Mom and I took our summer Tunica Trip on May 31st through June 2nd. This was my first trip in a year. The drive down was great. The first time I have been
thru Little Rock in years with out road construction. They finally have I-40 widened to 3 lanes thru parts of it and it was a nice easy drive. We made good
time and made it to tunica in 5 hours. One of the fastest 5 hours ever, as mom and I did not even turn on the radio. We just gabbed the whole way.
It was a little to early for check-in, so mom and I checked out the Kitchen collection and Lane Bryant Outlet. These are 2 of my favorite stores. It was right at 4 when mom and I arrived at the Terrace Hotel. Mom had smooth check-in. Up to the rooms and settle in with a drink or 2 before heading to the casino. Mom tries to get a smoking room for me when we go together. This smoking room's smell about knocked us down when we walked in. Most of the time I don't notice the smell too bad, but this time it was pretty stale. And, of course, no ashtray!!…lol…Oh well. Mom and I talked more over a few drinks and then off to the casino.
Everything now has a Harrah's name. New carpet as you walk down the ramp. Colored Glass balls are hung from the ceiling by strings. Lights are above the balls and they give a beautiful glow. They reminded me of a wavy magic carpet. The casino of course is the same shape. Walk down the big ramp which is the middle of the casino. The bar that has always been there, now has a wooden and glass walls surrounding it. It is now called the Sphere Bar. Just a peek inside and there are comfy modern looking seats, and tables. Where a few people could sit and enjoy a drink. A velvet looking couch/booth runs along one wall, with tables and chairs. Straight behind the bar, down the corridor where LB's steakhouse is/was, is all slots now. This is where they have moved a majority of the dollar machines that use to be somewhere else. I saw a lot of 3 coin machines, but there are still 2 coin. High limits has expanded, they opened up a wall on the right side of this corridor. The WOF dollar slots are in the back next to LB's which is now club 37, I think. Not sure if it open or not. It is also down this corridor where the only , let me repeat, ONLY, cashier cages are now. They have the EZ ticket redemption machines located throughout the casino, but they are only EZ if they are working!. We found them to be a pain in the ass, because they were out of money so much of the time, especially at night. The left side of the casino, is almost completely .25 to .01 cent machines. Most of the quarter machines, are multi denomination. The other side of the casino has a few more dollar machines along with .25 thru .01 machines. I seen a few new machines. But most looked like the same machines they have had just rearranged. The layout is nice and looks as if there are more machines downstairs. There are no machines upstairs, except for a slot tourney area.
Replays and Murano's is still upstairs. The gift shop is still there, and of course Paula Deen's Big ass House is right there. It really is cool looking. They have a screened in porch area for smoking section. The front porch has rocking chairs. First step thru the front door is the Paula Deen Gift store. All kinds of overpriced goodies and gadgets. Lots of cool things to look at. I did wind up buying a cookbook set with my comp dollars, which was nice. They have added a diamond lounge behind Murano's. Looks very nice. A man was sitting at a desk and swiped mom's card when we went in. I think this is nice. At the old Harrah's anyone and everyone went into the diamond lounge……lol….look who's talking, I am not Diamond and the only way I get in is with mom. I just hated when Mom and I would go into the old Harrah's and people were in there sleeping on the couches.
OK, OK, GAMBLING. My biggest hit in 2 days was on a WOF Triple Stars, red sevens for 80 bucks. I never got to spin once the whole weekend. Now I saw plenty of people doing good on these machines. I saw 2 different people hit for $1,000 on the wheel. I saw 2 different people with over $1,000, 2 more with over $1500 and one man with over $2000, but alas, never on my machine. I played everything from dollar machines to pennies. But I just didn't do any good. Mom had a good streak on one machine Saturday night, but she gives it all back…..lol…I just want the chance to give it all back. I never saw any jackpots, on regular machines, but I did see 3 people hit for progressives on burning seven machines. I had all the losing I could stand for one evening, so Saturday night I was back in the room by 10 and in bed. I woke at 2 in morning to discover mom was still not back…..hmmm….is she doing good?…..I got back up got dressed again and went back to find her. We played together for the rest of the night Got back to the room and in bed by 6:30 the next morning. I had lost all but a few dollars of my bankroll and mom was down to a small portion of hers also. Up Sunday afternoon and back to losing….lol…I ran out of Money Sunday evening and mom funded me for the rest of the night till we had to call it quits. We needed to get on the road Monday and back home. I didn't venture to any other casinos, but mom went to the Horseshoe and Sheraton to cash coupons. She just used the coupon money and came back.
