Aria's Wonderland NYE Party 2016! We're All Mad Here!

This is my third consecutive year going to Aria's private NYE party for their gamblers. This year I didn't get the invitation when it first went out because they made the criteria higher to qualify for the comped party. Fortunately around the end of November enough high level gamblers had declined that it opened up some seats for us mid-high level gamblers and my host called and invited me to attend with a guest. My friend SDguy was in a similar position and got the invite the next day too and accepted.

I love Aria's NYE party. This year the food and entertainment was just as great as in past years but MGM Resorts has started to save money where they can so there was no mention of unlimited Cristal Champagne as in the past.

The welcome gift this year the expresso cups was not as nice as in years past, but hey it's free if you don't count the gambling losses for the year, LOL! As in years past the party would start at 8pm with cocktails and entertainment and then move into a large ballroom for the main entertainment and dinner.

The next day on January 1st, there would be bars and food all day in another ballroom with the college games playing.

I put together a slide show and a few videos of the entertainment in the below video if you want to view the party.

If you prefer to read instead of seeing a slideshow and video, here you go but there are some extra photos in the slideshow!

My friend Gwen (yourstarla) was my guest for the party and SDguy's guest was Nate.

Going down the escalator and walking into the party was a long and wide hallway area which had entertainment, many bars with themed cocktails and other libations including Dom Perignon Champagne and photo op stations.

The bars and photo op stations would be available until midnight with the party closing down around 1am. There were also a couple stations where the ladies could get false eyelashes, hair clips and other fun items to wear.

There were many drink stations set up with the usual librations and also featuring a themed cocktail for the night with a name appropriate for the Wonderland theme.

As Gwen, Brian, Nate and I walked around admiring all the different acts I ran into Yani who is a fan of this blog and her husband Jack from LA! Was great to meet them both and I hope you two had a wonderful NYE!

SDGuy and I have met Linda from Pasadena at last year's NYE party and also saw her this year for a nice chat.

As we were going around and doing the different photo ops, Donna from Huntsville, Alabama recognized me from the blog. Always a pleasure to meet someone fun and nice and hopefully Donna we'll see each other again in Vegas!

The main ballroom opened at 9pm and continued the Wonderland theme.

The menu for the evening:

This year instead of Cristal they were pouring Perrier-Jouet for champagne at the tables but I'm all smiles because I found the bar station that had the Dom Perignon and that's what I continued to drink.

Citrus Shrimp with Hackleback Caviar, Cocktail Sauce, Horseradish Sorbet, Cucumber and Tomato Water Gelee'. The Shrimp were great but the stand out was the delicious Horseradish Sorbet, spicy and sweet!

Our main course was Filet Mignon and King Crab with Béarnaise Sauce, Potato Pave, and Spinach.

The dessert an Edible Garden of Wonderful was awesome and this photo does not do it justice. It was beautiful and tasted great!

Later in the four corners of the ballroom displays dropped from the ceiling and they had cotton candy on them.

I had lemongrass flavored cotton candy and it was good, Gwen said her caramel salted cotton candy was very good too. There were may other flavors and the cones had colorful led lights in them that could be turned on.

The entertainment during Aria's NYE parties never takes a break!

During the last couple hours of the party the staff circulated with lots of party favors. Nate looks cute with a rabbit nose! They handed out colorful lighted gloves, angel wings that lit up, sparkling leis, etc...

Gwen looks adorable with rabbit ears, and whiskers!

The entrance to the Hookahs that were on a outside patio but nary a caterpiller in sight!

Outside on the patio there were several comfortable Hookah stations set up with about 8 different types of flavors. I did try a couple of the Hookahs and after coughing a bit enjoyed the strawberry one.

There were bowls of sealed tips for the Hookahs so everyone had their own individual tip to use. There were also two attendants there to refill the Hookahs and answer any questions. Photos of them in the slideshow.

Our group loves a photo op!

SDguy and his selfie stick, LOL!

The sign says wrong way, is there every a right way in Wonderland?

Gwen with her bored pose!

If you can't win at Chess just hit them over the head with the pieces!

Back to the party, where I found out Nate was such a good dancer that we had both women and men trying to steal him from us!

