This is an old Las Vegas trip report that I am posting for the entertainment of Las Vegas addicts. While it was current at the time it was written, a lot of it is now completely outdated. Much of what you read about may no longer exist.
Thursday, March 28, 2003 – Day Eight of Nine
As always, we are awake early. To the Frontier breakfast buffet we go. Don’t ever eat this buffet, it’s absolutely disgusting. DISGUSTING. The bacon has hard strings in it. The eggs are raw and cold. There is very little selection. It’s just disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. The real slap in the face is that it costs $8.95 for CRAP.
Worst buffet ever.
Out to the casino.
The Frontier has an ancient slot machine hanging out in its casino.
My mother encouraged me to try Piggy Bankin’, although I have tried it MANY times before and it never pays me. She played the game next to me, some Mermaid game. She won $180. Her biggest win ever.
We went to take a nap and I stopped at the gift shop to buy water to brush my teeth with. The water in the bathroom was frog water and I wanted to never taste it again.
Up and dressed by 4:00. We took a cab to The Hard Rock. I got my $10 free play using the Las Vegas Advisor coupon. We played quarters (I played a Jimi Hendrix game, my mother played a Jefferson Airplane game) and I lost my $10 but my mother won $59 and offered to treat for dinner.
We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. We both had burgers. There was a table with young people, in their early twenties and they made me feel horribly old.
After eating, we took a cab to the Klondike so we could get my mother’s picture at the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign, which is right across from it.
I’m so happy we did this. We played in the Klondike. As always, I put money in a machine without realizing it was a penny machine. Of course it’s one of those “hand pay only” machines so I can’t get my money out easily. So I play and turn my $5 into $15. Big deal.
We take a cab from the Klondike to the MGM Grand, where we are going to see Elton John and Billy Joel.
Before the show, I win on Price Check and put it ALL back in. All of it. Thank god it’s time to go because that will be the only thing that stops me from giving my money away.
Elton John and Billy Joel. I hate Billy Joel. Why? Because I am originally from Long Island. Anyone who is from Long Island will tell you that you can find Billy Joel on any, and every, radio station, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; 365 days a year (save for leap years, when you are treated to 366 days of Billy Joel). This has made me grown to hate this man.
The show starts about ten minutes late. Elton John and Billy Joel come out together and do some Elton songs together and one Billy song together. Then Billy Joel goes away (yay!) and Elton plays over an hour of his own stuff. Very great show.
Once he is done, he goes away and Billy Joel comes back (booooooooooo) and does his own stuff. He brought out his dentist for one song and the dentist sang it.
I will say that Billy Joel’s set was amazingly tolerable. Given my strong dislike of him, coupled with the fact that this show left me on 3 hours with no cigarette, I was still able to make it through it with no complaints. But my immature, stubborn side allows me to blame this on having not lived on Long Island for seven years. So in my mind, its more that I haven’t been forced to hear him everywhere I go, rather than him being a great performer.
We were in the last row and it was a real pain in the ass getting my mother up all those steps. The thought of getting her down with all the people rushing out was a nightmare. So we preempted that by leaving during the encore and beat out all the other people.
Once out, I hit the Family Feud quarter slots and FINALLY get the bonus. I won like 17 quarters. This is what I have been trying for?? Please.
Back to the Frontier. I won $45 on a Jackpot Party machine. I then put $9 into Megabucks and win $75. The slots at The Frontier were VERY good to us. They are the reason I’d go back there despite its inconvenient location.
We watched as some woman won $4000 on a Frontier themed dollar machine right next to the cashier. She seemed shocked. It wasn’t until they brought her cash that she seemed to finally let it sink in that she just won FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS. I felt so happy for her. I also wished I was her.
Off to bed.
I’ve never known anyone who hated Billy Joel. But, I’m from Jersey and hate Bon Jovi, so I guess I’m no different.
I would be siding with you if you picked Bruce Springsteen as the target of your hate.
I hate Billy Joel too and absolutely detest Springsteen
I would vote for you to be elected as a musical awards judge for sure.