The day started out relatively late for me. I must have been tired from the previous nights activities as I did not wake up till after 9:00 am. Tootsie was already up and about to die for a cup of coffee so after a quick shower I made the caffeine run. Back to the same coffee shop just off the Trop's casino. Do to the late hour, instead of breakfast, I picked up a couple of pastries from the coffee shop. Big, and I mean Big slices of Banana Nut Bread. Around six inches thick and very fresh. The price was not bad either and the taste reminded me of the cakes my Grandmother used to make. A very nice surprise. They also had danishes that looked pretty good too.
After Tootsie put on her face we went down to the casino to try our luck again. We split up, I headed for the craps table and she went to try her luck on the .25 9/6 JBVP machines. Another bad session for me at the Craps tables. Same old story, I would get a Pass Line bet established and two Come bets all with full odds (3X) and the shooter would seven out. Sometimes my luck would change, the shooter would seven out before I got both Come bets going, usually after rolling a couple of craps. One of these days I'm going to start betting the Don't Pass and the hell with all the right betters. With my tale between my legs and my confidence thoroughly shattered I went looking for Tootsie. I found her at her favorite .25 VP machine with two full buckets of quarters and about 180 credits on the meter. Not bad for a $20 buy in. At least one of us still had the luck running. She asked me to play her machine while she made a trip to the Little Girls Room. I figured that her luck might rub off on me so I gave it a shot. You guessed it, when she returned I had lost most of the credits she had accumulated. She wasn't gone long enough for me to lose the quarters still in the buckets so she cashed them in and we headed for the strip.
Our mission today was to aquire tickets for the Thursday July 1st concert at Orleans. One of our favorite bands from the late 70's early 80's, The Little River Band. We crossed the strip over to MGM and made the long walk to the tram station. Caught the tram to Bally's, exited the side door of the casino, crossed Flamingo Ave. and went inside the Barbary Coast looking for the shuttle stop. Didn't know it but we had walked right past the shuttle stop when we went inside to ask for directions. After a short wait the shuttle bus pulled up and we were on our way. The driver was a very nice, probably retired, lady who knows how to drive a shuttle bus. She maneuvered that bus through traffic with the best of them. We went straight across the strip on Flamingo, past Rio and the Gold Coast, made a left on Valley View (?) and entered Orleans from the back way. The ride couldn't have taken more than five minutes. Anyway the drop off and pickup area is outside the casino entrance that has the three giant alligators. We found the show room box office and were soon deciding where to sit. For this concert, I'm not sure if this applies to all shows at the Orleans, they had three ticket prices. Small, medium, and large. $26 to $34 if I remember correctly. We went for the large size getting two tickets on the fourth row. Now the Orleans show room is a very intimate place only seating 800. The seats in the last row are no worse than those near the front. What I'm trying to say is there is not a bad seat in the house. More on the concert in the Day 6 report.
After getting the tickets we walked around the casino for a while. Found the slot card booth and signed up. Real quick process and just for joining you get several free items. We got several Mardi Gra bead necklaces, one each of those clips with the long coiled card holder wires (I hate those things) and two key chain flashlights. I've joined slot clubs that didn't give you that many items after qualifying. We dropped a couple of twenties around the casino activating the slot cards and also gave the Blackjack tables a chance. The lowest table limit I found was a $3 table. I sat down at a $5 two deck hand tossed game and spent the better part of two hours playing on a $40 buy in. The rules aren't bad at Orleans with the biggest drawback, no double down after splitting.
Everybody has heard about the legendary Cocktail Waitresses at Orleans and believe me, that is no exaggeration. These gals are some of the friendliest and quickest CWs in town. Service is continuous with no absent times. I think they might relieve each other for breaks. Attention Smokers: Any table player can get a cigarette or cigar comp. No pit critter OK that I saw. All you have to do is ask the CW for the smokes and she will bring them with your drink. Not sure if this applies to slot machine play but I would think it does.
We both really liked this casino and will consider the Orleans on our next trip to Las Vegas.
