Trip Report DELETE

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[Rista1313]

Tomorrow, we're going to a place for dinner called Batista's Hole in the Wall, which is supposed to be a really cool off-the-strip Italian restaurant that serves free wine. Hey, they had me at free wine. And maybe I can get eggplant parmesan again!

Oh I hope you like it better than we did! We just thought it was "OK" and we wouldn't be back.

 

[cgersic]

Phil seriously has the best smiles in your pics of him! And in the dark photo with Frank Sinatra, you look like you are Frank's brother! I'm having so much fun with you!

 

[MinnieM123]

That High Roller ferris wheel looks like fun! Glad you both had enough time for a few drinks, while checking out the nighttime scenery. (Just thinking about all the free wine you had for dinner at Battista's, and then some more drinks in the High Roller -- did you even notice the nighttime scenery at that point? )

 

[BaconPancakes]

When we went 4 years ago they had a buffet at I think Treasure Island that was free wine and beer. I won’t tell you how much I drank that night. . Sure made the Beatles Cirque show fun to watch after dinner.

 

[BaconPancakes]

Love that shirt! Where’d you find it?

 

[BuddyThomas]

Love that shirt! Where’d you find it?

It was on shopdisney.com under their "pride collection", but I'm not seeing it on there anymore.

 

[krause]

Every time I see that there are new posts on this thread I think “it’s not even Disney I’ll read it another time” but then I click on it anyways and end up laughing so hard! I love your stories so much!! In Manitoba we have our own version of the ice bar except it is -40 outside so inside also feels better than outside but for a completely different reason

 

[BuddyThomas]

Chapter Ten - Last Night in Vegas

Within five minutes of our leaving the ice bar, I got the following text from my bank:

What. The Actual. Hell.

I mean, I just got fraud alerted and had to have my card cancelled and replaced the week before we went to Vegas.

And what the hell is TST MI? Something in Michigan?

AAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I didn't know what to do, because this seemed fraudulent, but if I texted no, they were going to immediately put a hold on my card and then I would have no money for our last night in Vegas. Also, this was Wednesday, and I was going to Phil's house for the weekend after the Vegas trip, so the soonest I would have a new card delivered to my apartment would be the following Monday.

I decided to just withdraw a bunch of cash from my account before it got shut down. And by a bunch, I just mean like eight hundred bucks. Which I did. And then went up to the room to call my bank.

And it turns out that the fraud alert was not fraud at all. It was just a $20.00 hold put on my card by the ice bar, in case we ordered extra drinks while we were there.....you know, kind of like a hotel puts a hold on a hundred bucks or so per night in case you order a movie or room service or drink one of the baby bottles of booze out of the refrigerator.

So, sighhhhhhhhh..........not identity thefted. No card cancellation. But now what am I supposed to do with all this cash and five bazillion slot machines???? Hmmmmmmmmm.............

While we were getting ready for our pre-show dinner, which was at some Mexican restaurant that I cannot even remember the name of, this came on tv:

Pay no attention to the disastrous mess on the counter in front of the tv. The point is that they were going to rainbow color our resort that night. Hurray!!

But first, some Mexican food!

Our table was overlooking this:

Hey, they have Mexican food in Italy too, ya know, and I would also like you to know that they were charging $60.00 per person for those boat rides. That's right. $60.00 per person, and not one animatronic in sight - not even a broken Yeti! The nerve! Some of the rowing guy people sang, but that's about it.

Anyway, it's time to see what $300.00 worth of show tickets bought us!

Howdy, boys!

Back to you in a bit.

 

[MinnieM123]

Your description of the saloon show was hysterical.

By the way, the photo of the Venetian/Palazzo was gorgeous. (My last trip to Vegas was in the mid-90s, and it that hotel hadn't been built at that time. )

Lastly, very glad that your card was not compromised. Whew!

 

[BaconPancakes]

Loved the report, now hurry back to Disney for a new one!

 

[cgersic]

Hysterically laughing over the show and your description of how it progressed. That's as good as a grizzly bear on Las Vegas Blvd in my book! Thanks for taking us on this re-entry journey and I can't wait for the next Disney trip report too - or anywhere you go for that matter because you and Phil are a TON of fun!

 

[LSV]

You really have a knack for making us feel like we are right there with you, which saves me from ever going to Las Vegas! Thanks!

 

[Figgy1]

Chapter Seven - epilogue - leaving the Golden Steer

On our way out, we asked if someone would be able to call us a cab, but they said they didn't do that, and the easiest way to get a cab would be to go to the hotel next door, and they said cabs would be sitting there ready to go.

Sounds easy enough, right?

Wrong.

The "hotel next door" was completely shut down, and as I said, the neighborhood was Sketch City.

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But, we could see the Stratosphere, or as it is now called, "the Strat" in the distance just beyond the gigantic liquor store, so we figured we'd head to that to find a cab.

Well, it's not far, but it's further than it looks in the above pic, and as soon as we started walking, Philmonster decided to trip on a piece of sidewalk, go flying up in the air, and fall flat on the ground. He skinned his knee open pretty good, and also, ripped his pants open in the knee area. I'll spare you the picture of that little incident, but needless to say, he wasn't happy, and when a Philmonster is not happy, nobody's happy.

We had been planning to get a cab from the Strat and head to Fremont Street, but the fall of the Phil pretty much ended that little dream. At the Strat, we went and asked someone if they had a first aid kit - they did! They gave Phil antiseptic and bandages, and he went to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

I took this opportunity to lose some more money on a Press Your Luck slot machine.

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That Whammy is a real jerk.

Phil came out of the bathroom and declared night over, so we went to the front of the hotel, and sure enough, cabs, cabs, and more cabs.

