MGM Grand Detroit Trip Report

Taking advantage of our fall "study" break, me and five of my fellow University of Michigan Law Students decided to support the Michigan and downtown Detroit economy last night by heading to the brand new, $700 million+ MGM Grand Casino in Detroit. And we came away very impressed, and not just because practically all of us came home with more money than we started with (although with my $100 gain, and two buddies of mine winning $300 and $400 respectively playing blackjack, it was a very profitable evening).

MGM was going for Las Vegas ambiance in downtown Detroit, and they certainly delivered on that, with a hotel/casino which easily would belong on the Las Vegas Strip. It made MGM's temporary casino look like just that, and it was obvious that the company wanted to put together a first class establishment. Just rows and rows and rows of slot machines too. And HD video-poker machines. HD. Gotta love that.

And it was jammed too, extraordinarily busy. We arrived close to 9:00 on a Sunday night, and the place was hopping. We were hoping, although the casino just opened to the public two weeks ago, that a Sunday night may be a bit calmer, allow us to play some $10 hands of blackjack. No such luck. While the casino had more slot machines than many Vegas casinos, the table games, I thought, weren't as plentiful as I would have thought. Every blackjack table was full, and while we eventually were able to find an open seat at a $20 table (and at one point, after waiting long enough, we were able to have all of us sit down at the same table) it was a madhouse. And interestingly, though this never affected me, when they raise the table limits, you don't get "grandfathered" in, as everyone at the table, not just newcomers, have to play at the higher rate. A lot of casinos will let those at the table continue to play at the original limit. I found that sort of odd.

The restaurants looked interesting, and some buddies of mine stopped at an upscale food court of sorts when we were done gambling, but had to wait in a long line as MGM had closed most of the stations by midnight. While midnight on a Sunday may not seem like a busy time, it was, and by the time we left, the line for the only remaining station spilled out onto the casino floor. You would think the casino would know how busy they were going to be, especially in the casinos opening weeks, and keep the restaurants open to accommodate their guests.

Overall though, the casino is big, bright, and hopefully will be a big addition for the city of Detroit. Though, with it's convenient right on, right off the freeway location, I feel like a lot of people will do what we did last night, and that's come downtown to the casino, gamble, and drive back to where they came from. Especially since there are no restaurants or bars within walking distance of the casino. The casino itself though is a nice attraction. Now all they need to do is ban smoking, like at Casino Windsor (now Caesars Windsor) and we'd be all set.

Las Vegas Trip Report: The Final Days

Our flight back home to Detroit takes off in about an hour, hopefully the Benadryl pills I took put me more to sleep than the Tylenol PM I took on the way down, and I'll be much happier and more relaxed when we land back home around 8:30. But, in the meantime, here are the highlights of the rest of the trip.

Thursday night: After planning to eat at Mandalay Bay, we called an audible after the Asian-fusion cuisine at China Grille was just a bit too out there for us. Instead we went to Gallagher's Steakhouse in New York, New York, and the steaks were excellent. And huge. I've never seen a piece of meat as big as the prime rib my dad got. Holy cow. After dinner we traveled to the Mirage to see Love, the Beatles themed Cirque Du Soleil. It was a decent show, the music was great, and some of the acrobatics were cool, but it was more of a dancing show than the acrobatic performances some of the other Cirque Du Soleil shows are. I had never seen another show, but my parents, who have seen "O" which is at the Bellagio, said it was much better. I also played some Blackjack, losing around $15.00, and my sister, winning again, won close to $500 on a slot machine. I'm playing the wrong games.

Friday: Friday was a fun day. After sleeping in and relaxing in the morning, we went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch, and then I spent the balance of the day finally playing some poker. I played some $2/$4 limit hold 'em at Treasure Island, and lost $33 in a four-hour-plus session. The people are the table were fun, the stakes weren't killer, and it was a very fun time. I was happy to get some poker in before I left town.

