Las Vegas 2021
Day 4: Wednesday, December 22
I guess I managed to really wear myself out yesterday because when I woke up at 7am, I had totally missed the sunrise today. That's when you know you slept well!
It was cold again in the room with both heaters not working. I was gonna have to call to get this fixed when we returned today. It was just a little too chilly for my liking. I'm a cold natured person...I still can't believe I chose to go somewhere that is cold for one of our vacations...so not like me.
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After the family got up, we got ready and headed out for the day. Remember I had played the MLife slots online and comped some free meals? Well, we were going to use one this morning for breakfast at the Mirage. This place was called "Snacks" and we had earned a BOGO for a breakfast sandwich.
We headed out of the doors to the Luxor and Sakari decided to conquer the statues out front.
It was time to make our trek to the bus stop, taking so many extra steps just to get right across the street and I was a little sore from the day before and the hubby said "We are cutting across! Forget all this walking down the street to the light and crossing and walking back!" Wait what? We are jaywalking? It was a plus that we were staying basically at the end of the strip and there wasn't as much traffic our way. We headed across the 4 or 5 lanes of traffic and safely made it to the middle section. There was no oncoming traffic waiting on the other side and across we went another 4 or 5 lanes of traffic. Whew! We made it.
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We got off at the Mirage, which meant we were crossing the street AT the crosswalk, because that area is pretty traffic heavy, and up to the Mirage we went. Now this all sounds simple, but honestly anything you do here is not. Walking from a bus stop across the street to the traffic light and up to the actual hotel is like walking my entire neighborhood street by street. It's a long haul...anything you do in Vegas is a long haul no matter how you look at it...especially for someone like me with a handicap.
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The falls are so pretty outside.
Whew, we had finally made it to the doors and by this time my "stiffness" in my foot and leg were getting a little better.
Snacks was a small restaurant right by the casino, so it wasn't toooo far to walk because we all know that the casino's usually smack you in the face when you walk into the hotels.
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We got in line with one family ahead of us. Now this would be the first time using these comps and I had no clue how it worked. I had read that you needed your Mlife card and I made sure to go to our casino at the Luxor to sign up for it on the second day. I assumed you would just show them your card and maybe the printed paper showing the confirmation on purchase.
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However, once we got up to the register and I ask about it, we would actually have to go to the Mlife desk there at the Mirage and have them upload it to our card we got from the Luxor. Hmmm, ok no problem.
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We headed to the Mlife desk where we would find a somewhat large line. The line moved at a pace that was a little slower than a turtle in a race with a hare...I was starving! But, we eventually made it up to the desk to have our meal loaded onto our card. At this point, I would find out that any time we used a comp, we would have to do this AT the place we were getting the comp from. A little inconvenient but hey, it was free food right?
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We headed back to the restaurant where I would proudly flash my newly loaded Mlife card and present our order. Now being a first timer, again, I wasn't sure how this was rang up either. Our receipt said 2 sandwiches (we ordered 3) and ordered some tater tots and a few drinks. I thought maybe the free sandwich doesn't ring up because it did say there was a free sandwich promo at the bottom.
The more I thought about it, the more I questioned it. I went back up to ask if they had a total of 3 sandwiches on our order only to be told no, two sandwiches. So, I had to order another. I just knew something was off.
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Now this deal with a FREE breakfast sandwich would end up costing us a whooping $41.18!!! Not much of a deal when you think about how much it actually cost to get the deal. Then after them forgetting a sandwich, it added another $15.17!!! So for breakfast WITH a free sandwich we would end up paying $56.35!! You will not eat cheap while in Vegas that's for sure. It made me wish we would have headed over to McDonalds instead.
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I also wish I would have waited for the food to come out because had I seen just how big these sandwiches and the tots were, I wouldn't have ordered another (and only ordered 1 tot). These things were HUGE!!! Sakari and I could have split one and we could have all shared the tots.
I would find this to be a trend while here in Vegas...sandwiches would cost around $15 everywhere you go and they would be so big that you definitely can share them with someone else. I'm making a mental note of this for the next time we come.
After breakfast, getting stuffed and throwing away at least 1/2 of the meal, we headed out to the lobby to see if there were any Christmas decor in the building.
