A new year, a new decade… trip recap, info & a few pics

We are back from another awesome New Years vacation to the best place on planet Earth. Here are some details of our daily adventures… I will post by day as I always seem to go overboard on details, but will try to keep it short.

December 30, 2019 – Our flight was delayed out of Toronto by close to an hour, which sucked but wasn’t a surprise for travel this time of year.

We arrived in Vegas around 12:30pm, grabbed bags, Lyft to Bally’s (about $12) checked-in at Bally’s diamond lounge and got a room on the 18th floor of Jubilee Tower directly facing the Eiffel Tower, which was cool (Room comped for 3 nights, no resort fee). Grabbed a couple comp beers from the bar using Diamond card on the way up.

Lots on the agenda for this first day so we were off to Linq Promenade to meet some family members and get the four of them set for their spin on the High Roller (Free from Vegas.com Black Friday Promo). The Caesars Diamond line here was great as the regular line was enormous. Once they were good to go the GF and I spent some time playing slots in Linq, no big hits, no big losses.

Had dinner at Hash House a Go Go. First time here, food was plenty and good. Cost was minimal (2 for 1 dinner from email sign up).

After dinner we went on the FlyLinQ zipline. This was our second time riding, fun experience again. (Free from Vegas.com Black Friday Promo).

View from Fly Linq deck…



Had a quick uneventful gamble in Flamingo before attending the Piff the Magic Dragon Show ($9 each from Vegas.com Black Friday Promo). The venue is very small, not a bad seat in the place. We were put right in the front row. Fortunately didn’t get picked on. Thought the show was pretty good... humor, magic.

After the show we headed back down to the High Roller as we had tickets for the High Roller Happy Half Hour (Free from Vegas.com Black Friday Promo). Diamond line helped again. This was our second time on the High Roller, but first time at night and first time in the pod with the open bar. I definitely recommend the happy half hour, drinks were good, view was good, left tipsy-er than when we got on.

Views from High Roller…








We spent the rest of the night playing slots, mostly unsuccessfully, at Flamingo, Cromwell and Bally’s. Hit up the Bally’s food court to give our bodies something to digest besides alcohol while we slept.

View from room...





Day 2 to follow...

 

December 31, 2019 – Up and out the door for a walk over to T-Mobile Arena. The Golden Knights were taking on the Anaheim Ducks at noon. Stopped on the way to place a bet at the Paris sportsbook for the Knights to win.



This was our third VGK game and the experience was once again awesome. The Golden Knights were victorious which made for an even awesome-er atmosphere during and after the game.





So far they are 3-0 with us in attendance.

Victory is ours!!



After the game we went over to Planet Hollywood as we are using our Diamond Celebration Dinner at Gordon Ramsey Burger. The line was ridiculously ginormous but thanks once again to the Diamond card we were seated within 10 minutes.

Started with the Burnt Ends Poutine then each had a burger and finished things off with us each getting the Sticky Toffee Pudding Ice Cream Sandwich for dessert. One drink for the GF and a couple beers for me ate up the $100. Food was good, but honestly I’ve probably had better burgers elsewhere. I would have been disappointed if I had waited in the 2+ hour line. Can't beat the sticky toffee pudding though... yum!

After dinner we headed back to the room to get changed for the NYE festivities with a quick stop at the Paris sportsbook to cash in my winning bet. It was a straight bet so I got paid $72.75 on my $50 bet. If I would have taken the puck line I would have won $110. Oh well, a win is a win!

Spent a bit of time gambling in Bally’s before heading over to the Real Bodies Exhibit (Free from Vegas.com Black Friday Promo). Unfortunately it was closed, assuming because of NYE. We planned to come back another day which didn’t end up working out.

Walked down the Strip, which was now closed to traffic and always a neat experience, and spent some time in Harrah’s playing slots before heading across to Caesars Palace to hit up their slot machines for awhile. Again, little success gambling.

Happy New Year!




About 11:30pm we head out to the Strip to get into position for the fireworks and NYE excitement. We ended up in a great position, on the corner of LVBlvd and Flamingo just on the inside of the road barrier railing. Took in the festivities which was once again awesome with our focus on the fireworks coming off the roof of Planet Hollywood. This was our 3rd time being in Vegas for NYE out of the last 4 years. Loved it every time, but this time was probably the best due to our location.