After hitting up the Bellagio buffet for dinner, we then went back to Mirage to see Jay Leno do stand-up comedy. Absolutely hilarious. I was looking more forward to seeing Leno than practically anything else on the trip, and he delivered in spades. The warm-up act, a doo-wop comedy quartet The Alley Cats got the night off to a great start, especially when they called an obviously inebriated spectator on stage. Leno then did an hour and a half set, with some absolutely hilarious bits, and almost no low points (except that his riff's on why cats make bad pets may have gone one or two jokes too long). Basically it was non-stop laughter for an hour and a half. After Leno, knowing this was our last night in Vegas, my dad and I stopped at a Blackjack table and after losing all trip, I finally put a winning session together, running my $50 in starting chips to $250, before leaving, about two hours after I started, with $200. Lots of fun. Around this time I learned that the Tigers game had not started until 11:00 EDT, and did not end until after 3:30 in the morning Detroit time, just incredible.

Saturday: Losing the whole day due to travel. Our flight leaves at 1:40 Vegas time, is four hours, and arrives in Detroit around 8:30 EDT. I plan on watching the Lions-Colts pre-season game when I get home, then moving up to Ann Arbor tomorrow, in between a trip to Comerica Park to watch the hopefully, by then, well rested Tigers battle the Yankees.

Overall, a great trip. The Wynn is an amazing hotel, but it is a bit far down the Strip, so be prepared to do a lot of walking, which isn't great when the weather is 107-degrees or more. Other than that, no complaints, and my sister even got to see Kobe Bryant wandering around the hotel and gym a few times, and she won a decent amount of money on the slot machines, so she's happy. Overall, a successful trip. Now, let's just get back to Detroit and I will be a much happier guy.

Las Vegas Trip Report Days 2, 3, and 4

Okay, a few days later, a few hundred dollars poorer (we'll get to that in a few) here's the latest from hot, hot (107-degrees plus) Las Vegas, Nevada.

Monday Night: So, in Monday's report I was relaxing for a bit after checking into the Wynn. Monday night we explored the Strip some, foreshadowing the huge amount of walkin which was to come on Tuesday. We walked down to the new Planet Hollywood hotel and casino, which is next door to Bally's and the Paris and had dinner at the oft-praised Spice Market Buffet. The Planet Hollywood casino is relatively new, and replaced the old, and outdated Aladdin Casino, but they kept the famed buffet due to its popularity. Good move. Good food and even better deserts. I was really impressed with the casino too. Planet Hollywood, as opposed to most of the other casinos on the Strip, has a real modern feel to it. It's hip and has an edge, and it's clear they are trying to market themselves to the 21-29 demographic, and it works. Throughout the night, we also checked out a multitude of other hotels, including Bally's, the Paris, and the Mirage. Fun night, though exhausting since we didn't get back to the Wynn until close 11:00 Vegas time, or 2:00 Eastern, after waking up at 4:00 to get to the airport and board our flight.

Tuesday: Slept in Tuesday and we needed it to prepare for the day ahead. We started with a breakfast buffet at the Bellagio, which despite being only three or four bucks more than the one we eat at a day earlier at Treasure Island, was infinitely better. We then walked, and walked, and walked, down the strip hitting practically every casino on the Strip. We waked down to Monte Carlo (just fair), New York New York (very very cool), and then the Excalibur, Mirage, and Mandalay Bay. I really liked the inside of New York, New York and Mandalay Bay. Mandalay Bay seems like a great hotel, but it's so far being at the far end of the Strip. We then walked back to the Wynn on the other side of the Strip, starting at MGM to see the Lions they have there, and hitting casinos on the way back in. We must have walked three miles, easy, and it was over 105-degrees. The most exercise I've had, well, ever probably. The only saving grace was finding a 7-Eleven on the way back so at least I could cool down with a Slurpee. And as I've already written Slurpee machines are nowhere to be found here in the hottest part of the country. It's really mystifying.

While we did not gamble much at the casinos we stopped at during the day, I did stop off on the way home to play some "Blackjack Switch" (I'll explain more shortly) at a smaller casino on the Strip, Casino Royal. Lost $50. Putting me down $115 for the trip. The advantage of vacationing with your parents though is gambling money is really the only money I'm losing on this trip, so hard for me to complain.

