Monday, February 10, 2020

February 2020 Trip Report - Bally's, Four Queens, The Front Yard, and more


No More CNY Wallets at Cosmo


Chinese New Year display at Cosmopolitan
I thought this was a good picture to start the report with, although I didn't spend much time at the Cosmopolitan.   I went in search of the Chinese New Year $2 bill wallets that the Cosmo was "selling" at face value.   $100 in $2 bills plus your choice of red or purple wallets, for $100.   I tried to purchase one, but the wallets were sold out.

These are no longer available, so don't bother trying to purchase one!


Roomy Accommodations at Bally's


Keeping my Caesars Diamond card is now something I have to weigh each year, now that even half decent VP seems to be disappearing at Caesars Resorts.  But, I had an offer that added about .4% to my play there.  Still not great, but maybe worth playing, in part due to the offer, as well as the February double Tier points promotion.   I booked a room at Bally's, and like a few others have recently reported, I found the rooms to be far superior to those at Paris, which are typically harder to book as comps as compared to Bally's.  This Bally's room was probably close to twice the size of the standard room in Paris.

Bally's Room



View of Ellis Island from my room at Bally's


Beat the Clock Happy Hour Tacos


My flight landed just about 15 minutes late in the late afternoon, not too bad, but timing was very tight, as I was trying to catch a happy hour, ending at 5pm, at Bally's Mexican Restaurant, Tequila Taqueria Bar & Grill, plus visit the Paris Diamond lounge before they stopped serving hot food at 6pm.   I checked in at Bally's, dropped my bag in the room, and immediately headed down to the restaurant bar to have some happy hour tacos.  $3 each.  Two pork, and two chicken.   The pork were fine, the chicken were excellent.  



Happy Hour Menu Pdf Link




Caesars Beats Paris, No Contest!


After reading some reports where people said that they preferred Paris' Laurel (Diamond) Lounge over the lounge at Caesars,  I was looking forward to trying it out, as I've been a 100% Caesars Lounge person up to now.   Well, I was disappointed.   After waiting 20 minutes to be seated, I got to the hot food before it closed down only to find the number of food items to be significantly less than I usually found at Caesars.   The food area itself looked like a bomb hit it, with drips and scraps all over the buffet area.   The room was tight and crowded, with tables squeezed closer together than Caesars.    The server came by for a drink order.   Then, I waited about 10-15 minutes to be served.  When I tasted my drink, it wasn't at all like the same drink was at Caesars.  In fact, I didn't even want to drink it.   The servers were doubling as bus people, clearing off tables in their very nice waiter outfits, and overworked.   I tried to find my server to order another drink, but I couldn't see her anywhere.   I then went to ask the bartender for a simple drink, just to get something quickly.   He told me if I was at a table that I needed to ask my server.  That was all for me!   I left, after a few soggy chicken wings, and two sips out of one drink that I didn't have more than an ounce of.   I'll head over to Caesars Laurel Lounge again next time, as the service there is always excellent, and they are well staffed!

I played much of the first night at Bally's hitting the coin in goals that I had set, and had only a very small loss at the end of the night, despite playing their pretty crappy VP.   I didn't note any noteworthy hands or experiences in my play.   I just grinded it out mostly on non bonus games.



Last Nog of the Season


One of my goals for this trip was to again have a taste of Ellis Island's holiday egg nog, which I have been fortunate to have a few times before.  This year, they still had some bottles remaining in February, and they advertised a cut in price by the glass, and by the bottle, to finish off this year's supply.



Ellis Island Egg Nog




Ellis Island Scoop?


Now I have what I consider a scoop on the Ellis Island addition, the "Front Yard".   Maybe this has been mentioned elsewhere, but if it has, I haven't read about it in any article, trip report, or post that I have seen!

This started when I entered the Front Yard in the mid morning, just after it opened.   It was a very cool morning.   As I entered, there were stationary gas heaters running, and the whole area felt about the same temperature as outside.   It was freezing in there!  I looked up and saw that there the area between the roof and the walls had significant open air sections.   This was not an enclosed building!   I asked the bartender, noting the A/C ventilation pipes inside.   Is this place really not enclosed?  No, it wasn't, he replied, that's why it's so cold inside.   I pointed to the A/C pipes and asked.  Do you mean that on 110 degree days in the summer, that they will be running the A/C, with much of the cold air escaping through the open areas to the outside?   Yes, he said!   I can't wait to hear the first daytime reports in June-September about how the A/C probably won't keep the room cool enough.

What about rain?   They get wind blow rain in the desert.  When that happens, many times it's going to end up blowing rain into the room!  It should be interesting.

The arched area above the far wall, and under the roof, has no glass, and is open to outside!


I have to wonder if there is some reason that they didn't fully enclose the place because it seems so silly to build such a nice addition, yet not enclose it.  Tax benefits?  My bet would be zoning regulations, since the Front Yard replaced what was a formerly a tent in that area, where BBQ was served at tables.   I'll guess that by this room not being enclosed, it qualifies as a non enclosed structure, like the tent did.   This is just my guess.

