TR: Midweek in Vegas

[JLau]

This is going to be a very long trip report. I mostly wrote it having some friends in mind who haven't been to Vegas before so that I could share my trip with them and convince them to go next time. I also knew I was posting it here so you'll see some crossover for things targetted to each group. Hope you enjoy.

DAY 1 - TUESDAY

The crew consisted of two couples (Phil and Janice, Andy and Marry) and three single guys (Danny, AK and myself). The couples had both been to Vegas before for romantic/sightseeing getaways, but this time with the single Vegas virgins coming along, this trip was about the party scene. *

Time to go to Vegas! The goal was to arrive early so that we could maximize our time there. We departed Toronto at 6:45am which would have us landing in Vegas around 10:10am local time.

The couples had stayed at Planet Hollywood and Wynn before, but this time we chose MGM because they had the best package on expedia. Based on tips from travel/review sites, we checked into the hotel from their airport reservation desk. The booking was orignally set for two seperate King rooms and a double Queen room for the three guys. When I got to the front, I was helped by Irvin. I asked to get upgraded into Bungalow suites, but he told me nothing was available. What a bummer!

"How about any other suites?" I asked. I really wasn't expecting anything since my research ahead of time told me that the other suites/skylofts were way more expensive.

"Well, it looks like we have one Marquee suite left", he said, as he opened up a binder to show me the layout and pictures of the suite, "but the best I can do it for is an extra $150 per night".

The marquee suite is a two bedroom, two bathroom with living room, dining area and wetbar. Since there was only one available, my initial thought was to have the couples take this room, especially since one of the main reasons we were going was to celebrate Ace's birthday. I asked the couples if they wanted to do it, but they didn't think it was worth it.

"Let me call one of the managers and see if I can do anything better", Irvin told us. He got on the phone and called someone at the main hotel. "$125 per night", was the answer.

The couples discussed it a little bit and decided that they would be fine in the original rooms we were assigned. I was saddened and dissapointed to not get any upgrades =(.

We noticed also that the registration desk also sets up limo service to the hotel, so we asked about that. If I remember correctly, the price was around $65-85. Two cabs combined would only cost us $30 total so we opted out of it. I could see this being easily worth it if you have a group of 6-8 people coming in on Friday, as I've heard the lineup for cabs can be insane. For us, the weekday morning wait was not bad at all.

On our way over to the hotel, I explained to Danny what went down at the registration desk. I was still hanging my head in dissapointment as I was finishing the story to him when he punched me in the shoulder as hard as he could.*

"Why didn't you book the room for us instead then, you idiot!" He was right. I couldn't believe I didn't think of doing that. My mind was so stuck on trying to get the upgrade for the couples that I didn't even consider taking it for the guys. I punches myself a few times for that one, too.*

"Don't worry, I got it", I told him, "when we get to the main desk, I'm gonna tell them the room is too small and I want a suite instead and they'll offer me the same one.*

We get there and I get to speak with one of the managers who confirms there is only one Marquee suite left, but now he tells me that the price is $400 a night! No way we are going to do that, so he drops it down to $200 per night. I pass on his offer and decide that I am going to call Irvin back instead.*It's for situations like this that I try my best to remember the names of people who help me.*

"Hi Irvin, this is Jason calling, I just checked in with you a few minutes ago. I just saw the room and I think that it's way too small for us. I know we said $125 was too much, but if you can do it for $100 a night than I'll do it right now".

"Sure, Jason, I'll do my best. Let me put you on hold again while I contact a manager". I waited anxiously. "I am really sorry, but the room has already been booked by somebody else". Damnit! This means in the time it took me to get from the front desk up to my room to make the call, someone had booked the last suite. Let's think quick, what else can I do.*

"What if we stay in our current room tonight, but get upgraded to the suite for the next two nights of our trip"? After some typing on the computer, he told us that it would most likely be possible. Seven people would be checking out of their Marquee suites the next morning and as long as they all didn't decide to extend their stay the hotel would hold one for me.*

"Your best bet is to call back tomorrow between 9:00 and 11:00 when people start checking out", he explained.*

So a regular Grand Tower room for night one and anticipation and excitement that we would most likely get into the suite for the next two nights.

