So, we decided this year, instead of going to Vegas like we usually do, to give Wendover a try. We’ve never been to Wendover before so these are my first impressions. We flew out of Topeka, KS for $189 per person. The fee includes flight and 3 nights at a hotel of your choosing. They had an upgrade available for a Mini Suite room for a few buck more, so my wife booked that one. We went to the airport in Topeka, which is just a small municipal airport located on the military base. We got there on Monday afternoon at 3, even though our flight was scheduled for 4:30. We’ve never been to the airport before other than to vote, so we didn’t know what to expect. We walked in to a short line where there were a couple people asking for our names so they could give us our boarding pass. We got through the line in about 5 minutes, where we could leave our checked bags if we had any. We were carrying on our backpacks so we didn’t have any checked bags. We took a few minutes after the check in to sit down and get the lay of the land. After a bit, we saw people going through TSA to another waiting area, so we followed them. Probably the strangest part of the journey was when we got in line. My wife and I are in our 40s. At the line to TSA we really started to notice that we were the youngest people on the trip. Not by a little bit, but by about 2 decades. The workers at the gates were really efficient and also really helpful to the people older than us who were slightly slower. I really admired the workers patience in the slow moving line. Just a few minutes after we got through security, which was just like any other airport, we were boarded onto the plane.
The plane was a pretty modern Boeing 737. It took off right about when they said it would at 4:30. A few minutes after takeoff they started handing out Chex Mix and asking what we would like to drink. I asked for a beer and my wife got a stronger drink.
They had soda available for free, or it was $5 for alcohol. It was cash only, and they asked that you provide exact change. They only came around once, so if you want more than one beer, you better get it at that point. After they finished drink service they came on the intercom and announced seat numbers that would get free buffets at the hotels and free play at the casinos. They gave out about 10 of those, but we didn’t win. Next, they started a raffle. If you chose to, they asked us to take out a dollar bill and to write our seat number on it. The flight attendants came around and collected our dollars in a plastic bag. He shook it up and they had someone pull out a dollar and the person whose seat number was on the bag won the whole bag of cash. They did the same with 5’s 10’s and 20’s. I did the 1’s and 5’s, but passed on the bigger bills. I didn’t win, but the bags each contained between 200 and 500 dollars, depending on the denomination. Make sure you bring a pen to mark your bills, because they don’t provide them.
Everything going on during the flight made the 2 hours go fast. We landed soon after without incident. Within a couple of minutes, they pushed a ramp up to the plane and got us off.
It wasn’t really a real airport. Just a landing strip with a small building waiting for us. It’s an old military base that had a smooth runway, but other than that, just a little building you walked through to get to the busses. Inside the building there were restrooms and it looked like a little coffee bar, but it was closed. They shuffled us quickly onto 3 busses that went directly to the hotel we chose on the website. It was about a 5 minute ride to get to our hotel, and ours was the furthest away.
When we got to the Rainbow Hotel, we walked in to the check-in line. They just asked for our name and gave us our room key and players card. It only took a minute, even though there were a few people in line before us. Couldn’t have been easier.
When we checked in, they told us that if we had bags on the plane they would be deliver in about an hour to the bag pickup. We didn’t have any checked bags, but we saw the bag pickup next to the front desk and they were handing out bags about an hour later to everyone else. Next, we went to our upgraded mini suite room, and it was fantastic.
The place was huge, about the size of a small Walmart. We grabbed a bunch of beer and walked it back to the hotel. After we got back and quickly downed a beer, we walked right across the street to McDonald’s. There is a crosswalk right in front of the Rainbow that brings you to McDonald’s. We came back and drank a few more beers, gambled, and finished the night in our hot tub. Went to sleep watching one of the 68 channels on the TV.
The following morning we drank some of the in room coffee, and took a magnificent shower in the steam shower that was in our room. I set it at 110 degrees and it only took a few minutes to get up to temp. After we left the room, we decided to walk to Burger King to get some breakfast. The Burger King is also right across the street and accessible via the crosswalk. I had the app downloaded and they had a heck of a deal. Two meals for 5 bucks.
I’m not sure why, but after we ate breakfast, we decided we would walk to the Wendover Nugget. It was uphill all the way. On the way we stopped at the souvenir store and the Nevada welcome center.
