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Presidents Day weekend, with nothing to do. Even though this should be a fairly busy travel time, Spirit Airlines was running a deal to Vegas from Chicago. $100 per person, round trip, all taxes and fees included. Shit, last time I checked, flights were like $300 each!
After some back and forth with the wife, and her making her hatred of resort jumping known. I started looking into options where we could actually play resortists for once. That is to say, just park our asses in one place, and not spend all vacation prancing from place to place. And moving from one hotel to the next.
We once stayed at Green Valley Ranch, when the kids were much younger. And that is still one of our favorite Vegas vacations. We had the pool, a movie theater, a shopping district and a casino. In other words, something for everyone all in one place.
We are now 6 years removed from that vacation, and the host that set me up the last time, is no longer there. I tried reaching out to another host, casino services and even the hotel directly. All looking for someone to help me. Nope. No one bothered to reply. Fuck them!
We passed through Resorts World our last trip, on our way to the Adventuredome. So I thought, why not? My favorite host, who was at Cosmo, is now over there and we have stayed in touch since she left. A few emails back and forth, and she matched my players club from MGM (Platinum) and matched my best Vegas offers. 3 nights in a suite, a connector for the kids, $800 in Free Play and $300 in resort credit.
Flight out Saturday AM, and we land in Vegas at 4PM local time. Lets get this party started!
68 Degrees in Paradise! Meanwhile, it was 28 degrees back home with freezing rain. Limo driver was waiting for us at baggage claim. And after some discussion if our limo was Red or Orange (I voted Orange, like the General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard). We were on our way.
The limo driver wasn't at all interested in us. He didn't say much of anything, or offer us any of the waters that were all over in there. We just helped ourselves to that. He just spent most of his time texting, while trying to avoid hitting anyone.
We got there safe though! But it was a bit nerve wreaking.
My host had us booked at the Conrad, and the lobby was very nice. Understated, but bright and clean. There was about a 20 minute wait to get checked in, and unlike other casino resorts in town. There was no shortcut line for guests with a higher card. The only short cut here, was for people with Hilton cards.
There was an invited guest counter, but no one was there. No biggie, I can wait like a commoner. My money will just have to be patient, it can lose itself soon enough.
When its finally my turn, I hand over the credit card and my ID, and she asks me if I need my connector to connect. "Yes", as I point to my two kids under the age of 10. Type, Type Type, gets up and leaves. Comes back 5 minutes later. Type, Type Type and picks up the phone.
This began an awkward 20 minutes or so, of me standing there and her not saying anything at all. I guess she was on hold. So I have the wife stand there, and I went outside to have a smoke. By now, I am twitching to drop my bags and get something to eat. Not to mention the Gambol!
I tag the wife out, and ask check-in lady what the problem was.
Her: "Since you refused a room down the hall, I cant book you into your room".
Me: "I didn't refuse anything, I wanted what we booked. A room with a connector. A connector is connected. I didn't book a room, and then another random room somewhere else in the hotel.
Her: "The connector is scheduled for a deep cleaning, I cant give you that"
Me: "So give me another room, with a connector that isn't scheduled for deep cleaning"
Her "There is only one person that can authorize that, and she isn't picking up"
By now, 45 minutes have gone by. Whoever it was with the magic OK on the other end of the phone, tells her no. And that that room needs to be cleaned. So I am given my 2 options. 1, I can take the room down the hall and shut the fuck up. Not an option. 2, I can check into my room, and maybe they can move us to a different room tomorrow afternoon. And maybe that room will have a connector. The wife already said she didn't want to deal with unpacking, repacking and unpacking once more.
I take my own option 3, forget the connector. Just give me my key, and I'll only use the one room. She tells the person she is on the phone with "Well now he is refusing the room, so don't worry about it". I make it clear, I didn't refuse shit. They refused to give me what I booked. But its all semantics to her. No sorry, no nothing, she just hands me the keys without muttering a single word.
For what its worth, that single suite was still very nice. Not what we were expecting, but it will certainly do. It had a living room, with a pull out couch. A dining area, half bath, full bath and a decent sized bedroom.
I do send a note to my host, so she knows I only took the one room. She's off this weekend, and I feel bad bugging her. But it is something she should know, since a comp was involved.
We unpack our shit, and head down to eat. By now, its been a good 8 hours since we had anything. So we wander over to Famous Foods, which is their food court. We were going to eat at the restaurant just outside the lobby, The Kitchen, but it turns out they close after lunch. Which is weird.
Reports of Resorts World being dead, don't hold to be true. At least not while we were there. The place was bustling! You used to have to order from a central kiosk in the food court. But they realized how stupid that was, and they added kiosk to the actual take out counters now. Sure, the old ones are still there. But you no longer have to wait in line at the counter, to then be told to leave, order elsewhere, and come back for your food.
I am not sure if I ever mentioned this in my blog, but my youngest daughter is a Celiac. I'll save you the trouble of googling that. In a nutshell, she cant eat anything with wheat in it. Or even anything that touched something with wheat in it. So all of her meals have to be gluten free. Which isn't as easy as you'd think.
