Vegas Trip Diary March 2025

 March is a great time to go to Vegas! We visited the first week of March, and the weather never went above 60 degrees (the air was cool and crisp!) and it wasn't crowded at all!

Since we're frequent visitors to the 9th Island, our trips have gone from "go-go-go" to "slow-slow-slow" so it was definitely a relaxing trip. We stayed the Cal, Hawaii's home away from home, and ventured out to the Strip on one day.

Here's how it unfolded . . . 

Did you know that if you show your boarding pass at the El Cortzel player's club/rewards desk within 24 hours of arrival you can get some freebies? It includes $10 free slot play, $25 match play and a free drink. This perk is available once a year; multiple if you earn 100 tier credits on your prior trip that year.

I put in my free $10 slot play into this Happy Prosperous slot machine and was lucky to hit a bonus! This was a great way to start our trip! 

I started playing video poker on this trip and I had a nice win during this session. Unfortunately I wasn't lucky enough to replicate this. LOL.

Wheel of Fortune remains popular, but there aren't as many machines as before. This was a nice bonus.

We played bingo at the Plaza. I haven't hit bingo yet out of the several times we've played, so on our next trip, I'll still play, but I won't buy as many cards.

There was a two-day Super Bingo Tournament at the Plaza when were there, so we needed to wait until the sessions were over. before we played in the late afternoon. A huge convention hall had tables and tables of bingo players. With your entry, they provide you breakfast and lunch and there are special room rates as well. I think I may do this one day! :-)

Unfortunately, our trip coincided with the week that switched out the conservatory display. One week earlier, we would have experienced the Chinese New Year display; one week later, the Spring display.

It's kinda cool to see them putting everything together.

I'm sure these pictures won't do the actual display justice.

We could still walk around the back portion of the conservatory, so I was able to view this live floral frame. 

It was very windy on the day we visited the Strip.

We visited this really cool art installation called Colors of Mexico, showcasing the culture of Mexico. Located at Fashion Show Mall with FREE admission, it consisted of several rooms with displays, including digital ones. It was really cool. Does anyone know how to add video to Blogger? There is an option to upload media, but it never works. I would love to be able to include videos on this blog to show you how cool it was.

Every time I go to Vegas, I get obsessed with something, whether it be a new machine, a new souvenir or things to do. This time it was Silver Strike slot machines that dispenses collector coins.

This one was from the Plaza. Each machine has several different, limited edition coins you can collect. 

This one is from Four Queens. The machines are quarter machines and you play three credits per pull. I didn't have to play a lot before I got the coins. It says on the coins that they are worth $10. Not sure if I actually tried to redeem them at the cashier's cage they would give me $10? I looked it up on the internet and a $10 Silver Strike coin are 42mm in diameter, has a .999  pure silver core and a heavey gold electroplated outer brass ring. Total silver content is about .65 oz. There's even a Silver Strike Club where you can buy/sell/trade coins, and they hold meet-ups in Vegas!

There was this really cool racing game that I found at New York New York. It's a slot machine and the bonus rounds allows you to race a car, similar to Mario Cart.

It was super fun! I didn't win a lot on the racing rounds. I only bet the minimum and I didn't do very well (as usual) during the races. I think I raced about 4-5 times and I won less than $2 each time. But it was sure fun! I will definitely be back to play this machine.

On our December 2024 trip to Vegas, we stumbled upon a wrestling match at the Container Park. On this trip, we witnessed the 2025 World Sign Spinning Championship on Fremont Street! Yes! Who knew there was such a thing! We only stayed to watch a few contestants, but we were impressed by their skills. Again, I wish I knew how to upload videos to Blogger!

This post is getting pretty long, so I'll do a food post separately. I'll end here with a congratulations Boyd Gaming who is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. A lot of the staff were wearing "Cheers to 50 Years" shirts (I asked if customers could buy them, but unfortunately we can't), the table game felts had 50th anniversary branding as well as chips and player's club cards. Happy Birthday Boyd!

Thanks for reading!

More from this trip:

• Vegas Eats 2025

Vegas Trip Diary October 2023

Fall is such a great time to visit Las Vegas, weather-wise. Temperature highs were in the mid-80s and at night it dropped to high-70s. It felt so much better than our summer trip!

Traffic wise, Fall is not such a great time to visit for the next 10 years because of the Formula 1 races that are taking place in mid-November for the next 10 years. When we visited in May of this year, traffic was already a mess due to road construction. When we visited in October, traffic continued to be a mess because they started to build out all the grandstands and other infrastructure related to the race. We stayed in Downtown and had a car, but we were highly selective when we went to the Strip.

Here's some of things we did/ate:

Pink Box Donuts, located at the Plaza in Downtown is such a vibe. They are open long hours (24 hours on a Saturday!) and offer the cutest donut creations, ever! We got the more traditional donuts, like chocolate sprinkles. We'll be more adventurous on our next trip.

If you are a fan of the Netflix series "Stranger Things", then the Stranger Things store is a must-visit for you. Located on the Strip, right across of Park MGM, it offers tons of themed merchandise and photo ops. You can take a picture in Joyce's living room, ride a bike through Hawkins and even pose with the various demons.

Paradox Museum
Located mid-Strip, right across from Park MGM, the Paradox Museum is an illusion museum. It offers a plethora of "illusion" displays. What do you see? A vase or two faces? Or . . . stare at the black and white lines long enough and they will start to undulate . . . stuff like that. They also have a bunch of picture friendly illusions you can pose in to baffle your friends and family . . . how are you so small in this picture . . . how are you walking on the wall?

We enjoyed our visit. I think I would want to go back again and re-take some of the photos to get the right angles and to also come up with some new things you can do in certain pictures. Here's a small sampling of the pictures we took.

We ate breakfast at Craft Kitchen Cafe and Bakery, located at the Fremont Food Hall. Go early or else you'll be waiting in a line.

I don't normally eat loco mocos but decided to try theirs. I guess it was ok? Pretty good? Like I said, I normally don't eat loco mocos. LOL.

Strawberry kouing amann. Yummy!

Chocolate shake from Bobby's Burger at Paris.

We became fans of Bobby Flay after watching the "Beat Bobby Flay" series. (Honestly, he should NOT have won the chicken adobe challenge!) We got a chicken burger, hamburger, fries, onion rings and a shake. The food was really good, but it was about $60!!!!! Hideously expensive for a take out place!

Sandbox VR at Planet Hollywood
I never thought I'd be into virtual reality games, but they are really a ton of fun! The first one we did was Avenger's Experience at the VOID, which is now closed in Las Vegas. We also Fall Out at Zero Latency located at MGM Grand. This trip, we played The Curse of Davy Jones at Sandbox VR located at the Miracle Miles Shops at Planet Hollywood (there is also another location at the Venetian Grand Canal Shops, which probably took the space of VOID.

As usual, the oldest kid got the highest score.

As usual, Mom (me, aka Crazy Lady) got the lowest score! I get the lowest score at the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland too! Sigh.

That's it for now! As usual, thank you for reading! Check out my other posts from this trip:

• Bellagio Conservatory Fall 2023
• Hoover Dam