January in Vegas 2014 - Day 3
Having been up until the wee hours gambling, Nyssa slept as late as possible. I went down for my usual slots and coffee. I also spent some time wandering around the casino taking pictures of all the stained glass for my sister-in-law who's a wiz with making stained glass art.
Once Nyssa got up it was moving day - time to change hotels. Our second hotel of the trip was Aria for the last 2 nights, courtesy of the MyVegas game. I'd heard great things about this hotel and was looking forward to checking it out. Our usual mode of transportation is the bus when in Vegas, but with Nyssa out of commission for walking a cab was in order. We did ask about complimentary upgrades but nothing was available right away. If we'd been willing to wait for a room, I'm pretty sure the young man would have found us something nice, but he was most concerned about getting us into a room as soon as possible so that we could take advantage of the complimentary wheelchair that would be available to Nyssa. A wise call on his part, in my opinion. He did give us the highest possible floor that had smoking rooms - floor 11, room 11084. He also arranged for a tray of goodies to be sent up to the room for us and gave us a line pass for the duration of our stay, including check out day. We ended up never needing to use the line pass but it was a very thoughtful thing to do.
We headed to the Bell Desk first after check-in to get the wheelchair. The young ladies there were very nice, friendly and helpful. To our relief we also found out from them that we did not need to return the chair on check-out, but could keep it until we got into our cab for the airport and just had to leave it with the person at the taxi line. One less thing to worry about - how Nyssa would get around for half a day after we checked out.
Up we headed to room and we loved it. We spent some time playing with the remote. Everything in the room is controlled by that remote - the lights, curtains, TV. You even use it to indicate whether you want the room serviced or not. It was a neat new toy to play with, much to Nyssa's dismay - I turned all the lights out while she was in the bathroom! Apparently turning the room off completely does that, as well as drawing all the curtains closed (the room has sheers and a blackout curtain, in case you want to eliminate all possibility of waking up with the sunrise). The beds were incredibly comfortable and the pillows were to die for. If we weren't already juggling things in terms of baggage on this trip we might have considered buying a couple of those pillows.
At this point lunch was in order, so down we headed to the MLife desk. We had 2 MyVegas rewards to redeem for lunch - the lunch buffet for 2 and unlimited drinks with lunch for Nyssa. The young ladies at the desk were great, got everything loaded onto the card quickly. They also offered us a line pass but we already had one. Not sure if all the offering of passes was standard or because Nyssa was in the chair, but it was appreciated either way. We found lots we liked at the buffet - crab legs, shrimp, potstickers, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes, caprese salad, ceviche, chips and pico de gallo, mussels, and an awesome pretzel bread. Yeah, I eat bread at a buffet. I'm a sucker for a nice bread and some butter. There was also a decent selection of drinks for Nyssa with her unlimited addition and she managed to try a couple over the course of the meal. I even went for dessert with my coffee, which I don't usually have room for - panna cotta with, I think, blood orange coulis, an almond croissant, a coconut macaroon and a couple tiny rice krispy squares.
Thoroughly full, it was time to explore the hotel. We had never set foot in Aria before so there was lots to see. We did wander down and check out the spa, which I suspect bored Nyssa since she had been told by the doctor that no pools or Jacuzzis were allowed for her. Bummer, as we'd talked about doing a spa morning. No massages or anything, just time in the sauna, whirlpools, etc. The hotel was in the process of putting the finishing touches on the decorations for the Chinese New Year and everything looked great. We took some pictures of the décor during our exploration and more the day we checked out.
Of course, no exploration would be complete without gambling. We found a bank of Willy Wonka slots at the back of the casino and they became a place to check out every day. Today they showed me no love whatsoever, though Nyssa did win a bit. We also found a few of the Lord of the Rings Return of the King machines in that end of the casino but they just sucked money out of my wallet as well. Time to head up to the room for a power nap.
After naptime it was time for food again. This time we were heading to the Bellagio for their dinner buffet. But first, the getting to the buffet. We knew there was a tram that ran between the Monte Carlo and the Bellagio, with a middle stop at Aria. So we head up for the tram and don't see any way to get to the top level to board the train. All we see are stairs. Okay, time for plan B. We head out through the Crystals shops to Las Vegas Blvd and up the walkway beside the Bellagio fountains. I knew it was uphill going that route and hadn't been looking forward to pushing the chair up that way but it wasn't anywhere as difficult as I thought it would be.
Once again it was a stop at the MLife desk to get the reward loaded to our card. We just had one buffet from MyVegas and we split the cost of the second one. Nyssa had never been there for dinner before and I don't think she's keen to do it again. She prefers their lunch buffet. I like the dinner one just as much as lunch, but I'm more of a meat eater at buffets than she is, so either meal suits me fine. Dinner buffets do tend to lean a bit more towards lots of meat offerings. When dinner was over it was time for a bit of gambling and a smoke. So I sit myself in front of a John Wayne machine, drop in my $20 and light a cigarette. And one spin in I realise it's a nickel machine instead of a penny one. Damn, this got us last time, too, and we'd forgotten all about it. Oh well, it only took me one spin before I realised how fast it would suck up my money, so no harm done. The fact that we'd made this mistake on the last visit as well was good for a laugh.
