Rachel Schneider
ENG 477
Date 1/11/2021
Marsha Blackburn
A Writing Portfolio
I want to write my own fiction stories one day; I have had a book or two swimming around in my head so I will put the computer to good use and get that typed out one of these days. In this instance I chose my 5 stories and even though one is a marketing inquiry I had fun writing it, so here are my things and some background some of them.
Resume: It is a basic one because my photo ones were not particularly good, and this is an honest resume besides the ones I made for class and I did fudge on those.
Cover letter: I made up the cover letter though there is a penguin Books but it is always fun to use your imagination!
Hike with Drew: I got the concept from a Writer’s Digest and entered it into a contes I never got a response but good practice.
Short Story Vegas: Was one I did for another class but in here I changed it and the story was much better the second time.
Marketing Flyer: This was fun to do those are stock photos of the dogs and squeaky toys, but I like Pit Bulls and dog toys are fun as well.
Scott part 1-This is a story I am working on with another writer, warning its very sexy and some naughty words are in there as well.
Writing Samples: I made these three samples up one day because as I have looked for writing work, I have seen people want a sample of your work, so I came up with these.
Rachel
Schneider
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3867 Houghton Ave Riverside CA 92501 📷
951-743-8911 📷
[email protected] 📷
Rachel Schneider 📷
Rachel7Tori-Twitter 📷
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Objective
To get a career going in the fiction/short story writing industry my imagination can run with any scenario and to write is to live.
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Education
Bachelor of Arts in English | Grand Canyon University
2017 – 2021
Took 15 different writing courses, creative writing and even two fun marketing classes all to polish up my craft. Carried a 3.0 GPA and did the courses all online as well.
No Degree Obtained | Riverside Community College
June 1994 – December 1996
Took these college courses but did not finish got 32 Units of Child Development Courses though which is what I was going for
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Experience
Cafeteria Worker 1
2008 Currently Employed.
Cook, Prep, serve food in a middle school setting, also clean, count inventory and do next day prep, cash handling and POS register experience.
Bell Ringer | Salvation Army
November 2007 – December 2007
Rang bell and collected donations for the salvation Army in front of various stores during the holiday season.
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Skills
Food handlers Card
CPR First Aid certified
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Grammar Proficiency
Spelling Proficiency
Can work from home
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Activities
Have good use of social media and can help update or bring in new followers with my creative writing side. Have a Reddit account as well with 30 stories up on that site. Can speak a little Spanish and Hebrew as well.
951-743-8911
[email protected]
3867 Houghton Ave Riverside CA 92501
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Rachel Schneider

