'The' tournament, Carnaval Court, Margaritaville, etc

Report to follow and apolgies in advance. I think I typed for America in this one!

'The' tournament, Carnaval Court, Margaritaville, etc

I%26#39;ll start with my stay at Bellagio, I%26#39;ve already done a report on the hotel so will tell about my gambling experiences there and the tournament I was in plus time spent with my friends my last two days there. I was at the Flamingo, Margaritaville, Carnaval Court, the Venetian and TI with them.

Everyone knows I%26#39;m a slot player and did so so at Mirage, didn%26#39;t gamble at all when I was at MGM since it was my R%26amp;R weekend (ok, so I did play just a little bit when at GVR!). I found the machines at Bellagio to be tighter than tight! They wouldn%26#39;t even give me a tiny amt of play! I also didn%26#39;t see any hand pays except at the $5 machines just outside the High Limit room and those were few and far between. Money went in, money stayed in so a total bummer on that front.

Last Monday, registration for the tournament was between the hours of 11-3. The comped nights were Mon, Tues and Weds. I went to register just after 11 and was amazed at how many people were in line to register, I%26#39;d thought most wouldn%26#39;t have arrived yet. ha! Someone says the word %26#39;free%26#39; and everyone shows up! At registration we got our play times and also the machine numbers we%26#39;d be playing at our sessions of play.

My first time slot was for 7:20 on Tues night! This is not good considering the fact that I%26#39;m meeting my friends for a 7PM dinner and fun at Margaritaville and two of the four know I%26#39;d stayed on in Vegas, the other two didn%26#39;t know, so I was a surprise, but looked as if there was going to be a surprise guest not showing up on time!

The people at B told me to come back at 1PM on Tues to try and get my time changed. I went and they said they%26#39;d know at 2:30 so back I went again, but it was a no go. So, I went over to meet two of my friends at the Flamingo at 4:30 to have a couple of drinks and then at 6:30 hot footed it back over to the Bellagio to play in my first session.

I know that it takes over 10,000 pts per time to get any chance at money or free play when the tournament ends. I only got 9,400 and let me tell you, the ten minutes of hitting that button with your fingers or hand seems an eternity, Carpel Tunnel waiting to happen!

Once that session was over, I ran over to Margaritaville to meet my friends, found out that I%26#39;d missed the shots of tequila and the appetizers! However, I did receive a pair of %26#39;designer%26#39; sunglasses courtesy of the Margaritaville gift shop! Everyone needs a pair of black shades with a colorful parrot glued to one side in front and a palm tree on the other. We all had a pair and had fun taking pictures wearing them. So, missed the shots and a round or two of margaritas, did my best to catch up, but they were way ahead of me!

The food at Margaritaville was what I call typical bar food, that%26#39;s what we ordered, too. I had the chicken quesedilla as my meal, it was good, not great but then the price wasn%26#39;t overly high either.

We left Margaritaville and went over to Carnaval Court, we got there just as the bartenders were starting one of their shows showing their prowess at juggling and throwing! They were amazing, great entertainment. It was also fun watching them mix drinks. I highly recommend going there just to see the bartenders perform.

We left and walked over to Bellagio so my friends could see the fountain show there. It was very hot and we%26#39;d done a lot of walking so our %26#39;nightcap%26#39; ended up being bottles of water. One couple in the group had been up since 4AM EDT so we decided to call it a night so they could get back to their hotel and get some sleep since they%26#39;d been up for over 22 hours.

On Wednesday, my first session was at 11:20 AM, did much better this time scoring 11,800 pts. Bellagio had set up a continental breakfast buffet earlier and when my session ended they were setting up a lunch buffet, but I had to leave to go meet my friends. Fortunately, two couples had walked from MGM and were touring NYNY when I called them so we met out in front of Bellgio and then met the others on the way over to Caesar%26#39;s. We had a quick walk around at Caesar%26#39;s and then went and browsed in the Forum Shops.

I looked at my watch......2:30! I was as far away from Bellagio as a person could be when in the Forum shops, so I walked at breakneck speed to get back to B in time for my last session. The ballroom where the tournament was was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy back in the property! I got there before my session, saw there was some food left from the lunch buffet and wolfed down a hot dog in break neck speed just in time for my session to start. This last session I only scored 8,800 points. Boo and hiss!

I went back to my room and got another shower and cleaned up for the evening since I had to leave the Bellagio as soon as awards were given at 5:30. Nope, not a big prize winner here, did get $100 in free play though and since the tournament was free as was my room for the three nights, no complaints out of me! In fact, I still don%26#39;t know why I got invited! When B was new I stayed there a few times in what I call my %26#39;past lifetime%26#39; but hadn%26#39;t stayed there since I think spring of 2000 or maybe it was 2001, then again 2 years ago, but don%26#39;t remember setting the place on fire then with a smoking machine that kept hitting jackpots for me!

