Friends just want to have fun, Vegas Shore Style! Part one of a two part seven night trip.

This started out to be my usual July trip around my birthday for a few nights. Then I discovered that some of my friends had trips planned around this time and I gradually added more nights to be with them until I ended up with a seven night trip! It almost ended up being a ten night trip but I was afraid my son and husband might think I moved out. ;) Due to the length of this trip the report will be divided up into part one which will cover my stay at THEHotel at Mandalay Bay for three nights and then my one night at Cosmopolitan. Part two of my trip report will cover my three night stay at Wynn.

My flight out of San Jose to Las Vegas was on time and smooth. Alphonso my limo driver from THEHotel was waiting for me at baggage claim and it didn't take long for my baggage to arrive. Alphonso tunneled me but made up for it by telling me a couple interesting stories of working backstage at the Stardust 35 years ago!

Checked in at the VIP desk and decided to wait briefly for a room so I could have a strip view on a high floor. Later in my stay I would wish I had taken the lower floor suite.

Angela, one of my followers on Twitter wanted photos of my room so here you go.

Everyone should keep in mind that THEHotel will be going under a lot of renovations the end of this year so once the Delano branding takes over I'm sure these suites will be decorated quite differently.

Above is my view from the 35th floor. Sorry for some reason I can't find photos of the bath  or bedroom, guess I forgot to take them. :(

I quickly unpacked and headed downstairs where I got my free play put on my card and it was off to the slots.

Last stay the Mandalay Bay Casino killed me with the exception of a bit of luck on the Lord of the Rings slot so I headed there first and was quite happy to start out with a hit of $950.50 on a Frodo bonus!

Once LOTR seemed to go cold I had some brief luck on the original Wizard of Oz.

I was happy that Mandalay Bay had installed the new Twilight Zone slots since my last visit and while I wasn't as lucky there on them as I was on the June trip at Palazzo it gave me some fun bonuses.

Some of the posters on the Slot Fanatics message board love the Wonder 4 slot and I did briefly have some luck on it before moving on.

Mandalay Bay Casino still has one old Slotsky slot on their floor and I had a fun and decent bonus on it.

I played a lot of Clue at Mandalay Bay and while I had some really low paying bonuses I also had some good ones. I find the bonuses on Clue and the new Twilight Zone to be so much fun that even when they don't pay me much I can't seem to stay away from them long.

I briefly played the Sun and Moon $1 slot and was excited when I got the bonus. Unfortunately the bonus didn't pay very much. Later I had a bonus on the 5 cent Sun & Moon slot that paid more!

I was ahead about one grand at this point and having warm and fuzzy feelings about the MB casino when I drifted in to the high limit room and sought out the $25 Wheel of Fortune. I haven't really played this slot except a couple times since Randy and I got extremely lucky last August and hit the 20k win on the one at Venetian. Unfortunately other then this minor hit I got nada on this one and lost a few hundred to it before giving up. Later that evening when peeking in I saw a gentleman waiting to get paid for a jackpot he hit on it.

I played the old slot above for points. I had to break off from the fun I was having with the newer slots like CSI, Twilight Zone, LOTR and Clue because M-Life has them as speciality slots and good luck making many points and express comps by playing the speciality slots which is what almost any new slot or older progressive is considered.

Above is another hit on Twilight Zone, however at this time my luck seemed to run out and I was starting to lose so I was glad it was time to head out to Bellagio to meet friends for dinner.

Tonight I was meeting my friends Gwen, Sharon and Brian for dinner at Prime!

When I walked into Bellagio I found Gwen playing one of my old favorites the Hitchcock slots, so I ordered a Bellini from a passing cocktail server and started playing them too.

Gwen who has had a very lucky year so far was not having in luck at Bellagio where she was staying. So while she was losing, my Hitchcock slot decided to start hitting and I found myself with a streak of luck going at Bellagio which hasn't happened to me in a long time!

Before we met up with Brian and Sharon for dinner I drifted, okay I headed straight for the high limit room and the $1 Top Dollar slot that I like. I was very happy that it was active and giving me some good hits.

