Some R&R. Rio and Resorts (world) June 2024 Part I

Prologue. So much has happened in Vegas since my last visit. Well, at least to me any way. Many moons ago I got an in at the (then rather new) Cosmopolitan. I got to talking with their Slot Director on a message board, about covering the property in this here stupid blog. They matched an offer I had with MGM, assigned me what would become my favorite host in all of Las Vegas. And I stayed loyal to the brand right up until the very end. That end being the takeover of Cosmo by MGM.

I have nothing really bad to say about MGM. I love most of their casinos. And MGM joints, to me at least, feel like Vegas. I have many fond memories in their resorts, going back to the Mirage days. I even got married in one of their casinos, Treasure Island, nearly 20 years ago. Well, Treasure Island is no longer theirs. But it was!

As all things Vegas, things change. I mostly stopped staying/playing with MGM, even though I loved her, since I couldn't win for shit. Just too many losing vacations, and I became a bit jaded. And that lead me to be somewhat of a free agent. Treasure Island, Tropicana (RIP), Venetian, but mostly Cosmo. 

That same Cosmo host jumped ship for Resorts World not long after the MGM buyout, and I followed her over to there. So far, so good. Resorts World has had some bumps in the road, as they figure shit out. When she left Cosmo, I was assigned a different host. She was fine, but I dont think I ever actually used her for anything. By then, my luck turned sour there. And many of the games I used to play, were taken out by the MGM overlords. Turns out, a lot of Cosmo staff left too.

Which bring us to now, and this trip. Why all the blabbering Grid, you may be asking? Both my Cosmo replacement host AND my Slot Director buddy also fled, and ended up at the work-in-progress Rio. I hadn't been to Rio in nearly 15 years. Caesars let the place turn to shit. But Dreamscape took control late last year, and are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars into the place. And I want to see what that's all about.

My best offer in town, came courtesy of my old, old Cosmo host now over at Resorts World. $1,000 in Free Play, $200 in dining credit and my usual suite. I feed that offer over to my old (just one old) Cosmo host now at Rio, and she has it matched for me so I can dip my toe in over there. Will I regret staying off Strip with Rio? Will Resorts World fuck up anything this time, like the last few stays? Reminder on that, my connecting room was not connecting, and we had to ditch it. Free play that never got loaded. And most recently, a booked and confirmed limo that never showed up. To answer all those questions...

eDay 1, Saturday

The flight is what it is. Nothing horrible happened, and was the typical Spirit Airlines trip. You hope no bolts fall off the plane and you only get a slight backache in those cramps seats. And pray no one too rotund sits next to you. I sat next to two pre-teens, so I was OK. 

For the past few weeks, I have been trying to keep up on whats going on at Rio. Part so I know what I am getting myself into. And the fun part, getting a sneak peak at what mostly will be an all new resort to me. That adds a little excitement to the upcoming trip, and helps me game plan some. I am always looking for Vegas news, reviewing my offers and seeing what rooms i can get. Planning for Vegas is fun unto itself. 

There are plenty of casino walk-throughs on YouTube, so I know the lay of the land there. Which is mostly the same as its been since the 90s. Refreshed pool area. A fully remodeled hotel tower. All new food court, or Dining Hall if you believe what the marketing nerds say these days. Even the new carpet going down, which looks nice and themey! But also means some slot disruption, as they move shit around. I'm hoping it wont be too bad. Or better yet, even done once I get there!

The one place I couldn't get any Rio news from, was the fucking Rio! They had a couple of "coming soon" things on their website. Notably a new bar (Lapa Lounge) and new restaurant (Luckley Tavern & Grill). But neither will be ready when I walk in. But the one catchall place most everyone goes to for news, construction updates and just general info. That being their corporate Facebook page. Has next to nothing on it. And I mean nothing!

First off, I had to find the damn thing. As Google searches for "Rio Las Vegas" load with fan pages first. But when I finally got to the real one, it was a huge let down. $516MIL to buy the Rio. $350MIL in renovations. $866MIL invested, and they cant pay some high school intern $8.66 an hour to post random shit on social media?

