Las Vegas 2021
Day 6: Friday, December 24
Well this morning would not be one that I managed to sleep in too late. My back was killing me this morning and it made it hard to sleep. But the weather was raining again, so no sunrise for me today.
Sakari woke up and hopped in the shower and got ready. The hubby headed down to get coffee and the Starbucks line was so long he ended up at another little shop he found. He came back and told me about it and said it had breakfast "stuff" and I made the executive decision that this is where we would eat this morning instead of going out and traveling in the rain (which I didn't realize we were supposed to have rain today).
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While Sakari was in the shower, the hubby and I headed down to the deli. We figured we'd get breakfast and just bring it back up and by that time, Sakari should be out. This deli was on the other side of the pyramid and I would discover that we hadn't even walked all the way over here and had no idea it was here.
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The Backstage Deli:
I decided to get Sakari and I the 2 eggs breakfast which came with bacon or sausage, tater tots and bread. The hubby got a breakfast bagel and tater tots. Our grand total was $46.77. We headed back up and set up on our little coffee table to eat. Sakari was out of the shower and didn't even realize we had left.
By the time we were done eating, it was bright and sunny out. Well, our plans for the day involved heading to New York New York and riding the roller coaster. Today was supposed to be the day it opened back up and Sakari didn't want to miss it. The good thing about today was it couldn't be more of a perfect day to ride...it was warm out.
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The hubby talked about catching the bus over there, but that would require us to buy another bus pass. I had a better idea. We would catch the tram (since it was Friday, it was working) over to Excalibur. Then we would get off the tram at the very end (there are 2 stops there) and take the bridge over to NY NY. No need to buy another bus pass. Winning!
The tram arrived and on we went...
Heading over to New York New York and the excitement was building when we seen others already on the ride.
We headed up the escalators and to the ride. There was a little bit of a line, but it moved rather quickly. Take your money and gooooo.....time to Jingle and Scream all the Way!
Once you buy your ticket, you were to follow the signs on the floor that led you to the coaster. This would wind through the arcade that was filled with people.
Then you came to another line (which no one was in) and there was a guy there telling you to put your items in a locker. No phones or camera's or loose items. I think the locker cost $1 and it was just like the one at Circus Circus. You put a code in and that's how you access it.
We headed down the hall to the coaster. It went once before it was our time. I rode with Sakari and we were strapped in tight and off we went. Whoa, that's pretty high up! Woo Wee...twisting and turning and oh em gee wee! It was so much fun and actually longer than I thought the ride would be but of course never long enough!
They did have something at the end that said if you wanted to ride it again, you could for $10. I was half tempted to do it but they already got $57 + $1 out of me. So, since Sakari didn't ask to go again, and she probably didn't see the sign, I didn't suggest it and we moved on.
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We headed out of NY NY and down the street, just looking around with the intentions of heading across the street to the Coke and M&M store. We came across a place called Eataly at Park MGM and decided to go in and have a look around.
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It was a cute little area with different vendors/restaurants inside that reminded me of a place we have here in Columbus called the North Market. All kinds of neat little places inside to eat that you normally wouldn't find elsewhere...and of course slot machines and gambling...because you can't go anywhere without that!
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We did find a place with sandwiches that looked really good as we went by. I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one eyeballing them. I caught Sakari looking too. But breakfast wasn't that long ago, so we weren't really hungry yet.
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We headed across the street to the Coca-Cola place
It was red in every direction and multiple floors tall. Sakari ended up getting a Coke Sweatshirt (she wore hers the other day...she picked the wrong day to wear it. LOL)
The m&m store was next door so we went in there as well.
Did you see the prices on the m&m's??? $8.50 for 1/2 a pound??? YIKES! You're gonna pay for those special colors.
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When we came out, I decided I just needed to sit for awhile. My leg was hurting and I just wanted to rest. We found a ledge to sit on and took some time to just people watch. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Spiderman and maybe ?Captain Adventure? was there. I don't know. I'm not up to date on these action figures and I don't even know if Captain Adventure is one of them. We watched as they tried to lure people passing by in, grabbing everyone with a kid (made me happy I don't have a kid like that now). It was funny to watch the expressions on parents faces trying to get their child to look in a different direction so they wouldn't notice. Some stopped, others didn't. Some didn't realize you had to pay for that picture...I watched Spidey chase after a parent. LOL
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Then along came another Mickey. So, now we had 2 Mickey's working the same area. Now I must admit, today was hot. We weren't even wearing our jackets and sitting there in the sun, it was very hot with just long sleeves on. I can only imagine what it felt like in the costumes. However, they did keep taking their "heads" off and holding it, even when children were around to have their picture taken. They would pop it back on for the picture and take it back off. It seemed a little funny and Sakari said "they are killing every little kids dream right now". They did get a few weird looks from children as well.