After grabbing a quick bite in the MGM food court, the plan was to head Premium Outlets North. Marry and Janice were really adamant about going shopping (typical girls?) and AK and Phil had to buy some items to suit up in. We headed out to the strip and bought $7 bus passes that would let us ride along the strip (and beyond) for 24hrs. There's not much exciting to say about the outlets, pretty much the same as you would get anywhere else. We had dinner there at the sushi restaurant, which was nothing fancy, but did the job. On the way back, we took a cab instead of waiting and sitting on the long bus ride. This was a much better way to travel. The cab ride was much shorter and only $15 for the cab. If you ever go to the outlets or to old vegas, this is the way to do it. Pass on the bus, it's just not worth it.

It was about 9:30pm when we got back to MGM. At this time, the group had been awake for between 20 and 30hrs straight depending on who was too excited to sleep before coming. Andy, Marry, Phil and Janice were ready to call it a night, but AK, Danny and myself were ready to hit it up.*

The options were either Pure or Spearmint Rhino's. I really wanted to get to Pure, but I lost the vote two to one, so Rhino's it was. We let the others know our plan. Turns out Phil wasn't all the sleepy, Janice was totally knocked out, so he decided to come out with us and not waste any of the trip staying in. We called for the limo service and everything went smoothly.

We got to the Rhino and the place was alive. It was basically everything that I had expected and hoped for. We got in and were seated quickily by a host named Kevin who I slipped a twenty to after he seated us. There were girls everywhere, and talent was a lot hotter than other stripclubs I've been to (Toronto, Montreal, Niagara Falls). The girls were also a lot more relaxed and casual about the whole thing. They had fun with it and made chit chat as opposed to making it seem like a straight sale and just saying "Do you want a dance?"

So the night was going well and then this is where helping the people who helped me paid off. Kevin came back to check up on us.

"Let me know anything you need", he told us, "whatever kind of girls you guys want, I'll bring them to you. Let me set you up with a very fit, blonde".*

Off he went to find her. In the meantime, a blonde came and sat on my lap while her brunette friend (both 9s) sat in the chair next to us. We chatted and they were talking to me about how much fun they liked having with each other , it was pretty entertaining. That's when Kevin came back and one of the most surprising thing happened. He told the girls that they had to go because there was someone I wanted to meet. That's when he dropped a stunning girl on my lap. Fit, blonde, 10. She fit his description perfectly. She was awesome to talk to and seemed really down to earth and friendly. Everyone was having a lot of fun! It was an awesome place and I would definitely visit again.*

It was probably about 3:00am when we left, and though we were tired, I still wanted to go to Pure. We grabbed a cab and headed over the Caesears. Walked our way through the casino to Pure, the music was still bumping loud. We asked some people who were leaving what it was like inside and they said it was dying down. There were a good number of people coming out and none going in, so we decided to call it a night.*

We made the walk down the strip back to MGM. Passed the Bellagio which looked amazing at night, especially since there was no huge crowd taking pictures off every railing. Also, passed Paris Paris, where we could hear the music and crowd coming off the terrace of Chateau. It's another place that will definitely be on my list to visit sometime.

Day one coming to a close, it felt like we did a lot, especially considering the flight took seven hours out of the day. Went to bed and looked forward to the next day. * * * * * **

** * * * * * * * * *

[JLau]

DAY 2 - WEDNESDAY

Woke up around 9:00am. First thing we did was call the front desk to see if we could get upgraded to our suite. We got transferred lines a couple times. We got in touch with Justin, who typed away and looked through the system.*

"Yeah, no problem. Just come down to the front desk at 3:00pm and we'll move you up. It'll be $100 a night"

Yes! This was great news. I guess that they saved all the info from the conversations I had the day before so it was all good to go!*

We started off the day by heading down to the casino floor. Andy, AK, Danny and myself had agreed ahead of time that we would put together $100 each and place it on eight numbers of the roulette table. We looked at the recent spins to see which sections were hitting. The single zero had just hit twice in a row, so we decided that we would pick the section just left or just right of the circle. Examing the numbers, we liked the right side better, so we laid out our stack of green chips.