"Look Sakari...a Mermaid" I get a reply of "Ah, pretty" as she walked away. I guess her mermaid days are long gone. She doesn't go nuts over anytime she see's one now, she doesn't ask for new mermaid tails, she doesn't take her old one's on vacation anymore. My baby is growing up. :(
They did have a fish tank at the front desk and at least that still catches her eye and she still loves fish. We watched the fish for quite some time. It did have a remora in the tank and that fascinated me! I have only seen one of these in the ocean while scuba diving in St Thomas and never again.
We did spot a rather large green moray eel that eventually came out (and they had another smaller eel but I can't remember what kind it was).
We headed back outside and you would find Olaf back out working the corner bright and early this morning.
We walked down to New York New York, which was quite the haul for me. Like really really far away for me. We would walk a little and then stop and let my foot rest for awhile and go at it again.
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I loved the sidewalks in this area.
The whole Park area was pretty
When we came across the "Brooklyn Bridge" we knew we were getting close to New York New York.
We entered the building and wow! I really liked it! The "stock" exchange on the walls like wall street were really cool except what they had up there were the football games and scores.
I just loved walking down this area. It was so cute!
The hubby thought it was cute with the little fire escapes on all of the buildings.
As you can tell by the amount of pictures I took, I really like this hotel.
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We headed upstairs to check it out. There was an escalator and upstairs there was a few small places to eat at and then there was the roller coaster ride. It wasn't open until Friday, so we would be back! (Hopefully) It did have a good view of the casino.
We headed back down and was winding our way around the casino area and exploring. We came across the Hershey's store and decided to take a look.
It had all the chocolate your little heart desires. Now I don't like chocolate or eat chocolate (unless it's white chocolate or some kind of candy bar with lots of peanut butter in it) so it didn't really impress me...until I seen this...
Now that's what I call a honking good size of twizzlers!
Syrup anyone????
Now we did come across some goodies in the display that caught our eye. I was eyeballing the cannoli's with the cream in the middle. They looked soooo good. Sakari is a cookie freak so she was eyeballing the kitkat cookie. Even though we had just ate all that food for breakfast a little bit ago (and was busting at the seams) we still decided to go for it!
Yes, this was a costly purchase, yes Vegas is expensive, yes we did it anyhow and walked out with 2 cannoli's and a gigantic kitkat cookie that cost us $29.80! (I think I did get a pop as well). The cannoli's were $8.95 each and the cookie was $5.95.
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We went and found a little shop that had tables set up and decided to sit there and eat our goodies. No one said anything thank goodness because my foot was really hurting and swelling and I needed to rest.
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I will say that the cannoli's were not that great at all. I didn't like the outside too much but I paid $8.95 for it so I was eating it no matter what. Hey, at least the cream was tasty. The outside reminded me of gingerbread for some reason. I don't know what they make it out of. Sakari enjoyed her ginormous cookie, but it was too much for her and she decided to save the rest for a later nine o'clock (midnight to us) snack.
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I loved this light at the place across from us....french fries....lol
Since we were at New York New York, we knew we were right across the street from the Excalibur. That meant all we had to do was walk across the bridge to get over there and we could take the tram back to the Luxor.
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Ok, I can do this!!! I slowly got up, tried to shake off the pain, then limped away like a champ!
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Heading outside, up the escalator and over the bridge to the Excalibur we went...taking pictures along the way.
When we got to the Excalibur I decided we needed to go in there first. I wanted to see what this medieval times place looked like.
As soon as we entered, there was a people mover down the middle...THANK YOU SO MUCH! I got on and didn't move. It was very very very, did I say very??? LONG. It even went uphill. Still, I didn't move. I was saving my walking steps for once I got in.
Well, I have to say that it really wasn't what I expected for some reason. It was neat, but I pictured it to be a much bigger area with more medieval stuff. The pictures above are from several different areas inside. I almost stayed here because it seemed to be the next "lowest" price on places to stay. I thought Sakari would find it cool. But after seeing it, I'm glad I didn't stay there and the main factor why we didn't stay there was when I looked at the pictures of the rooms online, they looked old and dingy to me.
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We headed outside to find the tram and we were winding all over the place (according to the signs...tram to the Luxor this way ---->)
Now the tram was not right by the hotel. It was quite a ways away (at least for me). I'm hopping around at this point and not liking our decision to walk over here. But...I kept going and trying to stop along the way whenever I could.
