Note: This is an older Las Vegas trip report that was written back in 2002. Most of this information is now outdated and a lot of what is mentioned no longer exists.
Monday, March 25, 2002 – Day Two of Six
This morning we woke up very early at the Barbary Coast. We walked to the Mirage to eat their breakfast buffet, before visiting the Dolphin Habitat. Both of these things were courtesy of Wagerworks.
[Once again, 2014 called. It wants you to know that back in the day old school, there was an online slot game called Wagerworks. You would play for free and get real life comps. If you are a Las Vegas addict in current times, you probably play MyVegas on Facebook. It was very similar to that in that you got free stuff for FREE from MGM Properties for playing free online games]
I have never woken up this early in Vegas. I am normally just coming to bed at this hour. It was very unusual for me to be wide awake and SOBER outside at 8:00 am. Las Vegas is very quiet and serene at this hour. The Las Vegas Strip is dead and it’s so peaceful. Who knew?
We were not impressed by the Mirage buffet at all. The eggs were undercooked, the bacon was undercooked and we just didn’t like it. However, since it was free, we were satisfied.
I tried my luck at the $5 Wheel of Fortune slots. These are the opposite of in my budget, but I specifically had $100 for these machines. I didn’t win even ONE credit.
My mother had her first “big” win on a nickel Monopoly slot machine. She won $25 and you would have thought she won $2500 with the happy look plastered on her face.
We had some time to kill before the Dolphin Habitat opened. We killed it playing the “Guess How Much These Shoes Cost” game we invented in some expensive shoe store. I won the game on a $358 pair of shoes that were basically plastic buttons glued on sandals. The sales woman was not impressed by us. High class we are not.
We made our way through the Dolphin Habitat. I would never pay $10 for this. There was an extremely long line. Once inside, we found it was not that interesting. But for free – it was great.
Once we finished there, we went to the Venetian. I won on a nickel Wheel of Fortune slot machine. A whopping $50. Every nickel counts!
From there we went to Denny’s. Yes, Denny’s. Las Vegas people get SO MAD whenever people dare to eat at Denny’s in Las Vegas. In return, I get SO MAD when people have the audacity to tell me what I should or not should not do on MY vacation.
This was my mother’s first trip to a Denny’s ever in her life. We do not have Denny’s anywhere near us at home so this was very exciting for her. Have I mentioned yet that we are not high class?!?
By now it was about 1:00 in the afternoon – time for our nap. My mother slept while I sat there looking out the window. She woke up about 6:00 and we got dressed and went to the Bellagio for the dinner buffet. My mother loved the Chicken Wellington. She ate a lot. It was great to see her eating so much because normally she doesn’t eat at all. She filled up on so much bread pudding.
Then it was time for the slots. My mother got three overflowing buckets of nickels on a Scrabble slot machine. I got the same on a Munsters slot machine. I love this game. It comes in three different nickel versions. The one I played and won on was a 25 line machine. I kept playing 15 lines and getting the Bat Bonus of 990 credits. We were there for HOURS. We left very happy.
We took the people mover over to Aladdin and played Monopoly and Yahtzee slots. We both did very well. I had to carry all of my mother’s nickels for her because she can’t lift anything. At one point we each had four buckets filled to the very top with nickels. I had to take several trips to a change booth. Lucky for me, the nearest change booth was closed and I had to lug them all the way to the other side of the casino. By the time I finished my third trip, I went back to collect my mother and the last of the nickels and the closer change booth had now reopened. Very typical of my life.
Crawled to bed at about 2:30 am. Very early for me, very late for my mother.