Writer

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Penguin Books

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Dear JENNIFER MCGREGOR,

1/21/2021
Jennifer McGregor
Fiction Publisher
4587 Tropicana Rd.
Las Vegas NV 89102
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I have included my resume for the short story writer for young adult novels. It has been a few years, but I currently work in a middle school, so I do see all the angst and sass that goes with being a young teen. I do hope my writing samples can help me move to the top of the list. I look forward to working with Penguin Books and letting kids know being a teen is hard at first, but it does not last forever.
Sincerely,
Rachel Schneider
Rachel Schneider
3867 Houghton Ave
Riverside CA 92501
It had been a long cold winter Drew and I could not get out for a morning hike till today. Being 75 degrees, we did not have to wear many layers. He is an extremely sweet inquisitive boy who always asks a lot of questions. Why does moss grow on the north side of trees” he asks? Its times like this when it would be nice to have my husband here, but he is overseas where the work is. “well, it’s not just the north side it’s on the shadier side because that is where the moisture is.”
On we went looking at snails on the ground watching the deer pass by along a ridge. Being quiet as to not startle them. “Mom he whispered it’s a bunny den they are coming out for food, he leaves a few carrot and lettuce scraps from last night’s dinner. I walked down the path and spotted some glorious Blue Jays and a Downey Woodpecker. “Listen Drew the woodpecker is getting the bugs out of the trees.” My sweet Drew was staring at the Bunnies, they are cute and fluffy after all. We followed our path down further after the bunnies went back to the den.
The skies were getting cloudy, so I hoped the rain was not going to come back. Though the weather report said there was a chance. My little explorer with his school uniform on was undeterred, I wish I could wear shorts on a 75 day and not be cold, it is always nice to be young. Walking along our path we spot some squirrels running in circles around the tree. “Why do the chase each other like that” Drew asks. “Maybe it’s a game for them like ring around the Rosie.”
On we trek to our favorite stream where the deer family are taking their drinks. I tell Drew we cannot skip stones right now we do not want to scare them. We look through the grass for more of his favorite bugs, saw some worms just below the dirt by a tree. Looking up we see a big spider web being made between two branches. The crows were making their calls in the distance. We are finally able to skip our stones in the stream. He gets some great skips going, and we collect some new rocks for our little garden back home.
Walking past the stream we climb up the embankment and up along the ridge where we see a Fox off in the distance. He or she walks the opposite direction we are going so it is a relief we can continue to the clearing. Where there are more bugs, rocks, and Bunnies. We pass the Deer family as they run up the hill to were, they mostly frolic or maybe they live up there. We stop for a snack of Apples, Almonds, and some cheese sticks. When we were finished Drew put a couple of slices in his pocket to feed the Bunnies, I am sure.
“Mommy we’re getting to the clearing now we can see the Bunnies and the last time Daddy, and I were here I got some neat rocks too.” Drew told ne enthusiastically, I did love his passion for nature, though again my husband is much better at the nature stuff. I am a pastry Chef ask me about desserts and I am your woman, about why moss grows on trees and hello Google. Since Dad is unavailable, I step in and let him explore and see the world outside of the house and off the screen.
It is just another half mile and it is on to the clearing. He starts to pull me hand a little harder I know he is excited. We pass under the tree I glance up and see the Fox again. Then we stop and see “Daddy home……
Name: Rachel Schneider
Course: ENG 361
Date: 4/14/2020
Instructor: Debbie Graves
One Week In Las Vegas
The countdown started Friday at 2pm I got the week off from this thing I call a job (just over broke). The car was packed, it was time to hit the road. The traffic was average and climbing the Cajon Pass was not that bad. I stopped in Baker to have my favorite meal at Bob’s Big Boy, the chili spaghetti, no onions. After making my way back on the highway the traffic picked up going out of Baker, through to Primm and Stateline. I had to stop for gas at Whiskey Pete’s, so I also went in and got some snack goodies. My favorite trail mix and some cheese potato chips because vending machines are too expensive. The road was beckoning so off I went, traveling through Jean is always nice, not much to see. A prison, a few remaining casinos, some outbuildings, and a truck stop. There slogan was always fun 40 smiles closer than Vegas. You can get bored so be sure to pack some music you can have your own car concert. “I’ll face it with a grin I’m never giving in, on with the show” (Show Must Go on by Queen)
Finally, the Vegas skyline is in sight, the lights are not on yet, but they will be needing to navigate around the strip. I do say a few words the terrible drivers. This vacation was so needed my job is crazy, my kids are older now and do not need mom around anymore. Off they went to grandma’s house and I booked the week at the Delano, it is attached to the Mandalay bay so perfect access to all the fun of the strip, and just enough luxury to not look cheap. Getting the valet to take the car I check into my genuinely nice room I have a great view of the Luxor light (that comes off the top of the hotel) and the Excalibur. Now off to indulge in that genuinely nice bathtub and get some overdue reading done. My bathroom with a view has the Luxor light and that is the brightest light on the Vegas strip it comes right out of the top of the Pyramid shaped hotel. A brightness of 42.3 billion candela, you could read a paper from 10 miles straight up if you wanted to.
Once I was well soaked and finished with my chapters it was time to find something to eat besides my snack foods. After cruising the room service options, I settled on some Mexican food of chorizo and eggs with nice corn tortillas. That hit the spot so with the extra energy it was time to get out for a stroll of the property. The indoor pool is nice but small and I want to soak up the sunshine and get some exercise so I shall hit the outdoor pool tomorrow. Back in the lobby I grab those ads for things to do in the city so I can plan out the rest of my trip. There are thousands of things to do in Vegas. Do not be disappointed if you do not get everything done, that is what the next trip is for. I have a beautiful week and I want to have a good time and not have to wait for anybody, I can do what I want. I got those and cruised up through the lobby and toward the casino on my way there I saw a sign for a food and wine festival. With that guy Zac from the travel channel. Thinking hmm I did not know he was interested in food or wine. I went down and found my favorite penny slot game Lucky cat. After 15 minutes I came out putting 20 in and winning 500, so I called it a night and went to the bar to catch a hockey game and grab a fun fruity drink (I like tequila sunrise, (Tequila, grenadine, and cranberry juice). As I am rooting for the Golden Knights (local Vegas hockey team) I looked over to my left and there was Zac from the travel channel, and he likes hockey too this is awesome, and I am trying not to be a fan girl.
The game was in intermission and the Knights were winning so it was time for a new fruity drink so this time I turned around to get back to the bar and bumped right into Zac, boy was my face red. After some apologies and an offer to buy my next fruity drink (a Strawberry Daiquiri) it was a yes and I spilled that I was a fan. He told me he does have an interest in food and wine not just chasing ghosts with his crew. We had some great conversation and when the game came back on, we both sat in the booth cheering the golden knights to their victory. Now I am buzzed and standing up was going to be fun, but Zac was a true gentleman and helped me to my feet. He offered to buy me dinner. The Taco Hut was a good place the tortillas were fresh, and the company was so cool. The conversation turned to food, wine, travel, and some stuff about me. The midnight hour rolled around, and Zac had an early morning, so we said goodnight, but he was staying one floor above me, so we agreed to go to the diner in the lobby for breakfast or brunch. At 10am I was enjoying my company and this great stick to your ribs breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns and some great watermelon) The food offerings in Vegas are so varied you can get everything from a hot dog and beer for 1.99 at the Orleans, to a 5-star meal at Caesar’s Palace the buffets are great too. Although sometimes you want a nice sit-down dinner.
The conversation was effortless the attraction was deep. We made plans to see each other again after the food contest he was judging was over. Saying goodbye was a bit hard but the hand holding was sweet and made me feel like a schoolgirl again. After saying goodbye and I did watch him walk into the convention hall I went back to my room to plan out the rest of my day. I chose a tour of the Mob Museum, they say that Vegas was built with Mob money, but it was a Mormon founded town that later Hollywood discovered. Then many people in Hollywood who were well connected (such as East Coast mobsters) financed Bugsy Segal to build the Flamingo Hotel. As I was putting my shoes on, I got a knock on the room door and as I opened it, I got some flowers (pink roses) and an all-access pass to the food and wine festival courtesy of Zac. Let us just say the Mob Museum can wait for later I got to go to a food and wine festival and spend the rest of the week with Zac. “hi Zac thanks for the flowers it was sweet of you to remember.” He said, “It’s always right to remember a ladies flower preference because that’s the right thing to do.” Smiling the rest of the day I meet other travel channel celebrities and got to taste some great foods and many different wines. The food and wine offerings at the hotels and restaurants are varied, the Las Vegas area have become very international, so the varieties are endless.
The week went by in a blur of food, wine, conversation, and some sweet dates. I never thought I would get over the break-up that happened the week before. Getting a private Vegas tour was something completely special. I did get to see the Mob Museum, Mandalay Bay Fine Art Museum, seven magic mountains, Pinball Hall of fame and a private dinner at the food and wine festival. My days in Vegas were down to one. We had reservations at Rivera right here at the Delano the view is amazing, the food is impressive with Italian and French offers. “I have had a wonderful time this week Zac thank you for mending my broken heart.” He looked at me for a minute and said, “it’s been a pleasure to get to know you and I would not mind visiting your hometown, you always have a reason to come back to Las Vegas. The next food and wine festival is around Christmas, this one will include chocolate.” Hitting the 15 early the next morning I have visions of Christmas, a pass to the food and wine festival, also a brand-new relationship to take back home with me.
The End
When writing a short story, you want to keep it from rambling and have enough details to keep it fresh. When your reader gets into the story you want them to feel like they are there with you, going to the food and wine festival, on that hike through the seven-mountains or touring the mob museum. The details are the thing to see and make sure to watch out for punctuation and common language. An average short story is within 6,00 words or 24 pages. If you wanted too you could go short-short story and that is between 500 and 2,00 words. That comes out to be 6 pages (Minot, Steven Ch. 7 pg. 41), talk about short stories. The story is all your length and style matter as much as how you want it to come into focus.
Minot, Steven and Theil Daniel Three genres the writing of literary pose, poems and plays Ninth edition Pearson Publications 2012
Bouncing Dog Toy Emporium
August 18,2019📷📷
24755 Holly Grove Way
Brookings OR, 97415
Dear Dogs, Rule the World
I am Rachel Schneider from the Bouncing Dog Toy Emporium we make extra bouncy dog toys for our furry friends. We investigated different marketing companies and choose you to do our direct to customer marketing. The way the website is set up the customers can get the product’s directly from you is easier than a multi-level marketing plan. The distribution of Bouncy Dog Toy will be a one level channel, we will provide the toys you market, and we sell them. I would like to get some videos of our company dogs Mac and Stella playing with the toys so you can post on the website. A link for the company can also be included so the consumers know where the toys came from, what they are made of and any other facts about Bouncing Dog Toy Emporium.
Sincerely, Rachel V Schneider
Mac and Stella company dogs and testers 📷
📷 📷📷 📷A sample of our products, our bounciest toys.
Scott’s Story Part 1
I am Scott Thorn, and I am going back to WDU for the first time in 15 years, I went here for a year but after I came out as gay there really were no gay dudes. I am all men but yeah lesbians were all around some BI guys but no real gay dudes. I went back to the mainland and attended Preston University I majored in administration and minored in Literature. I did at one point in my life have a girlfriend and wanted to marry her, but I could not quash the gay lifestyle. That part of my life is over and now the old school offered me a counseling job, have not done this in a while. I get to help students toward there after college career.
I sit here on this boat and keeping an eye on my 75 Triumph I have some nerves, but it is mostly about seeing this place again, so as the boat pulls up, I get my bike going and make a stop at my new on campus apartment. Its west facing because I like sunsets more than sunrise, so I did not know it needed so much work. I have some handy skills but a little at a time. The kitchen is decent and so is the bathroom. The floors will need some polish and the deck needs to be stained, this is a duplex, so I hope the neighbors are quiet. It is furnished and done nicely so I cannot complain too much, but back on the bike to see the Dean.
I get my bike set with the kill switch and walk up the way to the Admin building, I am pretty much the only one dressed. I am wearing my good black jeans and my dress shirt, in my favorite color Maroon. I do remember this place was obsessed with sex so I will stick out wearing clothes, as I enter the building at least more admin people are dressed. Miss Grant the secretary shows me to my new office, its spacious much bigger that my last one at Preston where I shared a cubicle with another person. I have files from past students and current ones, so I started filing them when Dean Kane walks in, booty shorts and a tank top. “Welcome back to WDU Scott, we look forward to seeing you succeed you come very recommended.” I could hardly concentrate because this Dean was hung but I persevered and said, “Thank you sir I look forward to helping young students find there after WDU careers.”
After he left, I had to get my rise to settle then I continued filing and looking through some files. Clarissa Love that was a name that got around even all the way to Preston. I think she does the Jax in the bedroom or something like that. I started looking around and thought I need some life in this office so I asked Miss Grant about decorating and she said I could do what I wanted but no painting, so I went to town and checked out a flea market. I found some pictures of the beaches of Canada, some old homes in the area and a few movie posters from Rocky horror Picture Show (it is my favorite). The flea market said they will deliver to the school tomorrow so I told them I will be there at 9am.
Now with my day done I get to the store to buy some groceries and realize this place uses sextons and I was down to my last few, so now I will need to exchange but thankfully a bank is nearby so I can get some of my mainland money exchanged. I pull up to my new pad off load my few groceries and notice some other tenant left beer in the fridge, talk about luck. I got the beer went to the deck and watched the sunset over the sky. It was going to be new here, but I needed a fresh start after getting dumped and losing the job because my ex was in upper management, never will I do that again. I will find someone who does not work in the school system. After I ate a roast beef and cheddar sandwich for dinner, watched some cooking shows it was time for bed. As I was brushing my teeth, I heard the neighbors having sex. Oh, goody they are not quiet. hope they do not have super energy either. Tomorrow is my first full day and I have decorating to do, fantastic they stopped, that is the thing with us older people we do not fuck like bunnies anymore. As far as I know the neighbors are lesbians so who knows.
Sample 1- If I try my hardest, I could muster up enough courage to ask the prettiest girl in school to prom. I had a suit; bolo tie and I will shine my old boots up. The thing is my courage is not as strong as my best friend Nick, now there is one brave dude who just asked the girl I wanted to go to prom with and of course she said yes. I gather myself close my locker and put on my best smile for them both. Nick and I high five and I hug her, trying to be genuine but it is hard. I head to my Social studies class and sit down next to Megan she looks at me with some concern I tell her what happened, she then asks me to Prom…...
Sample 2-Wishing I did not have to be here I sit at the back of the funeral and think about my old high school principal. I grew up in a small town and everyone knew everyone, we only had one school and you went there for kindergarten through senior year. After my graduation I packed up my old car and headed out to what I thought was the real world. Living in a bigger city only helped spur my loneliness so who says you cannot come home again, well Mom for starters because I abandoned my family, I am not welcome at home ever again (so tired of her drama), so I am staying at Principal Mason’s house yes, the same principal that I am at a funeral for I held her hand as she lay there succumbing to cancer……
Sample 3-If you really want to get over a breakup getting back on the horse will help things along. I thought that too seven lousy dates ago so here I am on date number 8 and I am not seeing any birds singing or rainbows in the sky. He steps away to take a call he is a particularly important lawyer after all (I need to fix my picker) after he comes back, he says it go time the jury has come back so off he goes. I finish my drink and head back to my brownstone close by, I pass the new chocolate shop that just opened, and I get inside and see chocolate heaven. Looking around I do not see him at first but there he is my old college lab partner Sam I just saw a rainbow…….

