Hi Alan,
did not check in here again while I was out there but I do have some knowledge of these things.
1) My experience is that a bartender will normally give you a soft drink or even fruit juice comp. I am usually playing a bartop game when I ask but I am sure that flashing a diamond or higher card would be sufficient if you were not playing. If you do not wish to take this route I know of vending machines near the bathrooms by high limit, but I am not sure if they are snacks or drinks as I don't pay much attention. There are definately soda machines on each floor of the hotel near the ice machines. The elevators require key access but if you are not a guest of the hotel there might be some on the first floor of the garden tower that you could access, not sure.

2) Have not ordered room service at Rincon but I would imagine it ends around midnight.

3) I noticed no changes on the VP front. Meant to check out the dream card machine but forgot to. Although normally a quarter player I decided to take a $100 pot shot on the $5 ACES bonus game, but I get trips on the first hand and the $50 profit was tempting enough for me to stop. To bad I pissed the money away at baccarat.