Saturday, January 9, 2016

Review - Encore Resort, Las Vegas

I've been waiting for Trip Advisor to approve and publish my review of my three night stay at Encore and, TA DA! -  here it is!

My Trip Advisor Review of the Encore Resort

"Long anticipated 3 night stay! Top notch!"

I've been looking forward to staying at the Encore resort for a while now.  It has always been on my list of places to check out but we always went with other options in the past.  I finally got to stay for 3 nights here in December and it was better than I was hoping it would be!  I have been making my way through a variety of Las Vegas hotels looking for a place I can consider my "home resort" and stop hotel hopping and this is it!

The hotels we have stayed with in the past are NYNY, Mirage, Vdara, Mandalay Bay, THE Hotel/Delano, Bellagio and on this trip we also used a comp room at Paris (but we did not sleep in it).

The check in line around 3pm was medium length but moved fairly quickly and I was with an agent under 10 minutes.  This was a very nice improvement and huge contrast to the 45 minutes we spent waiting in line to check in at the Bellagio on our previous trip to Vegas.  :/

My room in the Encore hotel was a Panoramic designated room which is to say that it was on one of the higher up floors.  We had sweeping views of the mountains in the distance which were lovely.  The house keeping staff keeps the rooms immaculate and they pay a lot of attention to the little details!  There are many decorative beveled edges on furniture and fixtures (easy to collect dust) and especially on black, dust is highlighted.  There was almost no dust to be seen and that was impressive!  (Bellagio disappointed me with their layers of old dust.)

Besides the incredible attention to detail from the house keeping staff, the room itself is gorgeous and very modern!  I believe they were just renovated earlier in 2015.  A mirrored wall does a fantastic job of keeping the room light and bright.  Artwork and decor around the room are sophisticated and tasteful.  The curtains are motorized and my husband enjoyed the blackout qualities of them very much.  Some hotel rooms leave a gap at the edges of the windows but that did not happen here.

The number one modern technology feature that impressed me was the inclusion of power stations at three different areas - at the desk and on either side of the bed.  Each power station includes two USB charging ports and two regular electrical outlets.  I also noticed an additional electrical outlet accessible on the base of the bedside lamp.  You will not lack for places to plug your electronics and devices in!  I always pack my own own power strip when I travel but did not need it at all this time!

The WiFi signal in the hotel was strong and I did not have any problems connecting or logging in.  You do need to log in each day which is a minor inconvenience.

I found the bed to be comfortable with a foam cushion topping a firm mattress.  The pillows on the bed are feather pillows which we were not too satisfied with after the 1st night.  I called for alternate pillows and they sent up a pair of foam pillows instead which were better.  Again, the house keeping staff who took my call and brought the pillows up were very attentive and timely and inquired if I needed anything else.

The mini bar is the touch scale charging system which I have come to expect in most all hotel rooms by now.  In case you have not encountered this before, all of the food on the counter and drinks in the mini bar are sitting on weight sensitive bases. As soon as the weight is removed, you have a few seconds to replace or it will automatically get charged to your room. Unless you really want to buy a $6 tiny box of gummy bears, my suggestion is "look but don't touch".

I was in love with the spacious and very clean bathroom!  The water pressure and temperature were very good - no sporadic service like other hotels we have experienced.  A pair of luxury bathrobes are provided for your use during your stay.  They are silky on the outside and warm & plushy on the inside though you could wear it inside out if you prefer.

In the hotel, we ate lunch at Wazuzu, the asian fusion restaurant and at Zoozacrackers, the Jewish style deli.  Both were good!  I've been to Wazuzu before and had been looking forward to having the authentic and delicious tonkotsu ramen again.  My husband tried the Drunken Noodles which I also had on my radar from seeing it on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network.  It also did not disappoint and was just the right amount of savory and spicy.  We expected the meal here to be on the high end and we were not wrong.  About $65 for two, ouch.

At Zuzacrackers I ordered the potato latkes as well as the matzo ball soup.  I enjoyed the potato latkes (potato pancake) very much and the chicken soup however the matzo ball, though tasty, was overwhelmingly gigantic and dominated the soup bowl.  Next time, I think I'll skip the matzo ball and just go for the chicken noodle soup.  We also had coffee with our meal which you can bring back (here or at the coffee shop) for a refill at no charge.  We found our deli meal to be somewhat reasonably priced under $40 for the two of us.

