NYE 2012 Trip Report

[davidg545]

Just a fair warning haha this is fairly long and if you’re looking for a drunken fest of a TR within insane stuff that we did it’s not here lol. Although the first 2 nights we had to leave the club early due to too much drinking LOL! This is more of an overall TR and how JC.com assisted in the planning. Details below…..


Planning Stage:

Our (girlfriend and myself) trip began its planning around late August when a friend of mine threw out the idea of heading up to Vegas for NYE. After surfing around the net for planning and knowing its wayyy to early for promotions to begin popping up, I stumbled around this site and next thing I knew, the planning had officially began. Immediately upon searching the forums I realized NYE in Vegas is no joke. Insane amount of people, crazy rates, avoiding walking the strip on NYE due to safety, long lines, etc!

I started saving phone numbers of hosts and contacts throughout the forums and it was the best thing I could’ve ever done. First contact I made was ***** ******** who at the time was active on the forums offering his hotel booking services and WOW! All I can say is ***** has some awesome rates and has exceptional service. Phone calls answered, texts replied, emails replied back, everything in a timely manner. I knew I wanted to go over the top for this vacation because I was taking my girlfriend with me on our first trip together. After a few emails and phone calls with ***** he was able to get me an awesome rate on a suite at the Venetian. Knowing the popularity of this hotel and how expensive things would get, I immediately booked the room through ***** and purchased my flights through Southwest Airlines. Needless to say, I was very happy with how things were going so far. Highly recommend ***** to anyone!

At this time also, Nick from BVLimo was offering his special on the forums for roundtrip pickup to and from airport. I jumped all over this but immediately began second guessing myself after reading peoples feedback here. I wanted to make this special for my girl by having us get picked up but then began the reports of drivers not showing up, lack of communication, a shady contest among other things. Ok so I got worried because I didn’t want to look like a fool in front of my girl looking lost for the driver. I sent a number of emails unanswered, texts unanswered and yeah the nerves started to kick in more. Weeks went by without hearing from him but then I got an email saying everything was ready and to not worry. He later sent me a text saying his phone was fixed and to contact him should anything come up. I asked for reassurance the driver will be there and he gave me his word. More on this later…..

Knowing I was not able to afford bottle service seeing as it was just the lady and me, I did not begin texting any hosts but I did save their number for informational purposes. Slowly but surely as time passed by, events started popping up and the excitement level was sky rocketing. With the knowledge I gained from searching this site, I knew presale tickets were the way to go and super glad I did. I bought pre sale tickets for all 4 nights that we stayed to include Benny Benassi at Tao, Laidback Luke at Haze, LAVO NYE event, and Afrojack at XS. Being huge into the EDM scene, I couldn’t have been happier with this lineup. I would’ve liked to have gone to see Kaskade at Marquee for NYE but the entry fee was way out there for me to see 1 DJ. Anywho, as time rolled by I managed to convince by best friend and his wife to come join us and they eventually decided to drive up there. Knowing that he was driving, we bought bottles here at home to ease the pain of expensive drink prices and easier pre gaming time. We packed up 2x Red Berry Circoc, 1x Goose, 1x Patron Silver, 1x Jager, 1x Hypnotiq, 1x Kahlua, a bunch of cranberry, redbulls. Oh yeah it was going down that’s for sure.

Rolling into December I started texting hosts about what to expect and these people include, Darryll Dipietro @ Cathouse, Mikey T @ Surrender, Chris Traer @ Tao/Lavo, Kevin Lee @ Tao/Lavo , Eric Chine @ XS/Tryst, and Joey Orr @ Haze. I pretty much sent a text to all of them and almost immediately Darryll, Mikey T and Kevin Lee replied back amazingly fast. The others easily replied back within 24 hours. Excellent communication by all of them! They all warned me of how crazy it’s going to be, long lines and what to expect. I thank each and every one of them for their advice. Darryll was over the top helpful, Kevin was as well and Chris too! What I reallllllly liked about Kevin and Chris was that they followed up with me via email/txt the closer the dates got. That was extremely surprising.

