LAS Vegas Trip Report

[exwdwcm]

I know a few folks were interested in a trip report for my weekend vegas trip for my best friend's wedding........here it goes.....forgive the length for day 1, it was pretty much a nightmare! enjoy! Nicole- hope you made it back safely too and had a great time.

 

[exwdwcm]

DAY ONE- Friday, July 24
So what we hoped would be a nice, relaxing and fun Vegas getaway turned quickly into a nightmare. We have both been working really hard and were looking forward to a break to sin city, one of our favorite places to travel. I had not been to Vegas in over 2 years, since I was 8 weeks pregnant with our now almost 2yo son. And that trip was miserable for me, due to extreme morning sickness and the fact that it was actually a work trip that DH tagged along on, so I was working and sick while he was having fun.
The original plan was a trip to Vegas in late July to celebrate Alissa’s 30th bday (and also Jennifer’s 40th!). Then Alissa dropped a surprise on us- now, this was going to be a wedding celebration too! She was getting married! So Alan and I booked a package on Travelocity about 2 weeks out from the trip for about $1100 for 3 nights at the Monte Carlo (strip view room) and RT flights plus show tickets

Our schedule was set. I dropped off William at my mom’s house on Friday morning and said my good-byes. Alan had gone into work that am and I was supposed to meet him at his office. I thought the plan was to have a coworker drop us off at the airport like we had done before, however, this plan changed, but I was the last one to know. Our flight was at 2:15pm on US Airways out of DFW. Alan’s office is about 5 minutes from DFW. So I get to his office at noon or so. He has our boarding passes printed, but then tells me we will be driving ourselves and parking at the Parking Spot off site. Not what I expected, I would have gotten there much earlier if I had known that! Too late now. I really didn’t think we would make the ‘checked bag’ deadline of an hour at this point……..parking off site means a shuttle to the gate and all. Who knows how long that will take? Well I do- 45 minutes! We park at the Parking Spot North, and hop on the shuttle, there is one other guy on it. Then the driver stops to pick up two more families. I am nervous about being late the whole time- I tell the driver our flight is at 2:15 and we need to go! Another guy has a 2pm flight. The shuttle is freezing cold and bumpy as can be. So the driver drops off everyone else FIRST. I don’t get it. I told him our flight time and all, but he had a certain order to drop off. So we finally are the last to be dropped off at terminal E. It is now 1:25pm. We rush to the US Airways gate and try and check in at the computer kiosk to check our bag…….but it isn’t working, so we have to get in line and wait behind a few folks. Once up there, I tell him our flight time and that I need to check a bag- he tells me to use the computer to scan the bar code on our boarding pass, I do that and same problem- not recognizing it. Finally he tells me (after we have now waiting/killed 10 minutes time probably) that we missed the 45 minute check bag cutoff. Mind you, we were there 45 minutes (albeit, exactly 45 min) before…….we spent all that time in line and trying to get him to listen! If you are checking a bag, most airlines require you check it at the checkin counter at least 45 minutes to an hour before your flight. I knew this and that is why I was so worried about our late arrival and shuttle trip.
So he tells us we have to see another gate agent, we wait in another line. This time, we are told, we have to rebook- or we can just trash our bag. We can still get on our flight, there is plenty of time, we just can’t take our bag with us- it is too ‘late’ to check it and too big (plus all toiletries) to carry on. At this point, I am pretty upset with the whole situation. I like getting to the airport early for instances like this. Alan hates getting there early and cuts it close everytime. I hate that! This time it got us. The gate agent tries to rebook us, but nothing is open. There is a 5:30pm flight, so we go on the standby list. She tells us it doesn’t look very good though. We go ahead and check my bag through on it though. So comes the question------my bag is now going on the 5:30pm flight, with or without us. Why couldn’t we have just got on our 2:15 flight and sent my bag with the 5:30 flight? That wasn’t given to us as an option. I am sure there is some regulation against it too. Go figure. So we proceed through security in just minutes, breeze through.

