A TALE OF TWO TRIP REPORTS-DIANA'S TRIP-PART TWO OF TWO!

During my birthday party last July Teresa mentioned she wanted all of us to join her in Las Vegas in mid March to celebrate her niece Ashlea visiting Vegas after turning 21! This trip would be the first time after my birthday that Gwen, Teresa, Liz and I would be in Las Vegas together again! Part one is Gwen's trip report and this is part two which is mine. If you missed Gwen's trip report read it here:

http://www.lasvegasdaze.com/2016/04/a-tale-of-two-trip-reports-gwens-trip.html

My morning flight out of San Jose airport was on time so I made it to Caesar's Palace to check in around 1:30pm.

I went directly to the Diamond Lounge to check in where a lady greeted me and took me in the office below. Since I had a Laurel Collection room with a view booked in the Augustus Tower she gave me one on a high floor with a view of the Bellagio fountains.

This was my first time using the Diamond Lounge at Caesar's to check in. Last year I got confused when I stayed two nights at Caesar's and used the regular registration desk.

Gwen and Teresa were staying at Encore this trip and then later at Bellagio, while Liz and John were staying only three nights at Encore so for some bright idea (not) I decided to stay all five nights of my trip at Caesars Palace. Why? My reasoning at the time went that they were giving me a five night comp in a nice room and since I wasn't worried about what my next offer would be from them I could relax and just gamble less in their casino and gamble more off property something I usually don't do on trips. However the best laid plans sometimes don't pan out, more on this later.

My room at Caesar's was very nice though I found out later that the electrical outlets in my bathroom did not work (upon close inspection it was obvious they were burned out) so I had to use the hairdryer the next day in the bedroom which was a bit inconvenient.

I did have a lovely view of the Bellagio fountains though to make up for the electrical outlet issue! I took a video of my room and it's at this link if you would like to see it.
https://youtu.be/VQdvmdRprrU

After checking out my room and unpacking I started my walk to Aria to meet my friends for a early dinner at Javier's. Okay first I stopped at a few slots in the CP casino but couldn't win on anything so decided now I would start my walk to Aria! As I was walking through Bellagio I played a few games like Lightning Link and lost at them all, hmmm, not a great start today.

I left Bellagio and took the tram to Aria where I also found Lightning Link and lost to it. Darn it, so lucky on these games the previous two trips and what a fail on my first day! I also played some quarter Irving the Viking in the hopes of getting a bonus but that didn't happen so I went over to low roll on Gold Fish Deluxe at $1.50 a bet. I did have quite a few bonuses with the result that I broke even, which at the moment felt almost like a win, LOL!

As I was playing Buffalo Grand at Aria, fans of my blog and youtube videos came up and said hi! Martin, Kara, Dan and Eddy, was great to meet you, you're a fun group and I hope we see each other in Vegas again soon.

They must have given me a bit of luck as I had a bonus after they left!

After this win I met up with Teresa, Gwen, Liz and her husband John for dinner. Originally we were suppose to have a later dinner but all were hungry and Javier's was able to take us early.

The Fabulous Four back together again with John taking our photo! Gwen and Liz standing behind Teresa and me.

Teresa ordered this yummy Guacamole for the table, it was great!

My spicy jalapeño Margarita, loved it!

Gwen and Teresa had the Granada Margarita, a blend of Silver Tequila, agave nectar, freshly squeezed lime juice and cucumbers! John and Liz had a Bud Light and a beer called 90 minute!

I ordered the Cabo Azul that I have had before and liked, someone else had it too but I forget who, LOL! Lobster, crab and a shrimp taco (not pictured), what's not to like?

Gwen's tacos!

Enchilada with Taco!

Someone had Fajitas and this is part of it.

I'm going to guess and say this was the Taco Combo Crisp.

After our delicious dinner we caught a taxi from Aria to Wynn where everyone was staying but me. Gwen sat in the back which turned out to be a mistake as when we arrived at Wynn she was feeling nauseous and had to retire to her room for the rest of the evening.

I played a few slots at Wynn with Teresa and Liz until it was time for me to walk over to Palazzo to meet up with friends from the Jokers Wild Gambling Message Board.

I was playing Outback Jack for 90 cents a spin at Palazzo and losing of course when Stef (SME JWE Board) and her husband Jeremy met up with me. Stef and Jeremy are a fun couple and we had a nice chat. On a future trip when I'm not having a terrible losing day I hope to play some slots with both of them!

After chatting with Stef and Jeremy it was time to return to Caesar's Palace so I ordered up Uber and met my driver in front of Palazzo.  Thanks to someone using my code with Uber, I had a free ride with a nice driver driving a Lexus ES and I tipped him a couple bucks.

If you want to try out Uber and get a free ride worth up to $10.00 my code is: dianae549ue  
It's possible there are better introductory offers available so check around if you want to see if you can get a larger discount on your first ride as it used to be up to $20 for the first free ride.

