Vegas Day 3
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE DAY!
Yawn, was that my hubby I just heard shut the door and head out for coffee? He just had to have that $8 coffee. BUT....this person (me) has discovered I could save money on my Diet Pepsi by going right down the hall to the ice machine and buy it from the vending machine for....drum roll please...the low low price of $3.00! Yep, I scored with this one.
So something weird we discovered this morning...somehow shoes ended up in the middle of the bed. No one would admit they were sleep walking. It was a complete mystery...still to this day. Like how did shoes end up in bed???? Say what??? We would blame it on Karl for the rest of the trip and ask each night if he planned on putting shoes back in the bed.
We had caffeine flowing in our veins and we were ready to find some breakfast. We had purchased several different types of gift cards prior to coming to Vegas (gotta get them grocery/gas points on top of using a credit card for points=win all the way around...and we get to eat 😁) and we knew there was a Denny's right down the road.
Along the way...Sakari found her favorite thing in the world...well it is tied with ramen noodles of course...and that is bobba. One this big would be a dream come true.

We would find that Denny's is a very popular place and IT.WAS.CROWDED! There was a long line to get in just to put your name on the waiting list and the entrance had so many people that you couldn't even move inside.
We had around a 30 minute wait and was finally seated. It was definitely busy. The service was slow. The waiter kept forgetting things like giving us silverware and I guess we were just to stare at our food or revert back to caveman days and use our fingers. 🤣
I ordered the Ultimate Omelette for $16.49, which came with 3 eggs, sausage, bacon, bell peppers & onions, sauteed mushrooms and cheddar cheese (hold the tomatoes). It came with a side of hashbrowns and toast. I think the hubby had the Braised Beef Skillet ($18.49). Sakari had the Denver Omelette ($14.99) and Karl the Choconana Breakfast ($13.49).

I have to admit it was so good and worth the wait and there was a lot. Definitely filling. One of the good things about coming here is I got to use my AARP card for a 15% discount! AARP is the best and I'm so glad the people on the cruise forum turned me on the benefits of paying $12 a year for this card and getting all these discounts. Last year when I purchased it I immediately saved way more than the $12 I paid for the membership by getting discounted Carnival Cruise Gift Cards and it was amazing. Nope, AARP is not just for old people. 😁
We felt a little cold so decided to head back to the room to grab coats (although it would eventually turn 65° that day).

We were on a mission to find a kiosk to buy our Deuce bus passes. I remembered we were able to walk across the street from the Luxor to buy tickets last time and decided to head there this time since we already knew where it was.

Across the street to the Excalibur to to catch the tram over to the Luxor we went. Once we made it to the tram we would find that one of them was out of order. Hmmm. Well, we'd have to ride the other and see what happens. We ended up on the "express" tram and it took us right past the Luxor and over to Mandalay Bay. Oops
We get to the bus stop down by Mandalay Bay only to discover there was no kiosk there. Ok, well we would just have to use the bus and see about buying tickets there. Luckily I brought cash with me. So a 3 day pass is $20 each person.
The bus came and I told the driver we wanted to buy a 3 day pass. I ask if I could use my credit card (get them points right?) and he says yes. I tried scanning it and couldn't get it to work. I finally gave up and said "I'll just use cash". I started inserting money, he was watching, he said nothing...then he says "How many are you buying?" I told him 4 of the 3 day passes. THEN he tells me he does not sell the 3 day passes on the bus and they must be bought at the kiosk. Um...ok. THEN he tells me there's no change back and there's nothing he can do about it. Wait, I told you what I needed and you didn't say a word. So all I can buy here is a day pass, which only cost $8/pp. They just managed to make a profit off of me of $48!!! THEN what else do you think happened? They also charged my credit card as well even though he said it wasn't working! The driver ask me what I wanted to do and how many tickets. I told him "Well I paid for them so give them all to me!" I guess they are going in my scrap book as my "oopsie don't trust no one experience".
Ok, I've calmed down now and we decided to ride the Deuce to the Strat and see about the Sky Jump. The last time we were here Sakari BEGGED to jump off the building and I refused. By the time I decided to agree it was raining the day we went back and it was closed. I'm not going to lie, I felt a side of relief when that happened but she has talked about it since then and I promised she would get to do it this time around. We weren't going to wait until the end of the trip and not be able to do it again because I'm pretty sure I would NEVER live it down for a second time. PLUS on Tuesdays you get a two for one jump. So, if you liked it the first time around then you got to go a second time for free.
Karl was a little nervous and I kept reassuring him that he didn't have to do it. I would even give him a "job" of videoing Sakari as she did it to make him a part of it. He said he wanted to. One of his "bucket list" items is to go skydiving and this would be the closest thing...if he went through with it. I wasn't so convinced he would do it after going up to the top and looking down from up there. You don't really get the perspective of just how tall it is until you are up there.