We also ate at the buffet on our last night.  The wait was very long and we came back multiple times checking to see how much less the wait was.  It went slowly down from 90 minutes, to 60 minutes to 45 minutes to 30 minutes.  We got in line at 30 minutes.  But the gal at the front of the line was off on her wait time estimate and it took us an hour to get through to the front.  :/  I think if we had known ahead of time that the line time was still actually very long, we would have paid for the VIP passes to get to the front of the line.

Overall I was really impressed with my entire stay at the Encore.  The atmosphere and furnishings are undeniably elegant, sophisticated and not over the top.  The employees here were all friendly and perform their job functions well.  Housekeeping and maintenance are on top of the high quality of the guest experience.  I'm really looking forward to the next time I am able to book a stay here again!


Room on the 60th floor.  2 floors below the top.
 
Sweeping views from the room. Loved seeing the mountains in the distance.

Entrance hallway with French door closet on left and extra large mirror on the right.

 
Bathroom to the left as you enter the room. Abundant towels and a non-slip bathmat are provided.
 
 
Tasteful and elegant bathroom. Glass enclosed shower with hand held wand and deep tub, no Jacuzzi.

Lots of towels, scale, hair dryer, makeup mirror.  Use the nightlight switch for dim glow under the cabinets.

Separate water closet.  Two bathrobes for your enjoyment during your stay. Silky outside, plushy inside.

Bedroom area to the left separated by a swivel TV and drawer space.


Side wall is fully mirrored to reflect light.


Raised cabinet with weight sensitive snack tray on top.
Inside are the mini bar, ice bucket, glasses and pull out storage drawer.
 
Comfortable king size bed.  Each side of the nightstand has a power center (below).
 
Hidden power center pops up and is flush when closed.  Two USB ports & two electrical sockets plus one on the lamp base.
  

Living area on the opposite side of the separation wall with swivel TV.

Desk and lounge couch in the living area.
 

 Desk and lounge couch in the living area.



Atrium on the ground floor of the Wynn Resort.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

DEAL ALERT - Wynn & Encore Standard Deluxe King Rooms, Feb & Mar 2016

It's back!!  I posted about this deal last year for Nov and Dec rooms at Wynn and Encore:

http://momsvacationaddiction.blogspot.com/2015/07/deal-alert-wynn-encore-standard-deluxe.html

Wynn/Encore has brought this same deal back in 2016!   The standard Deluxe King rooms are being offered again at $109 plus bonus freebies on selected dates in February and March 2016.  Here is a photo with the cheapest dates in red.  Don't forget about the pesky $29 resort fee and 12% taxes in addition which will bring the actual per night total to $154.56.  The promo code for this offer is: DAISY2.

This time around, the dates for the lowest room rates are different for Wynn versus Encore.  I'll post calendar pics below.  One other thing to note is that the prices are NOT static!  They can and do fluctuate going up and down!  You can always call or write into Wynn's guest services if the price drops and they will most likely be able to honor the current room price on a room you booked previously at a higher price.  My recommendation is to book sooner rather than later to lock in these lowest rates!  You can always exercise your right to cancel.

To take the most advantage of the free perks you do need to book three consecutive nights.  The free perks include $100 of slot play credit and two passes to the buffet.  They unfortunately do not include VIP buffet line passes so be prepared for a long wait if you don't wish to dish out your own cash for front of the line access.

Click the link at the top of the page to read my previous Deal Alert including room layout pics comparing Wynn rooms to Encore Rooms.  I will also be posting a review and pics from my three night stay at Encore.  Stay tuned!


Encore Deluxe King Room Feb & March 2016
 
 
 
Wynn Deluxe King Room Feb & March 2016


Offer Terms & Conditions

I've added a screen cap pic of the Terms and Conditions of this offer but here is the direct link to view: DAISY2 Offer Terms and Conditions.

One Night in Atlantic City - Borgata Hotel

My husband and I splurged on a date night to Atlantic City and stayed at the Borgata on the advice of some very helpful members of the Wizard of Vegas forums.  :)  We had been to Atlantic City once before for a couple of hours but it was so long ago that this was basically a 1st trip for us.

I had managed to book a standard room at the Borgata few weeks prior to our arrival.  It wasn't the best price I'd seen but for $169 it was also not the worst.  August is still a high tourist season and we stayed on a weeknight so this is pretty much as low as it was going to get with such short notice.  Taxes and such brought the total to $192.

