Las Vegas Trip Log

Day ZERO

It's 23.5 hours until I land.

Will Las Vegas ever be the same?

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While I PLAN to make daily log entries, I have a feeling that I'll be making them after-the-fact.

Although I WILL have my computer with me, there's too much other stuff to do while I'm in town. :)

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For what it's worth, here's my tentative schedule, in case you want to meet up:

Sunday: PaiGowDan offered to pick me up at the airport, and we'll tear up the town together, until 7:00 when he starts his shift at his casino. After that, I expect to take a bus to the Imperial Palace, relax a little (read: Take a shower, before hitting the strip), then hit the strip. I don't know what direction I'll take, but I want to play Rapid Craps at Bill's so I can discuss it at the lunch.

Monday: Lunch at Hash House with the gang. No other specific plans for the day. Dan offered to drive me around. Then again, he made that offer over a month ago. Neither one of us mentioned it since, so I only hope his schedule hasn't changed. (We DID discuss the airport pickup yesterday.)

Tuesday & Wednesday: Convention all day. I don't know if they'll have evening activities, but they did last year, and I'll probably join in.

Thursday: Convention until noon. I may go to the lawyer's office in the afternoon. He'll also be at the lunch on Monday. His office is walking distance from the Imperial Palace. After that, just a little further is the Atomic Testing Museum. It's on my list as a possible. Closes at 5:00 though. No specific plans for the evening.

Friday: Meeting with a game distributor in the morning. Dan may drive me and be part of the meeting. No specific plans for after that, but I think I'll be on Freemont for the evening.

Saturday: My flight leaves at 1:00 - unless I reschedule. I'm gonna try at the ticket desk tomorrow...

No specific dates, but I want to visit Luxor before the floor caves in (ha ha), Excalibur, City Center, Ellis Island, and maybe some other stuff.

I'm not sure WHEN I'm gonna find time to gamble, ha ha!

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If anybody wants to meet up, give me a call. 973-896-7905. Better yet, text me. Cell phones are hard to hear in a casino.

If you think you might simply bump into me, here's who to look for:
Admin note: removed image www.djteddybear.com/images/relay_walk.JPG Admin note: removed image www.djteddybear.com/images/head_shot_tuxedo.JPG
These photos are a little over a year old. My hair is a bit shorter, but they're basically me. Both of those were from the 2009 American Cancer Society Relay For Life event where I was the DJ. I tend to feel like Cher, changing my clothes several times, during this 19 hour event!

I tend to feel like Cher>>>>

The resemblance to Cher IS uncanny...

good luck! wish i could be there, but planning for around new years for now. not doing as much for new years the last few years so thought i'd try new years in vegas. heard it's crazy.

Hey DJ,
good luck to you in Vegas and with "HIA" Roulette.

I lived in Northern New Hampshire 2007 and 2008, I know, but I was in love at the time, and hit Foxwoods and Mo Sun casinos many times. You look familiar. We may have crossed paths. I never forget a face!
well maybe one or two.

Vegas: Day -1 (Friday)

Yeah, I need to back track a couple days, to talk about airline problems.

If you recall, I got the royal run-around price-wise when I was researching. I prefer to fly out of Newark. Continental is the only airline that flies direct from Newark. But I could have saved around $150 if I flew Continental out of Philly, with one stop. At one time, one of my options out of Philly was with a stop in Newark!

Anyway, I settled on a flight, and made seat assignments. Then, within my 24 hour cancellation period, I found a return flight combination that saved $75. So I switched. I thought the agent had also given me a seat on the new flight, or at least retained the seat on the flight out, since that wasn't changing.

This past Friday (Day -2, get it?) I discovered that I didn't have seats assigned. So I go on the website to get them. There's only two seats open on both flights, they're middle seats, in the back of the plane. Yuck, but what can I do?

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Day zero.

At 24 hours before take-off, I get an email allowing me to confirm my flight. So I do it, and I see a link to assign seats. For shits and giggles, I click on it. About half the seats are available. Maybe all the unsold PriceLine seats opened up? Whatever. I take a window 4 rows behind first class. Sweet.

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Day 1 (Sunday)

Since front rows get on last, I sat around the terminal, not really paying attention to the number of people, until the line is gone. Ends up, I'm the next to last person to get on, and the plane is FULL! How is that possible? What happened to everyone's prior seat assignment that allowed me to switch yesterday?

I get on and there's a guy in my seat, but an empty seat in front of him. I mention that he's in my seat. We do a quick survey and there were two other guys in the wrong seats in that area, but it meant that we either all switch, or I take the open seat. There wasn't any double assignment. So I sat one row ahead of where I should have. No big deal.

The in-flight food was supposed to be just a snack. Not long after take-off, we got a regular breakfast - bowl of cereal, milk, mini muffin and a small banana. Nothing great, but certainly more than what I expected. A few hours later, they passed out packages of mini pretzel sticks.


PaiGowDan and his wife meet me at the airport before the luggage starts coming off the conveyor, and waits with me for my suitcase. We had to wait several minutes for it to even start, and at least 10 minutes for my suitcase. Very uncharacteristic for McCarren. It's usually much quicker.

We head to my hotel. Apparently Imperial Palace does not expect locals who know the back roads, to check in to the hotel. Dan took me the back way to IP - We got there without ever getting on the strip. It proved to be an impossible challenge to get from the back entrance to the front door where Dan wanted to drop me so I could check in.

For the record, from my trip last year, I know that the Sahara has two entrances. They have a main entrance on the strip, and a back entrance right next to the hotel check-in. Taxis can use either, but can't easily go from one to the other. I.E. A taxi heading up the strip will use the front entrance. A taxi heading from anywhere else will use the back entrance.

I later saw that Taxis using the back entrance at IP can bring their passengers NEAR the front entrance, but that's it. Most taxis therefore, come in off the strip.

We didn't know what to do, so after a couple aborted attempts, we ended up going to the parking garage together, then walking towards the front desk, which turned out to be a challenge to find - but only because we had never been there before, and the signs are a little vague.

We finally get there. There's about 8 people ahead on line with 7 clerks. Wendy's style line, which moves relatively quickly.