So back at Caesar's I gambled for about three hours and couldn't win on much. Had a few bonuses and hits on Elton John, Big Bang Theory, CSI slot and many others and before I knew it I was down $1500.00 for the day! My bets weren't that high but it was one of those days where you just lose and don't get any play. It was around midnight and like Cinderella it was time to leave the palace or at least the casino and get some sleep. I did manage to keep my shoes on as I returned to my room. :)

My room at Caesar's Palace was very quiet tonight so I slept in the next morning. I was in no hurry to start gambling after yesterday's losses.

I had checked out room service prices, and several restaurants opened for lunch at Caesar's and decided that the Bacchanal Buffet was priced in the same range and since I have liked it in the past when I've eaten there with friends I would try it solo.

Being diamond with Total Rewards there was no wait for me in the Diamond line and I was quickly seated at a nice table with a sign that let my server know I was special, LOL!

I've eaten at this buffet several times last year for dinner with friends and the shrimp had always been a good size, however this time they were much smaller. I'm not sure if this was due to it being lunch instead of dinner or if they have downsized the shrimp. Regardless they were still good.

This is the first time I have waited in the line for their street tacos. They come with chicken, beef or pork and it turned out they were good and worth the wait!

The brisket was nice, but he gave me to much even though I asked for just a little.

For dessert I had a berry crepe, my favorite here at Bacchanal.

After eating I played some of the games outside of the buffet like Storm Queens Thunder Queen and others. I did have some bonuses and fun. I played the CSI game again and a couple others and was ahead $100.00.

I decided to go over to Cosmopolitan early as I was meeting Gwen and Teresa there after they had their pedicures. I already had my mani and pedi at home, I'm not taking time away from fun in Vegas for something I can do at home, though I did consider it briefly for the fun company.  I had a offer from The Cosmopolitan to stay 3 nights with $325.00 free play but while I wasn't staying there this trip this casino will let you use your free play without a stay! Love you for that Cosmo, in addition to now you are letting us record our slot play! Thank you KS!

This is where my trip turns around, from being down $1500.00 with little play my first day, I start winning! Using my free play I hit a Pinball Bonus for $450.00!

I leave Pinball and go to Double Top Dollar and within a few spins I hit a hand pay for $1800.00 still on my free play! I have a video of live play and this bonus on Top Dollar. Here it is if you want to watch it!

After that lovely hand pay, I had to try my favorite game, DaVinci Diamonds!

Here's a live play video of what happened when I played it!

I won back all my losses and I'm now ahead for the trip thanks to The Cosmopolitan and my free play!

I tried a couple more high limit slots but they were a bit cold so I went to the penny slots. Lightning Link gave me a bonus at Cosmopolitan but not a great one like the last couple trips.

The Walking Dead game that I like so much did give me a nice bonus.

I hear from Gwen and Teresa they are on their way to Cosmopolitan so I start walking through the casino checking out areas I haven't played at yet and now I'm excited, they are installing the new Austin Powers slot machines!

I had to wait for a hour for these to be ready but I was first gambler on it, LOL! It's a entertaining game and I was briefly ahead on it but I stayed too long and then lost my hundred. However Gwen and Teresa had arrived and were playing on the other side and while Gwen lost Teresa ended up winning quite a nice amount. I have a video of my live play and bonuses and a few of Teresa's too. If you want to see Teresa's winning streak on it go to the end of the video!

After Austin Powers it was time for the three of us to head out and I ordered a Uber to take us from Cosmopolitan to Encore. Our driver was Roger and he drove a Ford Fusion and our fare was $8.14.

At Encore we met up with Liz and John, then all of us left for Casa di Amore in the complimentary transportation that Gwen had arranged with the restaurant.

Casa di Amore has a lot of happy memories for us and we were glad to be back. When we first arrived half the restaurant was empty but within 30 minutes it was full! The old Vegas vibe is alive and well here with usually a duo or trio that plays Sinatra songs. Tonight was Monday and all bottles of wine was half priced so of course Teresa and I split a bottle of Cakebread Chardonnay, one of our favorites. Gwen was still wary after getting sick the previous night so she didn't join while Liz and John had a beer. Teresa and I took one for the team and managed to drink that bottle all up! 

We always order the Bruschetta and share it because it's great!

The Antipasto is also yummy and large enough for the five of us to share!

Teresa enjoyed her lobster and shrimp ravioli!

Gwen and John both had Fettuccine Alfredo which is Gwen's favorite!

If it's shrimp then Liz ordered it and it's always good at Casa!

My chicken tonight was fine, but I thought I was ordering a different chicken entree and in comparison this one wasn't as tasty.

My side of pasta that came with the chicken was good but half my family is Italian and of course I like their sauce more!

Liz and Gwen!

Teresa and me with our Cakebread Chardonnay!

Gwen taking a selfie with Teresa and me!

My Tiramisu was to die for, so delicious!

I forget who ordered the Creme Brûlée!

We departed Casa di Amore full and happy. We returned to Encore and Wynn and it was time to get our gamble on!

I didn't find anything at Encore I wanted to play so we went over to Wynn. I tried the new Action Bank games and while it frequently hit bonuses and was fun to play most pays were low. I do think these games have potential on the Double Bonus if the doubling hits a lot, or of course if one gets really lucky and hits one of the two top progressives on these games.