Day 1: Benny Benassi @ TAO

As soon as we landed at 11:45a.m I fired up my phone, made a few calls back home and sent a text over to Nick from BVLimo and he replied back instantly giving me the name and number of the driver picking us up. BOOM! Nerves at ease, raced over to baggage carousel 2, found our luggage, found our driver (Keith from Executive) and we were on our way. First stop was the Las Vegas sign as the girlfriend wanted pictures of us in front. The driver was extremely helpful in that, big props to Keith! Few pictures snapped, back in the ride and driver asked if we wanted to stop by a liquor store. Kindly informed him we had a load of bottles on the road over here and he gladly drove us through the strip giving us a mini tour. The girlfriend was extremely happy and surprised and that in turn made me happier, things are going great! Everything so far was because of the JC.com forum!!!

We arrived at the Venetian at around 12:30, checked in with ease, got to our suite at the Venezia Tower. Let me say this, this place is beautiful! Lobby, hallways, everything! I read about the long walk to the casino from Venezia tower but it was nothing. People over exaggerated the walk making it seem like it took forever but it wasn’t. We walked in and the girlfriend was shocked at the room. Nice 700sq ft room, with sunken living room, 2 TV’s, amazing restroom with tub….I told it her it was all for her which is was and we had a nice start to the vacay! We unloaded, freshened up and headed down stairs to eat at the Grand Lux Café because of the recommendations off the forums. Food here is amazing! We had a couple sammiches, started with our first drinks here and proceeded to get our walking on up and down the strip. I get a situation report of the location of my friend and most importantly the drinks. They won’t arrive will 10p.m sadly so as we walk down the strip checking out the shenanigans and the crazy amount of people we pit stop at Margaritaville for some margaritas. Snap a pic of the cups, send out some digital cheers to our friends and family and continue walking stopping along the way as crowds gather to check out the shows. As night falls, we head over to the Bellagio fountains to catch a Christmas edition of the show and back to the Venetian and stop at a random bar and got 2 more drinks, I asked for a Tokyo Tea but she didn’t have some of the ingredients so she recommends this drink called an Assassino for me and a pineapple drink for my girlfriend. Worst.Mistake.Ever! That assassino drink was disgusting and she topped it off with 151…BLAH! But its Vegas, I’m downing this mug! We walked back up the room sipping my drink on the way up. By the time we hit our floor I was buzzing hard as was my girl! I managed to break off the handle to the curtains and had a moment with one of the lamps not turning “off”. The stupid light above the ceiling was shining down on the lamp and in my stupidity I thought the light didn’t turn off when I hit the foot switch because I still saw light coming from the ceiling shining on it. This went on for about 2 minutes and my girlfriend laughing hysterically at me finally asked me to stop drinking that nastiness but by that time I was 3/4 done and ate some leftovers from the Grand Lux.

We got ready and headed down to Tao. Got in line after some confusion about where to stand, pre sale ticket holder line was moving super slow so about an hour later we get inside the club and it was stupid packed…I mean ridiculous! We managed to squeeze by and end up near one of the booths to relax. Grooving to the music about an hourish into the club we didn’t even get a single drink because of how packed it was. To the point where we couldn’t have fun. We left just as Benny Benassi as getting on due to the amount of people, I mean it was stupid packed. Had to fight our way out, it was wayyyyyy overcrowded. Surprise they let that many people in. We didn’t see his set but I promised the girlfriend I would make it up to her, we both had a pretty bad time due to the amount of people.

