30th Anniversary Celebration in Las Vegas
The day finally arrived and on July 18, we headed to the airport to begin our long-awaited annual trek to our happy place … Wynn Las Vegas.
As I reported earlier, we had planned to forego our trip this year, but work got in the way of our plans to travel to Canada and that left an opening to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in my favorite place.
We left Texas at 1:05 p.m. and arrived at McCarran Airport at 2:55. The Wynn had sent the Rolls Royce for us and we were on our way. We had a pleasant visit with our driver, Elsie, along the way and before we knew it, we were at the Wynn Tower Suites entrance. I think I have mentioned multiple times how much I love the entrance, but it must be said again. I love it! The minute the door opened I saw the floral arrangements and Koi fish, I knew I was home.
There were three couples traveling together and we all have the same host, who was waiting for us in the VIP room. He his the BEST!
We were given our keys to Room 5509, which boasted a view of the strip and the Lake of Dreams. We were greeted with chocolate covered strawberries and fresh fruit and a nice note from our host. Great start to our special trip.
We had created an itinerary of events to keep us busy. My husband likes Las Vegas, but doesn't like gambling 24/7 so we wanted tried to be diligent about incorporating activities while in town, so we had reserved a rental car to take us around town. My husband collects gaming chips to place in a framed collection. We spent an hour on the Wynn casino floor and then went to get the rental at Wynn.
Our first stop was M Resort. I had a hard time finding machines to play, but managed to lose about $100 while my husband rolled dice. Next stop was South Point. My husband had read about a lobster grilled cheese sandwich, which we planned to have for dinner. We both ordered it and neither of us was impressed, but were happy to have finally done it. I found a $1 Easy Money game that I played on for quite some time, but still managed to lose another $100 or so. I did like the casino and the choice of slots. Next up was Rampart. I played a .01 Double Triple Diamond Free Games machine and did really well. I turned $40 in to about $150, but then lost that in a $1 Wheel of Fortune. (This trend continued throughout our visits to obscure casino sites.) The last casino we visited on the first night was Suncoast. Again, I lost while my husband rolled dice. He actually won on every craps session on the first night. We headed back to Wynn and slotted for a little bit, but went to bed early.
We met one of our couples at the B Bar each morning for video poker. Thursday morning was our first VP experience with them. We drank coffee and had a great visit, but left around 9 a.m. to visit more casinos. The first thing we did was go to the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. I have wanted a photo of the two of us with this sign for 15 years and we finally have one! Our first casino stop was a place called Aliante. It was very far out, but we both really liked the casino. It was contemporary, clean and large. My husband kicked butt on the dice table, while I lost. I won on a quick hit machine, but lost on a machine I had seen on a Brian Christopher video called After Burner. I could get addicted to that game. I really enjoyed the sounds and the "bells and whistles." We then went to the Lucky Club. I do not recommend this place to anyone! We stayed less than five minutes. They did not have a dice table so we each put $20 in a Quick Hit machine and left. The next stop was The Cannery. This is a cool place. We both lost at this casino.
We were done with our exploring and gassed up the rental and returned to Wynn. I had plans to go with my best friend and her granddaughter and granddaughter's friend (both are 10) to go have High Tea a the Mandarin Oriental Tea Lounge. The girls both have American Girl dolls that they brought with them to the tea lounge. They were so cute, they had matching dresses to their dolls. So adorable. We were seated next to the window so the girls could enjoy the view and then we ordered. My friend and I really enjoyed everything we had. The girls were not fans of their teas, but did like the little sandwiches and desserts. After the tea, we took the girls through the Park MGM (we had always been Monte Carlo patrons until about four or five years ago and wanted to see it) and then to Bellagio to show the girls the conservatory and Jean Philippe chocolate shoppe. We took a taxi back to Wynn and got ready for dinner at Lakeside.
Before dinner, I had some time by myself to slot a little and played my favorite machine … Top Dollar. I have to say that I am disappointed that Wynn has eliminated most of the Top Dollar machines. There are three $1 denomination machines and only six $5 denomination machines … only one of which is a Double Top Dollar, which I prefer. Anyway, my husband was napping and I was down to my last $50 and went to a $1, three credit, Top Dollar machine. I got down to my last dollar at least three times and would win some little something to stay in the game. Finally, I got the bonus and got the 1,000 credit offer on the first offer!
We went to Lakeside and enjoyed patio seating made possible by our host. My husband and I had a Chef Special called Maine Lobster Bake. If you have an opportunity, I highly recommend this dish! It includes Maine Lobster meat, crab legs and shrimp with potatoes and vegetables. It was fabulous! Each night, we had "partner gambling" with our friends from home. We each put in $200 per person. I picked the first machine, which was a $10 Double Top Dollar machine. It ate our $1,200 in five minutes and we all went our separate ways. We were so full after dinner we only slotted a little bit and went to bed.
