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thanks. it's a little hard because the nicer places don't want to do substitutions, which i totally understand. i might end up just ubering up to wynn or something.

no, i went in august. going back in december. food was a last priority on the august trip, but i do want to eat a little better for xmas.

i don't do buffets, and am looking for suggestions for a good place on the strip to go for xmas dinner. price doesn't really matter, but i do eat plant based. not sure if i'm going with anybody yet. i assume it's a good idea to make reservations? or is it not very busy during xmas?

i think a lot of properties have that. aria does for sure.

because he is the chosen of the gods end of story

it worked out perfectly. already had my trip planned, and then he suddenly announced he was doing another cosmo show because his last one was such a success there. i posted a clip of him making fun of yoko ono a couple years back, and people got upset, so i was happy to see that a lot of you like him.

going to see bill burr at cosmo on dec 21. it's the first night of my trip, and i'm really looking forward to it.

when i was pricing things back in july, i though the same. then i saw that we could stay at a budget resort like excalibur for the same price as a holiday inn type place combined with ubering back and forth to the strip. for our dates, anyway.

i said nothing about parking. i'm sorry that morons think that if resort fees were made illegal, room prices would go down. glad that breathing is autonomic for you.

i was taken aback by resort fees at first, but found out that they're a way for resorts to offset their losses from 3rd-party booking. hotels would be charging the same total per room even if resort fees were made illegal. and you'd be paying the same exact amount in taxes. there's really no difference between paying $199/night plus taxes vs $159+$40 resort fee/night plus taxes. yes, i understand that they serve a dual purpose of duping the unknowing into thinking they're getting a better deal than they're getting, but i'm not one of those. i know exactly what i'm getting into because i read terms and conditions before booking anything. the idiotic food/beverage fees that a handful of strip restaurants/lounges are adding are a different story. i understand these places are probably trying to make back some money lost though opentable bookings and such, but i think some people would react by shorting their waiter or waitress a tip when they find out. that's not the same with resort fees for hotels. but knowing vegas, if most people end up not noticing or caring, it may become the norm for all restaurants on the strip. i'd rather they just raise the prices a little than add that weird little fee.

i worked at starbucks for 2 years while i was in college after the marine corps. some woman with botox all over her face and bleached hair ordered a couple of venti coffee slurpees for 2 of her spawn. they literally crawled all over the counter, for 3 minutes while i made their coffee slurpees and then one of them grabbed their venti slurpee with both hands, and it exploded all over the counter. she demanded another for no charge, and when i refused, she said "well you're rude" and complained to the manager. this was an extreme case, but entitled fucktards are ubiquitous. before the marines, i worked fast food for 3 years. i didn't expect tips as a barista or fast food worker, and what waiters deal with with at at least half of their tables is 10X worse than anything i went through. tip them, and tip all service workers when you can. even if it's a lowly fast food worker, understand that being a turd to them will likely result in your food getting extra special care. at least be polite.

class size is a big deal to me. i wouldn't teach in anywhere but small districts in CA even if i got paid 50% more than where i am, especially with the cost of living down there. retirement system in cali is a big vat of shit, too. private school teachers anywhere are generally overpaid. aside from really prestigious private schools, having a college degree in papier mache but saying in an interview that you just love reading or having a personal connection with a principal who has a degree in basket weaving can land you a job as a reading teacher. i'm sure that's not the case for tank or a lot of other private school teachers, but to say it's not pretty normal is idiotic. public school minimum requirements to teach in a discipline are pretty laughable, but worlds better than that. they also take at least an extra year of college classes specializing in pedagogy to obtain.

i'm tremendously overpaid thanks

what you all said about mgm being cockroaches is exactly why i didn't book with them for originally for my dec and apr trips. i was all set up with cosmo reservations for both those trips, but then these offers came in from mlife that save me about $1000 altogether, and since i only use my room to sleep, i figured why not. more for gambling at both mlife and cosmo, and maybe wynn as some of you suggested.

i'm new to it, too i only spent $150 out of pocket, but got a bunch of comp offers, like i said. i do have to pay resort fees for the rooms, so they're not actually free. have to gamble a lot more than i did to get those resort fees comp'd, or so i've heard. i assume that unless i gamble a lot more next trip, i won't see these types of offers again.

hello again so, i ended up getting a bunch of comp room offers from mlife (all except aria and bellagio) even though i only put in about $150 out of pocket into their video poker machines. i'm guessing it's to entice me to go back and gamble more. i ended up booking 2 comp nights at the park mgm in dec, and a 4-night comp for spring break in april, but it's a luxor, and i really would rather stay at aria/vdara/bellagio in the future. do any of you know if it's better to gamble only at those properties (not vdara of course) if i hope to get comp offers from them in the future? or does mgm usually throw out a bunch of comps at various properties depending on your overall theoretical loss? i'm not chasing comps. my gambling budget is my gambling budget no matter what.

not legal. a couple of my passwords have been compromised by the dw ,and they're complete nonsense. i do 2fa with apps (authy, etc) on everything now since phones are much more secure than pc's. my nephew works as an online security agent with a credit union, and has been super helpful. my main email hasn't been compromised *yet* as far as i know. it's not something to take lightly. the fucktards who have your info bide their time. be careful.

just switched over to cosmopolitan for our xmas trip. loved vdara, like i said, but want to try something that's truly center strip next time. cosmo had a nice vibe. zero interest in the nightclub or anything like that, so i doubt i'll ever feel like an old geezer. i can't believe i didn't check out cosmo's food last time. it looks amazing. i like their rewards system better, too. still going to do massage at vdara and do the mgm shows i listed. thanks everybody. all advice has been useful!

finished Homecoming on Amazon last night the story was okay, but nothing special. great looking show, though, and it has some good performances. the best part of the show was how the soundtrack is mostly orchestral music from other soundtracks from the past 5 decades.

