Jon's Racers Update: High Roller

I became friends with Tara Cree through Carlene Beckius. Carlene is one of my favorite cast members that works Radiator Springs Racers. Tara and Carlene grew up together in Oregon. Tara came to Disney for a visit in 2015, that is when I met her for the first time. We even got to ride together. She came again a few months later to run in a Disney Run event. She brought her Mom and Dad with her, Mary and Mark. I became friends with them also. And then this last December, the whole family came down. Including her 2 sisters, Marybeth and Katherine. We even turned my 10,101 ride at Racers together.

At that time Tara told me they were having a celebration in Vegas to mark her Golden Birthday. She was turning 29 on April 29th. She invited me to come along. I could not turn down a chance to celebrate this occasion with her family and friends from Oregon and other states.

I drove to Las Vegas with Carlene. The rest of the group flew in from Oregon. After stopping in Baker for Jerky, Carlene and I arrived at Desert Rose Inn at 1pm. We were able to check into our room. We made sure they put The Cree family in the room next to us. The Crees got there around 7:30pm. Tara’s friend Elizabeth and Jonathan Egner got there after 10pm. They roomed with Carlene and I. Carlene and Elizabeth were in a room, Jonathan on the sofa bed and I had a room to myself.

We visited with everyone the rest of the evening.

Carlene, Tara, Elizabeth and I went on a tour of the other Wyndham resorts. They tried to sign us up for their vacation club. The reason we did it was to get $20 Mystere Cirque tickets. The $20 also included a buffet at Treasure Island. We were also able to get tickets for the rest of our party for $70, Show and buffet. While we were getting “the pitch” the rest of Tara’s family went on a bus tour of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam.

After turning down the offer to join the vacation club, Tara, Carlene, Elizabeth, Jonathan and I went to Treasure Island hotel to get our Mystere tickets. We also got a bite to eat at Gilley’s BBQ. After we got back to the resort, Tara, Carlene, Jonathan and I went to see “Infinity War”. The latest Avengers movie. We saw the film at the South Pointe casino. Since I had the Cinemark App, I was able to get 4 tickets for $17. We also got free posters of the movie. I really enjoyed the film. A lot went on during the 2:37 minute running time.

We got back to the resort to meet up with the rest of our group. We parked the cars at Planet Hollywood. We walked over to the Belligio to watch the fountain show.

The next day we went down to Fremont Street. Tara wanted to go on the zip line. After they got tickets, the group split up for a little bit. I went with Tara and Carlene to see one of Tara’s friends working at a bar by Fremont Street. Tara even got up on the bar to dance. Back to the zip line. Carlene , Elizabeth and Katherine went on the sitting harness zip line. Tara and her friend Brian did the Flying zip line. This is where they look like they are flying. That zip line is at least twice as long as the sitting one, I got video of them and the ride had photos you could download. I wanted to also do the zip line but I was too heavy. I’ll use this as motivation to lose weight, so I can “zip” in the future. We also went in Binion’s to get a group photo with a million dollars.

We changed our clothes and went over to Treasure Island. We saw the cirque Show Mystere. It was pretty good. We then made our way to the Cosmopolitan Hotel. I took them to the Secret Pizza place. There was a little wait but worth it.

Then came Tara’s Birthday. We took it easy in the morning. Some of the group play some slots at New York New York. Later, we took the monorail down the strip. We made it over to Treasure Island to use our tickets for the buffet. It was pretty good, a lot to choose from. They even had cotton candy.

We took the monorail back. We got over to New York New York. Tara wanted to go inside the bar, Coyote Ugly. The girls wanted to dance on the bar. They had lots of fun.

Monday, we checked out of the resort. We took the monorail down to the Flamingo Hotel. That is where we connected with the High Roller Big Wheel. It took 30 minutes to do a full rotation. It is listed as the biggest Ferris Wheel in the world. We had a quick bite at the In and Out restaurant. We said our goodbyes. Carlene and I the drove back to Anaheim. Of course I had to stop at the Jerky Store again. I dropped Carlene at her apartment at 9pm and I got home by 9:30pm.

It was a fun trip. Getting to meet new people and getting to know the Crees a little better. I really was lucky they wanted me to join in their celebration. I’m sure we will all meet up again in the future.

Mystere: Left to right , Me, Elizabeth, Jonathan, Mark, Carlene, Brian, Katherine, Marybeth, Peter, Mary, Rachel and Tara