Then to the standby gate. It is just a few gates down from our original flight. I can see them boarding it even, which makes it more heartbreaking. I finally then ask a gate agent how the 5:30 flight is looking and what our standby chances are, I don’t want to waste hours waiting if we have no chance at all. He says the flight is completely oversold and 12 people are in front of us for standby. He said no chance. So we call Travelocity to tell them what happened and see what they can do. It is now almost 3pm. Travelocity finds a 3pm AA direct flight and tells us to head to AA and try and get on it-----well DFW isn’t small- there are 5 terminals. AA is not in the terminal we are in- so we head to the train to another terminal- Travelocity can’t even tell us what gate the flight is at- so we are just taking a guess and head to C, and get the right one by chance, but we check the boards and it shows the flight is already gone now (or done loading anyhow). No way we can make it.
We spend the next hour or so, shuttling between terminals, looking online on my laptop for options, staying on hold with Travelocity and trying to find a flight. It is a Friday afternoon, everything to Vegas is booked solid. What is funny, is the first time I spoke with Travelocity it was with Daniel, who had a pleasing british accent. Next call, it was an ‘Alex’, but he sounded like the same exact guy an d knew our situation already……the third call, yet a different name, but I am pretty certain it was the same person yet again. I wonder why they use a different name each time? So at this point, our options are-
1. Cancel our entire package and just don’t go- but NO refund
2. Cancel our outbound flight and rebook on another flight out that night with connections on another airline and pay out of pocket ($1,000) for it
3. Get on the standby list for the 7:30am flight the next day on US Airways (not lose any $$, but not be guaranteed a flight)
4. Pay the flight fare difference and change fee to guarantee us seats on the 7:30am flight the next day
So we head up to the counter and speak to the gate agent, explaining our situation and frustration. It is now nearing 4pm. We’ve been at the airport for 3 hours trying to sort this out with no end in sight. We tell her we just want to get on the next flight out in the morning at 7:30am and can we guarantee our seats and how much would it cost? Next thing I know, she is printing our info out and has us guaranteed seats (not standby) for the 7:30am flight. She didn’t charge us a dime. Maybe she saw I was about to burst into tears. Who knows. Regardless, I was thankful for that at least. Then we sit down and call Travelocity back again to cancel our hotel room for that night. I speak to the same guy with 3 names again….Daniel, Alex or Jonathan, whatever it is. I sit on hold forever yet again and he gets us cancelled for that night.
So we leave the airport now at 4:30pm and head back to get on a shuttle back to the parking spot to get our truck. What a pain. We are totally disgusted at this point. We get on the shuttle and pay the $12 for parking for those few hours. Nice, huh? We are now right in the middle or rush hour traffic on a Friday too. Just to add a little fuel to the fire, right? We take the back roads and decide to stop for dinner at Chili’s. I had a big old martini to drown my sorrows. We do enjoy a nice early dinner, sans kiddo. We are just beat at that point though, tired and frustrated. Alan had not even eaten all day long until then. I call Alissa, our bride to tell her the news. They had booked us tickets for a ‘vampire’ show called BITE at the stratosphere for 10pm that night. Sadly, we weren’t making it. I told her to try and get a refund or give them away. I told her we would call her in the am when we arrived.

And so day 1 of our trip ends, and we haven’t even left yet.

 

[GAN]

Only ONE martini! Sorry for the bad start.... I'm going to find something for myself now.

 

[exwdwcm]

DAY 2- Saturday, July 25, Part ONE
So we start the day bright and early this time around……we are up at 4am for our 7:30am flight. We live about 20 minutes away or so from DFW Airport. We are on the road by 5am and arriving at the parking spot (again) by 5:20am. This time, the shuttle has other folks on it already and we are the second stop. We are at the gate this time by 5:45am. We already have our boarding passes printed and no bag to check since my bag went last night. We walk through security with no line and are at our gate waiting by 5:50am. We have over an hour until the flight boards. So we grab some breakfast and relax. Well kind of, I can’t say I relaxed until I was actually on the plane, in the air. Even then I was still upset about yesterday.
Flight is uneventful, except for the crazy family next to us that keeps getting up and down and taking their bags in and out of the overhead. Up to the point of takeoff even, the pilot has to tell them to sit down! Alan has the window, I have the middle seat. It is a full flight. We are lucky to have even gotten on this one. We touch down in Vegas at 8am local time. We get off and find my bag immediately at the US Airways bag office. We head to the cab line which is non-existent (for once- it is usually a long wait) and are off to the hotel. We get to the Monte Carlo by 8:30 am and I call Alissa and meet her in her room. We can’t check in yet, so we are going to hang in their room before the 11:30am wedding. The plan was to help her get ready at 9am anyhow (the girls). So the makeup and hair person arrives and begins to work their magic on Alissa.

