Originally Posted By 999HAUNTS Fri, April 17th: We started the morning off bright and early with a trip to DL to get my birthday funcard. Murfsmom told me to go to City Hall for it instead of waiting in that long ticket line. Thank goodness she knew this trick, because the ticket booth lines were really long! The wait was about a minute to talk to a CM. He took my ID and my PAP and scanned a gift card for me. But, unfortunately, either the CM never physically handed me the gift card, or it got lost somewhere between City Hall and Carnation Café, because when we were seated for breakfast I realized I did not have it with me. PB said she didn’t see him actually hand me the card, so I ran to City Hall to get it. I was really upset when I couldn’t find it, and I waited to talk to the same CM that helped me. He said he gave it to me, but I asked him to please check the drawer or the floor behind the counter. He was really defensive and told me that there was nothing he could do, but advised for me to go to lost and found and file a report in case someone turned it in. Um, ok. I did, but I’m sure if someone found it they spent it. No birthday gift card for Haunts. I was really bummed out as I walked back to Carnation Café, just like Eeyore, woe is me. I am notorious for bad luck when it comes to being excited about things. I get so happy that I don’t think things through and don’t put my ducks in a row, so to speak. But I cheered up a little bit when my Mickey waffle arrived and Oscar wished me happy birthday. I eventually figured that the gift card was free so I shouldn’t be so upset. The PB’s assured me that I would win way more than the card was worth in Vegas anyway. I did end up filing a lost and found report, but that took so long that we had to hit the road for sin city and I didn’t even get a chance to ride HM. We hit the road and stopped in Barstow for a frozen yogurt and some shopping. We also went to Calico Ghost Town. The weather was really heating up by this point in the day, and the bugs were out in droves! I have never seen so many in one place in my life. We took the train around the mining area, did some other exploring and some picture taking, and then took time out for a Sarsaparilla. Man those are good! We then headed to Vegas. We were really running behind schedule – we were supposed to meet the LV LP gang for dinner at 5pm, but it sure didn’t look like we would make it on time. I was going to just drive right past Stateline and head straight for Vegas, but I had to pee so bad that I was seeing yellow, and if we didn’t stop there would be a serious issue quickly. I’m sure the kids thought it was just me itching to do some quick gambling, but it was really me not wanting to have an accident! This was the first time I entered a casino just to use the bathroom. We finally made it to the Strip at about 5:30 and realized I forgot the directions at home to the restaurant that we were meeting the LP folks at. We took a chance and actually ended up turning the right way down Tropicana, and were at the meet by almost 6PM. Luckily I remembered what a few of those axe murderers looked like so we found their table quickly. Then horror set in, as we realized no one was eating! Those poor hungry souls were actually waiting for us to arrive first. SO…. my apologies go out once again to wonderingalice, Labuda, LVBelle, Jakethetummymonkey, nevadarebel and Lexi for their temporary diets until we got there! We had a really good time chatting and comparing stories and eating and chatting again in the parking lot. The PBs and I learned a lot about Vegas and the various shows that are offered. We appreciated that very, very much! After the meet we checked into the Trump Hotel. If you haven’t heard my Priceline story for this one, hang tight, because here it comes. Ursula had been explaining to me that in order to have a better chance at getting the hotel room you want on Priceline, there was a website that you could go to and it will tell you what the probability of getting the hotel you want is. Boy, did this backfire on me!! According to my research, I should have been bidding on the Mirage or Encore, but ended up with the Trump instead. Don’t get me wrong - we paid a really good price for the room, but the hotel has no 24hr bar and no casino, and although listed as on the strip, it is not on the strip. How the heck can you have a 5-star hotel in Vegas with no bloody casino??? Well, apparently Trump (oops, sorry, Mr. Trump) has been bankrupt so many times in Atlantic City that he couldn’t get a permit for a casino in Las Vegas. I am panicked at this point because I can’t fathom being in Vegas on my birthday with no casino right at my fingertips. And, like a dummy, I found it necessary to read all of the various review websites which stated that even though this was rated 5-stars, it came nowhere close. 