The problem here at Famous Foods, you don't actually give your order to a person. And the food counters aren't really set up to talk to people either. Their automation is to order from the touch screen, which doesn't allow you to make notes like "No Bun" on a burger. The wife orders from the Burger Barn, and then taps on the window to get their attention. And they were able to make a note, to toss the bun on one of them.
$77, for 4 burgers (with 3 buns), two orders of fries and 3 drinks. No ice for some reason. Which seemed to be normal here, as the kids split a drink and none of the places we tried in the food court, could provide a cup with ice for some reason.
The food was fine, and outside the typical Strip pricing for common mall food, we ate enough to be happy.
They head up to the room, and I head over to the cage to pull my card. My host had to get one set up for me, prior to booking the room. But I still had to get the physical card. Sure, they have card stations set up. Which is nice. You can sign up and print your card, without having to wait at a players club booth.
But since they have that, I guess they didn't feel the need to actually have club booths here. As they make their cage do double duty. Once more, no line cuts for a better card, like other casinos have. So I wait my turn.
I tell the cage lady I just need a copy of my card, and to set up my pin. She asks why I didn't set my PIN when I got the card, to which I explained what I just wrote above. She seems suspicious for some reason, but relents and prints the card and sets my PIN.
I ask her to confirm my resort credit and free play. The free play she sees, but says I have to ask at the hotel about the resort credit. And ain't no way I am going back through that debacle at the registration desk! I ask how many dollars to a point, she doesn't know. How much is a point worth? She doesn't know. I told her I checked the website, but there isn't much info there. And if she doesn't know, who would know. She doesn't know that either.
$800 loaded, and I convert $100 into the below. Unsure how free play works here, I put $100 of my own money in first. As some places you have to pay to play, and it repays you your bet. Turns out, RW just pumps the full conversion into the machine. And you play that through, which is the better way to handle things IMO.
I get ten $10 spins on this machine, and on the last spin I get to spin the wheel! $200? I'll take it!
That machine didn't have an ashtray near it, which is sort of a thing here. You need to hunt for one if you are a dirty smoker like me. So I sat down on this dragon game, just to have a smoke. I got caught up in it, and eventually got a bonus of $187. Which put my ticket back to near what it was.
I take that $376.85 TITO, and dump $200 of my free play into some video poker. I ended with $187.50 of that free play, into real money. Solid!
$500 left, I dump $100 of it into this Top Dollar slot. $190 bonus on it, and I cashed out at $770. So I turned that $100 into $206.
I got $400 left, and I head into the High Limit room. It is a great space! Wide open, bright but only a small selection of games. And it seems most of those, are some sort of lightening link or video poker. This seemed to be the only place in the casino, where you can find the old school Top Dollar and Pinball slots.
It is worth noting, that some of the slots are like their own little ecosphere. Where you have a shelf for your drinks and snacks. Plus a private TV. I haven't seen that before. Fancy!
Another $100 converted, and I give Lobster Mania 10 pushes at $10e. And it was a failure. $100 lost, and I cash out with the same $770 I started with.
So I swing for the fences! I wish they had $5 denom Top Dollar or Pinball. Or even just 2 credit versions. Nope, $30 looks to be the minimum if you want to play in fancy land here. Fuck it, lets do this!
I dump the last $300 into one, which will get me 10 spins. You cant lose every time, right? And I didn't! I landed a $600 win, and chased that with a $100 win for good measure!
All told, I turned my $100 bill and their $800 free play, into $1,570! Which I quickly cashed out, because I cant be trusted.
I ended up on the below, playing $9.00 per spin on a fresh $100 bill. I get the 3 bonus symbols I need to start the free games. But it goes into respin mode, and I land 2 more. All 5 bonus symbols is a 12,000 nickle trigger win. $600, just like that! Now I am thinking Hand Pay, as I have 20 spins and everything pays triple. Nope, the actual bonus sucked and I only won $126.75 in the free spins. But still, that's a $726.75 win!
By now, I forgot all about the check in issue. The texting limo driver. Or the fact that I will be sleeping on the couch tonight. Who cares about such trivial things, when the casino is handing out thousands of dollars to chumps like me!
Next up in order, $10.00 bet on Monopoly = $418.75 bonus. $10 bet on Game of Thrones = $362.50 bonus. $8.00 bet on Wizard of Oz = $385.60 bonus.
What the fuck is going on here? I now cash out my second $1,500 TITO of the trip, and I have only been gambling for an hour!
At my peak, I was up about $3,500 on the trip. Scared money don't win money, so I press my luck.
I donk a few hundred bucks here and there, before winning $162 on the below.
I was a bit worried, about only being tied to a single casino this trip. But Resorts World is not your average casino. The casino itself, is laid out perfectly in my opinion. Completely central to the resort itself. So you can get in and out of it, from most anywhere!
I like the Cosmopolitan casino as well, but that is sort of compartmentalized. As you have zones. The slots near the sports book. The slots near the Strip windows. The slots near the rear escalators ETC. Some places, like MGM, its just a shit show of slots tucked into random corridors. Here, it seems to make the most sense. And the high ceilings and colors are on point!
Back to the story! I was way too deep on the below, betting $10 spin. When I finally got nearly a full screen of wilds, only to be cock-blocked by not one, but two bonus symbols!
