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| View of The Bellagio from up The Eiffel Tower |
I'd like to quickly tell you about my last two trips to Las Vegas, because I want to firstly remind you of some of the fantastic benefits gamblers receive there, tell you about the various non-gambling activities I get to do when I'm there with other people and finally mention a few of the benefits from the add-on sites I used on each trip.
In November I went with my wife and son - I used 250,000 gold coins from MyVegas to get two nights free at The Bellagio followed by a promo from The Venetian for another 2 nights free with them. Both required a deposit (About $150 per night) but neither actually cost me anything for the room. The Bellagio offered me to pay the resort fee as my son wanted WiFi, but I talked him out of it and we didn't really need it. The second trip was just two weeks later and another up front freebie but this time from The Wynn for 3 nights, $300 gambling money and 2 free buffet tickets up front.
Here's a list of what we got up to:
Trip #1 (Me, my wife and my son)
Day 1:
Drove to Vegas, stopping at Barstow and Primm Outlets
Checked in at The Bellagio
Drove to Harrahs to get free show tickets for Menopause The Musical plus purchased 3rd ticket for $75.
Went to The Palms to go to the movies and eat a snack.
Went back to The Bellagio, sent the wife and son upstairs and gambled till 2am.
Day 2:
Bellagio buffet (2 for 1 coupon from MyVegas)
Walked to Paris via new "bazaar" area outside Bally's (not much to see there really!). Went up the Eiffel Tower (cut the line with my Diamond Card, bought tickets at very reduced price, but don't actually remember what I paid for them).
Back to The Bellagio for a rest. Got car from Valet and drove to Mandalay Bay firstly for the buffet for dinner (2 for 1 tix from MyVegas) and then to see Michael Jackson One (discounted using MGM card - pre-purchased a few weeks back as I wanted good seats).
Met some friends back at The Bellagio then gambled till 1am.
Day 3:
Cafe Bellagio for breakfast
Checked out of The Bellagio and before checking in at The Venetian filled the time by going to the North Outlet Mall for some shopping.
Checked in to The Venetian - relaxed for a bit in the lovely suite (made the room at The Bellagio look a bit shabby!)
Drove to The Miracle Mile shops (my son wanted a particular Adidas® shoe which he had discovered they had in his size there <-Xmas present)
Went to The Xavier Magic Show - bought on a groupon, but wasn't worth it! (We've seen almost all the cheap magic shows now, and some are VERY good, but this one was NOT).
PF Changs in Planet Hollywood for dinner - out favorite AND they take Caesars comps there!
Back to The Venetian and gambled till 1am
Day 4:
Got picked up underneath the Venetian and taken to a Gun Range for some Machine Gun action - on a Groupon, then added some pistols to keep the fun going, and then got taken back to the hotel. Initial Groupon about $55 for the two of us, plus tips, and then another $25 each for the Glocks.
Walked around the hotel/shops for Pizza, visited the Godiva® Store and a general nose around.
Drove over to The Forum Shops® at Caesars (parking underneath the Celine Dion theater) and had dinner at Gordon Ramsey for fish and chips. Drove over to The Link walkway for some cup cakes, had a play on the VR Adventures® and then saw Menopause The Musical - really good - even my 15 year old son enjoyed it!
Back to The Venetian and gambled till 12.30am
Day 5:
Checked out and drove home.
Trip #2 (just me and my son)
Day 1:
Stopped at Murrieta for Five Guys® and Baker for rest rooms this time!
Checked in at The Wynn
Drove to The Rio to get free tix for Penn and Teller® later in the trip.
Went to The Palms for a movie and some food (we like it there, the movies are cheap and the food court is next to the movie theater, plus parking is always easy).
Left my son in the hotel room and gambled till 1.30am using $300 free play.
Day 2:
Wynn Buffet for breakfast (2 comp tix with comp room)
Went to the 2-for-1 tix store near Harrahs to buy tix for Mat Franco and The Bodies exhibition.
Since we were by The Link my son wanted another go at the VR Adventures.
Crossed over to The Forum Shops as my son wanted to look in The Gucci Store for some reason.
Back to The Linq for sprinkles cupcakes.
Went to The Mat Franco show (7/10)
Crossed back to Caesars for The Bachannal Buffet (had a $100 comp for diamond status, used the last $7 on my account and paid $3.20 cash for a $130 buffet!)
Too tired to gamble so just went to bed.
Day 3:
Drove to The Trump Hotel® for breakfast just to see what was happening over there :-)
Drove to a Go-Karting track (Groupon®) and had two very long races against my son - he won both!
Went to The MGM firstly to do the CBS Show which my son loves (you watch a TV show and then criticize it for feedback) - I don't much care for it, but its 45 minutes not spending money.
Had some food at the food court using coupons from doing the CBS show.
Went to The Luxor and visited The Bodies Exhibit (yuck, but interesting).
Went to the Luxor Steakhouse for a super expensive dinner using a $75 off coupon from MyVegas (my son had the Kobi steak for $110 so it was always going to cost a lot, but my son LOVES his steak!)
Drove to The Rio and watched Penn and Teller for the 20th time - still new tricks and all the best of their old magic - we just can't stop seeing them.
Back to the hotel and I gambled till 3.15am
Day 4:
Checked out of The Wynn
Drove to The M Casino for brunch buffet (very nice and very well priced)
Stopped by Seven Mountains for some photos of the display (Google it).
Drove home.
As you can see, on both trip we did a heck of a lot of activities. We had most of it arranged beforehand, had most of the coupons in hand, and just enjoyed ourselves non-stop followed by me having some gambling at the end of the day if I wasn't too exhausted. If you are taking kids DO NOT just see how your day goes - plan in advance. Kids can't cope with being bored and there's no excuse to be bored in Las Vegas - I got a Pinterest® page with some of the things we've done there, but we've done 100's of activities over the years and most haven't made it on that page. Just check on Groupon, see whats on offer on MyVegas and Google the rest. It's kept us busy for the last 8 years and we've not done yet, by any means.
Also you'll note I didn't gamble all that much. This was a family trip and that was my focus. I was lucky enough to gamble probably more than I expected, and overall I did lose some money, but not much. And most of the losses were my first night at The Bellagio which was very tight, and I was a little too excited to be there!
I used every coupon, Groupon, discount and 2-for-1 I could get my hands on to keep the costs down. And given I had the rooms, $300 gambling and 2 free buffets comped up front I probably spent on the whole two trips what that would have come to apart from the Michael Jackson One® tix, which I had to pay for ahead of time and were expensive, but worth every cent.
One additional note - The MGM group now charge for the Valet and self parking. It was MUCH better to Valet and then drive around stopping at any and all other MGM resort casinos with no additonal charge. But once you've checked out of the hotel then you can't do that, so after it was much better to stop at Caesars hotels which are free to valet still if you are Diamond or Seven Stars (or even Platinum I think).
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