I have no intention of trying for an upgrade, but, because of the comments here, I ask to not get a Capri room. She rolls her eyes. I suddenly get the feeling that, although I won't get a Capri room, I'm not getting a good room either.

We go to my room and check it out. I didn't smell it, but Dan's wife said it smelled like a smoker used it. It was a non smoking room.

Basic room. Nothing fancy at all. One bed. Two nightstands, one small table and a small wall unit. It looks like it can hold a 36" TV. In it was a 19". No big deal. I'm not here to watch TV.
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There's no fridge or safe. I wasn't expecting a fridge, but I thought I saw online that every room has a safe. I guess I have to hope that the maid doesn't rummage thru my stuff to find my laptop.

I go to get ice. The ice machine is very close to my room. OOPS. The ice machine doesn't work. Swell. There's an emergency exit nearby, so I got up one flight to get ice. The machine there is fine. I had the same problem last year. The machine on my floor at Sahara didn't work either!

I'm on the sixth floor. All the rooms have a balcony. If I went out and jumped, I'd fall about three inches to the roof of the meeting rooms section of the casino. Here's the view:
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Oh! Here's a nice little gift left by the prior guest. Maybe that's why there was a smoke smell to the room!
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The three of up hang a little, then go next door to Harrah's to find someplace to eat. We end up at KGB Burgers. The hostess is wearing a tuxedo type uniform. She asks us how many, then turns to take us to a table, and we see the rest of the outfit. She's wearing teeny black shorts with fishnet stockings and highheels. We weren't expecting that! Anyway, great burgers.

Sorry. I didn't have my camera with me...


We hang a little while, then Dan and his wife left. So I decide to go to the pool. I change then head downstairs to find the pool. I see one sign, but it is not followed by another sign, so I lose the trail. I notice a large display map and head towards it. It turns out this map is next to the elevator for the Hash House A GoGo. I find the pool on the map, but it takes me forever to figure out where it is in relation to where I am. The pool is on the second floor, and there weren't enough common points to connect the path. I eventially figure it out and head to the elevator I think I should take, but I'm unsure, so I ask a guard. He directs me to a little door near by on the wall opposite the elevator I thought to take. The door has "Pool" on it. It's actually a fire exit. But he says to go in, up one flight, then turn left. This turns out to be correct, but since that takes us in front of the elevator bank I was just at, except one flight higher. Why not suggest the elevator? Sure, it's faster just to run up one flight. But isn't this suppsed to be a hospitality business? If he said to take the elevator or stairs up one flight, that would have been different.

Apparently, that "short-cut" is one of the cool / fun thinks about IP. Check the floor outside that door!
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The pool is OK. Nothing special, but they have 6 cabanas available, and about 200 lounge chairs. It's not too difficult to find an available chair. At 4:00 it's mostly in the shade, but it's a hot day, so it was actually nice. The water has a funny taste. There's a bar in one corner getting little action.

I talked with a guy who had never been to Vegas, and apparently, had not done any homework. I mentioned that some hotels have party pools and somehave topless pools, and he immediatly wanted to go there. He also thought that most of the casinos would be more or less the same as the IP casino. I told him he needs to walk up and down the strip more!

I also overhear other people talking about the odd route needed to get to the pool. One person says that there's an alternate route direct from the hotel without going thru the casino. Hmmm... I gotta look into this later.

After the pool, I head back to the room for a shower. The water pressure, at around 4:30 in the afternoon, is not great. I wonder how it is at 8:00am!

I then explore the IP casino. IP advertises "Dealertainers". These dealers work a special pit with one 12 position RapidRoulette, and 7 BlackJack tables, arranged with a small stage in the middle. Although I didn't play at those tables, I saw that the BJ was $15, 6:5, hit on soft 17. The closest BJ table away from this pit was maybe 20 feet away, $10, 3:2, stand on all 17. I have, so far, caught part of two performer's acts. One was Liza, and did a great job - and the table action came to a halt during her performance. Another was Christina Agulera. There was little loss in table action during her show. During my first day at IP, I saw 3 male Dealertainers. All were either Jake or Ellwood. I know this not only because it's somewhat obvious, but when they are dealing, instead of nametags, there is a small sign on the table showing their names, as well as the name of the person they are portraying.


I played some craps. $5. Field pays double for both 2 and 12. The junk in the middle all pays "FOR" I.E. The hardways pay 10 for 1 and 8 for 1. No big deal. I'm used to seeing 9 to 1 and 7 to 1. But some other stuff pays 30 for 1 or 15 for 1 for things I'm recall seeing elsewhere as 30 to 1 and 15 to 1. Is it me? I normally don't even play that junk, so I can't be sure...

After a while, I walk away, down, and head to the poker room. It's six tables. Three tables have action. Two are $2/$4 limit. The other is a tournament, with 5 players. I see that there are seven names on a list for $1/$2 no limit. I ask the floorperson, and she says that as soon as the tournament ends, she's opening it as $1/$2. I decide not to wait, and walk the strip.

I go next door to O'Sheas where I hear a lot of excitement at the craps table. I throw in $40 and place a bet just in time for the player to hit one of my numbers once, before busting out. Another player did equally bad. I head to the poker tables, expecting to not get a seat. They only have two tables, right on the strip, and they're both full.

I head to Flamingo where I know they have a larger poker room. There's about 15 tables, but only 6 are open. Fortunately, there's an open seat at $1/$2. I play for several hours, and leave up, but only slightly.

Then I head to Bills for RapidCraps. I'll write a full review in the RapidCraps thread, but, I don't think I have any desire to play it again. The short review is this: At times it was TOO rapid. At other times it was dreadfully slow. There ware rarely times that it was just right. Also, anyone who thinks that RapidCraps is a good learning tool for new craps players is out of their friggin' mind!

I dropped $90 at that stupid table, then decided to lick my wounds, and head to dinner then my room to call it a night.

I ended up at the food court in O'Sheas, and had a couple slices of pizza while watching a bunch of people play Beer Pong. Although I knew of the game, I had never seen it before. They have 8 Beer Pong tables, and 7 were being used. Interesting and fun. I almost wanted to play. I later learned that the beer for Beer Pong is free!