[davidg545]

Day 2: Laidback Luke @ HAZE

Waking up, we head over to Dennys to grab some late breakfast and my excitement level is stupid high! Laidback Luke is my favorite DJ and this was the night! After a nice breakfast we go back to the room, get a phone call from my friend, bottles are 10 minutes out. We patiently wait until the mother load arrives. We fill up the half yard souvenir cups with vodka cranberry and kill more 3/4 of the bottle almost instantly. A round of patron shots later and cups in hand we walk out to enjoy more madness of the strip. This time we walk north towards Wynn/Encore area to enjoy the sites as I pass by someone I recognize. It was Steve Angello from SHM, I kindly go up, introduce ourselves and snap a picture. We continue towards the Encore enjoying the views and go back to the room for a refill. Feeling nice and fuzzy on our way back out towards the mall across the Wynn. We do a little shopping and I get a phone call from another couple who are in Vegas for NYE and also going to check out Laidback Luke.

My girlfriend and me head back to the Venetian and eat at Noodles Asia, it was outstanding food! My friends meet us at the Venetian and let the pre gaming begin. Immediately we down 2 shots of patron each between the 4 of us back to back. Followed by jagerbombs, followed by hypnotiq and redbull shots. I pour out some vodka cranberrys as a drink and we continue talking a bit. EDC pops up, oh yeah its down yet again in June! Rolling 30 deep!!! Another round of patron shots for the girls as the guys down some jagerbombs. All of feeling nice and buzzed, we down one last shot of patron which sends us all feeling great and head down to grab a taxi. Taxi driver was super cool and was bumping 96.7 for us on the way to Aria. Upon arrival we were pretty early and decide for another round of drinks at City Bar. I buy 4 vodka cranberry and my homie buys jagerbombs. BOOM! DONE! Waiting in line we are enjoying the anticipation; I recognize Matthew from the forums and start talking to him. Good kid! Inside the club, one round of vodka cranberry and we’re all still feeling excellent. The bass is bumping super hard, opening DJ is holding it down and Laidback Luke shows up at 1:30 to finish the night. HE KILLED IT! This is my DJ right here and we have a blast! Haze has a crazy crazy PA! The bass was hitting super hard and messed up our stomachs hahaha! Best sound system I’ve ever heard. As Luke ends his set we head back to the Venetian splitting up from our friends and ending a great night!



Day 3: NYE LAVO

This is the night we came for….I had made dinner reservations at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon for NYE dinner thanks in large part to Darryll’s high recommendation and ending it at Lavo’s NYE event. We wake up super late, hung-over from the night before. We get ready and walk our way over to the Cosmo with some PowerAde in hand to get rehydrated. Our destination….some pizza action at the hidden pizzeria, yet another recommendation from the forums. We decide not to drink during the day to recover from last night and give us a tiny break from drinking. After what seemed about a 30 minute wait, we get 3 slices of pepperoni pizza and walk to the seats next to the pool table. We sit down and enjoy each other’s company over some super greasy but super delicious pizza. We hydrate some more with PowerAde and water, it never tasted so good haha. After that we walk around the Cosmo taking in the beautiful scenes and architecture the building has to offer, simply amazing.

We head back to the room and get ready for dinner at Bouchon, my girlfriend gets dolled who is looking stunning and we walk over to a decorated Bouchon. We are greeted with super friendly staff who takes us over to a section off to the side which made the dinner more intimate between the two of us. Nice candle light dinner, small table, excellent service. Our waiter comes around, explains all the specials and starts us off with water and bread w/ butter and pistachios to snack on while we order. I stick with water and a glass of wine while my girlfriend orders a glass of ice tea for our drinks. All the drinks are super tasty, the tea is excellent and the water is excellent, just super crisp. Our friendly waiter is sarcastic funny with us, joking around but making us feel welcome. I ask him what he recommends for our appetizer and he replies back with “are you guys adventurous?” We kindly reply back yes and he said, “Let me choose for you.” We give him the ok along with our orders, my girlfriend chooses Poulet Roti which is roasted chicken and I order the Gigot d’Agneau which is a leg of lamb. He gives us the thumbs up and says he’ll be back with the appetizer. As we wait, my girl and me continue talking about this fantastic trip, I tell her again that all this is for her. I hope that she likes it all and all that extra mushy stuff lol. The staff was super quick, refilling drinks on point, never dry. Moments later our appetizer comes out…Joues de Porc…glazed pork cheeks! Sounds disgusting but let me tell you, super delicious. Waiter was on point, main plates come out and the food is excellent.