I loved Vdara because it was so easy to get everywhere. Used the Bellagio/Aria/Park tram a ton. Nice to be able to have a mostly A/C trip all the way to NYNY, like I said, which is about as far south as I'll ever likely go again unless I want to hit up Mandalay Bay again, which was much nicer than Luxor or Excalibur to me. Might use the monorail in Dec since I think we'll going to be staying 2 days at the MGM Signature on a comp before switching over to Vdara. I also just realized I didn't even visit the MGM Grand, so that'll be a good way to see that resort. Also, i'm kind of a freak with planning. i figured out the dark dates and all of that back in july. deciding between these shows. We'll do 2 for the dec trip. Leaning towards La Reve and Beatles. I get a good military discount for Beatles and Fator through MLife. Will probably do a comedy show the next trip. We'll see. - La Reve at Wynn, go on Dec 22 or 23 (cheaper than 24/25) - Beatles Love, 24th at 7 or 9:30, OR 25th at 7 (35% off military discount if you buy at the box office) - Terry Fator, 23rd-25th, 7:30, (40% military off if you buy at the box office) Doing a massage at Vdara Spa since I've never gotten one in my life, and I get a 25% military discount or I can use one of those MyVegas thingies to get an upgrade.

i met sarah jessica parker and one of her freakazoid kids at my friends' wedding in nyc. i got ordained by the universal life church to perform the wedding. the bride was her and matthew broderick's nanny. she was frenetic and "friendly" with us plebs in a coke'd out way. her kid was pretty much the same, though i think his drug of choice was prescribed ritalin. evidently, ferris decided not to attend the wedding at the last minute.

listened to some of devin townsend's new album. it's weird, but he's quite the musician. his band is also just amazing. even if you don't like him or his music, his drummers are extraordinary.

just got back from my 3 night stay loved it figured out right away that i don't like slots and stuck with video poker almost the whole time. my buddy played slots the whole first day, and ended up switching over to table games most places we went with a little video poker thrown in. the chandelier bar at cosmo is great for the type of gambling and drinking i like. $1.25/hand playing around 100 hands per hour (steady but not too intense), and you can get enough drink vouchers to keep you lit on good drinks from the bartenders. it costs 2 vouchers for their signature cocktails which were all really sweet and gross to me, so never again. yeah, i know you can get free drinks on the casino floors, but it's pretty hit and miss during weekdays, and the cw's seemed far more interested in the people playing slots and video keno...gee, i wonder if house edge has anything to do with that, heh. $60-$80 of my money was enough to keep drinks coming for 6+ hours at the bar in cosmo. conversation with the bartenders and randoms at the bar was fun, too. some hoochie slut tried to play me or something when she saw i was alone, and put in 20 bucks playing video blackjack next to me, all the time trying to tell me to come with her to the tables and have a good time. she said i would bring her luck. i watched her waste another 20 before telling her i was gay. the look on her face as she left was gratifying. did some $5/hand vp at bellagio and uber'd up to wynn for the same one night, and some $1.25/hand on a tour of all of the other mgm properties as well as planet hollywood. ph was pretty decent, and maybe i'll look at staying there since the location is so good and the prices aren't terribly unreasonable for rooms. didn't like the vibe at aria, and i thought luxor was a stinky shithole with bad air conditioning. loved mandalay bay's casino floor because it was so open. excalibur...just no. nyny was good for restaurants and bars, and the casino was okay, it was just super crowded walking anywhere in the resort, and that was on a tuesday afternoon. overall, i spent a lot less on gambling than i had budgeted, and was able to have a great time. i liked vdara a lot, but honestly, the only time i was in my room was to sleep. i've already booked there for december, and will go ahead and keep it because i got a good deal. but i'm thinking about a basic room at nyny next time after that. it's not center strip like vdara/ph/bellagio/aria, but it's only a short walk across the street to the park mgm tram to get to center strip. i'm too much of a low roller to get comp'd nights anwhere, but i'll look for good deals at other properties besides mgm. will definitely go back for xmas, dec 22-26th, but mix in a couple of days of shows and spa with little to no gambling or boozing. also, i have to check out the venetian and palazzo next time. didn't get around to it this time. anway, this ended up being a big blog post or something. sorry.

thanks, well i'm definitely going to be playing video poker at the chadelier bar in cosmo plane takes off at 6 am tomorrow, connects in seattle, and i arrive at 10:30 am. hoping to get early check in, but we'll be okay with waiting. we're both just taking a carry on suitcase. supposed to be 111 the first day, then down to 109 and 106 the following days, but less that 14% humdity the whole time. toasty, but we'll be fine. thanks for all of the advice.

only fast food place i'm going to is shake shack, and not even for the burgers. mostly for the frozen custard.