Ok, we found the escalator up to where the tram was. Whew...finally! Sakari appeared to be in a hurry to get back. She had talked about a "nap" time during the entire vacation. LOL
Whew, we finally made it to the tram! I was so happy!
Well, once we arrived we quickly discovered that the tram was not running. It was roped off and had a sign that said it does not operate Monday-Wednesday! WHAT THE FLARK!!! Do they not think that people need this service these 3 days? This was ridiculous!
Well we had no choice but to back track and walk to the Luxor. I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to make it. The pain in my foot was sooooooo bad. But, what choice did we have at this point. We are doing this! We stopped several times along the way for me to sit down, take my boot off, and massage my foot. Then we would start again then repeat. My poor family having to wait on me like this. I felt bad.
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Eventually we did make it back to the Luxor and I was never so happy!
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We got on the elevator and headed up to the 11th floor. Of course we were going sideways and the elevator showed us this....I thought it was funny actually. Going....Up???
Ahh, we made it! Now our original plans were to head over to Mandalay Bay to the Shark Reef to kill time waiting on our show tonight. However, I just wasn't up for it. What I was up for was some heat! I stopped at the desk prior to going up to the room to ask about getting it fixed and was told "use your room phone to call housekeeping". Well, I picked up the phone and guess what...it didn't even work. There was no dial tone. Just great. Ok, so if this hotel is anything like regular hotels, there's always a phone out in the hallway. I was on the hunt, limping my way out of the door, and boom! There was one right outside out door across the hall. Whew!
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I called and got the front desk again, who transferred me to....not housekeeping, but maintenance.
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I walked back in the room and within 5 minutes they were knocking at my door. "Ok, two heaters to fix...I'm on it" and on it he was!
I did ask him about the water situation the other morning and he said the water had been turned off 2 days in the early morning to fix a water leak somewhere else in the building.
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After fixing the heat, I told him about the phone. He immediately fixed it as well.
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Well....before you go, I do need batteries in the remotes to both tv's since there are none. Yep, he replaced those as well. He was great! The service was great! He was friendly! He was fast!
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I figured I would lay down for awhile and then after my foot swelling went down a little and my medicine kicked in we'd get ready and head to the show I had booked for tonight.
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About an hour later and feeling a lot better, I got up to get ready only to find out that it was only 3pm!!! Crap, I had looked at the time on the computer, which was the time back home. We had a lot more time than what I thought before the show.
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Sakari was on her bed drawing and I told the hubby "Let's go donate!" Sakari said "go ahead" and since we got her permission, we headed down to do a little gambling.
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I tried a few new slots and then resorted back to the one's that I knew kept me playing a pretty long time last time.
Like last time, it kept me playing and it kept me long enough to take what it gave me too!
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The hubby did ok and kept his winnings of $54 this time and we walked away and back up to the room. Do you see a pattern here? $54? Yep, that's what he walked away with the night before. I guess that's his lucky number.
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We headed back to the room to check in with Sakari and see what she wanted to do. When we arrived housekeeping was in the room next door. I stopped to ask if she was coming to our room next and she checked her schedule and said yes. Well, that meant we had to leave for awhile.
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We decided just to walk around the shops again toward Mandalay Bay. Of course Sakari just had to head back the the Tree of Life store. She just loved that place and I know her head was filling up with ideas.
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We came to a section that had a sign on it saying "scan me for a free gift"...so I did. I showed it to the owner (who remembered Sakari from the last visit and he was very knowledgeable about the stones and was very eager to discuss what all of them meant and "did" with Sakari.)
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Well this "free item" included anything on that stand and she could pick out something from it.
She picked out her new shiny stone and back to walking around we went. We did find another sock store and I allowed Sakari to get her some long socks that she wanted and they were a lot cheaper. I found some cute little "nurse" socks with saying on them and had to have them. We walked out spending $79! I guess I was in a spending mood at the time.
It was time to head back to the room to get ready for tonights show. I figured housekeeping had enough time to clean up the room so we should be good.
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We arrived and this time our blankie's were folded...including Sakari's "piece" of a blanket she still holds onto from a child...well, all that's left of it.