Anyway, I'll go on record right now, that the idea of building this place without enclosing it, in such a climate like Las Vegas is ridiculous.   As it was, on the day I was there, no one would be wanting to spend time in the sub 50 degree room temperature, even with the space heaters running!   With those heaters running, I felt both hot and cold at the same time (if that makes sense).  Yes, on the many mild days, it will feel great in the Front Yard, but how about the rest of the year?





Coupon/Kiosk Mania!


This was my coupon run day, made much easier having a rental car.   The entire next section was done in a few hours in one day.  First, I used my American Casino Guide freeplay coupon at Ellis, and at the kiosk, instead of getting the typical $10 freeplay, I scored $20!   Big news!  I waited to see if they were going to require a technician to verify my "jackpot", but apparently they let this big payout go without checking to see if it was legitimate. 

I then won on the ACG matchplay there playing blackjack.



After heading to Huntington Press to pick up my Member Rewards coupon book, I drove downtown and headed to El Cortez with my Southwest Boarding Pass, to qualify for their kiosk free play promotion.  I received the minimum free play reward in this case.  I won on the matchplay here with a dealt 20.   Why can't that happen more often?





I then stopped at the D to qualify for their Southwest boarding pass $50 matchplay promo.  I explained a scenario at the OneClub desk. "I'm here to redeem the Southwest offer within 24 hours of my arrival, but I am not playing at the D today, although I plan to play here later in the trip. Is it going to impact my average play per day figures by you swiping my card for this offer today without any play today?" No, she said, and she sounded pretty confident of that answer (for what it is worth). Since I ended up not playing at all the D this trip (although I planned to), then I can say that if my offer levels in May change, the only explanation would be that redeeming this offer with no play on that day impacted my average play rating. We will see.

They do log some info manually when giving out the chips, but they do swipe your card and mark that you got this offer on their system there too.

I won one of the two matchplays, which was better than last trip, when I lost three matchplays on single hand that ended up with a split and double.

For the last stop of the coupon/kiosk tour, I checked in for one night at the California casino hotel.  There was a kiosk promotion that I totally forgot about.  When I went to the BConnected desk to have my freeplay activated, the attendant said, "swipe at the kiosk".   I figured I had to do that to activate the freeplay, but instead a kiosk spin promo came up, and then I remembered this promo was another reason I had booked the Cal for this date!   As the wheel on the monitor spun, I saw there were a few "free buffet" spots on the wheel.   I had no interest in having a Main St Station buffet for dinner, so I was just hoping I won anything but that.  What I wanted was any amount of dining credit. 

Well, the wheel stopped on a dining credit, and I had snagged the top prize, a $100 Dining Credit!   My first reaction was to laugh, as I was dining alone, but of course with today's restaurant pricing, even $100 is very easy to spend for one person.  At the Redwood Steakhouse, at the Cal, I merely had a glass of wine, Caesar salad, king crab legs, apple dumpling and cappuccino for dessert, which with tax, rang up just over $95.













Quiz time!


What's the most unique thing you see in the photo below?  (not really a difficult find)   The Quiz answer appears later in the report.






Hand of the Trip


My favorite hand of the trip was when I decided to play a multi-line machine.  I usually avoid these because they tend to have lesser payscales, but in this case I played an 8/5 Bonus 5 play machine.   For the day, I got destroyed playing this game,  I was shocked how few four of a kinds I managed to get while holding a pair.   Holding a pair, I was hitting as many four of a kinds on these 5-plays as I would expect from a single line game!  But this one particular lucky hand was special enough to single out.   Of course, being dealt a straight flush is a rare event, and even better on a multi-line machine.   But, what made this hand even more personally entertaining is that there is a trip report blog that I follow where the writer, for some reason, refers to this hand as the "ultra dreaded Ace-low straight flush".  Of course, what makes that comment comical is that any straight flush is the second most rare hand, and in many cases, the second highest paying hand in the game.   Why anyone would refer an Ace low version of it to be "ultra dreaded" is beyond me.  So, I had a good laugh having this hand dealt to me on a 5 play!





This was the trip of straight flushes..... and losses.   I had at least two times as many straight flushes this trip than I had on even the best prior trip, but it didn't help me enough.   I had three dealt straight flushes on the trip, including this multi-line one!  And, I held 4 to a straight flush and TWICE in one day actually pulled two straight flushes out of five hands on a five play!  Another unexpected pull was when holding a 4-flush, I landed a flush on 4 out of the 5 hands!




Golden Nugget Restaurant Changes


I was interested to see in person the restaurant changes at the Golden Nugget, and most interested in the seeing the unnecessary new version of the Grotto, as they moved it from a prime location, to a low rent district in the back near the Carson tower.   Well, the Grotto bar has half the seating now vs the new one, and in fact the entire restaurant seating is probably half the capacity of the old one.  The only feature of the new version which might be an improvement is that there are now big screen TV's at the bar.  Besides that there no change in the Grotto that can even be considered an improvement over the prior version of it.




