Yo-11 Minutes: Episode 11 "Wynn's Gold Rush"

Yo-Eleven Minutes
Mostly Vegas. No BS. Casino Experience +more
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Yo-11 Minutes: Episode 11 "Wynn's Gold Rush"
On this episode:
-F1 Closes Mirage Volcano
-Steve Wynn’s Gold Rush

Some Links For Ya!
Vegas News | Fontainebleau And Durango Opening Soon, More U2, And Free F1 Attractions

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome to Yo 11 Minutes. Yo 11 Minutes mostly Vegas, no BS, Casino Experience and more. Michael Traeger is Casino and Travel Loyalty Expert, who also helps people turn their travel dreams into reality. And now, Michael Traeger, How's it going? Michael, it's going great.

Speaker 2: 0:22

I feel great today. It's been a great busy day and I've got Vegas on my mind. Next week Vegas.

Speaker 1: 0:30

It's always good to have Vegas on your mind. I'm excited that you're excited this time about Vegas on, like a couple days ago and you were like, uh, I'm not ready. Good about that. However, I hope you don't have any plans to see any popular free attractions. More on that right now it is time for the news and views.

Speaker 1: 0:50

The Mirage Rock volcano will be closed through December 8th due to F1 construction. As if F1 construction didn't suck out the soul of enough will of Vegas attractions, aka the Bellagio Fountains, seven Old, the new owners of Mirage, had originally said the volcano would be active for the rest of 2023. However, that appears to be partially true now, due to Formula One construction. Whether Seven Old decides to flip the volcano back on for the rest of the year is anyone's guess. Currently, due to Formula One construction, visitors cannot see the Mirage volcano or the Bellagio Fountains, two free attractions on the strip. This also said that Formula One took a look at all the Walgreens and Starbucks locations and said hope might be, or why it does to create the strip even further. The last is going to do it. For the news and now for the views. Michael, what are your thoughts on the recent losses of free attractions due to Formula One construction and, as a reminder, it has been three episodes. We are allowed to talk about it now.

Speaker 2: 1:52

So has it really been three episodes.

Speaker 1: 1:57

I feel like it has been three episodes just today.

Speaker 2: 2:01

Okay, so I'm going to believe you. I'm going to believe you. I mean, my thing is it's not only the hold my beer moment with desecrating the strip, but how about the hold my beer moment for the employees on the strip who are saying, wow, it's really sort of challenging to get around now. Just wait until getting to work during F1. That's going to be the real challenge.

Speaker 1: 2:25

I think I think consumer employees should actually hold a beer during the three day F1 thing and just stay home. Stay home and drink. They're not making it to work.

Speaker 2: 2:35

I mean, I also want to trust temporary bridges. Yeah, there's nothing, yeah Something, about temporary bridges that don't make you feel really happy, mostly because it has the word temporary and bridge and driving your car over it. So it's going to definitely be interesting. I can't wait to see all of this next week when I'm in Vegas. I haven't been in Vegas since June, so obviously a lot's happened. I plan on exclusively walking everywhere, so I'm not going to get into any vehicle except for when I arrive. So it's pretty interesting. So I guess we're going to have to see and who knows? The other thing to make a point of and we mentioned this, meltzer mentioned this in a recent Travelzork news for Vegas is that there are some new free F1 attractions, so you might want to check that out.

Speaker 1: 3:31

That sounds pretty awesome and, that being said, it is time for the tease.

Speaker 2: 3:57

So today's tease is actually about the Gold Rush Villa, which we talked about yesterday when we were talking about Laughlin, and the Gold Rush Villa is this amazing villa at the Golden Nugget in Laughlin. It's been referred to as a luxurious accommodation with a private garage, courtyard equipped with gas fire pit and spa by the Laughlin Buzz in 2013. And basically, the too long didn't read version is how about an absolutely spectacular getaway in a villa that was built for Steve Wynn? And this is also a villa that can be comped to casino players. So those of you who play at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City or Vegas or, I would guess, biloxi also, or any of those locations, it could be possible to get this comped. But let's step back and look at a little bit of history. The Golden Nugget was one of the most diverse, has one of the most diverse histories of any hotel casino in Laughlin.

