Palazzo and Cosmopolitan Fun with a Tournament!

For the first time my husband Randy was joining me at G2e (Global Gaming Expo), not to see the new games so much but because John Fogerty was performing at Venetian during the same week as the convention. We would be staying at Palazzo since the G2e convention was at Sands convention center at Venetian. Randy would be departing on Thursday to return home after G2e while I would move to Cosmopolitan for three more nights to participate in the Up Up and Away tournament!

 

Randy and I had a quick bite to eat at the airport on Monday, September 26th before our flight. The flight was on time and we had our first win of the trip when we were one of only 2 rows on our Southwest flight not to have someone in the middle seat with us!

One hour and 10 minutes later we landed in Las Vegas where our limo driver was waiting for us and we were off to Palazzo.

For those of you who aren't using a limo service in Vegas but don't care for the taxi service, I want to once again recommend Uber. I have been using them successfully in Vegas this year and have been very happy with their pricing and service. If you haven't used them before you can use a code like mine and get your first ride for free up to $20.00. My code is dianae549ue. Full disclosure if you use my code I also get a free ride. If you want to try them out and need instructions on using the app, just ask me in comments for help.

Arriving at Palazzo we quickly checked in at the Palazzo VIP Platinum lounge and were up in our room five minutes later unpacking.

Twenty minutes later we were in the casino and gambling!

My first bonus and win on the trip was on Super Diamond Jackpots, just outside of the Palazzo High Limit lounge. This machine also has Top Dollar and Pinball that you can switch between. I landed a bonus fairly quickly and was so happy when it landed on the Emerald progressive! It's always fun to start out your gambling with a good win. After this win I played the same game but on a different machine while my husband went over to play House of Cards. I was about five minutes into it when I heard my name and there was Slotspert, a friend I have known for years via a couple slot machine message boards. While in years past Slotspert and I have spent some time walking around G2e together this year we just got to chat a couple times while running into each other at the casino. It was great to see you Slotspert!

Randy and I started losing after my great beginning but he did get a decent bonus on Game of Thrones and I did okay on Lightning Link Happy Lantern.

We had heard that the new game World of Wonka had been installed at Venetian the day before so off we went to Venetian to seek it out. We found it and after a short wait for a seat at it we were having fun playing it. This game at Venetian has the comfortable love seat for two. While we didn't get any big wins on it, we managed to come out a bit ahead. I have a live play video of this session and a couple others, it's long so you might only want to watch a little of it. We did have a couple nice Oompa bonuses!

After World of Wonka we played a few penny and high limit games without success so we returned to Palazzo where Randy decided to play Plants and Zombies 3D. Above is Randy recording one of the bonuses he got.

I sat down at the game that is to the right of him in the photo above and hit a good bonus of $432.60! If you want to see a video of this game and win, this is it:

After Plants vs Zombies Randy went over to play Buffalo Grand while I tried a few other games that turned out to be losers for me. While I'm losing Randy got a bonus and a big win of $752.83!

After Randy's great win it was time for dinner at Aquaknox.

It's been at least a year since I have eaten at Aquaknox and I'm not sure why I have waited so long to return as the food was great. Service was a little slow but the restaurant was completely full due to G2e with the overflow filling up the lounge.

My drink above is their version of a sidecar, it was good.

Our amuse was tasty, I remember we were both glad it wasn't something with raw fish as Randy and I don't eat sushi and many times in the seafood restaurants that is what is served. While I don't recall exactly what was in this I remember we both ate it and said thank goodness it's not sushi.

Randy and I shared the Pacific prawn cocktail, that has a spicy cocktail sauce.

Both of us ordered Halibut as our entree, it was excellent!

We split the pomme frites and asparagus with bernaise, and while the serving of pommel frites was large we somehow managed to eat them all!

We also shared the flourless soufflé dessert and it was fantastic!

After dinner we were off to meet Superpocky who is a member like me of the VegasFanatics group. We had a nice chat and a photo op at the new World of Wonka game. We also had a minor miracle for Vegas when Superpocky noticed he had left his money in the Dragon Spin, the slot that we had met up with him at and when we ran back the money was still in the game!!! Randy and I in the past have left money in a game thinking the other one had cashed out and rushed back in one minute to discover it cashed out so it was amazing that after almost ten minutes that money was still there.

After we left Superpocky, we walked back to Palazzo in the hopes of duplicating Randy's win on Buffalo Grand and while we had a bonus we didn't get near the amount of his previous win. 

We were walking over to see if Monopoly Jackpot Station was free when we ran into Lacey a lovely lady I know from the Joker's Wild Gambling Emporium message board. 

Monopoly Jackpot Station was busy so Randy and I went and played Gold Fish. Where by some miracle I picked award all during the green fish bonus with the bubbles. Green fish is usually nicknamed Sucky Fish by me, but not this time!

After Gold Fish, I introduced Randy to Orange is the New Black, which cooperated by giving me a nice bonus. Later in the trip I had a nice bonus again when playing it with Rex. Here's the video of both bonuses.