At 6:45pm, Sakari kept saying "it's time", "let's go", "are you ready?" I think she was a little excited. Our show didn't start until 8pm and it was here in the Luxor, but she was in a hurry to get there.
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So, where are we going you ask? We are going to.....
I was so excited to take her there. The only time we have ever seen Blue Man was when we were cruising on NCL's Epic. It was our very first cruise together (the hubby and I In 2010) and what started my cruising career once again after not cruising for so long before that. Sakari was only 2 years old so we didn't take her with us on that first cruise. Over the years, she never let us live it down and always talked about wanting to go on the Epic. When we finally got a chance to take her, The Blue Man was no longer on the ship.
Of course on the ship, it's free. Here, well that's a MUCH different story. While looking at all of the options they had for tickets, looking at the layout of the theater (which is so hard to tell by looking at boxes on a page) I decided to SPRURGE and get the best seats of the house...right in the middle of the front row basically! I know they put on a wild show and you end up with paint and stuff on you and I couldn't wait to see Sakari's reaction to this. We were about to have a blast! At least she better like it after I paid ...look at the bottom for payment.
Yea, that was a costly purchase this time around...but all in the name of laughter and I knew she would enjoy it.
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I did try to comp 20% off using my Mlife rewards, but after I took that purchase, the dates we were in Vegas ended up being black out dates for the show. So, I would get no comp on it this time around.
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It was time to head in and we took our spots in the front row after stopping to buy some popcorn and drinks.
We grew anxious as the stage started to light up behind the curtains more and more. The anticipation was building. We could see bits and pieces of the props back there and it brought back memories of the last time we seen this show.
Now the odd thing is...I kept looking around and waiting for them to bring us our raincoats and things we needed to stay dry. Well...they never did. What is happening? Are we going to get wet? Are we walking out of here with paint on us? I was so confused. Maybe they brought it out at a certain point in the show. Maybe they have moved themselves back so far that you don't get paint on you now therefore ruining the experience I had planned for Sakari.
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Well the show started and the curtains went away...
Sakari's eyes were fixated on them and watching every move and laughing. Blue Man is so funny and we were enjoying ourselves. Yes, you can take pictures but no flash and no video they announced.
They did a stint where the guy in the middle had marshmallows and he would throw them to the guy to his left and that guy would catch them in his mouth. The guy on his right got some kind of paint balls to catch and they were making a picture with it. The guy catching the marshmallows caught it from across the stage...every.single.time! I think he must have had about 30 marshmallows in his mouth it was so huge. I cannot even imagine how he did that. But...the audience got to test their "catching skills" as well and they threw one to Sakari. She missed it with her mouth, bounced off her face, and then she got it to keep as a souvenir. LOL No we no longer have it. I'm not sure how you can preserve something like that.
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Now since I do send Sakari to an Art School, her school focuses on various arts in their circiculum and I knew she would appreciate all the "instruments" they played...the tubes and the different sounds they made. She loved it!
Before the show started, Sakari wanted to know if they would have any audience participation. I told her "YUP! why do you think I got front row seats??" LOL She said "do you think they will call on me?" I told her "I sure hope so!" She had a worried look on her face which then converted to hmmm, this might be fun. She said "but I might get embarrassed if they call on me" I told her they would make it fun (and funny) and don't be embarrassed because you don't know any of these people in here and would never see them again and it is supposed to be funny. She came to terms with that and I ask her "are you going to do it if they call on you?" She said "yes!" I told her "I didn't pay over $400 for you to say no, get up on that stage girl" LOL
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Well, they were coming out into the audience now. They were going by and starring at everyone. I bet her excitement and anxiety was rising at this point. They came over and stared at her then instead of picking her, they decided to put their foot on the arm part of the chair and start to climb it....all the way to the back of the theater.
Once they reached the back, they picked someone out of the audience to come up on stage. What the frick? That was not fair at all. They had the cheapest seats in the building and they get picked to participate. What a bummer! Remember this if you ever go to the Blue Man at the Luxor! More expensive is not better.
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They pulled the lady up on the stage to sit in a box with them and the show went on...communicating without saying a word and it was funny. She played along but I can guarantee you that Sakari's facial expressions that she makes all the time is Blue Man material and would have had everyone laughing hard. Sakari even said the same thing "mom, I could have played that part really good because I act like the Blue Man all the time".