When Gwen and I walked over to Prime we found Sharon and Brian waiting outside of it. The four of us hadn't been together since February so it was hugs and kisses and then in to the beautiful dining room of Prime and a great table with a view of the Bellagio Fountains.

This was my second time eating at Prime and like the previous time service was great. However to get the most from your splurge when eating at Prime, make a reservation far enough in advance and request a table by the windows so you can see the Bellagio Fountains. The food is great, the restaurant is beautiful but the view of the Fountains puts it over the top.

Strangely enough none of us ordered steak at Prime this evening. Above is the parmesan crusted chicken with white asparagus with a lemon basil sauce that both Brian and Gwen ordered.

I had delicious caramelized scallops with spring veggies.

Sharon ordered and enjoyed the Duck a la Orange with carrot puree.

The side of broccoli was yummy.

The tempura onion rings were good tonight though on my previous visit I didn't care for them.

The stand out side dish for me that I loved was the chickpeas fries!

Our server took a photo of the four of us but unfortunately the glare from a mirror made it foggy.

All of us shared a fabulous dessert, Tres Leches cake with meringue. This cake had just the the right amount of sweet and all of us enjoyed it. Thanks Gwen for treating me to a great birthday dinner!

I had a birthday earlier in the week so we were heading back to Gwen's room for her to give me my present when I was able to get a quick photo of the team who had their dinner at the slots. This went on for over a week as the progressive on these $5 slots was due to hit and this team of people had taken them over. It finally did hit at over a million about 5 or 6 days after I took this photo. Not sure if this gambling team broke even on their win or made a big profit due to wins received before the hit and the comps they got off of their high level play.

When we got to Gwen's suite I wasn't the only one to get a present. :) We had big news before we left for Las Vegas and it was that Sharon and Brian were expecting and their baby is due early next year! Auntie Gwen to celebrate had designed and ordered a bunch of cute onesies.

Not being as creative, I had searched the internet before I left home and found this cute baby bib! To think that last year this time we were at Sharon and Brian's wedding at Caesar's Palace and now there's a baby on the way, just perfect timing!

Gwen, Sharon, Brian and Teresa gave me a very generous birthday gift of gift cards to Venetian and Palazzo my home away from home and I will be enjoying using them on a future trip, thanks guys!

Speaking of Teresa, who was going to be with us at dinner tonight, a few days before our trip we had the terrible news that Teresa's beloved Mother-in Law was taken suddenly ill and had passed. Teresa and her husband were with her during her final hours and were now taking care of funeral arrangements and deep in mourning. Our thoughts went to Teresa a lot during the early days of our trip and she was missed a lot!

After we left Gwen's room we went down to the casino where the four of us played Clue together. All of us had some fun times and bonuses together before Sharon and Brian returned to Caesar's Palace where they were staying. Below is a video of one of those Clue Bonuses.

 After Brian and Sharon left Gwen and I played a couple more slots including Twilight Zone below but she was tired and soon retired. :)

However I was pleasantly surprised that my luck at Bellagio was still happening so I wasn't about to return to Mandalay Bay yet.

While I didn't hit any jackpots, I did continue to get bonuses on a lot of slots and stay ahead.

I was really happy to find the Beverly Hillbillies slot at Bellagio and even more happy when I hit the Gold Progressive. Since it was the Ellie Mae bonus which involves picking you know I was on a lucky streak!

I almost had a video of this bonus but a cocktail server of all people told me to stop recording.  Lady please your job is to take drink orders and serve them, not to police the slots.

Now what's really odd is that on all 7 days at various casinos during this trip this is the only time anyone told me to stop taking slot videos. I had plenty of security people and slot attendants walk past and ignore me and at Wynn/Encore which previously had been very strict about no videos I had a slot attendant come up to me, start to say something during filming, look at me and say never mind, go ahead. Is the policy finally changing and some casinos are going to allow us to film our slot play openly, but a employee here and there hasn't heard about the change? I know in June that all employees at Venetian and Palazzo ignored me as I was openly filming.

