wakesetter93

Another holiday season is upon us which can only mean one thing: Mrs. WS93 and I are off on another adventure to celebrate her birthday. This year, with our move to Austin and family in multiple places, we decided to keep it simple. We had a wedding in Dallas the weekend before Christmas and, planning to spend Christmas Day with my parents in North Louisiana made Dallas the natural starting point.

An expiring Delta companion ticket and a use it or lose it 3 night stay at a Marriott Grand Vacations property gave us a few options. We were down to Boston, Las Vegas and Sand Diego but, with the cold in Boston and a lack of decent flight routings to SAN, we were off to Las Vegas the week before Christmas for 4 days/3 nights in the desert.

In this Trip Report

• DFW-LAX via DL Y+
• Delta SkyClub LAX SkyWay
• LAX-LAS via DL Y
• Marriott Grand Chateau Las Vegas
• Four Days in Vegas
• Eiffel Tower Restaurant and Absinthe at Caesars Palace
• Din Tai Fung at the Aria
• AmEx Centurion Lounge: LAS
• LAS-LAX-DFW Via DL Y

Links to Previous Trip Reports

• Stately Oaks and Broad Magnolias: Homecoming in Baton Rouge Plus Mileage Running
• A Weekend Getaway in NYC: 72 Hours in the Big Apple
• She Let Me Get Away With This?: A Semi-RTW Honeymoon via UA, QR, EY and AF J
• Better Make it a Double: Bachelor Party on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail
• Silicon Hills: Moving to Austin
• Another Birthday Adventure: Skiing in Park City
• Denver, Tahoe and Points In-between: Mileage Running for 2022 Status
• The Redneck Riviera: A Week in Destin
• On Our Way to See the Tigers Play!: Weekend in Los Angeles
• Especially in Michigan: 48 Hours in the Great Lakes State
• A Semi-International Vacation: Long Weekend in the US Virgin Islands
• Searching for Snow: Skiing in Colorado Again and Again
• Sun, Sand and Surfveza: Christmas in Tulum
• South Texas Road Trip: 36 Hours in the Gulf
• Crisscrossing the EU: Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Portugal
• On my way to see the TIGERS Play: National Championship Weekend in New Orleans
• Heaven to Hell and Back: Colorado, Chicago, and the Cayman Islands
• Traveling for Turkey: Thanksgiving in Western North Carolina
• Christmas in Europe via AA, BA, and AF

gaobest

Happy holidays (first one as married couple!) and enjoy Vegas!!

wakesetter93

Thanks gaobest! We got busy with the holidays, but I'll have the first part up tomorrow!

wakesetter93

To kick off our trip, we were up early, 4:00a to be exact. Since we were staying at Mrs. WS93’s parents house, we had a short, 20-minute drive to the airport from Fort Worth and found ourselves curbside at Terminal E by 4:45a.


The CLEAR Lane was open along with a modified PreCheck and, with only a couple of people in line, we were at the door to the SkyClub 5 minutes after arrival.

DFW SkyClub


Friendly agent checked us in, and I noticed they had a nice little Christmas display set up just to the left of check-in. We grabbed a couple of seats close to the windows before having a quick bite to eat. The club was fairly empty this early in the morning, so we were able to relax in peace and quiet before heading off to our gate about 5 minutes before boarding.






Delta Air Lines
DL 732
DFW-LAX (Dallas/Fort Worth International – Los Angeles International)
Seat: 11D (Comfort+)
A320-200 (N341NW)
Scheduled: 6:17a-8:00a
Actual: 6:15a-7:30a

Boarding began on time but was somewhat strange. I’m not sure if the ground crew was in a hurry, they had a low number of elites or what, but they only boarded 3 groups (First, C+, and Main Cabin) even though the flight was completely full. No Diamond/DL360 or SkyPriority boarding groups at all. We boarded and then ended up stuck on the jetway which felt like the oven cooking your Christmas ham for a few minutes. I appreciate the fact that they had the heat on, given it was in the teens outside, but turn it down a notch.