I lose a little more, before getting most back on whatever the fuck this game below is. Since they mostly (outside of High Limit) only have new games here, I was taking a chance on some slots I wouldn't otherwise play. There are no older mechanical reels in the main casino. No older IGT cabinets, like I usually play (Texas Tea, Alien, Divinci Diamonds ETC). I mean, they did have a handful of some older titles, mixed into the slot section of their video poker machines. But even then, they had a dozen of those machines and they all had the exact same titles. I think they fucked up there!
Long story short, I won $200 on the below.
I chase some more, and got caught up on this Money Storm game. It had a must hit by progressive of $200, that was sitting at $172. I would be a liar if I didn't admit, I spent about $400 to win $198. But thank Gawd I won that $198, or I would really feel stupid!
I was sure I was still up at least $3K by the end of the night. But it turns out, I was only up $2K. In other news, I was up $2,000 on the first night!
I don't know if my host actually matched me to a higher club level or not. In typical Resorts World fashion, the slot program doesn't make much sense. I was given a red card. But everyone has a red card. It doesn't matter how many tier points you earn, the card stays the same. Which makes sense to them, as a higher card gets you nothing in real life.
No line passes, no Taxi Line cuts, no nothing that I can tell! Even if it got you jack shit, I still like flaunting the higher card around. RW, look into this!
And while I am bitching about the players club, it looks like you earn 3 points for every dollar gambled through the slots. Video Poker is half that. $10 coin in, earns 30 points (15 on VP). I end the night with 16,000 points. That is about $5,500 of coin in, and it earned me $16.0 in point play. That is not a typo. The same play would have gotten me about $50 at Cosmo. So I was pretty disappointed.
Well, off to my comfy couch for the night. In other news, the bed was horrible. I ended up flipping it back into a couch, and sleeping on that.
Day 2, and I spend all morning bragging about my luck in the casino last night. The wife goes down to get breakfast, and the only place with take out open at 8AM, is Suns out Buns out. And all they have are breakfast sandwiches.
Egg Slut they are not, as the sausage patty was more like a burger patty. The bun had no fluff, and for $15 a sandwich, we all expected more. The little one just had an egg with cheese, and some bacon. As GF buns were not an option.
To add insult to injury, since check-in last night went horribly. I didn't add my wife to the room, and even though she had her ID, my name and our room number. They wouldn't let her charge it, so we could use the resort credit. More on this later.
The wife lets me off the chain to gamble, and I piss away a couple hundred bucks on the above, before getting a $105 line pay.
The game below went much better. It was at 13 free games on the max 10X free spins, and it must hit by 15. I played a few of the lesser free spins, 6 games and 5 games respectively. Both at 2X. And they both sucked. But what can you ask for, on a $2.40 max bet?
I finally get the big free spins at 14 games, and that 10X multiplier made it as if I was betting $24.00 a spin! When the dust settled, I won $415.20!
Lose a little more, before I finally got a bonus on this Donkey Game here. Again, since the slot selection isn't what I am used to, I took a swing on it. But only won $120.00 on my $10 bet. I don't think Ill be back to this one.
I was still up from that $400 win earlier in the morning, when I iced my cake with a $245 progressive below. It is also worth noting, that this is the second time a beggar has come up to me in the casino. Clearly they are not gamblers, I have no idea how security can let them get this far.
The bum from last night, just asked if I had any money to spare so he can get something to eat. Sorry Bro. Today's bum wanted cab fair to get home. I cant help you. Well, how about a cigarette? I cant help you. Then what can you do for me? I can call security for you!
I pissed away a few hundred walking around. I decided I wanted a beer, and with the casino mostly empty, I should have a good shot at one.
I wanted one last night, but I only ever saw a cocktail waitress out of the corner of my eye. So I sat down on the Little Shop of Horror slot, as it was near the central bar. If they wont come to me for a drink, Ill go closer to them.
It worked, as within 5 minutes or so I saw one walk by. I waived her down, and she came by to take my order. I doubt she would have stopped otherwise. 10 mins later, no beer. Plus, I lost my $100 buy in. I put in another hundo, and wait another 10MINs or so. She never came back. WTF?
I did win back most of my money, but still. Shady as fuck!
All through last night, and all this morning, I kept getting this pop up on my players club screen. I finally walked my big ass over the club/cage, to see whats up. Even at 10AM on a Sunday, there was a line at the cage. I guess some poker game let out, and a bunch of people were cashing chips.
It took a good 20mins or so before it was my turn. Man, I wish they would just have a dedicated cage for their club. I tell the Cage Lady that I keep getting a pop up for some slot tournament, and ask her what I need to do.
She says "You are here for a Slot Tournament"? No, I am here just to be here. But I keep getting this message that I earned entry into one. "You need to call your host, if you want them to enter you in a slot tournament. I don't think we have any this weekend though". I tell her to ask someone else, as the slot machines I am playing keep telling me I have an entry. I just want to know what that was.
She leaves, talks to the lady next to her, and says OK and I hand her my card. She gives me a slip, and I ask her what I do next. She says she doesn't know. I ask her if she can find out, she asks the other lady, and says there is a sign by the Dawg House. Which is close to useless. And they clearly are not making their cashiers aware of programs they are running.
