Wednesday – May 31st, 2023
Today was a BUSY day. We had to return the GTR, Check-out of the Cosmo, Try-out a new Buffet, and a new part of Las Vegas, Check-into the Aria, Spend some serious time on the Casino floor, make use of the Go City Las Vegas Pass we bought, and maybe even grab some time at the poo. There was a lot to do and a lot going on so we got up nice and early to get going!
Eggslut
Today we headed for Eggslut nice and early to try and beat the queues, and while the line was a little shorter than yesterday, it was still pretty hectic for breakfast sandwiches. It took around 15 minutes to line up and then another 5-10 to get our order. We ordered the GAUCHO SANDWICH* and the Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich, with Truffle Hash Browns as a Side.
There is very limited seating in the venue but there are general-use tables in the vicinity that can be used. Overall, we don’t really see what the fuss is about. These are nice Breakfast sandwiches, but they are only slightly fancier versions of McMuffins really. The Hash Browns were pretty special though, even if they have probably never seen a real truffle in their lives. We also managed to spend a whopping $65 on a couple of breakfast sandwiches, which is not really great value and made us really happy this was going to be charged as resort Credit!
After this, we headed back to our room to prepare to leave. We had a late check-out at 4 PM but really had no intention of staying any longer than necessary. Having packed things up we left the cases in the room and took the GTR out for one last drive before we returned it to its Pick-up location. After filling it up with Premium and following the very specific return instructions, we dropped the car off, again photographing everything, and then grabbed an Uber back to the Cosmo, being very careful to avoid the Chaos on the strip.
We then grabbed our stuff and headed to Check-Out. Ready to butt heads again with the staff we waited in line for 15 mins in the Priority queue, we can’t remember the last time we had to queue to check out, and we noticed every single person was with each assistant for an inextricable long period of time.
Once at the Desk, we found out why. The Agents just couldn’t use the system and our entire bill was wrong. Another real failure of the Cosmo. All the Credits that should have been applied to our account were not applied and we had been charged for everything! The Agents quickly confirmed this was a mistake, but it then took nearly 30mins to actually have the charges taken off. We then had one final try to see if we could get some kind of non-robotic response to our complaint about why we had not received an upgrade and how we had been repeatedly lied to about it, focussing mainly on why we had received such an inconsistent answer and treatment.
No such luck they just wanted to keep repeating the same thing at us and not actually have a coherent conversation in the English language. In the end, they did let slip what we already knew. There WAS availability, They were just not willing to give it to us as we were not a high-enough Tier on their Loyalty program, Identity, and they were saving those rooms for people on a higher tier. Maybe if they had just said that from the start things would have been better. It’s not the answer we wanted, but it was honest at least!
Anyway, after they tried to regurgitate the whole saga once more to try and explain how we had been lied to, we cut them off, last chance had been had and we just wanted out. So we paid the final remainder of the bill and left. Probably never to return unless we sense serious change has occurred. We loaded up the car and headed out.
Palms Casino
The first stop was the Palms Casino. The plan was to try out the AYCE Buffet on their spectacular Lobster Wednesday Buffet. All-you-can-eat lobster for 90mins. Only actually getting a seat at the Buffet is problematic. Apparently, no one at the Palms has heard of Open-Table and instead, they have the most bizarre and time-consuming “system” in place that makes getting a seat almost an endurance sport!
There are two options for getting a Table, The first is to queue for the first 2 PM Sitting. This gets you into the Buffet when it opens at two and gets you 90mins of all-you-can-eat. This is limited to 300 people. The second option once the 2 pm seating is full is to join the Mobile waitlist, once on this you will receive a message when your table is ready and you can come back to the Buffet to be seated. This doesn’t sound too bad, however…
The line for the 2 pm seating opens at 12 pm. So you need to be in line and pay for your Buffet then and then return at 2 pm to be seated. This Buffet is VERY popular and the Line for the 12 pm opening starts to form around 10:30 pm and begins filling up fast after 11 pm, which is when we joined. By 11:15 it was stretching around the Casino and was well over the 300 people who would get the initial seating at 2 pm. The rest, once on the Waitlist, would get to eat at some unspecified time in the future…maybe.