I know, I know, no more rants! Start the trip report! Its just annoying. Here we are, into June, and their last post was 10 days ago to plug the wine cellar. It wasn't even a real post, just a link to someone else who wrote about it. 2 weeks before that, another link about the wine cellar. And a week before that, a post about room rates. 3 posts, in the month of May. 3 posts in April, just about the lights being added to the facade. 3 in all of March, just room rates and the damn wine cellar. And only 2 in the month of February! Come on Rio, do you want to sell us on the place or not? Control your narrative! Show us what you have been up to! Get us interested for fucks sake!

Touchdown in Vegas!  3:30PM local time. By the time everyone takes a piss at the airport, which when traveling with a pack of girls seems to be every hour on the hour. We get to the cab at 4PM and pull up to Rio about 20 minutes later.

No one in VIP checkin, and that space has yet to be renovated. I mean, its fine. Just a bit dated and the wallpaper is pealing away at each seam. But so what! I'm not buying the place! If you were wondering how I had time for all of those astute observations, when there was no one else checking in. Well...

Check in lady was very nice. She would be just one of many friendly staffers we would encounter on this trip. But according to her, the room my host booked for me was specific. And I guess it had a hold put on it, so no one else could poach it. Great, right? Well, not really. That hold meant that housekeeping were never told to go clean it. So even though we are an hour past checkin, I have no room.

I ask how long it will take, as the difference in 30 minutes of waiting in there, VS 2 hours and me dropping our bags at the bell desk is a big swing. She didn't know, but implied it shouldn't take long. And to her credit, she did start calling people to get the ball rolling. But then a steady stream of guests started pouring in.

Not the end of the world, and in about a half hour or so we got our keys. She did note, that suites were at the end of the hallways. IE, it would be a hike once you got to your floor. She wasn't shitting me either...

New carpet in the hallways looked nice! The Ipanema Tower, where they put us, should have been completely remodeled recently. And first impressions of the room, not bad! 

Living room was of decent size, with a pullout bed for the kids. And if my pullout game was better, I wouldn't have kids. Just saying. I get a lot of millage out of that joke. The little one is taking a picture of the gift box the host (I assume) had out for us. Nuts, snacks and the like. A welcome treat, after traveling for 6 hours.

Marble bathroom? At the Rio? Color me surprised. This room will do just fine.

To be honest, I was in the room for just enough time to take those pictures. My money isn't going to lose itself you know!

A quick Fit Check in the elevator lobby before heading down. This is my attempt to insert my actual self into these reports more. As many of you pointed out, there isn't much Grid in these Grid Reports. 

The New Rio sure looks a lot like the old Rio. Its been almost 15 years since I last set foot in the place. But I am pretty sure it looked like this the last time. I mean, I can see they are doing stuff. Some of the ceilings have been painted, to cover up 30 years of smoking. There are construction walls all around, so shit is going down. 

But it is strange, that Dreamscape, the new owners, are actively looking for players right now, amidst all of this chaos. That is how I landed here myself. Rio put out an offer match for new members. You never get a second chance at a first impression. You'd think the new bar and restaurant would open, and then they would hunt for guests. Or at the very least, wait until they got some carpet and paint going. If you are publicly looking for shoppers, you'd think they wait until more than a food court and tower were done. But I digress. 

I mean, I am no snob. I don't mind a little gritty fun. The timing just seems strange to me. Anyway, the host made me a card before I got here. That way they could get the match in order. I will give Rio credit, they made shit easy! I went to the booth, handed her my ID, and both my resort credit and free play were already on there. Resorts World, take note. That is how you do things!

I actually got a bonus $8 for signing up, as all new members do. So make that $1,008...

Rio boasts 98% payback on video poker. I am sure there is a caveat to that, like machines at the bars or carnival style games. But still, I give them props. As VP is my go to when converting free play. 

I stick a hundo in to get the ball rolling, and its going well! 

I turned $1,008 in free play into $1,083! Good for you Rio! You now have my attention. I take a look around the High Limit Room, and see a Money Machine I haven't played before. Blazin' Grand huh? Sure, why not.

Holy Shit, $550 on the first slot I tried? On top of the grand they just gave me? I have only been playing for 30 minutes, and I am up $1,559! I should cash out now and lay low for the rest of the trip... Or, if I can make $1500 every 20 minutes, I'd leave here a millionaire! 