We drove up from Stone Harbor where we were on a week long extended family & friends vacation in a beach house rental.  It was really nice to get away from the kids and house-mates for the night and spend some time together taking in the atmosphere of the AC Boardwalk.  It was about a 45 minute drive and we used GPS to head straight to the parking garage in our rental car.  Parking is a flat $5 upon every exit!  I tucked that bit of information away for later.

We checked in around 5pm.  There was a short line and the wait was about 5 minutes.  The check in process was not what I was used to compared to Las Vegas checking in!  I'm used to having a genuine friendly interaction checking in at Vegas; here, the prevailing attitude is that the employee is at work today to do Me a favor.  I asked if there were any complimentary room upgrades available and was told no.  Ok, no problem.  How much would the cost be to upgrade?  This is when things got weird for me.  The clerk spent 5 minutes typing then told me, she didn't know and I would have to talk to central reservation.  Uh ok.  She called on her desk phone and handed it to me once she explained that I wanted to know the cost for a room upgrade.  I needed to verify my name and address before she could quote me an upgrade fee?  It was all for naught as the "upgrade fee" was the difference between my room cost and the current rack rate for the evening.  Right.  No thank you.

It was just as well that the room upgrade didn't happen as our standard King room turned out to be quite lovely!   I was pleased with the cleanliness and décor choices of both our room and the hotel.  Everything seems fairly new and in very good condition. 

The bathroom was good sized and came stocked with upscale toiletries from "lather".  I quite liked the oatmeal bath soap which had a citrus scent.  One thing to note is that there is no tub accommodation - only a large shower.  So if you were hoping for a nice relaxing soak, you're out of luck.











Our one night was spent out on the Boardwalk taking in the night air and atmosphere and we didn't spend a lot of time in our room.  The bed and pillows were comfortable and the sheets were quite nice.  Sheet sets are available as a point reward on the MyVegas casino Facebook/mobile game if this is something you'd like for use at home.  I'd like to note that The Borgata became a MyVegas reward partner after my stay happened.  At the time of this writing, there are discounted $89 rooms available as a MyVegas reward for 5000 loyalty points and if you are lucky they will bring back free rooms for 50,000 loyalty points.  Discounted and free rooms are for Sunday through Thursday stays only and not available to be used on weekend (Fri-Sat) nights.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

DEAL ALERT - Wynn & Encore Standard Deluxe King Rooms, Nov & Dec 2015

I have been wanting to stay at the Encore for some time now.  I chose at Bellagio for our June trip because it was $50 cheaper per night and we had never been there before either.  I really liked our evening spent at the Wynn/Encore complex to watch Le Reve and try the casino - it was not too crowded and had a laid back feel.  Here are a couple pics I took that night:

Decorative parasols on motorized bungies slowly moving up and down.

Casino floor - look how empty! Practically non-smoking with the sparse attendance.
 The standard Deluxe King rooms at the Wynn and Encore are being offered at $109 plus bonus freebies on selected dates in November and December 2015.  Here is a photo with the cheapest dates in red.  Don't forget about the pesky $29 resort fee and 12% taxes in addition which will bring the actual per night total to $154.56.  The promo code for this offer is: AMBER2.


Wynn & Encore Deluxe King - November and December, 2015

In order to take full advantage of the free perks, you do need to book a minimum of 3 nights.  What are these free perks you may wonder?  $100 of free slot play credit and 2 passes to the buffet!  Woo woo!  I have long wanted to try out an Encore room for my next Vegas trip and having a trifecta of great price, free slot play and free buffet is too awesome to turn down!  I'm not a big gambler so I don't expect to qualify for freebies.  Knowing that I'm getting some free extra perks up front makes me feel even better about scoring a deal!


Offer Terms and Conditions.
I've posted an image above of the Offer Terms and Conditions but here is the direct link to view: AMBER2 Offer Terms and Conditions

One interesting thing I noted above is some language that parallels some room offers in the past.  If you book a Wynn room, they could upgrade you to the equivalent Encore room pending space availability.  There is usually a price differential between the Wynn and Encore rooms of equivalent type but as of this writing, they are exactly the same price of $109 for these dates.  Since there's no difference in the price, I recommend just going for a guaranteed Encore room.