Speaker 2: 4:59

In its current location, the Golden Nugget Laughlin sits on the side of one of Laughlin's original casinos, the Bobcat, which opened in 1968. And the person who opened that hotel actually invested less than a million dollars in it and later sold what is often returned to as a quaint casino for $4 billion to a private investor in 1979. So just about a little over 10 years later. And then, basically, that's actually no. That was sold for $4 million to a private investor within a few years from 1968. And then in 1979, the Dell Web Corporation spent $8 million on its acquisition and renamed it the Nevada Club. And then the big news was then all the way.

Speaker 2: 5:51

In 1998, steve Wynne, who was then the chairman and owner of Mirage Resorts, purchased the property and subsequently renamed it Golden Nugget. He was then transforming it into the preeminent hotel casino. It is now, and it ensures its place among one of the really premier properties of the Colorado River. I mean, laughlin ain't the most bougie place in the world, but it definitely is one of the nicer properties in Laughlin. And this house or villa is no ordinary villa because it was actually built for Steve Wynne and his wife to live in when they opened the Golden Nugget in Laughlin. So it's quite posh and I was told that they removed some additional gold ornamentation since it was quote a bit much, and it's really more like a proper hotel suite and not like a timeshare or Airbnb. In addition, you get access to a pool cabana because the villa is right off of the pool, the main pool area, golden Nugget, and that's pretty cool. Now, in the year 2000, mgm acquired a barrage resorts and at that point then they own both the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas and Laughlin in 2004, at which point the internet hotel dudes, tim Poster and Tom Breitling, acquired the properties. One year later, after they got out of the casino business, the Houston hospitality company Landry's purchased the poster financial group and the deal included the Golden Nugget properties, and Landry's has spent a lot of money on Golden Nugget over the last couple of years basically to approve the properties. And that's where you are today. It's still owned by I believe it's still owned by Landry's, I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 2: 7:52

Anyway, it's a great destination for an amazing guy's trip or any kind of group trip. The villa has three bedrooms. They outfit the villa with all proper glassware If anyone knows me, I'm really into the glassware thing Mixers, cocktails, refrigerator, fully stocked, really really cool. And the pictures of the dinner that you saw there I actually we were in California, we came from Palm Springs and I brought all of the food and I actually made that dinner with the steak and lobster tails and all that stuff. I think the hotel did provide a Hollandaise sauce or a Bernese sauce because I didn't feel like cooking.

Speaker 2: 8:28

The other nights we did eat out at some of the properties. Some of the restaurants on property was a great place. I also enjoyed playing dice there a lot. The minimums were rather low, though it was during COVID, but it's a small casino but it's super cool, great views of the river and we had at that time we had gotten a COVID repeat guest special, even though we weren't repeat guests, and it was only $499 per night, which was an absolute steal for this three-bedroom villa. So I think it's pretty cool. What do you think, modestra? You think it's a cool villa.

Speaker 1: 8:58

I didn't even know that this place existed until you mentioned it and I saw the pictures of the food. I thought it was room service or something from a restaurant that was brought to you guys, but no, it turns out you cooked that.

Speaker 2: 9:10

That was your handiwork there, hey one of the only things that relaxes me is cooking, and it was great. It was great fun to be away with a good friend for a few days, basically smoking tons of cigars outdoors by the fire pit and also being able to cook dinner one night cook a really posh bougie dinner and make cocktails and everything. It's also nice if you're able to drive there, and you would be able to drive there from Vegas. Vegas is a relatively short drive to Laughlin. I think it's close to 90 minutes between that area.

Speaker 2: 9:44

It took us a couple hours to get there from Palm Springs so you could pretty much self-cater if you want to, but it's really much more like a hotel than a timeshare or Airbnb, and you could also, I believe, now. We were there during COVID, but now you can get full room service and all that kind of stuff there, or you could get food from restaurants. So I think it's pretty cool and something for people to consider in Laughlin. But I mean, it's something you would never expect that there's this super posh villa that's sort of sitting on the side of the Golden Mugget in Laughlin.

Speaker 1: 10:20

All righty. Well, that's going to do it for this episode. Luxury travel booking, travels or Travel. Visit us at TravelsOrcTravelcom to plan your next amazing vacation and please join the conversation on social media. You can find us easily. All social platforms are at TravelsOrc. We'll see you next time.