My time in Orlando has come to an end. I woke up at 6.00am and got the bell hop to come and pick up my luggage. I have packed my suitcase so well that the handle will not extend on the case making it very difficult to wheel anywhere.
The shuttle bus was on time and I got to the airport in Orlando with plenty of time to spare. You can check your bags on the footpath at the front of the airport and one of the South West Airlines staff weighed my luggage. It was 25kgs, and he said that it would cost $25 for excess luggage. I told him I would just pay it as there was no way I was going to open my case the way it was packed. He tried check my luggage but it came up with a note saying I had to go into the airport to get my luggage checked. He said wait a minute and asked the supervisor on the footpath to check and then he was able to check it for me but he said he did me a favour by not charging me for the excess.
I asked him the reason I originally needed to go into the airport and he said I was on a watch list. (I imagine it must be because I had to get the visa for entry. I then tipped him $5 for all his effort especially due to getting me off the $25 excess luggage fee.
I went through the airport security check o.k. and then sat in the departure lounge writing up the blog I wrote yesterday. The flight got away on time and we actually flew over the top of the weather that was still around from Hurricane Gustav. The flight is similar as flying from Sydney to Perth so we had plenty of time to fill especially as there was no Movies or Audio programs on the plane.
We flew over the western rim of the Grand Canyon; unfortunately it was on the other side of the plane and then flew past the Hoover Dam which was on my side of the plane as we were descending into Las Vegas.
I got the airport shuttle to my hotel for the next three nights, Circus Circus.
The shuttle only cost $6.50 per person and after a few other stops I was at the hotel about 70 minutes after I landed. I got set up in the room and got my gear organised and then went out for a walk. I needed to get some bottles of water for the room. My brother Neil has been to Las Vegas and stayed at Circus Circus and he had told me before I left where to go to find a supermarket not far from the casino. After all the heat and humidity in Orlando I was hoping it might be a bit cooler in Las Vegas but it was 103F. The only saving grace is that there was no humidity at all; it was a very dry heat.I went back to the room and only then found that I did not have a fridge in the room. I had to go to the end of the corridor and get ice for the ice bucket to put the drinks in. I then started to look through the Las Vegas magazine that was in the room to see what shows were on as I was keen to go to see some shows. I saw that the Cirque De Soleil show “Ka” was on at 7.00pm at MGM Grand and that another of their shows “Zumanity” was on at 10.30 at New York New York.
I decided that I would go and see if I can get tickets for the two shows. I went out the front of the casino and went to get the Vegas Strip bus the “Deuce” to go down to the MGM Grand to see their box office about getting tickets. When I got to the bus stop there were a lot of people already waiting for the bus and when it arrived I was not able to get on. They only come every 20 minutes and as it was about 5pm I decided to get a taxi to get to the MGM Grand.
Another collection of mine is collecting $5 poker chips from Casino’s, but only if I have visited them.
Once there I was able to get tickets for both shows and then went out onto the footpath and went to the Tropicana Casino to have a look in there. I picked up some poker chips and then headed back to MGM for the show.
The show was fantastic. I had a seat in the centre of the theatre about 15 rows back from the front. Most of the show is done on moving platforms that go in all directions including vertical which allows the performers to swing on poles placed on the platform which makes them look as though they are swinging from pole to pole. They also dive off the platform into space and drop below our eyesight, obviously onto some catch webbing or similar. I will not try to describe any of the shows I see as it would not do them justice.
When the show finished I had enough time to go and get some dinner and get the poker chips at New York, New York before going to see the second show. Zumanity is billed as Cirque’s adult show and a lot of the women performers perform topless in their routines. There are a lot of sleazy jokes and suggestions in the show and although the routines were good the jokes and comments made the show feel second rate and something you would expect on late night T.V. Overall I was disappointed with this show.
After the show I went to three casinos, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay and the Luxor. The Excalibur is across the road from New York, New York and from there you can go by tram to both the other two casinos. As these casinos tend to cover a few city blocks each it was necessary at that time of night to get the tram. I picked up poker chips from all three of them and even won money on the tables at two of them and on a game machine (similar to a poker machine) at the other one.
After finishing at the Luxor I caught a taxi home to Circus Circus about 2.00am.
No comments:
Post a Comment