Next thing you knew, we were back at the Palazzo.

Tomorrow, we're going to a place for dinner called Batista's Hole in the Wall, which is supposed to be a really cool off-the-strip Italian restaurant that serves free wine. Hey, they had me at free wine. And maybe I can get eggplant parmesan again!

We're also going on the giant ferris wheel, and of course, more gambling, more drinking, more everything!

See ya tomorrow!

Free wine and eggplant parm I bet if the 2 of us went together there would be a limit on the wine

 

[Figgy1]

Chapter Eight - Wynn, Batista's and Ferris Wheels

We had another breakfast room service the next morning, because, you know, laziness, and then another dip in the pool, which was pretty crowded.

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And then, even though I can't stand Steve Wynn, his resort was hovering over us all day, so Phil and I finally decided to go check it out, especially since it was right next door, and it would only be five minutes in the broiling sun to get inside.

When we did, we discovered a magical garden!

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I didn't notice at the time, but my shorts were blending in with the actual plants!

Hi, Phil!

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Gambling time!

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I usually do pretty good on this machine because it throws you all sorts of random bonuses.

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But nope. Not today!

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Grrrrrr! Damn you, Steve Wynn!!!!

Meanwhile, Phil was having himself a fine time.

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He actually kept winning a few hundred dollars at every machine he played, but then every time, he gave it right back. My machines were just Twenty Dollar Bill monsters. They would eat my Twenty within five minutes and then demand another.

Between the $30.00 pool drinks and the greedy slot machines, Vegas is a harsh and greedy mistress.

Well, it was time for dinner, so into a cab and on to this place!

Running out of room for pictures, so back to you on that soon.

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Love the outfits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How's The Philmonster doing after his fall?

 

[Figgy1]

Chapter Nine - 107 Degrees but we've got frostbite!!

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Yup, that's right. The next day was this many degrees. And I feel bad complaining about it because apparently, it was 116 for at least one day during the past week.

We would only be doing indoor things today, which was our last full day in Vegas. Our flight back to NYC was tomorrow morning.

So let's start things off right. At the Sugar Factory! Remember how we couldn't get near this place on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, since every single person from California was in Vegas that day? Well, there was no crowd today, and we got seated immediately.

We decided to drink purple things!

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Phil looks perplexed by his straw.

I was perplexed by this drink. It was basically just grape soda and vodka with a candied orange hanging off the side, which is not as tasty as it might sound, but don't worry, we drank every drop. There were also a couple of club sandwiches that arrived, but who cares about that??

Especially when gay Buddy had to go pose with two gay unicorns wearing his gay Mickey shirt in a gay gift shop! Hey, it's Pride Month - why not?

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Hey, look, it's Phil. He's outside. Doesn't he understand that it is 107 degrees?

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Let's get inside, but where? But where????????

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That's right. We went to an actual mall. You know, the kind they have in every city of America. Hey, they had a very good air conditioner. And they were selling these shirts in one of the shops!

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You can be sure that I wanted to buy these, but Philmonster refused. Hmph!!!

Well, you know what there is to do in a mall? Nothing! So we decided to head back to our resort. We had heard that there was some kind of frozen ice bar there or something, and if there was a day that called for a frozen ice bar, this was it. But first a quick pic before we go up and down seventeen escalators in order to cross the street to get back to the Palazzo.

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Running out of pic room as usual, so back to you in a bit.

Reason 846 he's called The Philmonster! How dare he not get those shirts. I hope you bought them to put aside for Christmas

 

[Figgy1]

I found

on Amazon. Gag gift

 

[Figgy1]

He would never allow us to walk around in those shirts. On the other hand, he's into this one to possibly wear to Gay Days Disneyland this September.

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Ya know. Red shirts. Gay Disney. All that stuff.

If you've seen Schitt's Creek, you'll understand the reference, and if you've seen the Philmonster, you'll know that if he ever says he'll do Disney anything, I need to jump on it immediately before he changes his mind or says he was kidding - but.....but....but...... if we go to Disneyland, I don't even know how long it will take for me to get us back to good old Lake Buena Vista.

Decisions, decisions.

In the meantime, and because I have lost my mind during the past year of lockdown, we are going to this place in Fire Island for Fourth of July weekend.

The Madison Fire Island Pines

The Pines’ acclaimed guest house, situated in the heart of the world’s most beautiful gay resort community. It’s an exclusive compound a world away.

www.themadisonfi.com

I regret that as a gay man, I have never been to Fire Island before. It seems practically irresponsible..... but not as irresponsible as all the crazy queens who went out there in the summer of 2020 in huge crowds with no masks and no anything.

View attachment 565903

That's awful. I can't even believe that happened. But it did. Grrrr......

Anyway, we'll be heading there next weekend, and since we have been fully vaccinated, we only have to worry about ticks, our livers falling out, and the great white shark that has been hanging out just off the shore.

Massive great white shark spotted off the coast of New Jersey and Long Island

A nearly 900-pound Great White Shark was spotted swimming near the Jersey Shore and Long Island over the weekend.

www.fox5ny.com

Happy summer!

Seriously never been to Fire Island??????????? Heck I've been to parties there

 

[Figgy1]

Sorry to interrupt your TR for the newest addition to my yard

Now back to the booze

 

[93boomer]

Such a fun report @BuddyThomas !!
You always make me laugh. So glad you stayed at the Venetian-brought back memories. Thank you!
Have fun at your 4th get-away!

 

[MickeyCB]

Loved loved following along on your adventures! Your story telling method is so fun to read!
Did you get a pic of the front of your hotel with the Pride Flag colors?