Las Vegas Holiday 2007

Las Vegas Holiday

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At 1600 IME and I walked back to the Flamingo and I joined the check-in queue for my sister’s arrival, while IME checked her emails. M arrived just as I got to the front of the line. Perfect timing! We went with M to her room to drop her stuff off and check out her room. M also was on the 10th floor and her room (a double suite) faced east overlooking the pool area. A better view than our room, and her room was also nicely appointed and close to the other bank of elevators. No complaints at all with this room either.

Le Village Buffet at Paris for my Birthday
By 1700 we walked with M back to Bill’s to show her the Big Elvis show. It wasn’t M’s cup of tea so we only stayed for a few numbers and then walked to Paris to show M the casino area and Parisian shops. M was impressed but was not able to take the extreme heat as it was well over 100 degrees. Not for everyone. To celebrate my birthday we went to Le Village Buffet at Paris and enjoyed our fantastic dinner between 1800 and 2000. Le Village was great as usual. For those of you that have not been to Le Village Buffet, it is set inside a French provincial village under the twilight sky. It is truly an amazing eating experience, and you have to pinch yourself to make sure you're not really in France. The service was great as usual, and it was only a short line up to get in. This time they had Stone Crab claws, which we had never had there before. I prefer the big AKC legs, which were of healthy size (cut in half for easy access to the crab meat) as usual. Everything was as per usual except this time the smoked salmon was missing (they must have run out), and the prawns were not peeled anymore. In years past, the jumbo prawns were really jumbo, and hand peeled. I hope this was not a permanent change. We had a $5 per person discount coupon (again from the funbook) so the total tab for the three of us was $62, which is an amazing deal for the quality of food.

At 2000 after our dinner we walked over to PH and played Blazing 7s slot machines and actually doubled our money to about $40. We then walked through the Miracle Mile Shops to show M. By 2200 we had walked over to MGM as M loves animals, and she wanted to see the Lions. Unfortunately they were not there for a few days due to maintenance of the Lion habitat. Played some slots at MGM and lost. At 2230 we walked over to NY NY to show M, as this is one of our favourite casinos.. and we love the perfume! We walked through the NY Street shops and saw the dueling pianos going at it in the bar, and there was quite an audience watching outside from the street. By 2300 we were pretty tired so we cabbed it back to the Flamingo. M was pretty tired as she was on Toronto time, so she went up to her room at 2315, and IME and I then went to the casino bar in the Flamingo and used a 2 for 1 domestic beer coupon from the funbook (paid $5 plus $2 tip for two Miller lights). IME played some VP and lost about $20, and we decided to call it a night around midnight. I had a fantastic 43rd birthday which I will never forget, and it was a long yet action packed day for all of us!

DAY 5) THURSDAY JUNE 28 2007
IME and I were at the pool by 0830 as we’re not ones to sleep in while in Vegas! We’d much rather get down to the pool early and relax poolside! IME got our coffee and snacks from the coffee stand by the pool entrance, and I went straight in and set up our towels on the loungers. M slept in and had to have her egg and toast breakfast, so she had that in the hotel coffee shop and said it was just OK and kind of expensive. M joined us in the pool area around 1100. As it was so nice in the pool, the three of us ended up staying at the pool until 1500! It was just too comfortable to leave! On our way out of the pool area we stopped to watch the outdoor craps game that was in progress in the pool gambling area. It was a lot of fun watching the game and chatting with the friendly craps dealers running the table. The fellow playing was winning and was up maybe $75, and the dealers gave us all an impromptu craps lesson and joked with us about being Canadians… eh! "A round of Molsons .. eh!"There are also BJ tables under the Flamingo’s poolside gaming canopy, and it’s a very neat place to hang out.

Casino Royale never lets us down
Between 1500 and 1530 we refreshed in our rooms and met M in the lobby at 1530. We then walked M over to Casino Royal (CR) to sign her up for their rewards program. We were all able get fresh membership accounts, so we all played the promotional slots with our free $50 in play and didn’t win anything. IME and I enjoyed some $1 margaritas, and IME went over to the large 1 cent WOF wheel by the casino entrance. The WOF wasn’t paying out this time. So we all went over to the $3 craps table. M lost $10 on craps, I turned $40 into $25, and IME was playing the Nurse video game right beside the craps table. This was a new game for IME and she turned $12 into $100 pretty quickly! M then took over the Nurse video game and lost her $10 and gave up. All in all, IME and I actually somehow pulled $150 out of CR! We have a habit of doing this.

At 1700 we walked to the Venetian to show M how beautiful this property is. We caught the last half of the free Venetian Opera Show which is performed in the plaza where Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant is situated. The opera show was really fantastic and there were a lot of people stopped in their shoes taking it in. We looked in some stores, and then walked over to the Mirage to have a look.

By 1830 we were at the Mirage and this was the first time for IME and I visiting this property. We were very impressed. A very classy property. We wanted to go to the new Cirque de Soleil show LOVE inspired by the Beatles and their digitally remixed music, and inquired about ticket availability at the LOVE box office. Both shows that night were sold out, and we had other plans for Friday night. So LOVE will have to wait for next time. We decided to try the Cravings Buffet at Mirage for the first time, and after a short wait in line, were seated at 1915. The cost was $24 per person. We were all extremely impressed all around with this buffet. Cravings also gives Spice Market, Bellagio and Rio a good run for their money. I would say these high-end buffets are pretty much similar in terms of quality and value. This was not the case three or four years ago, and from our experience on this trip. Mirage’s Cravings and Harrah’s Flavors buffets are up at the top tier Vegas buffet level.

Cravings Buffet at the Mirage gets top marks
Cravings is set with a very modern, funky colored ambience, with ultra modern and stylish glassware and silverware. IME was very impressed! Like the other buffets we sampled on this trip, Cravings also offers a huge variety including sushi (not bad), BBQ, Rotisserie, Salad, Raw, Italian and a few others. The raw section featured to AKC legs and the jumbo peeled prawns. The prawns were truly jumbo, and the AKC legs were huge! They were by far the biggest and meatiest AKC legs on this trip! I just loved them. And yes, the AKC legs were cut in half for easy eating. There was also several cold and warm seafood dishes with various types of shellfish and regular fish, and the selection was more than adequate. And they also had fresh lox, which was superb! M is a vegetarian and she had no problems at all with the non-meat, salad and pasta variety at Cravings, and she was also more than pleased at the Paris Le Village buffet too! M said the baked BBQ beans at Cravings were excellent! As for the deserts, they also had an excellent Gelato bar, but no crème caramel or crème brule, and their supply of cakes was thinner. IME said the cakes tasted better elsewhere and the selection was better at the other buffets as well. But a small complaint on an otherwise superb meal.

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