I go to the Dawg House, which is a restaurant in the back of the resort, past the casino. And sure enough, they have slots out front and a sign! By now, I have something like 25,000 points. SO I should have the max of 10 entries a day to play. Well, looks like I have something to do tonight!
I head back into the casino, as the wife says she will be down soon with the kids. The plan today, is to head next door to Circus Circus so the kids can do the Adventuredome.
I manage a $151 quick hit win to boot!
Which was down to $70, before I won a hundo on the below.
I just cant get it through my head, that their player club program is so weak. I tried logging in before I flew out here, to read up on things. I hate surprises. And even though my host gave me my players number, it wouldn't let me log in. It said my email wasn't found, even though she used it to get me the fucking card to begin with.
But now that I have the card, a PIN and I am physically here. I download their app, and try to login. But in Resorts World fashion, it just doesn't work right. It doesn't actually send an email. The resort opened like 2 years ago, and they still have a lot of bugs to work out it seems.
And an update on the check-in issue, my host was pissed that no one told her there would be an issue prior to us getting there. And she only found out, after I sent her the message once it happened. Turns out, they have issues with turnover. And the person that booked (botched) my room, doesn't even work there anymore.
She felt terrible, and sent some goodies and booze up to the room to make us feel better. It helped!
By now, the resort was hopping! Still only a few places open to eat, and they were packed! We go to the lobby to get the wife added to the room, so she can charge. And I figured I'd ask how much we spent already. Turns out, no one put in for a resort credit for us. I mean, the host requested it. But no one at the hotel side actually made it happen.
I asked the desk dude if he can get a hold of someone in the hosts office to fix this, as my host was off until Tuesday. He tells me I need to go to the players club desk. And I tell him I did, and they told me I need to go to the hotel desk. There is a whole lot of people not knowing how things work around here.
He says he really cant call anyone, as the casino has nothing to do with the hotel. They are all different entities. But he will have someone email my host, and see if she can fix it. Sadly, by now, I am not surprised by any of this.
We head out through the mall, over to Walgreens across the street to get drinks and snacks for the room.
While overpriced for a Walgreens, it was still a fraction of the price as in the resort itself. The room has a little fridge you can use. And a big fridge stocked with stuff to buy. No microwave, which would have been awesome! But the fridge is a huge help to us.
Get that all dropped off, and we finally head over to Circus Circus. It is a close walk from RW, but not an easy one. Turns out, they were doing something to the sidewalks already. So we had to run across traffic outside the lobby to cross the street.
Being close to the Adventuredome was one of the selling points for us to stay here. It was always a pain in the asshole, to have to cab it from Mandalay Bay down here, when we would stay there. And the trip back, always made us antsy so we never stayed past a couple hours or so.
No such worry today!
Meanwhile, things at Circus Circus got a bit weird. Post COVID, they blocked all of the many entrances in to the dome, and funneled you through a photo op area to get in past security. Last time, it was just a minor inconvenience. As you can just opt out of the photos, and cut into a line that takes you right in.
This time, a total pain as you couldn't opt of of the pictures. We tried, and the lady there said "Since its free to get in, everyone has to take a picture first". I said, how does that make sense? I am not buying a picture. "Its for security Sir".
You would think that's no big deal, but its Presidents Day weekend. And every kid in Clark County seems to be in line to get in. And every family has to pose for like 5 pictures it seems. "Looks here!" "Now act like you are scared"! It took 20 mins before it was our turn. And I said we aren't buying any photos. She still made us stand there, took one shot, and we walked through the herd. Total waste of time.
So many minor annoyances this trip. I don't know. I mean, I am getting older. Maybe that makes me more cynical? I have always sort of been a prick about things. But so many little things are just chewing away at the good mood I am typically in, while in Vegas.
The kids loved it, as they always do. And this time, we told them we will get lunch at the resort, they can rest up, and we will come back later. After all, your only option is an all day pass.
Under 48" is $30, over is $60. So it cost about $100 to do. Not sure if we saw the value in that, as our kids don't do any of the big rides.
Back at home base to find something the kid can eat. Yes, it is frustrating that my dining options are limited to my 7 year olds dietary restrictions. But its for the common good. She wasn't always this way, and we only got her diagnosed early last year. So she knows what she is missing, and she knows life is unfair, that her sister can have something and she cant.
She is a good kid, and wont complain about it. But we know it makes her sad. So we try to stick to places that can serve us all something to eat.
We assumed the corn chips and guacamole at Viva! would be safe. Below is my wife asking them as much, and explaining why we are asking. Neither one of these 2 girls working here could say for sure that it was GF. And didn't seem overly interested in asking the chef either.
The wife ends up finding a manager in the food court, and explains why we are looking for Gluten Free options, and her difficulty ordering from the touchscreens the other day. He has the power to place orders and leave notes! So as long as we find this dude walking around when we need food, we are golden!
Still very much a half ass way of doing things. I get that automation saves them money, but sometimes people need to speak to people to do things.
Anyway, I get them a shaved Hawaiian Ice while the wife farts with the food order, which turned out to just be a plain chicken breast and some rice.
And with that, its back to the Adventuredome for part 2!
It actually looks like they are doing stuff at the failed Fountain Bleu now. But if I felt like being on an island at RW, I'd really feel left out way down there!