I order some room service breakfast for us girls and watch her get turned into a princess. It is no BBB, but it’s close! The ham and cheese omlette I had was pretty good, but I was also very hungry since being up at 4am! they do a great job on her hair and makeup and I feed her some breakfast while she is being ‘beautified’. DH heads down to the casino during all of this. Jennifer and Mary then join us in the room to put on the finishing touches and help her into her gown. The four of us all worked together at Raytheon about 5 years ago and still keep in touch. Mary now lives in Vegas and took critical time away from her ill daughter that just had major spine surgery to be there with us. We really enjoyed catching up. Mary works for IT for Boyd Gaming and had lots of interesting stories for us.

Finally by 10:30am, we are all dressed and downstairs, waiting on the limo to take us to the chapel. The bride/groom, Alan and I, Jennifer/Randy and Mary all pile into the limo for the short ride to the chapel, which is in a not so nice part of town…..but the chapel and its grounds were beautiful. We arrive at the chapel and meet up with 3 other friends there for the occasion. A few pictures and then the ceremony began. Alissa is not close with her family and hasn’t spoken to her parents in years (they were abusive to her). She has one sister she speaks to that couldn’t make the trip, so her friends truly are her family. My mom has even ‘adopted’ her, she sometimes spends holidays with us etc. Now she will have her own family!!! J Jennifer’s husband, Randy, walked Alissa down the aisle to give her away. It was really sweet and he said that her ‘chosen family’ (us, ahhh!!!) give her away. I was already tearing up. She has been looking for love for a really long time and I am so happy she found it. She truly deserves it and she is a total catch! So the ceremony is short and sweet- as a joke, they exchange ‘ring pops’…… when they originally decided to get married, but he didn’t have a ring yet, and she told him, she didn’t care about that, she would get married with a ring pop for all she cared. So they thought it would be funny to include that in the ceremony. They looked great up there and before we knew it, the ceremony was over and we were taking more photos outside in the awful heat.

We got back into the limo and headed out to the classic Las Vegas sign for a picture. In all my 15 plus trips to Vegas, I’ve never made it over to the sign. They now have a parking area actually for all the tourists that want a picture with it- I guess like taking your pic at the Disney gates! There was a huge line though, but many folks let us ‘cut’ in front of them, I guess wearing a big white dress can get you some favors! We got our pic and got out of there and on to the Palazzo at the Venetian for a lunch celebration at Sushi Samba. We had reservations for 1pm. The restaurant was very nice, slightly dark with bright accent colors and modern asian flare. I am not a sushi eater and DH and I had a large steak dinner planned at 5:30, so I had a small meal at lunch. I ordered the chicken skewers, which were good and just enough to hold me over. DH got the bento box with salmon, salad, miso soup and sushi. He enjoyed it. The table all enjoyed their meal, including oysters and lots of interesting sushi choices. Alissa is a sushi fanatic. She said the yellow fin jalapeno rolls were delicious!

After lunch, it was nearing 2:30pm or later. DH and I had reservations at 5:30pm at the Wynn hotel at the SW Steakhouse. DH had a $200 gift card for the Wynn from a recent business trip, so we planned to use it there. We headed back to the Monte Carlo and checked into our room. We were on the 28th floor with a strip view. Our view consisted of the NYNY and MGM. The new City Center that is going up between the Monte Carlo and Bellagio blocked any chance of a view we might have had previously down the strip. The room was pretty standard- the Monte Carlo is showing its age some. We had two double beds, since a king was not available then and we did not want to wait. Bathroom was okay, but nothing great. We’ve stayed at Caesar’s and Venetian which have fabulous bathrooms, one has a shower that could fit 10 people in it, all marble and granite etc. So this bathroom was a disappointment compared to our previous trips, more like a standard Marriott or something. It was fine for our needs though and the price.

part 2 next!