The Masquerade Village, IMO, is the best area in the resort. I love the high ceilings and being encircled by the shops. So, so much potential in this area. And they just installed hundreds of new slots, with most of them over here it seems. The former Cosmo slot director is working his magic at the Rio. Ive said it before, under his watch Cosmo had the BEST slot selection in town. And second anywhere I have ever played, only behind the Peppermill in Reno.

Some signs of new! Canteen Food Hall looks good. And they have the new carpet down already. We only have $200 in resort credit, but can stretch that a bit in here. Yes, its still overpriced. But what isn't in Vegas these days? I appreciate that the Rio allows you to room charge their food court, and use your credit on cheaper eats. 

I had a Tony Luke's cheese steak. It was.... fine. Not much meat, as it was mostly bread. And not much bread, as it was pretty small. $20 for that, is kind of an insult. They don't even sell fries. They shoo you over to Attaboy Burger across the way.

Speaking of Attaboy, the workers there were awesome. I have made mention before, that one of my daughters is a Celiac. She has a severe allergy to gluten. IE, Wheat. We are used to the IE part, as it seems most people have heard the term gluten. But only half of them know it means wheat. A lot think its dairy or something for some reason. 

Anyway, we explained all that to the cashier, and he pulled the cook aside. The cook understood the assignment and used a clean spatula (so no cross contamination) and fried her up a burger. We travel with our own GF buns, as this is an ongoing thing for us. The other 2 had ramen. 

Construction walls are all over the main area when you walk in. Today is Saturday. And I assume there was no construction going on. As it was silent in there all weekend. But these big walls do make it hard to maneuver, and sit adjacent to the checkin area. That was kinda packed. Not crazy packed, like Rio with Caesars in charge. Just a lot of people wanting to stay here. Good for them! But a tight squeeze to get around. 

Its later in the day by now, and no one is up for a round of mini golf. But we head through their shops. No Gucci or Prada here. It is all off brand generic outlets. Which is fine, and it fits the value resort motif. We have bought zero things at Crystals in Aria. Or the shops of Bellagio. But we actually spent money in these stores. So there is that.

The lower right pic below, was us going into their tattoo shop. Owned by the same Count as in Counts Customs, the car guy from TV. We wanted to see if we could get my eldest's ears pierced. If for no other reason, than to give her a story to tell when she got back home. But nope, 18 and up to get any kind of piercing. No wonder everyone goes to Claire's at the mall. 

Kiss World was small, but cool. And a welcome site for a family on vacation. Vegas stopped angling for the family dollar about 20 years ago. I get it, families aren't sexy nor are they typically big spenders. But there has to be more people like me out there. That is to say, those with some decent money to burn. But also travel with their kids. Green Valley Ranch knocks that demographic out of the park. They cater to the Grid crowd. Too bad they suck at matching offers. 

By this time, I pretty much know where everything is. And I start playing a game called. "If I owned Rio". Just shit I see, and what I would do to make it better.

The "Masquerade in the Sky" show has now been shuttered for nearly a decade. By all accounts, it isn't coming back. We've seen it a few times back in the day, and I honestly wasn't impressed. Half the people in the casino just ignored it. And the other half stopped gambling, to sit there and stare up at it. And finding ways to stop people from gambling doesn't make much business sense. I also got bonked on top of my head by some beads they tossed out of a float.

For those of you that don't know, the Masquerade show had Mardi Gras floats suspended from the ceiling, that would travel on rails while blasting music and tossing beads. Technically it was Carnivale and not Mardi Gras. This is Rio after all. But most people don't know what Carnivale is. Some think its a dairy allergy... 

That show is long gone, but those ugly tracks are still there. If I owned Rio, I'd put them to use. No, not by sticking floats on them again. The liability alone is a waste of money. Let alone the labor and maintenance. Instead, I would hook up some big TV screens to the chassis of the old floats. And send them around the casino! Two sided screens, so you can see from both sides. No blaring music, no distraction. Just video screens advertising slot promos, restaurants or shows we had going on. Cheap, kinda cool and effective! It would be unique, make the old tracks seem purposeful. And whoever it is I am advertising would pay for it. Be it Wow (the show) Kiss or even Tony Luke's. Maybe their small sandwiches would look better on a big screen. 

You can see those tracks in my first picture below. But honestly, if you are anywhere in that section of the casino you cant miss them. 

