We're staying at Resorts World in Las Vegas for New Year's Eve, so we're checking out possible things to do there. They have this Enchant illuminated maze thing. So that's a maybe.
For New Year's itself, their onsite nightclub is Zouk. DJ Tiesto is there. Normally you can get on a guest list and get in for free, so I asked some promoters about it.
However, for New Year's Eve, almost all of the clubs require you to buy tickets.
Admissions $150 for women and $250 for men. We don't want to go clubbing that badly.
They also have a rooftop area. Again, some of the prices are quite high. $3,000 for a fire pit, and $200 for a bar stool.
And an igloo is $5,000. No thanks. Although general admission is only $50; not bad.
The Raiders vs 49ers game is in Vegas that Sunday as well, but again, don't really want to pay $500 for a ticket.
We were also originally planning on flying via Southwest, but with their system crashing the past few days, I don't know if we want to depend on them.
So we canceled our flights and will drive instead.
Ogii deciding which dresses to bring.
We drove south, so we stopped at my favorite restaurant in the area. To the right is a laundromat, so they sell laundry supplies at the counter, too.
Pool tables in the back.
Along with a few video games.
And the best burger and tacos in the area.
We had planned on flying to Vegas Saturday morning. If we drove, we might get stuck in the crazy traffic from Los Angeles if we left too late, so we drove to Barstow on Friday night and stayed there. That way we could get up early and beat the LA traffic. It's nice to be a member, but it's a little creepy that they put all of our names on a whiteboard.
On Saturday morning, Ogii chatted with her family while I drove.
A lot of cars, even early in the morning.
Although the traffic still moved quite fast, and there were stretches it was more empty.
A train going by the Seven Magic Mountains.
Allegiant Stadium.
Fun metal shapes on the overpasses.
I still wanted some New Year's Eve hats, so we stopped at Party Vegas.
Lots of balloons ready to be picked up.
Lots of popper packs as well.
These are the exact hats I wanted; they light up around the brim. Unfortunately, they were way too big and still, so they just fell off.
So we checked Party City next, and they had some that fit better, although they didn't light up.
Resorts World.
There are actually three hotels, all connected. Hilton is cheaper, Conrad is middle, and Crockford is expensive.
We were staying at Conrad as it wasn't too much more expensive than Hilton. We arrived around 11am, and check-in wasn't until 4pm. Normally, it's easy to check in early, but with it being NYE, they didn't have any rooms available yet. We brought all of our luggage in with us from the car because it was a bit of a walk from the parking structure, so we went to drop our bags at the bellhop. Thankfully, just as we were doing so, the front desk called and said they had a room available.
27, Ogii's lucky poker hand.
Decent room.
Nice bathroom.
South would give us a view of most of the strip, but we faced north.
A bunch of mini Kit Kats for Ogii.
We changed clothes and then to rushed down to the poker room...
...because a tournament was starting at noon.
The old guy I beat in this hand was not happy I called his raise with 74 to make my flush. They were suited, though.
You can order food from many of the restaurants in the property.
There are a lot of them.
The tournament had three tables.
I bought Ogii a massage. I asked the masseuse to massage the woman in the white hoodie at that table for 30 minutes, and the masseuse replied she had to ask her permission first. Maybe a lot of guys buy random women massages?
So far I'm doing the best in the tournament.
They also had some cash games going. But this woman is just sitting behind her boyfriend/husband on her phone while he plays. Why would you do that? Go shopping or something.
The beginning of the end. I had a pair and a flush draw, and he had two pair. This took a bit of my stack.
Last had for me. We were all-in preflop, my KK vs his AK. I win this 70% of the time, but this was one of the 30% as he hit an ace.
Well, I'm not going to sit behind Ogii on my phone like that woman; I'm going to go explore since we've never been here before. The casino is right in the middle of Resorts World. The three hotels are to the north. Southwest is a theater, and south is a mostly-Asian food court. The northwest are expensive restaurants, and the southwest are various stores and the nightclub.
Neat chandalier.
The casino is very colorful. I like the slots that wrap all the way around the top of the players.
Sports book and restaurant.
Asian food court.
Behind the blue shelves is Here Kitty Kitty Vice Den, a hidden speakeasy.
Lots of Asian trinkets for sale.
Boba on the left, more food on the right.
A pig.
Expensive restaurants to the northeast, shops to the east.
The east side of the property had this giant ball.
Chrome statue.
A nicer restaurant with lots of wine.
Other side of the same restaurant.
An egg themed restaurant.
Neat lights and walls.
The most upscale restaurant.