After Action Bank, I spied Buffalo Gold and even though I had a terrible bonus on it the previous trip I tried it again and was surprised to win $425.00 when I hit the bonus. I have a video on my channel of this bonus if you want to see what this newer Buffalo game is like, here's a link:
https://youtu.be/70QNio1S6qk

I found a new Quick Hit game with a wheel at Wynn and was excited to play it. I got the bonus once but the wheel only landed on 40 credits instead of the bonus game.

I was about ready to leave the new QH game when I hit the 7's and wilds in a row! That bottle of wine that Teresa and I shared at Casa had made me really tipsy because at first I thought I won $10 forgetting that I was playing on a dollar slot and that I had actually won $1000.00! I have a live play video of the bonus and this hit if you want to see me catch on that my win was a grand instead of ten dollars!
https://youtu.be/TSnn8gfiMpU

It was getting late so I walked over to say goodbye to Teresa and Liz who were playing Game of Thrones and both were winning on it. Their wins inspired me to once again try this new game, but darn it I got my usual crap bonus on it. So far Game of Thrones does not like me!

I took Uber from Wynn back to Caesar's Palace and the fare was $6.37! My driver was Antonio and he was very nice and drove a Ford F-150.

This had been my lucky day, winning at The Cosmopolitan and then at Wynn, and I seldom win at Wynn! Once back at Caesar's Palace I struggled to find the games that I liked to play and unfortunately didn't fine many, for such a huge casino I find their slot selection not as good as other casinos.  I had a few bonuses on the games that I did play but they were weak.

After losing a quick $600.00 in the Caesar's casino I returned to my room where I started to regret that I was staying all five nights at Caesars Palace. While service at CP had been good and my room was nice and the view of the Bellagio fountains was great, there was a couple room issues like the lack of a working electric outlet in the bathroom that made me wondered if I should request a room change. Also that night when I returned to my room there was a private party playing somewhere at Caesars and while I was on a high floor I could hear the music and the booming bass until 3am. Since I heard them singing Happy Birthday at one point, that's why I suspected it was a private party.

As I fail to fall asleep due to the music it occurred to me if I was going to request a room change and pack up and move, why stay the rest of the trip at Caesars since I didn't like the casino? I had offers at other properties like Palazzo/Venetian with free play and food comps, and in addition would earn extra gift points for the holiday gift show at the end of the year.

After thinking about it I called up VIP services at Palazzo to see if I could book a offer at the last minute and was sorry to hear both Venetian and Palazzo were sold out on the 3 nights I wanted for comped offers. I went online to their website and they did have some rooms available despite the convention being held at V/P but they wanted $600 a night! So I sent a email to my host knowing she won't see it until the next morning the day I want to check out of CP and into Palazzo, and ask if she can get me in on one of my offers. I get an automated reply back immediately that she is on vacation and her clients should call and ask for XX while she is gone. At this point I go to bed and decide I'll just spend the rest of my stay at Caesar's Palace instead of bothering the person who is handling her clients while she is away.

Next morning I wake up and decide to check emails before getting something to eat. Surprise, I have two emails from my host despite her being on vacation. The first one sent to me says they are booked up and she will ask her Vice President if she can still get me in on a offer. The second email sent a hour later says I'm booked and gives me a reservation number! This great service reminds me why it's good to book directly through my host instead of just going though VIP Marketing!

I quickly called the front desk of CP and arrange to check out early, and they said no problem. Then I sent a text to my friend who works at Palazzo who knew I was staying at CP this trip because we're friends on Facebook and Twitter, and told him I wanted to come home and had a reservation now thanks to my host and could he make sure they gave me a room on a high floor in the 900 section with a even number, this is the section that has the shorter hallway from the elevator and the view looks out at the High Roller wheel and toward Mandalay Bay, in addition one can see the Mirage volcano. Also does he want to get together for lunch as I will be there in about 90 minutes? Yes to all and I'm soon packed and ready to catch a taxi to Palazzo! I didn't use Uber to take me to Palazzo because I don't like the Uber pick up location at CP and didn't want to drag my luggage to it.

When I arrived at Palazzo the room that Barrett had arranged for me wasn't ready yet but the lady at the VIP lounge put a rush on it for me. She also took my luggage and made arrangements for it to be delivered to my room when it was ready, and I gave her a trip for the bellman.

There was 10 minutes before meeting Barrett for lunch and while I quickly had two bonuses one on dollar Quick Hit and another on dollar Jungle Wild they didn't pay very good, in fact the one on Jungle Wild was just sad.

Lunch at Grand Lux as always was good. Barrett and I had a fun time catching up and we made plans to have lunch again in April when my Mom will be with me. Sorry I can't recall what sandwich he ordered.

I ordered and enjoyed the chopped Manhattan salad with shrimp and avocado.

After a great lunch it was time for Barrett to return to work. I had a text my room was ready and luggage delivered so I quickly returned to the Palazzo VIP lounge and got my room key and was off to unpack my luggage again this trip. My room was 49922, thanks Barrett it was perfect!