Once onboard, every seat was taken and Mrs. WS93 and I decided to stay split up in 11D and F rather than have one of us subject to a middle seat for a 3+ hour flight. We had a couple of minor maintenance issues, but they got them fixed quickly and we still pushed off the gate early. Given I was on the aisle, and it was dark outside, no pick of taxi and take off but, aside from a few bumps on the climb out, it was a smooth morning for flying.

Once we hit cruising altitude, our Atlanta based crew hopped into action. First a pass of the C+ snack basket where I grabbed some pistachios and potato chips, then beverage service (I had a DIY mimosa) and a Biscoff cookie. The crew was very attentive and came through the cabin twice more with a coffee and water service.





I passed the majority of the flight watching Bullet Train which was funny, though a little over the top. After that, I started Succession and before long we were descending into LAX.

Thanks to an early arrival, we got sent to the penalty box as our gate was still occupied but, thankfully, it was a short, 5-minute wait and soon we were at the gate. We still managed to block in 30 minutes early at gate 37A. Our gate was in the newly rebuilt Terminal 3 and had much more space than the crowded T2, but it was still somewhat tight (that’s just LAX I guess).


T3 at LAX

There was also a large balloon arch set up at the adjacent gate that looked like it was some kind of promotion/festivities for somewhere tropical, but the gate monitor showed a flight to SLC. No other clues were given as to what that was for. All in all, a nice, easy flight and we headed off to the new SkyClub in the T2-T3 connector for our layover.


Not sure what this is for

JAXPax

Great to see another trip report from wakesetter93. I do enjoy your reports. Your kind of travel hits a familiar note with me; it's a lot like much of mine including overlapping a number of places.

The tropical balloon arch, if I had to hazard a guess, is related to December 17th. Delta began new nonstop service to both Tahiti and Miami from LAX on that day.

wakesetter93

Thanks, JAXPax! Also, appreciate the info on the Tahiti/MIami flights. We flew through on the morning of 12/20, so that makes the most sense!

wakesetter93

Thanks to an early arrival on our DFW-LAX flight we had roughly two hours to kill at the airport, so we made our way over to the newly opened Delta SkyWay and the new SkyClub that was opened as part of it. For those that aren’t familiar, the SkyWay is part of Delta’s massive redevelopment efforts at LAX to connect T2, T3 and TBIT all behind security and eliminate the need for connecting pax having to use buses.

Following the signs to the SkyClub

Upon our arrival at the club, we were met with a familiar sight for DL fliers, a line to access the SkyClub. Thankfully the line was moving quickly, and we were inside 4 minutes after getting in line (thank you iPhone timestamp).


The lounge is located one floor up from the concourse and accessed from a set of stairs/escalators. At the top of the stairs, you’re greeted by what looks like a large, melting popsicle before stepping into the main lounge area.



The new T3 SkyClub doesn’t appear very large at first glance but, it is actually quite large. The lounge area is divided up into a variety of indoor and outdoor seating areas and has multiple food stations as well as a large bar that is half inside and half on the SkyDeck. For practical purposes this functioned like two separate bars.










The lounge had floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the ramp and the north runways at LAX, providing some great plane spotting opportunities.


Out on the SkyDeck was the aforementioned bar as well as some areas that had been cordoned off for holiday decorations. Based on signage, this wasn’t because Delta was feeling festive, but rather the fact that they needed to block seats in the lounge and “hoped to have them open soon”. I’m assuming this is related to fire code/capacity due to the continuing construction and therefore only temporary.


SkyDeck Bar

SkyDeck decorations

Mrs. WS93 and I grabbed a seat in the booth portion of the dining area to pass the time before our flight. I noticed that they also had a basket of board games available for people to use. I liked the idea, though I’m not sure how well this would work in practice with people trying to relax.