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While we were sitting there I can't even begin to tell you how many Vegas and Bunny girls came by asking for us to take a picture. As a matter of fact, the same two girls had ask us in passing twice already. Well finally I felt rested and we decided to get up and walk. As we walked, they were passing us once more and said "Come on! Take your picture! It's Christmas!" At that point I replied with "Yes, it's Christmas so explain to me what that has to do with bunnies? Aren't bunnies for Easter?" I figured if that didn't make them stop asking us, nothing would. She said in the most squealed voice "There's bunnies on Christmas shows". Um...ok...goodbye.
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We came across MGM and decided to go inside. I have to say I was pretty disappointed and didn't see anything Christmas inside. Bah-humbug!
I mean even the entrance where people walk in from the car drop off area was a big open area with not one Christmas tree. I was puzzled.
Someone decided "Hey, let's put 3 bulbs here and call it a day. That's enough Christmas right?"
We also walked in into the Tropicana and walked right back out. We didn't see anything decorated in there either but I can tell you that it REALLY smelled good in there! They must have some major air fresheners in the vents.
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We headed back across the street to Excalibur to the tram station and caught the tram back to the Luxor.
We arrived to our beds made with our blankie's this time.
I was starring out our living room window and noticed how the clouds covered certain parts of the mountains off in the distance. It looked really neat to me.
We were only in the room about 1/2 an hour and Sakari and I both said we were hungry now. HA! Great timing right? The hubby ask where we would like to go to eat and Sakari and I both said "Well.....those sandwiches at that deli place really looked gooooood!" We had the same idea. So guess what? We headed right back out and back over to the Eataly to eat.
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Catching the tram again...
Off in the distance, behind the hotels, the clouds were looking a little mean.
We quickly found the place that we had seen those sandwiches and decided which to get. The hubby wanted the Prosciutto Cotto, I wanted the Mortadella and Sakari couldn't make up her mind between the two. So, I told her to get the Prosciutto and we would cut it in half and exchange so she could have both.
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Ok, 2 Prosciutto and 1 Mortadella.
Sakari and I already had drinks (got them before we left the hotel) but the hubby did not. He ask if they had any pop and they said just the Italian kind and pointed. Hmmm, ok, he decided to try one out.
Gulp, eeek, gurgle, ugh, swallow. Ok, with a name like "Mole" that should have been a red flag. That stuff was disgusting! It was like drinking pop that was shook up, opened up for a few days, then bottled and sold for $6. Do Italian's have different taste buds? How can anyone drink this stuff?
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The hubby tried to play it off saying that it "got better" as you drank it after eating the sandwich. No, no it did not. I don't know who you are trying to fool. It was still disgusting and I can't believe he tricked me into trying it once more. Never again.
When our order was ready, the hubby came back with this...we had no idea they were going to be this big. Sakari took one of mine and I took one of hers. She decided she liked hers better and I decided mine was better so we eventually switched back.
With our bellies full, we headed back down the street and to the tram to head back to the Luxor. By this time, it was looking really bad outside. It looked like a storm was brewing and we were about to get pounded on. Thoughts started racing in my head about...what if there was a tornado? All these people in these high rise hotels. Where do they go? They do have tornado's in that area right? Or do they? We would never know because our room was on the front side of the hotel and on that side it looked perfectly fine. It was 64 degrees out today and even with this stormy weather, it was still 59 out.
Safely back at the Luxor.
Well tonight we had booked...America's Got Talent. Sakari had done nothing but talk about it ALL WEEK and did the foot stomp thing when we first arrived and she seen the sign on the Luxor. I did give her the choice of what she wanted to do: AGT, magician or something else. I could really tell this was what she wanted, so I booked it. I wasn't too overly worried about the seats, so just booked a cheaper seat, which would still cost us $75.21 a person. I knew they always have screen's up to get the close up view when needed.
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We got ready and I'm kinda glad we booked this for our last night here because it was in the Luxor, which meant we didn't have to travel anywhere else and we wouldn't be getting home late and I'd have time to pack still.
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It was a 7pm show, which was nice also. So, we headed downstairs and Sakari was so excited. She said "Do you think I'll get to see Simon?" "Do you think we'll get to see all the people that don't make it?" Hmmm, I honestly did not understand how this was going to work. I can't imagine Simon and the judges be there every single night for every single show. What happens if you get a show that is full of people that don't make it? I really had no idea what we were about to see or experience.
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We stopped and got popcorn and headed to our seats.
Sakari was looking around and says "Where do they put the judges seats at? I don't see where they sit" I knew then that this wasn't going to be that kind of show. It's not live or the actual show, which was disappointing but it still left me wondering what kind of show it was going to be and who was going to be performing.
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Sakari was a little sad there was no Simon.
This would be as close as she would get to see Simon.
So out came someone with a dog. He was having him do tricks and I have to say that sometimes it took the dog a few times to get it right. I didn't catch what his name was or who the dog was but I think I heard him mention something about he was a dog they used for movies?
Then this happened...
Sakari and I both got excited! How can the iLuminate people be doing their own show AND be in the AGT show as well? That's a lot of work! I knew they started on AGT so maybe we'd get to see another one of their shows!
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But, wait...these guys aren't quite dancing as good as iLuminate. They just didn't do as good of a job. There's no way they are iLuminate! Who are these imposters? Well, we would later find out they were called Light Balance. They finished 3rd in Season 12.