TL/DR: Had a great run at the craps tables Super Bowl weekend. Arrived in Vegas Friday afternoon and departed Monday afternoon and stayed at Planet Hollywood. Got on a hot roll first session of the weekend and didn't look back - no losing days! I had some memorable rolls and hit the bonus bets.
SuperBowl trip:
My friends have been doing the SuperBowl weekend trip in Vegas for years - I joined them for the first time in 2018. This is my second trip with this crew.
My game:
I place the 6/8 for $30 each (or $60 on the other number if 6/8 is the point). Pass line & continuous come bets with odds (down with odds if the 6/8 hit).
For odds, at a $10 table I'll take full 3-4-5 X odds (or 5X odds if allowed) out of the gate. I didn't find much in the way of $10 tables in Vegas .... AT $15/$25 tables I start my odds $30 on 4/10, $40 on 5/9 and $50 on 6/8 - press my odds if the table heats up and then increase my come bet if the table stays hot.
I'll bet $15 on the hardway if the point can be rolled hard (i.e., 4/10 or 6/8) and I dabble in the bonus bets (repeaters and all-tall-small)
Friday afternoon
Check-in, hit the patio at Beer Park (Paris) for an adult beverage.
Back to Planet Hollywood for craps. Open $15 minimum table. The first 2 base dealers had my game figured out in seconds: "down with odds", they'd leave $15 change in the come for me (knowing I'd have another come bet) and on my "off and on" wins they'd pay me in all nickels or combination of $25/$5 chips or all $25 chips depending on how well supplied I was with $5 chips ("dealing to the rack" in the lingo).
First session I bet $5 each on the repeater 9 and repeater 10. Both came in this session and I was off to the races.
Changed for dinner, had another winning craps session at Planet Hollywood and then off to dinner
Friday dinner
Went to the off-strip Herbs & Rye steakhouse. My friends and I went there last year and enjoyed it. This year it was a bit of a miss (the steaks weren't cooked to order / got messed up). They do have a happy hour (1/2 price steaks 5-8). With my good run in the afternoon run I covered the bill for the 4 of us (with my friends covering the tip).
Friday night
First stop - The D downtown. It was loud, busy, smoky and full of characters. 10X odds with the table minimum bumped from $10 to $15 shortly after I arrived. I got stung here and gave back a chunk, but not all of my afternoon winnings.
Second stop - Binions. Played at the "Cowgirls" table near the doors (Cowgirls = scantily clad female dealers, like at Blackjack tables at the pleasure pits of other casinos). Dealers are inexperienced, but I did remember one dealer from last year who knew her stuff. $15, minimum and 5 X odds. Had a nice win here.
Third stop - Linq. Met up with friends who came in on a later flight. Found a $15 table. Bought in for $500 ... choppy table, got the dice ... down to the felt and found myself reaching into the wallet for another $100 so I could bet odds .... and then got on a great run (as the shooter)! Eventually got my odds to the maximum and then got $25 come bets out there with max odds too. I had $5 each on the All-Tall-Small and I had all the spots filled up except the 2-12 for what seemed like a dozen rolls. After the inevitable 7-out, I cashed out $1500 and called it a night.
For the $15 games Friday night at all casinos my advice is to pack your patience, enjoy the scenery (Linq and D have go-go dancers), kibbutz with your friends and drink your complimentary adult beverage. The tables are busy, some players are inexperienced, some dealers are on the new side too, it's hard to hear the dealers (and vice-versa) and there is lots of irregular action (small mid-roll buy-ins, hands in the table when the dice are out, etc.).
Saturday afternoon
Had lunch at YOLO's (Mexican restaurant at Planet Hollywood). Played at Planet Hollywood (lowest min was $25)
Used my $150 in free play at Blackjack and lost six consecutive hands. (Why I didn't use my free play at craps is a mystery, even to me).
Got my losing Super Bowl bets in.
Had a nice win before lunch at craps - gave much of that back after lunch.
After a break, Round 3 to me, though .... $25 table, got the dice and had a nice monster roll. Again I had $5 each on the 9-10 repeater bets and they came in 2-3 times. I got my pass line up to $75 with odds and made my point (collecting $525). My pass line bet progression is patient so I figure I may have made 5-6 points (1-2 points with $25 pass line, 1 point with $30 pass line, 1 point with $40 pass line, 1 point with $50 pass line and 1 point with $75 pass line). Once my pass line got to $30, I had $25 come bets going and once my pass line got to $75 I had $50 come bets going.
Two guys next to me bought in for $200 and coloured up $2000+ each. I also had a big win.
With no boxmen at the table there was a 5 minute delay as they had to wait for a supervisor to become available to approve the chips the players were colouring up.
Saturday evening / show / dinner / night
I had tickets to Absinthe at 8pm, so headed down to Caesars Palace for around 5 PM to pick up my tickets. Caesars Palace was, well, Caesars Palace. The $25 tables were jammed up like a $5 game downtown, the $50 tables were busy and they even had a $100 table open. It was a big win just to find an open spot at a $25 table.
The vibe at Caesars is money. Money. Money. Money. Lots of action and well-heeled gamblers. Even the dealers - one craps dealer at my table, with his slicked back mane of silver hair and gold necklace-pinky rings-gold watch looked like the Central Casting prototype for an old-school Vegas dealer.
Escaped with a small win. Then - in another big win - my friend and I were able to find a spot at a bar for a pre-show cocktail. Caesars was hopping.
Absinthe was great! Highly recommended. Amazing acrobats/performers in an intimate setting. Raunchy, offensive and hilarious comedy bits from the MC and his assistant. Plus the sexy Green Faerie.
Dinner was at Hell's Kitchen: Highly recommended. I had the lobster risotto and the crispy-skin salmon.
After dinner, found a $15 table at the Linq and had a decent win.
Super Bowl Sunday
Planet Hollywood minimums were $50 before breakfast. Went to Paris (Mon Ami Gabi) for breakfast and found $25 and $15 tables at the Flamingo.
The $15 table was jammed so we played at $25 .... and hit the All-Tall-Small with 5$ on each. Ka-Ching! Migrated to the $15 table when spots opened up. At the $15 table, things were up and down (mostly down) ... I had a nice roll that got me mostly back to where I was when I left the $25 table - I hit the small (with $5 on it), 2 hard sixes ($15 and after $10 pressure a $25) and multiple points (I had my line bet up to $30 and had it hit).
I had a nice win at the Flamingo for my 3 hours of play (10 AM-1 PM), but my total win was less than what the bonus bets paid out. The bonus bets saved my session!
Went to Blondies (in the Miracle Mile mall at Planet Hollywood) for the Super Bowl watch party. Blondies is a sports bar with a well-executed attractive women serving cold beer business model. This has been my friends go-to party for years ($200, open bar, buffet, etc.). I won the halftime squares (Pats 3, Rams 0) for $1000. Then, a guy I met at this party last year, said "tiskertasker89, you have the 3-0 square, i have the 3-3 square lets split our interests for the 3rd quarter and final". I agreed, and the 3-3 squares came in both times and I collected another ~$1000.
Flush with cash and booze I played the $50 tables at Planet Hollywood after the game. A new experience for me. It worked out. After some choppiness, I got on (reportedly - based on a dealers comment - a 40 minute run). (I was more focused on having to the bathroom than shooting). I almost doubled my buy-in, took a break (met up with my friends at the Planet Hollywood centre bar) ... took another shot at a $50 table and dropped 1/2 my winnings in ... seconds?? ... called it a night and ended with a respectable win for my first time playing $50 minimums.
Monday
Didn't play on Monday - didn't want to tempt fate. This trip, I only lost at one casino and barely had a losing session. Breakfast at the Cafe in Planet Hollywood, bought souvenirs, got a 20 minute massage at the mall kiosk. The equivalent of the football kneel-down to run out the clock.
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Other quick hits
At the $50 minimum table at Planet Hollywood they didn’t let me bet less than $50 odds …(I was planning on $30 on 4/10, $40 on 5/9 and $50 on 6/8) ... The base dealer – who had initially set up my bets before the stick said “Hey, it’s a $50 game” – gave me a knowing look and said “the Rio -which is owned by the same company – would let you do it”. After no odds for a few rolls, I eventually took single odds on all my pass line and come bets.
At the Linq after a point of 5 or 9 was made I said to the dealer “Oops – sorry - I’ve over-bet my odds”. I had a $15 line bet with $80 odds. I was expecting them to hand back my extra $20 – instead they set up the over-bet as a place bet and paid it. I thought this was generous of them (Although, I guess I’m assuming that on a losing wager in this situation they wouldn’t take the odds over-bet).
For the “you can trust the rating system” file, after my cashing in my chips following my Sunday session at the Flamingo I asked the supervisor what my average bet was and how long I played. She said – “I’ve already closed you out. Let me check. You’re Kenny, right?”. Ummm, no. I'm tiskertasker98 ... In fairness, there was a shift change during my play … but still
On Saturday, my friend – who is a Diamond player but somewhat new to craps - hit a repeater bet and didn’t realize it didn’t stay up. I was playing at a different table. The crew didn’t remind him that his repeater bet came down. Of course, the repeater hit again and he thought he was on it. For the “all well that end’s well file”, though, my friend did hit 2 repeater 8’s on his last craps session of the trip on Monday morning.
A few times, dealers were tripped up by $15 come bets with $30 odds on the 4/10, $40 odds on the 5/9 and $50 odds on 6/8…. To me this is bread and butter craps … full Double Odds and all bets pay $75 …Anyways, no big deal, the underpayments were easily corrected and the overpayments somehow got overlooked.
A nice zinger: Good-guy craps player at the Flamingo (he had an all-day $1 hard six for the crew) got thanked for his crew-wager and said "No THANK YOU. You dealers are the hardest working guys in Vegas. Although, if I'm with an all-female crew I have to say you dealers are the SECOND hardest working girls in Vegas".