After my Gold Progressive win I went back to my $1 Top Dollar in the high limit room which is $9 a push and I again had a nice run of bonuses and hits on this slot.

This went on for almost a hour before it went cold on me and I stopped playing. Nicest time I have had at Bellagio in a long time!

It was about 2am  so I decide to visit the Bellagio Conservatory and take photos of it while the crowds weren't there.

After photographing the Conservatory I took a taxi back to Mandalay Bay and was quite happy to discover I was up at this point about $2600.00!

As I was walking around the Mandalay Bay casino trying to decide what I wanted to play before going to bed, I saw the preparations for the slot tournament that was being held that weekend. It had a cute Hello Kitty theme.

So I'm $2600 ahead and thinking I'm on a streak of luck so of course I go to the $1 slots where this is reinforced in my mind by a decent bonus on Cleopatra.

This was my best hit on $1 DaVinci this trip, it's been a few trips since my favorite slot has wanted to give me a big win.

I decided to try the $5 Top Dollar.

$5 Top Dollar gave me a $200.00 hit tonight but no bonuses.

Played some five cent Airplane because I was thinking of SDguy's latest wins on this slot and I did get some play on the bonuses and a good hit with three wilds.

After Airplane I returned to Lord of the Rings and once again it gave me a good win for $576.00! Unfortunately I went back to the high limit room at MB before going to bed and went from being $2600.00 up, down to $1600.00 for the day. Seeking the big jackpot didn't work out but I did have a fun day and night with lots of wins so I was happy.

I slept in until noon since I went to bed so late. I ate at THECafe for brunch and had their lobster salad. It was good but doesn't measure up to the lobster salad I loved to eat there years ago.

After brunch it was time to see if I could get another lucky streak going. I tried Pawn Stars and had a few fun bonuses on it but the wins were on the low side.

Lord of the Rings gave me a fun bonus on Frodo but since the card reader was broken I wasn't playing max, only $1.75. Here's a video of that bonus.

I was having dinner tonight at Sensi with friends so I decided to walk over and visit Luxor and NYNY on the way. Walking to Luxor by way of the Mandalay Shoppes I passed the Rick Moonen's new Rx Broiler Room restaurant and took a quick photo of its menu. Maybe it's just me but nothing on it really said eat there.

When I arrived at Luxor I headed for The Mummy slot but didn't get a bonus. I tried playing the original Goldfish and the fishes weren't biting.

I was going to walk on to NYNY when I spotted a couple Awesome Burst slots. While I find them boring I know that people have hit huge jackpots on very low bets on these slots so I put a hundred in and hoped for the best. The photo above and below show my typical luck with the Awesome Burst slots! My huge win of $1.95 on the Awesome Burst the only time I got it and my bonus that paid a big 40 cents!

I lost on a few more slots after Lady of Athens and decided Luxor was now on my not going to play there anymore list. To avoid the heat I decided to walk back via the Mandalay Bay Shoppes and then take the tram to Excalibur and walk from there to NYNY.

Once at NYNY, I found that my losing streak was continuing and the penny slots were slowly taking back my wins from the previous day.

I decided to see if visiting the High Limit room would change my luck. I first tried the $5 Wheel of Fortune since there was no getting near the two $5 Top Dollar slots that had the progressive as a husband and wife were taking turns sitting there and playing both slots at once. Wheel of Fortune was not giving me a bonus and I was ready to slink away when I saw the $1 Pink Diamond slots which are one of the few reel type slots I like. Lady Luck finally decided to favor me again and I had two nice hits.

I then notice there was a $5 Pinball nearby so I tried it and while I couldn't get Pinball I hit the bars and double diamond for a win of $500!

It was getting late so I decided to leave NYNY a winner and walked to Monte Carlo where I caught the Monorail to Bellagio.

As I was walking to the Bellagio High Limit room because Gwen was playing Ultimate X right outside of it near where the team was still trying to hit their Million Dollar Progressive on that bank of $5 slots, I passed the Conservatory where they had a man playing the harp.