Here is something else I would do if I owned Rio. Above is the worlds ugliest and most useless bar contraption I have ever seen. To make it worse, it hasn't been a functioning bar in a long time. According to the cleaning lady I asked about it. To make that worse, even worse, that fucking eyesore is smack dab in front of both the flashy Kiss World and the escalators from the Masquerade Tower rooms, as well as the second floor mall. 

Rip that ugly fucker out! And how about a nice fountain in its place? Maybe it once was a fountain? And they capped it off with that bar? Either way, it should be a fountain. It would fit perfectly with the village theme of that area. People can say "I'll meet you at the fountain". Kiss World would no longer be hidden by it. I have 100 reasons why a fountain is better than that current abomination of a bar.

I have already done the leg work for it. Recreate the Fountain of the Muses from Rio de Janeiro. Its black, which is cool and will tie in to Kiss. I even had AI make a mock up. Come on Rio, get on it! What's a fountain cost these days? $50K? Money well spent! And gambling next to a relaxing babbling fountain is fun. 

Masquerade Village has all kinds of potential. Obviously they have issues attracting tenants. All of the boarded up shops/restaurants in this area are a bummer and kinda depressing. I know I am not the first person to say its lifeless over here. You got some new slots, that helps with foot traffic. So, lets marry the two!

If I owned Rio, I would turn some of these empty spaces into smaller themed slot parlors! No labor to pay, no real money for renovations. And if the resort really takes off, no lease to cancel. I just move the slots out to the main floor. It would immediately remove the sadness, as well as expand my casino's footprint. And, maybe make one of them smoke free?

The abandoned stores are above. And my  AI rendition is below. But here is my twist. Don't just put slots in a storefront. Give it purpose. Rio took out almost all of their older slots. They think its a good thing. There are many gamblers like me, who LOVE the older games from the 90s on those old terminals. The Munsters, Texas Tina, Open the Vault, Ducks in a Row ETC. They don't have any of those games here any more. 

Make one of these stores "Retro Rio" and fill it with older machines. Has to be cheap enough to do! Maybe even make one room nothing but coin slots. Circus Circus gets all kinds of attention for doing that. Cater to those that loved Rio in the 90's, by giving them a time machine back to its hey day.

Make another store Movie themed. Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka, Frankenstein, Wonder Woman, Little Shop of Horrors ETC. They have all of those games already. Stick some in here! Make a Hollywood Sign Marquee out front. Lean into the theme.  Lightening Link Zone? Buffalo Cove? You can do all sorts of things with these dead spaces. 

Sorry, I have more but I don't want to bog down the report. 

Rio is running a great promo while I'm here. For every 1,000 points earned you get to spin a wheel for slot credits. $1.25 = 1 point. So just $1,250 of coin in gets you a spin of the wheel. I love being rewarded, for something I was going to do anyway. 

And now, back to gambling! It seems I have done everything at Rio so far, sans gambling! Kids are back in the room, and even though its late (Chicago time is 2 hours ahead) I still need to rack up some play. 

No step by step run down here. I was already up $1,500 from my first big hit and the free play conversion. I was up and down. A little more down than up, but the slots seemed fair.

$182 bonus on an $8.88 bet. $235 on a $9 bet. $150 on a $5 bet and Snoop Dog with a $289 bonus on a $5 bet. 

By the time I hit on Snoop, I was down about $1,000 of that $1,500. Snoop got me back $300 of it. But I pissed that away. Karate Kid helped fix things up, with a $169 bonus. Which, if you look at my bonus game screen, should have been a lot more on a $4.50 max bet. 

But I shitted out not long after that. Just bad bonus games that didn't pay much. Or no bonus games at all. I started clawing my way back with the below. $100 bonus and $390 bonus. Both on $10 bets. But I lost that in time as well. 

In the end, I lost the $1500 I won when I walked in. So it was really a net push for me. They just got their money back, but none of mine. I didn't play all that much, but I earned 5 Neon Wheel Spins from their promo. But they were only worth a total of $45 in free play. Still, free promo = free money.

These 5,533 points are on $6,916 worth of coin in. Its late, was a travel day and I am just going to hit the hay. I'll make it up to them tomorrow. 