Gf and I have been planning this trip since the beginning of the year. Flew in the morning of august 30th and left early September 3rd. Here is a brief run down of what we did. I am not a good writer by any means either so sorry.
Day 1: Arrived at 8:30 and was immediately surprised by the size of the airport compared to where we flew out of. We took a taxi to planet Hollywood and we were too early for even early check in so we left our bags with the bellhop and went and ate breakfast at the spice market buffet which I enjoyed a lot and then we each bought 3 day pass for the deuce. We rode from the Paris stop all the way down to Fremont St and back. Took longer than I thought it would but it was nice to get to see everything.
We went back and finally go the keys to our room. It was a nice room but nothing too fancy. We went exploring the hotel for quite a while and then took a nap because we had reservations later that night at the Eiffel Tower restaurant. It was the first "fancy" restaurant either of us had been too. We got great seats with a great view of the ballagio but they weren't doing fountain shows that night because of the wind so that was a bummer. Food was very good and a cool experience but I don't think I would do it again. Bill was around $175 if I remember. We went back to our hotel and changed and finished the night with top golf. It was tons of fun and I think we were there for 2 hours.
Day 2: We were awoken at about 8:30 am by fire alarms. They went off for about 30min but apparently it wasn't serious enough that we had to evacuate. We went down and gambled a bit because we couldn't go back to sleep and then had lunch at PH's spice market buffet. We were very disappointed with it compared to their breakfast buffet and it had a terrible selection. After lunch we went and explored the Ballagio and walked down the strip. We checked out The Flamingo and then got on The Highroller. Originally wanted to do it at night but we were right there so we did it then. I loved it, great views.
After than we went to the Venetian which ended probably being my favorite hotel. Did the wax museum first and had a lot of fun there. Browsed the hotel afterwards. Super nice. Went to the minus 5 ice bar. It was an interesting experience. I don't know if I would do it again tho. After that we had ice cream and did some more exploring. We took the deuce back to our hotel. That was the 2nd and last time we used it. We had absinthe show tickets later that night so we chilled for a bit and got ready. We bought show tickets + dinner at planet Hollywood restaurant at caesars palace. Later we went and ate at the planet Hollywood restaurant which was nothing special and then we explored Caesars Palace a bit before the show started. Absinthe was amazing. Well worth the $200+ for tickets and I'm very glad I listened to the people that said it was worth it.
We finished our night by going to the DejaVu showgirls strip club. It sucked. I wasn't expecting it to be crazy because it was only Thursday after all but it was completely dead. The limo we scheduled to pick us up was an hour late. We finally made it there and there were maybe 7 customers and it never got any busier. The strippers were bored out of their mind. We were there maybe an hour and spent $50 on 4 bottles of beer. Had a 30 min conversation with a stripper about everything under the sun after being clear we didn't want a lap dance. We went back to our hotel and it was a lot earlier than expected. We walked the strip a bit and ate at Mcdonalds.
Day 3: It was check out day because we were switching hotels. We wanted to stay on Fremont St and chose to stay at The D. Room was nothing special. We had to have maintenance up twice the first day and they were having lots of elevator problems. We had lunch at the heartattack grill and then went back to the main strip. We went and explored the Cosmo, NY hotel and I bought a pound of pb M&ms from the m&m store. We had dinner at Senor Frogs before going back to our hotel. It was mediocre at best Tex Mex but we weren't expecting anything more.
We went and explored Fremont St some before going to our second strip club of the trip. This time we chose the Palamino and we had a blast. There was a mix up with phone numbers on their end so we were picked up an hour late but the club made it right and admitted their mistake. Drink comps + table up front. We had a ton of fun. Girls were smoking hot. We got two 15 min lap dances but I don't really remember the 2nd one. Didn't get home til 4-5 in the morning.
Day 4: We had Mexican food for breakfast and spent a decent amount of time exploring Fremont St and all the casinos. It took some convincing but I was able to get my gf to do the zip line. That was a ton of fun. We stayed on Fremont St almost the entire day but when it got dark we went back to the strip to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The views were amazing and one of my favorite parts of the trip. After that we ate at In N Out after hearing about how good it was for years. It was super busy but the line moved quick and I was very impressed with the food. We went back to Fremont St and just walked around and people watched for a few hours before going to bed to catch our flight early next morning.
We had a blast in a Vegas. We got harassed by the west gate people quite a bit but eventually stopped even telling them no and started just completely ignoring them. We didn't do everything we set out too but we got to a lot of it. I'm used to humidity so the dry heat was a nice break. Planet Hollywood was ok but I don't think I would ever stay at the D again. If we ever come back we will be staying at the Venetian for sure. We loved Fremont St too. Honestly could have spent another 2 weeks just walking around there. The mix of people we saw was amazing and so were some of the street performers. There is nothing like that where we live. I've never seen so many different things going on at one place before. We used uber to get pretty much everywhere. I knew the deuce bus wouldn't get you anywhere fast but I didn't know it would be that slow. We walked a lot more than I was expecting, 8-10 miles a day. It's kinda depressing being home now because we had such a good time