I get back to the IP, and decide to go on an Adventure in Discovery. I take my usual elevator to my room. The elevator is at one end of a long winding hallway. So I walk past my room to see where it goes.

"Winding" hallway is an understatement. It winds around from tower to tower, with some branches. Very easy to get confused. But as I'm walking, I see a bank of 4 elevators, with 2 elevators behind it. That's the same configuation as the elevators opposite the stairway to the pool. Hmmm. One mystery solved. I continue walking, and eventually get to another set of elevators near the end of the route.

I take it down to go to the casino level - which becomes an adventure in itself. The signs in elevator say level 2 is the casino. I get out at level two, and there's a typical plastic cut sign showing the room numbers and directions. Above that, in pen, is a note to go left to get to the casino. Check it out:
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I go left, then come to a sign to take the escalator down. After that, I don't see another sign, so I take the next escalator down. Tnen I see a sign to take a different elevator up, then another sign to take a another escalator down. This is all, just a few steps apart! When I get off the last escalator, I recognize where I am (The very back near the parking garage), but also notice that I'm overlooking the first escalator I took!

Thinking my head may explode, I go directly to my room and call it a night.

Vegas - Day 2 (Monday)

I wake up at 5:50, and can't get back to sleep - a typical problem I get in a casino. By 7:00 I'm dressed and ready to go, and I'm scheduled to call Dan at 10:00 to arrange when he'd pick me up to go to the Wizard's Lunch.

So I head downstairs to play poker. Only one table with action, and it's $2/$4 Limit. The floorman tells me I can probably find $1/$2 next door at Harrah's. Sure enough, there's a few tables and an open seat. I seems every time I had something decent, I got rivered. I busted out at 9:55. Not happy, but at least the timing is perfect.

I go change, Dan picks me up so we can go to the Wizard's lunch. We had a great time. I wrote about it here: Wizard's Lunch thread.

I go back to the IP, and go to the pool - using the correct route and elevators to take me directly there. :) I'm swimming about 10 minutes when a cigarette butt floats by. OK. I'm done swimming. So I shower and call Ronnie. He was at the lunch and asked about hitting a couple casinos together. We meet and head to the Luxor. I want to check it out before it caves in. LOL. Nothing special, and table minimum at $10 or higher. We go to Exalibur - even though Ronnie said he doesn't want to go there - because he wants to play $5 craps and we figure we'll find it there. Sure enough, it's there. I throw down $100 in the middle of a roll. Ronnie wants to wait. This shooter is doing very well, but when he's finally done, I'm only up $32. I start to realize that craps and/or my strategy sucks. But we stick around until we each get out chance to roll about 4 rolls before a 7-out, which is exactly what we each did. Sigh.

While there, I notice a couple things about the layout: Like IP, it's showing payouts using "For" terminology, but the junk in the middle that I'm used to seeing at 30 to 1 and 15 to 1, are paying 31 for 1 and 16 for 1. So IP, at 30 for 1 and 15 for 1, IS being cheap. Also, at Excalibur, the field payed triple for 12.

We then look for a good BJ table. After a bit of scouting, we find one that's $10, 3:2. I forget if it was S17 or H17. It uses a continuous shuffler. After I busted out for another $100, Ronnie started to hit some good hands. He eventually won back his craps losses, and we called it a day, and split up.

I head back to the IP then look for dinner. I just want something quick & simple because there's a poker tournament starting soon. IP's Burger Palace sounds like it will fit the bill, but it's a challenge to find. The one map on the casino floor maked it seem simple. Just take the elevator (a DIFFERENT elevator bank than I had used or seen so far) or escalator, to the third floor. I look around, but I'm lost and finally ask. A guard points me in the right direction. It's on the complete opposide side of the room from where I was looking. And it was hidden behind a Big 6 wheel.

Burger Palace is nothing more than a snack bar. There's about 40 tables! And almost all of them are plastic booths, that are way too tight. Fortunately, there's a couple tables with chairs and I take one. Although I never specified how I wanted it cooked, it came out well done. But it was fairly tasty. And it came with unsalted fries. Damn good fries at that!

I then played the tournament. It had a total of 18 players, paying top two. I busted out in 7th place. Bedtime for sure.

Look forward to the next installment, DJ.

Quote: chook

Look forward to the next installment, DJ.

Thanks.

The next day won't be till tomorrow night.


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Vegas Day 3.


I'm in the convention all day, followed by a dinner off-strip, and meet-up at Margaritaville.

In the morning I head out, and decide to take the elevators that I believe will take me closest to the monorail. While I am correct in my selection, I am again confused about exactly what to do when I get out of the elevator. But I do figure it out.

It occurs to me that the problem with the IP is the screwy elevator and escalator arrangement, the insufficent signs, and confusing map. Another problem is the IP's inconsistant use of tower names vs numbers, and the simple fact that they number the towers at all. After all, since the upper levels all connect, does it matter which tower is which?

This was confirmed when I returned after the convention to bump into a couple with luggage near the exit leading to the monorail. They just checked in and can't find their way to the elevator for their tower. Because of my Adventures in Discovery, I know that, except for a few rooms on the floors 1 thru 5, almost any elevator will do. They are on a high enough floor, so we head to the main elevator bank, where we discover why they didn't see the elevators for Tower 3. Check out this photo:
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Apparently, the front bank is for Tower 1 & 2, while the back bank is for Tower 3! That back bank tends to not get used much, and is the "hidden" elevator talked about in some of the other IP threads.

Is it any wonder that these people missed their elevator? Is it any wonder that lot's of people are confused at IP? Why does the IP even specify a Tower number - specifically Tower 3 - when telling new check-ins where their rooms is located?

Note also the sign above the elevator, specifying Penthouse. That's the only elevator of the 4 that goes to the PH. I'm glad I'm not a high roller!