After unpacking I went down to the casino to get enough points to qualify for the Grazie daily tournament.

I wasn't getting huge wins, but I was winning and not losing!

I love dollar Quick Hit at Palazzo high limit room, also the QH a Venetian HL.

After playing Quick Hit I had made enough points for the max 4 entries one can get in the daily tournament at Venetian and Palazzo.

Earlier that morning I had heard from friends Judy and Kevin that they were in Vegas for the day so they dropped by for a chat and caught one of my tournament sessions. That ended up being my best session out of four so thanks Judy and Kevin for cheering me on and I hope you are having fun with your new RV!

After Judy and Kevin left it was time for me to meet up with Julie who along with her husband and some friends were staying at Palazzo for March Madness fun. Julie and I frequently have coinciding trips and it's always fun to get together with her so when we were texting earlier in the day and she found out I was moving to Palazzo we made plans for pooling some money together for some high limit slot play!

As Julie joined me I had just had a nice hit on the 3X 4X 5X Top Dollar at Palazzo.

Julie and I each put in $150.00 for our High Limit pull and we started with the $5 Triple Red Hot 7's game that is $25 a push. Fortunately we hit a bonus on it!

Then we hit this and if the 5th Davinci Diamond had lined up the win would be $5000 instead of the $500, darn it. :) Thanks to Philip Hall for taking this screenshot out of my video as I had forgotten to take a photo of this win.

Davinci Diamonds was followed by a nice hit on Shadow Diamond but it was a fail in getting the bonus.

Dangerous Beauty did give us a nice bonus!

Outside the Palazzo high limit room there are three $5 Wheel of Fortune games, they removed the older $5 versions they used to have and that I loved and replaced them with these newer versions.

Julie and I got a spin on each, and even though our wheel wins were on the low side we were excited and happy to get them.

We were winners at Palazzo and happy that we had taken our original $300.00 stake and now had it up to almost $700.00. I have a video of our fun at Palazzo here:

We were having fun so we walked over to Venetian and played some more slots and we were getting bonuses and hits, but unfortunately they were small bonuses and hits.

We ended up losing our winnings and original stake of $150.00 each but we had a blast and as Julie said at the end it's only money!

After Julie left to meet up with her husband, I went back to the Venetian HL room and had a bonus on Pinball for $350.00.

I played a bit of Quick Hit at Venetian but other then the hit below it was cold so I didn't stay long.

I left the dollar slots and played some pennies and they were okay, I wasn't winning much but I wasn't losing either.

It was time for me to walk over to Wynn to meet Teresa and Gwen to catch a cab to Bellagio. Liz and John were eating at Lakeside tonight while we were meeting our friend Terri at Michael Mina for dinner.

When we arrived at Bellagio Terri was already there so we walked to Michael Mina by going around the Conservatory as they had it under construction for Spring 2016.

A couple photos of what it would look like when it's finished.

How it looks under construction.

Teresa, Gwen and I love Michael Mina, it's a favorite of ours.

We have always had great service in the past at MM but tonight our server while okay was off, it wasn't the service we are used to experiencing at Mina. Besides what Gwen wrote about in part one of her trip report regarding her wine issue and him telling her they didn't have it when they did, he originally only gave us the menus for A la carte, vegetarian and their signature tasting menu. I had to request the seasonal tasting menu and then a few minutes later the pre-theatre menu when I noticed he had neglected to give that to us. When they neglect to bring the menus that are less expensive then the ones they first hand out it always makes me feel like they are trying to take advantage of me.

Gwen ordered the Vegetarian tasting, Terri ordered A la carte and Teresa and I went with the Signature Tasting menu and wine pairing. It could have been my imagination, but our server seemed friendlier as he realized we weren't going to opt for the less expensive options.

Gwen, Teresa and me, Terri doesn't care to have her photo taken constantly. :) 

Pacific Sturgeon Caviar Parfait. Beautifully layered with potato cake, salmon and caviar and I'm sure Teresa enjoyed it. Since I don't like caviar, I went with a replacement salad instead which is in a photo below.

Amuse Bouche above was a tiny portion of the most delicious soup! I'm really sad I can't remember what kind of soup this was because I loved it and remembered commenting that I wish I had a larger potion of it instead of my salad!

Two of the wines that Teresa had I had as part of our wine pairing. Since Teresa had Tartare of Ahi Tuna, she was served the Riesling Kabinett. I don't like raw tuna so this was another course that I had them substitute and I believe I had the celery root soup with the above wine.

Tartare of Ahi Tuna: Asian pear, pine nuts and scotch bonnet infused sesame oil. Solid blocks of ahi tuna mixed tableside with the egg yolk.

Teresa has eaten this every time we have been at Michael Mina so I know

After they mix it table side. it has to be delicious!

My tender greens salad with almond tuile and goddess dressing.

Gwen's spring vegetables, sweet pea remoulade and meyer lemon.

Celery root soup with honey crisp apple and shaved winter truffle. This was part of Gwen'e vegetarian tasting menu and one of my substitutions. It was excellent but I preferred the Amuse Bouche soup!

