Day 4 Friday March 28, 2003
After getting just a few hours of sleep I heard the phone ringing. As I reached over to answer it I realized I had moved it to the other side of the room so I could access the net. After 3 rings the voice mail picked it up. I decided to sleep one more hour before forcing myself to get up so I could pack up and move over to the New Frontier. I was finally packed and ready to roll just after 12 noon. I checked the TV to make sure there was no balance and it’s a good thing I did. I was charged for all the food and for the room on my last day. Instead of having a 75-cent balance for my local call I had a balance of over $50. This pissed me off. How does crap like this happen for only part of the trip? The charges for the first 2 days weren’t there but for some odd reason the last day is. I stopped off at the front desk on my way out expecting to have a confrontation but just telling the girl at the desk about the problem was enough. She punched her keyboard for about 2 minutes straight and just asked for 75 cents for my phone call.
After loading the car up I was on my way to the New Frontier. When I got to check in there were only 2 people ahead of me. I was able to check in even though it was just 12:30 but the room type I requested wasn’t clean yet so the clerk told me to stop back at about 3 to pick up some keys. I’ll be staying here for the next 4 nights in an atrium suite. This was a mail offer that gave me my regular 2 nights plus 2 bonus nights. The offer also came with some coupons good for 2X points, $25 bonus for a quad in VP, and some others that were useless to me.
Since I couldn’t check in I went to play. I only had about 2 hours to make use of this VP coupon before it expired. As it was the 2X coupon already was expired since for some reason the Frontier won’t take coupons from Friday at 3pm until Sunday at 3pm and the 2X coupons weren’t good at all on Friday.
I started off playing the Aces Bonus machine I hit a royal on a few trips ago. The machine wasn’t treating me too well and sucked down $20 pretty quickly. I dropped in another $20 and this time it lasted. I was getting quite a bit of action out of this. I was dealt quad jacks which is great in itself but it was worth an extra $25. I hit this with less than an hour to go before the coupon expired. I got a floor person to pay this off pretty quickly. Shortly after this I cashed out and as always the hopper needed a fill. A floor person came over right away but he couldn’t get the door open on the machine. He tried everything including punching it and yelling at it! A tech came over and told him to hand pay it because the latch was bent and he was going to have to break into the machine and it would take a while. I cashed out with enough coins and the coupon to make a small profit.
It was late enough now so I went and got the keys to my room and made my way up room 1296. This room has a view of the north end of the strip and the pool area and like all of the suites it’s the same with the exception of having two beds instead of just a king. I got settled in and decided I needed a nap because I knew it was going to be a late night tonight. Of course just as I’m ready to lay down the phone rings. It was Anne calling to make plans for tonight. All of us that went to the Steakhouse last night are going to MGM to see Billy Joel and Elton John at the Garden Arena. The plan was to meet there at about 6:30. Now it was time to take a 90-minute nap. But what happens? Of course just as I’m about to go totally out the phone rings again. It was Mike (Yahtzee in CA). He was calling to let me know he was on his way out here. He was already on the road and estimated getting into town about 10pm. We made plans to meet tomorrow up in Henderson at the Fiesta.
It was now too late to bother taking a nap so I just got cleaned up and headed out to MGM. I had no intentions of parking at MGM so I did what I usually do and parked in the back lot of the Tropicana. This is a great time saver and I always can find a spot here and don’t have to fight traffic. I got to MGM a little early and this place was packed. I’ve never seen crowds like this before. I walked around past the high limit tables and watched people make bets on one hand of blackjack that most people don’t make in a month. Everyone showed up and it was still early so we played a bit and then went to the Arena. We had all gotten split up but had reserved seats so agreed if we got lost we’d all meet there. Me and Anne got there first and since we didn’t eat decided on some crap at the concession stand. I always hate the prices of this stuff but what are you going to do? 2 hotdogs, a pretzel, 2 sodas and nachos came to $17. What a bargain! Our seats were in the casino block in the lower level. We were in section L11. Good seats about ½ way to the end from the stage on the left side. Everyone finally got there and the show started a few minutes after 8. It started off with Billy and Elton doing a few songs together and then Billy left. Elton John took over and did all of his popular songs and a few new tunes. He played for over an hour and put on a great show. Next Billy came out and did an hour of his popular stuff. Billy talks a little bit more and throws a bit of comedy into the mix too. After Billy did his set him and Elton came back out and did more songs together. They played for about another hour together before ending the show. They came out and did an encore and did the Billy Joel Song Piano Man. The crowd wanted more but they didn’t come back out after this. Total time of the show was almost 3 hours and 45 minutes. Both guys put on a great show and even though I’m more of a Billy Joel fan I have to say Elton John put on a much better performance. I’d also like to say that both of their bands helped make this show as great as it was as well.
After the show we ended up at Ricardo’s. This is the Mexican restaurant in MGM. I’m not a fan of Mexican food and didn’t know there were plans to go here tonight. I also know this place has gotten some pretty horrible scores on their health reports and a number of times were just a few demerits from being shut down. I went with the crowd though and thought I had been set up. Since I don’t like Mexican food and Anne does she has been trying for years to make me eat this stuff. Why someone is so obsessed about seeing me eat Mexican food is beyond me. Long ago I made the deal that if I ever ate Mexican food she would have to eat rare bloody beef. She is grossed out by the stuff and usually orders beef well done (a great way to ruin red meat). It turns out she didn’t know we were going here after the show either. There was a line 3 miles long to get in here but we had a reservation and were seated right away.
I ended up ordering a quesadilla with beef and no peppers in it. It qualifies for Mexican food even though I would really just consider it a cheese steak in a tortilla instead of a roll! I was also cornered into eating some nasty refried beans and a piece of an enchilada. My meal was fine because it wasn’t too Mexican as far as I was concerned. Since I had eaten this Mexican crap I now have the upper hand. Stay tuned to see what happens when Anne eats rare beef! Even her mother is looking forward to seeing this!
After we were done eating we walked around the casino for a while and Anne played a little bit. I was walking around the high limit area again and watched a guy betting stacks of purples ($500) like I would bet reds. I also watched a guy bet $1000 on a hand of blackjack, split his pair and get beat by the dealer for a $2000 loss on one hand. In the high limits slot room there was a guy playing $25 video poker at the same speed I’d play 25-cent video poker. He had almost $5,000 on the credit meter!
It was getting late now and everyone was tired. We decided these last 2 nights were really long and it was time go. We all went our separate ways and I came back here to the New Frontier.
Total win/loss for the day $50
Total comps for the day $155
Total out of pocket expenses $157