As with all Terms and Conditions, it's important to read the "fine print" and make note of special circumstances.  One of these things to note are the stated blackout dates for the buffet.  If your dates happen to fall on the blackout dates, (Nov 26, Dec 22-24 for the $109 nights) or the buffet is otherwise closed for maintenance, they reserve the right to replace the 2 free buffet passes for $50 of dining credit.

Another item to note is the credit card deposit requirement of the cost of 1 night.  This is pretty standard and you are due a full refund as long as you cancel at least two full days (48 hours) before your check in date.

This deal may only be accessible after signing up for their free Insider Club slash Red Card and may not be offered to new accounts.  I played a very small amount on my Wynn player card on my June trip (200 points) so not sure if this room deal may not be offered to all new signups.  I don't have a way to double check but if someone lets me know that this deal didn't work for them as a new club signup, I'll update this blog post as a YMMV (your mileage may vary).

What are some of the differences between the standard Wynn Deluxe King room and the Encore Deluxe King room?  I think the big main differences are the square footage and room layouts.  The Wynn King is set up like a typical, albeit roomy, hotel room.  The Encore King is compartmentalized with a living area space walled off from the bedroom space (but not a separate room).  The outdoor facing windows are in the living room side allowing you to enjoy some downtime in the daytime with the curtains open but still have greater darkness when trying to sleep in in the mornings.

Wynn Deluxe King Room:
  • 640 square feet
  • Wynn Pillow Top Dream Bed (same)
  • Golf Course or LV Strip views
  • 42" LCD TV (same)
  • 13" TV, dual vanity sinks, separate water closet, separate glass shower & large tub (same)
Wynn Standard Deluxe room details and floorplans


Encore Deluxe King Room:
  • 745 square feet
  • Wynn Pillow Top Dream Bed (same)
  • Pool, DT LV, or LV Strip views
  • 42" LCD TV (same)
  • 13" TV, dual vanity sinks, separate water closet, separate glass shower & large tub (same)


Room Tips:
  • If you want peace and quiet, request a room that is Not pool facing.  I'm told the pool club is loud and runs into the wee hours.
  • There is a $16 per day charge for WiFi.  :(  Not cool, this should be a service included in the Resort Fee.  It's possible there is a hard Ethernet port available in the room to plug a laptop in.  I'll have to remember to bring an extra cord with me to test that out.

UPDATE - I booked this room for the 3 night minimum in order to get the freebie perks.  The  1 night deposit total was $122 - $109 + $13 tax.  I received a confirmation email almost immediately and it included a room upgrade offer.  (I just noticed, the upgrade offer was also on the Encore booking confirmation screen right after I completed payment of the deposit.)

I've experienced these types of "eStandby" upgrade offers before at Great Wolf Lodge.  The hotel shows you every possible better room they have and a price to upgrade to that room type that is lower than the cost would be to book that room type in the first place.  You are allowed to choose one, some, all or none of the offerings.  When you check in, you may or may not get one of these "surprise" room upgrades at the price shown on the selection page.  (Print it out in order to verify correct pricing.) 

I would like to note that none of these room types were available in the special offer as available room types.  They are good prices added onto my original room price of $109, especially considering that the only other available discount for these future dates are the 15% insider discount.  For myself, I am going to take a pass on these pre-paid room upgrades.  This is my 1st experience at Encore and I'm sure I will love the standard room anyway.  Plus, this gives me a chance to work my check in magic and see if I can accomplish any complimentary upgrades.  ;)

Here is the per night pricing and room type:

Encore Panoramic King Suite - $33, a $50 value
  • Floor-to-ceiling windows offer spectacular views of the Las Vegas strip, Encore pool, or historic downtown Las Vegas from the 31st-63rd floors guaranteed.
Encore Panoramic 2 Queen Suite - $42, a $70 value
  • Floor-to-ceiling windows offer spectacular views of the Las Vegas strip, Encore pool, or historic downtown Las Vegas from the 31st-63rd floors guaranteed.
 Encore Tower Suite - $83, a $110 value
  •     Twice-daily housekeeping service and nightly turndown.
  •     Private drive entrance, access to the Tower Suites pool, exclusive check-in and personal concierge.
  •     Complimentary fitness center access.
  •     No resort fees.
 Encore Tower Suite with Breakfast - $101, a $140 value
  •     Complimentary in-room breakfast for two daily.
  •     Twice-daily housekeeping service and nightly turndown.
  •     Private drive entrance, access to the Tower Suites pool, exclusive check-in and personal concierge.
  •     Complimentary fitness center access.
  •     No resort fees.
 Encore Salon Suite 2261 sq ft - $528 eek!, a $911 value (Looks amazing but out of my budget!)
  •     Entry foyer with private massage room and separate powder room.
  •     Large living room with 65” LCD HDTV and Blu-ray DVD player.
  •     Dining alcove with stand-alone marble wet bar and refrigerator.
  •     Private bedroom with 46” LCD HDTV.
  •     Bathroom with glass-enclosed rain shower, 13“ LCD TV and air jet tub.
  •     Complimentary in-room breakfast for two daily.
  •     Twice-daily housekeeping service and nightly turndown.
  •     No resort fees.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Mini-Rant about Southwest Early Bird Check In