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Then out came a guy that said his name was Preacher Lawson. He said he was a finalist on the show from season 12. He's a comedian. He was ok, but I did notice the audience wasn't laughing too much and there definitely wasn't any belly rolling going on. He would be the host of the entire show.
Up next was Duo Transcend. Now I do think I remember seeing them on AGT when they were on it. I almost feel like I've seen them on the cruise ships before as well. But it could be another couple.
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They are a married couple who do trapeze stunts. He is legally blind in one eye but they do have a segment where they are up high and on cue, she falls. He has to put his hands out at the right time and catch her foot as she falls. Well, they said that during one of the shows on AGT, he actually DROPS HER! How devastating! I went back and watched that video and wow. They said in the video that they are on the road a lot and they have a 2 year old son that has to stay home and their goal was to make it to settle down and have a Vegas show so they could all be together. I guess they accomplished that. They finished in the bottom 5 on Season 10.
They were really amazing and I noticed they did change a little in their routine. But...he didn't drop her tonight!
If you are interested in the AGT video where they performed and he dropped her, here it is.
Up next was a duo called The Clairvoyants. They did magic and is a mentalist. She "read" peoples minds as they went out into the audience to pick others for certain questions and so on. She was good, but very "dull". I think it was the way she spoke. She had no emotion. She was monotone. No enthusiasm. It just wasn't interesting to me. They finished 2nd place on Season 11.
Next was a group called Deadly Games...and they were just that. A bunch of Axe throwing crazies. LOL I don't really like things like this. It puts me on edge. It was a show of putting the girl in every position they could come up with and throwing knives and axes at her and also using a whip. They are from season 11 and was eliminated in the semifinals.
Yes, he almost hit her once and she moved real quickly (good reflexes for sure) and the crowded "Ohhhhh" and he ask if she was ok. In this segment, he was blind folded and she would direct him up or down and right or left and tell him "ok" when he was in line. Well, someone was definitely off. But the show went on.
Preacher Lawson was back on stage for a few more jokes and the introduction of the next act. He was a finalist in Season 12.
The screen came down and it looked like we were watching a video. However, I did see this act on AGT before and knew it was actually people in the background. The are called Silhouettes and from season 6 and finished in 2nd place.
Only after the show was over and they lifted the curtain to see the people, I think the audience now realized they were not watching a movie and gasp and started to clap.
Up next was Kodi Lee. I also remember seeing him on AGT. He was born with optic nerve hypoplasia, which makes him blind. He also has autism and has Addison's disease. He loves music and plays the piano and sings. He was simply amazing with an amazing voice as well. I just loved him. He won season 14.
To end the night we had a magician named Dustin Tavella, who was the $1 million dollar winner of season 16. He involved the audience and went out with a bang.
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Out came Light Balance again for some more dancing. Yippee
The only time I wished I would have got a seat down below...streamers and confetti. LOL
The show was over and time to head back to the room and pack. The show was good, but I don't think I would pay to go see it again. Sakari liked it, but of course not what she thought it would be.
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We did a little packing and I told the hubby, we gotta go to the casino one last time and try our luck...or at least donate a little more.
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The hubby didn't do any good but I managed to play for quite some time.
I decided to try the cow game....moo
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I got addicted to this game on one of the cruise ships and walked away with a good chunk of money. I have never had any luck with it since then at any of our casino's here at home or anywhere else. But, there was a lot of people playing the "updated" version. I decided to try the older version.
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Well, after awhile, I hit the "moo" and it gave me 7 frees games, which hit the bonus again and again and again. I believe I got about 50-60 free spins and the money was wracking up. I walked away with $113 and was happy with that.
One last try on the game that kept us playing every time we were in there...
Time to head back to the room. I stopped to get a pop....AND IT WASN'T WORKING!! UGH! I tried it over and over and it wouldn't take my card. Did the pop machine know I had used it too many times? Did it cut me off? Did I actually drink every Diet Pepsi in there? What am I going to do????
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Ok, calm down. I got this. I would simply walk to the other end of the pyramid and try that machine. There had to be one there too right? I walked all the way down there...and it's long! This machine did the same thing! What the heck? Is my card really messed up? There's no way both of these machines are telling me my card isn't working!
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I walked all the way back and thought I'd give it one more shot in the other direction. Whew!!! It worked! Wait!!! What's this??? I looked at the bottle and it was only about 1/4 full. Um...ok. Obviously it was a messed up bottle. How could someone put this in there like that? It would have been quite obvious that it wasn't right and they still stuck it in there and I just paid $3 for it!
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Alright, let's try this again. Another came out and I was on my way back to the room. It did look like it wasn't AS full as it should be to the top, but both of them were still sealed.
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I got back to the room and opened it up and OH EM GEE....NASTY!! Yep, I just paid $6 for pop and neither were good! What a rip off. The hubby offered me his juice from breakfast that was still in the fridge and that's what I was going to have to drink.
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I did a little more packing and off to bed we went at 11:30pm
