bellagio buffet 3:30 – 10:00, free via MyVegas
Survivor Finale