Miso Glazed Chilean Sea Bass. I have eaten this almost every time I've been to MM so you know it's delicious! Very fresh and buttery with a flavorful dashi broth!

Terlano Pinot Banco Vorberg was the wine pairing for the Miso-Glazed Sea Bass. All the wine pairings were spot on in my opinion and the pours were generous.

The Grgich Hills Chardonnay below was the pairing for the Lobster pot pie.

Mina's signature Lobster pot pie before it is cut into and plated.

As you can see below there are generous pieces of lobster in the pot pie along with baby vegetables and a truffle-lobster cream sauce. Tonight the pot pie was great, when I had it for Thanksgiving last year the tasting portion they gave us with their prix fixe was mainly sauce and very little lobster. I was glad to finally taste it the way I'm sure it should always be prepared.

Gwen's Kabocha Squash Ravioli before and after they add the Ravioli.

Terri's filet that she ordered.

Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon was the pairing for the Wagyu Beef Rossini.

The American Wagyu Ribeye Rossini was delicious. I don't eat foie gras but the rest of it was great! It had a pinot noir reduction on top.

Gwen's Japanese tasting of bamboo rice, tofu, glazed bok choy, and hen of the woods mushrooms.

A la carte dessert menu.

Ice wine for the pairing with the signature tasting menu.

Chocolate cake, pecan candy, warm chocolate chip pecan cookie, root beer float. I thought our signature tasting menu called for a different dessert but this is what we were served and it was yummy.

Gwen's pear clafoutis tart with vanilla creme anglaise, and vanilla ice cream.

After our wonderful dinner Terri very kindly drove our well fed selves back to Encore so we could gamble a bit together.

Back at Encore we met up with Liz and John. Terri, Liz and Gwen started playing some video poker with John watching. Teresa and I decided to try out the new Duck Dynasty game. If you watch the video of it on this link I guess you can tell I was very tipsy from the wine pairing at MM, LOL, and very feisty in my dislike of this game even though both Teresa and I walked away winners from it!
https://youtu.be/vn0A26rQygw

Below is from a window display in a Wynn shop that I found amusing.

I didn't stay long gambling at Encore, I needed to do my gambling at Palazzo since my host went to bat for me in getting me in at the last minute when they were full. They definitely were pretty full, the restaurants were busy, casino, etc...hoards of conventioneers all over.

Once back at Palazzo I went to my room to change my shoes and found that I had a lovely fruit, cheese, candy tray waiting for me from my host.

I decided to go over to Venetian and play Monopoly Planet Go as I find the bonus on this game so much fun. I was really happy when it gave me a bonus of 10 spins and I won $337.80 on it!  The more typical bonus on this game is the one below for $67.50.

Over a year ago Julie and I played the dollar Sky Rider in the Venetian HL room together and hit a hand pay on it. Ever since both of us always give it a try periodically to see if it's in a winning cycle.

While I can't win on the penny version of this game, I find the dollar version has a good frequency of bonuses and once again I got one.

While the wins and bonuses were low this session I had fun, made player points and walked away with more money then I put in the slot and that's good enough for me! At the end of this trip report you will see why I always try this game out several times when staying at Palazzo.

After Sky Rider I tried Quick Hit again at Venetian and had a bonus on it but only for $213.00.

After that I tried a few penny slots with average wins so I returned to Palazzo where I had a nice hit on Dangerous Beauty.

From Dangerous Beauty I tried Shadow Diamond again and got the bonus but it only paid $272.00.

However everything adds up and from starting with putting a $100.00 in Monopoly Planet Go to these bonuses I cashed out my ticket at $1,157.00!

Of course walking back to my room for the night, I couldn't resist playing a little Top Dollar.

After my weak Top Dollar bonus the Wheel of Fortune slot called my name and immediately gave me a spin but landed on the low win of $125.00, however it was a win.

Last slot on my way to my room was Lightning Link for a bonus of $90.00!

Next morning I didn't have any plans so I slept in and woke up to one of my favorite views!

I decided to have room service instead of going like usual to Grand Lux. I had a delicious platter of shrimp, lobster and crab claws with dipping sauces. They also served bread with this.  Usually this also comes with clams and mussels which I don't care for so I had them leave it off. The price for this is a reasonable $34.00 and yes it's reasonable when you see how much room service charges for a salad, sandwich or eggs!

After eating it was time to hit the casino for a bit.

I love 88 fortunes and it's various versions and had a couple decent wins on them.

Dollar Jungle Wild was nearby so I tried it again. Another weak bonus so I decided to quit playing it for the rest of this trip.

The last two trips I was exceptionally luck with the Lightning Link games. I had a decent bonus below but it was not actively hitting the bonuses for me this trip so I didn't play it often. We'll see what happens next trip as I really enjoy playing the Lightning Link games.

It was a lovely day and I needed to check out something at Walgreens so I did the short walk to it from Palazzo. It's outside and in between Venetian and Palazzo on Las Vegas Blvd.

A couple random outdoor photos.

