If you want to start from the beginning, go HERE. For more trip reports, go HERE.
Following a whole day of walking yesterday, we decided to spend the morning in the Encore pool (Tip: Encore guests have access to both Encore pools and Wynn pools but not vice versa). This was actually our very first time in a pool in Vegas… actually, in any hotel pool 😲
I definitely enjoyed it and was spoiled by the clean towels provided because when we went to the community pool back home, I had almost forgotten to bring my own towels (in my defence, it was also my first time as an adult aka since I turned 18). I am sure you can tell I was not a swimmer… just learned this year.
After about an hour in the pool, we went back to the room to freshen up and get ready to go downtown. As mentioned in my introduction post, we got the 24-hour bus pass to get downtown by taking the SDX (express).
We haven’t eaten anything since the Chili’s leftover so we looked for food first. A White Castle opened on Fremont St so we tried it for the first time. I had been meaning to try White Castle ever since I watched Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004) a long time ago. I thought it was pretty good for the price, especially in Vegas where dining was not cheap. We tried both the regular burger and the fish version.
We then stopped by El Cortez (Eric’s least favourite casino because it’s smokey) to get our $10 free play (supposed to be $10 to $500 but we have never gotten anything but $10) and a drink from flying with Allegiant (tip: keep your boarding pass and just go to the Player‘s Desk).
We then hopped on the SDX again from Fremont Street to the North Premium Outlet. More window-shopping. Ever since they opened 2 outlets back home in Vancouver, we rarely bought anything at the outlets when we travelled. I did find the pair of Tory Burch sandals I wanted but changed my mind at the end. The weak CAD took away much of the savings.
After the outlet, we once again took the SDX back to the strip. We hopped off and visited SLS briefly. Their website was promoting their birthday bonus so we decided to find out more while checking the hotel out. We have been here once when they first rebranded to SLS and was not particularly impressed by it. The hotel reviews also noted how small their rooms were too. When they were still a part of Marriott/SPG, I had considered giving them a try as I had the status that would give me dining credit and late check-out but they had discontinued the partnership sometime in 2018.
For the birthday bonus, all you had to do was to swipe your player’s card at the kiosk by the player’s desk within the month of your birthday. The website promised, “dining credit, up to $500 free play, complimentary dishes and MORE!”
We got the more aka some points. Compared to what MLife offered for birthdays (Luxor’s birthday spin & Park MGM’s $25 free play), I definitely would not make a special trip to SLS for theirs.
We hopped back on the SDX to make our way to Lupo by Wolfgang Puck at Mandalay Bay for dinner. We tried Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at the MGM Grand on our last trip and enjoyed it. Lupo was quite good as well but you would definitely need to order more than an entree each.
After dinner, we took another long walk back to Encore. We also stopped by Gordon Ramsay Burger, Eric’s favourite milkshake spot, for his Creme Brulee Oreo Cookie Milkshake fix. He thought everyone should try the restaurant at least once and the milkshake multiple times.
We played our favourite Deal or No Deal slot at Bellagio as well.
We ended the night with tacos take-out from Tacos El Gordo, steps away from Encore’s Tower Suites entrance. It was delicious and cheap! I wish I had found out about this place sooner.