It's even worse for some rooms I found on the lower floors. There are about 25 rooms on the first floor that require using TWO sets of elevators to get to. I'm not sure if there are any other hidden rooms. I've grown tired of my Adventures in Discovery.
{Edit / Poststript: Yeah, there ARE additional rooms requiring multiple elevators. About 40 of them.}

Here's something else I noticed - a thirteenth floor!
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Anyway, I shower, then head out to dinner. The restaurant, Buca DiBeppo, is located on Flamingo at Paradise. I don't have a good map to reference, but it seems like I should take the monorail to the Bally's stop if I'm planning on walking. The map I had wasn't accurate enough. The Flamingo stop is close to Flamingo Ave, as is Bally's stop. But the rail bends making the Bally's stop closer to Paradise. So I stay on until Bally's.

It turns out the Flamingo stop IS right on Flamingo Ave, but the Bally's stop is set VERY far past Flamingo Ave. So I hop on a Northbound monorail and get off at Flamingo. But there are no exits that will get me right to the street, other than emergency 'alarmed' exits. I end up walking all the way thru the Flamingo hotel to the front exit and taxi stand. Since there's no line, I give up and just hop a cab. This is when I realize that the 'close' restaurant is kinda far. The cabbie took me right there, but it was like an 8 minute ride and the fare is $9.10. Holy crap! And I got there one minute late. I'm glad I didn't walk.

The food at Buca DiBeppo is great. There's 26 of us, but they handled our big party without problems. The food is Italian, oversized servings, served family-style. Most of use passed and sampled everything. There wasn't a dish I didn't enjoy. Not too expensive either. $20 per person, with the guy who invited everyone covering the difference and tip. I'm not sure how much extra it was, but based upon the menu prices, if there was a lot he had to cover, it was because of the booze.

Dinner was 7:30 to 10:00. At the convention, one of the presenters invited everyone for a party at Margaritaville 8:30 to 11:30, on the third floor balcony.

Afterwards, a few of us headed into one guy's rental car and went to Margaritaville, getting there at 10:20. We are told we can't go up because it's closed. We get into a verbal confrontation because we know it's a private party, we're in the party, we know it ends at 11:30, etc. They do eventually let us up. A few minutes later, the guy that didn't want to let us up come to us to ask us who we are. It turns out to be a screw up - one of the other parties (I guess with a whale hosting) was waiting for four people, and they thought we were the 4 people. But we wer in, so they let us stay.

The bar turned on the lights to indicated that they were closed about 10 minutes later, but were still selling drinks for another 20 minutes when I decided it was past my bedtime. On the way out I told the guy at the rope, that if the invite was for a party 8:30 to 10:30, we wouldn't have given him a hastle at 10:20. Shouldn't they tell people who schedule parties what the hours are?

Whatever.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Burger Palace is nothing more than a snack bar. There's about 40 tables! And almost all of them are plastic booths, that are way too tight. Fortunately, there's a couple tables with chairs and I take one. Although I never specified how I wanted it cooked, it came out well done. But it was fairly tasty. And it came with unsalted fries. Damn good fries at that!

Glad you liked Burger Palace. IP is by far the most confusing casino hotel in the world. I just like wandering around there. Ralph Englestad was a nutjob along the lines of Sarah Winchester who just kept adding and adding to his montrosity. Last time I found an ad-hoc karaoke bar in the back and a completely empty sportsbook.

There is a very good Korean restaurant somewhere in there that I would have recommended if you were sick of burgers.

Quote: teddys

Glad you liked Burger Palace. IP is by far the most confusing casino hotel in the world. I just like wandering around there. Ralph Englestad was a nutjob along the lines of Sarah Winchester who just kept adding and adding to his montrosity. Last time I found an ad-hoc karaoke bar in the back and a completely empty sportsbook.

There is a very good Korean restaurant somewhere in there that I would have recommended if you were sick of burgers.

Confusing? It's not so bad - provided you put in the time to learn the layout.

Although I never saw that restaurant, I beleive it's on the fifth floor, above the third floor restaurants. I.E. If you can find the third floor, finding the fifth floor is easy.

At the Wizard's Lunch, Mike mentioned that the original owner (or was it architect?) was a Nazi (Nazi sympathizer?), which might explain why the layout of the upper floors resembles a swastika. He asked me if I thought there was any possibility to some truth to the rumor.

(Mike- Sorry if I mis-quoted you.)

The answer is an irrefutable NO! Urban legend aside, such a resemblance requires a LOT of imagination.

It is far easier to see that the IP is just a mass of disorganized expansions.

(Sorry about the delay. I had trouble uploading the photo).



Vegas Day 4 - Wednesday - Convention till 6, followed by nothing specific.

I take the elevator closest to the monorail, and finally realize that this actually causes me to back-track to get to the exit going to the monorail. Taking either of those group of 4 or group of 2 elevator banks that are next to each other, would have saved me half a minute and some aggrevation. No big deal, but the layout of this building is beginning to get on my nerves.

During the two hour lunch break, I decide to save a couple bucks and hop the monorail to Sahara for thier $1 hot dogs. I stayed there last year. I remembered the price, but forgot that those are the worst hot dogs on the planet! Then I remembered that last year, I did well at Sahara's craps, so I figured, what the hell. Bottom line, in an attempt to save a couple bucks on lunch, they became two of the most expensive crappy hot dogs I ever ate!

Although I write this only 10 hours later, I can't remember what the odds are on prop bets, or if the Field 12 pays triple. There were only two craps tables, and when I asked, the dealer confirmed that last year there were three. Note that only one was open. If I recall correctly, I never saw more than one open last year. Shortly after starting, I notice a guy at the other end playing a $3 field bet. That confused me. Is a field, being a one-roll bet, allowed to be lower than the minimum? I then notice that it's a $3 craps table! So I ask about fractional place bets. The dealer says the $3 bet pays $5 for 4/10, $4 for 5/9, $3 for 6/8. I start to wrap my head around this and my head starts to hurt, so I decide to just play it as a $5 table. I really should have just left. Sigh...

After the convention I head back to the IP. When I get there, I run into a couple that appears lost. They were looking for a restaurant on level 5. Because of my Adventures in Discovery (are you sensing a pattern here?) I am able to help them out.

I go to my room, then grab my laptop to head to the Apple store across the street at Caesar's Forum Shops, since I know Apple provides free internet. On the way out of IP, I notice yet another elevator bank, near the front desk, labeled "Pagoda Tower." It starts to make sense, since many of the restaurants and services on floors 2 thru 5 are labeled as being in the Pagoda Tower.