Gwen being outside of the HL room led me to return to playing the $1 Top Dollar slot I was lucky on the previous evening, because I now felt I was on a winning streak again!

That's Gwen holding my $200 Bellini because during the 5 minutes or so it took me to order and receive it that's what I lost. ;)

Gwen was having some luck on Ultimate X so I tried more slots but the best hit I had was the $71.00 on the Wonder 4 above. By the time that Terri, Brian and Sharon met us for dinner at Sensi I was still ahead for the trip but going down again.

The ginger based cocktail I had at Sensi and some of their delicious Naan bread with sauces.

Terri ordered and enjoyed the tomato and burrata salad.

Below is Sharon's tasty melon salad with hazelnut puree, grilled peaches, burrata cheese, and arugula.

I've been eating at Sensi for years and while the menu has changed the chef who makes the delicious Naan breads is the same.

The Sensi kitchen stations are in the center of the restaurant and if you are seated nearby like we were you can watch the preparation of your dinner. Below is the staff and I having some fun together as I photograph one of the stations.

Brian and Gwen both ordered the Butter Chicken Curry below. I had a taste of Brian's and it was good but had a bit of sweetness to it and I prefer my India food very spicy.

So I didn't order steak at Prime but for the first time order it at Sensi. It was great, not up to Cut, Prime or Carnevino but less expensive and still good.

Not sure if Sharon or Terri ordered the Risotto with asparagus, roasted corn and tomatoes but it looked good.

Terri was mainly eating sides today and the spring vegetables with roasted cauliflower was excellent if you enjoy your veggies!

I ordered the Broccoli Rabe with chili, garlic and lemon. I really enjoyed the spice on this dish.

Brian's fried rice looked good but I didn't taste it.

I didn't order the dessert below and to this day have no idea what it might be, any guesses?

Of course I had to order my favorite dessert at Sensi, the fabulous chocolate and hazelnut bar with salted caramel ice cream! My husband and I might eat at Sensi when we're in Vegas for a slot tournament at Aria in September and you can bet this will be our dessert!

We had a blast together during this dinner, talking about everything under the sun including what was going on with our guilty pleasure watching Big Brother on TV. Gwen and Terri had met before and hit it off but this was the first time Brian, Sharon and Terri had met up. They also hit it off and before we said good by for the night Brian invited Terri to join us for dinner the following night.

When our evening broke up at Bellagio Terri as always was kind enough to drop me off at Mandalay Bay before she headed off for home. Once back at Mandalay Bay I was having a hard time getting anything going.

It's been a long time since my old favorite Wolf Run gave me anything good, but this bonus for a little over $200 made me happy, briefly. ;)

Lost more then I won on $1 Cleopatra and everything else I tried so by the time I went to bed I had lost my previous winnings and was even for the trip. Boo Hoo, of course it could have been much worse.

Walking back to my room I snapped a couple photos of the Michael Jackson displays near the MJ theatre.

Next morning we were having brunch at the Four Season's Verandah restaurant so I slept in to noon and then hurried to get cleaned up and dressed.

While walking over I passed Mandalay Bay's registration area and near there they had a duo playing.

Liz had driven in from Santa Monica this morning and joined myself, Brian, Sharon and Gwen for lunch. All of us were so happy to see Liz!

Love the food, service and atmosphere of The Verandah! Sharon ordered pizza for her lunch, so yummy looking!

Brian and Gwen ordered sandwiches.

Liz had the shrimp tacos and I ordered a combination of both mahi mahi and shrimp tacos, nom nom nom!

As mentioned previously I had recently celebrated a birthday and Liz brought me a large gift bag filled with goodies. Our server noticing the Happy Birthday gift bag brought out a pretty presentation of birthday chocolates that we all shared!

Liz left us after brunch to check in at her hotel while the rest of us went to Shark Reef, the perfect place to keep cool on a hot hot hot Vegas summer day.

I couldn't resist and took way too many photos so had to include a few here.

One of the staff doing a cleaning chore who turned around at the right moment, saw me and gave me the thumbs up. :)

Of course the only way to exit is via the gift shop but even there we had fun and below Gwen made a friend!