We had arrived and I love this sign over the street in the area outside of the Strat.
Once we arrived we would find that...........IT WAS CLOSED AGAIN! All the rides were closed. I could see the sigh of relief in Karl's eyes and he snapped his fingers and said "Oh darn. I really wanted to do it" Uh huh....sure!

When we inquired about it to the security staff they told us to go over to the actual office for the Strat (which I didn't realize they had because the counters didn't have anyone at them to sell tickets right outside security and they had now went to using a kiosk as well).
The office wasn't open but there was a guy inside and he said they were "down for maintenance" for the entire day. Of all days...the one day that it's a two for one...of course.

Well I guess that means we are trying again another day. No need to stay here or go up in the Strat because it would cost us double.
Their sculptures had their Christmas hats on. How cute.

Well, since we were already down toward the north end of the strip, we might as well keep going on down to "Old Vegas" and hit up Fremont Street for some fun.
The Golden Nugget. This is one of the oldest casinos in Las Vegas and was built in 1946 and was used in the Elvis Presley film Viva Las Vegas along with many other movies and on television. You can also find the world's largest gold nugget on display here. We found this last time we were here but this time was a different story. We walked forever and couldn't find the nugget.



Also inside you will find the famous 200,000-gallon shark tank and pool with a slide that goes through the tank.
The beautiful streets of Fremont:
This guy did not move. He reminds me of the ones you see usually in Cozumel.

There was a group of guys that were putting on a show doing flips and tricks for the audience for money. They were really good and could really flip!
Short video here:
https://youtube.com/shorts/L8V5rn3KnMA
We weren't really hungry yet but wanted something and decided we would stop at get a shake to tie us over for awhile. We managed to find a Steak 'n Shake inside a hotel and although expensive (like everything else) it was worth it and yummy.

Last time we were here we had a guy draw a caricature of us. The guy was really nice to talk to and he was originally from Ohio. He took donations only. He would no longer be there but there was another artist there. Boy have times changed in the last few years. This guy would draw you for $20 for EACH PERSON in the picture! Yikes. Well I definitely wanted a picture of us 3 together like before and Sakari wanted one of her and Karl. This would be some expensive drawings!
Yep, it looked just like them!

Then it was our turn....
And our picture...

I have to say the other guy from years ago was a little more creative. Here's our pictures from back then:
Last time we were here we were also going to go SlotZilla and didn't get a chance to come back down to Fremont during our stay. This time, we were doing it!! This time I had multiple layers of clothes on and I was keeping warm during this experience not to mention it was such a nice day out.

Although it's not quite the same as ziplining through the jungle in Roatan or Belize, it would have to do. It would be Karl's first experience and something he said he's been wanting to try out. So, try you will. I wasn't sure if he was scared or not. But he insisted on trying it out.
We went to buy our tickets and you had the option of buying just one run or you could do a "daily" pass and do it as much as you wanted during a certain time frame during the day. Once was good enough for us. I also decided to buy the video camera with mine so that I could take a video during our "flight". The zipline itself was $69/each. This is for the superman laying down experience, which is what the kids wanted to do, and not the sitting up experience (which is of course cheaper). Then to add the video was an extra $15. Of course they needed to "process" our charges for a whopping $20 fee and we ended up paying $311 for the entire 1 minute ride down the street of Fremont and under the LED lights above. It is 1,700 feet long and 114 feet high. Such highway robbery...or Fremont robbery at least.
We headed up the flight of stairs to get ready to zip...
Once up at the top, we were fitted into our harnesses.

Then they handed us each a camera and strapped it to our wrist. Wait, I only paid for 1 camera. Oh well.
They would then proceed to take multiple pictures of us that they would end up putting us on different backgrounds in hope that we would purchase them I'm sure.
Look, we managed to get our Christmas picture for 2024:

Now we were really feeling like Superman! Dun Da Dun!
It was finally our time to go and little did we know, they were still taking pictures of us as the tortured us with the waiting game to turn us loose.
Getting ready to go....the suspense was killing us and I think Karl was getting nervous. Just cut us loose already.
The gates dropped down and off we went like race horses off the starting line. Sakari was screaming with excitement and Karl...well, he was a little scared and had a few choice words along the way. Oh Karl, you haven't seen nothing yet...just wait until we make it to the Strat again!

We were racing through the streets of Fremont. Sakari always wanted to fly like a bird...and now she felt that statement.
More pictures they took of us while "flying". The hubby and I was in the lead.
We made it to the quick 1 minute thrilling finish line and it was fun. Just not long enough. I guess when you are use to an adventure of zipping multiple platforms in the jungle, this just doesn't compare but we can finally say we did it.

