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Trip Report DELETE
- Thread starter BuddyThomas
- Start date
Songbird76
Well-Known Member
Wow....I don't think I'll be staying there if there are so few amenities and they have upcharges for the ones they DO have. Not a very good value. I suppose if you are a TWA enthusiast, it might be worth it for the experience, but it doesn't sound very convenient, and certainly not luxurious.
TWA does actually do well with the theming of the place. It is not for everyone. WDW has theme parks, TWA has a themed hotel.
MinnieM123
Premium Member
Buddy, I expected a lot more "wows" regarding the TWA Hotel, and I was surprised at how they cut corners. 
The $50 upcharge for the "ruler" pool was the final straw (however, the energy efficient A/Cs were a really bad decision as well)! From your observations, it sounds like they got half of the design/amenities guest experience done well, and the other half, well . . .
The $50 upcharge for the "ruler" pool was the final straw (however, the energy efficient A/Cs were a really bad decision as well)! From your observations, it sounds like they got half of the design/amenities guest experience done well, and the other half, well . . .
Ellen Ripley
Well-Known Member
I so much love that you've been feeding raccoons and possums 
DisneyGigi
Well-Known Member
Just what I needed today, the beginnings of a @BuddyThomas trip report! Already hooked and waiting on the rest of the amazing adventures. 
MickeyCB
Well-Known Member
That's not a pool. That's like 5 bathtubs end to end!
Yup, that's right. It's about the size of a ruler. At least it's heated. I think.
Rista1313
Well-Known Member
Thank you for your honest (and funny) review of the TWA hotel. It is off my list!
You just saved me soooo much money!!!!
Me too... as an ex airline employee, it was on my list, but really $50 to go in a pool? PFFT!
BaconPancakes
Well-Known Member
At least Phil looked happy! 
It's because he wasn't going to Disney.At least Phil looked happy!
BaconPancakes
Well-Known Member
I don’t know how he slept with all that on his face!
Agreed that the plane food looked nasty. Loving the report so far!
Agreed that the plane food looked nasty. Loving the report so far!
Darstarr
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Tuvalu
Premium Member
This morning it was 2 am with a loud shriek and the word “FIRE!” from a smoke detector.Next time ask @Tuvalu to call you. She is ALWAYS up early!
Like rational people, Woody and I began an entire 3-story (4 if you count the attic) house search for fire. Never mind the “Get immediately out of the house!” instructions we learned as children (and taught our own children.) Hearts pounding, we eventually discover that one of the less-than-a-year-old units glitched.
After a Google search to find out how to reset the unit (because who has ready access to the instructions that came in the box?) and discovering there are multiple model numbers for Kidde smoke detectors, Woody got the stepladder and a flashlight and reset the offending detector.
By then we’re wide awake and the cats think it’s playtime.
So yeah, I was up early. And I bet @BuddyThomas hadn’t even been to bed yet.
Sorry for the intermission, Buddy.
Songbird76
Well-Known Member
He was happier with THAT than he would be going to Disney? Is he off his rocker? Even Disney doesn't have an upcharge for their pools, and their pools are much nicer! Maybe I shouldn't give them any ideas....It's because he wasn't going to Disney.
Songbird76
Well-Known Member
I looked up the instructions to reset your smoke detector. It even includes a video so you can see how it's done. Here you go:This morning it was 2 am with a loud shriek and the word “FIRE!” from a smoke detector.
Like rational people, Woody and I began an entire 3-story (4 if you count the attic) house search for fire. Never mind the “Get immediately out of the house!” instructions we learned as children (and taught our own children.) Hearts pounding, we eventually discover that one of the less-than-a-year-old units glitched.
After a Google search to find out how to reset the unit (because who has ready access to the instructions that came in the box?) and discovering there are multiple model numbers for Kidde smoke detectors, Woody got the stepladder and a flashlight and reset the offending detector.
By then we’re wide awake and the cats think it’s playtime.
So yeah, I was up early. And I bet @BuddyThomas hadn’t even been to bed yet.
Sorry for the intermission, Buddy.
Ellen Ripley
Well-Known Member
Buddy The Snow White!
Darstarr
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
You might find it a coincidence that our smoke detector started to chirp early this mornig as well, the time was just after 2:00 am…This morning it was 2 am with a loud shriek and the word “FIRE!” from a smoke detector.
Like rational people, Woody and I began an entire 3-story (4 if you count the attic) house search for fire. Never mind the “Get immediately out of the house!” instructions we learned as children (and taught our own children.) Hearts pounding, we eventually discover that one of the less-than-a-year-old units glitched.
After a Google search to find out how to reset the unit (because who has ready access to the instructions that came in the box?) and discovering there are multiple model numbers for Kidde smoke detectors, Woody got the stepladder and a flashlight and reset the offending detector.
By then we’re wide awake and the cats think it’s playtime.
So yeah, I was up early. And I bet @BuddyThomas hadn’t even been to bed yet.
Sorry for the intermission, Buddy.