1) All of the rooms are King suites. We have three people staying in this room, and I didn’t particularly like the idea of sleeping in the same bed as the PB’s. They do have a pull out queen sofa bed, but some of the reviews stated that the pullouts were musty with other people’s socks in them. Eww. 2) They only offer valet, which makes it inconvenient to leave as you please. This is included in your “facility” fee of $16 a day. This fee includes two bottled waters per day and a daily newspaper. All of the reviews stated that they had to wait an obscenely long time for their car. 3) You have to leave a $200 deposit for incidentals. This seems ridiculous when you are already paying almost that a night for the room. Ursula and I both emailed and called Priceline to try to get the hotel changed. We claimed that they misrepresented the hotel on their website, which they did, but Priceline would not budge. We must have contacted them at least 10 times with the same generic response….we entered into a contract, yada, yada, yada. Off to the Trump to check in. Keep in mind that I am just an ordinary Wal-Mart shopper who is checking in with Disney luggage and my own pillow. Not quite Trump material, I’m sure. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how respectful we were treated by the bellhop, valet and the front desk. I was Ms. Thompson the whole stay. I could really get used to that! As we walked towards the elevator, there was a manager checking for room keys. He noticed Mr. PB checking out the flower arrangements on the entry tables. He told us that tulips were Mr. Trump’s favorite flower and that he would be arriving soon for the Miss USA pageant that was in town. I’m not sure why he offered that information, but it was a nice, friendly touch that made us smile. I think Mr. PB smiled more, because of the fact that most of the Miss USA contestants were staying at our hotel. We entered the elevator, and pushed the ”50” button to reach room 5017. All three of us immediately lost our sea legs as the elevator went into warp speed and in two seconds took us to our destination. These elevators are definitely turbo charged or on crack or something. You can’t even lift your foot as the elevator is traveling. That’s how fast it goes. We walked down the beautiful corridor to our room, which has a main entry hall before the room door. You have to use your key to unlock the entry door, and then again use your key to enter your room. We lost our breath as we entered. The bathroom is bigger than my own living room, with a TV in the vanity mirror, a shower, and a HUGE jet tub. All was done in marble (floor, walls, ceiling) and it was awesome. The living room had a stove top, microwave, all Cuisinart appliances with a Sub-Zero refrigerator. There were china plates and bowls in the cabinet with coffee mugs and serving platters. Really nice silverware, too. And placemats. There was even a big honking leather tic-tac-toe game on the glass coffee table. The closets had automatic lights that activated when opened. The décor was just like an apartment (which I think is what it was first intended to be). We were very impressed with the comfort of the bed, and the sofa bed for that matter. We were given a room on the 50th floor, two floors from the top of the hotel. Since it was nighttime, we peeled back the drapes to find the most wonderful view of the strip on the right hand side. (Strip *clubs* on the left, but we won’t focus on that LOL). We quickly unpacked and went back to valet to get our car so we could mosey on downtown to Fremont Street. We handed the valet our claim ticket and I’ll be darned if I wasn’t called Ms. Thompson again. I love that. We got our car quickly, too. We drove in circles to find out where to park so we could walk under the canopy of Freemont Street so Mr. PB could see the Freemont experience. Every hour on the hour between 6pm and midnight they show a light presentation of a rock band overhead, which is just amazing. We happened to see the Queen and Kiss ones. Each was great. I realized I hadn’t done one lick of gambling yet and disappeared into the casino leaving a dust trail. That was a fast $40 bucks. By this time it was almost midnight and we realized we were a little hungry. We were talking so much at the LP dinner meet that we didn't eat much. We went through the Carl's Jr drivethru on the way back to the Trump. The valet offered the final "Ms. Thompson" of the evening and we got ready for bed. We argued over who would get the bed and who would get the sofa, but I bowed out gracefully and gave up the bed to the PB's in exchange for being the last one to shower in the morning. (more sleep that way!)
Originally Posted By Tiggirl Sounds like a fun first day! I'm glad the hotel turned out to be super snazzy despite the lack of casino and bar. ;o) ~Beth
Originally Posted By Autopia Deb You're *way* too nice! I'd have told the kids "My birthday, my nickle, MY bed!" Sleeper couches are for the young (I'm a big kid at heart, but when it comes to sleeper sofas I'm a senior citizen!)
Originally Posted By iamsally You have such a way with words Ms Thompson. You crack me up. I too would have put the *kids* on the couch. Hope you did not get a backache. Though you seem to have gotten through it; it is still a drag about your gift card. I have never been to Vegas. Will have to try it sometime. Probably after we retire. Happy Birthday dear friend.
Originally Posted By disneylandfan8 Well, it seems your day in Vegas was definitely memorable, Ms. Thompson! The LP meet sounded like fun! Loved the LP Live photos! The suite sounded absolutely wonderful!!!! I might've been completely happy just to stay in the room all the time, but, I know how those slot machines call my name! How was the sleeper sofa??