When we were done the workers approached us at the finish line to show us all of our pictures and videos. He was giving his speech about the "memories" we could buy and he kept going and going and I ended up having to interrupt him to tell him I had purchased the add on video already. "Oh, he said, I didn't realize that. Let me put this in for you". I think he sent me and link and told me I would be able to download our videos and pictures on there and they were good for 2 months. I think he made a mistake because we were able to get ALL of our videos and pictures. Oops.
Here's our videos combined...excuse Karl's manners. LOL
Well, it was time to head out. We had accomplished everything we wanted to at Fremont Street and now it was time to find the bus stop. It's located in front of the Heart Attack Grill, which is right there at Fremont, even though they don't drop you off here when you arrive and you have to walk around and down the street to get to Fremont.
The bus came quickly and the kids favorite spot was of course upstairs so they could see out the window on the ride back. They managed to get the second row back.

Sakari would wait patiently for the people in front of her to get off and up to the front she went to "drive" this bus.

I would attempt to take pictures along the way back to the hotel, but it being dark out now and the bus never turns off the lights inside, there was a lot of glare.
We made it to our bus stop and would have to walk a block (which was actually our hotel on the entire block but the entrance was all the way at the end...of course) and I got a few nice pictures of everything lit up. There's nothing like seeing this place at night to let you know you're in Vegas.
The Brooklyn Bridge:

Arrived!
There's a great view on our floor at the vending machines of MGM Grand across the street (because you know I headed there before going to the room):

Once back at the room the kids wanted to know what we were doing tonight...like we hadn't had enough excitement for the day already right? Ok, time to figure out a show I guess. Gotta keep these kids happy and busy. I honestly didn't feel like catching the bus again and going somewhere so I decided why not see a show right here in our own hotel. There were a lot of advertisements for the Cirque de Soleil show called Mad Apple. We've only been to the Cirque de Soleil shows on cruise ships and enjoyed them a lot. I figured why not! I already knew I wanted to see the Michael Jackson One Cirque show.
So, I booked for the 9:30pm show and we just hung out in the room watching tv until it was time to head downstairs. Around 8:30pm we decided just to go on down and see if they were letting anyone in. There wasn't even anyone at the doors yet. Oops! I guess this makes us first in line!
We had seats 101, which were located on the side. There's one thing I learned last time we came and seen the shows is that at most of the theaters it doesn't really matter too much where you sit because you can see pretty good anywhere. Last time I purchased the more expensive tickets to all the show we went to. Nope, not this time. I learned my lesson. This show would cost $329.04 to see.
We headed in to find our seats........
This is where our seats were. Not too shabby and we could see everything just fine.

There was a guy that was running around doing things to make people laugh while people were finding their seats and he popped up at the top of the theater in the lights in the New York Statue of Liberty "crown" (as seen above)

There was another one of the acrobats that was entertaining those down below.

The man in the crown came down and was doing some juggling and before long he was really stacked up.
This guy balanced himself on multiple items as they rolled back and forth and he built it higher and higher.
A girl came out and attached a rope to her hair (I'm still trying to figure this one out) and she swung back and forth while twisting and turning and making me dizzy just thinking about it.

A guy came out on the stage and told jokes. Most of them were sexual jokes. I side eyed Sakari and said "You don't know what he's talking about RIGHT?!?" She gave a slow nod and just starred at me to make sure she had given me the correct answer.

This time 2 girls were on the rope hanging down. This stuff is what I think of when I hear Cirque de Soleil.

A lady came out and told a "story" with her hands in the light. She was pretty good.

These guys were doing gymnastics and jumping through hoops, which would get higher and higher, while people danced around the outside. Eventually they would do flips while playing basketball.
Yes, that is someone that was on the stage (more sexual references) and he was naked and just covering his "junk". Then he would go running through the audience. Hmmm, this is a weird show.
A guy on the rope that came down and did some balancing acts on a pole and some scissor looking things.
The spinning wheel acrobats. They definitely got a little crazy...especially when on the outside of the wheel.
The end of the show and all the people that were in it:
I have to say it was not at all what I expected. There was A LOT of sexual talk and references in this show. It states you must be at least 10 years old to attend this show but honestly I feel like it should have been an 18 and over show. That's how bad it was with the jokes about sex and so on....just saying. I walked out of there scratching my head and wondering if this was the "norm" for these shows. I honestly didn't think so. It was definitely the "Bad Apple" of shows for us during our stay but they did have good acrobatics.
Here's a video of some of it:
We were starving because we hadn't had dinner yet. There were plenty of options along the streets of New York to pick from. Everyone decided on pizza except the hubby went for the meatball sub. I went a little overboard with pizza, garlic bread and I just HAD to have a slice of cheesecake. I was living it up I tell ya! I knew the hubby wasn't going to let me do this once we got back home.

Back to the room and everyone was tired. Time for bed after checking how many miles we walked today:

Not quite as much as yesterday thanks to the Deuce Bus. Whew! It saved our legs a mile today. Winning!