FOOD, PAULA DEEN BUFFETT……This will be better than the gambling. The buffet had only been open for about a week when mom and I arrived. You check in and pay for the buffet across the hall from the entrance. There is one line for Diamond members and a line for everyone else. I kept reminding Mom she is diamond…lol….We paid quickly and went in. You walk thru the over priced Paula Deen gift store with all kinds of goodies. I Loved everything in there. They were so busy they did not want to give mom and I a booth. We had to sit at a table for 2. Which is ok, I do understand. Saturday night was busy. Long waits in all the lines for food. The buffet doesn't look a lot different than the way it was before. Most of the stations remain the same, with the exception of the Asian station, there isn't one. It has been replaced with seafood. Saturday night the cost was $22.99 a person, Sunday it was $17.99. Incidentally, With Harrah's tiered cards you are supposed to get a discount on just about everything I think. I told mom this, but we didn't say anything about it Saturday Night. Sunday, Mom says do I get a discount and sure enough, she gave her a 30% discount on our meals. Should have asked Saturday. My thoughts on this are, if they give discounts you should not have to ask, if you are using your card to get the meals. They can see what your card is and know you get a discount. ..... (CORRECTION TO MY GRIPE ABOUT DISCOUNTS FOR THE TIERS.....IT DOES NOT APPLY TO FOOD.......I just looked at Harrahs website)........I did not see any hours posted. Mom and I ate at the buffet twice. Saturday night we both went to the salad section, everything was super fresh and really good. I fixed a small salad and went to get some real food. I had meatloaf with cheesy mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, Mac and cheese, fried shrimp, cream corn, squash casserole, and prime rib. Everything was good, tasty, hot and buttery. I was not that impressed with the Mac and cheese. I like mine creamy, this is not. The squash casserole had too much bell pepper taste for me. I am not saying it wasn't good, just not exactly how I like it. I am not crazy about the cheesy mushroom sauce on the meatloaf. It had a sour "whang" to it, like maybe sour cream-ish taste., but the brown gravy had that same taste….lol. Mom had butter beans and green beans and meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes. She loved it. Said it was delish. But like me she would rather have a tomatoes based sauce on her meatloaf. Dessert, chocolate ooey gooey butter cake is scrumptious, peanut butter pie is to die for, and the carrot cake was good too. We split the desserts. Sunday night not quite as crowded and we skipped salads to go for real food. Again meatloaf and mashed potatoes were at the fore front, but we also tried the fried catfish which was great. I had a few fried shrimp with the delicate very thin batter…….this was almost my favorite. I do not like fried shrimp with the thick batter. This was so light and crunchy….awesome! I had a rib, meat fell off the bone. Boiled shrimp….good, good, good. Fried green tomatoes!!!!…They were very good. I tried parmesian flounder which I did not like at all. Too strong with parmesian and toooooo fishy tasting. I gave the Mac and cheese another try, still the same conclusion. You have to understand my Grandma made Mac and cheese in a big old pot with commodity cheese. I think it doesn't get better than commodity cheese….lol. Tonight mom tried the squash casserole and she said the same thing I did. For dessert tonight it was more chocolate ooey gooey butter cake, peanut butter pie and this time a big brownie with walnuts. I told mom I wasn't sharing tonight. The coffee was soo good. They had someone with cheese biscuits and hoe-cakes coming around all the time to keep ya fresh on bread. For those that do not know, a hoe cake is a fried cornbread , looks like a pancake. I did not eat one. It's all I could do to eat my one cheese biscuit and everything else. Ok The Paula Deen Buffet was great, and all the food was so fresh, but slightly over-hyped, in my opinion. I will eat there again, but if the line is too long, and I am very hungry, I will eat at replays. The quality was great. The cheese on the squash casserole and the Mac and cheese was real cheddar. You could taste butter in everything. So I think everyone needs to try it. It's good, but for me it isn't as amazing as what other people think or what we're lead to believe. This is just my opinion.