So I wanted to post this not for anything other than for more information for those who come to this sub here for exactly that. Some of this may be repetitive but it can’t hurt to have additional opinions.
Hotels: To clarify, I have always been comp’d rooms due to my play, so I can’t speak specifically to prices, just to what I see.
-Rio: Stayed here. It was huge. Off the strip so was a bit inconvenient but affordable, and now with ubelyft, it may not be a bad option. They have a Seafood buffet which is solid, but wouldn't say "top notch." One very cool thing for poker players, is if you go in the summer, from about May to end of July, you are bound to see some of the top poker players in the world, as the WSOP is there.
-Paris: Stayed here. Hotel is nice. That’s really the best word to describe it, because the rooms are average, clean, pretty standard size. Casino is pretty spacious, cool theme obviously. Always seems like day time even in the late hours of the night. Pizza place there was not great. Buffet there is decent. A lot of different than most others, as they make fresh Crepes and have a French theme, again, obviously.
-Casesars: Stayed here. This is THE largest hotel in Vegas. I believe the Bellagio and like 2 other casinos can fit (square foot wise) inside in this hotel. Mainly because of how large the shops are. The rooms are very nice. Fairly standard for the most part, can’t hurt to ask for an upgrade here. It is a very busy hotel/casino, but is so spread out. Sports book is enormous! If sports are your thing, go here to hang. Sit at the bar right there and play some video poker even. They have a decent café/ eatery area for like quick food, which includes your standard Chinese food, burger place, pizza place, etc. HIGHLY RECOMMEND – Searsucker Restaurant. I believe 430-6 is their happy hour. My fiancé and I went there and we ate very well with an app, and drinks and was like 50 bucks. Get duck fat fries!
-Linq: Stayed here. Probably my favorite place to stay, in many ways. This won’t be the most luxurious place, however the rooms are “different and modern. The hotel is smaller, the casino is smaller but it’s really not a big deal. Just like Caesars and Bellagio, this is pretty much the center of the strip and in the center of it all. Behind the linq is the “High Roller” wheel ride. Leading to the ride, is a walkway and alley of shops and places to eat and drink. All are very good. Highly suggest Flour and Barley for good pizza and beer. Pizza Is brick oven, and suggest the homemade pesto. The beer selection is pretty stellar, for those beer drinkers who like to experience. For the crowd that likes to gamble and party at the same time, O’sheas bar is IN the casino but also leads to the strip. This place is open 24 hours, and has all gambling games inside it (except for slots, although there may be one BIG slot in there). They also have beer pong tables that they provide you with all the stuff. Again, this is highly recommended place to stay, so you aren’t stuck on the end of strip.
-Venetian: Stayed Here. I lied above when I said I never paid for hotels. Staying here I went on Travelocity and got a deal for 5 nights and flight for like $900? I stayed alone because I was traveling for my sister’s wedding. This place is pretty phenomenal. All rooms are suites, technically. Very nice, very big. The Venetian and Pallazo are basically the same place. The rooms are identical and the casino is fairly similar as well. Ate at CUT Steakhouse which was VERY good, clearly very pricy however. All other hotels, I have not stayed at, yet. I don’t think you could go wrong with a hotel, however I would avoid Excalibur, Circus Circus and the Flamingo.
Shows:
-Criss Angel: Avoid altogether. Show was overpriced and his act is old.
-Penn & Teller: I enjoyed this show. This is at the Rio however, so will need to travel there since you can’t walk there. Show was funny, action packed and of course magical.
-Mat Franco: Good show. Very personal audience as it doesn’t seat many people. It’s got a feel good vibe to it.
-Mac King (Magic): for what you pay, it’s a good show. It won’t break the bank, and there are afternoon shows which is a great way to beat the heat and relax and enjoy some magic and slapstick comedy. He won’t wow you but definitely make you scratch your head.
-Mariah Carey: Now this was a 30th birthday present for my fiancé and I got great seats. It turned out that we sat right next to her kids, so she came to visit that area frequently which was very cool. She really is a great performer, and as a guy, the show was pretty good. She does a lot of costume changes, and sings a lot of older songs. I have heard from others that the show is good, and is MUCH better than Celine, for what it’s worth.
-Absinthe: This is an absolute MUST SEE. Saw this and it is really hard to describe this show in all honesty. It is a mixture of acrobatics, talents (i.e. juggling, etc.), Raunchy comedy, and just a really good time. Don't see this with parents. This is really a great show, and they change it all the time. i saw this show and explained a few acts to my friend, and he said that is not what he saw, so it really keeps the show electric since the actors/perfomrers are really into new stuff.
Food:
-Hash House (Linq): food was good. Expensive but its shareable. Chicken and waffles are good
-Bellagio Café: I like this place for a good breakfast. It’s little pricy, but not too bad honestly. It’s our favorite breakfast spot so far.
-Guy Fieri’s (Linq): Pretty decent spot. Price is pretty good. One of the best burgers I’ve had. Good brisket nachos too
-Caesars Buffet: Best buffet in my opinion. Great selection, food that is supposed to be hot, is hot.
-Bellagio Buffet: Terrible. Waited forever, was SO expensive. Food was not good honestly.
-Paris buffet: It’s okay. Price is Okay. Seriously is just Okay.
-General comment of casino restaurants: Do your research before going. Check out the menu. Don’t go to one of these places thinking you’re going to get an app, 2 dinners and drinks for under 100 bucks in most cases. The steakhouses in Vegas are some of the best in the country. A tip for saving a few dollars, is don’t eat normal meal times. Eat a later breakfast, eat an earlier dinner. Lunch may not happen, OR eat snacks. You can easily go to walgreens and get a 5 dollar sandwich.
Bruxie: saw a suggestion for this place and they said $5 waffle wednesdays. Yes it's true. they always have a chicken and waffle special for $5 on wednesday. they made us show them the facebook promo or something but wasnt difficult. could probably just open the website on your phone. I really liked the food. i thought the chicken was really good and honestly, for five bucks, quite a steal.
Jaburritos: this was right in the alley of the linq. was okay. a bit pricey for "fast food" type, but i didnt mind it. interesting concept in my opinion. was more of a whim visit.
Gambling:
-All casinos will have fairly expensive table minimums. Expensive meaning, you have to search for 5 dollar blackjack and Craps. Mostly going to be $10 or $15. Slot play is comparable all over. Bellagio has a lot of slots, but you can say the same about Caesars and MGM, etc.
Other:
-Mob Museum: very cool experience. I recommend it. You can take the Deuce (bus) there, and then walk right to Fremont after.
-Pawn Stars: If you are a super fan of the show, then go. Otherwise just avoid. Very small, you won’t see one of the stars of the show, everything is super expensive.
-Fremont: Fun to go to, especially to see history. I don’t recommend eating anywhere here lol. My fiancé did the zip line, she enjoyed it.
-New York New York: I am putting this here, because this place fascinates me. The area that looks like NY streets and such for the shops, is just pretty cool to me. Nathans here is good. I have gone with my father and my future father in law, and they both agree it is very similar to old time Nathans.
I have really mashed up a lot of visits to Vegas here, and definitely leaving out tips and tricks im sure. Let me know if I can answer anything else! Win BIG!
Exotics Racing: Gave my fiance this for her birthday last year. i bought her 5 laps in whatever car she wanted. she chose the Audi R8. She LOVED IT. they were very careful with all buyers, and even offered drifting laps to folks just there to watch. They have a pro drifter from fast in the furious (when i was there at least) that would drift for a few laps. it was a sight to watch. Its a bit pricey, but they run specials here and there. If you are looking to splurge and like cars, then this is for you.