 

[mikelan6]

I love airport drama. Next time, take carry on luggage only!

I hope your trip got better!!!

 

[exwdwcm]

DAY TWO- Saturday, July 25th- PART TWO

We headed down to the casino and I made a donation to the $1 slots. So charitable, aren’t I? Then off to get a cab to the Wynn for our dinner. We explored a bit at first. I’ve been over there before, but I was so sick last time, I didn’t enjoy it. So we strolled through some of the shops and the Sugar and Ice café looked delightful- I wish we had a chance to get back there for a lunch- they had some great looking sandwiches.

Finally at 5:30, we made our way downstairs to the SW Steakhouse. We ate here 2 years ago, but again, I was so sick, that I had chicken broth and ginger ale (they were especially accommodating). DH and the other couple that was with us enjoyed great steaks. So I was looking forward to actually eating this time.

We were seated in the same spot we sat last time. The service was great and the food was delicious. We started off with drinks- I had a pomegranate martini. The bread basket was great too with these to die for bacon and cheese muffins. I could have just feasted on that for my dinner, but I restricted myself to just one. DH ordered the shrimp cocktail which have to be the biggest shrimp I have ever seen in my life. It was 3 extra large shrimp. He enjoyed it thoroughly. I ordered the 16oz NY Strip, which was the smallest steak they had. DH ordered the salmon, since he knew he would be finishing off my steak for me. I ordered it MW, I like my meat done, but the outside was a little overdone. The steak was still fantastic though. We ordered creamed corn with black truffles and bacon/cheese tater tots for our sides. I know, there is a bacon/cheese recurring them, huh? DH didn’t want the standard au gratin or mashed potatoes, so we tried something different. They were actually heavenly and we finished every last one. They had a creamed texture with just a hint of bacon/cheese flavor. Almost reminded me of a hush puppie. After our meal, we were too full for dessert. I only ate about 50% of my steak and DH had a few bites as well. And with one shrimp cocktail, one NY strip, one salmon, 2 a la carte sides, one martini and one drink for DH, our total was about $160. So we paid up and headed out. We really enjoyed our meal and had a good time just the two of us for once. We don’t get out much alone at home without our son. Just not enough babysitters nearby.
It was probably about 7pm or so when we walked across the street to the Palazzo. This was new to me since my last trip- I stayed at the Venetian last trip and the Palazzo was still under construction then. So we explored the shops some and discovered this great little book shop that has some amazing first editions and rare finds (all behind glass of course). Items ranged from $2500-$80,000 and up! DH and I are both avid readers, so we spent some time just looking at all the amazing books in here. They even had my all time favorite, Atlas Shrugged- first edition. There were a few Disney jewels in there too- and lots of great children’s selections. We then headed back into the Venetian- our friends were dining at Del Monico’s steakhouse at 7:30pm. We ran into them before they went to dinner. DH and I gambled some at the Venetian, I made more donations to the slots and lost $20 at the electronic rapid roulette- I’ll never play that again, it sucked my money away too fast, I prefer the actual roulette table instead. I love playing the Wheel of fortune slots, where you can get a ‘free spin’. I found my usual $1 favorite machine against a wall near the back and lost more. We didn’t play any craps as the $15 minimum was too rich for our blood. When I play the $5 tables, we always bet the pass line and odds, plus a come bet here and there, so even at a $5 table, I end up having $30 or more out on it at any one time……I couldn’t do that on a $15 table, it would cost me $100 each shooter! So we passed on the tables.
We grew tired of donating to the slots, so we walked around some more.