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin Thank you for including us in your memories, Ms. Thompson. Your trip sounds great so far!
Originally Posted By retlawfan Great story Ms. Thompson. Hope the whole trip was fun! Happy birthday!
Originally Posted By 999HAUNTS Ms. Thompson....tee hee! I love that! Believe it or not, the turndown service saw that we had the sleeper bed out and placed a down mattress cover on it. It was really, really comfortable!
Originally Posted By 999HAUNTS Apr 18th: We slept until about 8am. We had to get going to catch our Graveyard tour at noon at the NeonMuseum to view the old Vegas hotel signs that have been temporarily laid to rest. These signs are to be restored and eventually placed back on display in working order. We headed to the valet (have a great day, Ms. Thompson!) and off we went to downtown Vegas to find out where our tour will be. Luckily the LV Lpers told us it was somewhere down at the end of Fremont street, so that was a big help. We were hungry but all of the restaurants downtown near the museum were packed. Who knew that if you actually woke up before 2pm there were actually people trying to get on with their day earlier than that? Let's not mention they are mostly senior citizens, but seniors are people too and they have every right to eat breakfast in the morning, even if they try to run you down with their motorized carts and bat you out of the way with their canes... We ended up getting Dunkin’ Donuts and coffee, because apparently senior citizens actually like to be served by someone in the morning and don't want to get their own food. Donuts are not weight watchers approved, but that's ok. What ever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...even the calories. We checked in at the tour office and paid our $15 each, and were told that if we were to take pictures we had to sign a release. These contracts state that the photos we were about to take were for our own use, etc. We were assigned a guy named Paul as our tour guide. He let us know that all tour guides donate their time so more of the money raised could go in to restoring these signs. If I lived in Vegas I would definitely become part of this historic venture. I would either become a tour guide or somehow get myself on a restoration committee. I have always been a fan of the old school Vegas, you know, the Rat Pack, Sands, Dunes, Stardust, etc. The tour indirectly kind of starts at the sign-in office…they have pieces of neon tubing and pieces of old signs and such in the office, along with lots and lots of pictures of hotels gone by. They have signs lining the hallways on the way to the restrooms, too. I thought it would have been cool if they restored an old restroom sign from Vegas World or something, but they haven't yet. Maybe I should call them and suggest it. During the tour, Paul told us neat little stories to go along with the signs we were looking at. This added a great touch to put you in the moment of history that the sign represented. On a few occasions, he was able to tell us why the hotel was destroyed and what hotel or building was now in it’s place. This tour was absolutely the coolest thing I’ve ever done. We took pictures next to some of the most iconic memorabilia. Don’t tell anyone, but I even got teary eyed a few times. (That desert dust is a killer.) The tour lasted for about an hour and a half, and we met some neat people from all over the United States. They were thankful to have us take pictures of their group. After the tour we went to check out the Stratosphere as none of us has ever been there. No big excitement here, and no one was about to pay $14 just to go to the top of the tower. We left very quickly and went into a large gift shop down the street. We then made our way to lunch. I had received an Olive Garden gift card for my birthday so we drove down E Flamingo and found one. We used up the entire gift card and then some, but had enough leftovers for one more meal each (Remember, we have a cool kitchen set up at the Trump). We put the leftovers in our cooler and saw a Target, and since Nevada’s sales tax rate is cheaper than ours in California, we went shopping. We got some great DS games on sale and PB bought some gym clothes. We stopped at Walgreen’s for more cooler ice then made our way to Caesar’s Palace for Elton John. We had to check our camera in as no pictures were allowed. We were at our seats about a half hour early so I made friends with the lady sitting next to me who was really interested in her martini. Boy, did she throw them down! Anyway, her husband kept trying to convince me that Elton was really sick and that there would be an Elton impersonator doing the show tonight. We bantered back and forth all in fun. They were a pretty entertaining couple. A lady came by and took our picture that would be available for purchase later in the evening. PB wore Elton glasses, Mr. PB wore the boa and I wore PB’s sunglasses. The picture was pricey, but it was so funny that we ended up buying it at the end of the show. It’s finally time for the show to start and these guys all dressed in white come out on the stage and plug his piano platform in. (We dubbed these guys the umpa-lumpas, as they did all of the stage changes) The thing they plugged in lighted up as a great big black and white star which looks very cool in contrast to his red piano. I won’t go into much of the show as you can read almost any review on line that nails it to a tee. We enjoyed the performance very much and we were blessed to have such cool people sitting in our section. Except for the drunk lady behind me that thought she was the entertainment. We shoosed her a few times, but for the most part it was a great time. We were lucky to have scored tickets as it was his last Saturday night performance!! We hung out after the show and took pictures by his marquee and then walked the Forum shops. We played slots for a hour or so then headed back to the Trump. "In for the night, Ms. Thompson?" Yes I am, thank you!