I met my two friends that were at the Flamingo and we walked to the Venetian where we were meeting the others for the evening. We walked around the Canal Shops, stopped in a bar there and had some delicious Peach Bellini%26#39;s, yum!! Then, we went to Postrio for dinner. We ate in the outside Cafe part. The food was fine, we didn%26#39;t want fine dining so this was perfect for us. I had a chopped salad and a four cheese pizza washed down with some nice white wine. The food was fine, our waitress was not, she had a problem remembering things! There were 7 of us. We%26#39;d ordered and while having our drinks, one guy asked if we%26#39;d all ordered yet, seems she forgot to take his order. The food came, she forgot one person%26#39;s! However service was decent timewise and we just laughed it off.

One couple is from Oz so that%26#39;s why we tried to go several places so they could see as much as possible of Vegas during their short stay in town. We walked over to TI, one friend thought it would be fun to see Siren%26#39;s so that%26#39;s what we went to do. While waiting we also each bought a flower lei that lit up, now we were true fashionatas!! Time came for the show and it got cancelled, high winds cited! Not that windy but then I%26#39;ve not seen Sirens (saw the old pirate show a few yrs ago) so don%26#39;t know what dangers might have lurked up high during their perfomance. So, we walked into TI and went to Kahunaville, we were given buy 1 get 1 free drink coupons for there so why not?! After time spent there we walked over to the Mirage, too late for the volcano as it was after midnight. I wasn%26#39;t sure it was working at the moment anyway since the week before when we had a volcano/strip view at the Mirage I don%26#39;t recall ever seeing the volcano erupt the entire time we were guest there.

It had been not only a long day for me, but a long 10 days in Vegas so after not seeing either Sirens or the volcano we all parted ways and walked back to our respective hotels.

I checked out of B on Thurs at noon, went downstairs and played a couple of machines before time to go to McCarran to catch my flight over to LAX and then on to London Heathrow from LAX. I slept over 5 hours on the flight back across the pond.

I had a wonderful time in Vegas, but no more 10 day stints for me. I might have been able to do 10 days and enjoyed it if I%26#39;d not been there before, but one year alone I%26#39;d been 5 times and in total it%26#39;s got to be at least 50 so this was just oo long for me.

Back home in my adopted country of England now, getting ready to move in 2 weeks and then will get psyched for my next trip to Vegas on Dec 1. That one will be fun as we are going to be spending our time with two other members of this forum that we met last Dec at a M%26amp;G at EI!

'The' tournament, Carnaval Court, Margaritaville, etc

Everyone needs a pair of black shades with a colorful parrot glued to one side in front and a palm tree on the other. We all had a pair and had fun taking pictures wearing them.

I want that picture, I want that picture, I want that picture!!!

Glad you had such a good time. Aren%26#39;t you glad you decided to stay so you could see your friends? That was the most important part of the trip. Ten days is a long time if you don%26#39;t get off the strip.

Thanks for the TR.

Give me 5 min and then check your e-mail. One parrot and palm tree picture coming up!! ;)

OMG!! gabby, those glasses are ssssooo you!! Now I see a completely different side of you I have never seen before.

People- those were a bunch of sexy looking women! You can tell they all were having a ball!

Can%26#39;t wait for the December TR!

With all that running around, I can understand missing the M%26amp;G.

I plan to meet loomis at GVR when he%26#39;s there in Dec...we%26#39;ll have to all hook-up for a cocktail then.

Should I bring sunglasses, or will they be provided?...lol

Not sure if there wil be any Dec pictures, depends on how many drinks the guys ply me with. Remember, it%26#39;s a rose and thorn trip,I%26#39;m the lone female amongst 3 guys! We also won%26#39;t be taking a laptop that trip. The only reason I had it this time was because my husband brought it over for me to use that weekend when I was on my own.

ha Spike!! I only have the one pair, but if you%26#39;re meeting Loomis you%26#39;ll be meeting my husband and me, too. We are at GVR with Loomis and 21player!

Oh, can I meet with everybody? Nobody invited me. Well, someone did say I could go on the cruise with him and I was invited to go to Aruba with a former TA poster- but it wasn%26#39;t Vegas!

WOW..thats a long time in Vegas Gabby. Glad you had a good time. Looking forward to the December trip. How was your short visit to GVR?

Ok - so when exactly is this December get together? Now that MGM thinks I am special, maybe I will get a quickie.