In honor of the Downtown Grand in Las Vegas opening TODAY,  I thought I would post the trip report from when I had a stay here back in June of 2005, when it was known as Lady Luck.  This hotel/casino was closed back in 2006, for what was supposed to be less than a year, for renovations.  At this time frame, everything in Las Vegas that was closed temporarily or imploded to build new, came to a screeching halt as the economy crashed.  Vegas lovers sat back and collectively cried at how depressed we were to watch our favorite places go away for no good reason.

Now, here we are in 2013 and while the property has been open for close to two weeks, the official grand opening is TODAY.  I cannot wait to see it in just two weeks.

But for now, let’s take a trip back in time, shall we?

Friday, June 10, 2005

I woke up at the California hotel at 9:00 am and walked over to Main Street Station to play video poker.  This is my new addiction, can you tell?  I won and lost and won and lost and then hit some four of a kinds and ended up with $110.

Today I am checking into both the Riviera and the Lady Luck. The Riviera for some reason, sent me an offer for free nights, which included weekends. I had to book two nights. But see, while the Riviera is my favorite casino on the outside, I have stayed here before and I hate the rooms. So I don’t want to stay here at all. But it’s free, I don’t have room photos, and I get $25 food credit. So I kind of have to book it. But I cannot spend two nights here. So I figured I’d book it for Friday and Saturday and just stay elsewhere for one night. So that’s what I did.

I cabbed over to the Riviera, checked in and dropped off my luggage in the room. While checking in, the woman checking me in kept gushing over what a nice room I was getting. Such a nice room. Nice room. Did I mention how nice this room is? Okay, let’s go see this incredibly nice room.  #6337 in the Monaco tower. I walk in and ugh, I hate the room. It’s not even a bad room. I just really have this thing with hating the Riviera’s bathroom counters. Whenever I touch them, I feel like there are nails scraping on chalkboards. I also think I am the sole person who feels this way. But I cannot get over it.

[Editor’s note: Flash forward to the present time, I am now in love with the Riviera. Gone is the chalkboard feel of the bathroom counters.]

Room view:

I love the way this looks:

I go downstairs to eat at Kady’s Cafe. Then I start feeding my video poker craving. I win and win and win and win and win. Cashed out $210. The Riviera also has a promotion where you play $20 and get $10 free slot play. I use that $10 in a penny Uncle Sam and turn it into $25. This is looking good!

I head to the room, pack a duffle bag for my stay at the Lady Luck and head back downtown.

I check in and get room 307 in the East Tower. The couple checking in next to me were there to celebrate their 24th wedding anniversary. The woman checking them in tried to tell them how to get to their room and the wife interrupted to very happily inform her that they have been here so many times that they know it like the backs of their hands. Both the wife and husband had the biggest smiles on their faces. I couldn’t help but smile myself. 24 years of marriage and celebrating it in “their” hotel in Las Vegas. It was just a very nice thing.

I get to my room. It seems decent with a refrigerator, some nice looking toiletries, including some facial soap that i tried and it really made my skin soft.

Room view:

I nap and get woken up by people in the hallway. I began to learn that in the Lady Luck you can hear the people in the hallway, the people next door and the people upstairs. I’m also not too sure what happened here, but as i was getting ready to go out, I suddenly smelled a very strong sulfur smell. It was overwhelming. Then I heard the toilet above me flush. I acted like this was not happening and just headed out. 

I hit Starbucks and went to the Plaza. i did okay on video poker, but didn’t really win anything. I visited a Phone Tag machine and I got a bonus for $51. After, I went over to the Las Vegas Club for a late dinner and lost $30 on my way to the Upper Deck restaurant.

After dinner, I went to the Four Queens for some mindless penny slots. I hit  $25 on a Twilight Zone game and $30 on an Easel Money game. After leaving here, I headed back to Lady Luck where I lost $15.

I got to the room and realized that the alarm clock is on the dresser across from the bed, not next to the bed. It’s also bolted to the dresser so I can’t move it.

I accidentally hit some button and the alarm starts flipping out. Now I can’t get the damn thing to turn off. I had to unplug it and reset it, This was just so freaking annoying. It was like 4:00 am and this was the last thing I wanted to be doing. In the end, it turned out I didn’t even need the alarm clock as the people in the room next door had theirs set and that woke me up. For all I know, it may have been revenge on me for having my alarm going off at 4:00 am. It was an accident, I swear!!!