I called Alissa and found out they were running late on dinner. We were actually waiting near the restaurant for them to come out. So we headed for some chocolate mint gelato nearby while waiting. Then we returned to the nice bench we had found earlier near the restaurant. There was a 20 something year old guy on it passed out cold. There were people walking by, taking his picture, even sitting down next to him and taking their pics with him. I thought it was kind of rude and sad to do that. My initial reaction was that it was funny, but then I just felt bad for him. A lady had already stepped up to check on him and make sure he was okay- and we saw a cleaning guy come over and he radio’d security. In 5 minutes, an EMT woman showed up and rubbed his chest for a few minutes until he came to. We stood and watched, back from the crowd, since we were originally waiting there anyways- still for our friends. He didn’t know where he was, or how he got there. They tried to get his name and finally had to dig out his wallet for him. They were pretty patient with him too. I felt bad for the kid, his friends must have dumped him there or something. Who knows. I never saw what happened to him though- as our friends came out before security figured out whether to put him in a room upstairs or call the cops. They were trying to find out if he was staying there or not.

The people watching was funny while waiting though. I swear I saw the same short strapless dress over and over- many times on a girl that couldn’t have been but 16. It was a Saturday night afterall around 8:30pm, so the nighttime crowd was doing dinner before heading out to the clubs I guess. We really enjoyed just watching all the different outfits…..you can only imagine. And watching women nearly trip in shoes and heels that were obviously difficult to walk in.
So our friends were done with dinner and we all took cabs over to the Mandalay Bay to go the ice bar- Minus 5.

I’ve seen it before, but have never paid to go in. It was $25 a person to go in- with gloves, boots and coat, plus one drink. It is a small bar made of ice- the glasses are even ice. I guess you could compare it to the Gaylord ICE thing, on a smaller scale and with booze! I was wearing a dress, so I was freezing within minutes. But I enjoyed a great vodka drink in my ice cup and we hung out in there for a while- on the ice benches and tables. It was interesting and fun to do once. No need to do again though. They did require that they hold our credit card when we went in. Upon coming out, you can buy photos (no cameras inside) that they take for you. They ended up misplacing a credit card for one of my friends. Couldn’t find it anywhere- probably gave it to another guest on accident. So she had to quickly call and cancel that card. It was not fun. We got them to at least give her a free t-shirt for her trouble- they weren’t going to do anything for her at all until we bugged them. It was now nearing midnight, and we headed to some other hot spots in the Mandalay Bay and enjoyed sitting in the VIP area of one club. While VIP is way too rich for my blood, a brother and sister travelling with us are both very wealthy and paid for bottle service (about $800) for the 10 of us to sit in VIP all night. That was so nice and made it extra special, as there was no where to sit otherwise. By 3am, DH and I were done. We had been up since 4am Dallas time, so coming up on 24 hours we had been going. We left the rest of the party still partying it up and called it a night.

 

[exwdwcm]

DAY 3- SUNDAY, July 26
So we were in bed around 3:30am Vegas time on Sunday morning. We managed to sleep in until about 10:15am local time- a first for us in many months! We got showered and dressed and headed out- got a cab to Caesar’s. I had heard about a cute diner called Serendipity 3 there, so we were heading for lunch. We found it, located close to the strip, separate from the main hotel/casino. We waited about 15 minutes for a table since the restaurant is so small. we were seated near the front window. Service here was SLOW……..not horrible, but not great. They were extremely busy. Our server disappeared many times for long periods. I am usually pretty patient, as I waited tables throughout college, so I’ve been there, done that. But still gets frustrating as a guest dining there. They offer classics like burgers, hot dogs, sweet potato fries, grilled cheese with tomato soup etc. All with a new edgy gourmet spin. Of course that means a bigger price tag too. I ordered the black and bleu burger with bleu cheese, bacon and barbeque sauce and sweet potato fries. DH had the veggie omelets which left a lot to be desired, he said it was about IHOP standards. My burger was pretty good as were the fries. Our bill was about $30 or so, not too bad. Sodas were $4!!! I had water to hydrate more from the night before. The special here is the frozen hot chocolate, but we were just too full to try it. Maybe next trip we just do dessert here, they had some fabulous looking ones.

my one and only food porn shot!