I send a quick text over to Darryll thanking him for the recommendation and we head back to the room to get ready for NYE. LAVO time, we arrive early, get in line and wait about 30 minutes to get inside. We managed to score a small table to chill on the outside terrace. The open bar and passed appetizers were dope! The staff kept telling us to grab the drinks we can and put them on our table before the open bar finishes. They were passing our cocktails and bud light premiums like no tomorrow. By the time we knew it we had about 16 drinks between 4 of us on the table with just minutes remaining on the open bar. The appetizers were also great, pizza, sliders, eggplant, and two others that I can’t remember. We were having a blast drinking those super good cocktails and eating the appetizers listening to the good music and enjoying the madness. The staff was super dope; they kept on coming back towards us and joking around. A few minutes till midnight and champagne was passed around, party favors, countdown, midnight kiss, fireworks, and the whole nine! We couldn’t have asked for a better time. A few minutes after midnight the VIP booth next to us came over and thanked us for being super cool with them not jumping into their space or being pushy with drinks. They invited us into their booth and enjoyed hanging out with new people. As they left, we had almost half a vodka bottle for us and kindly spread it out amongst the staff (shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :P) and the table next door. Staff brought out more mixers and everyone was having a ball. Simply couldn’t have gone any better!

Day 4: Afrojack @ XS

Our last day in Vegas, we woke up super late and exhausted. This entire section will be about XS and the entire un-organization of the guys up front. We head out to XS for Afrojack gig at about 8:00 p.m after a nice dinner back at the Grand Lux Café for our final night. Liked the idea of going full circle of ending it where we started. Anyways we show up early to go grab our tickets and lineup. We walk up to the front desk at XS who the 4 guys at the front tell us and about 10 other people to start forming the line and no need to get actual tickets. On our way around the ropes another dude in a black suit tells us this is not the line and to start forming it inside one of the waiting rooms down the hall. 5 minutes in line and the guy comes back telling us now that we need to go to Brahms 3 to grab our tickets. Everyone starts saying that the guy at the front said tickets are needed and that the receipt will do. This sets everyone off, it’s clear that the staff at this point is not using any form of communication and absolutely ridiculous that every one of them had an earpiece with radio attached.

At this point we’re all frustrated at the level of un-organization that a club like XS is showing. Complete disorganization! We all move to Brahms 3 and get our tickets and walk back. We line up as the dude in front tells us again to line up next to the main door. We do and at this point the line starts growing and another older gentleman from inside the club comes outside and asks everyone for their stamp!! WTF! That we should’ve gotten it at the Brahms 3 room, everyone yells bullshit at him and we all tell him that no stamps were given at ticket pickup. He tells everyone to move back into the waiting room where the line was now mixed with people wanting tickets and those who have tickets. He also said he would move us to the front once we are stamped. That was a complete lie but whatever at this point lol! We wait in line about 45ish more minutes to be moved into another room where we are ID checked and stamped. The two lines are then separated and the ticket holder lines move quickly into the club. Once inside we are in awe of how nice this club is. Awesome place, awesome sound, epic DJ lineup including Quintino, Bassjackers, Bobby Burns, r3hab and of course Afrojack! The light show was amazing, sound was thumping, people were slammed and overall a bad ass show! Aside from the mass confusion and lack of coordination and confusion by XS front staff….it was an epic way to end our trip and a great way to start off 2012!

p.s Driver that was reserved through Nick at BVLimo was there to take us to the airport at the time stated on receipt. Perfect!

[dnix]

nice TR

[Matt93]

Awesome....I'm huge into EDM as well and would've loved to see that lineup. I can't wait to see who is playing in July when Im there for a bachelor party.