Viva Las Vegas!!! Day 1

It had been 6 months since we had last been to Vegas and this trip was long past due. On our last trip in January we had the Magic Man pull his disappearing act on both nights that we were there and we had some other mishaps.
Click here to read day 1
Click here to read day 2

Neal and Ray (Magic Man) were going on this trip again. Who knows what we have in stored. Enjoy the pics.

Charyl at the airport. 

The Dynamic Duo. Neal and the Magic Man.

Will I disappear or won't I?

A long time friend that we haven't seen in a while made a last minute appearance. Dawnie!! 

Here we are at Baggage claim. We were finally back. It was almost like being back to our second home the only thing missing was a few friends and the Skyloft. Maybe in September?!

So I got comped a room at Palazzo again. That's always nice. I have read many times online about the $20 trick. If you don't know what it is. Pretty much you tip the concierge $20 or more to try to get a room upgrade. The way to do it is to hand the concierge the "Vegas Sandwich" I think that is what it is called. The Vegas Sandwich is a $20 bill or more sandwiched between your ID and credit card. So when they ask for your ID and CC you hand the Vegas Sandwich. Then when they split it they should see the tip.

Read more about the $20 trick here www.frontdesktip.com

The link above has a listing of people with success rates or fails. Also has details of what type of upgrade they got too.

Read about my experience a few pictures below.

So this is the first time I have done this trick. I normally stay at the Skyloft (Click here to read about Skyloft) so there is no need to do the trick there. I didn't think the upgrade would apply to me cause my room was comped but after reading about people getting their comped room upgraded to strip/pool view and being located near the elevators I thought I would give it a try.

So when asked for my ID and CC I handed the concierge the sandwich. He saw the $20 then handed it back to me and said to hold onto that for after he finished booking me. I didn't even have to ask if there were any upgrades available. He just automatically gave me a strip view room. Unfortunately I was checking in really early 11am so the room was not available. He handed me my room keys and said that they would call me when the room was ready. He then asked how many people I had in my party and I told him. He went to the back room and came back with some free passes for Tao, Tao Beach, and Lavo. He also gave me a few pens for everyone in my group. I would say the $20 trick was a success.

So we checked in our bags and headed out for something to eat. We had plans to hit up Encore Beach Club but since we didn't have a room yet we decided to kill some time.

So we headed out to the food court.

 It isn't a trip without our traditional Haagen-Dazs ice cream. 

John loves his garlic bread.

I'm on vacation. What diet are you talking about?

So around 1pm we couldn't wait for the phone call anymore so I called the front desk to check on my room. It still wasn't ready yet but they decided to relocate us. We were in a hurry to get to our room so that we could change and head to Encore Beach Club. I was concerned that I would not get the strip view room that was promised. 

So the room keys that were originally given didn't work since they relocated our room. So we had to wait for security to come up and let us in.

Fortunately we were still given the strip view room and a view of the pool. Worth the $20 bucks. I believe the upgrade to strip view is normally priced at an extra $45 a night. We had a great view of Treasure Island.

So after a few shots we put on our swim trunks and headed out to Encore Beach Club. Lucky for us our friend Dawnie DJ's occasionally in Vegas and knows a lot of people. He had some connections to get us into Encore Beach Club. We also had the choice of Rehab or Wet Republic but chose Encore Beach Club cause it was the newest pool party of the three.

Drink, Drank, Drunk..

While we were waiting for Dawnie's friend we saw this mannequin who looks just like Dawnie. What do you think?

So we needed to find females to thin out our ratio before going into EBC. Didn't want our host to look bad by walking in a bunch of dudes. Nothing ruins a great pool party like a group of swords.

So lucky for us a nice sized group of ladies walked up and thanks to Charyl they walked in with us. The girls already a table but were nice enough to were nice enough to wait and walk in with us. 

So in return we bought the girls a round. So a round of 14 drinks and $300 dollars later we were ready to party!

A pic of the girls we met. Coincidentally they were from our home town too. It's a small world after all.

After our drinks we walked around to check out the scene.

The only pool party that I have ever been to was Tao Beach. I didn't like the vibe I got at Tao Beach. It was a bit too Douchey for me, but the crowd here was really chill and nice. 

After walking around we ran into a few of our friends from back home. They invited us to chill with them at their cabana. 

Here are a few shots from the upper level cabana.

Neal and Charyl

We ended staying for about 3 hours. We were pretty drunk but it was time to head back so that we could get some rest for Vanity at the Hard Rock tonight.

My friends tell me that when I'm drunk I'm pretty intense. I think they're lying. 

After the pool we headed straight back to the food court to grab some grub.

So we ended up passing out after the pool. 

A few night shots of the pirate show.

After waking up we suited up and headed out to Bouchon for dinner. I have been wanting to eat at this place for quite some time. Mainly for the Foie Gras pate.

A very rare site. Neal drinking a coke!!

Chilled crab and Foie Gras Pate with toast. Tasted like butter.

I had the Gnocchi

Neal the spare rib

Steak and Frites

John had the Steak and Mac Cheese.

I think peter had the pork loin.

Just a little tip: If you ever eat at a restaurant in the hotel your staying in. Apply the meal to your room. It will add points to your players card.

We showed up at Vanity around 12am. Met up with out table host Justen Crews. If your ever looking for VIP bottle reservation. You can find a list of direct contacts at jackcolton.com why pay those vip hosting sites when you can cut them out?

Charyl, Christy, and Michelle

We normally show up to the club pretty early. Around 10-11pm. We always wondered why we went so early when we already had bottle service.When ever we went early we would normally tap out around 2am So this time we decided to go a bit late. We we arrived we were seated on the outside patio. It was freaking hot. I realized why we showed up early. To get first dibs on table location. Tried to get our table relocated but most of the inside tables were already occupied. Lucky for us our friends had a table inside they were kind enough to let us merge with them.

Cindy and Peter

They used to call Cindy Nemo cause she drinks like a fish. Not anymore...

Peter = Drunk

Charyl may seem like a small girl but we don't call her the closer for nothing. If she is drunk you should run from her cause she will force you to drink till you puke. Fortunately the assassin did not show up. 

Peter, Penny and Teddy

Fun times!!

I don't think Peter wants Hennessy right now. 

We invited the girls that we met at Encore Beach Club to meet up with us at Vanity. A few of them showed up.

Neal: So who's pouring?

John: .........

Someone in this picture is drunk...

The Magic Man appeared on the stage twice and got kicked off by security twice. lol

This was our first time to Vanity. I must say for Vegas it was a bit ghetto. Charyl had been to Vanity before a few months ago and she said it was nothing like this. We were way over dressed for this place. There was a guy at a table next to us in a tank top with two holes in it. I mean really? I am not sure if we went on a bad night or what. There were a lot of people in regular t-shirts. I miss Body English. I think I will have to find a new spot for Sundays now.

Dawnie is a huge Elton John fan.

So we ate at the 24hr restaurant inside the Hard Rock. Charyl ordered a Nachos and they gave her a whole raw jalapeno. Ray and Peter took a huge bite out of it. Laughter ensued. It was exactly like the scene in Dumb and Dumber click here

That was out first night. It was awesome. Nobody disappeared. Nobody got the wheelchair and nobody yacked. Just extremely drunk out of our minds.