So I head to Caesar's and go in. There is a conveyor belt people mover. I get on and immediately realize that, since it's one-way, it's gonna be a hell of a walk to leave.

When I get in, there are no maps or signs labeled "Shops", so, seeing something to the left labeled "Forum Casino", and thinking the Forum Shops would be near that, I turn left. After about 3 minutes, I finally come to a map, and discover I was heading the wrong way. I turn around and after about 5 minutes, get to the forum shops. I'm walking for another 5 minutes and come to an escalator. I have been looking and still haven't seen a map of the shops. I continue on, and come to a left or right decision. Still no map in sight. So I turn right. A while later, I come to the end of the aisle where the famous curved escalators are. Finally a map. Duh. I went the wrong way. Gotta ride the curved escalators while I'm there, right? Maybe it was because I was leaning over the handrail, but I suffered some serious vertigo on that escalator.

I then head towards the Apple store, and get lucky that there's an open seat right outside. (I didn't really want to go in to use the internet, even though I use a Macintosh.) I open my computer and there's about 6 wireless networks available! But I selected the Apple Store network, which worked right away, so I have no idea if any of the other networks are public.

After checking my email and stuff (no real time to spend on the WoV forum), I head back to the curved escalators, since I saw a sign before that said there is a strip exit nearby.

I go towards the escalator, and I notice that there's a landing three steps up to get to the escalator. I go down and there's another landing, this one 6 steps up.

Wait a sec. The bottom floor has a 6 step landing. The middle floor has a 3 step landing. The top floor has no landing.

That tells me that the escalator engineers or building architect screwed up, and the landings were the fix:
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I head back to the IP and start thinking about dinner. IP Buffet? Can it really be as bad as people say? It's 8:15 and the buffet closes at 9:00. I can eat and get out by 9:00. I go there to learn the cost is $18.99. That's more than I want to spend on a restaurant every review on WoV says to avoid. But I ask to go in and check it out. There are several choices that, based on name only, I would probably like, and a few that I wouldn't. Plus a carving station, and the obligatory salad bar and desert spread. But that's all. it's a very small buffet.

So I'm not gonna pay for this. Maybe a different day for the $12.99 brunch. But before I leave, I ask a couple in their early 20's that had just stepped up to the desert table what they think. I ask, "I didn't pay yet. I'm just checking it out. Should I go elsewhere?" The gal says "Uuhhhmmmm..... Yyyyeeeeaaaaahhhhhhh........"

I decide to play a tournament at O'Shea's, so I eat at the Burger King there before it starts. The BK is as good/bad as any other BK. Go figure. I did not cash in the tourney, and went directly to bed afterwards.

Quote: teddys

IP is by far the most confusing casino hotel in the world. I just like wandering around there...

Confusing? That's an understatement if I ever saw one! You'd BETTER like wandering around if you ever want to figure out where you are!

And the map is no help. First of all, there is only one map that I saw. It's in the middle of the casino, next to the elevator for the Hash House. Although I didn't take a picture, I gotta assume it's the same as this IP Property Map PDF. It certainly looked similar.

I could write a long laundry list of things that are wrong with the map. I may do just that when I write up my separate IP review. Here's just three problems with it:

1 - It's not drawn to scale. Not even close.

2 - The second floor drawing includes rooms from the sixth floor on the left, second floor in the middle, and first floor on the left and right. It is an ill-conceived attempt to use the same drawing for the layout of other floors.

3 - Although there is a very clear 'North Is Up' indication, this only applies to the first two floors. Floors three thru eight, North is down.

These problems make it impossible to calculate a path to your destination, once you figure out where you are.

The really sad part about being confused and lost is that the IP is NOT big! It's just impossible to navigate!

Quote: DJTeddyBear

The really sad part about being confused and lost is that the IP is NOT big! It's just impossible to navigate!

It's very crowded for such a small place, too. I mean there are way too many things inside the property for its size.

When I stayed there in may 09, I got a map printed on a small paper folder which held the room key and parking pass. I folded the map and carried it with me. It helped.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Confusing? It's not so bad - provided you put in the time to learn the layout.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Confusing? That's an understatement if I ever saw one! You'd BETTER like wandering around if you ever want to figure out where you are!

Haha, I guess your assessment changed dramatically between those two posts!

Quote: Nareed

When I stayed there in may 09, I got a map printed on a small paper folder which held the room key and parking pass. I folded the map and carried it with me. It helped.

I got the same thing. But the map is shrunk down to about 3.5" wide. You need GOOD eyesight for it to be useful. And, it only has the first and second floors from that PDF I linked.

Quote: teddys

Haha, I guess your assessment changed dramatically between those two posts!

Not exactly. If you're just stepping it to the casino, then back out, it's no problem. The casino floor is no big deal. But if you're trying to find anything like a restaurant, or your room upon check-in, the IP is VERY confusing. The maps are no real help. It simply gets less confusing if you wander around in an effort to learn the layout.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I got the same thing. But the map is shrunk down to about 3.5" wide. You need GOOD eyesight for it to be useful. And, it only has the first and second floors from that PDF I linked.

That map's the very essence of the Imperial Palace: It's Better Than Nothing ;)

Seriously, it was all I needed. But then maybe I was lucky. To get to my room I just had to walk to the very first bank of elevators straight from the front desk. The room was the first, too. Other than that I just had to locate the buffet (it's tolerable for breakfast), the casino (no problem) and the main entrance (again, no problem).

Around my third day there I wondered where the ice machine was, so I went to look for it. I just wondered all over the hallway until I found it, along with another bank of elevators I had never seen (I'm sure there are people lost in some elevator bank that no longer goes anywhere; their sould cursed to vainly go up and down looking for a non-existent passage outside).

Day 5 - Thursday - Half day of convention, visit the patent lawyer, etc.

The convention ended at 12:00. I had three hours to kill before my meeting with the lawyer about patenting my Hit It Again side bet, so I hung out, making some last networking conections, and finally leave around 1:00.

Because I had heard that there are some remnants of the Star Trek Experience remaining at the Hilton, and wanted to abuse my monorail three day unlimited pass, I headed there to check it out.