NYE Fireworks!







More about reason our location was so great for us… Our first NYE was spent in the middle of the Strip in front of Planet Hollywood in the intersection at the entrance to Bellagio. All was good until the fireworks ended and people started to move. It got crowded beyond words. People were pressed up against us on all sides to the point we almost couldn’t breathe. We didn’t want to experience that this time, but wanted to be out on the Strip in the action as our second NYE experience was a bit of a let-down. We were out on the corner of LVBlvd and Tropicana and the atmosphere was good but not as festive as being right in the middle of the action.

That railing/barrier saved us this year. We got to be in the middle of the action, but experienced zero crowdedness. Once the fireworks ended, our side of the railing/barrier cleared out within minutes with no crowdedness whatsoever. The other side of the barrier was another story. Just as crowded as we remembered. It was so crowded that people were basically begging for us to help them over the railing/barrier, which we spent about a half hour doing. People were literally handing their children to us just to get them out of the crowd. A Mom actually handed her baby over to us just to get out of the crowd, like a baby baby… few months old. We must have helped 30-40 people get over and out of the madness.

Once things died down we made our way down LVBlvd to Planet Hollywood to do some gaming. The Strip was littered with garbage, empties, etc. About an hour or 2 later we left Planet Hollywood and the street was totally clean and traffic was on it again. I was amazed at how fast they get things cleaned up and back to normal. We made a stop in Paris for a gamble there which was again, not successful.

Back at Bally's we grabbed a late night bite at the food court then hit the hay for the first time this decade.

Day 3 is on it's way...

 

This stuff infuriates me! Why on earth would you bring an infant on to the strip on NYE??? Some people are so irresponsible.

Sounds like a great trip though and props to you and the GF helping people out.

 

Thanks A few people asked why we were helping and wanted to give us a 'tip' for helping them. We said no, we just wanted to help people out as we've experienced it and know how it feels.

I'm in the same boat as you... It doesn't bother me enough to get upset about the kids, but I definitely don't understand it. I am assuming that people just don't know how crazy it gets out on the Strip. But whether they know or not it's definitely not a place for children.

 

Wow! Thanks for a great report. Sounds like you had fun. Yes...well no to irresponsible parents. Thanks to you & GF for helping them & others.

 

Mahalo for da TR!! Looks like you had a blast!!

 

Thanks for the report!

Also, what was this Vegas.com Black Friday deal with so much free stuff?!?

 

The deal was if you made a purchase on vegas.com you got a coupon for $50. But, using the coupon meant you got another coupon. We spent a total of $25 each and got a crapload of stuff. Great deal!

 

Nice, will have to look out for that this year!

 

Thanks for the TR.

 

January 1, 2020 – New year, new decade. We were both excited about today as our plan was to spend it downtown on Fremont Street, which is always a great time. We walked from Bally’s to Fashion Show mall to catch the free Downtown Grand shuttle which let us out at, you guessed it, the Downtown Grand.


A shot of Wynn part deux... I mean Resorts World… it’s getting up there…






We had lunch at Magnolia’s in the Four Queen’s (Free via 4Queens App). The food was pretty good, we will be back. This was followed by a lot of casino hopping, using ACG coupons, slotting, a couple of short BJ sessions, and many, many drinks. Slots were better than they had been over the past couple days as we pretty much spent the whole day on the same money.


We went upstairs at the D to try the slots and sat at a Megabucks machine… never been this close in my life….






My heart literally skipped a beat after the second Megabucks symbol hit on this machine and, full disclosure, I’m pretty sure I shit my pants a little. I know, TMI. Sorry. After changing my underwear we moved on from the D.


We each had a couple of Binion's 'specialty drinks' (Free via Binion’s App) while wandering around Fremont. The drinks were actually really good and contained a lot of the nectar of the Gods aka booze. We will both redeem for them again in the future.