At about 2PM, the Circus was fucking packed! If someone in your party had a wristband, you could walk right in. No Photo Op shenanigans! So much for security being the reason they want to sell you some novelty photos!
And the kids didn't want to spend as much time here as we had hoped. They were tired, and now that there were lines for the rides. They were losing interest fast.
We did swing by the old arcade over the casino. Which is one of the coolest things about this place. I mean, who would ever design something like this in this day and age?
So long Bozo, Hello Resort World!
So now, its about 4PM. And we wanted to get dinner. The Kitchen, we know, was closed. Not sure whats up with that. Most of the dining is high end here, and even most of those places don't open up until later in the day.
They tout over 50 dining and drinking destinations within the resort, but fail to mention only a handful are open at any given time. It is now 4PM on a Sunday, and nearly all of the places in the food court are closed. What the fuck?
I check online, and it shows they should be open from 11AM to 11PM. Most places are closed, closed. As in no lights no people. We do find someone at the Burger Barn, and they said most places will close up for a few hours, if things look slow. And that they should reopen again in a couple hours.
Man, I have never seen that before! I know Vegas was having staffing issues when it reopened in 2020. But they just fucked with hours. IE, they would open a couple hours later than usual. And close a couple hours sooner. Not just randomly close as they saw fit.
So we went back over to Suns out Buns out, even though it wasn't very good. But even they were closed until further notice. Mind you, this isn't a minor inconvenience. There is nothing else around us, except some shady Koren BBQ place across the street. We would have to walk down to Peppermill, or all the way over to Wynn or the Showcase mall hoping there would be something my kid could eat.
So we literally start going door to door in the RW mall, seeing who is open and who has food that we can safely serve our kid. Like some weird Trick or Treating.
All we could find was a Vegan ice cream shop. And yes, I guess, Vegan Ice Cream is a thing. Believe it or not, that sundae in the below picture was $20.
I get a text from my Host, apologizing about the No Resort Credit thing. I truly feel bad for her. She worked to get us to stay. She has been a family friend for years now. We stayed in touch, even after she ditched Cosmo when MGM took over, and she started selling real estate. And while I am not angry, she knows its a problem that we keep having one issue after another here. It is frustrating for her, because she did her job! Its the other people she relies on, that cant get their shit straight.
She loads up $500 in resort credit, instead of the $300 that was matched. And I thank her, and say it might be too much. As we only have one more day left in town. As the kids say, it is what it is. But even for an On Point host like her, where we haven't had any issues ever for the years we worked together. RW just has bugs to work out.
Anyway, not sure how nutritious their ice cream dinner was. But they head back to the room, and I check what time it is so I can play in the Slot Tournament. And, its after 6:30, so I blew it and registration was closed.
Back to gambling, as I have now lost $500 of that $2,000 I was up last night.
I was into the below for a couple hundred, when I finally managed a $266 win.
I went back to Little Shop, so i could order a beer again. And, yup, she took my order and never came back. While I eventfully landed a shitty $109 bonus, I once again lost a couple hundred as I sat here like a fool, waiting for a beer that would never come.
From here on, I drop close to a grand more, with this $96 hit being the only thing of note.
I was going to lick my wounds, and head back up to bed. But I had only done like $8K of coin by now. And since I didn't even do $6K last night, I didn't want to fuck over my host. Not after she did all these back flips, on her day(s) off, to help right the ship over here.
And man, am I glad I soldiered on! It took a while, but I finally got a bonus on this Wild Wolf game below. 20 free spins, max bet of only $4.00. But look at that 1st spin! Moving wilds, and with 19 games left, I had a $338.50 spin already! And as if the trip turned around on a dime, as soon as I got this bonus a waitress comes by and asks if I want anything. I tell her about my last 2 "No Beers", and she looks up at my screen flashing thousands of credits and says she promises to be right back with one. And she did, best $5.00 tip beer I ever tasted!
By my math, I should have had a $7,000 bonus game. But only ended up with $876. Still, I'll take that any day of the week! I should have gone up after this, instead I wanted to grind some more coin through. But it was tough, without the lower variance games I typically play. I ended up doing just over $10K coin, but it cost me the entire $2,000 I was up on the trip.
Still, I am not a baby, 2 days in Vegas and over $15,000 gambled and I haven't lost a penny yet!
Day 3, and as is the norm, I wake up before everyone else. Because, well, Vegas! Last day in town, and the casino is all but deserted. To be fair, even with so many people in the resort during our stay. There wasn't ever a ton of people actually gambling. And while I did have some fleeting luck on the below Kitty game, I ended up losing a few hundred bucks in this one chasing a progressive that never hit.
Same story on the below. I was in way too deep, to just win $138 in a bonus. But I have been getting solid play in all trip. Much like Treasure Island (which Ill never stay at again, after my last host there fucked me). The casino seems very fair. And I have put in hours by now, so it is a tad more than anecdotal.
Its still early enough, that the one true breakfast place (which is only open for breakfast it turns out) wasn't packed yet. So we were finally able to eat at the Kitchen.
It wasn't cheap, about $120 for the 4 of us. But it was good enough. And for those of you keeping tabs, they actual have gluten free bread here. So bonus points for them.