Ok this was our trip. Before I left my husband, Kevin, said not to worry about winning, just worry about having fun. I had fun with mom, ate good meals at the buffet, and did not worry about winning. It was the losing that worried me.......lol....But of course, time with mom is more important to me than losing my behind, and since its been a week I have almost recovered...lol
Kim
It was a little to early for check-in, so mom and I checked out the Kitchen collection and Lane Bryant Outlet. These are 2 of my favorite stores. It was right at 4 when mom and I arrived at the Terrace Hotel. Mom had smooth check-in. Up to the rooms and settle in with a drink or 2 before heading to the casino. Mom tries to get a smoking room for me when we go together. This smoking room's smell about knocked us down when we walked in. Most of the time I don't notice the smell too bad, but this time it was pretty stale. And, of course, no ashtray!!…lol…Oh well. Mom and I talked more over a few drinks and then off to the casino.
Everything now has a Harrah's name. New carpet as you walk down the ramp. Colored Glass balls are hung from the ceiling by strings. Lights are above the balls and they give a beautiful glow. They reminded me of a wavy magic carpet. The casino of course is the same shape. Walk down the big ramp which is the middle of the casino. The bar that has always been there, now has a wooden and glass walls surrounding it. It is now called the Sphere Bar. Just a peek inside and there are comfy modern looking seats, and tables. Where a few people could sit and enjoy a drink. A velvet looking couch/booth runs along one wall, with tables and chairs. Straight behind the bar, down the corridor where LB's steakhouse is/was, is all slots now. This is where they have moved a majority of the dollar machines that use to be somewhere else. I saw a lot of 3 coin machines, but there are still 2 coin. High limits has expanded, they opened up a wall on the right side of this corridor. The WOF dollar slots are in the back next to LB's which is now club 37, I think. Not sure if it open or not. It is also down this corridor where the only , let me repeat, ONLY, cashier cages are now. They have the EZ ticket redemption machines located throughout the casino, but they are only EZ if they are working!. We found them to be a pain in the ass, because they were out of money so much of the time, especially at night. The left side of the casino, is almost completely .25 to .01 cent machines. Most of the quarter machines, are multi denomination. The other side of the casino has a few more dollar machines along with .25 thru .01 machines. I seen a few new machines. But most looked like the same machines they have had just rearranged. The layout is nice and looks as if there are more machines downstairs. There are no machines upstairs, except for a slot tourney area.
Replays and Murano's is still upstairs. The gift shop is still there, and of course Paula Deen's Big ass House is right there. It really is cool looking. They have a screened in porch area for smoking section. The front porch has rocking chairs. First step thru the front door is the Paula Deen Gift store. All kinds of overpriced goodies and gadgets. Lots of cool things to look at. I did wind up buying a cookbook set with my comp dollars, which was nice. They have added a diamond lounge behind Murano's. Looks very nice. A man was sitting at a desk and swiped mom's card when we went in. I think this is nice. At the old Harrah's anyone and everyone went into the diamond lounge……lol….look who's talking, I am not Diamond and the only way I get in is with mom. I just hated when Mom and I would go into the old Harrah's and people were in there sleeping on the couches.
OK, OK, GAMBLING. My biggest hit in 2 days was on a WOF Triple Stars, red sevens for 80 bucks. I never got to spin once the whole weekend. Now I saw plenty of people doing good on these machines. I saw 2 different people hit for $1,000 on the wheel. I saw 2 different people with over $1,000, 2 more with over $1500 and one man with over $2000, but alas, never on my machine. I played everything from dollar machines to pennies. But I just didn't do any good. Mom had a good streak on one machine Saturday night, but she gives it all back…..lol…I just want the chance to give it all back. I never saw any jackpots, on regular machines, but I did see 3 people hit for progressives on burning seven machines. I had all the losing I could stand for one evening, so Saturday night I was back in the room by 10 and in bed. I woke at 2 in morning to discover mom was still not back…..hmmm….is she doing good?…..I got back up got dressed again and went back to find her. We played together for the rest of the night Got back to the room and in bed by 6:30 the next morning. I had lost all but a few dollars of my bankroll and mom was down to a small portion of hers also. Up Sunday afternoon and back to losing….lol…I ran out of Money Sunday evening and mom funded me for the rest of the night till we had to call it quits. We needed to get on the road Monday and back home. I didn't venture to any other casinos, but mom went to the Horseshoe and Sheraton to cash coupons. She just used the coupon money and came back.
