Vegas Day 1
We began our adventure by waiting for our flight in the airport. After having done some spectacular waiting there, we moved on to do some more advanced waiting on the airplane. Not to say that waiting is all bad. In fact, having to wait gave us an excuse to do some serious people watching. As it turns out, the airport was full of people -- all kinds.
Through the course of the flight I caught a few winks of sleep (we were functioning on about an hour of shut-eye from the night before), did some light reading, and did my level best to ignore the friendly stranger from Norway who wanted to talk to me the whole time.
We landed safely in Las Vegas without any major incidents, although I felt this strange compulsion to tamper with the bathroom smoke detectors just because there was a sign posted there telling me not too. I have this problem with authority...
We decided to make our appearance at the hotel in style. We hired a limousine for our transportation. The woman at the counter took our money, gave us directions to the pick up area and then said, "Good luck." That's when I became concerned. I mean, I'm not the brightest bulb on the tree sometimes, but I really thought that I could find the limo without Fortune smiling upon me. As it turns out, everyone says "good luck" here. Apparently some folks are under the impression that we're going to come away from here richer than when we arrived. The natives use the phrase the same way Brits use "Cheers" and Auzzies use "G'Day."
We ended up sharing the limo with four elderly women who were bitterly complaining about their sore feet. It didn't matter though. We were stylin' in a spanking new limo for the entire five block journey between the airport and the hotel.
The hotel is boss. We're staying at New York, New York, a hotel and casino dressed up to look like the NY skyline. Now, I'm not all that hip to the former Trump holdings on the East Coast, but I think we're staying in the part that looks like the Empire State Building. No sign of King Kong yet... I'll keep you posted. [We're in the New Yorker tower, it turns out.]
The Statue of Liberty replica in the casino is a bit disturbing to look at because she's got this expression on her face that would lead someone to think there's somebody under her gown. Maybe she's just having a stroke of good luck. That must be it.
The casino occupies the entire first floor of the hotel. I don't know what the dimensions are, but I would guess that it's a couple of square blocks in area. The place is filled with these crazy juke boxes but no one seems to select music other than dissonant bells and clanging coins.
I tried to find some good eighties tunes like Modern English or Kajagoogoo, but all I could see were selections by "Double Diamond," "The Lemons" and miscellaneous BAR music. I used quite a number of nickels before I gave up. People all around me were getting more change than they put in. That seems pretty unfair.
There's a New York taxi cab simulator disguised as a roller coaster here. I wasted no time at all getting in line for the thing too. As it turned out, the line was quite short -- with reason... It costs $8 to ride around the building. Of course, I paid it anyway but was not impressed by this coaster. There are a couple of interesting loops and a nice corkscrew near the end, but I thought it lacked soul. It was also quite violent, suggesting that it doesn't roll smoothly on the tracks. I give it a Hurl Factor of 3, with the caveat that the ride might cause internal bleeding, leading to vomiting.
The man who sat next to me in the car turned out to be from New York. He said that the experience was almost identical to a taxi ride through Manhattan. I'll give them points for realism.
We did a walking (and standing and looking) tour of the area immediately surrounding our Hotel.
Across the street is the MGM Grand, a hotel and casino larger than some airports. The theme there is James Bond (or, at least, that's what they were doing today) because Bond, James Bond is a guy to takes risks and wins. So, there's no reason in the world why you shouldn't place a $5 bill in a slot machine, pull the handle and loose. The clientele is a bit more... er... mature than the folks we observed in NYNY, but they seemed to be spending money faster and with more confidence. Less time left, I guess.
Next to MGM is the Tropicana. It has a pretty sign... we never got over there. Next!
Across the other way is Excaliber. They have this kind of Disney-esque Medieval Castle theme going on. Clearly they're going after families with small children because the lower level is filled with cool kids games and visual goodies. There's a motion simulator theater, carnival-type games (ring toss, guess your mom's weight, stuff like that), and "coin games." It is this latter category that I think is intended to breed and shape the next generation of gambler.
TT and I put on our platform shoes and danced the night away in the MGM Studio 54 disco. (Are you really buying any of this?)
Day 2 >>