The anticipation was high. We were hoping to start off the gambling of this trip on a high note and set a good pace to spend. Tick tick tick. The ball bounced around the wheel.*

"14".

It was not in our section. We had to shake it off and walk away. Better luck next time.*

From there, we walked towards the poker room. We knew that there was a $70 entry tournament going on at 11:00, so Andy, Danny and myself decided to play in it, while Janice and Marry shopped on the strip. We checked out the lion habitat nearby, made some bets on NBA games at the sportsbook and grabbed a quick bite at the deli while we waited.*

There was about 45 players in the tournament with first prize listed at $800. The group was a mix of all age groups and consisted of both locals and tourists. An hour and a half in, the tournament had it's first break and there was about 25 players left. It wasn't looking good because we were all in the bottom half of the pack. About fifteen minutes later, Danny was knocked out. Another fifteen minutes after that, I was done, too. I checked how Andy was doing and his chips were still stacked low. I told him that we were going to move into the suite and that I would text him the room number so that he could meet us there when we he was done.

We rode the elevators up to the 27th floor and found the right hallway to walk down. As we approached the end of the hall, we weren't at our room number yet, but we noticed a pair of double doors right at the very end. This was our suite!

We popped the doors open and were just stunned by how big the suite was and by the wraparound windows with views of the strip and mountains. If you ever get a chance like we did to get a Marquee suite, I highly recommend it. Each of the two bedrooms has a king size bed, it's own tv, a lounge/reading chair, bathroom with tub (one is a jacuzzi), seperate shower, and double sinks. The living space has a large L-shaped sectional, some more lounge chairs, an oversized round dining table with seating for six, and a wetbar with fridge. This suite is great for pregaming/meeting.

After we calmed down from all the running around and yelling we did, about an hour and a half had passed since we had last seen Andy. We assume that he went to gamble more on some table games so we texted him to come up to the suite. A couple minutes later, he rang the doorbell when he arrived (did I remember the mention that we had a doorbell?).*

He walked in and was as impressed with the suite as we were. After touring him around the suite, we relaxed in the living area to watched some tv while we waited for the girls to come back from shopping. Andy pulled out a single chip and flicked it onto the table.*

"Check it out guys", he said, with a big grin on his face. The chip was black, so I couldn't imagine he was trying to impress us with $100. I picked it up and read what was on it.*

"MGM Grand Poker Tournament Champion"

We all looked up at Andy to confirm what we were thinking.*

"Yup, first place guys"! We congratulated him as he told us about some of the big hands, how he turned things around to get into first place, and about the point in which he knew he'd be the winner. Andy is a great story teller and this made us forget about losing on the roulette table and really pumped us up to have fun gambling.

Shortly after, Marry and Janice returned and came up to the suite with a mountain of shopping bags in tow. They were amazed by the suite as well and regretted not taking it for themselves when we checked in on the first day. They assumed we hadn't had lunch yet, so they brought us back some sandwichs from Earl of Sandwich in Planet Hollywood. I don't know what it is about these sandwiches, but they were pretty amazing. We chowed down on them while the girls told us about the little shopping adventures they had.

It was about 3:30pm now and we had a couple hours to kill, so we decided to head across the street to NYNY so that we could try out the rollercoaster. I've been on some pretty extreme coasters before so I didn't really expect much out of this one, but it was surprisingly fun. We goofed around in the arcade there, grabbed some pretzels and pizza, and chilled out on some yard glass slushies.

We had about an hour to go before our 7:30pm dinner reservation at Craftsteak, so I decided that I would take a quick power nap. I was in a deep sleep when Danny knocked on my door and told me it was time to get ready. I looked at the clock and it was already 8:00pm. What happened?!