After Shark Reef everyone went their own way as we were meeting for dinner later. I headed to the casino and Clue.

Clue gave me some fun bonuses but no magnifying glass and I was getting frustrated as the puzzle for the progressive was close to getting solved.

I ended up having one of the worse bonuses ever but finally got the magnifying glass and was able to solve the puzzle and win the progressive which was around $210.00.

Here's the video of me winning the Clue Progressive for solving the mystery.
After clue I had some decent hits on Fireball a older slot that I hadn't played in a long time.

Next stop was Lord of the Rings, which gave me a couple decent hits.

Normally I don't play older slots like Sun & Moon but slots like Clue and Lord of the Rings are M-Life speciality slots and I wasn't earning any points on them so had to switch to some of the old slots for a while. I did get a long bonus on the 5 cent version of Sun&Moon and won a bit over $200 on it.

However the older slots don't entertain me as much as the new ones so back to Twilight Zone I went and while I didn't earn any M-Life points to speak of, I did have a good bonus for $181.50!

I was $300 ahead now for the trip and given my bad luck on previous trips the last 12 months at Mandalay Bay was feeling pretty good about that.

Today we were having dinner at Il Mulino at the Caesar's Forum Shops so I returned to my room to get ready and noticed that the bar in THEHotel lobby now has a duo entertaining there.

Terri was nice enough to come by and pick me up and we were soon at the Caesar Shops Valet where she checked her car. On our way to Il Mulino we got sidetracked by this chocolate shop. I ended up buying my husband some bacon and chocolate truffles which he loved so much when I gave them to him upon returning home, I didn't even get a chance to taste them!

Dinner at Il Mulino starts with them serving you a chunk of Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese.

Then before you even order drinks a flurry of servers brings out complimentary dry-aged salami, garlic bread, bruschetta, fried zucchini, and mussels.

I've seen some reviews on Yelp that have complained about the service here but our servers were great.

Dinner tonight was with Liz, Gwen, Brian, Sharon and Terri who took the photo above.

Their garlic bread and sticks were fantastic!

Photo above is my plate of appetizers. I tried everything but the mussel which I don't like.

My cocktail was tasty, I think it was a raspberry lemondrop or something like that.

Even with all those complimentary appetizers Terri and I couldn't resist sharing their special Caprese Salad that had in addition to the usual mozzarella and tomatoes,  capers and a wonderful prosciutto.

All of us enjoyed our entrees at Il Mulino. I got photos of everyone's food but you will have to identify most of it yourself. Above I believe that's the manicotti that Gwen ordered.

Liz ordered the shrimp dish below and I had a taste of it and would order this next time I eat at Il Mulino, it was delicious!

My entree below was chicken with artichokes and other goodies and was a huge portion. However it was a bit bland for me, needed more lemon in the wine sauce in my opinion so I left a lot of it.

At the end of the dinner they give everyone a complimentary glass of their home-made Grappa. Must be an acquired taste, because it tasted to me like what I imagine gasoline might taste like.

Early in our dinner all the smart phones in the restaurant started to go off with emergency alerts. Yep, this was the night of the BIG STORM! There was a heavy rain with high winds of 60mph or more. The restaurant lights were flickering and soon we heard alarms going off in the mall, though after a few minutes they stopped. While we enjoyed the rest of our dinner we could see via the windows that the storm was intense and we were all hoping it would be over with by the end of our dinner.

As we were leaving the restaurant a man at the next table to ours called Brian over and made a joke about him having his hands full with all the woman at his table. Brian joked right back and said we were all his wives!

When Terri and I left Il Mulino we were not able to leave the way we had entered there was security guards around directing us to a detour and then once outside we had a interesting walk to find the Valet area. The storm had passed and thank goodness Il Mulino was on the 3rd floor because we found out that many businesses on the first floor of the mall had been evacuated during the storm due to flooding, including Joe's Seafood, Primesteak and Stone Crabs.

