LDW 2014 Restaurant/Nightclub Bash!

[Vegasnoob2014]

I hosted a trip to Vegas for my 30th birthday over this past weekend. It was my first time going, and the whole thing was epic. I'll try and update the thread with everything as quickly as I can. I organized this whole thing. I'm not the biggest gambler, but to me Vegas is all about the food and the clubs. I actually did end up gambling quite a bit though.

Participants:

Me, 30 over the holiday, TX
K, 27 and my brother, TX. Had been to Vegas once, years ago.
L, 30, TX. Hadn't been to Vegas before.
M, 29, from TX but resides in Cali. Had been to Vegas many times.


Day 1, Thursday 8/28

K and I touch down in Vegas at 2:30pm local time. L is cheap so he flew in overnight, and had been waiting at the airport for 12 hours or so for us. After we get our luggage we take a cab to our hotel, the Luxor.

We're dropped off at the north entrance, where conveniently there is no line to check-in (as compared to the main entrance). Due to numerous complications, everyone was going to end up staying in 1 room. Long story. The original room I booked was a 440sq ft. Pyramid Deluxe Double Queen. I slip the guy a $20 with my ID and ask if there are any complimentary upgrades in the Pyramid, because I know I didn't want the towers. He said he'd see what he could do, and then flips his screen around to show me the 770 sq ft suite upgrade with more space, a couch, a second TV and a spa-tub. I tell him that works just fine, and we are good to go!

We go to the room, and I was happy with it. We have some time to kill before dinner, so we wander around the casino and hotel, and come across an oxygen bar. The girl offers to discount it to $10/person for my birthday, so we try it out for fun. I really don't feel like we necessarily gained anything from it.

We receive a text from Danielle from VIP4Free around 4:45pm. The main evening event is Encore Beach Nightswim, but the only thing for guys is discounted tables, and that was not for us. Drais was also available, so we said we would do that.

5:30pm rolls around and K and I need to get changed for dinner. We're eating at Joel Robuchon at the MGM Grand - L bailed because of the cost. We change, and the complimentary limo picks us up and whisks us over there.

We are given a tour of the MGM's back entrance mansions, and proceed to dinner, which was fantastic. It's expensive, but worth it.

After dinner the limo takes us back to the Luxor, and it's time to figure out evening plans. We have heard nothing from VIP4Free, so we text them at 8:30pm asking for confirmation. Meanwhile, K has a local Connection who offers to take us around pretty much immediately. He knows people. I say let's wait for VIP4Free to find out what's going on. We heard back from them at 9:30pm and the Connection option sounded better, so we decline VIP4Free.

Around 10, Connection picks us up and takes us right into TAO. We have some drinks downstairs for an hour or so, and then head upstairs, where it's bopping. After a while though, we lose K and it's time to move. We circle the club forever and finally find him.

We leave, and Connection takes us to Foxtail at SLS. By this time, K is incredibly drunk. A bit too much so, but he's having a good time. We hang out at Foxtail for a while, and Connection asks us if we want to go to a stripclub. Now, I didn't budget for this, and really had no interest in going, but as Connection has hooked it up so far, and I know he'll make this happen, I don't want to be rude and we say sure. Connection takes us to Crazy Horse 3, where we are immediately taken in and provided with bottle service.

A stripper clings to me immediately, and offers to show me around, so I let her give me the tour. But honestly, I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend money yet and kinda just wanted to drink some more drinks and enjoy the dancing, so I returned to our area. K is missing. But L and Connection are having a good time, so I have some more drinks.

K comes back from wherever he was, and he's zombie-drunk. I mean he is just completely gone, he can't talk. He doesn't know anything that's going on, and it's time for him to just sit still. But he won't. A girl brings him water, he won't take it. He won't behave at all, and a manager comes over and says it's time for him to leave. So he gets kicked out, which means we have to follow. I was not happy about this at all, because I was enjoying the bottle service. As we're walking to the car, people are staring at K because he is so clearly gone. He walks right up to someone and starts trash-talking, and we have to drag him away and apologize. Connection takes us back to the hotel, and he won't get out of the car, so we drag him out. Then, K will not let L and I walk him back up to the room, and he runs off. That's when we give up and say whatever happens at that point happens.