6 Nights in Vegas - On a Budget

A little background on us. I’m 35 my wife is 28. We aren’t major gamblers by any stretch, but we usually hit up a local casino maybe once a month, twice if we do good, and usually gambling about $100 a piece each time. We are both huge sports fans, especially college sports (Notre Dame). I’m a bit of a tightwad most of the time.
The morning of April 2, 2016 I asked her if she wanted to marry me (both of us have been married once before), she said yes. I bought tickets that morning, didn’t tell anyone our plans and drove from South Bend Indiana area to Chicago O’Hare, and arrived in Vegas right around dark.
The first couple of Hotels I tried for were booked, but we ended up finding a room at Planet Hollywood (which we spent all of about 4 hours in). We then flew out the next morning, spending a total of about 12 hours in Vegas.
This time around, after finding out my kids would be with their mom over Spring Break, I decided to save up and actually plan a trip this time. We debated Florida, Canada, the Smokies, and ended up deciding on Vegas.
Tuesday – March 27 We stayed the night at Blue Chip Casino (BOYD Gaming) in Michigan City Indiana (halfway to O’Hare). Both of us had comps for a free room and Buffet’s as well and about $75 worth of food credit that we had been saving for our Vegas trip. They also gave me a $25 gas card. We decided to gamble $100, and lost pretty quickly. After eating our “free buffets” we decided to go to bed, anticipating an early morning.
Wednesday – March 28 Once we got to O’Hare, we went and checked our 1 bag in at the Spirit Airlines desk. Everything at Spirit is A la Carte, and I had paid for 1 checked bag, however the lady in front of me discovered that their checked bags cost even more if over 40lbs. I had gone with Spirit to save a buck, and overall the experience wasn’t terrible, but I’ve had much better experiences with other non-discount airlines. After arriving in Vegas, we rode the bus from the airport to the Rental Car facility, and in short time had our new car for the week. The nice lady at Payless tried selling me several extras, and I politely declined each of them. I’ve come to expect the sales pitch no matter what rental company I use, and overall my experience with these guys was very good. We ended up changing reservations last minute for our Hotel due to additional offers I received while at Blue Chip. After checking in at the Fremont (all 6 nights) we unpacked, stopped at IN & OUT Burger, and made a run to Wal-Mart for snacks and drinks. We then decided to go check out the Nuwu Dispensary, we were both very impressed with the selection, cleanliness, and friendliness of everyone we talked to there (we are novices at this lol). After making a “small” purchase, we decided to drive out to Mount Charleston for the evening and ended up catching the sunset before driving back into town. We spent the rest of the evening walking around Fremont Street mostly just people watching, before we grabbed a snack from the Café inside the Fremont and went back to our room for the night. The food was average at best, but the price was right, even if I hadn’t used my points.
Thursday – March 29 We slept in until about 9:30, and slowly made our way over to the Hoover Dam. On our way to the Dam, we stopped at Sunset Station for their Brunch Buffet, and were really impressed, especially for the $7 price. After gambling a little and not winning we continued to the Dam. Waze had me going some crazy roads that I’d never taken before to get there, and took us about 3 times longer than I had ever remembered. After getting closer and seeing all of the traffic/road construction I now knew why. All of the lower parking lots were full, so we drove to the little gift shop on the Arizona side (I was surprised to see the road now ends here), got a couple of little souvenirs for our boys, and walked around a little bit before exploring Lake Meade a little and driving back to Fremont. After relaxing for a little bit we again decided to walk around Fremont Street and ended up getting Margaritas and Enchilada Nacho’s at Nachodaddy’s. I would highly recommend this place if you want a good drink and great nachos, we both loved it, and our bartenders were great. After walking back to the Fremont and going back and forth on winning/losing at the slot machines, my wife got a bonus feature on the machine she was playing, when I noticed a guy standing behind her watching. He looked really familiar, and after seeing “Deez Nuts” on the back of his jacket, I realized he was the youtube star from the Deez Nuts video. He posed for a picture with my wife and then went on his way. We gambled for a few hours and went to bed about even on the day.
Friday – March 30 After grabbing coffee from Dunkin Donuts inside the Fremont, we decided to drive down to Primm, because my wife had never been to California. We stopped at the truck stop and decided against topping off on gas, due to the price being over $4/gallon. We walked around the shop, found some more souvenirs for the kids, and ate lunch at Qdoba. After driving around behind the outlet mall, I realized there wasn’t a sign saying welcome to California, so I hopped on I15 and continued South/West until she got to see her sign. We went a few exits and decided a trip all the way to Baker wasn’t worth the drive, so we turned around just past the giant solar farm on the right. In the stretch from about a mile outside of Primm to where we turned around, we passed probably a dozen of each Nevada State Police and California Highway Patrol, many of which were on motorcycles and all of which had at least 1 car pulled over. About the time we made it back into Vegas, my buddy’s flight from Washington DC had arrived (he’s getting ready to leave for Japan for the next 3 years) so we went and picked him up at his hotel (Hooters). My wife won some money on the “Vacation” machine in Hooters and we decided to go walk the strip, which wasn’t a bad walk at all. We ended up going through the MGM, across to the Aria/Monte Carlo area and decided all the bars were a bit too busy due to a Golden Knights game getting ready to start. We walked over to Excalibur and rode the monorail to Mandalay Bay. We spent the rest of the evening here, and I decided to bet on Notre Dame Women, which turned out to be a good bet. My buddy, being born in Connecticut bet on UConn and that pretty much set the tone for his luck the rest of his trip. My wife and I ended up getting a giant hot dog/pepsi combo for $3.99 at the Café inside the Fremont after returning, and it was a better bet than the Chinese food we had tried earlier in the week.
Saturday – March 31 Another buddy of ours had moved to Vegas about 6 weeks ago, while his wife and kids are moving out there today. He called me late Saturday morning, and had us meet him out at the RV Dealership he works for. After getting a tour of their half million dollar Motorhomes (built here in Indiana), we hopped in his convertible and rode out to Red Rock Canyon. The line to get in was about 100 cars long, and it looked like they were only letting a few in every 15 minutes, so we drove out along that area and headed back a different way to the south side of town. The company he works for sponsors the Horse Arena at the South Point Casino, so we rode over, watched some of the show, and got the behind the scenes tour of the stalls, practice arena, and got to meet the horses/cowboys. We ended up spending most of the day at South Point, and we really enjoyed it, probably our favorite one on the “strip” so to speak. We ate dinner at Baja Miguel’s and all enjoyed our food. Later on Saturday night we rode back to downtown. My buddy that now lives in Vegas, took us to Container Park, which was really cool. After that we walked back down Fremont Street and I had bet earlier on Michigan beating Loyola in Men’s basketball. Another good choice, however I had to find a casino with a sports book that could cash me out. We ended up going to “The D” and really enjoyed the atmosphere/older machines. My wife ended up playing the old school Horse Racing Quarter Machine upstairs and stayed on it for quite a while. We ended up heading back to the Fremont, where we gambled the rest of our “$200 limit” for the day, and did pretty good. After several hours of gambling, we decided we were hungry, so we walked over to the Café at Binions, and were really impressed with what we had.
Sunday – April 1 We ate the Breakfast Buffet at the Fremont (comped), took an Uber back to our rental car on the other side of town, picked our buddy up at Hooters and headed north to Zion National Park. A couple hours later we arrived and were somewhat surprised that it wasn’t completely packed. My buddy has a free pass (Military) so we saved $30 on the gate fee. We spent most of the day at Zion, climbing, hiking, and exploring, it was my 4th time there, but the first time for my wife and buddy, and while my wife isn’t a hiker like me, she really enjoyed it and mentioned that it was one of her top 3 things we did on our trip. On our way back to town we stopped at Casa Blanca in Mesquite for a few hours, we didn’t do any good, but enjoyed the change of pace from the Vegas casinos.
Monday – April 2 We walked the strip again, and ate the brunch buffet at the Bellagio. It was really good, but if I hadn’t used the buy 1 get 1 free coupon I had, I wouldn’t have been quite as impressed. We walked around the strip some more, and ended up buying tickets to X-Country for my wife and I for the 10pm show at Harrah’s. The lady at the Box Office didn’t offer any discount, but when I asked about using my players card, she gave me a $10/ticket discount on the tickets. After that we drove across town to Sams Town (Boyd Gaming) and gambled for a few hours, I remembered a Steak House from several years back that I really enjoyed here, but we ended deciding against it for our anniversary meal. After going back to our hotel to change and shower, we ended up going to Viva Zapata’s (based on Reddit reviews). We weren’t disappointed! The food was amazing, the atmosphere even better, and the wait staff was the best! Our waiter asked what brought us out there, I told him it was our 2 year anniversary and we had flown in from Indiana to celebrate. We were enjoying the live Mariachi music, but started getting a little anxious as we were waiting on our bill (we wanted to get to Harrah’s by 9:30). A few minutes later here came the wait staff/musician to our table, put giant sombrero’s on us, gave us a couple of churros and each of us a shot of Tequila (no charge) while they sang us a song. I tipped them well and we were on our way to the show. My wife is a huge country music fan, and while I enjoy some of the older stuff, I’m more of a metalhead. I was pleasantly surprised at the price of our tickets, and for the money, the show wasn’t bad. 1 of the dancers really stood out from the rest though, but all in all it was a good experience. I wanted to go see Absinthe but found out they weren’t playing on Monday night. After our show we walked down to the Bellagio Fountains to see a show before heading back to the hotel.
Tuesday – April 3 We spent most of the morning packing up from our 6 nights at the Fremont, I checked with the Casino host to see about possibly comping more than 2 of our nights, but she showed me where my score in their algorithm was only a 65, and needed to be 100 to qualify for more. I still only paid $165 for the 4 nights I had to pay for, which was more than fair in my opinion, considering how little time we actually spent in the room. We went to Hooters and gambled for about 20 minutes, winning a couple hundred dollars, then took my buddy to the airport. Our flight wasn’t until 6:30pm, so we drove back North and had to try another Reddit suggestion for our last meal in town. We ended up at Hamburger Hut as we love to eat wings, and although the location and building were a bit sketchy, we ordered hot wings, a hot dog, and chili fries, this was our favorite food of the trip. We also really enjoyed hanging with some of the locals while we ate lunch. After eating lunch we hit up Walmart by the airport to find some last minute souvenirs to take back home, and then returned our rental car and waited a few hours for our flight back home.
What I would recommend
Sight Seeing - Zion National Park, Red Rock Canyon, Lake Mead, Container Park (especially if you have kids)
Food - Hamburger Hut, Viva Zapata’s, In & Out Burger, Nachodaddy, Hotdogs at South Point, Breakfast Buffet at Sunset Station, also saved a bunch of money by getting snacks and drinks for our room at the grocery store on day 1.
Casinos – As a gambler, the ones off the Strip seemed to pay better, but the ones on the strip were much classier and had newer slots you can’t find elsewhere. My 3 favorite were the Fremont, The D, and South Point. My wife really enjoyed seeing the sights at the Bellagio, the Flamingo, and others on the Strip. No matter what, if you’re going to gamble, get a players card, it saved me a bunch of money.
Transportation – If you like to do more than just stay in town and walk all week, I’d highly recommend getting a rental car like we did (about $200 for the week for a nice sized car), but if you don’t plan on going on long day trips like we did, UbeLyft would be great.
Entertainment – XCountry at Harrahs wasn’t the top show I’ve ever seen, but 2 tickets for $80 something and a happy wife, I can’t complain at all. Watching all the entrepreneurs on Fremont Street as well as the stage shows for free was hard to beat, and any trip to Vegas should include the Bellagio Fountains, the Flamingo Habitat, and any other free entertainment you can find along the strip.
What I wouldn’t recommend
Airlines – don’t go with the budget airlines expecting to save a bunch of money if you plan on taking a bag with you, checked or carry on, prefer to pick your seats out in advance, or want to get a snack while flying.
Food – While we didn’t really have any “bad” experiences, the café and Buffet at the Fremont were probably my least favorite, but I can’t complain because I didn’t have to pay for anything at either of them. Also I was looking forward to checking out Heart Attack Grill (based on Ducktales review), but they were packed and took Cash Only fyi.
Sight Seeing – Fremont Street after dark really isn’t the place to take your small kids but be sure to take them to Container Park during the day, Hoover Dam (unless you go early), Red Rock Canyon scenic trail on a holiday weekend. Pawn Stars was packed and if you’ve seen it once, the excitement kind of wore off, and they apparently charge for parking now. I parked up the street for free and only had a short walk, but the people trying to push you to buy extras outside of the store really kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

