Another year, another trip to Vegas! What can we say... when you have a spot that you love... you go back there time and time again.
We came in on Friday night, but our room at the Jockey Club didn't start until Sunday night. Luckily we were able to get two comped rooms at MGM. So we got to stay there for the first time on Friday and Saturday night.
We got in pretty late, so we just headed to MGM's food court and got burgers from Johnny Rockets, and then we gambled at MGM for a while (we always have fun gambling at MGM). I felt pretty silly, because I always thought MGM had a tiny casino because where we normally enter at has a small casino section. Well... turns other there is another HUGE section on the other side of the complex that we had never seen before. This time it was right next to our elevators so we realized there was a whole other side to the casino that we never saw before!! In hindsight, I should have known that their casino was bigger, but we've always just hung out and had fun in the small section.
On Saturday, we headed to NYNY to meet mom for pizza at the NYNY Pizzeria (mom could only get a comped room at Park MGM so we didn't stay together for the first two nights). Mom got a giant slice of pizza that was basically two pieces! It was pretty impressive!
Afterwards, Cody and I took advantage of MGM's large pool complex. They had quite a few pools and a lazy river. I was excited about the lazy river, but not excited about paying $30 for a tube to sit in. And at this point, this was the only day we were going to be there for so we decided that we didn't want to buy the tubes. Had we been there longer we might have.
After the pool, we went to the Bellagio conservatory which was decorated for spring as a Japanese garden. It was very beautiful. Then we went to the Bellagio buffet, which has always been our favorite. However, we were disappointed to see that their crab legs were no longer pre-cracked for you anymore. Also, they changed dessert chef's and some of our favorite desserts weren't there anymore. Those were our favorite parts of the buffet!! So we actually changed our plans and only came to this buffet once during our trip instead of the two times that we had initially planned.
After dinner we went to watch the special "Game of Thrones" Bellagio fountain show. This was the day before the final season of Game of Thrones was going to aire on HBO. This fountain show had been going on for a week prior to when we saw it, and we happened to be at one of the last showings of it. I have NEVER seen the fountains so crowded!! People were standing 5 people deep! I couldn't believe how crowded it was. Blogger wouldn't let me post the video that I took of it, but I found one on Youtube that is probably better than my version anyway! I would recommend skipping ahead to 01:45 because that is when the theme song starts and it gets interesting. Afterwards we went gambling at the Cosmopolitan. I did good gambling on this trip and I was actually hitting quite a few bonuses and having fun.
The next afternoon, the three of us went to Bally's Sterling Brunch, which in my opinion is the best buffet in Vegas... given that you like lobster, filet mignon, and king crab legs of course! Luckily Cody made us reservations a few months in advance, because they only do this brunch on Sundays and it sells out completely every Sunday. Last year we were a month or two out from our trip and it was already booked so we didn't get to go last year.
Here we are toasting our champagne glasses together.
The next afternoon, the three of us went to Bally's Sterling Brunch, which in my opinion is the best buffet in Vegas... given that you like lobster, filet mignon, and king crab legs of course! Luckily Cody made us reservations a few months in advance, because they only do this brunch on Sundays and it sells out completely every Sunday. Last year we were a month or two out from our trip and it was already booked so we didn't get to go last year.
Here we are toasting our champagne glasses together.
Here's mom with hers!
Chocolate covered strawberries are a big hit here, and we didn't see any at the dessert table, so we asked our waitress if they still had them and she brought us a whole container over. I only thought to take a picture of it after we'd each eaten two a piece. I swear, we probably ate more chocolate covered strawberries than anything else there haha. We were so full afterwards that we all didn't feel good. We went back to the Jockey Club and laid down for a while. Eventually we went and got groceries and drinks for the week, and then I caught up on Game of Throne episodes because the new episode was premiering that night. I was so mad to be 3 hours behind everyone at home, because I had to wait to watch it!
The next day, we got to go to the Bellagio for the day. We got a comped room from MyVegas on Facebook, and decided to go so that we could enjoy their pool. We normally just keep our room key and then go the rest of the week. It was not a good day for the pool though, it was really windy and kind of chilly out. So we didn't end up staying for very long.
Park MGM (aka the old Monte Carlo) added a new food area called Eataly. This food area has all kinds of authentic Italian food.
They had a cannoli station that Cody was really excited about, and then they had a nutella crepe section that I was really excited about. Yumm yumm!!
We went to our traditional P.F. Chang's Vegas dinner (still the only place we've been to on every trip to Vegas). I love sitting outside on their patio and people watching. Afterwards we watched the Bellagio fountains for a couple of hours. Then we went gambling at the Comsopolitan and Bellagio. I had another great day of gambling and hit a bunch of bonuses and had fun. Normally Cody is the one with all the luck, but this trip it seems like it was my turn. We stayed at the Bellagio for the night. But honestly, even as nice as the Bellagio is, I love staying at the Jockey Club even more. We enjoy having a fridge and microwave, it just makes everything easier.