I sprung out of bed and Danny told me that the couples had taken much longer to get ready so we weren't going to make it to Craftsteak. Our tickets to KA were for 9:30pm, so we only had time to grab some quick food and eat it in our suite.

We got down to the KA theatre and took our seats. Our tickets were very front row, right in the centre. When we picked the tickets we knew that this could be a curse or a blessing. It was awesome to see some of the action right up close and literally be an arms reach away from some of the stunts. On the other hand, it was difficult to see some of the peripheral action as it was going on way to the sides, above, and even behind us. The show was amazing overall though and I recommend it to anyone interested.

After we wrapped up at KA, we called for limo service, this time to check out Sapphires. It's a nice looking club, but I preferred the vibe over at Rhino's much more. Sapphire's had fewer girls with a lower talent level. When we walked in, we were told there were no tables for our group unless we wanted to get bottle service. We passed on that and hung out by the bar instead. No one was having a good time doing that, so I went to ask Joe, one of the other hosts what I needed to do to get a table.*

"Well, there's one right there, you want that one"? It was right in the front, close to the stage so it was an awesome spot. "Give me a thousand bucks and it's yours", he told me jokingly. "You don't have to give me anything for it, just take a seat and have fun tonight". I tipped him anyway.*

That was one of the other things I didn't like about Sapphires though. I really appreciated Joe's help with the table, but after seeing how easy it was for him to help us out, it made me feel like they were just pushing for bottles or hustling tip up at the front podium. I don't see myself going back there.

The plan was to hit up Surrender, but everything took a lot longer than we had expected, so it was already 2:00am by the time we were leaving Sapphires. Most of the crew was tired, so it would only be me and Danny staying out. We all loaded into an SUV and the two of us were dropped off at Casears while the rest went back to MGM.

I messaged Mikey T to let him know we were coming by. When we got to the front, there was a small crowd there so I asked what the situation was with the line. It was pick and choose time, which basically means you have to know someone, tip the right amount or be a group of hot chicks. If I had to tip someone, I wanted it to be Mikey, but unfortunately he wasn't available. One of the other doormen, Bruce, asked me who I was waiting for and when I told him it was Mikey he just let us in.

Surrender was stunning, as many of you know. The indoor portion of the club was bigger than what i expected from pictures and what people were telling me. There were gaming tables and cabanas in the back alive and lined with people. The thing that tops the whole place off though is ofcourse the pool. Lit up with a mix of lights under the stars, it was just amazing. It was still quite busy and the music was mostly house with a splash of top40, which was right in line with Danny's taste in music.*

"This is th best DJ I've ever heard", he said to me, "make sure you find out who it is".

A few kamikazies in and having a great time, we bumped into Q from the group LMFAO. We knew that Sky Blu would be at Tryst the next night (which we planned to go to), but it was cool just to chat with him while they weren't performing. We talked about all the partying, different clubs and the scene in general in Vegas.

I wish we had gotten there sooner. We had fun though, did our thing and called it a wrap to Day 2. * * * * * * * * * * *

[JLau]

DAY 3 - THURSDAY

Woke up around 9:00am on Thursday morning. The original plan was to go to either Wet Republic or Liquid, but the weather was just awful. It was cold and windy, so the pools were a bust. We weren't going to make it to any of them on this trip.

Instead, we decided to cruise the strip and do some touristy stuff. Planet Hollywood was alive and buzzing. Cosmopolitan was nice; brand new and decked out in chandeliers. Bellagio was full of people snapping pictures and Caesars was a fun time to stroll through, having fun talking about The Hangover.*

From there, the group split up with Phil and Janice going to a sushi restaurant at the Wynn and the rest of us heading back down towards MGM just hanging out.

