The EXMIRAZA trip - day three

 I had a nice long sleep and a slow moving morning today which I really needed.  I had arranged to meet up with Mike and Terin at Ellis Island at 11 am to have some good food at decent prices. I also wanted to use my LVA “ buy one entree get a second one free” at the Village Pub.   The food was as good as I remembered.  I had an apple pecan salad with chicken in it and it was perfect.  I had had that dish years ago and I was very happy that this was one thing that hadn’t changed or gone downhill since Covid.  Mike and Terin enjoyed their meals too.

Next the kids accompanied me as I hobbled over to Horseshoe to give them some play.  Mike and Terin were off to see the Strat, the Arches, Downtown and the Luke Bryan show.  That Terin is a bundle of energy for sure!   I did not have high expectations for playing at Horseshoe.  I haven’t won anything at Bally’s in years.  I donated a hundred to a Buffalo Revolution which availed me nothing.  Then I moved over to the Asian lady with black hair.  Sorry I can’t remember the name.  Anyhow this machine went crazy and was giving me tons of big bonuses!  I was shocked and very pleased.  I gave them three hours of solid play.  As usual the machine went cold and slurped up my winnings but it was a fun day.

At three I decided to start making my way back to Excalibur because I had a show at five.  It took around fifteen minutes for my Lyft to arrive.  I was so happy to see a big car.  So many Lyfts and Ubers are these tiny cars that I have I hard time getting in and out of and often they have trouble shoving my walker in their trunks.  Anyhow we made it to Las Vegas Blvd and it took us an hour to go from the Horseshoe to the Ex.  The traffic was insane.  People kept driving into the intersection and the light would change but they couldn’t move forward.  Everyone was leaning on their horns and taking reckless chances.  Not my idea of a good time!  I was relieved to get “home”. 

I freshened up and then made my way to the Australian Bee Gees show. I had seen them years ago and really enjoyed them so I wanted to go again.  I bought a ticket right up front so that I could enjoy my favourite singer, Michael Clift who portrays Barry Gibb.  All of the band and the singers were the same but for Robin. Either the man playing him aged backwards or they got a new one.  But they were fun and excellent as always.

After the show I decided to play a little at the Ex.  I didn’t have much money on me so I thought that I would only be downstairs for a short while but that did not happen.  I managed to locate four Wicked Wheels but they were always busy, so I sat down at something called Dragon Spin Age of Fire.  Once again I got lucky and got multiple bonuses right away so I got to play for quite a while.  I have a feeling I am going to be getting Excalibur offers in the future.

Dinner is going to be this bag of Cheetos.  $9.95 at the gift shop. Such a deal. 

EXMIRAZA trip Day Two

 March 23 Day Two

As usual I woke up at 5 am due to the time change. It worked out well because I had plenty of time to shower and get presentable.  Excalibur has a handy coffee counter at the bottom of the elevator.  It is overpriced but isn’t everything?  I grabbed a coffee and a muffin to prepare for our day.

The first thing on the agenda was a trip to Lion Habitat Ranch. I Ubered from my hotel and the kids Lyfted from theirs..  I had been there ten years ago but I was eager to see it again.  Also my son’s girlfriend Terin is cat obsessed.  She has six of her own so I knew this would be something she would enjoy.   It did not disappoint!  There are new additions since the last time I was there; many birds and Ozzie the Giraffe. 

We all just loved it.  It is a twenty dollar Uber ride out to it but it is well worth it.  Please go and support these gorgeous creatures!

The pacing lion is checking out what his neighbour is doing. The attendant said she was new to that particular enclosure.  The crying child is upset because she thought there would be cubs but there aren’t anymore.

Here’s a video of the adorable Ozzie doing his thing.  I love him!

Mike didn’t wait for the lion to turn around unfortunately.

After we were done at the Ranch we Lyfted back to Excalibur.  For some unknown reason MGM had given me $100 in food and beverage so I took the three of us to the Ex buffet.  As expected it is a good “ middle of the road” type buffet.  We all found plenty to eat.  I was so hungry I  forgot to take a single food picture!  What is wrong with me!?

The young people took off to do various and assorted things.

I had it in my head to walk over to Luxor to use the Konami free play.  Also I was annoyed that there doesn’t seem to be a Wicked Wheel machine at Excalibur.  The plan was to see if Luxor had one but my body decided it was too tired and ouchy to go over, so I went downstairs and played from 1 to 3 here at the Ex. Not winning.  Sigh.  Then I came back to my room and slept from 4 to 8 pm.  The kids were going to Carrot Top tonight and I was considering joining them but I needed rest more.

I just turned on the TV for the first time and I am in for the night.  I have some nuts and protein bars in the room in case I get hungry.

The EXMIRAZA Trip March 2023 Day One

 I am calling this the EXMIRAZA trip due to my plans to stay at Excalibur, Mirage and the Plaza.

My son Michael, his girlfriend Terin and I piled into Terin’s mom minivan and she drove us across the border Tuesday night. We had a border guard with a sense of humour and had no issues getting across.  Then she drove us to the Comfort Inn by Detroit Metro airport.  The room was fairly grubby in spots. The restaurant I ate at was awful.  But I did like the 5 am breakfast buffet and the free shuttle over to the airport at 5:30 am.  Our Frontier flight was on time and without incident except for me having a bout of nausea halfway through.  Shout out to Cindy on Frontier Flight 2131 for being so kind and helpful to me this morning.  The nausea passed and I had wheelchair assistance help us get around LAS and collect the luggage.  We grabbed a Lyft to the Horseshoe at around 11:30.

I was thrilled to see Diamond check in still intact so I parked the kids and went to check in.   The extremely pleasant hostess was kind enough to upgrade our room.   The kids were pretty thrilled with the jacuzzi suite so that made me very happy!

Next I wanted to buy them lunch with my points and in a one to one manner if possible.  One of the places still doing that is the new Bobby Flays in Paris.  We managed to spend 94 dollars on three burgers, three onion rings, two milkshakes and a pop.  It is like a bougie McDonalds.

After we ate I took my leave of Mike and Terin and Ubered over to the Excalibur.  I was a little overwhelmed at the size of their checkin area but they pointed out to me that there was a special “disabled desk” so that was helpful.  I got all checked into the Royal Tower.  Not sure why they are giving me a free room but I will accept it gratefully.  The room itself is not fancy but it is fine. My only issue so far is the combo of plane and elevator noises, and the sheer horror of the number of yelling children in this place.  Oh well. I will survive!

I slept for three hours to recuperate from the day. I will likely venture downstairs to the casino soon.

The Horseshoe room and the Excalibur room.