Day 8 Tuesday April 1, 2003

I had to get up somewhat early today since it was moving day. After I got everything packed up and left the room it was near 1pm even though check out was at noon. They’ll get over it though. After I grabbed my cash back of $40 I was on my way. This $40 is accumulated from a few trips over the last year or so. I had to make a quick stop at the post office and then it was over to Ellis Island for a meet that was organized on the Las Vegas Advisor Message Board. I had never been here before and was expecting the worst but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. This doesn’t mean this is a great place, but it wasn’t as nasty as the Klondike was the other day. After the meet I moved down to Circus-Circus where I will be checking in for the next 3 nights on a room comp plus $200 in cash. This is real cash not free play or match play chips.

When I got to Circus-Circus there was a line about 3 miles long to check in. Lucky for me I got to use the VIP room. There are no lines in here and no waiting. I was given room 310 in the main tower. With such a low number I figured the view was going to be obstructed and I was correct in this. I had a great view of pipes and air ducts. I don’t know why they would even assign someone to a room like this when they aren’t near being sold out. Now not to sound like an ass but if I’m a VIP I think I deserve to be in a better room than this too. I went back to the VIP room and asked to be moved. I was given room 1551 and when I got to the room it was occupied. There was luggage and clothes all over the room and the bathroom was full of toiletries. I sure was glad these people weren’t in the room when I walked in.

Back down to the VIP room and told them what happened. I was now given room 1547, just a few doors down. When I got to this room everything seemed ok except the bedspreads and blankets were in shrink-wrap and sitting on the floor next to the beds. Now 0 for 3 I went back to the VIP room and got yet another room. This time they put me in the West Tower in room 31806. This room had a great view of the strip from the Sahara all of the way to Le Reve. I could also see the local’s place on Boulder Highway and MGM Grand. The only problem with this room was it’s a non-smoking room and someone smoked in it. The room stunk but instead of getting another room I went to VIP and had them call housekeeping to have the room sprayed. I figured this would be ok and went to the car to get my stuff. After over an hour of dicking around I was finally in my room.

Housekeeping came right up and sprayed the room down with some lemon stuff. At first I was worried we were going to have simulated the piss smell that the Plaza downtown had with stale smoke and lemon scent but it was ok. The room smelled fresh and not like piss.

I was starving by now so I went to the Circus Pizzeria. I ordered a plain 10” cheese and a soda. This hit the spot and I came back up to the room and took a nap. While I was sleeping I kept waking up to the smell of stale cigarette smoke. After doing this every 15 minutes I had to go back down to VIP and have my room changed. I figured by now they guy in this office would have been tired of seeing me but he ha no problem helping me out. He told me to meet him over at the supervisor’s desk and he would have her help me out. He briefed her on the situation. She apologized and moved me to 31809 just a few doors down. She also gave me a comp for 2 to the Pink Pony Café. I thought this was pretty nice of her to do.

When I got to room 31809 it was trashed. The beds were slept in, there was trash all over the room and back to VIP I went. When I walked in the guy just said “Oh no!” I told him the room was dirty and he went and got his supervisor again. This time she moved me back to the main tower to a deluxe room. This is room 1135 and is actually a mini suite. It offers no extras other than a larger room and a small sitting area. The view is of downtown and the Stratosphere Tower. Finally at midnight I have a room I can live with!

Now, for those that are keeping score I had 1 room with no view, 1 room that was occupied, 2 rooms that weren’t made up, 1 room that stunk from smoke (even though it was non-smoking) and 1 room that I kept! Yes, that is a total of 6 rooms in a day. This will definitely cause me to write a letter to Mandalay Resort Group. Although the people involved were very nice about the whole situation there was some type of breakdown in communication that is totally unacceptable.

After I finally got settled into this room I went over to Slots-a-Fun and played the triple play 9/6 jacks or better game. The first machine I tried had no sound and sucked down $100 in short order. This is kind of funny because last time I was here this machine had sound and while I was playing the sound went out and obviously to this day it hasn’t been fixed. I moved to the machine next to it and played anther $100. After 2 ½ hours and my fair share of quads I cashed out even. Even though I hit quite a few quads I didn’t hit the card of the day. I think this is the first time ever that I didn’t get the bonus.

After playing I went to the Pink Pony for a late night meal. I got a bowl of soup and a grilled cheese with fries. The food was good and came out fast. Of course I was one of 3 people in here so there was no reason for it not to be fast.

When it was time to pay I got to the counter the hostess said the cashier would be right back. Well right back was nearly 10 minutes later. I couldn’t understand this. How can they allow the cashier to go on break and not have someone to cover her while she’s away? She finally came back and all 3 of the people that were in the coffee shop were in line. She came back like nothing was wrong and couldn’t have cared less that there were 3 tired people standing in line to pay. Now at 4am I’m off to bed.

Total win/loss for the day $250
Total comps or the day $258
Total out of pocket expenses $3