The Starbucks in that area looks nice after the makeover, and right behind it is the Chick-Fil-A







Four Queens Day


This story probably wouldn't have made the cut, but since another trip report mentioned seeing the likely the same person on the same day, I'll mention this.   Apparently the same girl that was extremely drunk and vomiting at the D, made it over to the Four Queens a bit later, late afternoon.   I walked by and saw her sitting very slumped on a stool in a slot machine area, surrounded by no friends, but instead, about 5 EMT workers.   I figured this was an overdose situation, but when I walked by a second time, minutes later, the EMT workers were checking their shoes and the carpet as if she had just vomited again.   I don't think she could even speak.   She was just sitting there, totally out of it.   I didn't stand and gawk so I don't know, but I would imagine they would have needed to take her to the hospital.

My comments on the cookies sold at Magnolias on a prior report surprisingly seemed to get the most interest, so this time I made sure to get a photo of the supply at the cashier.   I purchased (with comp dollars) my complement of white chocolate macadamia, peanut butter, and this time had a chocolate chip thrown in.   I should have taken a picture of a cookie cut in half, as the amazing part is that they are about a half inch in thickness!   The white chocolate macadamia variety took first prize.



A Rat to the Rescue?


Well it was the last day of the trip, each of them losing, including this last day at the Four Queens.   Last February, at the end of the day there, I redeemed my offer for a free jeweled Chinese New Year Jeweled Pig, and proceeded to hit 6 royal flushes (including 2 in the next 2 days) in the next 5 trips to various casino locations, and I gave credit to the Pig, until after about 6 months, when the luck of the pig apparently wore off.

So, this time, as soon as I qualified for it, I redeemed my offer for a free jeweled Rat for this Chinese New Year, hoping that with the bit of play I had left in the day, the Rat would perform the same magic as the Pig did last year.  Well, unfortunately the Rat was no help at all.   This means the Rat will not be travelling with me on future trips, unlike the Pig which was a mandatory packing item for most of the year.


My Reputation at Stake


There was a big concern building throughout the day.   In a prior report I said I challenged anyone to spend an entire day in the Four Queens without hearing the song "Bette Davis Eyes" over the casino sound system at least once.   https://deamonlv.blogspot.com/2019/06/may-2019-trip-report-featuring-testing.html#Bette  Comically, on my next visit, I heard the song after spending just 10 minutes in the casino.  Yet, on this day, as of late afternoon, I hadn't yet heard the song.   I was now risking my reputation if even I could spend a day there without hearing this damn song.   I was concerned that by going to Hugo's for dinner that I might be missing it being played during dinner.   But, I couldn't go that far to skip a nice dinner just to keep my Bette streak alive.

I had set my alarm for 3:45am for my flight home, so I was going to sleep relatively early this last night.   I stood in the middle of the casino and took my last look around before heading upstairs.  I cashed in the freeplay that I had run through for a small profit.  Then, just as I started heading to the elevators, I heard some hand clapping over music in the distance.... Was it?  Could it?    I stopped to listen more closely!   It was!  Bette Davis Eyes was playing in the Four Queens!   Life could now continue in proper fashion, and the Earth could now continue to spin, as nature's Bette cycle was now complete.   I could now rest and safely return home in the morning, knowing the world was still safe, for at least one more day!


71 million views? Really?   My favorite YouTube comment on this video that I saw is "This was way too 80s...even for the 80s".



Quiz Answer:


Kudos to the California Hotel and Casino for maybe being the only hotel that I know of that is built as part of a casino and which has a 13th floor!   This aversion to "unlucky numbers" gets silly (I lost in the casino because my room was on the 13th floor?  Really?), and in the Wynn/Encore, not only is the 13th floor omitted, but also, most/all floors with 4's in them, so there are no floors in the 40's there!   And yes, here, in addition to the pool and gym, there are hotel rooms on the 13th floor at the Cal.

Keep in mind, the 13th floor is still the 13th floor, even if the casino labels it the 14th!




The flight home stunk!


This next tidbit is disgusting.  Skip it if you don't want to read it, but I had to live and endure it, which is worse than reading it.   After having a B4 Southwest seating assignment for my first leg of my trip home, that went out the window after that flight was cancelled.   I was assigned C57 for the flight I was assigned to, meaning a sure middle seat.

Shortly after taking off, sitting in a middle seat, I caught an odor that at first I thought was someone opening some Mexican food near me.   But, after getting about 4 episodes, about 10-15 minutes apart, I started doubting that.   I am 90% sure the man next to me was passing gas.   It was awful each time for a few minutes.    I looked to the other side of me and that man showed no signs of smelling something bad.   This was a totally full flight, so there was no place to be reseated.   I doubt the flight attendants could do anything about it.  I thought about confronting him, but what would that accomplish?  Plus I was only 90% sure it was coming from the man to the left.    It was so awful that I could only cope one way.   I had a furry lining in my light jacket, so I pushed my nose down into it each time the odor returned.   Later, I put my head down on the seat back tray, face into the jacket, and while sort of trying to sleep, I was mainly using the jacket as a filter.   This flight was a 3 hour leg, and this kept up for much of the 3 hours.   I probably have taken 200 or more flights in my life and never experienced anything close to this, and hopefully never will again!

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