From the windows in the lounge, I was able to see our inbound aircraft pull in at nearby 31B. Soon, it was time for us to make our way to the gate to catch our connecting flight to Las Vegas.

N368NW, our ride up to LAS. I’d flown the same plane last year on SLC-DFW returning from my Halloween MR

Aside from the crowding, this was a fantastic lounge experience. Lots of well thought out seating areas, good food, friendly staff, and tons of natural light makes this a very pleasant place to spend a layover. I look forward to seeing how the whole operation works once the T3/TBIT connector is opened and all of the DL concourses can be connected airside without the need for bussing

glasman19

Enjoying thus far wakesetter93! Can’t wait to see the photo of the Hand payout. 😜

wakesetter93

After a couple of hours in the LAX T3 SkyClub, we headed down to nearby Gate 31B for our flight up to Las Vegas. This gate was in the newly rebuilt Terminal 3, but was still very tight and shoehorned between the main walkway and the edge of a ramp. Hopefully the A320 is the largest AC that they board out of this gate as it is quite tight.


Gate 31B at LAX


Delta Air Lines
DL 1106
LAX-LAS (Los Angeles International – Harry Reid International)
Seat: 16C (Economy)
A320-200 (N368NW)
Scheduled: 10:15a-11:32a
Actual: 10:07a-11:27a

We boarded and settled into our seats, 16A and C in the exit row.


As boarding wrapped up, I watched the fleet of Porsche’s come and go that were chauffeuring high-value DL clients to their planes.


Since I had once again given Mrs. WS93 the window, I had no views during taxi and take off but, we pushed early and after a short taxi we were on our way to Vegas. Due to the short flight, there was no cabin service and, after less than an hour in the air, we were landing in Las Vegas. We arrived at gate D34 and made our way towards rideshare pickup where we met our driver in his Tesla Model Y.





A short drive later we were pulling up curbside at the Marriott Grand Chateau, which would be our home for the next 4 days.

Somebody got a fun one from Hertz

wakesetter93

The Marriott Grand Chateau is located one block off the strip between Planet Hollywood and the MGM Grand. While there are many other Marriott Bonvoy properties in Las Vegas, this one is the closest to all of the action but is still relatively quiet due to its location and lack of a casino.

We arrived at the hotel just after noon and headed for reception, which was decorated for the holidays. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had a room ready for us. Once check in was complete we headed up to our “studio” room located on the 19th floor. As this property is part of Marriott Grand Vacations it can be combined with the adjoining 1BR suite to make a 2 BR suite.

Marriott Grand Chateau lobby

The décor in the room was a little tired but overall, the room was in good condition. There was a king-sized bed and a pull-out sofa located in the main living area.



There was also a small table with chairs by the window that overlooked the backside of some of the hotels along the strip and the airport.



Next to this was a small wardrobe and a kitchenette. During our stay we only used the refrigerator to hold beverages but, the adjoining one bedroom had a full kitchen should folks want to stay longer term. This is a timeshare property after all.


There was a small bathroom located near the hallway that was clean but unremarkable.


In the lobby, there was a small café and market that also had some seating areas throughout the lobby. We had a $100 credit as part of our stay and used it to grab coffee and breakfast here each morning.

Marriott Grand Chateau cafe


Marriott Grand Chateau lobby

Up on the roof was a pool deck and bar area that had some great views out over the strip as it was located up on the 38th floor. Because of the weather on this trip, we only went up to check it out and snap some pictures before leaving. There were folks in both pools though even though it was 60 degrees outside.

