I don't know what got me thinking about this but I'm curious as to where all you Jokers gambled in Vegas before fancy City Center was built. Pre. Aria and Cosmo. I think because I've seen a lot of people on here saying both of those are their homebase and a lot of slot videos take place at either of those. So I pose a question to you Jokers. Where in Vegas was your frequented gambling spot before the City Center was built?
Ceasars was my home for a while. Back when it was just Ceasars, pre harrahs.
What made you leave? @TwoArmedBanditoOriginally Posted by TwoArmedBandito
Well....I've lived in So Cali my entire life and grew up going to Vegas. When I was younger until about 17 every Summer my parents plus my sister and I (and usually a friend or two) would go in our motor home to Lake Powell in Utah for two weeks around 4th of July. We'd leave Long Beach and drive to Vegas where we'd spend the night at the Circus Circus RV park. We LOVED it!!! We would meet 3 other families there. All the kids would go to the arcade/tent area and all the parents would head to the casino. I can remember just standing there and staring down to the people playing slots and thinking "I can't wait until that's me"!!! We always had a great time at Circus Circus. Eventually our money would run out and we'd go back and go to bed. In the morning we would all caravan to Lake Powell and we would all camp out right on the beach and put the motor homes in a rectangle with all our RV entrance doors and awnings facing the lake. We all had boats and jet skis. OMG talk about a fun two weeks. When it was time to leave again we would all caravan to Vegas and spend a night at Circus Circus RV park before heading home the next day.
My 21st birthday was the grand opening of the biggest hotel in the world (at the time). The 5005 room MGM Grand Hotel. It was AMAZING!!! It was myself, my mom, grandma, moms friends and mine and my sisters friends. It was such a fun few days. The MGM when I opened was incredible. You entered through a huge lions mouth and there was an amazing Wizard of Oz theme with an actual yellow brick road, emerald forest and a bunch of incredible features. For years we stayed at MGM, went to the amusement park and loved it there.
We also spent countless weekends at what was the LV Hilton. Loved their sports book and Star Trek theme.
Luxor was incredible with the Egyptian theme. When it opened it had an awesome water ride. Stayed there a few times in it's first 5 years.
Over the years we've stayed almost everywhere. For a few years we loved the Stratosphere and stayed there many times. For the past about 9 years I guess it's mostly been all CET properties. Our favorite is Caesars but also the hardest to get comped. We stayed at Paris a bunch and also Planet Hollywood. We also have stayed at Rio a countless number of times and the show in the sky was great. It's really gone to shit though the last couple years IMO and I really hope when what ever is done happening to CET I hope they really improve many of the Vegas properties.
Sorry for going on and on.
Ang
Wow @twinslotaddicts ! That was awesome. Such a great response. I remember Circus Circus when I was a kid! Though it may have been a little different then cuz I'm assuming I'm younger (maybe the youngest in this group, I could be severely wrong). I will say I remember how amazing the MGM Grand theme was. That lions head was amazing the theme was absolutely perfect and is a true shame they changed all that. I remember learning the reason they took the damn Lion Head entrance away! When I was taken there as a kid the parents did an amazing job with the kids. They'd take turns watching us and we'd go to unlimited arcades. Whatever was available then. My mom has always been a CET member as long as I can remember....though when I was kid oddly, her homebase was Tropicana! I haven't step foot in there since I was well below the age of ten.
I agree with you on the RIO. I absolutely hate it in there. It's too smokey and in my opinion looks incredibly run down. I remember the days they had the carnivale party in the main room. It was such a blast to be around. My mom and I stayed there once when I was 14 I think? The room was gorgeous and had an amazing view of the strip! I haven't been in the hotel portion since that time, but the casino floor is just so run down looking and tragic. I read some news a couple of weeks ago that police shot a serial casino robber there. Eeeek. So far my favorite to stay has been Caesars. My horrendously worst place that is CET is Harrah's. It was so disgusting when I "stayed" there on a FP offer that I opted to stay across the street with my mom and aunt because I didn't feel clean in the room. One of these days I will stay at a bunch of MLife properties. Mandalay, MGM, Aria, and Vdara. I also want to check out the wrap around terrace rooms at the Cosmo...even if I have to pay for it. The views are spectacular. Oh and the big B.
see I can ramble on too! It's great to talk about vegas. I love this forum so much!
After the first few visits and staying at several places we started staying at the MGM Grand, which became our home base for probably 6 or 7 consecutive trips. We would go play at the Bellagio and think to ourselves that this is where the rich people stay, but one day we will stay there too. Well we got offers from the Bellagio and then moved over. It may not be the newest resort on the strip, but we love staying there and there is a great feel to the place. After Aria opened we fell in love with the casino. Now our normal trips are 3 nights at Aria and then 3 at the Bellagio. Next month's trip is going to be different with it being 3 at CP and then 3 at the Bellagio. Figured it does not hurt to change it up a little!
I stayed at the Holiday Inn Boardwalk twice before it was demolished for City Center (last time was 1999 I think). My wife hated going in there with me, she knew I was headed for the food court to get cheap hot dogs and beer. I did hit the top pay on IGT Blackjack slot machine one time there, it was 25 cent machine and I think it was $400. Quite a bit of money for me then, now it's just pocket change lol.
Also, my first time to Vegas we stayed at the Center Strip Inn, located across from the old Aladdin. They were breaking ground on the Bellagio then and the Center Strip Inn was eventually demolished to make the Bellagio parking garage.
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Fair dinkum legend
@twinslotaddicts The mgm lion head scared the chinese and they would not walk in so mgm got rid of it. You went to lake powell? I want to go there fishing I've read quite a bit about it and if we ever retire we are road trippin there so we can try it out.
Rob, are you sure you can't drive over to Vegas next week! You would have a blast with the Jokers!
@SoCalRob. Ceasars used to give out pretty good comps. I could get free room no problem. I won big in 1999 and treated my friends to a Vegas trip. Had a blast. Stayed once more later on. Then 9-11 happened. Didn't go back for 5 years. During that time my parents (elderly) wanted to go on trips to Reno. Only way was if I'd take care of them and handle the trip details. So that's what I did. Harrahs TRewards sucked. And you could barely get anything. Then Ceasars Bought them. They used TR as their system. Been a Mlife member ever since. Plus I loved Aria .
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