The Star Trek section of the casino must be walked thru when going to or from the monorail, and still has some of the decor - which gives a good reason that the STE signage outside the building is still there - adjacent to the monorail station.

FYI: The following quote is from my post, on 11/24/09:

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Interestingly, the Experience advertising wall on the exterior of the Hilton is still there (At least it was when I was there 2 months ago). You can see this plain as day from the monorail. I don't know if you can see it from the street.

I think that same shot, with the same distance and angle, could not be taken today. Here's a similar shot:
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In the next day or two, I'm going to post some pictures in the Star Trek Experience thread.


I head back to the IP and, despite the, ahem, somewhat less than glowing reviews here, and the first hand report from a customer last night, I go to the Emperor's Buffet for brunch. It's a little cheaper, it's got eggs and other breakfast foods. How bad can it be?

I get there at 1:45 and am told it closes at 2:00. I knew that, but asked what that means. I can stay until 2:30, but they start breaking down the buffet at 2:15. No problem. When alone, I normally eat quickly and run, anyway. Of course, it makes me wonder why it takes until 4:00 to set up and open for dinner.

The hot food sections were set in a basic steam table, two sides with about 8 items each. One side had scrambled eggs, sausage links, limp bacon, undercooked corned beed hash, limp breakfast potatoes, waffles, french toast and fried chicken. The other side had fried shrimp, butter noodles, stroganoff, roasted chicken, fish, sauteed vegetables, and I think one or two other items.

In between waa a carving station with ham and turkey and a chef making omelettes.

Because of my younger days as a restaunt employee, I know how hard it is to keep dry foods such as waffles and french toast hot and fresh. So I didn't bother with them. But limp bacon? Undercooked corned beef hash?

There was also a salad section which included sushi. I like sushi, but decided to pass on raw fish at this place. It looked average.

The dessert station had a variety of items. I took chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream, and a cookie. The cake was great, but the ice cream tasted funny. How do you screw up soft-serve ice cream? It comes in an oversized milk carton, that you pour it into the machine. How hard is that?

I also had fresh brewed iced tea, which also tasted funny. It took me forever to figure out why. It was Chinese tea. I'm not used to having Chinese tea iced.

Bottom line: As I put on the comment card, the fresh made omelette was excellent but did not make up for the food which was far below average.

It's now 2:20, and I'm scheduled to meet the lawyer at 3:00. I head to the IP taxi stand. Up till now, there have never been people waiting. Today, there's 5 fares waiting and no cabs. I'd be the sixth cab. Since I know the taxi stand at Harrah's is at the back of the hotel, it's probably less likely that it attracts non-hotel guests, and might be easier to get one, so I head there. Bad assumption. There's even more fares waiting, with no cabs. So I jump on the monorail to the convention center, since I usually see a cab or two there, or next door at the Renassaince hotel. Mind you, the monorail track is spitting distance from the office building I'm heading to. But I know that an inch on the map is miles in Vegas. So I take the monorail, and, sure enough, there are cabs at the Renassaince.

I think the cabbie knows how close my destination is. I give him the address, and tell him that it's on the end closer to Sands Ave. I'm SURE he knows that he would have to go somewhere else for his next fare, so he takes me around the hotel, on Edison Circle, to show me that he can't make a left onto Paradise. I wanted to say that he should go thru the convention center. Isn't there a way to make a left out of there? But instead, I kept quiet, while the cabbie took me on, what I think he believed was the longest route he could get away with. When we finallly get to the lawyer, it's about 10 minutes later and the fare is $9.50. I give him $10, and thanked him for taking me on a tour of the low-rent district rather than going direct.

Here's the 0.9m route GoogleMaps suggests:
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Here's the 1.8m logical alternative:
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Here's the 1.7m route he could have taken:
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Here's the 3.2m route he actually took:
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The meeting went well. Afterwards, I discover a bus stop right outside the building, and it's due in 5 minutes. I use up almost that entire time trying to get the ticket machine to read my credit card! Then the bus arrives, I show the driver the ticket, and she says they don't check tickets on that line! Whatever.

The bus takes me to Wynn, so I figure I'll check it out. First stop is to get a player's card. I'm told that I get $10 of free slot play because I gave an email address. So, although I had no plans to play, I find a reasonable VP machine and try the free play. It's not working. I go back to the desk and am told to put some money in it, and THEN take the free play. OK. Back to that machine, and I'm surprised to see that it accepts $1 bills, so, what the heck, I throw a buck in. No matter what I do, I can't get the free play.

I go to the poker room. The have $1/$3 instead of $1/$2. The buy-in is $100-$500. That's just a tad out of my comfort zone. I decide to just walk around. I forgot to check the BJ tables, but the craps tables were paying 31 for 1 and 16 for 1, with the field paying triple for 12. There's about 12 craps tables, only 3 are open - and one of those is reserved with ropes around it

The reserved table has no indication of a min or max bet. There are 3 players at one end with multi-colored racks of chips. Probably ten grand per person. There's one guy at the other end who has the entire rack from corner to corner filled with all sorts of colors. I estimate it was over $150K! I wanted to check their bet sizes, but didn't want to get too close.

The other open tables were $10 minimums. One of them had a feature bet I never saw before: All Small / All Tall / All Or Nothing At All. This bet is mentioned on the Wiz site, here: https://wizardofodds.com/craps/appendix4.html#smalltall. There's a difference, though. That page indicates that Sam's Town pays 35 for 1 for the Small and Tall bets, and 175 for 1 for the All bet. Wynn pays 35 for 1 for Small and Tall, but 176 for 1 for All!

I eventually got tired of the Wynn, and wanted to get rid of my laptop case, so I hopped the Ace bus, again without showing a ticket, and headed to the IP and my room.

I want a fast, simple dinner, so I go up the strip past Harrah's to McDonald's. I see there's a person on a laptop there. She tells me they have free wifi, and she's been there for 3 hours. DAMN! I left mine in my room. Oh, well...