We then headed into Caesar’s to check out FAO Schwarz and see if we could find a toy for our son. They now have the third floor completely closed and the store just didn’t look as lively and big as it used to. I think they are keeping only this one location open? We headed out of Caesar’s and took a cab downtown to do some real gambling.
After a quick cab ride with a female cab driver that loved to talk, we got out at the old Horseshoe, now just known as ‘Binion’s’, so sad. The shoe was always our favorite place to gamble. Most people our age probably don’t care for downtown- sure it is dirty, old etc., but we like the old feel of it and the lower minimums and nothing beats playing craps downtown at the shoe. Plus we don’t notice as many annoying people down here…..mind you there are homeless people etc. But we simply seem to find more ‘real’ people- not just looking to impress or the college crowd looking to party (which we are way way past). We immediately found a $5 table and jumped on. We were up and down for the most part. DH got frustrated and started playing the Don’t, so he switched to another table. I stayed and played the pass line and the guy next to me had a hot roll. I was up at one point by $100 or so, but never could stay ahead long. I finally left about even. Last trip we did pretty well on craps, this time, not so much. I also played a little roulette and just couldn’t win there either- didn’t hit my number once. I always hit at least one time. Nothing this time. Also tried the $1 WOF slots there, more of nothing- maybe $20 win here and there.

We strolled around downtown a bit- got DH a coffee at Dunkin Doughnuts. I enjoyed bloody mary’s while playing craps. Good thing they are pretty weak, I think I had about 5! We went in the four queens and put $100 in the $5 slot. We usually play a $5 slot and have won on the wheel of fortune one there before- like $500. So we went back to the same machine---the lady next to us had just won a couple of hundred on the $5. We put in our money and hit once for $15, but that was it- no spin or big win. Boo!! We almost always get a spin (which guaranteed at least $100) on that one. Just wasn’t meant to be this trip. We continue walking around and I got one of the famous huge tall daiquiris at Blue Bayou for $13. Strawberry/banana, yum!
Then we headed into the Golden Nugget- we’ve stayed here twice before. It is probably the nicest hotel downtown in terms of rooms- since updated and the new tower. They also just renovated the pool and it is pretty nice- with a shark/fish tank and water slide going through it. We walked outside and snapped a few pics. We might have to stay here next time, since we like downtown for gambling anyhow and enjoy this great new pool area.

they also have a new club called Gold Diggers- I thought it was funny, so got my pic with the sign.

Then we looked in a few of the cheesy shops. Got my friend an vegas pic frame for a wedding picture. Getting hungry, so stopped in at subway in the four queens for a quick bite. We didn’t plan to eat dinner until late after our show tonight.
After that, we cabbed it back to the Monte Carlo to rest and power nap before our 7:30 Zumanity Cirque show at NYNY. It was about 5pm or shortly after. Just as we lay down, my cell rings. It is American Airlines, they cancelled our 8:30am flight tomorrow and have rebooked us on a later flight with connections (our original flight was direct- 8:30am, arriving DFW at 1pm). Now they have us leaving later, connecting and arriving after 8pm Dallas time- I had to pick up my son from Day care by 6pm. Not good. I called AA and was on the phone with them for almost an hour. He couldn’t find anything- or should I say, didn’t try to find anything other than AA flights, since I am sure they were trying to avoid paying to book us on another airline. All he was offering me was late flights with many connections. Finally I asked to speak to a supervisor. I told him this was unacceptable, we had booked an early flight knowing we had to get my son from day care. Now, we didn’t have anyone that was living nearby that was in town that could get him. My mom can’t drive still after her brain surgery and had had my aunt drive her to drop off Will at day care that am for us. I am sure I could have tried to get my aunt to drive my mom back again, but it was going to be a big pain for them and drive that didn’t need to make (45 minutes probably each way). So I told him to find me something getting us in before 5pm. After being on hold for 20 minutes with the supervisor, he finally found a 6:30am US Airways flight connecting in SLC and arriving DFW at 2pm. I took it, at that point, I was so frustrated. Now we had to get up at the crack of dawn yet again for a flight. That ruined our evening- no power nap since I was on the phone for an hour with them.
So we finally get dressed and head over to NYNY for the show. We get there to pick up our tickets at Will Call and are told we no longer get the free tickets with our Travelocity package since we cancelled our first night’s hotel due to missing our flight. Boo! Yet again, this trip from H-E-double hockey sticks rears its ugly head. So totally defeated at this point, we return to our room- it is now 8pm. We change into something more comfy and decided to walk over to the Coke and M&Ms stores across the street. In all my years going to Vegas, I have never been to these. We get a huge coke and wander around, find a cute M&M dispenser/car for our son and head out. Then we head over to Planet Hollywood and find the Earle of Sandwich finally! We have a quick but nice dinner there. We return back to the hotel and find our friends playing slots. I wanted to play a few more slots and was looking for wheel of fortune ones…….just our luck, Monte Carlo doesn’t have any, not the real wheel of fortune ones, just knock offs that require 3 credits to get a spin ($3 for a $1 machine). So I end up finding some other $1 and quarter machines and part with my money one last time. We saw a $5 craps table, but we were just beat at this point and ready to call this awful trip over. I made my final donation, we gave hugs to our friends and headed upstairs by 11pm or so. We had to be up at 4am for our flight.