Dinner time rolled around and Phil and Janice stayed in and ordered room service to continue their romantic night. AK was just too sick at this point. He had been having trouble eating and sleeping since Day 1 and it finally caught up to him. We bought him some medicine and let him go to bed. Andy, Marry, Danny and myself went to Planet Dailys back at Planet Hollywood again to grab dinner. The meal was decent with pretty big portions, so we finished up nice and full.*

Now, Thursday was supposed to be the big night at Tryst with the whole crew going for bottle service together, but with the couples wanting to do their own thing and AK being sick, it got cut down to just me and Danny. I texted Mikey T, to let him know our booth would need to go to one bottle instead and he said it was fine.

When we got to the Wynn, I couldn't believe how insane the line was by 11:00pm. We squeezed our way to the front, but there were only two or three hosts handling the dozens of table reservations. They had their phones ringing off the hooks, too, so it was really hard for me to get their attention. I texted Mikey again and asked for contact info for a host that was there and he gave me Kelly Yeager's number. I called him and he told me I had to talk to any host available. We were already there for thirty minutes, so I was thinking that this would prove to be difficult. Within two or three minutes though, Kelly calls me back and he's right at the front. We spot each other and he takes us right through.*

Kelly walks us past the crowd to a little podium near the stairs where someone else is there to walk us to our booth. I hand Kelly a tip for helping us out.*

Now this next part confused me a little, but maybe Mikey T can explain it from his end if he reads this. And I apologize to Mikey or anyone else if I put them out or caused any trouble by doing this.*

Kelly takes a look at the table chart and he gives me back the tip.*

"Take this back for now, we have some tables that are on the fence right now so I'm not sure what's going to happen", he tells me. So we wait there a bit, but he has to go to take care of some other people. The table runner then walks us down and shows us our table in the lounge area.*

The lounge is much worse than I had expect from peoples descriptions. Basically, I would never recommend a table there as it's totally seperate from the club. The table runner told us we could take that or just pay cover to get in. We knew that we weren't gonna spend any time at the table if it was out there, so we just paid cover.

Since it was just Danny and myself anyway, I was happy with how it worked out. We basically ended up getting walked passed the line for nothing. Mikey and Kelly provided exceptional service and were on the ball with everything, but I didn't even get to help them out in any way. Hopefully the next time we are there.

Tryst was awesome. Good music, good crowd. Dancefloor in the middle, booths surrounding it, bars along the walls, and tables outside surrounding the lake and waterfall. Had an awesome time taking shots, meeting people and soaking it all in.

At about 1:00am Sky Blu and the Party Rock crew roll in to do their DJ set. We were on the dancefloor when they came on so we managed to get a spot right along the front of the DJ booth. It was awesome because it was basically all girls up at the front so we had a blast chatting them up, singing along with them and dancing. We stayed in that same spot for two hours straight. It was definitely the highlight of my Vegas trip.

At about 3:00am, Sky Blu was still spinning, but the crowd around the DJ booth started to die down so we went around the rest of the club instead. We could see some of the booths clearing out and a lot of people leaving, but lots of people were coming in still, too. The club was still alive. I can't remember what time we left, but I know we walked out of there with big grins on our faces. * * **

[JLau]

DAY 4 - FRIDAY

Woke up at around 11:00am so that we could check out by noon. Our flight wasn't until 10:10pm, so Marry booked us a cheap room at Exaclibur so that we would have a home base. Went for breakfast at Denny's, then back to MGM grand to tour the CSI exhibit. They show you a crime scene and then you take the clues to different stations to solve the crime. The concept was cool, but it was a pretty easy and corny thing overall. I wouldn't recommend doing it.

After that, we picked up our luggage from the bell desk and walked across the street to Excalibur. Walking across the street isn't that easy in Vegas, especially with bags.

We go up to our room in Tower 1, and can't help but crack jokes about moving to a new hotel.*

"MGM bankrupted us in blackjack so we had to downgrade".*

"No, it's the other way. They caught us counting cards so they booted us out".

We ended up hanging out in Excalibur for the rest of the time we were there. Me and Andy had an awesome run at Blackjack having a lot of fun with the dealers and winning a few hundred each. Then as we were about to leave to the airport, Andy wanted to extend out luck a little more.*

"Do you want to put in a hundred each and spread twenty five bucks on eight numbers?", he asked me. Ofcourse I did! So we laid out the numbers on Andy and Marry's lucky section. Tick tick tick the ball rolls around.*

"20"!