You guys were super helpful to me, so hopefully this helps someone else out down the line!!
We (boyfriend and I) booked a package through Southwest vacations, originally staying Sunday through Thursday and flying out on Friday but we stayed the extra two nights and flew out on Sunday in order to meet up with some friends. Originally we had a king room at MGM booked, but changed over to a king balcony suite at the Signature at MGM for the extra space/whirlpool tub.
The vast majority of our gambling was $0.25-$1 blackjack on the video poker machines - we didn't lost much money, and had drinks given to us pretty frequently at most casinos.
Sunday we flew in and got to the Signature at about 10:30am, we were able to upgrade to a 28th floor strip view suite for an extra $10 a night - we had originally been offered a 37th floor strip view suite for $30 a night, but went with the slightly cheaper option. Luckily our room was ready and we were able to take our bags upstairs right away. We headed to Planet Hollywood and grabbed lunch at Earl of Sandwich, walked around the shops then explored Paris and a bit of Bellagio and gambled a bit before heading black to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We took a lyft down to the Palms and did dinner at Alize - we had a groupon for the tasting menu at $200 rather than the original $350ish, but the meal was so incredible I'd probably be willing to pay full price. Originally we had plans to go down a floor to hang out at Ghostbar for a bit, but we were both so full and tired neither of us really felt like drinking. We gambled a bit before lyfting back to the Signature, then changed and hung out at MGM's casino for a bit before heading to sleep.
Monday we each used a free breakfast buffet reward from MyVegas at MGM, then lyfted down to Fashion Show and explored Encore/Wynn/Venetian for a while. We had a buy one get one free Bellagio lunch buffet reward as well, which we redeemed right at about 2:45 so we could get the perks of the dinner buffet offerings that were brought out at 3. Later on we checked out NYNY then took the free tram between ExcalibuMandalay Bay/Luxor and explored and gambled a bit while watching the CFB playoff. Again, we gambled a bit at MGM and made it to Emeril's JUST in time to grab a late night happy hour snack - the sign said 9:30-close, when we got there at about 9:40 the bartenders took our order right away as the kitchen was in the process of closing up. The apps were good, unfortunately we never made it back for oyster happy hour.
Tuesday we did an early lunch at Nacho Daddy (giant plate for about $20, easily fed both of us!) and explored and gambled around Aria/Cosmopolitan/Bellagio. We had a Groupon for a prix fixe menu at Koi at Planet Hollywood which turned out to be a great deal, and we hung out in the lounge for happy hour for a bit before that. We booked KA tickets a few days before flying out through the M Life site, which was an amazing show for a great deal.
Wednesday we used a buy one get one free MGM breakfast buffet MyVegas reward, then lyfted out to SilverCar and picked up a car for the day. We're both only 22 so we really struggled finding a decently priced car, luckily a Vegas redditor recommeneded SilverCar. Cost for the day was $39 and $12 in taxes/fees, and $5+gas. We drive to Hoover Dam/Lake Mead and then Red Rock. Since we had the car we decided to stop at In n Out, then headed up to Stratosphere for happy hour at sunset - neither of us really enjoyed the drinks or the view from the SkyLounge, but we had been spoiled at the Palms a few nights before. We also popped into Westgate, Circus Circus, Lucky Dragon and Rio before heading to the Welcome to Vegas sign and dropping the car off. My boyfriend is a pilot so we popped into the airport observation lot for a half hour or so - unplanned but incredibly cool!! We lyfted down to Caesars, went through the shops then explored and gambled and watched a few fountain shows before heading to bed.
Thursday was kind of rainy and windy, so we slept in and then headed to Aria and each used a free lunch buffet reward. We both thought this was by far the best buffet (and it cost less points than the Bellagio rewards!), and it's definitely on the top of our list to go to again. We lyfted down to Fremont and spent the afternoon/early evening exploring all of the casinos and watching the light shows, then did dinner at Hugo's Cellar at Four Queens. Hugo's was recommended by family friends, we both thought it was OK but not great. We sat down at some penny video poker machines at the Fremont Casino, which happened to be right next to the bar and wound up with about 8 drinks each in an hour or so span. We lyfted back to the Signature and headed to sleep.
Friday we grabbed lunch at Taco Bell so we could officially say we had eaten there, then explored the middle part of the strip (Ballys/Harrahs/Linq/Flamingo) that we hadn't gotten to yet. We wound up with awesome 5th row center section seats for the early show of Zumanity by checking with the box office about a half an hour before the show started, I think the original price would have been nearly $400 after tax and fees and I paid around $170. I would definitely recommend a seat near center stage since so much happens right up front. After that, our friends got in and got settled, then we gambled at MGM and headed down to Bellagio for the fountains and more gambling. My female friend and I were wandering around the slot machines near Hyde while the guys were playing video games, we were approached by someone working the door and let in free of charge in front of the line. We stayed for about ten minutes to see what was happening then left because it was decently crowded and we wanted to get back out to the guys. Late night dinner at Taco Bell finished off our night.
Saturday we once again did breakfast at the MGM buffet, per request of our friends - I definitely wouldn't recommend paying weekend prices unless you're wanting to drink shitty mimosas for two hours straight. For the $55ish we paid for the two of us I definitely wouldn't say it was worth it at all. We then headed to Pro Gun Club a little ways outside of Vegas - specifically chosen because my boyfriend and I are both experienced shooters and I wanted the chance to shoot a 50 cal, but one of our friends had never shot a gun and wanted to be able to shoot a 9mm. My boyfriend was there once before and the staff has been amazing both times - the outdoor range is great. By the time we got back it was nearly dark, so we walked from MGM up the strip to see some more of the strip at night, popped into the In n Out at the LINQ, hung out in different casinos here and there until 7 when we watched the Mirage volcano, then went through the Venetian some more. We took a lyft back to the hotel )damn near impossible to finally get a driver that showed up within five minutes for some reason), got ready and then we hung out at the MGM casino while our friends went to a show that wasn't of any interest to us.
Sunday we checked out of our hotel, checked our bags with the bellhop and grabbed lunch at Earl of Sandwich and hit up the sports book at Planet Hollywood to put some last minute bets down since we realized we could mail the tickets in if we won. We headed to the airport at about 2 even though our flight wasn't until 4:45 thinking that it was going to be insanely busy based on how crazy checkout had been in the morning, but we were dropped off by Lyft and made it to the terminal within 15 minutes. We watched as much of the Packers game as we could and played some last minute video blackjack before finally getting on our flight (delayed by an hour, almost missed our transfer to another plane in Phoenix but luckily they held the plane for us.
We definitely didn't NEED seven nights, but I'm glad we had the time to get out off of the strip for two full days. We got through just about everything we wanted to and didn't feel rushed. Next time we're back we'll probably just stay 3-4 days since we now know what we like and where we'll want to go back.
We actually grabbed a $1 chip from each casino we went into (other than those on Fremont street - we couldn't just get one from the cashiers or one of the dealers, we were told that we had to actually sit down and play which we weren't planning on doing at each casino) and wound up with 30 total, so we covered a lot of ground!
General takeaways -
-MyVegas saved us a TON of money - six free buffets (and a few random non-MGM rewards that we actually didn't wind up using due to the restrictions on when they could be used). I will absolutely keep playing for whenever we go next! We tried to leave slots running on our phones in the background whenever we were watching TV or something, and I played a bit of blackjack most days. We didn't learn about it until about 2 months before we came, and we each wound up with about 50-60k in loyalty points with very minimal effort.
-Lyft was insanely cheap with $5 off each ride - we spent about $50 total for 10 rides (including one to the airport gate, two to Fremont, two to Silvercar which is past the airport) compared to one $25 Uber to get us from the airport to the Signature.
-People aren't kidding when they say wear comfy shoes - I wore my comfiest pair of boots on Monday and wound up with a horrid blister that I didn't know was forming. Monday night through Thursday was hell for me because I had a quarter sized blister on the bottom of my foot - thank god for the $9 pads I was able to grab at CVS
-I do pole/aerial silks so I was insanely excited for Cirque shows, my boyfriend not so much - we both LOVED KA, I loved Zumanity and he at least semi-enjoyed it. Definitely give them a shot!
-Groupon saved us quite a bit of money on dinners as well, and we had a few others lined up for food/drinks/entertainment that we knew we could purchase if we wanted to use them.
-Silvercar is in fact legit, and you will wind up with a Silver Audi - any time we travel to a city with a Silvercar kiosk, we'll actively be seeking them out.
-We learned that rooms at the Signature can be rented on airbnb, which we definitely did not know before hand - just generally looking at prices the rooms on airbnb seemed like an awesome deal and we'll definitely check into that next time we come.
Once again, thanks for all of your help - we saved a ton of money and got so many good recommendations from you all!!