Rooftop Pool

Rooftop Bar

Rooftop view

All in all, the hotel was ok and in a good location. We stayed here because we had credits expiring at the end of the year from a previous trip to Park City. Otherwise, we would have likely stayed at one of the newer, on-strip hotels. It would be better suited to a family with kids or a larger group than a couple of newlyweds, but I would stay here again if the price was right.

nequine

I'm assuming that "Joe Public" can book rooms here, you don't need to be a timeshare holder to book?

wakesetter93

Correct, it can be booked just like any other hotel in the Marriott system. We aren't timeshare holders, but we were on one of those stupid Timeshare presentation packages. We stayed at the Grand Vacations in Park City, and they offered us something like $249 for 3 nights at a variety of places as long as we would listen to their 60-minute speech.

DELee

Was it worth it?

David

wakesetter93

Since it was so close to Christmas, all of the room rates in Vegas were very high, so it was a no brainer. This hotel regularly sees room prices at $200-250 per night so getting it for $250 for 3 days was a great deal. But there are plenty of other good hotels along the strip that you can stay at for less than the normal rate here. I'd stay again only if the price was right, or I needed nights for status requalification.

wakesetter93

We dropped our bags in the room and then headed out to enjoy our first day in Vegas. It was sunny but the temps were in the 40-50’s for the duration of our stay. However, I would take this over the single digit temps that we had in Texas the week before Christmas.



With no real plan on what to do or where to go, we started off walking down the strip and grabbed a burger from Wahlburgers before doing a little bit of gambling where Mrs. WS93 discovered that she was a big fan of roulette. Afterwards, we headed to the Forum Shops at Caesars where Mrs. WS93 put a hurting on our American Express card.

Forum Shops at Caesars



Afterwards, we headed back towards the hotel the fountains at the Bellagio were starting one of their water shows, so we stopped and watched that for a bit.

Bellagio fountains



Exhausted from a very long day of travel we decided to turn in early and were in bed by 9:00p.

The next day was Mrs. WS93’s birthday (I’ll cover her birthday dinner and the show in a separate post) so I let her sleep in while I went down to the lobby café to grab breakfast.

We left the room just after 11:00a and headed over to the Park MGM to do a little gambling. From there we headed to Tom’s Urban for lunch, located in the New York New York casino.




Mrs. WS93 really wanted to go down and see the tourist trap that is the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign. Since it was her birthday, I only protested a little bit before agreeing to make the walk. First we walked across the street to Excalibur where we caught the tram to Mandalay Bay, the closest resort to the sign. From there, it was a long walk along Las Vegas boulevard before we crossed the street to the wide median where the sign was located.

Tram to Mandalay Bay


There was a long line waiting for pictures with the sign that stretched out into the parking lot (why someone would wait in that line is beyond me) so we just settled for a quick selfie from a distance before making our way back to the strip.





We walked along through the Luxor, MGM Grand and Park MGM on our way back to the hotel to get ready for her birthday dinner.

Luxor Lobby

MGM Grand casino floor


Eataly at Park MGM


The next day was our mandatory timeshare spiel, so we had a late start to the day. Our first order of business was lunch, so we headed across the street to The Cosmopolitan where they had a large food hall serving a variety of different items.


Once we fueled up, we decided to check out the other end of the strip, so we made our way to the Venetian/Palazzo. During prior trips to Vegas (8+ years ago) I found the Venetian to be more upscale, but it has really fallen off in the past few years. While the shops had the trademark canals, the shops themselves looked more like what you would find at your local, dying shopping mall.


The Venetian

We bailed on the Venetian and made our way across the street to the Wynn. This was my first time in the Wynn, and I was impressed with all of their Christmas decorations though we didn’t have much of a need to gamble or shop here as we did most of our gambling at the Park MGM which is the only completely smoke-free casino on the strip.




We had dinner later that night at Din Tai Fung located inside the Aria. After dinner we went and did some gambling at The Cosmopolitan and Paris before turning in for the night.

Our last day was a travel day though, given we had a late flight, we were able to get a late checkout from the hotel and headed over to the massive Eataly location in the Park MGM for a quick lunch. Afterwards it was back to the hotel where we grabbed our bags and headed to the airport for our flight home.