View from the room at night. I know Rio is making a big deal out of their new LED lights. Which is a cool throwback to the 90's. But when you have places that do actual movies on their facade, like Resorts World, it is sort of Meh. But, good for them and better than before!

Day 2

Sunday funday, and I still have all of my bankroll. Fit Check, done... As you can see, I have a pile of these black tank tops. Its my go to!

They are all still sleeping. My internal clock wakes me up at 6AM Central time every damn day. I could try to go back to sleep, which I did. But my inner Clark Griswold kept repeating "Vegas, Vegas, Vegas" so I got dressed and came down at 6AM Pacific time. It was ghost town, as to be expected. 

I start off on Little shop, and was holding my own. I just got a $210 bonus, and was up $150 on the morning. When my machine broke. I kinda freaked out. I had $250 in the machine, and there was literally no one around. To make matters worse, I was playing by the food court and not in the main casino. And even worse than that, I was in a little alcove tucked away. 

I couldn't get up to find someone, and have some homeless guy walk in and stake claim to my money. Luckily for me, I saw a cleaning lady and asked her to get someone over to me. I pushed the button for service, but the fucking machine was busted and the light never went on. I put all the lights on the games around me, as sort of a signal flare for a slot attendant.

Two workers actually showed up to help. One took my card, in case the machine was busted for good. While the other tried rebooting it for me. They said they would just give me cash if they couldn't fix it, and could pull up my TITO based on my club card. I didn't know they could do that, but I guess it makes sense.

I was chatting with the lady fixing my machine, and she was super nice. She has been at the Rio since the golden days in the 90's. She had nothing but nice things to say about the Marnell family that built the place. And had plenty to shit talk for Caesars who ruined it. Overall, the staff seems excited about all the changes. And she started listing out everything they've done, and plan to do. She should write their fucking blog or takeover their social media!

She got it fixed, and I didn't know if I was supposed to tip or not. I mean, she helped me and was super friendly. But then again, it was their machine that inconvenienced me. She made it easy by just wishing me good luck and splitting. 

I didn't want to play that machine anymore, and risk getting dicked all over again. So I moved over to a Cleo II game. The first one I have seen here, and an IGT classic I love. Turns out, it was the right call!

$5.00 bet, playing nickles. I trigger the bonus and pick the most games, this time being 11. By spin 6, I get a line hit for $320! By spin 8, I knew I was in the money. That landed me another $914! By the time I was done, I won $1,300.

And who comes running over? My lady friend that fixed the game behind me! Now I have a legit reason to tip her for being so nice to me. It was my first Rio handpay, but she got me my money in like 10 minutes. And even unlocked the machine, so I could keep playing. After the Little Shop bonus, and now this, I have a TITO for $1,441. And got back all of the money I lost last night!

I cash out, and find this game below. It wasn't easy, but I turned my $100 into $300. Then that $300 into $425!

And by now, I am up plenty for the trip. I start chunking hundos left and right, as I am now slot drunk with success. 

Zoltar bonus for $178? Yup. I lost most of that playing around, before getting this $180 bonus below. Back up over $300 now. 

I slip into the high limit room, and start going through their IGT games. Rio HL is pretty legit. A lot of stuff I play in here.

Davinci Diamonds for $175? Check. But I was hoping for more on my $10 bet. Still gets me back over $400. $120 on Valhalla. $233 on Wolf Run...

And then I petered out, and lost that $400 ticket. Plus a little more. Still, I am up a grand and guess who is ready for breakfast?

The ladies meet me at Hash House A Gogo. Which is the only place not named Starbucks to get breakfast food here. Hell, I think it was the only place for food even open. And it was, a fucking debacle. Add opening a bagel bar in one of the empty storefronts to my Rio ownership list. Its cheap, don't need any ovens. Just a bunch of toasters, some microwaves and bagels with smears. Open daily from 4AM to 2PM. I'm on the fence about a name. But I am leaning towards "The Anal Bagel" with our logo being a bagel with a butt-hole in the middle. 

Anyway, the debacle. As you can see below, not many people up eating at 8:30AM on a Sunday. So it wasn't busy. What you cant see, is that it was almost 10AM by the time we got our food. The hostess sat us near the bar for some reason. She gave us our menus, and walked away. No one came to take our order. After 15 minutes or so, we asked someone for waters and to order. And he brought us water, but didn't take our order. I guess he was the busboy. 