Her moment of fame that didn't happen was over and the show went on.
They went on to another segment that one of them had these "air control traffic" lights is the only way I can explain how they looked. He had 2 of them in his hands and he went up to another Blue Man and pointed at him with them and moved them back and forth and the Blue Man's body started to wiggle whatever way that the other man turned the lights. Spin around, move your hips back and forth, change positions with the other Blue Man. The one holding the lights looked into the light like it was magical he was holding in his hands. He went over to someone in the audience sitting in the front row and pointed at them with his lights and gave the motion to stand up, then wiggle, then change seats. It was working like magic. We all laughed.
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Then the time came...he walked over to our side and pointed at Sakari and told her to stand up. She was so excited!
He had her dancing and wiggling and he was doing it with her. Then he had daddy stand up and start dancing too. They wiggled back and forth and had a blast.
When their moment of fame was over, Sakari sat back down and shrieked with laughter and stomped her feet back and forth in excitement (something she does when she is overly excited about something). She kept saying "I can't believe they picked me! I was dancing with Blue Man".
Now I will say that this show was pretty much the same as the show we had seen on the Epic. They must never change it no matter where they are. There were just a few things that either I didn't remember or they added. But, it was just as good the 2nd time around.
As they were playing their instruments, the drum in front of us was spitting out smoke. Every time he hit it to the beat it would make a smoke ring. They would float through the air in the audience. It was so cool.
Then all of a sudden someone let off the huge poppers. I didn't see any of it because I was taking pictures of the smoke rings floating in the audience. When I turned back around Sakari and daddy were covered in streamers and she was stomping her feet and shrieking again.
If I can't take my notorious Sakari jumping/floating in the air on the beach picture like I always do, I'm getting floating men pictures instead this time around.
And then it was all over. Sakari loved it and I was so happy she did. She would continue to talk about it for the rest of the night...and week...and after she got home as well. Mission accomplished...except for the paint or getting wet. That was not accomplished and I'm not sure why this doesn't happen anymore. Maybe COVID had them change some things up and not being able to wear the rain coats and sharing them. I'm not sure.
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Kendra and Billy went a few years ago and they said they definitely wore them and sent me pictures.
After the show, we were hungry. We really didn't feel like having to go out in the cold and take a bus to find something. My leg was still hurting and I just didn't want to walk anywhere. We decided to stay at the Luxor and I had a coupon for $20 off $40 at the restaurant there at Diablo's Cantina.
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We headed down to the Mlife counter to get it added to my card and then back up to the restaurant.
When we checked in, they said it would be about a 20-30 minute wait even though we could see plenty of open tables. They did not appear busy at all...in my opinion. They took my phone number and said they would text when our table was ready.
We didn't get very far away from the restaurant and they were texting that the table was ready. So, it was more like a 5 minute wait.
The menu:
I ordered the chicken burrito and the hubby ordered a beef burrito. I did see the chips and salsa as an appetizer on the menu, so I thought maybe this place didn't provide you with that unless you ordered them. However, they did eventually bring them out.
Now it did take about 1/2 hour for our food to arrive. They felt kind slow...still not many people in the restaurant in my opinion.
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I had never had a burrito with this green looking sauce on it and the hubby had never had one with the brown sauce. It wasn't a bad flavor, but I'm still undecided if I liked it. It was a weird taste that I had never had before.
When they brought out Sakari's food, they brought her an enchilada, which is not what she ordered. She ordered a plain quesadilla with only cheese and no sides. They had to go back and make hers. There's a pattern with these Mexican restaurants...they can never get her order right. Same thing happened in Aruba.
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Now one might think it's a simple task of throwing some cheese in the middle of two tortilla's and warming but this seemed to be a task for them and they must have had to go down to the local deli to get cheese because almost 3/4 of our food was already gone before hers came out...with all the fixin's. She will never eat any of those side dishes and such a waste of food.
Sakari was dressed in her Blue Man attire for the rest of the night...
So even though we comped a $20 offer at this place, it still ended up costly us $68.68 total.
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We headed out with our bellies full and back to the room and to bed by 11:30pm...Vegas time!
