New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas is something everyone should experience at some point in their lives. From the looks of it when I was there, that is happening. As you may know, the strip is closed to auto traffic for about 8 hours, or more depending on cleanup. Around 6 pm police cars barricade the road in preparation for the night’s festivities. One thing I didn’t realize, but it makes sense, is that they also close many streets leading to Las Vegas Blvd. Therefore, using a cab is not really an option for most people. I assumed that getting a cab would be difficult because so many people would be in town vying for them. But actually, New Year’s Eve is one of the worst nights for a cabbie, profit wise. Since many cab drop-offs require the use of the strip and streets leading up to the strip, cabs can’t get around very well. Also, they can’t cross the strip via Tropicana, Flamingo, or Spring Mountain, among other streets. By law they are not able to pick up or drop off passengers on a street at all. My husband and I were lucky. We stayed at the New York, but walked to MGM Grand early in the evening to get a cab down to the Wynn for our dinner reservation at Alex. (I’ll write about that another time.) Then at about 11:00pm we were able to get a cab from the Spring Mountain side of the Wynn, near Chanel, and take it back to MGM in time to stand in the street at midnight and enjoy the fireworks. Ah, the fireworks. While they are by no means the best fireworks I have ever seen, the atmosphere surrounding them was unparalleled. As many times as I have been to Vegas, I have never seen anything like the strip being closed down and completely packed with people. My husband and I were able to wedge our way out in front of Grand Canyon Experience, on the MGM side of the street, and although we totally enjoyed it, we did not have the best view of the fireworks. I assumed that they would be launched from every hotel, but that was not the case. They were launched from MGM, but not from New York, which we would have had a much better view of. Our view of MGM was partially obscured by that Grand Canyon Experience building. Though we could still see the fireworks up the north end of the strip as well. It was a really cool sight seeing them all around the Eiffel Tower.
Once the fireworks were over, about 7 minutes later, we had the task of getting back to the New York. It seems easy right? It’s just on the other side of the street, which we are standing in the middle of. Well, actually, the center, median portion of the strip is barricaded off by police officers. You cannot cross directly. Instead, you have to work your way down to a cross street, such as Tropicana. Then you go up Tropicana to turn onto the other side of Las Vegas Blvd. I held tight to my husband’s jacket, so as to not be separated in the mob of people doing the same thing. Let me say, standing in the center of Tropicana and Las Vegas Blvd was totally cool. Normally standing there would be a death wish, but it was just full of partiers. You could just stand there and look down the strip at the mobs of people. We eventually made it back to New York safe and sound. I am embarrassed to say, by this time, I was tired. That morning we actually woke up in Green Bay Wisconsin from a Packer’s game. As I have said before, flying in and out of Vegas is cheap. Anyhow, after that travel, my ample wine at Alex, and our experiences that evening, I was ready for bed. Thank goodness I had a 75 minute massage scheduled for New Year’s Day; something I strongly advise, but book in advance. It’s not a unique idea come morning.