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin Sounds like a wonderful second day, Ms. Thompson... well, after you escaped the canes. The neon sign tour sounds really interesting and like the kind-of thing I would want to see in Vegas. I've been 4 times and never heard of it. I'm so glad you got to do such a fun thing (concert) for your birthday and I'm sure you will look at the pricey photo with fond memories for a long time to come. Safe travels (and keep us updated), Ms. Thompson.
Originally Posted By Mary Poppins Wow. Great trip report 999HAUNTS!!! My facebook friend also visited Vegas this weekend. She mentioned something about boas and tiaras, so now I know what the boas were all about. I googled Barstow, never having heard of it before. All your descriptive writing is terrific. I almost cried with you when you lost your Disney card. The hotel in Vegas sounded wonderful. I simply enjoyed this report!
Originally Posted By nevadarebel It was awesome having dinner with you guys and Lexi and I were late arriving as well. I will have to check out the tour, that sounds really cool and it sounds that you had a great trip. Did you end up winning anything????
Originally Posted By Labuda Sounds like overall a great trip so far, but wow - no casino? Bad Trump! bad, bad, bad! lol Also, no worries at all about having gotten to the meet later than planned - that just gave me time to eat more chips and salsa. heheh Finally, wow, way to make me feel lazy that all I did was gamble and see shows! lol
Originally Posted By 999HAUNTS Apr 19th: One of the other great perks about the Trump is that you have a 4PM check out. How rockin’ is that? So we took our sweet time lounging around our hotel room until we got hungry. We showered and packed our things and tried to check out through the TV, but that feature was unfortunately broken. So, we gathered our bags and made our way downstairs to the lobby. (We forgot that in them there fancy hotels little men are paid to take the bags down for you). We parked our crap outside of the gift shop for some last minute rotation shopping. What? You don't know what rotation shopping is? Well, rotation shopping is when someone stays with the bags and the other person shops, then that person stays with the bags while the other person shops. I was the first bag watcher while the PB’s went shopping. As I’m sitting with our stuff I make sure to face the elevators because with all of the hoopla over the weekend I figure I’m bound to see someone famous since we never ran into the Donald. Lots of folks are checking out, but all there seems to be are judges and Miss USA bimbos with their moms and brothers. I mean bimbos in the most respectful way…if you were there you would understand. Most of them have no lightbulbs in the attic if you know what I mean. Anyway, as the right hand elevator once again opens I see a jolly, red glasses wearing man come towards me. It looked like Bruce Vilanch, but way skinnier. As the guy walked towards me I saw his Betty Boob luggage that assured me it WAS Bruce Vilanch, so I say “sorry to bother you, Mr. Vilanch, but I must say I love the way you write!” He said thank you, shook my hand, and scurried on his merry way to the valet. No time for a photo there. He must have lost at least a hundred pounds. He still looks like a hippie, but he is a lot thinner. The PB’s are done shopping so they sit with the bags. I browse the gift shop and buy some Trump cactus salsa to give to mom as a thank you for taking care of our cats while we were away. I then have the PBs stay with the bags as I go check out. This is where my only complaints lie with the service at this hotel: 1) The TV checker-outer thingy is broken, which means EVERYONE has to come down stairs to check out. Why wouldn’t Mr. Trump think to have more than two front desk personnel? It’s a Sunday, and a Sunday after a major beauty pageant even. They really needed to think that through a little more clearly. It almost took an hour to check out. 2) The same issue with valet. Very congested, and the gal didn’t know I was Ms. Thompson for crying out loud. Some people! After leaving the hotel we were VERY hungry. Check out took longer than we expected. The kids hadn’t seen the Rio yet so we headed on over there for the buffet. The line was about 50 people deep and way too expensive. We ended up taking their free shuttle over to Harrah’s. We had a champagne brunch with the most excellent food we’ve ever experienced in a buffet. Kudos to Harrah’s…all for the low price of $20.99. Yes, that might sound expensive, but when you factor in what was available to eat and how fast we were seated, this was a deal. We walked over to the Mirage after brunch to see about the Dolphin habitat. It cost to get in so we decided to gamble some instead. We were so busy all weekend that I had to fit the slot machine action in