Day 5
Tuesday December 19, 2000
Check out, Terribles and Check in

I woke up this morning to the sound of a train going by. I looked up and saw the clock said 11:18. I quickly got up since I had to be out of the room by noon. I knew I would never make it so I took my time and got ready. I also took a few minutes to get on line where I talked to my friend T and also made contact with my friend VG from VG Enterprises. We made plans to meet at 1:30 at Terribles casino.

I made my way to Terribles and met up with Gary. Terribles just opened a few weeks ago and everything is new. It's a small casino with mostly video poker but there are also all of the popular slots too. All of the machines are equipped with the EZ pay system where you get a voucher for your money when you cash out. You can either take this to the cage to get it cashed or put it into another machine in the bill acceptor if you want to play a different machine. We played some video poker. The first play was 50 play VP in pennies. Even at pennies this game is $2.50 a hand. Had no big hits here so we moved to some nickel video poker. Gary lost here and I played for quite a while on $20, cashing out with $10.

Gary left and I headed over to Caesars Palace to check in. I have a $50 rate for the next 3 nights. Regular rate for these 3 nights is $89. I got this rate from a direct marketing offer. Last March I joined the slot club and played just 1 point to activate the card so $25 in play generated this offer. Now I don't usually pay for rooms when I come to Vegas but I wanted to try this place out to see if it would live up to all the hype.

When I got to check in there was no one in line. I asked the girl if there was a chance of being upgraded to a Forum Tower deluxe superior room since I was in town for my 30th birthday. I saw a picture of this room on their website and it looked pretty nice. She said she did have it available at no extra charge. I was in room 7502.

This was a really nice room. You walked into a short hallway. On the right is the bathroom door and just past it is a Jacuzzi tub surrounded with glass, pillars and statues. It has a king bed with nightstands on each side, reading lights and a mirror above it and a mirror behind it on the wall. It has a cloth headboard but the thing has seen its day and was quite worn and dirty. There are actually head marks on it from all the use it gets. I quickly covered this up with a towel. On the other side of the room is a big wall unit with a closet on the left and right. There is also an iron and board. In the center are the TV and dresser drawers. Near the windows is a long rectangular table and 2 green cushioned chairs. There is a view out the window of The Flamingo, Bally's and Paris. I'm not that high up so there is another tower blocking the view of the rest of the strip other than the top of NYNY and the MGM Grand sign. A few times when the Bellagio fountains were on some of the really high shots made it above the hotel tower that was blocking my view.

The bathroom was quite large. It has a hallway leading to the rest of the room. The door was frosted glass. On the right there is a shower also with a frosted glass door. On the left is a glass towel rack. It's up against a frosted window which, doubles as the backdrop for the Jacuzzi on the bedroom. On the right just past the shower is another frosted door that has the toilet in it. There is also a phone next to the toilet just in case the phone rings when you're in a compromising position! The counter tops were large with one counter at a standard level and a smaller make up counter with a make up mirror, hair drier, and a tiny little sink about the size of an ice bucket.

After getting settled into the room, I went to the casino to start playing. This place is huge compared to the smaller local casinos I usually stay in. I found myself walking in circles quite a bit. I finally found Cleopatra's Barge and the half-dollar machines located near it. I played some bonus poker. I got quite a bit of play for $50. I hit a few quads along the way and even pulled a straight flush. I cashed out ahead by $100 and took a break. I went up to the room to relax for a while.

At about 11 I went back to the casino. I played the 50-cent triple plays. I played here for quite a while but had very few hits other than hitting quad aces 2 times for 400 coins each. I ended up losing $150 for the session.

It was now 1 am and I was getting hungry so I decided to walk over to the Barbary Coast to get one of their late night specials. It was freezing out but I walked over anyway. I got to the Victorian room and there was a sign in front that said they were closed for monthly maintenance. Dammit, what a waste of time. I freeze my ass off and still don't get to eat. The next choice was the Imperial Palace for the prime rib sandwich for $2.95. I walked through the Flamingo to keep warm. When I got to the other side of the Flamingo near O'Sheas there were 2 cops trying to get a homeless guy to get out. He was lying on the floor trying to take a nap. I walked through O'Sheas and the to IP. I made my way up to the Tea House and saw the signs for the Night Owl specials but what was this? Dammit, they raised the prices of all of the late night deals. The prime rib sandwich was now $4.25. This is a price increase of $1.30. It’s still not a bad deal but it's not really worth going out of your way for now. It's still the same as it ever was. It is a slab of prime rib, with a big chunk of fat on it, a piece of French bread and fries.

In the dining room there was a guy that looked like Elvis with a friend eating. As if this wasn't bad enough when he talked he was talking like Elvis too. I thought I was just hearing things but as I listened more he really was talking like Elvis. Between you and me, I really think he thought he was Elvis!

After eating I walked back over to Caesars and went to the room. I'm here right now typing this report. Normally I would jump into bed now but with the Jacuzzi sitting there I just have to jump in! I sat in there for about 20 minutes and then called it a night and went to bed. I left the curtains open and while I was lying in bed I could see the top of Bally's and Paris and the Eiffel Tower.

Total win/loss for the day -$100
Total comps for the day $ 89