A lot of the places to eat here are Vegan friendly. If you are into that. But in our case, the meat places are better for a GF diet.
Resorts World is one of a handful of places that have their pool open year round. The only pisser in that, is that it was just one small pool way in the back.
The kids had to see all of these awesome pools on the way there, including a kids pool area that they couldn't go to.
Mom made the call, and she took the kids for what would be a 3 hour swim. While I was left to my own accord in the casino.
I wasted no time landing a $215 hit on an $18 bet.
RW seems to have a lot of these mechanical Evri slots. Maybe too many. While the slot selection is good, over all (besides no older games). They have way too many of the same games out on the floor. I swear, there were at least 2 dozen of the same flavor Buffalo games. A shit ton of these Evri mechanical slots. Rows and rows of Dragon Link games. But only 1 bank of Monopoly, or Wonka. Just a couple Wizard of Oz games. They do need some more variety. .
I had at least 6 shitty bonuses on this Press Your Luck. Almost all of them under $20, before I finally got the Mega progressive for $145.
And this Super Wheel Quick Hits I just couldn't crack. I'd get the bonus game, and win $100 on the nose. I'd get 6 quick hits, and I'd win $100 on the nose. No matter what I did, I couldn't best $100.
See what I mean?
By now, I was down a good $500. Landing the below $223 bonus got me a good chunk back.
Here is another game I have never played. I should have walked away after this $114 bonus, on my $8.80 bet. But I pissed it all away and a little more.
They had a shit load of these All Aboard machines. Ive seen people play them online, but I never bothered. Day 3 in the casino, and I had to get outside my comfort zone a little. And it paid off! $399 on a $7.50 bet.
But I gave a lot of that back, playing Monopoly at $10 a spin. When I finally got the random bonus, it gave me 10 times my bet. What a slap in the face!
By now, its 10 minutes until I can check in for that free slot tourny. I kill some time near by, before I can register. It was a smart move, and I got a $260 bonus pretty fast on the below.
And once again, Resorts World bite me in the ass. I waited in line to register, handed over the slip of paper I got from the cage yesterday. And was told I only had one entry. WTF? I knew that cage critter didn't know what she was doing. I play my one game, and head back to the cage. I swear, that pop up came on my machine at least 2 dozen times since Ive been here.
Sure as shit, when this Cage Lady ran my card, tickets started pouring out like singles at a Strip club. I had 25 entries, even though the sign said 10 per day.
So I played 10 of those, and held the rest of the tickets for later. Since it now let me play 11 times today, I see no reason why I couldn't play 14 more times later on. I text the wife, that she will have to be my slot jockey. As slapping that button with fury for each 3 minute session, was killing my arthritic
shoulder.
As I am texting her, I get a respin on the same Gold Standard slot that I started the trip off on. And Bam! $1,000! The kid is back in business!
They dry up from the pool, and head down looking for lunch. I tag the wife in to play my entries, even if that was against the rules. Shhhh!
And with only a few hours to play, we are dug in at #2!
Since we haven't actually looked around their mall, we figured now is as good of a time as any to do so.
Like much of RW, it was filled with good intentions. But most of it is unleased space, hidden behind plywood.
3 levels, and I'd say a good 75% was vacant. In fact, one floor was just left as a giant open nothing.
They had a sex shop, a generic sports apparel shop. A bag shop, a hat shop and something else I just cant remember. There was a Starbucks there, but being 4PM on a weekday. You guessed it, it was closed.
We end up bringing some food back to the room to eat, and I got some Poutine for $16.75 from Suns Out. And it was magnificent!
Slow Roasted Beef
Short Ribs, French Fry,
Cheese Curd, Sriracha AÏoli,
Short Rib Jus & Herbs
By now, its 7PM and I wont know if I won anything in the tournament until it posts at 9PM. These free ones are usually shit. Top prize I think was a grand, 2nd was $500, 3-5th was $125. And then like $25-$5 as it works its way down to the top 50.
$240 win on Black Diamond and, yup, $100 on stupid Super Wheel.
I was slowly losing once more, and by now that $1K win from earlier was nearly all played through. I normally avoid Pharaoh's Fortune here, as I pick like shit. So many times in the past have I gotten the Start Bonus tile within my first few picks.
But today was not that day! I picked like a Boss! I left 4 tiles on the screen, and 3 of them had Start Bonus. 23 free spins, as if I was betting $27 per spin, with my 6 X multiplier! I thought for sure I'd hit a handy, but it ended up being $382. Not even 100X my bet.
I then learned I could play my Kitty game for nickles! At $6.00 per spin, I landed a solid $384 line hit. I kept filling up that progressive cup, but the fucker just wouldn't give. And even though I played these a ton this trip, I never did get a bonus either.
Time to check in on the slot tournament, and yup! I was top 5. $125.00. If you notice, it shows my point play as well. At this point, I was at 77,130 points. At 3 points per buck, that is nearly $26,000 of coin in, all slots. And I can convert that to a measly $77!
Just to put this into perspective. If I ran the same $26,000 coin in through the slots at Cosmo. Each $2.50 gambled is 1 penny of point play. And since I am Gold there (Sterling counts as well) I earn 2 cents for each $2.50 played. $26,000 coin would be 10,400 Identity points. Which is $104 of free play X 2 for being Gold. X3 for being Platinum.
