New Years & Super Bowl

[DaBurglar]

The vegas memories thread is polluted, partly my fault, so let me start a more specific thread about the two Vegas events that seem to generate the most activity and popularity, celebrating New Years and the Super Bowl! My memories of Vegas stretch back to 1992, and for the first 6 years, up until 1999, around holiday season, between thanksgiving weekend and X-mas, Vegas was known to actually shut down and a lot of businesses and casino people went on vacation, to return after x-mas just in time for New Years.    As such, I often would schedule a Vegas vacation during the two weeks prior to x-mas (I did this every year from 1993 thru 1998) and it always amazed me how "quiet" the city would get during this time.   I still had fun and did all I wanted, and Saturday nights were still wild, but it was sometimes almost eerie how, say on a tuesday a week befoe x-mas, downtown Vegas was very sparsely populated.    I loved it, like I had the whole place to myself, no lines in the restaurants that were open, etc. That all changed as the millenium approached, and after 1998, when Bellagio, NY-NY, Monte Carlo, and several other mega-properties came online and Vegas no longer had any "lulls" or seasons, it became truly a year round destination. After 1998, if you wanted to stay in Vegas for New years (that is from December 30 thru January 1) you almost needed to book it by Memorial day....then starting around 2004, you almost had to book newyears a whole YEAR in advance unless you were a true high roller.   But I myself only spent a total of two new years in my life in Vegas, and both were harrowing, almost scary experiences, because people just lose control and become drunken idiots, and it seemed for a long time the city actually encouraged this!  Superbowl Weekend is a different story, this is one of my favorite times to be in Vegas, not just to bet on the game but all the different super bowl parties.   Being a Patriots fan, the five times they have been in the super bowl since 2001 have been special events for me, even when they lost two of those games!   My favorite place to watch and bet the game is of course, Golden Nugget.

[Tedlark]

  Wow, some great memories of Las Vegas DaBurglar and thank you for sharing. I've been to Las Vegas to celebrate New Years but never Christmas because, to me, Christmas is a time better spent with my family and loved ones. I am not too fearful of the New Years craziness, whether it be Las Vegas, Chicago, New York, as I have been in those places for the midnight celebration and this is partially owed to several facts that I won't get into here.
 
  I do remember one other Super Bowl that the Patriots were in, seems to me I remember it being the 1985 Super Bowl?

[edog743]

I remember the 1996 super bowl I think the patriots lost that one. I was a fan of the winning team then. Now not so much.

[BillyJoe]

I had been to Vegas for SuperBowl Weekend every year, starting with the year that the Tampa Bay Bucs beat Oakland. Not going to make the trip this year, though. The casino parties used to be magnificent, but for the last several years, they have trimmed back to now being quite ordinary.  




 
I went to New Orleans once for NYE, but never Vegas. I cannot imagine Vegas being crazier than NO on that night.  

[DaBurglar]

new orleans mardi gras is way crazier than new years, and since the recession of 2008 the last 5 newyears in Vegas have been some of the calmest I am told..... I was in New Orleans for mardi gras way the hell back in 1997 (i think...) Anyway what I remember most was in the midst of a fairly cool stretch of weather even by new orleans standards, there was one REALLY HUMID sticky day in the middle of the week I was there, and the humidity was such that the metal on my wheels actually just condensed everytime i went outside, such that i could not even grip my wheels properly to get from point A to point B. I was there again in the middle of a August some years later but before katrina, and it is so bad you actually sweat just watching the 6 oclock news......thats 6 oclock IN THE F-ng morning!     No way could I live there or anywhere on the gulf coast....probably why I never been to any casinos down there either.  

[BillyJoe]

new orleans mardi gras is way crazier than new years,
Well, the year I was there, Burglar, I had designs on going to Jackson Square at midnight to ring in the new year. It was storming like crazy! I decided to attend the Harrahs casino party instead, but they had a TV on with the local news showing before midnight, and showed some of the parties going on across town.
 
There in Jackson Square, they had set up aluminum bleachers, which were filled to capacity. The mud from the storm was ankle deep. Everytime a flash of lightning came down, everyone in the bleachers held up their drink, as if to say "is that all You got? " (Lt Dan style). 
 
I have been on the Mardi Gras floats, but that night, IMO, was WAY crazier.