The souvenir shop was a bust. They didn’t have much of anything. The welcome center was much more helpful. The wonderful lady working there gave us many tips about what to do while we were in town. At one point it came up that we were from out of town, and she was quite surprised. She asked if we came in on “the flight”. We told her that we did. She said that we were very young to be in town on the flights that came through. It seemed true since the average age of the patrons on the flight had to be around 65. After we left the welcome center, we headed up the hill towards the Wendover Nugget.
The Nugget had a lot of bad reviews online so we didn’t know what to expect. It was actually not bad at all, besides the bathrooms which really need a renovation. It had more of a Vegas vibe than the Rainbow.
After we left the Nugget, we took the free shuttle ride back to the Rainbow to take a nap. The shuttles run about every 10 minutes and stop at the 5 casinos in town.
After our nap, we ordered some pizza from a local pizza place that delivers to the hotel.
The pizza was amazing. I eat a lot of pizza, and I’d give it a 10/10. The crust was perfect and the toppings were so fresh. It was super cheesy and the cheese was very good. I loved the pizza. The wings were just OK. They were kind of fatty, the sauce wasn’t anything special and the ranch seemed watered down. I’d still totally recommend the place just for the pizza though. I can’t express how much I liked it. We spent the rest of the evening at the casino walking around and hitting up some slots. They had a live band, but they weren’t very good.
Day 3 was so exhausting and long that it’s difficult to remember it all, but I’ll try. After we got up and ate breakfast and drank coffee, we proceeded to walk across the highway to the mountains.
We walked up the road near the Peppermill to where its crossable to get to the trails. From there we walked up 500 feet worth of elevation change to as far as we could go, due to exhaustion. It was only a couple of miles but it was all very much uphill. It was totally worth it though for the views we got.
After we took tons of pictures and hung out at the peak of the wilderness, we worked our way back down to a much needed sit at the Peppermill.
After sitting for a bit, we went over to the Utah/Nevada border and then to the Wendover Will monument to take some pictures.
After a stop to rest back at the Rainbow, we headed down to the slot machines until it was time for the dinner buffet. For 2 people it was $30, but we had some comp dollars from playing so it was just $16 total. My wife ordered a beer, which wasn’t included and it was $6.50. I thought that price was kind of high, since they give them out for free every few minutes while you are gambling. They did tell us the price up front and asked us if we were sure we wanted to buy one, so it is what it is. The buffet was really good though. They didn’t have a large variety, but what they had was top notch. Their signature dish was the prime rib. I don’t think it was a real prime rib, just the rare roast that they serve at pretty much every buffet, but it was still really good. They had all the usual stuff, plus tamales, shrimp, and a sparse but adequate Mongolian grill. They also had a selection of desserts, but you had to ask for what you wanted from an attendant, so that seemed awkward.
On the final morning, we had to get up early since they start passing out boarding passes and taking checked bags at 6:45am. At 8am they loaded us onto a bus to bring us to the airport. At exactly 8:15 the bus left the hotel to go to the airport, exactly when it was scheduled to depart. You don’t want to be late because the driver was ready to roll. At the airport, we went through a regular security check and then waited for boarding in a renovated military building.
It was a quick flight back home. They played the same games and had the same drinks and snacks as on the way there.
Final thoughts:
Great trip. The room was really nice, the food everywhere was good and the slot machines weren’t too horribly tight. Compared to Vegas everything was a fraction of the price. Also, the free shuttles that bring you to all the casinos are an amazing idea. When we go to Vegas, we end up walking miles and miles every day to get to the different casinos. You could go to Wendover and not get anywhere near your step goal. The staff at the hotels were all very friendly, with the exception of the very first bartender we encountered at the Rainbow. We were definitely the most inconvenient part of his day by asking for a couple of beers. They closed that bar down a couple hours later for renovations so we didn’t have to see him again. We used our rewards card everywhere and the comps added up so fast compared to any other casinos we’ve gone to. Also, when you go as a couple they automatically link both of your cards together so you both earn comps on the same account. I thought that was a really good idea. We ended up with about 25 comp dollars in a couple of days that we used for food. You can also use them at the gift shop by swiping your rewards card instead of your debit card. Pretty much everywhere we went in Wendover had some kind of renovation going on. It looks like they are doing a lot to make it even better. Here are some more pictures from our trip.
Rainbow
Montego Bay
Mountain Trails
Places to Visit 