The previous evening I had noticed the new Sherlock Holmes slot but since I had been asked to stop recording at Venetian I returned to gambling at Palazzo and only played it for a few minutes. Regarding not recording I only was asked to stop several times the first day, the other two days they ignored me, I'm guessing because they were so busy with March Madness and the convention.

While I didn't win a big amount of money on Sherlock Holmes I like the design of the game, the graphics and theme and had lots of fun on it.

If you want to see what this game is like here's the link to my video.

https://youtu.be/aisY0B1egZw

The last couple trips I have had some decent wins on the new Jurassic Park slot. I like it but then that's because I've been lucky on hitting the bonus fairly quickly on it most times I have played it.

Dragon Spin is very popular and it's hard to find a empty seat on it at Venetian.

Fortunately I did find a seat and had a couple quick bonuses on it before I decided it wasn't in a cycle of bonuses. Later in the trip I hit a cycle of bonuses and that's when you understand why this game usually doesn't have a empty seat available.

Miss Kitty is a must play at least once each trip. Fortunately I hit the bonus quickly as it wasn't one of my better wins on this game.

It was almost time to meet Gwen and Teresa for dinner (Liz and John had left Vegas today) so I decided to go play in the Venetian high limit room for a few minutes. I was playing Double Davinci Diamonds and had a couple hits when a gentleman sitting nearby asked if I was Diana from lasvegasdaze!

It was great to meet you Kirk, I enjoyed our chat a lot and hope to meet you again sometime in Vegas. I hope you were one of the winners in that 5k buy-in tournament at Bellagio!

It was time to meet Gwen and Teresa for dinner so I said goodbye to Kirk and started walking to meet them. We were suppose to be having dinner at db Brasserie but as I walked passed the restaurant I could see gift bags, party decorations and the restaurant was pretty full for being before 6pm! It was obvious they were having a private party so I stopped and asked the hostess about our reservation giving her Gwen's name and she denied they had such a reservation. I said okay and walked away to start texting Gwen about the situation and if you have already read part one of this trip report then you know how we ended up instead at Table 10!

I was happy to be back at Table 10. I had gone up to the restaurant and put my name in for the reservation and I have eaten there so much the past couple years they recognize that by giving us a amuse bouche and at the end of the meal a complimentary dessert.

Caesar Salad-little gem lettuce, parmesan crisps and shaved parmesan.

Emeril's crab cakes-Maryland blue crab-mango & cucumber slaw with jalapeño lime dressing.

Emeril's New Orleans BBQ Shrimp with rosemary biscuit.

Angus ribeye steak smothered in red wine mushroom ragout and Point Reyes bleu cheese.

Herb roasted 1/2  Chicken- spring garlic and spring onion coulis and roasted butterball potatoes. Gwen loved this chicken!

Tasty onion rings!

Caramelized sea scallops-charred eggplant puree-saffron nage-lima bean succotash.

Bananas Foster bread pudding-caramelized bananas-whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Compliments of the chef, the specialty dessert their fabulous banana cream pie!

After dinner Gwen and Teresa stayed around for a couple hours and we had fun playing the slots at Venetian and Palazzo together.

After Gwen and Teresa returned to Wynn, I decided to give Sky Rider some more play and while I didn't hit a bonus I did have a nice hit for $372.00 and decided to take the money and run out to play the penny games. 

Wow, I found a empty seat at Dragon Spin! I hit a bonus fairly quickly but it only paid $60.50. I played a bit longer but it was acting cold so when I saw another Dragon Spin game open up I cashed out and went to play it.

First spin I hit a bonus, not a great bonus but the fact it was first spin made up for that!

Surprise! Shortly after the first I got a second bonus, this one for $90.00.

Wow!  A third bonus very quickly after the second and it was a good one for $193.45! My Dragon Spin game was in a cycle of bonuses, I love it when this happens!

Yes, there's more bonuses though none as good as the one for $190.00 but adding up nicely!

This was a fun session and I walked away $500 or so ahead. Knowing when to quit is important! If you want to see a video of all these bonuses it's here:

https://youtu.be/yImKuNQ5LaQ

After Dragon Spin as I was walking back to Palazzo I couldn't resit playing Jurassic Park.

I had some fun with a couple bonuses and a hit. Nothing huge but I cashed out ahead!

It's getting late and time to head up to sleep as I had made arrangements to get up early to eat at Tableau. However, I'm winning so I decide to try $5 Wheel of Fortune again and I quickly hit a bonus that paid $500 which turned out to be my best win on Wheel of Fortune this trip, if you don't count the group play I had the last night of my trip.

Somehow I managed to walk by the Lightning Link games on my way to my room and hit a decent bonus of $100.00 on a $1.50 bet.  You will notice that when ever I'm playing the Lightning Link games I'm not betting max and that's because I have decided for me that's the sweet spot bet on these games that seems to trigger the most bonuses. This may just be my imagination but I'm sticking to it, LOL!

Next morning at 7:30am I drag myself out of bed. It's earlier then I'm used to getting up at when in Vegas.

