5X MegaBuffet Trip Report

Tuesday, June 12th. Day 5

Not sure what it is but I woke up at 9 again Tuesday morning.
It feels like we're in a nice routine even tho we moved 
yesterday from Caesars Palace to the Tropicana.  When things 
are going good you usually have a nice routine working so after
a quick shower I headed for the casino for some video poker and
a coke.

So far this week I have been able to start each day out with VP
and coke, usually cashing out ahead.  As I mentioned before, 
there is no full pay VP at the Trop anymore.  I ended up 
settling for a $1 8/5 Jacks Or Better.  No sooner than I 
inserted the C note in the bill acceptor a Cocktail Waitress 
came by and took my order.  It wasn't too long before Tootsie 
came down to the casino and joined me.  We were talking about 
where to eat breakfast when for some strange reason I couldn't 
remember where my wallet was.  I don't carry a wallet when I'm 
in Las Vegas, my money and my ID are either in my front pocket 
or a fanny pack.  I leave the plastic in my wallet and usually 
lock it up in the room safe.  But for the life of me I couldn't
remember doing that since we checked in at the Trop.  Now that 
the paranoia had set in I told Tootsie to play my machine and 
double timed it back to the room.

When I got to the room the maid was already there with the door
propped wide open.  Not a good sign.  Our room was once robbed 
in Washington DC this very same way, the maid was cleaning the 
room and some man came in and took my camera bag and my wife's 
purse telling the maid that he had forgotten something.  I 
started rifling through my bags looking for the wallet, checking
the room safe last.  Should of checked it first, there it was, 
right where I left it.  My peace of mind restored, back to the 
casino I headed.

I had left Tootsie on my VP machine with about $40 left of my
initial buy-in.  While I was gone she had hit one Full House 
and Four-Of-A-Kind twice and had over $300 in credits.  I sat 
down next to her insisting that she keep playing.  I ain't no 
dummy !  She said I'll play till I get to $400 and damned if 
she didn't.  After we cashed out and split the winnings, we 
walked to the MGM Grand to tram down to Bally's.

As soon as you enter the casino from the tram station at Bally's
at the top of the escalator on the left is the High Limit Slot 
Area.  I think its called the "Champagne Slots Area" or 
something like that.  This area is kinda elevated from the rest
of the casino up about four steps from the casino floor.  For 
some reason we always win money on these slots so we couldn't 
walk by with out playing.  I always play a $5 Red White & Blue 
here and have usually done pretty good.  Not this trip, I 
dropped $200 quicker than you can say "Jubilee".  Tootsie, on 
the other hand, found another 5X slot turning $100 into $400.
Looks like today is her day !

Since we hadn't eaten yet we walked outside and turned down the
strip towards the Aladdin.  YESCO was working on the new Bally's
sign testing the sound system and Jumbotrons.  Seemed to be 
working pretty good but is really no different than the one at 
MGM.  The area in front of Paris is really nice this time of 
day, the wide sidewalks and shade trees that lead up to the big
fountain are great, to bad it wasn't working but we were able 
to catch a little of the fountain show across the street at 
Bellagio.  Its ok during the day but nothing compared to the 
night time version.

We walked thru the Aladdin casino and headed straight for the 
stairs down to the buffet.  It was close to noon but the line 
was short and moved very fast.  $13 for lunch is about the same
as we paid at Paris and Bellagio but was by far the best yet.  
The layout of all these buffets are about the same and even the
food selections are close.  One thing I don't remember seeing in
the other buffets was at the carving station.  They had a whole
roasted Strip Loin available, prepared rare.  If you don't like
yours rare they slice a piece off, place it on an open flame 
grill, and cook it to your specifications.  As I said, all of 
the buffets we've eaten at have been excellent but the Aladdin's
buffet was, for us anyway, the best.

After lunch at the buffet, we went up to the casino and soon 
found the slot club booth.  Since this was our first trip to the
new Aladdin I thought I better check to see if my slot club card
was still good.  Nope.  New system, had to re-join.  Once we had
our new cards I went to checkout the VP options.  In a small 
enclosed area of the casino called Sinbads I found one of those
large JOB $1 machines and it was a 9/6.  My game.  After about 
an hour and down $300 I decided to take a break.  I found 
Tootsie and we went over to the MegaBucks carousel.  On this 
carousel were two 5X machines, she sat down at one and I got the
other.  My $100 went fast so I moved to the other side to see 
how she was doing.  She wasn't doing much better but she had a 
good idea.  She said lets tag team this machine.  The object is
"Spin Until You Win", then it's the others turn.  Not being one 
to turn down an offer I agreed.  She went first, spinning about
three times before she hit Any Bars for $15.  Then it was my 
turn, I'd spin 10 or 12 times without winning then I'd hit a 
single Cherry, good for like $2.  The lowest pay out on the 
machine.  This went on for awhile, she'd spin one or two times 
and win, I'd spin many times before a small pay out.  On one of
my losing spins I was telling her that she probably wouldn't get
another spin and no sooner than I got it out of my mouth it hit.
First reel had a 5X symbol, second had Double Bar, the third had
a MegaBucks symbol.  Another $1500 win !!  Another W2G.  And I 
thought MegaBucks never pays off.  After we split the hand pay 
we still had $60 on the machine.  An Aladdin security guard 
wearing his tie and gold blazer gave us a little bit of advice.
He said "Save your money, you won't win again".  I didn't dare 
say a word.

Next we headed back up the strip on our way to the Venetian.  
Along the way we stopped at the Imperial Palace.  I played BJ 
for an hour on a two deck hand pitched game with a couple of the
friendliest dealers I've found on this trip.  If you happen to 
be there playing BJ look for Allen, a tall, lanky fellow with a
thick New York accent.  Tell him Brian said "Get da faulk 
ooutaaaa heere".  He misses that.  I walked away from that table
with an extra $200 and a comp to the buffet.  I've still got 
both.  I only took the comp to make the pit critter happy.  Yes,
I played MegaBucks, lost $200.

Next we walked to the Venetian, dodging the time share and smut
peddlers.  I'm not sure who's worse.  At least the smut peddlers
don't talk to you.  They've got that pop pop thing going but 
they don't get in your face wanting to know where you're from.
My standard answer to the time share pimps is "Out of town" 
or "Get the hell out of my face".  Our main reason for going to
the Venetian was to visit the wax museum.  We got on the 
inclined "escamovingsidelator" which by the way stops halfway up
at the entrance to the museum.  Standing in front of the 
entrance holding a sign was Harrison Ford.  The sign read 
"CLOSED".  Closed ? I looked at my watch, it was 6:55.  I felt 
like the Griswolds at the entrance to Wally World.  Oh well,
back on the "escamovingsidelator" and into the casino.  One 
thing worth noting, at the Venetian as in Italy I guess, you 
ride on the left side of the "escamovingsidelator" not on the 
right.

Once in the casino we signed up for the slot club then went 
looking for MegaBucks.  This time I hit 5X, Red Seven, Red Seven
good for $900 !  This is starting to get unreal.  Another 
MegaBucks jackpot !  Before we left the Venetian we ate at the 
food court on a $10 comp from the slot club which a new member 
earns after getting so many points on the card.  While eating 
in the food court we found $3 off coupons for the wax museum on
the tray liner.

After tramming back to the Trop we called it a night.


That was Day 5 of the 5X MegaBuffet Trip Report.  My luck
continues in Day 6 as the 5X MegaBuffet pattern continues.