Hugs and kisses after the countdown and 2016 begins!

The entertainment went on for about 30 minutes more after the countdown to NYE and after that we left to get our gamble on!

It was a great party, we all had a blast! If I'm invited to the Aria NYE party for 2017, I'll be there!

Caesars Palace Las Vegas Room Service Menu

Cosmo, Aria and Palazzo Oh My! Thanksgiving week of 2015!

I left San Jose airport late afternoon on Saturday the 21st for Thanksgiving with the family and some friends in Las Vegas. Why so early? Mom was flying in on the 22nd from Ft. Lauderdale on an early morning flight that would arrive at 9am and I wanted to be on hand to meet her, plus I had some friends that were leaving on Sunday that I wanted to meet up with.

I was meeting friends about a hour after my arrival for drinks and dinner and it worked out well since my flight was on time and luggage didn't take long to get, so I was in a taxi and on my way to Cosmopolitan quickly with luggage in the room by 6pm.

I didn't request a fountain view room but received one anyway on the 48th floor. Was surprised to get this view on a Saturday night but perhaps it was because I was only staying the one night at Cosmopolitan. As I entered the room the Bellagio fountains were playing!

Here's some photos of the one bedroom terrace:

As I was moving the next day to Aria I didn't unpack, instead I quickly left the room as I was meeting friends for a drink before dinner.

On my way to the Talon Club I ran into Alicia (Lady Clare) who was also staying at Cosmo that evening. Really happy coincidence to run into Alicia as I didn't know she was in Vegas!

After a short chat with Alicia I rushed off to the Talon Club to join VMB'ers for drinks before dinner. That's Vegaschic on the left, her friend Caroline, BeeeJay, Angie, Leslie Chow and me! I had met Vegaschic, Angie and Leslie Chow this past August but I had missed meeting Caroline that trip so was very happy to meet her.

Beeejay and I have known each other online for many years now and on so many Vegas/gambling/message boards, but have always missed meeting up in person, sometimes by just 5 minutes! It was great to finally meet him in person as he's every bit as nice and fun in real life as on the message boards. Both Vegaschic and BeeeJay write up great live trip reports on vegasmessageboard when they are in Vegas so if you love Vegas trip reports and haven't been reading theirs you are missing out!

Thanks to Vegaschic for organizing our get together and Leslie Chow and his Cosmo host, we had a hard to get reservation that evening at Scarpetta!

We started out with lots of appetizers to share. Oysters of course.

Lardo Wrapped Prawns with Rosemary Lentils & Chili Oil!

Creamy Polenta with a fricassee of truffled mushrooms!

Mediterranean Octopus with smoked potato crema, and baby tomatoes.

I think this was the Pici with lobster tarragon, almond & chili pesto but there's a good chance I'm wrong. I was having way to much fun to pay much attention to the food others were eating.

Actually I was having such a great time I didn't even pay attention to what I was eating. I'm about 80 percent sure this is the Fennel Dusted Black Cod that I ate. LOL!

I think this is the Veal Chop with the semolina gnocchi and baby carrots.

Spiced Rubbed NY Steak with potato pave, spinach and mushrooms.

Beeejay enjoying what I believe was the bone-in Rib Eye and I think one of the specials that evening!

Our table shared two delicious desserts, the one below is the Mascarpone Cheesecake with peaches, blueberries, white chocolate & greek yogurt sorbet.

Leslie Chow had arranged for them to bring over the wonderful salted caramel Bundino dessert from D.O.C.G. 

After dinner it was time for a High Limit group pull! Beeejay was on a big winning streak on Video Poker and table games at Wynn where he was staying so his nickname this trip was Lucky Sack, LOL! Vegaschic, Leslie Chow, Beeejay and I each put $500 into the pull and Lucky Sack lived up to his nickname when he got a handpay on the first slot we tried, RedHot 7s Respin!

After that win we went over to $50 Top Dollar and hit the bonus first spin!

I captured some of the fun in this video!

We tried some Video Poker, Quick Hit, Cleopatra II and Diamond Queen but while we had a blast we lost on those slots. Final results was fun 1000 percent, each of us got our original $500 back with $100 extra so we were winners. Thanks Lucky Sack!