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| love this elaborate setup |
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| don't think this carousel was made of food, but it rotated |
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| big fresh tree |
Babe checked in at the Mandalay front desk, and we were able to get a room immediately instead of waiting until 3pm, so we didn't have to store our luggage. The Mandalay Bay lobby was also decorated with holiday splendor. Our room was nice, but the quality was definitely a lot less than last night's accommodations. Even though the layout of the floor and hallways were the same as the Four Seasons, Mandalay Bay didn't put as much detail into the trim and carpet. The beds weren't as plush, neither were the towels, and the toiletries were their house brand. :P Plus, I wasn't a fan of the open window in the bathroom. There was no way of shading it, so if you don't want to reveal your nakedness, this may be a concern. It could be just a feature of king-bedded rooms...
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| the "window" faces the foyer of the room. no privacy! |
After some Internet surfing time and catching up with Facebook, we were hungry and decided to try getting into the Studio B buffet at the M Hotel in Henderson, designated "Best Buffet in Las Vegas" for 2010 by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. We tried to have dinner here last August, but I gave up after an hour of waiting and moving only 10 feet. It was about a 15 minute drive from Mandalay Bay on I-15 south. This time, we arrived at 2:30pm and hoped the line wouldn't be so bad...it was just as long as I had left it last August. :( But this time, I was mentally prepared to wait up to 3 hours. I even brought an emergency granola bar to stave off hypoglycemia. I found out from the patrons behind us in line that the buffet was offering a 2-for-1 deal before 4pm if you had a player's card, so I jumped out of line to sign up for one and came back...Babe had barely moved 20 feet. The buffet was $29.99 and included unlimited beer and wine. 2-for-1 made the meal sweeter, especially as I don't drink very much. After 2.5 hours, we finally made it to the cashier to pay. It was past 4pm but they honored the 2-for-1 deal to anyone who was in line before 4pm. Then there was another line to get seated! We waited here for another 15 minutes. Finally we were in! It felt like cafeteria seating, not like the Wynn or Bellagio. There were bright TV displays alongside one of the main walls, which showed segments of shows from Food Network and other images. The buffet was laid out pretty well, with plates next to sections of food, so you didn't have to wait in a line just to get at a particular food item. The description of the food was written on the glass sneeze guards.
The Asian food selection was pretty good. I had an oxtail stew that was delicious. The Thai curry and Korean kalbi were tasty. Crab legs were standard, but they had hot ones along with cold! Oysters were small, but plentiful. The prime rib was supposed to be the best, according to Yelp, but I didn't have any room to try it. There was a vast selection of desserts along with a gelato bar. They were out of mango gelato though. :( As far as unlimited drinks were concerned, there was draft beer, but it consisted of national brands like Coors Light. There were draft ciders and a draft root beer. Red and white wines were also available...Babe tried some and he said it was good. I just stuck with apple juice and some sips of berry cider. I don't think it was worth waiting almost 3 hours to eat here, but at $15 per person plus tax, it softened the blow. I would wait at most 1 hour. Maybe if I was more of a lush, I would like the place more since it costs $15 just to get one drink at a casino bar. I won't be back anytime soon, unless perhaps for breakfast where I would think the wait would be just an hour or less.
We ate at the buffet for about 2 hours (not even past the time we waited) and returned to the Mandalay Bay by 8pm. We had tickets to the 10:30pm Zumanity show at the New York New York hotel. I saw a discount offer on Travelzoo and bought the cheapest seats I could get, as I hadn't heard a lot of good reviews and the theater seemed on the small size.
No car needed tonight; there was a tram that went from Mandalay Bay to Excalibur, and then a pedestrian bridge across Tropicana Boulevard to get to the NYNY.
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| useful Strip map courtesy of vegas.com |
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| view from my seat, last row of center section, not too bad |
There was a pre-show going on and lots of sexual references were being used, along with flowery language. People in the front rows were getting accosted, as expected in Cirque pre-shows. Another plus to sitting way in the back. I couldn't take any photos during the show of course. It was a cabaret show, Cirque-style. There were still acrobatics and strong people; however, the performers could be topless. Some of the men were wearing G-strings. One segment of the show became "orgasmic", haha. Then at the end of the show, two lucky audience members got to take part in an "orgy". Quite embarrassing. One who was selected to go on stage was a young man from Iowa, who was with his stepdad and mom. Why would you go to this show with your parents? He ended up having his shirt taken off, and a never-before-seen shade of white was exposed! All in all, I thought the show was fun to watch, and something different than the usual artsy nature of Cirque shows. Plus, I only paid about $50 a ticket; a nice way to end a Saturday night. Unfortunately the tram was closed after 11pm, so we had to walk back to Mandalay Bay through Excalibur and Luxor. It had been years since I had stepped foot in Excalibur, and it had transformed itself into a country-western theme. It was weird to hear country music and still be surrounded by "castle". The Luxor also transformed itself from its Egyptian roots to a more contemporary theme which reminded me of the inside of Aria. At least their lobby remained Egyptian.
The next day, we checked out of the hotel and drove over to Fashion Show Mall to do some shopping. I got a couple of nice sweaters for Babe from Macy's, and I bought a bra using a $10 coupon that I got from purchasing at Victoria's Secret during Karen's birthday weekend. I was getting hungry, so we drove over to Bellagio to get some fries from the snack bar and a delectable crepe from Jean-Philippe Patisserie. It's a tradition now to stop at J-P. Adding the extra scoop of gelato for $2 is one of the best deals in Vegas. The fries may also become a regular occurrence, as they are to die for and a good portion for the price.
Bellagio was very decked out for the holidays, especially in the conservatory.
We walked over to Aria to check out the decorations, the buffet, and to do a little bit of gambling. I hadn't gambled the last two times I was in Vegas, so I was getting an itch for my beloved game, video poker. I didn't win any money, but I had fun and Babe got several bottles of beer out of it.
We passed by the Aria buffet and considered eating there, but it was $36.95 for dinner (which included 1/2 a Maine lobster per person and unlimited wine) and we only had 2 hours before departing for the airport. I didn't want to feel rushed, plus if I was paying $36.95, I'd want to stay as long as possible and enjoy it. We ended up going to the Bellagio buffet and waiting only 10 minutes to get in. It was $29.95, but at least I knew the quality was good. I will try the Aria buffet (despite mixed reviews) when I am next in town...New Year's Eve weekend! Yes, another trip, but it was planned in advance, and this $175 trip was spontaneous. You'd think Vegas was our favorite place, but it's just a convenient destination. Hope Raku is open New Year's Day!
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