Almost all of our trips to Vegas are flown on Southwest where I have amassed over 100,000 points.  We are able to get direct flights from the Seattle airport which makes for a quick and easy 2.5 hour (or less) flight.  We only need to pay for the Sept 11 fees which are $11.20 per person for the roundtrip flight. 

On our most recent trip in June 2015, I paid for my husband to have the Early Bird check in which cost $12.50 each way, a total of $25 extra.  Early Bird check in is a fee service where Southwest will automatically check you in and supposedly you get a much better assigned spot in the boarding line.  Since boarding is first come first served according to when you check in, this can often be a great service to have if you're unable to check in right at the 24 hour mark.  This would allow my husband to get on board before I do, grab 2 seats together closer to the front of the plane and have a spot in the overhead bin for our rolling carry on.

Well, I've since discovered that paying for the Early Bird is something of a crap shoot.  Early Bird is available to everyone - Southwest does not limit it to a certain number of people.  What ended up happening on our flight to Vegas is that my husband was a whole 3 seats ahead of me in the boarding line.  This specific flight, it was not worth the extra fee paid.  :( 

I tried asking what the deal was at the check in counter and they tried to upsell me on the premium boarding for another $40.  Um, no thanks!  Early Bird is also first come first serve based on who paid for it when.  Since there is no cap on the number of people who can purchase this "service", this is how we ended up paying $12.50 for my husband to be a whopping 3 places ahead of me.

So, I guess my lesson learned is - you might not get what you pay for. ??  I think it's still worth the small cost and the small risk even though you might end up with a poor boarding spot barely better than self check in at the 24 hour mark.  It would be Great if Southwest put a cap on the Early Bird to A16-60 so at least if you're buying it, you know you'll be in the first boarding group.  I highly doubt that Southwest would cap their own cash cow however so I'm not holding my breath.

Trip Report & Budget Analysis - June 7-9, Las Vegas

Is it weird that I meticulously keep track of all of our trip spending?  I've long since graduated from having to travel on a shoe string budget but I think I still maintain those roots of wanting to get the most bang for my buck and wanting to know where every dollar was spent.  I also find it helpful to share this info in the hopes that it will help someone else to save money. :)

I do enjoy spoiling myself now that we can afford to do so.  But that doesn't mean I have given up on wanting to get a good Value for my money.  Anything that I spend money on, I want to feel that it was really worth it.  I like digging for a good deal on something whose worth is a lot more!

Here is a basic breakdown of our trip budget. 

Tips  - $55.70
Food  - $182.25
Shopping/Entertainment - $262.59
Room Cost - $264.32
Gambling Money In - $644.00
Transportation - $162.11
Total Spent - $1570.97
Money Won - $553.95

Net Spent $1,017.02

I always intend to try to have a cheap trip but invariably I end up splurging on something that pretty much blows the budget up to something obscene.  This time, it was the tickets to see Le Reve but it was a show that I enjoyed very much so it was worth the splurge.  ;)

We flew on Southwest and used miles for free air tickets paying about $36 out of pocket for Sept 11 fees and Early Bird check in for my husband.  The non-stop flight over was uneventful.

We decided on this trip that we would not rent a car but take taxis or walk.  I had planned out our full day to stay at the Bellagio hotel, sleep in and lounge at the pool so that we would not have to incur any taxi fare costs that day.  Based on my estimate of transportation needs, the taxi cost would have been about equal to the cost of a car rental.  But we would have had to wait for the valet to bring our car around or walk to the self parking lots.  We ended up shaving a small amount off of our taxi budget estimates by walking back from our evening show.  All told, we only took three taxi trips for a total of less than $40.  Tips added an additional $7.  The bulk of our transportation costs were for parking our car in an airport area garage and getting it washed - $85.