After a few hours in the casino we decided to take the shuttle to the Gold Coast and walk over to Rio for a late lunch and a few CW photos. So out to the big alligator statues to catch the shuttle. After a few minutes the shuttle pulled up but it was the Barbary Coast shuttle. I overheard an elderly couple ask the driver about the Gold Coast shuttle. She told them that the driver was on his lunch break and it would be a while so rather than wait we got on the bus back to BC. Figured we would hit Rio later on in the week (never made it back) and decided to checkout the new Venetian. We walked through the BC past the Flamingo, Imperial Palace, and Harrah's and were soon looking at the unfinished people mover into the Venetian.
My first impression was not a good one. Why would they open this place before the front entrance area is complete ? We had to dodge cars and cabs coming in and out just to get to the casino doors. Don't get me wrong, the Venetian looks like it will be one of the nicest places in town but already the upkeep outside is falling down. I saw pieces of chewing gum imbedded in the concrete walkways on the bridge that goes over the canal. Maybe this is still the mess leftover from construction activities but someone could of at least scrapped up the gum. You don't see that kind of thing outside of the Bellagio or Caesars Palace.
Inside is different. The main entrance into the casino is fabulous. The paintings on the ceiling are beyond description. The level of detail in the trim work and marble are incomprehensible. That polished floor design almost jumps up and trips you. The casino looks like a fun place to gamble but we didn't have time this day, we were on a mission. A request from home for a post card from the Venetian so off we went looking for a shop to buy a postcard. Eventually found the gift shop just off of the casino and the postcard rack. Not one picture of the Venetian, many postcards were taken I guess in Italy that suggested the theme of the Venetian but none of the actual building here in Las Vegas. We did find one postcard that had an artists drawing of what the place would eventually look like so we had to settle for that.
Next we walked through the shopping mall, noticed the ceiling design ripped off from the Forum shops. Also noticed many construction workers walking through the shopping area. Too bad that they couldn't have waited to open the Venetian and the shopping area until everything was finished. All in all my first impression of the Venetian was damaged by the obvious incompleteness of the property. Also the lack of upkeep outside I hope is nothing more than a reflection of the ongoing construction activities. I'll be fair and give the Venetian another chance and make another trip after the place is finished. Hopefully the downfalls that I noticed (I didn't list all of them) will be a thing of the past.
We still hadn't eaten yet so since we were in the area we crossed the street and went in the direction of the Forum shops and our first visit to the Cheesecake Factory. I've heard so much about the CF in the newsgroup alt.vacation.las-vegas that I thought we'd give it a try. Its a long walk through the Forum shops to the CF so for those that haven't been there yet it is located behind the round fish aquarium. The food is well prepared and comes in large portions. Tootsie had the Shrimp Po Boy sandwich and it is by no means small. She could barely eat half of it so the rest went back to the Trop for later. I managed to scarf down my hamburger which wasn't bad either. We then made our way back to the Bellagio/Monte Carlo tram and over to the Tropicana for a much needed rest.
Waking up from a rare for me nap I looked at the clock and noticed it was about 10:15 pm. We had some how slept about 3 1/2 hours. Earlier this afternoon I had exchanged a coupon received from the Tropicana slot club for two free tickets to the Folies Bergere 10:30 show. Fifteen minutes to get up, get dressed, and get down to the show room. Believe it or not we did it. We were ushered to our seats just moments before the show began. Our table was one of those two seat small round tables located just behind the first row of booths. Great seats to see the show, not as much room as the booths but many times better than the banquet table seats located throughout the show room. For the most part this show is your typical Las Vegas style review. Many dancers, about half of the female members topless during the late show, and a comedic brother team who were half Italian and half Latino made up the entertainment. The show was Ok and I would recommend it to anyone staying at the Tropicana. I don't think I would go out of my way to see this show though. The topless dancers are very beautiful but somehow the nudity seems, to me anyway, out of place. Don't get me wrong, I think a nude female body is about the best thing going but somehow it just doesn't fit in here.
After the show we hit our favorite Video poker machines for a couple of hours and then off to bed.
That was Day 4 of "Brian K's 1999 Las Vegas Summer Tour".
1999 Summer Tour Trip Report © Copyright 1999, Brian K
Send e-mail to: brianklv@yahoo.com
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Since 7/18/99