Terri dropped me off at Mandalay Bay and then drove home to see how her neighborhood had fared during the storm. I found out that I had missed some excitement as THEHotel and Mandalay Bay because they had a power outage. Power was now restored but they were fixing the air-conditioners and the casino was hot though it did cool down within a hour! As I played a few slots like Kitty Glitter I found my luck had fled and by the time I went back to my room I was down $500 for the trip, which for 3 full nights and days I thought wasn't bad at all, especially considering the comps I had upfront which was free airfare (fly back voucher from previous trip), 3 nights in a suite, $400 resort credit and $300 free play.

Unfortunately when I returned to my room I found it was very hot. I called up and they said they were working on it and it would be fixed soon.  Three hours later my room is still warm and I can't sleep. I had some resort credit left and decided to use it by ordering a plate of shrimp, lobster and crab with a bucket of ice to my room. The seafood was fresh and tasty but the ice was the star of the meal. LOL! Turns out that the higher the floor you are on the slower the air-conditioning returns once it's fixed. After about 5 hours I had air again and was thankful I didn't have a room on the 60th floor!

Check out was quick via the TV screen and all I had on my bill was tips. It was time to check in for my one night at Cosmopolitan before I would move over to Wynn for the last 3 nights of the trip and some majoring partying with friends who were starting to arrive today.

It's been a while since I stayed at Cosmo, I think the last time was a year ago last July for one night. While I had a offer for 2 nights, I was only staying one night on Saturday. When I made the reservation I didn't request a fountain view instead my request was a room without nightclub noise from Marquee, Chateau, Hyde or the Aria nightclubs.

The registration clerk who escorted me out of the line (a nice touch) and to his desk was fantastic. That's his name above and he was efficient and friendly. He noted my request for no noise and made a call and asked for permission to give me a certain room in the West Tower. The room not only had a fantastic view of the Bellagio Fountains miraculously I never heard any night club noise on a Saturday night in Vegas!

The suite was just their standard suite, but there's a lot of space with a living room area, it's comfortable and I like the lay out.

Tonight was originally to be a special treat with dinner at Cut with Teresa and then we were going to see comedian Kathleen Madigan at Mirage. Of course these plans were canceled due to the passing of Teresa's beloved MIL and I was sad to think of T and her family grieving while I was having fun.

Gwen of course offered to include me several times in a group dinner planned at a Japanese restaurant, but not being fond of that cuisine and knowing that I would see everyone at other group dinners the next few days I decided to skip it and make plans for a Meet with a few other friends and acquaintances for later tonight.

However now it was time to unpack a couple things and then meet Liz for lunch at Cosmopolitan's Estiatorio Milos restaurant. This was my birthday lunch from Liz, thanks Liz!

We went with their three course lunch special, a bargain in my opinion at $22.13 not including drinks, tax or tip. Yeah, I know that's odd pricing point with the 13 cents, LOL! Above is the first course we ordered for our lunch, the fresh diver scallop skewer. There's a choice of menu items but Liz and I ordered the same with the exception of dessert.

The restaurant specialty cocktail has grapefruit juice in it but when I tried to order it I was told they were out of grapefruit juice. When I declined to order a different cocktail and go with iced tea, they came to our table a few minutes later and said it was available. It was okay, but I suspect it didn't really have fresh grapefruit juice in it. I wouldn't order this drink again.

Liz and I both liked our Shrimp Saganaki entree with cous cous, tomato and feta cheese.

For dessert I went with the greek yogurt with fruit which is great if you enjoy yogurt like me.

Liz had the fresh fruit plate. There was a 3rd choice of Walnut Cake with Kaimaki ice cream.

After lunch Liz and I played the new Lets Make a Deal slots.

I had some fun bonuses on Lets Make a Deal and would play it again.

After Lets Make a Deal Liz went off to play video poker and I continued to get bonuses and have some luck on the slots at Cosmopolitan! I later ran into Liz with her cousin and her cousin's husband and Liz had a lucky session with VP at Cosmo before they returned to Aria where the three of them were staying.

It's really a shame that I don't like the type of weekend crowds that Cosmo attracts as it's the only casino on the strip where I have over the last couple years won more then I lost.