One drawback that I was aware about for taking the taxi though is the often long line up of people waiting.  This was especially true at the airport where we spent a good 30 minutes winding through the queue which was a lot LESS enjoyable than a Disney themed one.  At least it was covered so we were out of the hot sun but it was still an uncomfortably warm temperature.  When we finally got into our cab, the taxi fare from the airport to the Bellagio was a very reasonable $17 plus $3 tip.

We arrived at the Bellagio and were met with another huge line to check in. :(  It took us 45 minutes to make our way to the front desk to check in.  I've left a separate review of my stay at the Bellagio so I don't clog up this trip report too much with redundancies.

When we got into our room, I took a few photos and simultaneously started settling in while getting ready to go out for the night.  We had tickets to see Le Reve for the early 7pm show time and I had planned for us to get there ahead of time, pick up our tickets from the box office and have a light early dinner.  Everything worked out according to plan and after browsing the different restaurants at the Wynn and Encore, we opted to eat at Wazuzu.  Here is my review of our dinner at Wazuzu on Trip Advisor.  We also took some time to wander around the Wynn/Encore ground level a little bit and enjoy the atmosphere.  I found it to be relaxing, similar vibe to Bellagio but more laid back and much less crowded.

Light dinner at Wazuzu.
 
We sat right at the edge of the restaurant looking out to the casino floor.

Wynn also has a conservatory area just like Bellagio.
 
Hedge maze out by the pool.

Cool lattice under the greenhouse ceilings and interesting light fixtures.
 

These gigantic decorative parasols moved up and down on slow motorized bungies.

After dinner we saw Le Reve which I had heard was a step up and off of the Cirque evolutionary tree.  The Wynn website has a $30 per ticket discount when you book your tickets at least 30 days in advance.  There is still a $15 fee to book online so that plus taxes cut into the discount somewhat.  Before taxes and fees however, the $30 discount brought the price down to $104 per ticket.  With the discount, taxes and fees, all together, we paid $245.30 for both tickets.  The seats we got were moderately good and not too close to the circular stage Sec F, Row F, seats 5 & 6.  The VIP champagne seats are up at the very top of the round seating theater.  You will be able to see exactly what seats you will be assigned at the time of purchase.  Over the course of a few days, I checked the other dates and times that we would be available for this trip and booked these on day 31 prior to performance.  I could have gotten slightly better seats (Sec F, Row F, Seats 3&4) only because they are a teensy bit closer to the aisle for easy in and out access, but that was the 1st day I started checking the seat availability and I didn't know if I could get any better ones by waiting.  Turned out that I couldn't.  ;)  For the three other shows I checked, the late show and both shows the following day, the seats were slightly closer to the stage in row D.  I was happy with our seats and don't know if we could have gotten better pricing.  Tickets for Tonight is always an option but there is no guarantee that seats will be available on the day of performance which is when they are able to be bought from T4T.

Overall, I enjoyed Le Reve.  There were a good number of high dives into the pool and the specialized stage and effects are pushing the show technology.  But I felt that the attention was meant to be on the show technology more than the performers and my enjoyment preference is for amazing performance rather than tech.  I also felt that the vocal recording of Steve Wynn at the end of the show was  self congratulatory and pretty tacky.

After the show, my husband grabbed a $7 mocha latte from the café and I bought two cloisonné magnets from the gift shop for $15.  I picked up a casino players card and we stayed to gamble for a short while.  It was here at the Encore that we first discovered our favorite slot machine - 1,000,000 degrees!  We first noticed it because it is a big, wide machine with a bench seat meant for two and we always like to look for those so we can sit together. :)  We both won and lost and eventually quit once we broke even on our losses.

After leaving the Wynn, we walked over to the Venetian where I had planned for us to stop at their Food Court for a cheap, late 2nd dinner.  We both ended up ordering from Tacos & Ritas and I wrote up a review of our meal on Trip Advisor.

The Venetian was pretty crowded and a little bit rowdy sounding and we didn't stay to gamble there.  After finishing our meal, we headed out across the street to the Mirage to see if we could catch a volcano show which we still haven't seen after 5 trips to Vegas together!  Our timing was off with the volcano erupting every half hour on the half hour and we had just missed the last one 10 minutes ago.  Since we didn't want to hang around and wait on the sidewalk another 20 minutes for the next showing, we decided to just skip it and catch it on some other future trip.  We walked back to Bellagio past Caesar's Palace and I enjoyed the rest of my Mango Margarita in the dry evening heat.

