Please ADD your own Las Vegas Trip Report. Date of Trip: January 01, 2005 to January 07, 2005 Hotel Stayed At: Golden Nugget / THEhotel / Harrahs / Paris Report by: Rob <> From: Coral Springs, FL

Visited Vegas from Jan. 1-7. Six nights. Four hotels! (Despite dreading the
shuffling around from hotel to hotel, it turned out to not be bad at all!)

Day 1 - Sat. Jan. 1 - Arrived in Vegas, from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, around
11am. Flew Delta, with an hour layover in Dallas. Decent flights....

Took the shuttle to Alamo. Got a midsize car, for only $79 weekly base rate,
using a $20 off coupon from the Entertainment Book. (With all taxes and
surcharges, it came to $122 total. Still not too bad!)

For our first night, we stayed at the Golden Nugget, downtown. It was our very
first time staying downtown. Although the hotel was very nice, and I have no
real complaints, I still prefer being on the strip. However, we got a decent
price. Especially for a Saturday night, on a holiday weekend! Which was part
of the reason I decided to stay downtown for the first night.... I knew the strip
would be mobbed. And from what I heard, I was right!

(I found a good loophole to get my room rate even lower. Golden Nugget’s
website was offering the room for $99 for the night. Vegas.com, was offering
the room for $104.50, with a ‘Best Rate Guarantee’. Their guarantee is, if you
book the room, and find a lower rate within 24 hours, you can submit a form,
and they’ll match the lower rate, and beat it by 10 percent. So, I went ahead,
and booked the $104.50 room, submitted the $99 rate, which they beat by
10%. It worked! Hey - why not?!)

Got early check-in, and they put us in a room in the North Tower, at no
additional charge. (Normally these rooms are $20 more, than the South
Tower. So that was nice...)

Afterwards, we drove out to Sunset Station, since I bought us tickets to see
‘Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine’. Great show! They take
modern rock and rap songs, and perform them in a schmaltzy lounge act
style. A lot of fun! (And I was really impressed by Sunset Station. A beautiful
hotel! My very first trip to Vegas, I stayed at Palace Station, and that was a
dump. Sunset Station, however, is very nice, and rivals many of the better strip
hotels!) After the show, we played for a little at Sunset Station, and headed
back to Fremont, to play a little more, before crashing. We stick to Blackjack,
and Three Card Poker. We both had some very good runs this trip.

Day 2 - Sun. Jan. 2 - Checked out of Golden Nugget. And drove to my next
hotel, which was to be the nicest of the whole trip: THEhotel at Mandalay Bay.
My wife knew that we were switching hotels, but I didn’t tell her which one. In
fact, to throw her off, I told her we were switching to New York, New York. So
at the last minute, I confessed to the upgrade, as a surprise. Besides, this
night was a special occasion for us. THEhotel is gorgeous. The suite had one
42 inch plasma screen in the living room, one flat screen set in the bedroom,
and a LCD screen in the bathroom, so you can watch while soaking in the
huge tub! Very tastefully decorated, and very peaceful. I got a rate of $149 for
the night, with a package deal, that included $100 in future airline certificates,
2 free spa passes, and a bunch of other perks. Ironically, had I booked the
room-only, without the package, it would have been $169 for the night! Weird!

We visited the Bathhouse Spa. Didn’t get treatments, but used their facilities.
Very relaxing! We ate a nice dinner at rumjungle. No show this night, so we
mostly stayed in the casino, playing at Mandalay, and Excalibur. (I found the
dealers to be pretty cold, overall. Didn’t like playing there.)

Day 3 - Mon. Jan. 3 - Picked up two complimentary breakfest buffets, from our
play. Typical breakfast, but it was very good. Afterwards, we checked out of
THEhotel, and drove over to Harrahs. We had received two comped nights
there, from our last stay. Harrahs is not my favorite hotel, but I’ll stay there for
free! Did very well in the casino. (Much friendlier dealers, too!) And quickly
earned some decent comp points.

In the afternoon, we checked out the Mac King Comedy Magic Show - we had
comp tickets with a 2 drink purchase. And we found the show to be very
entertaining. I highly recommend seeing it!

We had a nice meal at Peppermill. It was my first time there, and it did not
disappoint. That night, we had tickets to see KA, the new Cirque Du Soliel
show at MGM Grand. Our seats were great. About 9 or 10 rows back, on the
right side, but directly on the center aisle. Overall it was a great show, but had
a few rough spots. Right now, the show is still in ‘previews’, so there will most
likely be some minor changes by the time of its ‘official’ opening in February.

Day 4 - Tue. Jan. 4 - Took our daytrip out of Vegas, into Zion National Park, in
Utah. Only took less than 3 hours to get there. Unfortunately, we got stuck with
miserable rainy weather, but its still magnificent scenery. Florida has nothing
like it! On the way back, we detoured through Valley Of Fire, and that too, was
spectacular.

Day 5 - Wed. Jan. 5 - Checked out of Harrahs, and drove to Paris (where we
had two more comp. nights). I successfully did the $20 trick, to get a beautiful
corner P-room, on the 30th floor, looking out over the Bellagio fountains. Glad
I did it!

We spent most of the day in the casino. We still had a lot of comp points built
up from our time at Harrah’s, so we decided to get massages. I’d never had a
real massage before, so I thought I’d give it a try. I wanted us to get a couples
massage, but Harrah’s doesn’t offer it., but Rio does. So we booked an
appointment. It was $115 each, for an hour. But, we didn’t pay too much, since
we used our points. It was half Swedish / half deep tissue. It was very
soothing.

That night, we had tickets to We Will Rock You. After reading some of the
reviews, I wasn’t sure I’d like it, but turned out I loved it! I can see how it might
not appeal to everyone, my wife and I thought it was a fun show!

Day 6 - Thu. Jan. 6 - Vegas is starting to get very crowded with that big CES
convention. Seemed like we were the only ones in town NOT there for it! In
the afternoon, we drove out to Primm, just to ride the Desperado roller
coaster, at Buffalo Bills. Good coaster, but it was so cold outside, I was numb
afterwards! Not the smartest thing I ever did! On the way back, we stopped by
the giant Coke bottle, and got half prices tickets to The Second City, at
Flamingo. Truthfully, it was merely okay. I was at the original Second City, in
Chicago, and there is no comparison! Maybe I just picked an off night.... Had
dinner at Mon Ami Gabi, and it was delicious! Afterwards, we went over to
Boardwalk, to watch the Purple Reign, Prince tribute show. Loved it!

Day 7 - Fri. Jan. 7 - Opened the curtain, to see heavy snow falling on the strip!
I couldn’t believe it! I’d only ever seen snow once before, as a child.... Got late
check out, of Paris, around 2pm. Basically hung out at the casino all day. Our
flight wasn’t until 1am....so we just stayed at Paris. Besides, the weather was
rainy and gross all day long. Ate at Mon Ami Gabi again, since it was so good.
Around 11pm, headed back to Alamo to return the car, and back to the airport.
Flew the red-eye home, through Song Airlines, and sadly, back to reality....

Can't wait til my next trip back... Maybe over the summer...
Rob <> - Coral Springs, FL    2249

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