Day 4- 2/17/15
Dyllon and Lisa arrived a little later than they had expected to, but it was still fairly early in the morning. We got them situated in the condo, and then headed down to the Silver Sevens Casino and buffet. The breakfast buffet was highly recommended to us, and if we registered for the Player's Club card, we could get it for $6.99, can't beat that!
Due to our cab debacle the night prior, we decided we would walk today, since the casino was not that far from the place we were staying. It was also sunny out, and we figured a little walking would do us some good, since we were planning on gorging at the buffet.
Sooo…it maybe was a bit further of a walk than it appeared in a taxi cab. It was definitely at least a mile, which wasn't awful by any means, but it took us about a half hour to walk there, considering traffic and crossing the streets. Despite the fact that it indeed was sunny, it was not particularly warm in the shade, which was primarily where we were walking. I'm absolutely not complaining, since at this time it was about 95 degrees warmer in Vegas than it was back home, but whether you're in 68 degree weather or -30 degree weather, dressing inappropriately for the temperature at hand is still not the most pleasant experience. I tend to (wrongfully, for sure) plan my outfit based on the amount of sunlight outside. It could be 80 and dark, or 20 and sunny, and I would without fail dress stupidly for both days. It's a psychological thing, I guess.
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| We may have been in Nevada, but it's just about the same effect |
Anyway, we arrived at the buffet in not enough time to enjoy the breakfast buffet, but plenty of time for the $7.99 lunch one. We were hungry, and didn't really care, so we obviously obliged, after we got our Player's Cards, of course. Unfortunately for us, there was a reason that the breakfast buffet was highly recommended, and the lunch buffet was not. There were a lot more misses than hits with their cuisine, and something was just not okay with their root beer floats, which was their claim to fame. If your claim to fame that is advertised at your establishment is questionable, it's safe to assume that the rest of the menu is…we'll say- adventurous.
A lot of my experiences in Vegas are like most of my experiences in life: compared to said event depicted in a wide array of films. This trip was compared to a family favorite of mine, National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation, and all I could think about whilst eating at the buffet was this scene:
After the buffet, we figured we would try our hand at some BINGO, because it seemed like a pretty tame gambling experience, and someone in that room would win at some point during every game. Since there were six of us, we figured we had pretty good odds.
Some of us bought cards and dotters, while Andrew and Darrell got the digital BINGO cards that did all the work for you. Lame, right? Like it's hard to dot a number on a BINGO sheet. They even give you thirteen seconds in between calling numbers, which was probably more than enough time. What I neglected to realize was that each card had six games on it, and what was about to ensue for the next hour would perhaps be the most agonizing hour of game play I've yet to encounter.
Andrew did a great job in getting me a yellow BINGO dotter (with freaking glitter in it. I mean come on, is he the best or what?) and while we were heckling the boys for their lame-ity, the game had started and I barely realized it. Ooops! Not off to a great start. Round 1 was normal BINGO, which I can handle. No one at our table won, and as we were tearing our sheets off for game 2, Andrew and Darrell informed us that this game was also to be played on the card we had in front of us. It was some other variation of BINGO in some shape I can't remember, but I was rapidly getting frazzled and falling behind. No one won game 2 from our table either, and I collected my mental and emotional woes and prepared myself for the surely grueling set of games on the next card.
This pattern was a small kite thingy. I feel like my BINGO experiences in school were sorely inadequate in preparing me for the real world of BINGO Hell. Small crazy kite was a weird shape, and a hard one to get. No one at our table won. Now it was time for the BIG crazy kite. For real? You couldn't think of anything more original than that, BINGO associates? Ok, I'll bite.
Can you guess if our table won? Go ahead, guess. We did not. Again. As the rounds of BINGO got more complex, I figured our odds might increase a bit. Like with the cover all, everyone has got to hate that round, am I right? So I have just as many chances as everyone else to get this. I have a good feeling that I'm going to get this…
"BINGO!"
Seriously. That woman again?? She's won, like, twice already and people at her table have been calling BINGO like it's a common street salutation. There was one round left, and I found myself getting more anxious and infuriated each time a number was called and someone else (ever so quietly) declared the magic word.
Despite the unending frustration of not winning and seeing the sick satisfaction of the elderly winners clearly laughing at my misfortune, it was a fairly fun experience, although I'm not sure I'd dot my papers again. Who the hell knows, I may have won $453, but dotted my card like a blind neanderthal and never knew I had a BINGO. I was pretty close on the one that was a dodecagon, and I swear I nearly had the one that was in the shape of Medusa's snake head… (Not real, FYI, but they should be) After BINGO, I had a little bit of luck with some slot machines, which was pretty exciting, although didn't really amount to much.
Instead of walking back to the room, we figured we were about halfway between our room and the strip, so we walked to Harrah's instead to take the shuttle to the room before our show that evening. Once we arrived back at the room, we decided that after all that walking, it was hot tub time! We took some libations down to the hot tub to relax for a bit, and a very kind woman had asked Dyllon if we wanted free beers. She gave us her room number in case we obliged, and he and I went to scope it out. She was, in fact, leaving the next morning and had nowhere to put them, so she gave us the rest of the 12 pack of Coronas, about five water bottles, her two $25 meal vouchers that she didn't use, and some movie passes. We chit chatted with her, thanked her profusely, and then went back to our room to brag about our spoils.
We then had some time to relax and get ready for our show for the evening, which was the Michael Jackson: One, Cirque du Soleil. I had never seen any performance like this live, although some of my friends and I saw a Cirque du Soleil movie that was mega weird. Anyway, when we arrived at Mandalay Bay, we had some time to kill so we played slots. Feeling like I was on a roll, I did some of the more glamourous ones, which did not avail me in any way, plus I missed Deltra Lynne's big win on the video poker machine, so I ruled out slots after that.
We dined at the World Carnival buffet, and with the four meal vouchers we had, plus the two the kind lady had bestowed on us, it barely cost us anything to eat there. Let me just say that the length of this buffet felt equivalent to the distance we walked from the not-so-great buffet to Harrah's. They had food from just about every continent imaginable. The sushi was exquisite, as were the hearty mashed potatoes. One winning buffet, and one losing buffet in a 24-hour period. It's good to have encountered all ends of the spectrum, I guess.
Once it was time to enter the theater, we were ushered into a setting of MJ paraphernalia that could rival even MJ's estate. There was a gift shop, and lots of fantastic decor in the lobby of the theater, which made sense when someone told me that a lot of times, these theaters are made for the specific show, and are redone only when the show stops playing.
There's no real way for me to describe what we saw, other than being incredibly vague and saying that it was a ton of outstanding choreography and acrobatic skill, mixed with amazing special effects, lights, and obviously superb music. I didn't take any photos during the show, but here are a couple I found online (that still will not do any part of the performance justice).
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| Yo no comprendo... |
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| This was absolutely my favorite part. Like little MJ Power Ranger shadows…or something |
I was really excited to see what the Beatles: Love Cirque du Soleil would be about, which we were going to see in two nights, but it was hard to believe how anything could top what we'd just seen.
Mmmm... Lukewarm root beer float. Messing up something that requires only two simple ingredients is pretty impressive!
ReplyDeleteStill a fantastic day!
Despite the fact that I hate root beer, I almost wish that I had tried one so that I can better describe it's crappiness! Agreed that the day was still pretty fabulous. :)
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