Upon our return to the Bellagio, we skipped any further gambling and headed back up to our room where I enjoyed a nice soak in the deep bath tub before bed.

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The following morning, I woke up late and let me husband sleep in even later.  I headed downstairs for coffee and breakfast pastry at the Café Gelato.  The line here was much shorter than the line across the hallway at the actual coffee shop.  They were able to make all of the same types of drinks here at the Gelato shop so this is a good tip to save on some time.  The gal who rang me up helpfully let me know that refills of regular coffee (Americano) are free for the rest of the day if I just bring my cup back.  We definitely made use of this money saving tip and stopped back in twice more for coffee refills.  I chose a blueberry muffin which was big, expensive and dry.  :(  I left most of it for my husband.

I stopped off to try a couple of slot machines before heading back up to the room to see if my husband was up yet.  I am right in their Gen-X demographic sights when it came to certain licensed machines - namely the Flintsones and the Jetsons slot machines.  I lost about $20 in each machine before calling it quits and heading back to the room.  The bonus rounds are quite fun for the Flintstones, I have to say!  They're pretty frequent as well compared to some other machines but they unfortunately aren't often enough nor do they pay out a whole lot.  But it is very nostalgic and entertaining!  :)  My favorite part of the bonus scenes is when Wilma vacuums across your play board with her miniature wooly mammoth and leaves a trail of "Wilds".

After getting my husband up and feeding him the rest of the coffee and muffin, we headed out to the pool.  It was almost noon by then and the pool was quite hot and crowded!  We wandered around the entire pool area for about 15 minutes and there was no shade to be found.  I even stopped a pool attendant to ask if he had any ideas but unfortunately he was not able to provide much insight.  We really lucked out and I was extremely grateful that a mystery couple let us know that they would be leaving and we were welcome to take over their pair of loungers and umbrella!  Yay!  They really saved us as I'm not sure if we would have had to go back up to the room.  As a licensed esthetician, I ordinarily try to stay out of the suns damaging UV rays as much as possible.  Even under the protection of the umbrella, we forgot to re-apply our sunscreen as frequently as needed and got a teeny bit red on a few exposed areas like shoulders, tops of feet and backs of neck.

The pool was very well represented with Bellagio employees who came around to ask if we needed any food, drinks and even a poolside massage!  I opted to grab a light lunch on my own from the trusty Café Gelato instead.  I ordered the Asian tofu salad for my husband and a Mediterranean cous cous salad for myself and a fountain drink to share.  I asked for the soda and ice in two separate cups so we could each have our own cups and not waste space in the cup for the ice.  The Café gal also very helpfully gave me the tip that fountain drinks were also able to be refilled for free as long as I brought my cup back.  Another good money saving tip to know!  This light lunch was a bargain $23 plus $2 for tip.

We both enjoyed our salads poolside and the portion sizes were just right.  We were planning on having the Bellagio buffet for dinner and didn't want to overindulge on this late lunch.  While I did go back in to Café Gelato for a free refill on my soft drink, I also want to mention that there is free water available at the pool next to the liquor counter and at the napkin counter in Café Gelato.

It was probably around 4:30 or 5:00 before we decided we had had enough of lounging at the pool and were ready to call it a day.  We headed back up to our room to shower and change back into casual clothes for dinner.  After getting back down to the casino floor, we headed over to the M Life desk.  We play the MyVegas game on Facebook and needed to redeem our vouchers for $25 of free play each and the Bellagio dinner buffet.  MyVegas has gone through a few changes over the past 2+ years that they have existed.  The rewards catalog has shrunk and the points needed to redeem have gone up.  But for a free program (payment is completely optional) you really can't complain even if "the good old days" of the program were a lot better.  I've definitely gotten my fair share of free offers and enjoyed every bit of them. :)

Once again, the crowds were abundant at the line to get into the Bellagio dinner buffet.  :(  I think we waited about 40 minutes which was just 5 minutes shy of our 45 minute wait to check in the previous day.  Once inside we enjoyed our dinner with our quirky waiter.  ;)  He was adequately attentive though would try to come by and clear our plates too soon.  I wrote up a review on Trip Advisor or our dinner experience at the Bellagio Buffet.

