Atlantic City

[richlevy]

I'm here at the Tropicana Casino in AC. We brought Jeffrey along with us and left the other teenager at home for two days.

The hotel offered a room package. For other weeks, a standard room was $59 and the new Havana Towers rooms were $99. For this week the standard rooms were $98 and the Havana Towers rooms were $99.

I splurged and paid the extra $7 for 24 hours of high-speed access. We're taking turns watching Jeffrey. I've only had 5 minutes of gambling for all of yesterday (up $5 at slots and video poker).

We went down to AC a lot when we were dating, so it was interesting seeing the familiar landmarks on the way down and what's changed. We came down route 40 through part of the pine barrens. It was dark so you could see by the lights the areas that were still farms and the ones that had been developed. There are still towns in Central Jersey that look like Mayberry, but with their main street turned into a busy highway. You can still sometimes pass by abandoned motels and restaurants, some of which I know were abandoned at least ten years ago.

The 'Quarter' at Tropicana, which is a studio-lot version of Havana in the 20's, is built on what used to be an access tunnel and plain room tower between the parking garage and the main casino. They did a pretty nice job on the touches and expanded it to include shops and a nice open mall area. Last night they had a jazz group playing from a gazebo suspended between the first and second floors in the mall.

It is nice being in a newer room, since old hotel rooms, no matter how well kept up, always end up being a little shabby, which doesn't work well with institutional rooms. Shabby in a bed and breakfast can come off as quaint. Shabby with the kind of furniture and carpet you find in any chain hotel is just shabby.

If I had the choice, I would probably have opted to save the $40 per night and go with the standard room. This week the difference was only $1.

What's odd is that the package reservation page would only let you book one day at a time. I wanted to book two days so I called a live operator who told me that they were sold out of the packages and that it would be $30 more per night. I went back to the web site and booked two separate nights. I'm guessing that they allocate different blocks of rooms to their reservation operators and the web site.

I'm headed down to the poker room today while Marci and Jeff go to see both IMAX movies (NASCAR and The Polar Express). Wish me luck.

I just hope our house is still standing when we get back.

[elSicomoro]

Rho and I went to the Sands last weekend...we had a pretty good time.

We went to the Trop last Xmas...I wasn't that impressed with it, but haven't been there since the Quarter and Havana Towers opened.

[breakingnews]

Oh wow, I've heard such great things about the Trop's new tower. I've got a handful of rooms reserved there (in the old South tower, unfortunately) for my birthday next month, which is interestingly the last weekend before the rates start heading north ahead of the spring season.

I've always been a fan of the Top of the Trop, especially now that their lounge singer is sporting a new set of knockers, according to one bartender.

But anyway, can only begin to imagine what debauchery might be caused by 16 recent college grads and a cooler (or two) full of booze. Anyone care to join?

[richlevy]

Well, so far we have had two false fire alarms today, one while we were in the Irish Pub waiting for lunch. The alarm sounded for about 20-30 seconds, and the flashing strobe light stayed on for about 10 minutes. I was facing the light and got a headache. Noone went for the exits and we were told that there was a water break in the parking garage.

About ten minutes went by and then the strobe was turned off. Someone came on to the alarm PA system twice and told us the emergency was over.

After we finished lunch, we started walking towards the casino. As we were walking towards it, we could hear an alarm and see flashing strobes on the other side. This 20 foot high metal curtain fire door seperating the Quarter and Casino sections kept trying to close.

So we got some show tickets and I went to the casino and lost about $100. I went back to the room and to lie down for a while, but there is some construction going on nearby and I can hear someone hammering. I called downstairs and they swear the guys will knock off by 5. I had to get the front desk through the operator because the lines are busy. Someone at the front desk forgot to register the fact that I had booked for two nights and my wife was locked out. She had to go downstairs and wait in line to tell them that we were booked for two nights. When I got to the room my key didn't work and she let me in.

I hope the next 24 hours are better than the first.

Well, at least the food in the pub was good. It's called Ripas and I had a great fish and chips there. We're going to the Havana show and afterwards Marci and Jeff are going to see Polar Express in IMAX 3D.

[richlevy]

Ok, things are looking better. We had friends over and after dinner and a show my blood pressure is down to triple digits. I got a message from the hotel expressing regret for my experience and asking how they can make it up.

Marci and Jeff are off at IMAX, and I'm looking forward to their impressions. Jeff liked the Havana show. Most of the routines were great. There was one very odd set where they were dancing while passing around 4 foot stuffed bananas in a standard stage number and then in a Busby Berkeley style routine with the dancers passing the bananas into and out of a circle in a wave.

If they ever did a musical for "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", they could just turn the bananas into pods and they'd be all set.

The rest of the show was great, and Jeffrey was bopping to the salsa music.

I looked into the new Karaoke place that opened up. I was considering doing a set but decided against it. I hung out for a few minutes in the gallery across from TSOP (The Sounds of Philadelphia). The back of the bar is open and outside I was about 100 feet from the stage with a great view. They were doing James Brown and some other tunes with a nice brass section.

I re-upped my Intenet connection so I am going to find a nice Internet music station and relax.

I hope everyone out there has a great New Years.

BTW, the pub in the Trop is called RiRas. Great food.