Hello!! I posted a couple months back with questions about my upcoming Vegas stay with my two kids (ages 9 and 11). We just got back and everyone’s advice here was so helpful. So, thank you!!
Here is my report on some of the most pressing questions I had in case it’s of any use to any future travelers.
Hotel - We did end up staying at the MGM Grand. It was OK, but there was no in-room mini fridge or coffee maker, making (economical) snacking and early mornings a bit tougher. Also, the pool area was fun, but the lazy river is currently not operating (no notice and no explanation why) and the pool area is a LONG walk from the rooms. Also, and this sub warned me, it’s too far south and away from where we really wanted to be for most of our experiences. Wish we had been more central so a quick trip to something outside the hotel did t seem like a total journey.
Transportation - Just UbeLyft everywhere. We spent the whole first day doing the monorail and we spent a majority of that time walking to/from the stations and getting tired just getting to our ultimate destinations. Once we figured out ride share locations, it was a game changer and made everything a lot faster and easier. Most of our rides were like $6, and monorail passes for the 4 of us for 24 hours were $52, so probably cheaper in the end just to Lyft/Uber.
Smoke - So, it’s definitely there. One thing I didn’t like about the MGM was the smoke seemed much more prevalent than in the newer casinos, which is another reason I’d probably pick a different hotel with kids. The other thing is just being constantly on guard. I went full mamma bear once when a drunk guy smoking a cigarette tried to get on an elevator with me and my kids. I’d really like to see more places be smoke free, it just seems unnecessary and has got to do serious damage to all the people that work in the casinos.
Dining - The Secret Pizza recommendation was a great success and an awesome way for us to explore with a destination in mind that first day. We also did the buffet at the Bellagio for breakfast and Morimoto. For our last dinner. The buffet was super impressive for the kids, and I enjoyed it as well. Morimoto was expensive, I’ll leave it at that. We had fun just trying new things as they came across our path - it’s definitely an amazing foodie destination.
Other hits with the kids during the trip:

• The Hershey’s store in New York New York - OMG, had to drag them out of there after plying them with chocolate.
  
• The conservatory at the Bellagio.
  
• The High Roller - we went at night and got to watch the Bellagio fountain show from up high. Found out later that you get a significant discount with any purchase at the Flamingo, just FYI.
  
• The cupcake ATM at the Sprinkles cupcake shop at the Linq - beat the line and watch automation in action!
  
• The Milk Bar at the Cosmo - actually, that whole hotel we were pretty impressed with.
  
• The strawberry tart at the Madeline Cafe in the Paris. We really enjoyed that hotel most of all and if we came back, would probably stay there. Great location, low key family vibe, and lots of interesting dining options that are not super celebrity chef focused.
  

My only other tip would be to go during the week if you are going with kids. We noticed a significant uptick in drunken antics/big crowds/long lines from Thursday night to Friday night.
The kids had a great time and I think learned a bit. Again, I really appreciate everyone’s great advice and help - it was definitely overwhelming to get used to, but having your tips in mind helped make the transition smoother and the whole trip more enjoyable.