30 minutes in, and still no waiter/waitress. The wife had to go find the hostess, and see what was wrong. She then goes to tell a waiter, who eventually comes by to take our order. I naturally WTF'ed him. And asked what took so long. And he said she should never have seated us there, since there was no wait staff assigned to it. I told him we saw waitstaff all around us, why didn't someone say something to someone else? Or, even better, just take our order.

He didn't have an answer. But did go tell his Boss. He seemed sorry, and I let it go at that. No gluten worries, and the waiter understood the assignment. He knew what GF was, and about cross contamination. And said she should not have the breakfast potatoes, as they share a fryer with gluten foods. But she she could have the mashed. As that was safe. Bacon, eggs and mashed potatoes? She loved it. 

To their credit, the "Boss" took $20 off our tab. So there is that. The food is fine. Hard to fuck up breakfast. The giant pancake is more of a novelty, as it wasn't all that good. Still, we ate our fill and they headed off to the pool....

And I headed back to playing! I almost full screen wilded Wonder Woman, which would have been $2,000 I think. But $400 is OK by me! Followed by a $127 bonus. And finally, a decent hit on the original Huff N Puff. I have never been a fan of HNP. I mean, I have nothing against it. It just was never in my rotation. But all of the YouTubers I watch play the shit out of it. SDGuy1234, Vegas Matt, NG, Mr. Handpay etc.

Glad I did, as this was a $7.50 bet playing nickles for a $661 win! And now I have a TITO for $1,161 on my $100 buyin. 

After the handy this morning, I am now at a new High Water Mark! But I let shit get away from me. That's on me, not on Rio. 

Their Retro HL room was fun! But costly. I was down to $60, when I hit for $270 on Hot Roll. Had that down to $88 when I hit for $100 on Atlas. I hope they don't renovate this place. Just swap the carpet out. Sometimes old is new. 

But pissed that away as well. And more money than I want to admit on Strike it Rich. I had $1.00 left, when I got a bonus for $111. But that was after I dropped like $200 in on it. 

I pissed away what would have been a lot of money to some. So I go out to find the girls at the pool.

The pool area looks nice! But the nice parts, are closed for some reason. They said the renovation out here was done, but both main pools aren't open. The fancy ones with waterfalls, are closed? The kids tell me the water is too cold anyway. And as you can see, not many people were swimming. I assume due to that. There is also a major lackage of shade out here. Unless you wanted to pay for a cabana or better seats. My wife had to sit there covered in towels to keep the sun off her face.

Which is Rio right now. She is trying, but still coming up short in many places. Just not ready for Prime Time in my opinion. And why does my opinion matter? I'm the idiot that spends tens of thousands of dollars a year, gambling coast to coast in search of new experiences. To say I have seen a few resorts in my time, is an understatement. For every trip I report on in this stupid blog, I probably made 3 others. But were either too lazy or I just didn't have enough to write about. 

Point in case, and this is not throwing shade at Rio. Up to this point, we are all having fun. But some things are just coming up short. My suite was nice, and free. The hall bath didn't work. I mean, it did. You could wash your hands and take a shit. But the toilet didn't flush. It just swirled the water around a little. I didn't pay attention to it, since I only took a piss in it when I got there. But my kid took a shit in it this morning, and all it did was turn it into a turd smoothie. We were leaving the next day, and no one wanted to sit in the room and wait for maintenance. So we just let the kids use the shitter in our room.

Every night, someone walked up the stairwell just to sneak a pizza menu under our door. Well, not just ours. Every door on our floor. How is this not an easy fix? Its like breaking into someone house, and leaving them your business card. Rio KNOWS which pizza place is doing this. Their name, address and phone number are on the menus. Call them up, and give them a verbal trespass. Let them know, that anyone dropping flyers will have the cops called on them. It makes the place feel low class. You don't see shit like that in the Strip. 

We had a light switch in our room, that didn't do anything. I thought maybe it was hooked up to the floor or table lamps, so we made sure those were turned out. But nope. We had an issue with our sheets last night, that we didn't notice until we went to go to "bed". I didn't want to say screw. But they had smears of blood on them, which wasn't something we could overlook. It didn't look like it was washed. I think someone had a scab or something bleed, and in the rush to turn over our room. They didn't change the sheets. 