I play some poker for a few hours, keeping kinda even, when I think I hit my killer hand. I have pocket queens, raise it a bit, get re-raised and call. The flop is Q, 7, 2 rainbow. Perfect! I bet, the other guy raises, I go all-in and he calls. He has K, J - suited, matching the Q. He calls because he says it's hard to fold a royal draw - never mind that he needs TWO cards to hit it. I think I'm in great shape....until the turn is a T, and the river is a 9. A straight was good enough to beat my set. Story of my life.

On the way back to the IP, I see an escalator near the sidewalk, so I go up. It leads to the Karaoke bar in IP. So I sit for a while to watch and listen.

The DJ in me starts to analyze what this DJ is doing. The Karaoke singers and audience are mostly older. The singers are generally singing classic rock, oldies and country. In between singers, while introducing the next singer, the DJ is playing high-energy dance and trance music. Totally wrong for the crowd. After about 7 fairly good singers and one crappy DJ, I go to bed.

Vegas - Day 6 - Friday.


The only plans today are to visit a game distributor about my Hit It Again idea.

I decide not to gamble before Dan picks me up.

On the way to the game distributor, Dan wants to stop at a 7-11 for some smokes. I go in too to get water. Man it's hot and dry in the desert! The 7-11 has slot machines in it! Now I know that's no big deal to the Nevada people here, but to the rest of us, it borders on Urban Legand. I just had to take a picture!
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The meeting went very well. I'll talk about it in my thread about the bet.

Afterwards, Dan takes me up the strip to my hotel. On the way, we pass the famous LV sign. Gotta take a picture. It's a lot shorter than I expected.

I'm shooting from inside a moving car. I wasn't sure I was getting the sign AT ALL, in either shot!
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I decide to spend the afternoon not gambling. Just gonna walk up the strip a ways. Not really in the mood for lunch, I grab a granola and go.

On the way into the Venetian, I pass the entrance to Madame Tussauds. I had little desire to go in. This preview gave me even less desire to enter.
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Turn left and there are conveyors to go into the Venetian. Hmmm. Two ushering people in, one out. Go figure.
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I don't spend any time in the casino. Next I head to Wynn in hopes of taking a picture of that All bet they have at one craps table. Unfortunately, there are people playing on it, so the pit boss tells me no pictures, but they have the same bet at Treasure Island, maybe I'll be able to take a shot there.

I head to TI but don't see that bet at all. Maybe there was another craps pit that I didn't notice. I'm starting to itch to play poker, so I head to the TI poker room. Only a couple tsables are open. They don't have $1/$2, so I'm gonna pass. But before I leave, I notice a big wheel in the back of the poker room:
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I'm told a player gets to spin if he has quads, (or I assume straight flush), as well as after 25 hours playing in one month.

On the way out, I pass a Vegas version of a Dollar Store:
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I head over to Mirage. I remember winning at poker there, and that they had a large, active poker room, so it's probably gonna be good. When I get there, the room is half the size that I remember it, and there's only a few tables open. Sigh. There's 8 people on the list for $1/$2, and I'm told a new $1/$2 is opening in a few minutes. Cool.

The table opens, and 7 people are in their early 20s, and know each other. Sounds like easy pickins. Except 3 of them don't have the $100 buy in. So we're I'm thinking we're gonna have a half-empty table, but before I knew it, a few more people show up, and it's a full table.

Unfortunately, although the kids were playing like the donkeys that they were, I wasn't in any hands with them. I eventually leave, down.

It's around 5:30 and it occurs to me that I didn't eat since the granola bar. I then remember that a co-worker suggested that I'd go to Ellis Island one night for the $6 steak. So, since my hotel is kinda along the way, I head there, relax about 15 minutes, then head to EI. Along the way, I make a pit stop at a rather odd casino on the corner of Flamingo and Audrie. This is behinf Bills, the SE corner of that block. Check out the marquee:
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Note that there is no door separating the deli from the casino / bar. I went inside to take a picture, but the bartenter said no. I asked about the marquee, and she says that Harrah's can't wait to get their hands on that parcel.

I doubt that. Maybe at one time Harrah's wanted it. But it's a rather small parcel, and its on the far side of the monorail. There IS some truth to her statement. I remember seeing that sign when it said 24 years. Google's street view shot says 22 years.

Although I couldn't take a picture inside, here's a shot looking in the door from across the street:
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I get to Ellis Island and immediately put my name on the list at the restaurant. It's 7:30, and I'm told 90 minutes. Hmmm.... What am I gonna do to kill 90 minutes? I immediatly decide that, even when they are slow, they probably don't seat people for at least half an hour. But I don't doubt that during the dinner rush, 90 minutes is probably the actual time it's gonna take.

So I go play some craps. It's a $5 minimum, but here's something shocking: $50 maximum! The field pays double for 12, but the prop bets pay 31 for 1 and 16 for 1. I play for about an hour, and drop $50.

I go to play some BJ. 3:2 with $5 minimum (I didn't notice or ask about a maximum).

I'm even when my name is called for the restaurant.

I sit down, order the $6 steak, and learn that it's actually $6.99. Good news is that I expected sides to cost extra. Nope. Veggies and potatoes are included. Not only that, but a salad and two sourdough dinner rolls and butter are also included. Nice. The only extra was my drink. Ice tea, with free refills, was $1.29.

The drink, salad and rolls came out rather quickly. Maybe a minute after I finished that the steak came out. I ordered it medium, and, surprisingly, it came out medium. A tea refill arrived even before I finished the one I was working on. The steak and other items were great. For $11 including tip, it was a great deal.


After dinner I head back to the strip. Along the way, I'm approached by a hooker! Up till this point, I thought the only hooker I'd see would be if I called the number on a card given to me by the porn slappers.

Funny thing was, this was a very average looking girl. OK, slightly better looking than average, but nothing special. If I had seen her on the strip or in a casino, I NEVER would have thought she was a hooker. Of course, no young girl would walk on Flamingo, a relatively low foot traffic road, alone, at night, unless she was working the street.

I'm a relatively friendly guy. When I'm walking on a street that has few other people, I do say Hi when I pass. I said Hi. Her smile grew big-time as she returned the greeting. But it wasn't until she followed it up with "Hey, whatcha doin? Where ya goin?" that her occupation was confirmed. I simply responded, as I kept walking away, "Um, er, over there...." She figured I wasn't interested and kept going. She was right.