Now, after booking our trip, we discovered a slot tournament was planned during our stay. We asked to participate and our host got us entered. The problem we had was all of the slot players in for the tournament arrived on this night and we were all fighting for $5 Double Top Dollar machine! They were brutal and I found myself really disappointed, as I was forced to wonder around looking for something to play. These players were fierce and played for hours, which is why I assume they were invited to the tournament. I saw a ton of handpays! The Windfall progressive was really high and they were also camped out at the $5 Windfall machines throughout the weekend.
The next day was Friday. We met our friends at B Bar and played Deuces Wild VP. My friend won $10,000 by getting four deuces! We slotted hard on this day, as the tournament included a "bonus round" for reaching 25,000 points. I am embarrassed to tell you that we earned that bonus round! Eeek! My husband played a lot of $5 slots … from the Top Dollar and Windfall machines. It was really unlike him, but he was having a blast, but not winning. Finally, he upped his game and went to a $10 Pinball machine and won a $1,000 bonus and a $1,300 handpay. We were supposed to meet our friends for dinner, but he decided to call it a night.
While I was waiting for my friend and her granddaughter, I sat with our other friends at the Windfall machine. All of a sudden this $5 denom 3-reel Quick Hit machine called my name. I put $100 in it a played for a little bit and hit a $1,000 hit. Two double flaming sevens and a "double pay" symbol. I cashed out and went to meet my friend as they were now back from the mall.
We went to Allegro, where I had Calamari and a Caesar Salad with Shrimp. We had plans for another partner gambling session this night, but I didn't get to pick the machine this time. lol! My friend picked a $25 Pinball machine and my husband was the slotter. He won a handpay for $2,250. We then played the $25 Double Top Dollar machine and got zilch. We had $1,200 left and I decided to go to the $100 Wheel of Fortune machine. Crazy, I know! But, we got a spin on the second spin! Unfortunately, we only got a $2,000 win. Not that I'm greedy, but the potential was monstrous. We played a little more and we all cashed in with a $100 profit.
My husband had trouble the entire trip getting acclimated to the time change. He was up every day at 4 a.m. Anyway, this meant I was up early and after two days of early to rise and late to retire, I was beat and called it a night at 10:30 p.m.
The next morning was tournament. If you ever get a chance to participate in a Wynn invite tournament, DO IT! They had catered buffet-style meals, an open bar, DJ, and swag. We were given designer sunglasses. We played three sessions of 10-minute rounds. I had scores of 65,000, 82,000 and 87,000. I wasn't sure how this would line up in the competition, but I knew I didn't have a chance at the top prize of $100,000 in Free Credit unless I did well in the bonus round, which I did not. We were done by about noon and had some time to kill before we had to return for the awards ceremony.
My husband wanted to nap and I needed to go to mass at 4 p.m. I slotted for a bit before making my way toward the church. It is literally right next door to Encore. I stopped at the bank of Double Top Dollar machines in Encore. On these machines, you can change the denomination from $1, $5, $10 and $25. I started with $100, built it up to almost $200 and switched the denomination to $5. I got the Top Dollar bonus and was offered 200 credits! $1,000! It was so ironic to be slotting hard right before church, but I did. I cashed out and headed to church.
Church I had to be at the tournament at 5:30 p.m. As I approached the stairs, my husband was there. We went in and they had a competition between the hosts. Whoever won earned their players $500 in Free Credit. Our host did not win. However, I did place high enough to win $2,500 in free credit. Don't get excited, as I did not win anything off the free credit.
We have been having a blast up until this point. We went to dinner at Red 8 and wanted to decompress. By the time we finished, all of the tournament players were on the machines that I had chosen and were getting handpays on them. I didn't win anything else on our last night or the next morning. It was like someone literally turned on a "loser" switch. We ended up down by a few thousand dollars, which was sad, but certainly worth the vacation we had. We did not have to pay for the rooms, food, or drinks!
I'm sorry I don't have photos. I am such a degenerate and ultra-focused when in Las Vegas that I just don't even think about it, but I wanted to share our experience and I hope you enjoyed it.
30th Anniversary Celebration in Las Vegas
What a fun trip! It’s cool to hear about the different casinos and I am always impressed when people actually take the time to check things out.
I would have loved to see your group at tea. The girls and their dolls would have surely put a mile on my face [emoji3]
Now, about your lobster grilled cheese.... I could have told you that wouldn’t be good. Lobstah and cheese - nope. But sounds like your Lobster at Wynn made up for it!
Thanks for sharing all the neat details of your trip!
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