On Tuesday it rained during our stay! This is the first time it's ever rained while we've been in Vegas! This was our second spring in Vegas, and last time we went in the middle of March and had some days that weren't very warm/good days. This time we came at the end of April, but still had iffy weather for a few days. So I'm not sure that we'll come back to Vegas in the spring again. I think that we prefer coming in the fall. It seems like the weather is on the tail end of summer vs the tail end of winter, and it seems like the weather is consistently warmer in the fall and Cody likes to bet on football games.
We decided to go to MGM for the day. We were going to do the CSI experience but the cases could take anywhere for 1-3 hours!! We didn't want to spend that much time there. We ended up going to Television City and watching a pilot episode of a new show. We were given $20 for going and then they offered us $50 to come back later to join a discussion group. We just watched the pilot and gave our feedback. We saw a really stupid show that probably isn't going to make it onto TV. But it had Silas from Weeds in it and Brie from Desperate Housewives on it.
We went to the Aria buffet for dinner, which is a great buffet. The three of us got free dinner buffets from MyVegas, so the price was definitely right! It has a great variety of food and everything tastes really good there. It's now one of our favorite buffets in Vegas.
Later that night we went to see Penn and Teller. We have been watching their show "Fool Us" on tv lately, so we were really excited to see them.
We noticed that most of their show is Penn talking, and then they kind of explain some different magic tricks to you. But the overall magic in their show wasn't that great. I can't say that there was one trick that had the "wow" factor. But with that said we still enjoyed the show.
After the show, they both lined up for pictures. We were excited to get to take a picture with Penn. Yay!
The Cosmopolitan is really good for having all the newest games. They had a Buffalo Diamond game that builds up free spins, and if you hit the bonus you have a chance of winning those free spins. And it was a two player bench, so Cody and I had a lot of fun sitting with each other and playing that game for the night. The top level was at 68 free spins and you got 4X the prize for each spin, so of course that's what we were hoping for... but we didn't hit the big spins. The next day we came to play it again around 3pm and there was a guy on the machine rapid bet playing it, and mom said she still saw him on it at like 3am! The next morning it had hit, so I'm thinking he probably got the free spins.
On Wednesday, we walked down to the Venetian to go to Carlo's Bake Shop (aka the Cake Boss). This place is almost always JAM PACKED! So we were excited that we got there earlier enough to not have a huge line.
Cody has been wanting to come here for the past couple of years, but we've just never made it there. Look how excited he was!
So here we go! We got their famous "lobster tails" (don't ask me why they are called that)... And we were pleasantly surprised that 3 items from there were less than $20. The stuff we had were pretty good, but next time I think I'd get actual cake. Afterwards we went to the Mirage to gamble for a little bit since it was across the street, and then we headed to the Bellagio pools to swim for a few hours.
Next we went to the park at NYNY and listened to live music. I love sitting outside with our drinks and listening to the free live music. We always enjoy it.
Later that night we met up with our group and went to the Tournament of Kings at Excalibur. Aunt Karen and uncle Gary also came to Vegas during this trip. They were only there for a couple of days and they were jam packed with stuff to do so we only got to hang out with them on this night.
Girl picture. :)
Cody and I.
I have to say that this was the BEST medieval show that I've ever seen. It was way better than Medieval Times. The tournament of kings was lead by King Arthur and Merlin, and basically they had kings from other countries come and compete in a tournament. So instead of your section being a color... you represented a country. So we were from Ireland, and we were cheering IRELAND! IRELAND! IRELAND! It was really fun to get into, and they were very interactive with the crowd.
Not only did they have the usual jousting games, but they also had women dancers and other entertainers.
There was a clear villain in the story, and he unleashed his dragon knights for the kings to fight.
I just thought it was all very well done and that it was really exciting to watch. I just went to Medieval Times in Myrtle Beach about 6 months before seeing this show, and I really thought that the Tournament of Kings was way better. Even better, we got free tickets from MyVegas on Facebook! So we didn't even have to pay for it. Dinner and a show... for free... that's the way to go!
On Thursday we were back to the Bellagio pool. It was a gorgeous day out! Just perfect for the pool. We also discovered that the Bellagio lets your bring your own drinks into the pool area (just no glass), we never knew that before. We hung out there for a few hours until we left ourselves starting to fry. Then we went back to the Jockey Club and Cody made burgers on the grill, and I took a nap in the shaded Jockey Club pool area.
Later that night went to the Hershey store.
We split a blonde sandwich with each other. Mmmm.
We all hung out for a couple hours watching the Bellagio Fountains.
Momma and I.
Next morning... I did a thing! I have been wanting to go sky diving for a long time (it's on my bucket list) and I kinda decided that either I was going to do it on this trip or I probably wasn't going to end up doing it at all. Soooo I went ahead and booked it. Cody didn't have any interest in doing it, but I was cool with going by myself. I caught a van at MGM and there were three guys that were also catching the shuttle, but they were 15 minutes late (this comes into play later). So finally the guys get there and we drive the 30 minutes to get to the launch area.
