RIO Trip Report w/Pix

Our flights back east from Seattle when we finished our casino cruise didn't have great times, so we decided to go home via 5 nights in Vegas.

And as luck would have it, the RIO had recently sent us a postcard for some free nights to experience the NEW RIO. (I feel a little bad that we didn't play a lot there, and we probably burned one of our few remaining comp bridges, or at least singed it a bit, but cest la vie).

The "NEW" RIO is not quite finished yet. The exterior has been repainted and it looks like all the cool exterior lights work now. WELL DONE ! Our room on one of the upper floors had also been remodeled and updated.

But workers were still working noisily on several areas inside, and combined with the background music which is turned up about 2 notches too high (to help mask the construction noise ? ? ?), it was annoyingly loud a lot of the time.



Hopefully it will all turn out nicely when it is done:



I don't mind staying off the strip. We usually get a rental car to get around. What I do mind is driving on the strip, although getting into the TI parking garage off of Spring Mountain Rd is not too bad. Ditto for getting to the Venetian parking garage the back way.

New Things we Did this Trip

When I go to Las Vegas, I like to do at least one new thing each trip. We did several.

a) $ 120 pp - Las Vegas Rafting Adventure Boat at the Hoover Dam

This was more of a boat ride than a Raft. The scenery below the dam made it worthwhile, and another highlight was seeing bighorn sheep along the way. I recommend this one. Add $ 15 pp for entrance to the National Park, or in our case, $ 80 because I purchased the lifetime Senior Pass.

https://hooverdamraftingadventures.com/







b) FREE - Big Horn Sheep at the Tennis Courts in Boulder City, on Ville Drive

I recommend this if you are anywhere near Boulder City.



c) $ 20 pp - El Dorado Canyon Gold Mine Tour

If you have a car, this is a scenic drive getting there and a very interesting historical tour. Also recommended !

https://www.eldoradocanyonminetours.com/index.html



d) $ 104 pp - The Sphere Experience

Mrs. Q wanted to go. It was interesting and the Movie was visually amazing, but overall this attraction is TOO PRICEY imho.

e) $ 20+ pp - Flight Club at the Venetian Shops

A fun afternoon of throwing darts with automatic scoring done through some kind of video system. It is $ 20 pp to play for 90 minutes, but add a little food and a drink at Vegas Strip pricing, and it can add up. Quickly.





f) ~ $ 160 pp - BEATLES LOVE

We have seen this several times in the past when myVegas still had good rewards, so technically NOT new for us. But Mrs Q wanted to go one last time before it closes. So we went. At first she was going to go solo, but I bought a ticket on SEATGEEK a few hours before showtime. We both had seats close to the stage, and they ended up being one section apart from each other.





Where we Ate

a) The RIO Food Court where the BUFFET used to be

Prices were OK for Vegas, about $ 11 - 13 for a large Burrito or a Hamburger.

b) Starbucks on W Flamingo

We grabbed a bite to eat there while waiting for the Enterprise car rental location to open up.

c) Ellis Island for B-fast and Dinner

I didn't know that the Breakfast Steak special Deal price had been raised high enough that it is no longer Special or a Deal. But the Sirloin Dinner special is still a pretty good deal and we did that several times.

d) Denny's for Breakfast

It is conveniently located kitty-corner from the RIO, and the 55+ prices there are what you find at any Denny's.

e) Panda Express

We were getting gas for the rental car after seeing a movie at THE ORLEANS when we saw this. I think we had had enough steak at Ellis Island, so this was an inexpensive alternative.

Gambling

This was probably one of our worst trips ever to Vegas for gambling. I mostly played good paytables on Deuces Wild, but never saw quad deuces or a natural RF. Maybe next time ?

It seems everyone I know got that same offer from the Rio. I believe the rooms are free but you have to pay the resort credit. I visited for an afternoon last trip and it seemed the clientele were younger and most not gambling.

It wasn't clear from the postcard offer, but when we called and reserved the room, our resort fee was waived. I had the impression that it depends, and some people get it waived and some don't.

Are there any good video poker pay tables at the RIO? The last time I walked through there was when Ceasars was still running it and the video poker wasn't any good.

Good, but not great. They had a big poster that said all single hand VP was 98 % return or better.

Quote: JohnnyQ

Good, but not great. They had a big poster that said all single hand VP was 98 % return or better.
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Wow, that is surprising.

Just a short walk from RIO, Gold Coast has this (and Rio doesn’t):



And GC is a little quieter and has better drink service.

I think RIO should put in a couple machines with this pay table for the 1/2 of 1 percent of the tourists who care about that sort of thing.

Another picture:

Quote: JohnnyQ

I think RIO should put in a couple machines with this pay table for the 1/2 of 1 percent of the tourists who care about that sort of thing.

They just don't need to. Most tourists will play whatever is offered and they would rather you put your money in a stupid video slot.

Quote: DRich

They just don't need to. Most tourists will play whatever is offered and they would rather you put your money in a stupid video slot.

So my thought is that it would actually be profitable for the Casino to let one guy who sortof knows what he is doing play a good VP paytable where long term he breaks even while his wife/friends go and play the stupid video slots.