Fremont…






Dinner was planned for 6:30pm at the Top of Binion’s Steakhouse. We were having too much fun (aka getting drunk) so we pushed the reservation back to 8pm. We had an absolutely great experience at Binion’s Steakhouse, each enjoying a great Filet Mignon dinner in a great atmosphere with a great waiter (Salvador). We each had a $100 credit from the Binion’s app so dinner, and more drinks, were totally free. We plan on being back here for a dinner next trip.


The plan was to head back to the Strip after dinner and go up to the Eiffel Tower viewing deck at 10:00pm, but we were having so much fun we decided to just keep rockin’ it downtown. We kept casino hopping, slotting, and drinking until a little after midnight.


Near the end of our time downtown we went back to the Binion’s and Four Queens players clubs to redeem a few things from their respective game apps. I got a polo shirt, t-shirt, and the GF got a coffee mug from Binion’s and we each got a messenger bag and beach towel along with a polo shirt for me and another coffee mug for the GF from Four Queens. I have to say that I am quite impressed with the quality of all the items! Definitely worth it.


We took our first ‘shared’ Uber back to Bally’s which wasn’t a bad experience, sharing the car with another young couple, but we did prefer to have our own.


Played a few slots at Bally’s before crashing drunk for the 3rd day in a row. I’m getting too old for this haha

Day 4 around the corner...​

 

I've had the exact experience in front of Planet Hollywood on a NYE trip years ago that you had. Very uncomfortable and borderline dangerous. NOT the place to observe the fireworks. Definitely need to be on the perimeter of all that mess if you want to do that for NYE. I won't ever do it again.

 

Exactly why I won't go back on NYE. We had a very tall gentleman that helped keep us 'away' from others during the fireworks but afterwards we couldn't move. I literally screamed bloody murder at the top of my lungs once to try to get people away from me.

 

Good stuff so far!

 

January 2, 2020 – Moving day. Got up, packed our stuff and checked out of Bally’s moving over to Excalibur for our last couple nights in one of their Royal Tower Suites. We like to try out new places and have never stayed at Excalibur. Thought this would be a good time to try as we've been doing 2 trips a year for the past few years, one summer and one new years, and we like the pool time in the summer so we thought this was a good time to give the old castle a go as we won't be doing any sunbathing this trip. 3 nights comp with $150 resort credit and $150 freeplay, no resort fee.

After getting checked in we made the trek through the MGM Grand to the monorail station to take that down to the Harrah’s stop (Free from Vegas.com Black Friday Promo). From there we gambled in the Mirage for a couple hours doing not bad.

Best hit...



Left Mirage and walked over to Wynn for their buffet (Free from Wynn App). Buffet line was about an hour, which sucked, but the food was free and good so the wait was worth it. Well, I gotta be honest... my GF, who is the bestest, did most of the waiting in line. She sent me to play in the casino as she waited in line and texted me when she was close to the front. Yes, I'm a lucky boy Unfortunately that cost be a hundred at blackjack haha

Gambled for awhile in Wynn and Encore after the buffet then took and Uber down to The STRAT so I could get a new souvenir chip and players card. We had tickets to see Celestia ($3 each from Vegas.com Black Friday Promo) and also tickets to go up the Tower (Free from Vegas.com Black Friday Promo). Spent some time slotting unsuccessfully prior to the show at 7:00pm.

One thing I would like to make a note of here which totally turned me off… the waitress eventually comes around and we each order a drink, as we are playing slots together, and the waitress says she can only bring 1 drink. She wouldn’t bring us each a drink. This was the first time in 15 years of gambling in Vegas that I have ever encountered a waitress that wouldn’t bring us each a drink as we are gaming whether at the slots or tables. The fact that we couldn't win a thing turned me off of the place already, but this was what made our decision to not want to ever go back to the Strat.

The Celestia show wasn’t bad. Think of it as a lower budget Cirque show. They stole the wheel of death from KA (and the former Zarkana). Best part for us was the couple from AGT where the guy throws knives and shoots a cross bow at his wife. That was edge-of-your-seat excitement. I wonder what kind of insurance you have to get in case you 'miss'.