IE, I would have had $208 of point play to use VS the $77 I got here. That is a huge difference. I cant see many big players being happy with the club. They would have a 3X at Cosmo, which means they would have earned $312 in point play there, VS the $77 here.
Slot clubs will often weigh the value of their points, against other things you get when you move up in the rankings. Cosmo will give you 2 free nights, no gamble needed, when you move up to Gold. Plus 2 free nights for your friends. Plus BOGO Buffet passes, concert tickets, the 2 X points ETC. With no line passes, BOGO or anything else I can find. Their reward system gets an D from me.
Here is what you get from their club. It isn't much.
I guess it earns slightly better than Caesars Rewards, where $5.00 = 1 penny. But CR also hands out $100 dining credits, cruises, airfare reimbursement
and all kinds of stuff as you climb up the player club ladder. I don't see any of that listed for Resorts World. Plus CR does a ton of 2,3,5 or 10X Reward Credit multiplier days.
Tuesday, the last day here. Flight leaves at 2PM. We all sleep in a little, and don't get down to forage for food until 8AM. By then, the line for The Kitchen is all the way down to the High Limit room. The line for Suns Out is all the way down to the mall. The food court doesn't open until 11AM (maybe, as you just don't know here)
So we head down to the Dawg House, which we avoided because it is much more a bar than it is a restaurant. The wife asks her usual GF speech, and they say we should be OK.
So we take a seat next to the TV's, only to be shooed out because we have kids. She says because they have slot machines at the bar. We were told to go to a section just outside, next to the slot machines from the slot tournament. OK.
The waitress comes by to say it is a $25 minimum order, per person, to eat there. And points to a sign on the table. Mind you, there are only like 8 people in here. And the place can easily seat hundreds.
I say my kids cant eat $25 worth of food here (they only had sandwiches), and the waitress says they don't have to. We will just be charged $25 each no matter what.
Come on Resorts World! Why so much What the Fuck here? Needless to say, we left and went down the street to McDonald's.
It is worth noting, that the McD's next door, is a complete shithole. Dirty, unorganized, and so many homeless people sitting in there. One guy was digging through the trash inside, to find food to feed to his dirty mangy mutt. Which was also inside! I mean, we ate there because we had no choice. But my gawd was it ghetto.
The wife goes up to pack, and I take the kids to play in the park area by the pool. For every stupid thing Resorts World does, they have something nice to kinda make you forget about all they fuck up.
The car is set to take us to the airport at 11:30, and he was on time and friendly. Much better than the driver that picked us up.
I still say its orange!
Flight is a bit delayed, so I drop $20 into this slot machine at the airport. And cash out $100. One last win for the trip! All in, between tips, tickets, gambling and what not. I spent $1,500 here, with most of that being gambling losses. BUT, the casino was fair!
I felt like I got good play, so the slot action is on point! Enough big wins and plenty of easy bonuses. I know I bitched a lot in this one, and RW clearly has some growing pains. But I will be back.
There is a lot to balance here, and while I wouldn't make this my only stay in Vegas, like we just did. I would absolutely come back for a night or two. The resort makes up for the neighborhood. The upfront comp makes up for the lack of help from staff. The casino being fair makes up for the fact that there is only one place to gamble, and be rated, unlike a stay with CET or MGM.
In a nutshell, I missed not seeing so much of Vegas. No Bellagio, no NY NY food court. No Mandalay Bay lazy River. No bitching about how I never win at MGM, or even just cutting through Caesars Forum Shoppes. All the things I love about Vegas, just weren't near by to do. So, yes, location was an issue for us. But if you like fancy eats, clubbing and not leaving your resort. You will do just fine here! But for me, I want my trips to feel more Vegasy!
BUT, and this is a huge but, things will be getting better in this regard over the next few years. Just wait for Fontainebleau to open later this year, and Mirage will flip to Hard Rock in a couple years. That corridor will then have Venetian, Palazzo, Hard Rock, Wynn, Encore, Resorts World and Fontainebleau. Add in the value joints of Treasure Island and Circus Circus and that's quite the neighborhood!
I don't usually update a trip report, but I have gotten more messages about Resorts World in the first 96 hours since this report went live, then I have gotten from nearly anything else I have posted in the past few years. Second only to your hatred of the monorail!
RW seems to be a hot topic for those that follow Vegas. And a number of you have reached out to share your own stories of closed eateries, clueless staff or just general issues you wouldn't expect from a multi-billion dollar Vegas Resort.
To be clear, I enjoyed my stay at Resorts World. And I DO plan on returning. I will obviously make a new report when/if that happens. As I mentioned in this report, the bones are there for something great. The casino seemed fair, which is HUGE if you are a gambler like me. So many failed Vegas trips for me, when my money goes *Poof* with little to no play at an MGM or Caesars resort. So that is a huge plus.
The rooms were great, the property is drop dead gorgeous and the dining outlets (when open) offer a lot of variety. Fix the staff (or staffing issues in some cases), add some older games in the casino (A Throwback area behind Gatsby would be awesome) and stop with the petty shit, like $25 per seat billing in an empty restaurant or closing places to dine at random to save a buck.