Tuesday night, we hit up the Mirage buffet, which was great. Huge, good chicken noodle soup. Deserts were not good though. We then took a cab to downtown Las Vegas, otherwise known as "Freemont Street" where a lot of the old fashioned Vegas hotels are located (such as Binion's, which used to be known as the "Horseshoe" and was the genesis for the World Series of Poker). The cab driver was very nice heading down, and he railed against the NBA players who were in Vegas for the 2006 NBA All Star Game. According to him, the players and their entourages caused nothing but trouble while they were in Vegas, from theft, to skipping out on cab rides, to physically assaulting waitresses and other casino personnel. The NBA may want to come to Las Vegas, but Vegas (the cab driver was only one of a series of people who told us the same horrible stories) does not want the NBA.

Freemont Street was fun. My dad and I went to the Golden Nugget where we sat down at a Blackjack Switch table. Blackjack Switch is a variation on regular blackjack. You play two hands at a time, and you can swap the top two cards of your hands after they are dealt. Gives you a chance to get more doubles, splits, and good hands. In exchange, blackjack pays even money, and 22 is a push for the house. It makes you think more than regular blackjack and is fun to play. I played for almost three hours and won a grand total of $10 ($5 of which I tipped our dealer, Jenny, with, who really knew her stuff and made the game more fun to play). I may not have won much, but I had a blast playing.

My sister was the big winner on the night, winning $140 on a Jeopardy slot machine. I didn't even know they made a Jeopardy slot machine, which of course, I now want to buy for the condo I plan on buying once I graduate from law school in December. I've always planned to get a slot machine for my place, either to put in my living room or my second-bedroom which I plan on making into a gameroom, and have found some online for $800 or so. But, a Jeopardy machines would be really cool. Not only does it have a cool bonus game, but because I was voted "Most Likely to Appear on Jeopardy" back in high school, the machine has a personal attachment too. I know the company that makes most all slot machines, IGT, does not sell their "Wheel of Fortune" machines to anybody but casinos, but I'm going to look into trying to find a Jeopardy machine.

Wednesday: Wednesday was a family day, as we woke up near 6:30, and took a six hour drive to San Diego to visit my great grandmother, great aunt, and cousin. I had not seen my great grandmother since she moved out to California full time seven years ago (she used to take the train out to California every winter -- not a fan of flying, which maybe is where I get it from) so it was nice to spend some time with her, and my great aunt and cousin. After making the six hour drive home (it was a long, but beautiful drive through the mountains and desert) we stopped at the Rio for a few (where I bought a great World Series of Poker T-Shirt involving Mount Rushmore and the President's wearing poker paraphernalia. We then checked out Circus Circus (run down, but cool for all the carnival games you can play there), played some $3 blackjack, and called it a night.

Thursday: Started the morning with another buffet, this time at the Wynn, which was probably the best buffet we have had so far. Rivals the Bellagio breakfast buffet, and may beat it out slightly. Then had an easy day so far. Watched the Tigers lose to the Indians at the Wynn sportsbook, lost $100 at Casino Royale playing more "Blackjack Switch" (I'm not going back there this trip seeing as how I've lost $150 of the $205 I've lost in Vegas so far at that casino) then walked around a bit, looking for a Frozen Coke. Giving up, I grabbed a chocolate-oreo ice cream here at the Wynn's Sugar & Ice internet hotspot/cafe, and checked up on what I've missed in the world since I've been gone. Dinner tonight at the Mandalay Bay, then the Beatles' Cirque De Soleil show ("Love") tonight and probably some more gambling.

Overall, been a really fun trip so far. I've lost $200, but that's not too bad, and it's been fun casino-hopping. I love the Wynn too, and it's high end table limits ($15 is the cheapest blackjack tables here, even early in the day) have saved me some money, as I have not played a lot here in the hotel I'm staying at. Though, not playing, apparently, cost me a chance to play with LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, who according to a dealer here, were playing blackjack last night. Oh well. Maybe tonight.

