Day 7
Wednesday May 18, 2005
Entertainment:
I’m not sure if this really qualifies as entertainment but I went and checked out the new Wynn Las Vegas. I’m not typically impressed by places like this and today was no exception. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very, very nice. Stuff like this just doesn’t impress me though. The place was packed with tourists, but very few players. Also, for midweek around 12 noon, the table minimums were pretty much all $15 and up. The waterfalls and mountain were nice, as was the flower gardens inside the main entrance. One thing I did think was lame for a $2.7 billion property was that they used “Astroturf” in the front of the property and it looks really tacky. Thumbs down to Wynn for this one. From here it was on to Circus-Circus.
Dining:
Had a quick lunch over at the Pink Pony before starting play for the day. I entered through the VIP line. While I waited there was a couple standing in the exit line, and wouldn’t move when someone wanted to exit. The hostess asked what they needed and the guy wanted to be seated. She informed them they were in the exit and asked if they had a VIP Pass or a comp and directed them to my line. The guy said they didn’t but they were here first so it didn’t matter. The hostess promptly seated me next and the first 2 parties in the regular line! Hats off to the hostess for doing a good job. I was already ordering before those two assholes got seated. That made my day.
Service was slow today even though it wasn’t crowded. I finally ordered the prime rib French dip with potato chips. The meat was a little too done, but really tender. The chips were really good, extra thick cut and may have even been homemade. They definitely weren’t typical chips you’d buy at 7-11. After lunch it was off to Slots-a-Fun!
For dinner I went upstairs to the Diamond Lounge again at the Rio. They had the same cold sandwiches as the other day but tonight’s hot foods were chicken wings and fried dumplings. The desserts were also the same as the other night as well. I loaded up on food and desserts and then hit the free Internet terminals while there. The food here was pretty good again and did the trick. Now it was time to go up and finish packing up before heading to the airport.
Gaming:
While at Wynn I popped a $20 bill into a penny Match Game slot machine. I got about an hour of play out of it before busting out and making my contribution to Steve’s bottom line. Maybe he can use the money to plant some real grass!
After lunch at Circus-Circus I once again hit the triple plays over at Slots-a-Fun with 9/6 jacks after getting my 2 free spins and losing! The triple plays were good to me for the most part. I was hitting enough quads and getting the dealt winners I needed to stay alive. I played for about 2 hours before the machine turned on me. I finished the session down $100 and combined with last night’s loss $198 in total playing this machine. That’s not bad considering I put $11,000 through the machine and will get about $73 in cash back (I didn’t collect this trip) plus comps, not to mention the great mail offer and the $300 cash they gave me for walking through the door.
At this point in the day I still had about 5 hours before I had to leave for the airport. I was up a lot but didn’t want to blow it in my final hours. What to do? Play a portion of it and go for the kill? Play nothing and just walk around? Go to the room and watch TV? I decided on none of the above. Instead I walked over to the Westward Ho and played $5 blackjack on a double deck game. I bought in for $100 knowing I couldn’t get killed here, even if I lost the whole buy in. Well the cards were tough and the dealer was pulling 5 card 20’s and turning over blackjacks. Oddly though I was never more than $40 down. I was getting flashbacks of when I was a $25-$100 player though and would lose that many hands in a row. Even though it still sucks losing a 20 to a dealer’s six card 21, the stress level wasn’t there like it used to be! It was also fun playing with others that just wanted to have fun too. I battled up and down and after 2 hours colored up with a $5 win. Yes folks, that says five. I split my profits with the dealer and headed back to the Rio to pack up as this trip was getting close to being over.
Flight:
After dropping off the rental car with no issues it was on to the airport. Self-check in was a breeze and there were no lines at security. I’m on America West flight 219 and scheduled to leave at 11:58pm. Our flight was delayed coming in so we’d of course be delayed departing and our new time was 12:20am. When our plane arrived, the gate we were at was full so they changed our gate. Clear to a different terminal. After walking 12 miles from A8 to B23 I was at the new gate and boarded in a few minutes. I was in seat 24A. When I got to my row there was a lady on the aisle. I told her I needed to get into the window seat. So she looks at me and says, “Oh, I have to get up so you can get in there? She then proceeded to bitch and complain that she was going to have to move again when the owner of the middle seat arrived. When he arrived she wouldn’t get up. Instead she turned a little sideways and made him squeeze in. What a bitch she was. I mean if you are in an aisle seat and moving to let someone take his seat is that big a deal, board last. Other than this dim wit the flight was uneventful and I slept most of the way home with exception of some turbulence one time. We landed a little after 8am in Newark. Baggage claim was very fast today. My first bag was already on the conveyer when I got there and my other was there just a few minutes later. Next stop was the monorail to Avis to pick up my rental car.
Transportation home:
As I always do I rented a car from Avis to drive home and drop off at the local airport. I reserved a Premium sized car for $68. The rate was only $2 more than a full sized so I thought it was a deal! Car rates out of Newark never make sense! I was given a Ford Crown Victoria with 8,900 miles on it. I’m not a big fan of Ford and for a higher end car the Crown Victoria is on the cheap side. I noticed the car was not cleaned very well. The last person left a few items in the car and they hadn’t been removed. The windows were dirty and there were ashes all over the place and bird crap on the passenger window. Since it was a Ford this car also didn’t have XM Satellite Radio like premium cars are supposed to have. I should have went in and complained and got my car changed but after flying all night, not wanting to wait in line, and wanting to get home I took the car and went on my way. The ride home was uneventful and after a quick stop at the bank to make a deposit and the post office for my mail I was home as another trip came to an end.
Now although I am at home, please keep in mind that I am still a registered guest at 3 hotels in Las Vegas. I always loved the fact that I could be 2500 miles away but still be a registered guest of a hotel in Las Vegas!
The next day when I returned the car the agent in the lot was having trouble processing the return. He showed I had put excessive mileage on the car. Yeah, real excessive I told him. A whopping 77 miles from Newark to here. He was showing I put over 7,000 miles. He said to go in and have them fix it inside. The staff here knows me pretty well now and asked why Ed didn’t process me. I told them he tried but it wouldn’t let him. The dumb asses at Newark had the miles logged at 1631 instead of the 8961 that it really had. While I was in there I told the manager the car was filthy and explained why I just took it. Without me even asking for a thing she did the right thing and took $20 off then gave me a coupon for $25 off my next rental, with no restrictions or blackout dates. I thought that was good service.
Total win/loss for the day -$100
Total comps for the day $374
Final Thoughts
Eff Yous
Total win/loss for the trip $1200
Total comps for the trip $2500 <----(over inflated because of Rio’s high rates and the fact I was double/triple booked for a few days)