Sorry. I didn't think to take her picture....


I decide to go to Bills and check out Rapid Craps again. I didn't like it much my first time, but I'm thinking I'll give it another chance, and try some other stuff. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), there were no open seats.


I start thinking that since I'm flying home to NJ tomorrow, it might not be a bad idea to get to bed early, wake up early, and kinda start to undo the time shift thing. So I head to the hotel and am in bet by 11:00 Vegas time.

Very entertaining, DJ.
Glad you left out the "fear and loathing" bits.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

After dinner I head back to the strip. Along the way, I'm approached by a hooker! Up till this point, I thought the only hooker I'd see would be if I called the number on a card given to me by the porn slappers.
She figured I wasn't interested and kept going. She was right.
Sorry. I didn't think to take her picture....

(1) There is a list of limited licenses (like the 7-11) on the website. I think there are 2000 such licenses in Clark County. They only permit up tpo 15 slot machines

(2) Ellis Island also owns a chain called Village Pubs which has similar deals on food. Before you wait 90 minutes again take a taxi to a pub (3.5 miles from Flamingo and Koval).

(3) There is southbound bus on that part of Paradise Rd., but the northbound goes up Swensen.

(4) The hookers vary from your classic types, to sweet looking girls, to crack whores.

(5) If you are staying in the n'hood again (I assume Best Western) try
MERKATO RESTAURANT Merkato Ethiopian Restaurant
855 E. Twain Ave #112
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Phone (702) 796-1231
Payment Methods Mastercard, Visa, AmEx, Cash, Debit
Liquor Info Yes, Full Bar Available Dress Code Casual

INFO & EVENTS
Located in "East" Las Vegas a few blocks off The Strip, in the Twain Strip Mall. They offer a great food at a good value. The place is still relatively new with loosely constructed menus and barely any decorations, but the warm service and quality of the food makes it a very worthwhile experience. The waiting staff is knowledgable of the food and they take the time to explain the dishes and the culture. The vegitarian combination and the Kitfo are good orders at this place.

Good report DJ. Next time you go to AC, let me know. I'd like a decent craps player to roll with. Im probably headed there for a wednesday or thursday night within the next month. I was considering IP for a possible december trip to vegas, but for its confusion and lack of good buffet, it doesn't look like i'll be staying. Very enjoyable trip report, well written.

Quote: BigRoss71

Good report DJ. Next time you go to AC, let me know. I'd like a decent craps player to roll with. Im probably headed there for a wednesday or thursday night within the next month. I was considering IP for a possible december trip to vegas, but for its confusion and lack of good buffet, it doesn't look like i'll be staying. Very enjoyable trip report, well written.

Good luck in AC, but you won't see me. I still have a real job, so I never go there mid-week.

Don't write off IP just yet. The Wiz asked me to write a review. Most of the content of that review is already in this thread, but it's going to be a conditionally favorable review. Look for that in a couple days.

Day 7 - Saturday - Heading home

I wake up kinda early, shower and pack, and go downstairs to make one final attemp to win a couple bucks.

It's 7:55 and I'm expecting Dan to call and finalize a time for him to pick me up, but we have it tentatively set for 11:00. Plenty of time. Cool.

I'm only going to play poker. As expected, no $1/$2 at IP, so I head to Harrah's. They don't have ANY cash tables because there's a FREE ROLL getting started. OK. I'll play a tourney for free.

Five tables, and I'm the 54th person to register. Sigh, I gotta wait for 4 people to bust out.

Amazingly, people bust out very quickly. I'm seated in 6 minutes! I guess there's a lot of crazy action at this tournament.

The dealer gives me a short stack and asks me if I want the Add-On for $5. I'm about to ask what it is, but figure, screw it, it's five bucks. The starting stack is 500 with 25/50 initial blinds. The $5 Add-On is 1,000. I find it hard to believe that anyone would not get it.

My first hand, I have Kd, Jd and raise it to 175. Only one person calls. The flop is Jh 7h 3h. Top pair, great kicker, but there's a flush possible. I bet 400, the other guy folds. Because it was my first hand, I showed it, so people wouldn't think that I'm full of it. I got nothing for the next 20 minutes.

Then I get As Ts. A couple calls. I was gonna raise, when the guy on my right goes all-in for 500. So I fold. Only one caller so they show their hands before the flop. As the guy is showing, he says he only looked at one card. Crap, that means it was an Ace, but the kicker could be anything. I should have played my suited Ace. Then he turns over the second card, and it's another ace. I'm feeling a bit better about my fold - until the flop is three tens! I would have had quads!

And that is pretty much how my entire week went.

About 15 minutes later, I busted out.

I then sit down to a $1/$2 table that's gonna start as soon as some more people bust out and join us. Before it starts, Dan calls early, and, that makes it 'Get the hell out of Dodge' time.

---

As you all know, I had issues with Continental. It gets better. And worse.

The flight into Vegas was a movie flight. People had the option of purchasing headphones for $3, or using their own. If I had thought to bring headphones, I might have watched the movie.

The flight home was a Direct TV flight. Everyone has individual screens on the seat back in front of them, and multiple channels. This costs $6. Credit card slot next to the screen. I'm a TV junkie, but not for $6. The couple next to me both bought it, and were both watching the same thing, and both fell asleep for most of the flight! Was a waste of $12...

But here's the thing: Since they charge for the TV use, they give you the headphones for free! So now I have headphones, and that silly little adapter needed on some flights, and it didn't cost a dime.

So I watched TV for free, until they flipped the switch for pay only. That was two hours into the flight! Sweet.

When we get to Newark, we go to the gate, and, since I'm in the back of the plane, I get to watch them take the luggage out. After about 10 minutes, there's an announcement that they are waiting for someone to bring the jetway to the plane.

They had ALL the luggage out before they got the jeyway in place.

Then, since I'm in the back, I had to wait another 15 minutes as the plane emptied out.

When I finally got to baggage claim, the luggage still hadn't started to come out! I hate Newark airport!

Great Report DJ! At least I am now prepared for when I stay at the IP next June.