At 8:30am it's time to walk over to Wynn and meet up with Teresa and Gwen as today Teresa has family members arriving! Meghan and Kathy arrived this morning from Ohio and were arriving just in time for our breakfast at Tableau!

Photos of Wynn, just because. :)

The Tableau menu.

Teresa, Kathy, Meghan, me and Gwen.

Gwen had made some adorable headbands for Teresa. In the Austin Powers slot video you can see the cute Snoopy headband and since today was St. Patrick's Day Teresa was wearing this design by Gwen!

Amuse Bouche is bread pudding at Tableau, yummy!

Breakfast at Tableau is always great. This is Meghan's egg sandwich.

My delicious Spanish omelet!

Gwen and Teresa were checking out of Wynn today and they were checking in to Bellagio with Meghan, Kathy, Ashlea and Jamie. Some of us do not travel light, this is all theirs!

Before checking in to Bellagio there were people to pick up and places to go and Teresa had rented a party bus for us to do it in style and comfort!

This was a special trip and you already know why if you have read Gwen's part one of this trip report! We were off to the airport to pick up Jamie and Ashlea! Ashley had just turned 21 the week before and Teresa's present to her was a trip to Vegas and a special surprise that Ashlea didn't know about! Ashlea's boyfriend Jamie would be joining her in Vegas!

We met Jamie's plane first and we were thrilled to hear he was going to propose to Ashlea later in their trip and so of course we had to see the fabulous ring he had bought!

We had about a hour to wait for Ashlea's flight so all of us returned to the party bus except Teresa. When Teresa arrived with Ashlea she was totally surprised to see Jamie there and so very happy. The 21 Tiara that Ashlea is wearing was made by Gwen of course!

Our first stop after picking up Ashlea and Jamie was the Las Vegas sign which had the longest line up I have ever seen at it. We waited in line for a while then got tired of it and took selfies and a group photo and left.

We drove to the Pawn Stars shop as it had been one of Ashlea's requests. On the way to the shop Gwen played tour guide and gave a funny commentary as we drove down the strip.

This was my first and last time at the Pawn Stars shop and it was interesting. I have yet to see the show, but I have some friends who love to watch it.

Ashlea and Jamie having fun with card board cut out of whoever, like I said I don't watch the show.

The staff was very nice about letting me take a couple photos of them.

After the Pawn shop the party bus dropped me off at Palazzo and everyone else headed to Bellagio to check in to their rooms.

I wanted to participate in the daily slot tournament again so I played some high limit slots at Palazzo to get enough points to qualify and was pleased that I was still winning. My best bonus of the trip on Quick Hit was above for $771.00! I finally picked 20 spins!

Davinci Diamonds at Palazzo would not give me a bonus but did give me a nice hit of $610.00.

Wheel of Fortune also gave me a spin but only for $250.00

The Pink Diamond Wheel of Fortune won't give me a spin but the hit for $400.00 was very nice!

I then played my four tournament sessions and somehow ended up in both 3rd and 4th places. However the rules are you can only win one prize so even if I remained in both places I would win whatever was the best prize amount.

I continued to have some nice wins for the reminder of the afternoon.

A nice session on the 3X, 4X, 5X Top Dollar.

I left for Palazzo and headed over to the Venetian HL room to play some more Quick Hit.

It started out slow with a couple minor hits.

Surprise!  I hit 6 QH symbols for $750.00. I wasn't betting max which would have been $45.00 a push, instead I was covering all lines at a $15 bet, which is why I didn't qualify for the progressive award of $2,294.00!

On the way out I tried Sky Rider and while I got the bonus it was the lowest bonus win of the trip at $99.00!

It was time for me to take Uber to Paris to meet up for dinner at Gordon Ramsay's Steakhouse.

Menu posted outside.

This is suppose to symbolize taking the tunnel from Paris to London.

Kathy, Teresa and Meghan!

The cart of meat that is presented to explain all the cuts of beef.

Drink list is on an iPad

I had the HK Antioxidant which I had last time I dine here, it's very good.

Kathy, Meghan, Teresa, Jamie, Ashlea and Gwen!

Ashlea said her strawberry martini was delicious!

Jamie liked his beer.

I raved about the bacon rolls when my family ate here but late last year when some friends of mine ate at Ramsay's I saw one posted that she wasn't that impressed with the bread and something about a cinnamon roll bread being okay. When they bought out our two plates of bread I understood what had happened as for some reason it was mainly cinnamon rolls and other breads and only 1 piece of their best bread (in my opinion) the bacon roll, so my friend never got to try the bacon roll and since they look alike at first glance likely didn't know there had been one because someone else at her table ate it.  I wasn't going to have our table make that mistake so next time our server was around I made sure he brought us a plate of just the bacon bread which is delish!

Gwen's trip report has a photo of the shrimp cocktail appetizer that she loved. The below photo I believe is their market green salad.

Heirloom tomato salad, I loved this!

The extra plate of bacon bread that I request for our table.

Gwen's roasted chicken breast with multigrain pilaf, crispy skin dumplings and limoncello jus. After having the Table 10 chicken which she loved, Gwen found Ramsay's chicken not as good.