FOOD, PAULA DEEN BUFFETT……This will be better than the gambling. The buffet had only been open for about a week when mom and I arrived. You check in and pay for the buffet across the hall from the entrance. There is one line for Diamond members and a line for everyone else. I kept reminding Mom she is diamond…lol….We paid quickly and went in. You walk thru the over priced Paula Deen gift store with all kinds of goodies. I Loved everything in there. They were so busy they did not want to give mom and I a booth. We had to sit at a table for 2. Which is ok, I do understand. Saturday night was busy. Long waits in all the lines for food. The buffet doesn't look a lot different than the way it was before. Most of the stations remain the same, with the exception of the Asian station, there isn't one. It has been replaced with seafood. Saturday night the cost was $22.99 a person, Sunday it was $17.99. Incidentally, With Harrah's tiered cards you are supposed to get a discount on just about everything I think. I told mom this, but we didn't say anything about it Saturday Night. Sunday, Mom says do I get a discount and sure enough, she gave her a 30% discount on our meals. Should have asked Saturday. My thoughts on this are, if they give discounts you should not have to ask, if you are using your card to get the meals. They can see what your card is and know you get a discount. ..... (CORRECTION TO MY GRIPE ABOUT DISCOUNTS FOR THE TIERS.....IT DOES NOT APPLY TO FOOD.......I just looked at Harrahs website)........I did not see any hours posted. Mom and I ate at the buffet twice. Saturday night we both went to the salad section, everything was super fresh and really good. I fixed a small salad and went to get some real food. I had meatloaf with cheesy mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, Mac and cheese, fried shrimp, cream corn, squash casserole, and prime rib. Everything was good, tasty, hot and buttery. I was not that impressed with the Mac and cheese. I like mine creamy, this is not. The squash casserole had too much bell pepper taste for me. I am not saying it wasn't good, just not exactly how I like it. I am not crazy about the cheesy mushroom sauce on the meatloaf. It had a sour "whang" to it, like maybe sour cream-ish taste., but the brown gravy had that same taste….lol. Mom had butter beans and green beans and meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes. She loved it. Said it was delish. But like me she would rather have a tomatoes based sauce on her meatloaf. Dessert, chocolate ooey gooey butter cake is scrumptious, peanut butter pie is to die for, and the carrot cake was good too. We split the desserts. Sunday night not quite as crowded and we skipped salads to go for real food. Again meatloaf and mashed potatoes were at the fore front, but we also tried the fried catfish which was great. I had a few fried shrimp with the delicate very thin batter…….this was almost my favorite. I do not like fried shrimp with the thick batter. This was so light and crunchy….awesome! I had a rib, meat fell off the bone. Boiled shrimp….good, good, good. Fried green tomatoes!!!!…They were very good. I tried parmesian flounder which I did not like at all. Too strong with parmesian and toooooo fishy tasting. I gave the Mac and cheese another try, still the same conclusion. You have to understand my Grandma made Mac and cheese in a big old pot with commodity cheese. I think it doesn't get better than commodity cheese….lol. Tonight mom tried the squash casserole and she said the same thing I did. For dessert tonight it was more chocolate ooey gooey butter cake, peanut butter pie and this time a big brownie with walnuts. I told mom I wasn't sharing tonight. The coffee was soo good. They had someone with cheese biscuits and hoe-cakes coming around all the time to keep ya fresh on bread. For those that do not know, a hoe cake is a fried cornbread , looks like a pancake. I did not eat one. It's all I could do to eat my one cheese biscuit and everything else. Ok The Paula Deen Buffet was great, and all the food was so fresh, but slightly over-hyped, in my opinion. I will eat there again, but if the line is too long, and I am very hungry, I will eat at replays. The quality was great. The cheese on the squash casserole and the Mac and cheese was real cheddar. You could taste butter in everything. So I think everyone needs to try it. It's good, but for me it isn't as amazing as what other people think or what we're lead to believe. This is just my opinion.
Ok this was our trip. Before I left my husband, Kevin, said not to worry about winning, just worry about having fun. I had fun with mom, ate good meals at the buffet, and did not worry about winning. It was the losing that worried me.......lol....But of course, time with mom is more important to me than losing my behind, and since its been a week I have almost recovered...lol
Kim
. I will force myself though. Enjoyed the report.