L and I go to the Blackjack tables. I'm not ready to gamble yet, but he is, and I watch him play a few hands. Around 5am, I am tired, so I go back to the room to go to sleep. K is already in there passed out. Somehow he made it back. I go to sleep.

More to come!

[AxelFoley]

Awesome so far! How was Foxtail?

[Cirilo Medina]

Nice! Wanna see more

[Vegasnoob2014]

Foxtail wasn't bad, but I liked Tao better.

Day 2: Friday 8/29

I wake up around 10am, K is still passed out and L isn't in the room. I go down to the casino floor to discover that L has yet to go to bed - he's been at the Blackjack table for the past 5 hours, and he's doing reasonably well. He's also been drinking the whole time too. I go to grab a coffee from McDonald's, but when I return to the table, I find he's taken off to the room. I stick a $10 into a slot machine for fun, and it turns into a $20 so I cash out and head to the room.

K has obviously blacked out and has to be informed of what happened, and that he needs to apologize to everyone. Which he does. Connection was not upset about anything (I thought he would be), and had a great time too. I wanted to start the day off with some rides at the top of the Stratosphere, so around 11 or so we head there. While there, the alcohol really kicks in for L. He is hammered. We learn that the rides at Stratosphere will be closed for another hour for maintenance, which was a downer. I don't have time to burn, I'm in Vegas! So we take a cab over to Caesar's to check it out. L is passing out on the cab ride, so when we arrive K and I tell him he needs to go back to the Luxor and pass the hell out, which he does.

K and I walk around Caesar's, checking out the shops and everything. Then we head over the Planet Hollywood to grab some lunch at Gordon Ramsay BurGR. The food wasn't bad, but the service was horrible. We had to wait 20 minutes to get in, then another 20+ minutes for the food to arrive.

After eating, we head back the room at the Luxor, where M has recently arrived - he drove in. L, in his drunken stupor, decided to take a bath in the tub, and then pass out naked on the couch. M actually had to finish up some work, so we let him do that and just hung out for an hour or so. Then, M, K and I hit the casino floor. K decides to go play poker, which was a huge mistake because he sat down at a table with a guy wearing a WSOP ring.

M and I grab a couple drinks and then decide to go grab some dinner, because we have a big night planned. We hop a cab to The Linq, where we go to Haute Doggery, a gourmet hot dog place. It was awesome and really hit the spot.

Then we returned to the Luxor, because it was time to get ready for our club crawl, which we booked through Sin City Club Crawl.

I cannot speak highly enough about this service. Wow. First, if you decide to use them, be sure to call them up and ask them for their online discount code - it will knock almost 50% off the price!

You meet up at PBR Rock Bar in Planet Hollywood, where you get one free drink. Then everyone boards a couple of party buses and you hit up 3 clubs (different each time) over the course of the night. While traveling on the bus, the staff pours out drinks the whole time, and people get turnt up.

The first stop was Haze at the Aria. I liked it, had a good vibe about it. Next, we went to Drai's at the Cromwell, which was the best one! I think Adventure Club may have been playing, I'm not sure, but it was jampacked. Fantastic house/edm music, dancing models on the stage, guys blasting the cold air cannons into the crowd. I loved it.

The final stop was Chateau at Paris, where Jeremih was performing. I feel like this was less of a club, and more of a rooftop venue. Right as we got off the elevator, Jeremih started singing his new single, so it was perfect timing. We make our way to the front, but the "front" is the rope separating the GA from the VIP section. VIP section has exclusive access to the stage.

After Jeremih wraps up, he gets off stage and starts mingling in the VIP area, taking pictures, etc. I'm far away from him, but not so far that he couldn't see me, so I flag him down and motion for him to get over to where we are. He gives me the 'gimme a sec' signal, and I know I got his attention. Then he walks right over, says whassup and takes some pics! The girls standing next to me are pumped that I got him to come over! Then, after that brief moment, he turns around and walks deeper into the VIP area.

We go downstairs and hit up the Paris/Bally's casino for some Blackjack. I lost my money, but the nifty thing is if you hit Blackjack, they give you free decks of cards, so I have one from Paris, and one from Bally's.

We take a cab back to the Luxor - it's 5am again. We go to sleep, because we have to be up in a few short hours.

