"On the trail of life, when you go up remember you come down. When you come down, always remember that you go up again." As we stood at grand opening of the Casino of the Wind at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT we learned that this is what the Mohegan tribe believes. Perhaps this was a gambling fable? By the vacant stares of those at crap tables and slot machines around us it seemed a long way up.
We brought our attention back to our guide. Who was this Guido wearing a feather necklace? “Directive Chief,” he claimed while eyeing the game on the TV in the casino's illustrious poker room and mumbling under his breath. Beside him was the "Medicine Woman", clad in Native American booties and a head dress. We wondered how far these crafty Indians could take the gambling speak. Native American costumes don't typically come with a Coach bag, do they? She must be up these days.
"See the tiny spots on the trail" she told us. “Mohegans believe we are just small dots in comparison to this big life."
Is that how we lost so much money? Our currency seemed so small in comparison to Casino of the Wind's vast proportions.
We had an hour to kill before the unveiling of the new signature cocktail: The Windfall. We watched guests gamble away their savings and wondered if the trail of life was printed on the back of those poker chips or between the lines of the slot machines. Was that the Chief scribbling on a scorecard, still mumbling? My my, remember that when you are down you always go up Chief.
From there we made our way over to Leffingwell's Martini Bar to finally sample the exclusive cocktail Windfall. Krug Gran Cuvee Brut Champagne, Hennessy, Grand Marnier, Chambord and Pomegranate juice garnished with a diamond and pink sapphire ring from Tiffany's. Priced at $6,200 we were glad to see the Reservation decided to mock the economy. What great payback for those smallpox blankets.
Once we'd had enough of laughing in the face of the recession (take that General Custer!) with frivolous diamonds we made our way over to the Mohegan's venue The Wolves Den. We wanted to see the Band from TV perform . As we walked in, photographers shot past us to catch a glimpse of the band members (or to appropriately play into the name 'Wolves Den').
Members Greg Grunberg (Heroes), James Denton (Desperate Housewives), Bob Guiney from a previous season of the Bachelor, Adrian Pasdar (Heroes), James Kyson Lee (Heroes),and Rebecca Budig (All My Children) sang and danced around to covers of middle-aged favorites. Our first instinct was to hold our cocktail napkins high with messages such as 'Don't worry. When you are down on the trail of life, you always come up again!' When we discovered the Band from TV plays to benefit charity, we decided it best to make our way out, cocktail napkins neatly left on our tables. At least they weren't sipping diamonds to mock the economy or the trail of life. They were just ignorantly mocking themselves.
Spent from so much action along the trail of life we decided to make a brief appearance at the after party, a 'red carpet' event at Ultra 88, the casino's nightclub. A quick walk down the red carpet (about the size of the doormat that adorns our quaint NYC apartment), an accidental elbow in the ribs by one of the unforgiving photographers and a breeze past Lindsay Price and other miscellaneous characters we encountered along the trail we decided to retire ourselves for the night and be impossibly fresh for the following day's champagne brunch.
Review – The New Mohegan Sun – Casino of the Wind
The commute to Mohegan Sun in CT – 1 olive - It was briefly entertaining to get drunk at Penn Station's Houlihan’s when the Amtrak was delayed. Horrifying however to realize the train was a three hour ride to the casino. Prepare to pass the time drinking Amtrak booze and try not to puke in the cab from the station to the reservation.
The paid actors who run the casino, err, we mean Mohegans - 3 olives - We love this sort of Disney World effect of costumed characters. It might have been more effective if they took it down a notch. Native Americans booties= no no.
The trail of life - 3 olives- We're sure we will remember that there's always a way up the next time we are surviving a wicked hangover. Thank you Mohegan Sun. Champagne brunch + 3 hour train ride = an even bigger no-no than those booties.
The August 2008 opening of Casino of the Wind added 45,000 square feet of gaming space, more than 700 slot machines and over 25 table games, in addition to a state-of-the art 42-table poker room hosting daily tournaments to Mohegan Sun's gaming offering.
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