Yes! This time it's right! So we each pocket $400 and leave a hundred on the table on four numbers. This time it's a miss, but we are still happy to run away with our quick profit.

Next, we finish off back at McCarran where the whole adventure started. We reminisce about the highlights of the trip. We pick the dates when we will be back again, deciding that May 2012, we'll be there all together again.

Until then Vegas, until then. * **

[JLau]

WHAT I LEARNED IN VEGAS - RANDOM THOUGHTS/IDEAS

SPENDING
Know when to save, but more importantly, know when to spend. Doing research ahead of time can save you money on flights, hotels, shows, etc.. so take advantage of those deals when you can. But when it comes to clubs, restaurants, etc.. bigger is almost always better. There were a few times where we went over our budget on certain things but it was wiry every cent when we did. Related, control your gambling so it doesn't take away from your spending money. This slowed some of our group down on the last couple days.

HOOKING UP
I know there's a big thread on this and the consensus is that you can pick up anywhere in Vegas. I completely agree with this, but I have an idea for next time. Simply put, go where only girls would go.*

Cosmopolitan seemed like a very girly hotel to me and there were definitely a lot of girls around. Also, some of the girls we met said that Marquee on Wednesday was about 80% women. Staying in a hotel that is mostly full of women seems like a good idea. Maybe someone else can give some input.*

Also, when we were at Excalibur we went up to the Octane bar which is right outside Thunder from Downunder. As you can imagine, we only saw groups of girls/bachelorette parties going to buy tickets. Although we didn't get to test it out, I assume this would be a great place to pick up after the show. I know we have a lot of Aussies on this board, too, which would probably be even better for them. You could say that you are there to hang out because your mates are in the show. Chippendales would probably he good for this, too, although it's off the strip at Rio.

WEEKDAYS vs WEEKENDS
This being my first trip, I have yet to do the weekend, but I could tell that Friday when we were there had a totally different vibe than the other days. It's true that there is always a massive party going on somewhere during the week, but we could tell the weekends would just be that much more insane.

We didn't actually get to go to the pools during the week because of weather. I wish I could comment on how they are, but I think finding a pool party is probably the biggest downfall of going midweek.

I've heard that crowds get crazy everywhere on the weekend, and again, on Friday we already noticed a huge difference. If you can't handle crowds, do midweek.

HOW A VEGAS VIRGIN BECOMES AN ADDICT
Planning my first trip I had a tonne of questions and these forums were a great resource for helping me find answers. If I have advice for people planning their first trip, I would say don't stress about the details too much. Tao vs. Tryst? XS or Marquee? When you are new to Vegas, it doesn't really matter because you will have an amazing time at either.*

The important part is that next time you go, you can visit the other place. That's how you become an addict. There is just too much to do and do many places to cover in one or even a small number of trips. You have to go back multiple times. After you've started to experience it more, that's when you can start choosing your favourite spots like some of the Vegas vets here have, and then you'll be hooked forever.*

This trip was amazing, even though not everythig worked out as planned. It makes me so excited to go back because insee potential for it to be so much more. Be willing to spend and be willing to get a little crazy and you'll have a blast.*

[ashroid]

JLau, while I love reading the all the other reviews about how wild their trips were, I must say yours deserves a sticky because I could tell you put a lot of thought into it and you also seemed genuinely concerned about your group.

I've been in so many group trips I lost count and I've lost a lot of patience travelling with most couples. It's basically two separate trips when that happens: singles vs couples.

& I definitely like mid-week trips instead of weekend trips.

[Warren11]

Thanks for taking the time to write this, its very illuminating and informative, agree this needs a sticky.

[JLau]

Thanks a lot ashroid and Warren.

I was hoping their would be no seperation between the singles and couples, but I guess deep down I wasn't at all surprised that it happened. Just had to keep a good attitude, make the best of it and still have fun.