93boomer
Premium Member
Chapter Three - The Palazzo, a sandwich trick, and a sideways room tour
Once we were at the airport, I instantly got a text that our driver was waiting for us at baggage claim. I had heard reports that you definitely should do a car service (if you're not renting) rather than take a taxi, because the taxis in Vegas are notorious for taking you on a roundabout tour of Nevada before you finally arrive at your hotel.
The airport was packed - another indication that my theory of "everyone will already be where they are going by Sunday of Memorial Day weekend" was pretty flawed.
Sure enough, our driver was right there at the baggage claim with a big sign that read Snow White....em....I mean Thomas.
When the baggage started coming out on the conveyor belt, ours were the first two bags out - the first time that this had ever happened to me. Usually we are waiting 20 minutes or so. I later was told that this is another perk of booking JetBlue's Mint-class. Allegedly, they somehow load the bags so Mint is out first. I don't know for 100% if this is true, but I was told this by someone who travels Mint quite a bit.
Anyway, let's get out of this airport already!
And as soon as we were outside, the heat just blanketed over us. It was sweltering. Our first day there was 100 degrees and it only got hotter after that. I know everyone says that Vegas is a dry heat and so it isn't so bad. Well, maybe not as bad as a Brazilian rain forest, but it was bad.
At least the driver had the air in the car pumped up to Total Freeze. He seemed like a nice enough guy, although he talked politics all the way to the Palazzo, and they weren't exactly my politics either, so I just slouched in the backseat while Philmonster laughed it up with him in the front. I was running on a very shaky three hours of sleep in which I had woken up nearly every half hour, so no need to get into an international incident on our first ten minutes.
And then, we arrived! (I didn't take any pics when we first got there, so these are just some stock pics off the web to show you what it looked like:
View attachment 563009
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Now, you just have to use all the tricks you learned in Journey to Imagination, and just imagine that last picture of the front desk area filled with about 450 million people, and that will give you an idea on how busy it was at check-in.
That's just great, because now, I had a nice, endless line to stand in with Philmonster, and listen to him talk about the sandwich trick that he was getting ready to pull. Ughhhhhh.
Phil had been watching all these Vegas videos on YouTube, and he had come across a bunch of them talking about this so-called "sandwich trick" thing, which is basically bribing the front desk for a free room upgrade. Apparently, you take a twenty-dollar bill and sandwich it in-between your credit card and your ID, and you hand it to the front desk person, and then you ask if they have any complimentary upgrades. There are pages and pages of videos about this, but if you want more information, this guy is pretty entertaining:
Now obviously, this type of thing would never fly at Disney World, but Phil was determined to do it, and so I had just resigned myself to die in embarrassment.
Finally, and I really do mean finally, because this wait was unreal, we were at the front desk, and Phil had his little twenty-dollar sandwich in his hot little hand, ready to be served.
She asked where we were coming from, and how our flight was, and Phil made happy small talk with her while I sulked by the suitcases. And then.........he served her the sandwich! Placed it on the counter in front of her and said, "Let me ask you.....do you possibly have any upgrades available?"
Complimentary!! He left out the word 'complimentary'!!! Now we were going to be offered the Presidential Suite for an additional 50 Grand a night!!
But no. She said "Let me see what I can do" and started tapping away at the keyboard. And tapping. And tapping. And tap-tap-tap-tap-tapping. Apparently, she was re-writing WAR & PEACE.
And all of a sudden, she said "I can get you into a room on the 21st Floor with a great strip view if you want to check in now (it was 10:30 AM)"....and then she tapped some more and said "But if you can wait until the 4:00 check in time, I can get you an even better room."
Before Philmonster could sentence us to five and a half hours of wandering around aimlessly without a room, Mr. Three Hours of Sleep then chimed in "We'll take the one we can check into now!"
That got me a glare, but I needed to get refreshed in air-conditioned comfort before we started this adventure, so he just had to deal with it.
So, the moral of this story is that the $20.00 sandwich trick actually works. There were all sorts of "pay for" upgrades on the Venetian/Palazzo website, and one of those was an early check-in for $75.00 (!!!) So we saved $75.00 (minus the $20.00 tip) and got upgraded to a high room strip view, although Phil won't stop badgering me about the "better" room we could have had if we just waited until 4PM.
But anyway, so I did a little room tour video, but it filmed sideways for some reason, and I cannot switch the orientation of this thing no matter what I do. I even downloaded two apps where their sole purpose is to flip the orientation of a video, and neither one worked.
So, you have two choices - you can watch this quick little video with its sideways orientation (hmmm, come to think of it, I think I also have a "sideways orientation"), or you can refer to the photos posted below.
Here goes!
Yeah, I know, that was bad. So anywway, here is the sleeping area:
View attachment 563017
Living room area:
View attachment 563018
View of the strip:
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View of the pool:
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View of the Phil:
View attachment 563021
And that's about it for this section. Next up, we try with very little success to find a place to eat lunch, and we learn what a yard of frozen beverage looks like.
You had a nice view!! We had one looking over the parking area and airport.