Off we head back to Aria, stopping along the way to watch the fountains. After a bit of gambling I head up to bed and Nyssa stays up gambling.
Once Nyssa got up it was moving day - time to change hotels. Our second hotel of the trip was Aria for the last 2 nights, courtesy of the MyVegas game. I'd heard great things about this hotel and was looking forward to checking it out. Our usual mode of transportation is the bus when in Vegas, but with Nyssa out of commission for walking a cab was in order. We did ask about complimentary upgrades but nothing was available right away. If we'd been willing to wait for a room, I'm pretty sure the young man would have found us something nice, but he was most concerned about getting us into a room as soon as possible so that we could take advantage of the complimentary wheelchair that would be available to Nyssa. A wise call on his part, in my opinion. He did give us the highest possible floor that had smoking rooms - floor 11, room 11084. He also arranged for a tray of goodies to be sent up to the room for us and gave us a line pass for the duration of our stay, including check out day. We ended up never needing to use the line pass but it was a very thoughtful thing to do.
We headed to the Bell Desk first after check-in to get the wheelchair. The young ladies there were very nice, friendly and helpful. To our relief we also found out from them that we did not need to return the chair on check-out, but could keep it until we got into our cab for the airport and just had to leave it with the person at the taxi line. One less thing to worry about - how Nyssa would get around for half a day after we checked out.
Up we headed to room and we loved it. We spent some time playing with the remote. Everything in the room is controlled by that remote - the lights, curtains, TV. You even use it to indicate whether you want the room serviced or not. It was a neat new toy to play with, much to Nyssa's dismay - I turned all the lights out while she was in the bathroom! Apparently turning the room off completely does that, as well as drawing all the curtains closed (the room has sheers and a blackout curtain, in case you want to eliminate all possibility of waking up with the sunrise). The beds were incredibly comfortable and the pillows were to die for. If we weren't already juggling things in terms of baggage on this trip we might have considered buying a couple of those pillows.
At this point lunch was in order, so down we headed to the MLife desk. We had 2 MyVegas rewards to redeem for lunch - the lunch buffet for 2 and unlimited drinks with lunch for Nyssa. The young ladies at the desk were great, got everything loaded onto the card quickly. They also offered us a line pass but we already had one. Not sure if all the offering of passes was standard or because Nyssa was in the chair, but it was appreciated either way. We found lots we liked at the buffet - crab legs, shrimp, potstickers, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes, caprese salad, ceviche, chips and pico de gallo, mussels, and an awesome pretzel bread. Yeah, I eat bread at a buffet. I'm a sucker for a nice bread and some butter. There was also a decent selection of drinks for Nyssa with her unlimited addition and she managed to try a couple over the course of the meal. I even went for dessert with my coffee, which I don't usually have room for - panna cotta with, I think, blood orange coulis, an almond croissant, a coconut macaroon and a couple tiny rice krispy squares.
Thoroughly full, it was time to explore the hotel. We had never set foot in Aria before so there was lots to see. We did wander down and check out the spa, which I suspect bored Nyssa since she had been told by the doctor that no pools or Jacuzzis were allowed for her. Bummer, as we'd talked about doing a spa morning. No massages or anything, just time in the sauna, whirlpools, etc. The hotel was in the process of putting the finishing touches on the decorations for the Chinese New Year and everything looked great. We took some pictures of the décor during our exploration and more the day we checked out.
Of course, no exploration would be complete without gambling. We found a bank of Willy Wonka slots at the back of the casino and they became a place to check out every day. Today they showed me no love whatsoever, though Nyssa did win a bit. We also found a few of the Lord of the Rings Return of the King machines in that end of the casino but they just sucked money out of my wallet as well. Time to head up to the room for a power nap.
After naptime it was time for food again. This time we were heading to the Bellagio for their dinner buffet. But first, the getting to the buffet. We knew there was a tram that ran between the Monte Carlo and the Bellagio, with a middle stop at Aria. So we head up for the tram and don't see any way to get to the top level to board the train. All we see are stairs. Okay, time for plan B. We head out through the Crystals shops to Las Vegas Blvd and up the walkway beside the Bellagio fountains. I knew it was uphill going that route and hadn't been looking forward to pushing the chair up that way but it wasn't anywhere as difficult as I thought it would be.
Once again it was a stop at the MLife desk to get the reward loaded to our card. We just had one buffet from MyVegas and we split the cost of the second one. Nyssa had never been there for dinner before and I don't think she's keen to do it again. She prefers their lunch buffet. I like the dinner one just as much as lunch, but I'm more of a meat eater at buffets than she is, so either meal suits me fine. Dinner buffets do tend to lean a bit more towards lots of meat offerings. When dinner was over it was time for a bit of gambling and a smoke. So I sit myself in front of a John Wayne machine, drop in my $20 and light a cigarette. And one spin in I realise it's a nickel machine instead of a penny one. Damn, this got us last time, too, and we'd forgotten all about it. Oh well, it only took me one spin before I realised how fast it would suck up my money, so no harm done. The fact that we'd made this mistake on the last visit as well was good for a laugh.
Off we head back to Aria, stopping along the way to watch the fountains. After a bit of gambling I head up to bed and Nyssa stays up gambling.