Xmas *and* NYE in Vegas? It's ON!! Group TR, 12/23- 1/2-ish

Thanks for the report! Can confirm it’s not that great of a day weather wise. Fairly warm but not sunny.

 

Glad you got to do something different this time! Thanks for all the great pics!

 

Thanks for the report. Nice start to the retirement.

 

Another great trip! Look forward to you going more often @IrishDave!

 

Great report and great pics!

 

Here was my reaction to your Javier's food pics:

"Oooooh, queso fundido!! My favorite! And it has chorizo, yum yum, I wish I..... wait...... do I see..... ARE THOSE MUSHROOMS IN THE QUESO? DEFILEMENT!!"

ETA: Oh, and I meant to say, great pics and updates, congrats again on your retirement!

 

OK, let’s wrap this up.

We were happy with the stay at NYNY. Very solid mid-range property. We were in a Park premium king in the Century tower and the room was very nice with a great view. I’m pretty sure this room was a little bit of an upgrade as the website says the room is 450 sq ft, but this one was probably more than 500. I’m coming to the conclusion MGM properties are a notch above CET in respective categories. I think Aria and Bellagio are slightly better than Caesars; MGM, ParkMGM, and NYNY are somewhat nicer than PH, Paris, Bally’s, etc. And MGM’s restaurants are generally much better. Your milage may vary of course!

We ate at America several times and were happy with every meal. It’s nothing fancy at all, just a good café meal. The relief map they have hanging above the restaurant is actually pretty cool with a lot of detail of signature things in each state like the St Louis arch, the Alamo, etc. Bavette’s was excellent, great meal, great atmosphere, great service. I’d put it slightly ahead of Gallagher’s. I thought Gonzalez y Gonzalez was just average. Nothing bad, but nothing that demands I go back either. Javier’s blows it away in atmosphere, food quality/taste, and service…even with mushrooms in the queso fundido @Suekel RiRa’s fish and chips was huge, but not as huge as their whiskey list!!

I enjoy RiRa quite a bit more than NFI anymore, I think RiRa has a better pub feel and it definitely has a better variety of beer and whiskey, lots of hard-to-find drams available. The Blue Spot is an awesome new Irish whiskey, it’s really hard to find, but RiRa had it! Now for a pub atmosphere, it would be hard to beat McMullan’s just across the street from the Orleans to the west. It seems to be a local’s place and it has a pretty good whiskey list…it’s not nearly as extensive as RiRa’s, but it’s not nearly as expensive either! I didn’t eat there, so no clue on the food, but they have Guinness, so….

Gambling was kind of meh. As you can see from the report, not many hits, not many long streaks of nothing. We were just treading water the whole time and for some reason I’m just not big on NYNY’s casino. I think one of the best things about staying at an MGM property is the wide variety of casinos that are available within the portfolio and we hit everything except Bellagio and Mirage. But honestly, I was getting bored by the second night, which is why I ventured out to the pub! As you can probably tell, I enjoyed McMullan’s and then wandered into The Orleans for a bit. I talked @MrsIrishDave into going back to The Orleans the next night (she wasn’t interested in the pub, I think she might secretly be a Brit…) and we had a good time. Big casino, great VP pay tables and a nice variety of slots; plus only about 10 mins from the strip. Did I mention there’s a pub across the street? It was a nice change of pace, but very slow for a Saturday night. For the trip, we were almost exactly on theo, which I’ll take! But we never did make it up to Chandelier!!

Overall, it was a bit busier than I expected. Thursday was pretty slow everywhere. Luxor and Excal seemed relatively slow Fri and Sat, but NYNY was just slightly less than a “normal” weekend. Social distancing is starting to break down everywhere, but mask compliance was pretty good from what I saw. Definitely no social distancing in elevators, it was rare to have less than four people in one. Many places are still closed during the week, with shortened hours even on the weekend. A lot of menus are still downsized with fewer options and it seemed like about half the casino bars were closed. On Friday and Saturday, you had to check in with a host for seating at the Center Bar in NYNY even to play at the bar, but no reservations required. I don’t recall seeing the Times Square bar open at all. You definitely still need reservations for anything except take away for lunch and dinner on the weekend and for dinner during the week. I’d also recommend them for lunch during the week. It’s not a requirement anymore, but you’ll wait forever if you don’t have them, and you really need to plan a day or two in advance.

I highly recommend a Vegas trip to start retirement! We had a good time and did things a little differently, which was a nice change and a great warm up for when we can celebrate with a group of degen friends, whenever that might be….

 

Thank you for the recap @IrishDave . A great way to start retirement.

 

PS, Flights were pretty full too, the empty middle seat is pretty much a thing of the past

 

Thanks for the thorough recap! Looking forward to the next one!

 

Great TR. happy retirement!

 

I'm FIFOing again, 15-18.
Catch me if you can at Chandy or the Craps tables.
or don't pinch me bro at Circa 17th.

 

Excellent recap... but with all the extra time on your hands, I’d expect nothing less.
See you soon... whenever that is!!

 

Oh, almost forgot, it was a pain to get an Uber this trip. Not available a couple of times and longish waits when I could get one. Sadly, just had to get another drink

 

Join the club. We're having jackets made.

 

Isn’t this basically you now that you’re retired?

 

Well, this too