It was pure madness, the staff were running around shouting at people, who just looked bemused and confused. “it’s all on the Website” they barked, but it isn’t. There is some Vague mention of a waitlist but no specifics of how it works or how to get on it. You are just left to piece things together from forum posts and such.
Anyway with out 2 pm Seating confirmed we left the Palms and went to do other things but lots of people simply got in the queue for the 2 pm seating. This meant they were queueing for 3+ hours for some lobster! The people not lucky enough to get on the list had to wait around killing time in the vague hope they would get a callback…What is wrong with the normal way of just booking a reservation at a TIME! that way you can plan your day properly.
If we were not running the Blog and only dining here to help bring you this information we would in no way have been willing to sacrifice so much time for such an idiotic procedure! We like Lobster but DAMN!
Area 15
Just down the road from the Palms is the New Area 15 Area of the City. We were not 100% sure what this place was so headed over to check it out. There are several parts to the location, but our time was pretty limited and we couldn’t do many of the attractions available.
We headed to the Illumination Experience as this was included on our Go City Pass. This was quite fun, but the effects are really only so-so and not very convincing. We love the floor effects such as Butterflies scattering when you walk, puddles splashing and animal footprints following you around.
The main attraction is the Meow Wold-Omega Mart, an Interactive Art installation based around a supermarket. The installation uses Simpsons-style humor, over-exaggerating real-life quirks of the American tendencies to overindulge and over-hype everything. As you explore this surreal and highly caricatured space you can solve clues and follow a narrative to discover extra locations and secret spaces including a Speak-Esy-style Cocktail Bar. This is really fun, but it’s very busy and most people seemed to not solve clues and just follow the other people.
It’s all a bit odd and we are not sure we “got it” or it’s just not our thing. It felt very much like it was trying to seem clever but just felt cliche to us.
There are several other things going on and none of it that interesting to us. The location seems to split people with some loving the quirky surrealism, and others thinking it’s a bit of a waste of time, we tend to follow the latter view.
AYCE Lobster Buffet
After this diversion, we headed back to the Palms ready for our 2 pm seating. Back at the Buffet and the line to enter at 2 pm was humongous, stretching the entire length of the Casino and blocking the entrance to the Beauty Salon. It was madness, and we were e15min early. The queue continued to grow as the Large Female Security Guard repeatedly shouted at us telling us not to worry as the line will move fast.
Staggeringly once the line started moving the Wait Staff got the entire line into the Bufet and seated in around 10mins. We got out table and our server brought us soft drinks and a variety of Lobster Tools and a Bucket for the Shells. Off we went to join the Queue for the Lobsters.
The Queue is limited to One Whole Lobster and One Tail Each per serving. You can queue up and come back as many times as you like. The queue for the Lobster was around 5 mins, but after 10mins of the seating this had dropped, and often it was just a walk-up. The Lobster itself was pretty varied in quality. My first one was awful. The tail meat was ok but the Claws were completely shriveled up and dry. The Lobster Tail was pretty good though and was drowned in Drawn Butter and was still moist and tender. Kate’s Whole Lobster was better and the claws were still full and tasty. After a second round both our lobsters were middle of the road.
An All you can eat Buffet is never going to offer fantastic Quality as it’s cooked to a price and in bulk meaning no individual lobster is going to get the same time and temperature of cooking. But the Whle Lobsters were still pretty disappointing, even if the Tails were actually really good. Our Advice is just to stick to the Tails.
Outside of the Lobster the Buffet was really good. There was an Excellent Calving Station, lots of Shrimp and Crabs Legs, and other seafood. Some great Brisket and Crispy Pork Belly and lots of homey America Classic Dishes.
The Desserts were also nice, but after the Lobster Queues died down the Dessert Queues seemed to build. There were lots of Tastly Treats and we particularly liked the Dole Whip, after all, Dole Whip rocks!
Check-In to Aria
Full to the brim we headed off to check-in to the Aria. We always like to switch hotels just so we can keep up to date with as many hotels as possible. After our disappointing experience at the Cosmo, we were hoping for a smoother check-in. The trek from the Parking lot was pretty grueling, but once at the Check-in Desk things started going better. There were once again no Room Upgrades available, but we had booked a stip view and aside from a Suite, there were no better rooms anyway. Our assistant got us a nice high floor and good location so all was good. Again we had booked through the Amex so got some nice perks. Free breakfast each day and $100 in Credit.