Ashlea loved her Pacific Salmon!

I'm not sure what cut of beef this was, take a guess?

My American rib cap was tender and incredibly flavorful and I would return to GR just to order this, it's that good!

I found the roasted carrots with molasses, turmeric vinaigrette and dill creme fraiche to be good.

I didn't taste the loaded baked potatoes but those that ate it said it was good!

I had a small taste of the potato puree with creme fraiche and it was rich and creamy.

The ginger glazed shiitakes below left was a stand out for me, delicious and I would order again. I didn't have any of the fingerling potatoes and noticed that not many tried them so not sure about them.

I used my Diamond Celebration award to pay for most of my dinner.

I absolutely adore Gordon Ramsay's sticky toffee dessert but all of us were to full for dessert tonight.

The price of my dinner before they credited the celebration award.

As we went downstairs to exit the restaurant we decided to try this door near the restrooms.

It opened up to a empty host office which exited out to the Paris casino!

It was time for me to leave and join some friends from the vegasfanatics message board for a high limit pull at Wynn and since I would be leaving tomorrow while Gwen, Teresa and her family would stay in Vegas for a couple more nights, so we said our goodbyes for this trip. It was wonderful to meet Teresa's wonderful family and have another fabulous trip with Gwen, Teresa, Liz and John!

I took uber from Paris to Wynn. My driver was Behayilu, driving a Dodge Charger and the fare was $8.24.

I arrived at Wynn just in time as a couple of the others in our HL pull were also walking into Wynn's high limit lounge. To protect the guilty and the innocent our photo has our eyes blacked out, LOL! Our high limit pull was a lot of fun, if you want to see it I have a video of it.

We did get a spin on the $100 Wheel of Fortune! I've tried it before in other HL group pulls but this is the first time we have gotten the spin, thanks to Rider's luck that evening!

Lots of great information, fun and meets at lasvegasfanatics. If you haven't checked this new board out yet, here's the link!

http://www.vegasfanatics.com

The group went their separate ways after the HL pull as a few were going for a late night dinner, and others to play blackjack, video poker, craps, etc...

I headed back to Palazzo where I found I had taken 3rd place in the daily slot tournament that day which gave me $250.00 of free play added on to my account. I immediately went to the Palazzo high limit lounge and lost it on a couple games, LOL!

Deciding it was time to play some penny games, I had some fun and a bonus on 88 Fortunes and then walked over to Venetian where I spotted the new Lucky Larry's Lobstermania 3, only it wasn't very lucky for me! I had quite a few bonuses but all of them were very sad!

I left Lucky Larry, who was lucky as he kept some of my money and went to visit Rick and the Zombies at The Walking Dead game. Rick was glad to see me and gave me a nice bonus of $399.00!

It was getting late and I had a early morning flight the next day so I went to the Grazie player's club desk and cashed in my point play for free play.  I then put my free play into the $5 Pinball slot at Venetian HL room that is a 2 credit game and hit a bonus really quickly for $450.00! I was happy and put that ticket away!

I still had free play left so I went over to play Sky Rider one more time. It gave me a bonus within a few spins and it was one of my average ones of $374.00, but it was on my free play so win win. I cashed out that ticket and put it away.

I decided to play the reminder of my free play in the same Sky Rider slot. Not sure why as I usually leave after a bonus and try either a different Sky Rider slot or a new game, but staying put paid off!  I hit the bonus again within a few minutes and this time I had 4 rows of bonus symbols which meant more spins and this one paid $612.00!

I still had some free play so I continued to play and was in shock when I hit a 3rd bonus with four screens of bonus symbols again and this time I won $846.00, which I cashed out!

A winning trip finally, I was so happy! Sky Rider with the three bonuses paid me almost $2000 and with the bonus from Pinball it was almost $2500.00 within about 30 or 40 minutes on free play! I need more trips like this! The smart move was to end the gambling for the trip and that's exactly what I did.

As I walked back to Palazzo to my room to pack up and get some sleep I took some photos of the Palazzo waterfall atrium.

It was pretty but not one of their best designs in my opinion.

This trip was fabulous! Fun with some of my best friends, meeting Ashlea, Jamie, Meghan and Kathy. Having fun at the Vegasfanatics high limit pull at Wynn, great food, drinks, so many things! Plus something that hasn't happened before, this is the first time our group of Gwen, Liz, Teresa and myself have been on a Vegas trip together where all of us won! 

Next morning the Palazzo limo took me to the airport, my flight was on time and so was my son picking me up at the airport. My son is not always on time, so that was a win too.

Next trip I'm meeting my Mom in Vegas, she is flying in from Ft. Lauderdale and participating in a slot tournament, her first one! We have a couple shows planned, Matt Goss and the new Human Nature Jukebox, lots of good dining and meeting up with friends. There's also a luau one night that my host invited me to at Venetian which isn't part of my offer so I'm looking forward to seeing what that is like. As  usual this trip report was just finished a couple days before my next trip so look for live tweets from Vegas starting April 21st.

https://twitter.com/imevoni