After the show we went up the Tower to check out the views (Free from Vegas.com Black Friday Promo). It was cool to see the city from up there, the thrill rides are crazy to see. My balls aren’t big enough to get on any. We were happy to experience the tower, but most likely won’t be back up there, especially after the waitress thing.

Views from the Tower...







Walked from the Strat over to the new Sahara. Wanted to get a new players card and a new souvenir $1 chip. Played slots for awhile with little luck, then hit up a BJ table for a $95 win and a shiny new chip. This was followed by taking the monorail up the Strip to the Bally’s stop. We wanted to see if we could go up the Eiffel Tower that we missed the day before. Not a problem and we found ourselves taking in the Vegas views from the second high vantage point of the night. Tough to beat the views of the Strip from up there.

IMO better views than the Strat Tower...





We ended up walking over to Aria and having a gamble there (no success) before zipping through Park MGM and grabbing a late night pizza snack at NYNY (Free from resort credit). A quick gamble in NYNY before making our way back to the castle and retiring drunk for the 4th night in a row.

Day 5 up around the bend...

 

January 3, 2020 – The time change is starting to wear off so we were able to sleep in a little. We started the day off waiting in line for the GF to get a coffee at a small coffee place near the Royal Tower elevators. After not moving any closer for about 5 minutes we gave up, she said she’d get a coffee from one of the bars, which worked for me because Video Poker. Put $20 in while she ordered and I proceeded to start the day with this hit…



I love waiting for the GF to get her morning coffee fix haha

We walked over to Aria for their lunch buffet (Free from myVegas). Food was good as usual here and the price is definitely right.

As we had gambled at Aria the night before we skipped gaming there and walked over to the Bellagio. Slotted around for a bit with no success. We did pump about $300 into this one machine thinking the bonus was going to hit but it didn’t. I was tempted to put another Benjamin in but decided to hold off. Of course as we moved on we looked back to see someone else sit down and proceed to hit the bonus we were chasing almost immediately for a $420 win. I almost went and asked for our money back

Note: Drink service at Bellagio was horrible. From experience it has most always been decent, but this time it was as close to non-existent as you can get. Disappointed with that.

By this time it’s later afternoon so we headed back over to the Linq Promenade to take another spin on the High Roller Happy Half Hour (Free from Vegas.com Black Friday Promo). Again it did not disappoint. This was sometime between 4 and 5pm. I will tell you that the view at this time with the sunset is the best view we’ve seen on the high roller, this is coming from people who have been on it during the day and night. That sun setting over the mountains overlooking the Strip was absolutely beautiful!

Pics don’t even come close to doing it justice…










Being half in the bag yet again we headed to the Monorail at Linq and took that down to MGM Grand (Free from Vegas.com Black Friday Promo). We slotted around in the MGM Grand for awhile unsuccessfully before making our way over to Park MGM where I had a $25 matchplay (via myVegas) and some birthday slot play to use.

Spent $200 in the slots before netting a $250 win on blackjack.




After BJ we slotted around for a bit more doing not bad getting a few hits here and there...





We moved over to NYNY for a little gambling and some free play (via myKonami). Didn’t do too bad this session either...





After some slots we headed to the theatre to get the GF in the mood with Zumanity (free via myVegas). We thought the show was good.

After the show we proceeded to get hammered at the Bar at Times Square. For free. By using a combination of $50 drink credit (via myVegas) and free drinks from playing VP at the bar.

Hit this right off the bat to keep me going for most of our time there...



The bartender was great and we were having a blast and by the time we left I almost had to carry the GF back to the room. Good times!

With the GF back safely in the room and out like a light I went down into the Excalibur casino to win a fortune. It started out not too bad with some small hits here and there which kept me going for awhile, but eventually I got my ass kicked. Do you see a theme yet? Haha

Up to the room to bed, drunk again.

Last day coming up...

 

Wow on the Megabucks. That view from the Eiffel Tower looks awesome. Enjoying the report.

 

Great report! Love the fireworks pics over the strip. Thanks!

 

(Marking calendar to check Vegas.com next Black Friday)

Great TR!

 

I feel like because it's right on the strip, the Eiffel Tower offers the best view. My next fav is Skyfall. I felt like the high roller was too far off for views.

Great TR