[Vegasnoob2014]

Day 3: Saturday 8/30

I wake everyone up around 9:15ish, because we need to get to Tix4Tonight by 10 to grab Penn & Teller tickets for the evening.

We all slam our clothes on and take a cab to the Fashion Show Mall, which we walk through to Tix4Tonight. We buy discounted Mezzanine tickets for $61/person, which I knew were at the nosebleed section but I wasn't concerned.

I am incredibly tired, and the original plan is to head back to the hotel, but we're across from the Wynn, and the guys wanna go check it out, so we do that. Then they want to walk around the Venetian, so we do that do. I'm really slogging through it at this point. It gets to be around lunch time, and I had scheduled Bobby's (Flay) Burger Palace. Of course no one wants to take a cab, so we walk all the way down there - it's near the Monte Carlo. The food, service, everything is great. Way better than Gordon Ramsay BurGR. I had the Dallas burger.


We head back to the Luxor afterwards, and finally, I take the nap I badly need for a couple hours or so. There's a little time to wander around the casino before we have to get ready to go again - we have dinner reservations at China Poblano at the Cosmopolitan.

We heard nothing from VIP4Free all day, so we texted them around 5pm. The only option is Ghostbar, free until 11. We can't do that, so we decline.

We get to the Cosmo with just enough time. The minute I walked in the Cosmo, I loved it. Great energy, great environment, sexy people. Dinner at China Poblano was very tasty, although the server was a bit of a douche. Go for the food, not the service.

We have to be at the Rio box office before 8pm to pickup our tickets, so we take a cab there, it's slightly after 7pm at this point. We get our tickets, and I try to tip the guy at the box office to upgrade our seats. He returns the tip - he can't do anything - but he says talk to an usher inside the theater.

We have an our to kill before doors open, so we lose spectacularly at some gambling. It was really bad there. Around 8:15, we head to our seats (honestly not bad in the nosebleeds), and we notice audience members on stage doing something. We learn from someone nearby that anyone can go on stage to sign an envelope and inspect the area, which we go do.

On the way out, we see an usher, so I approach him. Before I can even ask, he tells me he can make our seats better for tips, which is exactly what we want. He agrees to hook it up, and says to come back 5 minutes before the show starts. We retreat to the theater bar until 10 minutes, and figure $10/person for tip isn't bad, and if he asks for more, we'll make more happen.

I approach him at the 10 minute marker, and he gets on his radio. After a few moments, he tells us to head back upstairs. He'll give us the signal, and we'll run down there to meet him and get better seats. We're not upstairs for 1 minute before we get the go ahead! We run down, and he's closing the doors as we meet him. I put the tips in his hand, and he directs us to another usher. The upgraded seats are on the floor level, and we're happy with where we are. Penn & Teller was awesome, it was completely surreal seeing these guys perform in person when you've seen them on TV for years. Worth noting - they do mix their libertarian politics into the show, so if you don't like that, or you're not from the USA, you might that irritating or boring. It did not bother us.

The finale trick is a bullet catch, and they need a gun expert. M is qualified for this job, so he raises his hand, and we all point at him. Penn & Teller call him to come be on stage! He inspects a gun and signs a bullet, and the magicians pull off the illusion incredibly. The show was about 90 minutes long.

After the show, Penn & Teller wait in the lobby, and will sign autographs and take pictures until everyone who wants one, has one. Of course, we get pics and scribbles. This took about 30 minutes. Teller takes selfies with your phone, and he does talk, like a regular guy. Penn calls everyone "boss."

Around 11pm, we head to the taxi stand. It's insanely packed. We spend ANOTHER 90 MINUTES waiting for a cab, which we take back to the Cosmo because it was so cool there. We hit a blackjack table for a couple hours. I lose first, so I get up. A guy watching starts talking to me, asking me how the table was and "if I knew the count." I didn't, because I don't do that, but apparently he does. Had an interesting talk. About 45 min to an hour later, we go back to the Luxor. It's around 3am, and I decide I want to get a bit more sleep this night. The other guys stay out till 5am again, gambling.

[Vegasnoob2014]

Day 4: Sunday 8/31

I wake up around 9am, everyone is crashed out and I don't want to wake them yet because I have no idea when they came back, so I take shower, and if the noise wakes them up, it wakes them up. It doesn't.