While I wasn't winning on every slot I tried and didn't have any huge wins this afternoon I was once again ahead for the trip and having lots of fun.

Dsmack and I were tweeting back and forth a bit and told me he had lots of luck on King Midas at Cosmo recently so I decided to try it.

It's a interesting slot, I had a bonus of $125.65 on it which I liked but then hated the one for $4.80 so gave it up.

Decided to try the Bier Haus slot next to it and got a bonus but the pay out was lousy on this one too so I left it.

PompeII was kind to me and gave me the great hit below.

Checked out the Cosmo high limit room and briefly played the $5 Wheel of Fortune and while I got a bonus it was only for $125.00. It was about this time the Meet sort of fell apart and by the time dinner time came around it was just my friend Kathy and I meeting up.

Kathy and I met years ago on the vegasmessageboard and have had get togethers in Vegas several times and even played in a Bellagio Slot Tournament together on past trips. Kathy was in Vegas this trip for another Bellagio Slot Tournament and while not one of the top winners she did well and had a lot of fun.

Originally Kathy and I were to eat at Aria's Julian Serrano restaurant but I talked her into trying The Henry with me at Cosmo. No wonder they have a coupon for $20 off you can win in their Unlock and Win Two Million promotion, the service was poor and the food really was average.

However the company was great, there's Kathy and me at The Henry.

Halfway through our meal we had the pleasant surprise of Michelle coming to see us. I met Michelle through Gwen last July during a party at Bond Bar.

After we finally got our check and paid it we were able to escape to the casino and start enjoying their fantastic free cocktails. Cosmopolitan in my opinion has the best free cocktails on the strip. After Cosmo, I would say Wynn/Encore, Aria and Bellagio. 

The three of us were sitting and playing Super Monopoly Money for fun I wasn't even betting max when I hit this fabulous bonus for $845.95 on a $1.75 bet!

It was so much fun and I had a bit of a crowd behind me when it came time to spin the money wheel. I guess you can tell I had a couple chocolate martini's by then as I couldn't find the spin button immediately and I've played this slot before ;)

After my win on Super Monopoly money my lucky streak continued though no hand pays or big hits were repeated.

Spider man can be a fun slot now and then, but it really does have poor pay outs so not sure I'll be playing this at all in the future.

I had one great bonus on Aladdin where I saved the Princess! Below is that video if interested.

I did have a brief flirtation with the $1 DaVinci that I won the five grand on a few years ago.

Normally I don't play the Kiss slot but I did have some fun on it during my gambling spree at Cosmo.

The entertainment in the Cosmo casino was loud and fun. The crowds on a Saturday night were bad and douchy. I went to the ladies room between the cashier's cage and the small identity desk which is usually closed and there was a long line. The long line wasn't helped by one of the stalls being taken up by a couple having sex. I'm no prude, but hey get a room! No more staying weekend nights at Cosmo for me, despite the wins, from now on if I stay there it will be during the week when hopefully this type of crowd won't be around.

Love Airplane but couldn't get any big wins on it like SDGuy.

There's this one Gone with the Wind slot at Cosmo that my friend Jen won on earlier this year and while I was next to it playing Aladdin Kathy was winning quite a bit on it. After Michelle and Kathy had left to return to their hotels I tried it and also had a good win on it!

Couldn't get the Gold Progressive at Cosmo on Beverly Hillbillies like I did at Bellagio, but still had a fun and profitable bonus.

Returned to PompeII before I went to bed and had one last good hit. Also found the Awesome Burst slots on my way to my suite and lost a slow $150 on it betting 80 cents on this volatile slot.

At night the video pillars near registration get really odd though interesting.

The night time view from my Cosmo balcony was mesmerizing. It was really hard to tear myself away from my view.

I went to bed late at Cosmo and I was $500 ahead or more for the trip at this point on my 4th evening in Vegas.

The 2nd part and end of my July 2013 trip report is at this link:
http://www.lasvegasdaze.com/2013/08/friends-just-want-to-have-fun-vegas_13.html