A lounge beside it.
They have some sort of treasure hunt for finding these images around the place. I wonder if you get some sort of prize if you find a bunch of them.
This lady has a wonderful jacket.
And an equally great dress.
Well, I've walked around the entire property, and Ogii is still in the tournament.
So I wandered up to our room for a bit. Not going to eat any of these snacks in the room.
In fact, if you even move them for 30 seconds, you get charged.
Around $15 for a little container of snacks. $12 for a bottle of water. No thanks.
Back downstairs, and Ogii is still playing. Only seven people left.
Ogii made a lot of straights.
When they got down to five players, they decided to equity chop, so everyone got a proportion of the prize money in relation to how many chips they had.
Ogii had the most chips, so she got first place!
And won just over $1000.
Huge cards behind the poker room cashier.
A piano Liberace owned.
View from our room at night.
Dressed up to go out.
An all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ sushi place across the road, although the tacos place had a huge line.
The close down the strip to traffic for New Year's Eve.
No cars.
Guarding the parking lots.
I wonder if the police have sniper rifles in those cases.
A ton of cops on the strip now.
I didn't know there was a Best Western on the strip.
For New Year's Eve, that doesn't seem too bad.
you could see these people looking out of their hotel rooms.
We walked to The Linq because Lance, Sarah, and Sarah's mom were there.
The entrance had this neat metallic metal display.
A list of things you can't take out onto the strip for NYE.
Especially glass.
More cops in here.
A little bar.
We ate at the steak house.
Back onto the strip, and it's starting to fill up with people.
At the north end, people were jumping over the wall instead of going the long way around to the left.
More cops here.
I bought Ogii and myself matching hats, but they were too big for us. I wrapped one of my socks around my head, and that held the hat in place for me. Ogii didn't want to wear hers, and when I was walking around the hotel while she was playing poker, a woman said she really loved my hat, so I gave the woman my hat, then wore Ogii's for the rest of the night.
Traffic driving just north of the strip closure.
We were headed back to Resorts World to watch the fireworks from the roof. You can see the area just to the right of the Zouk billboard; it has the igloos on it.
We don't want to wait in line or pay for the nightclub, but we can still hear the music from here.
A sports bar by the club.
Lots of people waiting in line to get into the club.
This security guard was just sitting on the floor, checking out his cell phone.
The second and third floors of the resort over here were pretty empty tonight; they seem to be meeting rooms.
The rooftop had a bar and a little popcorm machine.
Although it was only 9pm, so nobody was out here yet, especially because it was pretty cold.
One of the igloos.
The pools are closed for the night.
The Enchant maze from above.
I wonder if Veuve Clicquot was sponsoring this area or something; their name was all over.
We went back inside because it was too early and too cold. This pizza place might be good later in the night.
The stores were starting to close down.
Us by the giant ball.
I bet snacks are cheaper in the little convenience store than in our room.
The Asian foot market area.
Those look like some really good cookies.
Texas Barbecue and Pepita's Kitchen; it's not all Asian.
Ogii by a sculpture of donuts.
These employees were handing out light-up 2023 glasses.
They look neat, but they're rather distracting to look through.
Back to the roof now that we're about 30 minutes away from midnight.
Us by the edge with the strip behind. Ogii's pants are very shiny.
A wider view.
Playing cornhole.
They had this popcorn machine, but nobody around was running it, so I started it up. Someone came by, said it wasn't self-serve, and they would have someone come to work it for me. But nobody came, so I served myself. Other people were coming up to get popcorn as well, so I served them, too.
A shotski.
This was crazy. There are all of these customers here.
But they only had one bartender, one barback, and one server who was taking orders for the igloos and fire pits. People were waiting forever to get champagne, but we managed to get some with only a minute to spare before midnight.
A video of the countdown and the fireworks over the strip and above Resort's World.
A champagne bottle formed by the drones that did the countdown.
They also spelled out, "Happy bday Drew." The Chainsmokers were playing at the Wynn, and this was for one of them.
Fireworks from Resort's World.
A view of the igloos and rest of the rooftop.
And over the strip.
Ogii was video-calling with her sister.
Happy New Year 2023.
An interesting dichotomy: these women are celebrating New Year's...
... and this guy is driving around cleaning the carpet. Although he can at least see the fireworks through the windows.
The line for the pizza is a bit too long.
The giant ball is a smiley face.
And now the Coke bear.
There were a few tables of cash poker going, so we sat down and played for a bit. In this hand, one guy made a full house, but the other guy made a straight flush.
We both made money, so that was nice.