Here is what you all have said over these past 4 days. And below that, is what Resorts World has cooking.
From Email: "We too went there in the afternoon just before Christmas last year, and literally nothing was open to eat. We were going grab lunch & check out the slots & see if we could draw any offers to return. But with everything closed midday, it was spooky in there. We ended up at Wynn instead."
From Email: "Thank you for another Trip Report! Sad to see all the issues I encountered early last year are still an issue even now. We so much want to love Resorts World, but they keep getting in their own way!"
My Social Media/Message boards:
chico7800 said: Was a nice read. They really need to fix the food issues for sure.
tringlomane said: Nice report! Bummer the food options are all over the map in terms of time. When I see things like that, I assume the place is hurting.
Elf70 said: Great read Grid! It’s interesting that Hilton’s new advertising campaign is all about guaranteed connecting rooms. I guess that’s a load of crap. I’ve stayed at RW twice and had many of the same issues. The hotel side of things needs lots and lots of work. My phone had a VIP services button. When I tried to use the button it was a looped recording advertising RW. No one ever answered. Silly things like that were typical during my stays.
kwool said: How can it still be amateur hour with service at RW? Just doesn't make sense in a city with probably the highest concentration of hospitality professionals. I like the casino but there's no way I could deal with the service hurdles you did without being completely pissed.
Jplan72 said: Thanks for this report! My visits at RW have been decent but I can't figure out if I want to stay here based on my visits last year or not. Looks like I'll pop in for a little play next visit, but you and the fam put up with a lot of BS for that stay.
Appreciate sharing the experience for your daughter's dietary needs. I just figured a place like RW could accommodate most palates but the scheduling due to demand is what gets me. The promo messages on the slot machines there are so random but congrats on the wins. They are definitely repeat sections of the same machines on that floor but if it works, I like Buffalo link as much as the next guy (not really).
Char1 said: Thanks for sharing, I think I’ll wait for your next TR before I make a decision to try RW. Thank You
Monie said: I appreciate your report. I have a 2-night stay booked in March. I keep going back and forth on whether to keep the reservation or not. Your report reminded me of my bad experiences trying to eat there and honestly, that makes me want to stay elsewhere. My past experiences were either that the restaurants weren't open at the time; or if they were, the service was disappointing or dare I say even terrible.
And these are the last 3 reviews, in order of their stay, on Trip Advisor. These have nothing to do with me, but the sentiment is the same as what I experienced, and the feedback that was shared with me directly.
Just a quick summary of what has transpired since I posted my Trip Report, and Resorts World saw it. I have been in contact with someone from there, and them reaching out shows they care about customer feedback and how their resort is viewed. Basically, they know and they are working on it. Nothing happens overnight, but they know where they need to improve.
I am not giving up on them, and neither should you. If you wrote them off already, keep checking back. Things should be getting better and better over there.
In order of how it was rolled out in my report:
1) Conrad does have a VIP desk (I made mention of that). But it isn't as well staffed as the main desk. If the attendant went in the back to do something, leaving no one at the desk, it can throw off anyone looking to check in. I suggested adding "Casino Invited Guests" to the signage, where it just says Hilton Honors guests near the main line, with an arrow directing those players over to the VIP desk. And then posting hours of that desk, so people don't walk away if no one is there at the time.
2) The Kitchen is their mega general seating restaurant. And that place having limited hours does no one any good. In fact, when you go to their website. They don't even list the hours its open!
https://www.rwlasvegas.com/dining/the-kitchen/
It does double duty on the weekend, and also acts as their pseudo buffet. So its an important place. But the hours are typically maxed out at 7AM to 1PM. But that can be less on some days, but never more it seems. RW knows it should be open longer, and that they need more choices to dine during broader hours general. Right now, its pretty much Chinese food or fine dining for the most part.
3) Failures at each of these steps:
The casino side, which was supposed to talk to the hotel side for my room credit. Did not do their job. But my host fixed this on the fly while we were there, once we figured it out.
The hotel side, which booked my room with the connector. Did not do their job. That person that put in the confirmations, quit before we even got there. And I guess no one knew or went to look.
The Players Club side, which was supposed to have upgraded my card to match the higher level, did not do their job. That is why I didn't get the 40% increase in point play, like I should have. This cost me actual money. Not a ton of money, but still. I sent over a picture of all my higher level cards in Vegas, and my host shared them with the club. And yet here we are. They tell me its been fixed, but obviously that is post trip.
4) Which pretty much feeds from the above failures, they know training is an issue. As someone was asleep at the wheel on all of the above. This also extends out to the cage, for not knowing how their own club works or that they were even hosting a slot tournament at the time. There are discussions about splitting the cage from the club. And making sure those club attendants know what is going on.
5) In other club news, they are talking about making different levels of their players club hold more value. And also moving away from the one card fits all model. Having different color cards, that unlock better experiences throughout the hotel, is important to most players. Everyone wants to feel like the money spent, and time put it, earned them something special.
6) More is in the works for the mall area. They did open during a pandemic, so they pressing right now to fill space. I sure hope they figure that out, as its the first impression you get of the place when you walk in. And its a very sexy looking space as well!
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