Well we get there and they rush me in to sign all my waivers. Someone that was supposed to be on the plane before me had a medical issue preventing them from doing it... so they go... oh just put Melanie onto that plane. And I'm like... huh? what?? I was supposed to have like 15-20 minutes training with my instructor and go over what I'm supposed to do. But some guy throws a harness onto me real quick and then says, "let's go get you onto the plane, you'll meet your guide there." As I'm walking to the plane my guide meets me, and again I'm like... wasn't I supposed to have training?? And the guy goes I'll tell you everything you need to know as we're going up in the plane... Oh great... sure... (Maybe if those guys had been on time I would have gotten some training). So I get into the plane and it's two rows of benches that people are basically sitting right on top of each other. And because I'm the last one on the plane... guess who was the nearly the first to jump!?!?
So we're going up... up... and up... and finally it was time to jump. To be honest, I wasn't even nervous about the jump at all. I have no idea why I wasn't scared in the least bit, probably because Mike was a pro and he'd be the one pulling the cord... So I go to jump out, and my first impression was HOLY CRAP it's COLD! Their website told me to dress for the weather... well it was 85 and sunny on the ground. NOT so much free falling at 15,000 feet at 200 miles an hour! In hindsight, I should have thought of this... but I didn't. My dumb self wore a freaking tank top and shorts! AH! It was so cold that it literally took my breath away, I think at first that's all I could think about. And then... remember how they quickly threw a harness on me while everyone else was on the plane... Well turns out it was too tight. I couldn't tell when I was sitting on the plane, but when I was hanging from the harness... I was like owww! And my guide wasn't the one that tied me up (like he normally would during our training), so he's like shoot I can't fix it for you because I'm not sure what the other guy did. He's like just pull on it and loosen it yourself. And I was like... Nahhh... NOPE...I'm good. I'd like to live today! I have no cool about how this harness works or what is a good thing to loosen or not... so nope, not gonna be the one to try to loosen it as we're falling through the air... I'll live with it, thanks. But it HURT! BAD! (my thighs had marks and hurt for a few days afterwards too)! So I was cold with a too tight harness on. So I was basically like... how much longer until we get to the ground??
After being miserable for about half the trip, I decided to try enjoy it (you know it was a bucket list checkoff activity and all), and I looked around and it was cool to get to steer the parachute around in the air. When we landed, I tucked my legs in and then couldn't get them back under me and ended up falling on the ground and skinning both my knees... Yeah.. not my favorite activity ever haha. But at least now I can say that I've been sky diving in the desert. Pretty sure that I won't be trying it again though.
This is me with the plane in the background. They wouldn't let me take my gopro with me during the jump. My guide had one on him, and he was doing a really good job of pumping me up and taking a good video of us. But the pictures/video that he took cost MORE than it cost me to do the jump, so as much as I like having pictures... I was like... yeahhh that's ok. I'll take a couple of my own on the ground haha. They did have a viewing area where I got to watch the video though so at least I've seen it.
After I got back from skydiving, Cody and I went to the Cosmopolitan pool for the day (we get access to this pool for staying at the Jockey Club). We were able to get a couple of the white chairs that are in the shallow pool section and hang out. To Cody's excitement there was quite a bit of shade at the Cosmopolitans pool, and their beach towels that they hand out were really nice there.
Looks like this was a Cosmopolitan type of day, because that night we went to their buffet, Wicked Spoon. We hadn't been to this buffet in several years and this was mom's first time there. They have a lot of items in smaller portion sized dishes already ready for you, they also had these really good duck wings, a make your own seafood station, and a really good dessert area.
Mmmm... here's a picture of some of the things that we got on the dessert area. Yummm. Cody loved the Cosmopolitan's buffet. I liked it, but it had more things that he liked on it then what I liked.
That night we went to the NYNY bridge to watch more live music, and then we went to the Cosmopolitan and my lucky streak continued with me winning on my favorite Walking Dead game.
Saturday was our last day in Vegas! What better to do, then spend the perfect weather out at the pool. I complimented Cody at the pool about how much fun we always have together and how we travel with each other so well.
We enjoyed the Aria buffet so much earlier in our trip that we decided to go their again for our last night, mom decided to try Paris's buffet (which I believe that she later regretted).
We discovered that cold king crab legs are delicious!
Look how giant those things were!
After dinner, we tried to watch the Bellagio fountains, but it was pretty windy out and when it's windy out they don't fire off the big fountains. So it wasn't as exciting to watch. We decided to head back down to NYNY to watch the Vanessa La Grand band perform. She actually came right down next to us and sang.
Towards the end of the trip we headed back to the Cosmopolitan to gamble, and I hit on a couple of machines (this went up to $189) and I ended up being ahead $350 at the end of our trip. And if anyone has been gambling for a week playing slots... then you know being up by $350 at then end of the week is pretty good. I found all kinds of new games that I liked during this trip; this Extreme Explosion game, a leprechaun game, a new version the village people party game, and the game of life.
Overall, I think that we had a really good trip. We had a good balance of doing things and relaxing during this trip and it's pretty hard to have a bad time in Vegas.