So I go grab a coffee from MccyD's and head back to the room, because it's 10am by now and time to move!

We text VIP4Free looking for day club options, and never hear back, so we decide to go check out Fremont Street.

We find a $5 Blackjack casino and post up. The casino was pretty cool because all the dealers were women, and when they're not dealing, they're dancing on a stage. I have some ups and downs, and decide to get out when I break even again.

Shortly after, we walk down the rest of Fremont Street. I wanted to go back to the Strip for lunch, but the guys don't want to move yet. We find the Heart Attack Grill, and they're enamored, so we eat here for lunch. The food was ok, but it's really the environment. First, it's cash only (there's an ATM nearby). Second, you must wear a hospital gown, which they provide. All the waitresses dress as nurses. If you fail to finish eating your meal, you are publicly spanked by the nurses with a wooden paddle, really hard. It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, you get a hard spanking. My crew ate their burgers without incident.

We head back to the $5 BJ casino again, and I make slightly more than enough money to have paid for my lunch. I'm ok with that, so I cash out.

Around 4pm, we texted VIP4Free again for the evening options - we're told Ghostbar and Drais. We confirm for Drais as we have plans to be at the Cromwell that evening. They said we had to be there before midnight. Limo driver got in touch at 5, but we didn't need him.

WE ALSO texted Chris from FreeVegasClubpasses at the same time, he replied instantly (much quicker than VIP4Free). He said Tao, Lax, Light and Ghostbar were available. We want Light, but as we were 4 guys, we could only do GB and Lax. We said LAX, because it's conveniently at the Luxor. We think we're going to be ok for time at both clubs.

A little while later, it's time to head back to the Luxor.

We change and it's time for dinner, which is at Giada at the Cromwell. It was fantastic, although the server seemed like he didn't care too much about his job. Seems to be a trend in this town - great food, poor service.

We walk over to the Bellagio to check out the fountain show, and then head back to the Cromwell. I hit up the Blackjack table and get on a heater - in short amount of time, I have more than tripled my money, and I'm happy with this, so I color up when the dealer decides to change decks.

Right before 11:30 or so, we decide to go to Drais. We were told to call Nick from VIP4Free to ask how to get in. I call, he answers immediately and says all I need to do is say my name. I tell them my name, they say I'm not on the list? So I have to call Nick again, he verifies my name, says I should be good to go. Wait in line, again, tell them my name, and I'm on the list. But they tell me we can only get in for free if we have 4 girls too because it's a 1:1 ratio. This isn't possible, so back to the Luxor.

It's now past 12, and when we get to LAX at the Luxor, they say guestlists are done, and it's $40/person. We say nope and turn around. The door guys ask why we're leaving, and say $20/person. We still say no. They then say $10/person. We go with that.

LAX was dark as hell. I wasn't impressed with the layout or the music. Too much top 40 hip-hop type stuff, although finally some electro got mixed in. I wasn't feeling it at all, but the guys wanted to stay, so we stuck around for a couple hours. A dude in VIP saw us dancing and poured us some drinks from his bottle of Grey Goose. Around 3, we roll out.

K and M have been hitting up one type of slot machine this whole trip, which has sometimes been successful and other times not, but they don't care because it's so damn entertaining. After I cashed out at the Cromwell earlier, I was done gambling for the trip. I wanted to leave Vegas on a high note in terms of gambling. At the slot machines, M has turned a $20 into $140. K has turned $100 into $220. But they're not cashing out! Around 3:30, I head to bed.

I find out the next day they were there until 6:30, and they both lost it all.

[Vegasnoob2014]

Day 5: Monday 9/1

Somehow, M wakes up at 8:30 and departs for home.

K and L and I wakeup around 10, pack up and head to the airport.

It was a great trip and it's crazy that a 4-mile section in the middle of a desert is unlike anywhere else in the world.

Things I wanted to do but didn't:

-Eat at Mario Batali's B&B burger
-Go to a dayclub
-Spend more time at MGM Grand
-Go to Hakkasan
-Visit American Restoration


But I know I'll be back soon. I can't wait. If anyone has any questions I'm happy to answer them.