After dinner we tried our luck at the slot machines using our $50 of free play.  The free play didn't last long and we eventually moved over to using our own money.  We did enjoy a nice long 90 minute stint on the 1,000,000 Dregree bench seat slot machine which was a real treat for me because my hubby does not usually enjoy gambling.  We ended up feeding that machine about $300 before we finally got an exceptional bonus round with 20 free spins at 3X bonus!  We walked away from that machine with a $400 cash out voucher which helped us break even on our previous slot machine losses at the Flintsontes and Walking Dead.

 
 

Being at a single slot machine for so long is thirsty work!  ;)  My husband enjoyed some Jack & Cokes and I indulged in a pina colada from the cocktail gal working our area.  I have to say that I don't normally have a lot of hope in the free drinks offered but I really enjoyed my pina colada!  It was well made and smooth with no big ice chunks in it.  Also, I'm not a big drinker and for some the weak piddly amount of alcohol in the free drinks is a drawback but I loved that the low level of alcohol in my drink was just right for me! ;)

After cashing in our voucher at a machine next to the Flintstones slots, I couldn't resist losing another $20 in the hopes of seeing Wilma vacuum with her mini wooly mammoth.  Ah well!  We headed back upstairs for bed and I started getting a head start on packing up for check out in the morning.

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In the morning, I had set my alarm to wake me up around 7 so I could call down to the front desk and ask about getting a late check out.  We were granted a 12:30 check out with zero hassles so I went back to bed to catch a few more zzZzzs and enjoy sleeping in without kids.

Around 10:30am I woke up again for good and got dressed.  I had remembered that I still had another $10 of Freeplay that came with the room reservation that I had neglected to collect at the M Life desk yesterday so I headed downstairs to do that.  I resisted the temptation to play my $10 without my husband and instead took some time to wander through the conservatory.  The check in line was about half the size that it was 2 days prior - maybe because it was still the typical check out time.  I still think that 20 minutes is too long to wait to check in.  :/  Here are a few selected pics from the Bellagio Conservatory.  More are posted on my Bellagio review






Somehow, the Conservatory just wasn't as interesting of a feature this trip when we happen to be staying here.  Maybe it's psychological because in a way we are paying to be here to enjoy this but staying at the Bellagio was such a crowded experience overall that it just took some of the novelty factor out.

Around 11:00 I headed back up to the room to check on my husband and for final packing up.  Around 11:30 we were ready to head out but we took a last trip down to the casino first to use up my $10 of Freeplay while still holding onto the convenience of having our luggage in a room and a private bathroom handy.  It didn't take long and using up the $10 of Freeplay was a bust.  I needed to use $4 of my own money in order to use the Freeplay but we decided to cut ourselves off from putting any more of our own funds into those darned machines.  ;)

Finally when we were really ready to go, we collected our things from the room and used the in-room TV check out feature.  I felt a little sad rolling my luggage through the casino out the lobby door.  I'm not sure when I'll be able to come back for my next trip.  The taxi ride back to the airport was uneventful and it was cheaper than the ride from the airport.  We paid $15 and a $2 tip for the driver.

Once at the airport, we headed over to our Vegas tradition of having lunch at the Jose Cuervo Tequileria.  It is one of the few sit down restaurants in the Southwest wing and I have come to look forward to this tradition.  Here's my review of our lunch at the Tequileria on Trip Advisor.

After lunch, we didn't have to wait long before boarding started for our flight.  My husband's Early Bird boarding number was much better this time around and we were able to sit together much closer to the front of the plane.  Our flight was full and volunteers were sought who would be willing to give up their seat in exchange for a $250 future flight voucher and re-routing on a flight with a stop.  We opted to stick with our nonstop flight home to see the kids sooner rather than later. :)

We had a smooth flight home and picked up our car from the parking garage paying $65 for 3 days of parking and $20 for the exterior car wash.  Luckily I have a stockpile of gift cards purchased from Costco at a 50% discount and was able to use that for the parking fee.  The car wash fee needed to be paid for separately and was not eligible for payment with the gift cards.  This did bring down our net payment for the parking to just $32.50 or about $11 per day.

All in all, though it was a short trip, I always enjoy spending time with my husband without the kids.  It is a much more relaxing and different vacation experience.  I am hoping to stay for three nights the next time we go to Vegas and would like to try a standard suite at the Encore. :)  We still have a gift card for the Eiffel Tower restaurant at the Paris Hotel that expires in mid-January 2016 so I know a future trip is on the horizon!