We headed up to the room and despite being a little smaller than the Cosmo it was really nice and very high-tech. The view is nothing to write home about but we were really happy with the Hotel so far. We were heading out tonight but decided we wanted a bit of downtime so headed for the Pool.
Hitting the Pool
We headed down to the wonderful Aria Pool Oasis. It was surprisingly quiet and we found a spot right by the water in the sun and enjoyed a few hours just smoking it all in. The drinks were extremely expensive but about the going rate for high-end Vegas pools.
The Aria Deck is really nice, it’s a large deck and is now well-planted and quite lush. It used to be a little concrete but as the years have gone by the gardens have really matured and now there are large trees and green shrubs helping make the area feel more tropical and relaxing.
After some much-needed downtime, we headed back to the room to get ready for the evening. Due to the time it took to get into the Buffet, we had really not used the Go City pass at all so we needed to visit a few attractions to get the value up.
Fly Linq Zipline
First up was the Fly Linq Zip-line. We love this attraction and took the opportunity to ride it at night. The Zipline is not too scary and even Kate, who does not always like scary rides is happy to zip along over the Linq Promenade.
The whole process is really quick and it took less than 30 mins from start to finish. The Attraction was really quiet and we got to ride just the two of us and had a great time.
Eifell Tower
After the Zipline, we explore the Strip a little and even headed into the Flamingo Nature Reserve at the Flamingo. Things were a little too natural as we watched the evening inhabitants (Rats), take over the place, mopping up any food missed during the day. We suppose this is the natural order and it’s better than them being in your room!
After that, we worked our way back down the strip and stopped off at the Eiffel Tower. This 460ft Observation deck often gets a bit of stick but we love it and it has one of the best views in Vegas, especially at night and we even got to see a fountain show at the Bellagio.
Again this is a quick attraction and we were up and down again in less than 45 mins. From here we headed back to the Aria as we had some serious gambling to do! We were honestly not fussed about food, so we just grabbed a Chick-Fil-A on the way back.
Aria Gambling – Free Play Wins!
We headed back to the Aria to use our $150 Freeplay that we got through My Vegas. This was $100 regular Freeplay, linked to our paid stay, along with 2x $25 MyKonami free play. As always with Freeplay we try and win back the overall amount meaning $150 free money, but we always cross our fingers and hope for a BIG win.
We started off with a quick play on a Thindercash, which went poorly and nothing wanted to pay out until the last roll where we hit the bonus and won a measly $25. We also really struggled for drinks in this location and had to really hang around to get served.
After this, we headed over to one of our favorite Games the Gods of Olympus. These have always done well for us and tend to pay lots of small amounts out so we can build up the Freeplay payback. After a good, while slowly building up our profits Kae hit the Bonus and started collecting the coins. Slowly filling in the screen until there was just one coin left to collect for the $10,000 grand jackpot!
First spin, missed, second spin…missed, third spin for $10k…
…Missed.
So close, but a lot of fun. In the end, we had done what we planned and walked away with $145 in real money from the $150 free play. We had already won $45 and had another $50 tomorrow, so all was going well. We also got through 3 free Martinis while we were playing so all in it was a really successful night.
Go City Las Vegas Pass – Day 1 of 2
- Attractions – 3
- Illumination Experiences at AREA15- $29
- FlyLinq – $36.50
- Eiffel Tower Experience – $27.25
- Attraction Cost – $106.75
- Total Attraction Cost (2-Days) – $106.75
- Pass Cost – $159
- Savings – $-52.25
Overall we didn’t feel like we had done much at all this day as far as the Pass went. The Buffet just took so long and we had loads of downtime at the pool. We also quit early to head to the Casino, yet er managed to do three attractions that cost nearly 2 thirds the price of the Pass. Tomorrow should save us a ton as we really have a lot planned!
Walking Total – 18,179 Steps – 9.6 Miles
A big day for steps and we are not even sure why! This was one of those days we didn’t really go anywhere but still racked up big numbers. Tomorrow would not help either as we had a really big day planned.
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