No Slurpee Machines in Las Vegas?

I'll get to a full trip report in a moment, but first this thought: Why are there no Slurpee places in Las Vegas? Or, at least, not very many. It's 107-degrees (or hotter) here and I can't find a Slurpee hardly anywhere. I found a 7-11 on Tuesday, and I remember there being an Icee place in the basement of Bally's, but in the various shopping areas, food courts, and other hotels on the Strip, Frozen Cokes/Slurpees are nowhere to be found. How can this be given the heat?

My dad and I are convinced that if we opened up a small storefront in each of these hotel food courts, put in 12 Slurpee Machines, made up some collectible souvenir cups, and sold them at $3.00 or $4.00 a pop, we'd make a killing.

Maybe there is some reason why Slurpee's are not easily found, but I've done my share of walking the past three days, and have not been happy with what I've found (or, in this case, have not found).

Las Vegas Trip Report: Day One

Well I don't know how often over the course of the trip I will be heading down to the internet hotspot here at the Wynn Casino and Resort, but while I'm here, at a nice ice-cream/coffee bar called "Sugar & Ice", I figured I may as well go through how the first day has gone so far in Las Vegas.

Our flight from Detroit left at 7:00 this morning, Eastern Time, which meant leaving the house around 5:00. That was fine with me, as I attempted to stay up most of the night and down a Tylenol PM in an attempt to sleep through the flight here (due to my previously discussed fear of flying). Well, that didn't work, as I was unable to get comfortable or sleep on the plane. I will say though, that although the flight had a few bumpy moments, it was overall a decent flight, which coming from me, is saying something. What did work out well was ripping the audio tracks from my numerous West Wing DVDs and listening to them on my sister's old Dell Jukebox MP3 player (she's since moved on to a more fashionable IPod). West Wing was able to keep me nice and relaxed throughout the four hour flight. Yes, I'm strange.

Through we left at 7:00 AM EST, and the flight was four hours, with the three hour time change, we landed soon after eight. After dropping our luggage off at the Wynn (an absolutely beautiful hotel, easy to see why everyone loves it so much) we ventured out on the strip. It was a toasty 90-degrees when we started, at close to 9:00 EST, and the temperatures reached mid-triple digits by the time our excursion was done.

We started off with a breakfast buffet at Treasure Island, which I think my parents and sister liked more than I did, though the mini-waffles were good. We then took a short tram ride to Treasure Island's sister casino, the Mirage, where we saw one of their famous Tigers (not quite as cool as the Detroit variety), picked up our tickets to Jay Leno and Love, the Beatles themed Cirque du Soleil show, and started gambling a bit. Not a great first effort, as a 30-minute (or so) stay at a $10 blackjack table cost me the $70 I had in my wallet.

After that "welcome to Vegas" moment, we headed to the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, a place made for people who love shopping, like my mom and sister. And holy cow, are do the shops go on forever and ever. More walking today than I have done in a long, long time.

After that, it was a hot, 100-degree+ walk back to the Wynn to check-in. Amazing room overlooking the Wynn's breathtaking golf course (which I won't be playing due to the overwhelming heat and the even more overwhleming $500 per round price tag), unpacked (well, my sister did, my things are still safely in the suitcase), and down here to check up on Michael Vick's plea-bargain, the rest of the days news, and blog this. Tonight looks like a buffet night (potentially the Spice Market Buffet at Planet Hollywood) but this food here at Sugar & Ice looks good. The people next to me have some french fries, very tempting.

Viva Las Vegas

After unsuccessfully trying to stay up all last night (fell asleep around 1:30 am) in an effort to make sure I do fall asleep on a plane ride later this morning (an idea to combat my fear of flying I have mentioned previously) I am off to Las Vegas for a week of relaxation before I move back up to Ann Arbor and start my sixth and final semester of Law School. I hope to blog while I'm gone, but we'll see how internet access works out in the hotel.