Before going to bed Randy wanted to try Buffalo Grand again but the machine he won on earlier had someone playing it, however we had a nice Buffalo hit for $144.40!

We also won $115.60 on a Buffalo Grand bonus. This video has several Buffalo Grand bonuses on it and also the end of Randy's great win!

Aria 300k Winner Take All Slot Tournament!

I wasn't going to Las Vegas in early September until a post in Slot Fanatics reminded me about a slot tournament invitation from Aria that I had forgotten. It was a buy in tournament for 1k and since I miss the free ones that M-Life used to have, I usually ignore the buy in tourney's these days. The post was asking if the tournament was a good deal because it was a winner take all tournament with first place getting a prize of 150k and everyone else in tournament getting their 1k buy in back in free play at the end of the tournament. With the tournament limited to only 150 participants (or so I thought, more on this later), it seemed like a great deal to have a 150 to 1 shot at 150k jackpot so Randy and I entered!

We left on Thursday, September 5th and had a smooth flight to Las Vegas from San Jose. Since we're still NOIR with M-Life until October 1st when we revert to Platinum status (it was fun while it lasted, hate the new M-Life rules) we had the complimentary limo to and from the airport.

Our Aria host had provided VIP check in via the Aria Sky Suites Desk.

Service was excellent at the Sky Suite VIP check in, though we did have a problem starting out. We weren't in a Sky Suite but a panoramic corner suite. I requested a corner suite far away from Cosmopolitan and Aria nightclub noise. I must have originally had a new person helping me at the VIP desk because she gave us a suite on the 19th floor that she said wouldn't get any noise. Hmmmm.

Above is photo of floral arrangement at Sky Suite check in.

We get to our suite on the 19th floor and not only isn't it the panoramic corner suite, instead it's the corner suite with the large pillar in the middle of the living room. The worse is that the bedroom overlooks the Cosmopolitan pools where they have the day time parties with loud music playing and the living room is almost on top of Cosmopolitan's Marquee nightclub! No way am I'm staying in this suite! I immediately call down to VIP check in and tell them the problem and while I'm on hold waiting for them to locate a new room our bellman arrives with the luggage. I tell our bellman I'm on hold to change rooms because I'm concerned about noise from Cosmo and he takes a look around and cracks up agreeing with me that we would never get any sleep in that room either at night or during the day.

We finally get located to a actual panoramic corner suite with city view and close to Monte Carlo on the 23rd floor but had to accept a smoking suite. John our bell man was great, stayed with us for the 10 minutes I was on the phone trying to change rooms and then escorted us to the new room where he checked it out and found one of our air conditioning controls was not working and reported it to maintenance for us. John received a various generous tip for his patience and customer service skills.

This is the 5th time I have stayed in a panoramic corner suite at Aria and I love them.

I always request the city view because at night I love the neon, lights and Aria's colorful entrance fountain.

In the corner suites the safe is in the closet, unlike their regular rooms where it's hidden in a side table drawer.

Here's a lot of photos of the suite in case you haven't seen it before.

Vegas Birthday's and Grazie Slot Tournament!

I wasn't planning on a August trip to Las Vegas (no really!),  but when my Mother was willing to spend her 80th birthday there it turned out to align with a Grazie slot tournament for 50k called Masquerade so I quickly signed up for the tournament and booked a room for Mom at Palazzo.

Earlier this summer I had told friends Laura and Yon that I wouldn't be going in August when they were there, but this turned out perfect because it turned out to be the same dates as my friends Gwen, Laura and Yon. Laura would also be celebrating her birthday in Vegas the same week as Mom and it would also give me an opportunity to celebrate ahead of time Gwen's birthday that would be later in the month. Okay, enough excuses for another Las Vegas trip so soon after the last?

My flight was a bit late out of San Jose and I had to wait a while for my luggage at McCarran but I was soon on my way to Palazzo's VIP lounge. For the first time this year when I arrived at the lounge there was a wait in line but I was taken care of quickly when it was my turn and ended up with a room on the 27th floor. At check in I also verified that my Mother would be in the room next to me with a connecting door. There's now a $20 extra charge for those who want suites that connect but it was waived for us.

Had the usual view of Treasure Island while I unpacked. I was in a hurry to get downstairs to meet up with Laura and Yon because they had bought us all matching T-Shirts that said Free Gwen in celebration of her upcoming life changes. Normally one doesn't want to celebrate the break up of a marriage but in this situation you have to know the other party involved to understand the celebration!

I met Laura and Yon in front of the Rock of Ages theatre where they gave me my T-Shirt (thanks for gifting me with that)  and I went to change while they called Gwen to tell her where we were. Gwen cracked up when she saw us, laughter was heard all the way in to the Venetian casino! After Gwen recovered from seeing her fan club, we went over to the Venetian Gold Lounge for a drink, some snacks and to catch up.