We made our flight home with no issues and in good time, waited 30 minutes for the parking shuttle, finally had to call them a few times. What a nightmare. DH went back to work for a few hours and I finally got our son (on time too!) and got home. To add a little more fuel to the fire, our heating element on our dryer went out a day before our trip- so now I have tons of laundry to do with no dryer. And we realized our phone lines were down too…..no wonder we hadn’t heard from anyone on the home phone all week? We don’t use our lan line much as you can tell- our phone had been down for a while and we didn’t realize it. I guess we didn’t miss the telemarketers! So our horrible trip was over. I lost maybe $400 in total gambling, so I estimate anyhow, after all the meals, cabs and stuff. Not too shabby, I always go in considering any money I take to be ‘gone or spent’ anyhow. You can’t go in counting on taking that money home. So it was money I hoped to bring back or win on, but I also had planned to lose if that was the case.
So now- we look forward to our next trip to wDW in December- 10-20th, about 4 months away. I can’t wait and now just hope our travels will be much better for that. And Yes, I plan to FORCE DH to arrive at the airport at LEAST 2 hours early- not counting travel time/shuttle time!!! WE will have our 2yo in tow and all the crap that goes with him, so we will be there early. I might just rent a towncar or limo service to take us, so DH doesn’t have an option on the timing. Thanks for reading along- hope your trips to Vegas are better than this one!!!

 

[serene56]

What a wonderful review. Sorry to hear about so many downs with those ups.

Have you ever priced your vegas vacation using usairvactions.com?

I have used them several times for vegas in the past-- never a problem and so much cheaper then Travlocity, expedia or orbitz.

Have you also looking at vegasadvisors.com not as good as the disboards but it helps with the waiting

 

[DVCsince02]

Michelle, I would have strangled my DH for making us late. Glad the drama is over and I'm sure Will is happy you are home.

 

[daneenm]

Thanks so much for posting your TR! I guess I should feel lucky that DH insists on being at the airport 2 hours early no matter what the flight!

 

[BriarRosie]

Wow, sounds like you had a lot of bad situations all around, and you should blame your DH for all of them. He owes you lots of presents.

I'm going to Vegas for my birthday in a few months, so I hope my trip isn't as stressful!

At least you saw your friends get married.

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

Michelle - what an awesome trip report! I loved the pics too! So glad you got to go to Earl of Sandwich and to go out for a special dinner with your husband. I read the reviews of Zumanity - I think we are going for Love instead. Thanks for the tip about the Vegas sign - DH just thought you showed up and could snap a pic - we didn't realize there would a line - d'oh! Thanks for the review of Serendipity - having seen the NY version of the restaurant in the movie, I might've stopped in but after your review, I think I'll skip it for a meal (maybe just go for dessert!) The ice bar sounded really cool (pardon the pun!) For everything that you said went wrong, it sounded like you had some really great moments Thanks for taking the time to share!!