We called housekeeping, but no one picked up at night. The front desk did send someone up pretty quickly, and they actually changed the sheets VS just handing us new ones. So props to Rio there. But still something that shouldn't have happened. 

There were small things, that you wouldn't expect in a newly renovated room. A marble tile on our shower was cracked in half, and they just caulked it back together. Some of the work that was done, looked sloppy and rushed. You couldn't close the curtains below, unless you climbed up on the bath tub to get to them. If ever there was a need for power curtains, its right here. But we weren't about to take a bath, as the recessed light over the tub was falling out and hanging by the wires. You can see both in this pic. 

Again, none of that is to shit on them. Just to show there are some bumps in the road, as they figure stuff out. Which is why I am saying they aren't ready for Prime Time. Any way, rant over...

Gambling begins... Some fleeting luck on the below, but by now I lost the $1500 I converted when I got here. And $1500 of my own money. But it did take me 2 days to drop $3K. Which isn't horrible for me.

I was actually able to level up in their players club today. That got me $50 in free play. And I get one free drink every day, max value of $15 per. Which can be used at Starbucks. And $15 a month in dining credit. Good values IMO.

The 19,000 points you see here, include them adding 5,000 from the above. 1 point = 1 penny. So I actually played through $17,500 so far. Which got me $140.00 in point play ($1.25 = 1 point) and $145 more from those Neon Spins. That would be 14 spins, and $145. So I averaged about $10 per. I had a $20 or $25. But most were $5.00

Their club is very easy to understand.

I went to covert that $335 I have banked, playing video poker like I did to start the trip. And who is playing in the HL room? That piece of shit TikToker D Lucky. What makes D a POS? He charges people money to meet him in the HL rooms around Vegas. It will cost you $1,795 to meet him, and have him pick a "hot" slot for you to play. YOU have to pay for the slot. That $1800 gets one (just 1) photo with him. A swag bag (worthless T-Shirt) and 30 minutes of his time. That 30 minutes is spent with him filming you, and the machine he picked, for his own personal gain via ad revenue on tiktok, Facebook and YouTube. 

As if the scam wasn't bad enough. The only videos he shows, are of winners. If 75% of the people lose money gambling (all of them lose money by having to pay him). He only shows the 25% that won. Making people think he is lucky. Last I heard, he was sued by a few people. And being the liability, has been banned from most Strip casinos. No Shocker to see him end up here. But Rio should shoo him off as well. They don't want this stank on them. 

Any way, I converted that play fairly well, and cashed out with $375. So there is that. 

At this point, I was going to call it a stay. I'd like to do $10K coin in per night, but I started to go down hill pretty fast. And still wanted to keep some bank for the next half of this trip. 

Kids are back, and we head out to eat before seeing WOW The Vegas Spectacular show they have here. My Vice President buddy here, that got my offer matched. Offered to give us show tickets for the trip. And I happily accepted. I think this will be our first family show in Vegas, which is exciting. 

Dinner was at Guy Fieri's Mexican joint. It was fine, and they had some GF options for the kid. Here she is taking photos of the pool, which you can see from inside the restaurant. Their Happy Hour menu is a great deal by Vegas standards. A big plate of nachos for $9.99. Fancy street tacos for $4.99e ETC

And here she is again, taking selfies in front of the Wow theater. I guess she is at that age. Still weird though. And kinda cringe. 

We had time to kill after we ate, as the show didn't start until 7PM. A couple more "Rio Not Ready for Prime Time" moments. My host said our tickets would be sent to us via text the day of the show. Come 1PM, I hadn't gotten anything. And she was off today. I still emailed her, and while she didn't know what went wrong. She was able to have them sent over a few hours later. But we were sweating it out, as the show time was starting soon. Crisis averted. 

To the left below, is the Rio stage where they used to do shows. Now, its just there. It's still cool, and vintage Rio. And being next to the WOW showroom, I would use it for photo ops with the WOW performers. And I'd have them standing up there, doing tricks and what not, to get folks to buy tickets for the show. That is, if I owned Rio....

To the right, was us trying to take the glass elevator up to VooDoo Steak. It would have been a cool experience, to see outside Vegas from a glass elevator. But the glass elevator was broken. We took the normal one, just to see the view. It was a bummer. 

