We made another trip down to the Strip last night to watch fireworks and of course people watching on the Strip on NYE is always a sight to see.


Everything was good just the usual rowdy drunks, I seem to notice more of them now that I'm no longer one of them.


We all had a good time, including the sober designated driver


The only slight disappointment we discovered when we got to the MGM Grand parking garage is that they closed off the top floor of the parking garage for NYE. An MGM security person said it had something to do with additional security due to increased terrorist activity...go figure.


So we ended up parking on the level just below the top floor, backed the truck up to the north wall facing the exit ramp and watched the fireworks show from there. It was okay, still a good view and much better than being in the crowds down on the street level. But it did limit the view just a little, still would have been better on the top floor with all the open view of the entire Vegas skyline.

Once the grand finale ended the fireworks show we made a quick exit out of the parking garage and was home in 20 miniutes. The key here is don't stick around once the fireworks are over, get out of that garage as quickly as possible, unless you plan on staying on the Strip until 4:00am.

Thanks Cajun, It sounds like a good time. I was prepared to watch it from the airport parking garage, which I've done before and is a great vantage point with little traffic. At the end of my shift on Thursday night, I was burned out and didn't feel like waiting an hour in the bone chilling weather.

Are you thinking of doing it next year?

Thanks, Cajun ... it's nice to know some traditions continue! What time do you get to MGM to get a good parking place? I've resisted the idea of NYE in Las Vegas, but I do love fireworks - just hate crowds<g>. Who knows, one of these years, the fireworks may win.

There is always the possibility that I will go down to the Strip for NYE. As long as we have visitors in town that want to go we will go with them. So far, since they started the fireworks show on the Strip in 2000, we have only missed one year and that was last year. And from all of the reports we heard that was a good year to miss.

We aim to get to the parking garage no later than 9:00pm, we were there about 9:15pm this time due to some unexpected traffic jam on Tropicana. But we still got a good parking spot. You can always get a parking spot near the top at the MGM garage. But if you get there NLT 9:00pm or in our case this time 9:15pm you can park along the north wall of the garage and get a good view from there right next to your vehicle.

We like to do this because we bring our own food and beverages and have ourselves a tailgate party on my truck while we wait for the midnight show. We usually go walk around the Strip after we get there for a little while, until the crowds start to really swell up in size and come back to the vehicle around 11:00pm.

So we tailgate party for an hour then watch the fireworks show and make an immediate departure to get out of the garage before the rest of the crowd comes to their vehicles to leave. If you want out of there quickly be ready to leave as soon as the fireworks ends or else you will be sitting in a traffic jam from hell. Or you can head back into the casino and wait until 4:00am after all the traffic jam has cleared.

If you love fireworks but hate crowds you can do it the way we have been doing it. You come into the parking garage from the back side, Koval Ln and park. Once you have your spot you can walk down to Tropicana and onto the corner of Trop and the Strip for a little while, the crowds aren't too bad there. We walked all the way up to Planet Hollywood before it started to get real bad and then headed back to the MGM.

The crowd is part of the fun, if your on foot. I enjoyed being part of the crowd the time we went to LV for NYE. The monorail was our quick escape when it was over. But I'm guessing you better make a bee line for it when the show is over, just like the garage ralph goes too!
Glad you had a good time Cajun!

Thanks, guys .... I've resisted the NYE idea for a long time, but I just might go with the "ya gotta do it once" theory this year.

If you decide to go for it maybe we can meet up at my truck for a tailgate party prior to the midnight hour/fireworks. Hope you do decide to come on down for NYE. Heck if we get enough TV members we'll just have to make it an official NYE TV meet/tailgate party.

Honest!! I hate terrorists and fireworks!

A wierd combinations, but hateful nonetheless!

One needs no further explanation but my hatred for fireworks needs a few kind words.

........ I lived in Hawaii way too long! Right in the very heart of Waikiki - a 40 second walk to the very center of Waikiki Beach where just about each and every weekend some convention was in town with the usual requirement to conduct the most expensive explosion of skyward combustionables since WWII.

SO every weekend evening around 9:00 pm the sky would light up with a vast mixture of exploding stars and constant vibrations of booming echos shaking doors and windows of each and every hotel and resident along that two-mile strip of beachfront property.

Dogs would howl in protest and nesting birds would fly in confusion and all the local residents would uselessly complain.

And the smell of rocket smoke dominated the salt-sea air until early the following morning.

And then once each year we'd celebrate the 4th of July with millions (billions possibly) of exploding firecrackers and cherry bombs and house fires and missing fingers from careless hands.

And the resulting smoke would remain for many of the following hours resulting in closed doors and windows and homebound folks until the "all clear" was sounded by neighbors and friends who dared to enter before that signal was heard.

Sorry, but I had to get that off my chest. Today I don't even look up when fireworks are in town.