here and there and didn’t really get a chance to just sit and gel and spend all of my money. I had so much money left at this point that I was itching to gamble. We sat near the Beatle’s Revolution lounge and chilled out listening to those great songs while playing the one-armed bandit. We then browsed their shops and noticed that their hair salon was a Kim Vo salon. I always watched “Shear Genius” when it was on TV so I was a little excited to check it out. It was really crowded in there and everyone looked a little snobby, so we just peaked our heads in to check it out. I almost had a heart attack when standing right in front of me was Kim Vo himself. It was amazing how exact the man looks. It was just like you cut him out of an ad and pasted him in the salon. After our window shopping we headed back to the Rio to get our car and head home. Now this whole trip all I could talk about was how I wasn’t watching my weight watchers points so I could have fun, which means that I could eat a hot dog. I realized on our drive home that I never got to have that hot dog, so we stopped at Primm/Stateline to get a dollar hot dog. It was about 4-4:30PM by this time, and I made sure that the PB’s kept an eye on the time. We still had about a 3 ½ drive home and I sure didn’t want to get home by 3am since I start work at 7am. We entered Buffalo Bills, and as I was walking towards the hot dogs, PB finds his favorite slot machine (Deal or no Deal) and we forget about my hot dog and are sucked in to it’s wonderfulness. NO DEAL!! Banker, you suck… Take the deal!! And so on and so forth. It was fun and it took us about an hour to lose $20. We are thirsty so the PB’s go get drinks while I park it at a machine I never played before. It’s a 2cent machine and it’s called something like blazing 7’s bonus or something close to that. The goal is to line up 5 blazing 7’s to win the progressive jackpot, which was about $2,000. 4 blazing 7’s pays about $200 and 3 blazing 7’s gets you about $40.00. Also, if you line up 3 or more bonus symbols you go to a bonus round. I play all lines but only play 20 credits per line just to see what it does. I get 4 blazing 7’s right off the bat…but I don’t get paid. I’m scratching my head and ready to complain to someone because this gal needs to be paid. I am Ms. Thompson after all. It turns out that the blazing 7’s only pay out if you are playing max credits. What a load of horse manure. But then I realize that I really didn’t spend any of my gambling money over the weekend and I still had about $400 dollars to blow anyway. So I start playing the machine full load and I’m having a great time. I keep getting the bonus round for extra payout and I got the 3 blazing 7’s something like 3 or four times. By this time my $20 has turned into well over $200 dollars, so I cash out, save that voucher, and put another $20 in the machine. BAM!! Just like that….4 blazing 7’s with a $210 payout. By the time we were done with that machine we had made well over $700…..when PB says “MOM!!! IT’S almost 10:00!!” I tell her, ok, 10:00 – that means that we will be home at about 1:30-2am. There is no way I am driving home, going to sleep, and waking up at 5am to make it to work at 7am. So we decided to get a room at Buffalo Bill’s for the fantabulous price of $29.99 a night, and figure we’ll just go right to bed, wake up at 3:30am, shower, and head to work. I would probably be late, so I decided to call my boss and leave her a voicemail letting her know. We go out to our car just to get shampoo and our clothes for the morning and head up to the room. I swear every toilet was running and every person was hacking and every car alarm was howling and every truck was downshifting. We were lucky to get the few hours of sleep we did. And, it was hard to sleep on those beds because we were so used to the Trump! Anyway, that’s the end of my trip report…I hope you all enjoyed it. By the way, I never did get my hot dog
Originally Posted By Ursula Oh COURSE it ended that way. I've been gaming with 999 before and I just just waiting for the punch line. It would have been better if Auntihoni was there, though. She wins anything she touches. Sounds like you had a great time and I'm glad you enjoyed your birthday!
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 What a fantabulous report! 999 you should be a writer for a travel magazine.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice No Desperado Roller Coaster ride?!? ;-) I'm so glad you guys had such good times AFTER our dinner, too! And I really need to get over to the Neon Museum soon (teared-up, eh? Great... I'll probably end up bawling like a crazy woman. *LOL*)
Originally Posted By LVBelle Calories stay in Vegas? Yikes, maybe that's why I still haven't lost all of the baby weight, lol! Great seeing you guys the other night! Glad to hear you had a great time!