They shopped a little. And I hopped on a Video Poker machine. It was the right move. 

I put in $20, cashed out $135. And handed them money for the arcade. 

Show time! And the theater looks pretty nice! We had no idea what to expect here. All of the posters are the same, just a woman whose hair is wet. From what I can gather, its a variety show. If only they had people on a stage in front of the theater, doing tricks and what not. THEN I would have know what the show was about!

Props to my host and VP buddy for the awesome seats. Right in front. The kids loved it, and felt like big shots!

The show itself? It was pretty cool! 90 minutes of various dancers, jugglers, acrobats and what have you. Very Vegasy!

The kids loved it! Their favorite was Silvia Silvia the crossbow lady. And after the show, they got to meet her! Just in front of a picture, and not on a stage.

Day 3

My host got us a late checkout, which was great since we cant check in to Resort World until 4PM. I didn't get an answer when I asked her directly, if I am being rated per day or per trip. If it was per day, any lower gambling I'd do now would hurt my offers. I roll the dice, and assume per trip. So I gamble a little bit more.

I finally got a good Neon Wheel for $100!

And I don't know how I missed it this whole time, but they had a newer Lucky Larry! I was able to grind through some points on that thing. Winning a hundred bucks here and there. 

I ended up getting one more Neon Spin for $5. So I had $120 in free play to burn. 

I ended up converting that, into $200. Video Poker at Rio seems to be top notch! And being Monday, all of the construction workers were here in full force. The walls were down, and they seem pretty far away from completing that Lapa Lounge, they show will be opening this month. But who knows. 

Resort credit all gone, we decide we want to head over to Palms. We haven't left the resort at all since we got to Vegas. The closest we came, was going outside to the pool. When I say "we", I mean I wanted to see what slots they had. And told them that is where we should eat breakfast. 

I haven't seen the Palms, since I last did Rio 15 years ago. I know they went through 100's of millions in renovations since then as well. And I think they are on their third owner since I was last there.

Palms is pretty swanky! I don't know if it looks so fancy, since I just spent 48 hours at Rio. But I like what I see. 

We settle on McDonald's, which we know the Celiac can eat. And McD's, of all places, are pretty cool about allergies. IE, changing gloves and wiping down the prep area. As you can see, the social sisters here had their devices going. 

They have A LOT of games I play here. Even rows and rows of my older IGT ones.

And then, I saw her. A new Casper slot! I am not a big Casper fan, per se. But the Casper slots are always good to me. I even had a couple handpays on the ones in Milwaukee at the Potawatomi before.

I didn't pull a players club card here, as I might just get them to offer match me so I can try the place out. But maybe I should have, as I sat on Casper betting $9 a spin for a good 25 minutes or so. 

I ended up losing $300 at Palms, but who knows if I'd ever see that Casper slot again. I really wanted to spin that fucking wheel! I didn't even know these things existed until now. 

Back to Rio, and they are going full bore getting the new carpet down. I like it! With Mirage out of the picture, and Tropicana dead. I love that they are all in on the tropical theme. 

Family Fit Check, as we go to check out. VIP room checkout was fast and friendly. They cleared anything I went over, which is great. And I did mention the issues with the room. So they can iron that out for the next guy. I even flagged down the maid on our floor prior, to let her know we didn't leave a turd in the bowl to be dicks. She just laughed, and said she's seen it before. 

I liked Rio. Like I have mentioned, she is going through some changes right now. But is certainly headed in the right direction. If you get easily frustrated. Are looking for luxury. Or demand things like working lighting and toilets. Rio might not be right for you. At least not right now. But I love that they are trying. Rio is fun. It is unpretentious. It is exactly the kinda place I feel like I fit in the best. And there is nothing wrong with that! 

I made my $20,000 coin in target. And it "only" cost me $1,500 of my money. And $1,500 of their money. Which is technically my money as well, and a loss of $3K. But only half that was out of pocket, and I consider that a win. They have some good slots. The player program, IMO, is the best in town. $20K coin got me a $50 bonus by moving up in the club. $160.00 in point play. Plus the slot promo that was going on, which was good for another $250. Your millage may vary on that.

Next Stop, Resorts World! Stay tuned...