After refreshments we left Gwen and Yon to gamble while Laura drove me to the airport to pick up Mom.  However on the way to the Valet to get her car I had to stop for a photo op with one of the Carnevale characters.

Picking up Mom went off without a hitch thanks to Laura and we soon had her checked in and unpacking her luggage.  Laura is always so sweet to drive us around and help with luggage and stuff.

While Mom got unpacked I went to register for the tournament which was going to be held on the Palazzo slot floor near Grand Lux. I was stunned at registration that unlike past slot tournaments I had been in a couple years ago at V&P this one didn't give me a choice of times, instead I was given on all 3 days the early morning time of 9:30am! I'm not a morning person, who organized this tournament! Even when I lightly protested the time and asked for a later one they didn't tell me to come back in the morning and register then when of course the late registers would get the slot session times that are later in the day, instead they told me this was the only time they had left. <sigh>.

 It was close to dinner when Mom and I left her room but there was time to introduce her to Clue which she enjoyed playing.

Dinner that night was at Tao's one of my favorites and since there are so many past photos of our food there, I only took a photo of the tempura veggies we ordered as a appetizer. Okay, actually I forgot to take any more photos because we were having too much fun! All of us with the exception of Gwen ordered my favorite miso glazed sea bass while Gwen ordering her fave, the XO shrimp. For dessert we shared one of their delicious giant fortune cookies with chocolate and vanilla mousse and fresh fruit.

Group shot of us as we're leaving Tao.

After dinner we split up and went our separate ways gambling.

Aria Tournament, during my July 2010 Vegas birthday trip!

Wednesday July 14th, my actual birthday.

My birthday trip started out great with a smooth flight and landing. The heat was like a blast furnace when I landed but I didn't feel it for long. Once I had my luggage I met Terri (Socalgirl) and we were off to the lovely M resort.  My room at M was on the 10th floor and had a view of the strip and their pools.

On the drive to M Resort, Terri had given me a lovely candle from Van Cleef &Arpels as a birthday gift and it smelled good enough to eat! 

I met Terri downstairs where I had lunch at the M Buffet. The selection at the buffet is huge. The stand outs for me at this buffet was the gourmet coffee with liquors you could order for free and the desserts were wonderful. 

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Bellagio Slot Tournament January 22nd to the 25th, 2010

Day time view from our room:




It was a dark and stormy night, actually all week had been bad storms and we were hoping it would clear a bit before our Southwest jet left late Friday night. While it was still raining and windy enough to delay our flight out of San Jose 30 minutes it was better then my girlfriend's flight out of San Francisco that was delayed for 90 minutes or so.

Since we had the delay we grabbed a snack of chicken strips and fries at the Brit lounge at the airport. 

Flight was non-eventful into Las Vegas and we quickly picked up our luggage. Got long hauled to Bellagio to the tune of $25.00 because cab driver insisted the normal route had a accident and the road was closed. Later we found out that the road was not closed.

Check in at around 11pm was quick, got our line passes and room 28004 near the elevators with a great fountain view, thanks to Beverly our host.

Night time view:

http://bestc.am/Ln0Uo

Danny Gans, Terry Fator & slot tourneys at Bellagio & Venetian March 2009

We flew out of San Jose at 9:40pm on Southwest on March 24th. Thought I had a score when I got A-16 and 17 boarding passes. As we were waiting for our flight I thought perhaps that we had the wrong boarding gate because there was no one else waiting. Finally a Southwest employee starts announcing it's time to board, and his spiel goes like this: Diana, Randy, Russ, James, Shirley, Rhonda and Mary board the plane. That's right there was only 7 of us on this large plane, it was like a private flight! The captain came out and did his flight condition speech in person and introduced himself to everyone instead of doing it over the speaker. If it wasn't for the fact our plane had to be there in Vegas for a flight out in the morning, I'm sure our flight would have been canceled, so our first bit of luck. 

Arriving in Vegas at 10:50pm, the airport was very quiet. When we got to the luggage carousel our luggage was already waiting, but then it didn't take long to grab at the most 7 pieces of luggage from the plane and get it there. 

The taxi to Palazzo was uneventful as I told him exactly what route to take. Check in was smooth as they gave us a suite on the top floor which was the 50th, and overlooked the Wynn Golf Course. 

 

 
Normally I don't take our camera to Las Vegas as we have been going for so many years, but I wanted to be prepared to take a few photos of our mini-meet the next day at Grand Lux. 

After unpacking, it was about midnight so we went down to the casino and started hitting a few of our favorite machines. Of course they had to move our favorite Wolf Run or else they just took it out completely as we couldn't only find 2 Wolf Runs at Palazzo. This trip however no love from the Wolfies, our highest win on them was about $68.00 and when you are playing $4.00 a push, that's not good. That night before we went to bed around 3:00am, we did have some luck on Star Trek with a few bonus rounds and going on to Venetian we had some luck with Star Wars, Wheel of Fortune (the one outside the Grand Lux) and the Millionizer slots. By luck, I mean we broke even for the night.