Staff spent most of the 31st tearing down Christmas decorations and preparing for the festivities. We were told to be at dinner around 8:45, but when we left our room at 8:15 to grab a cocktail first, we were surprised to see the program was already well under way. It would have been nice if someone said to be in the lobby by 8pm...
Apparently it's been the same program for 2 years now, and it appears to be popular, so it might just become an annual tradition.
They hire several local native americans to come in full tribal dress and share dances, songs, and explain the significance of the various costumes. Then towards the end they do a "line dance" kind of thing where they involve hotel guests who are so inclined. It sounds like a weird program for NYE, but it was actually really cool...even my wife liked it (sort of), and she's not big on culture.
We were then invited to take our seats for dinner, but therein was the problem. All 100+ people staying at the hotel showed up at their tables at the exact same time. The staff was horribly unprepared to serve all of us at once, so it took nearly 1 hour just to get the 1st course served! It was only a 4 course meal (no amuse, intermezzo, or other nice touches), yet they managed to drag it out over 3 hours (to get us as close to midnight as possible). For comparison, I did 16 courses at Bar Charlie in the same amount of time.
Timing issues notwithstanding, the meal was very good, with dessert being the highlight. During dinner, a DJ was playing light mood music, but when we got within an hour of midnight, the 70's, 80's, and 90's music started to get a lot louder.
There was dancing, drinking, etc...and at midnight they did a balloon drop. Somewhere in the mass of gold and black balloons was a solitary red one. The person who caught the red balloon won a free night. Another strange concept for a 5-star hotel, but one I certainly wish I would have won!
Dinner was $175 per person (excluding alcohol). Considering it was only 4 courses, it felt a bit like a ripoff. However, considering there was a 45 minute "show" at the beginning, I guess it's not horrible.
There were some children there, but not more than 10-15, and they were actually very well behaved. The youngest was perhaps 5 or 6 years old. No infants or toddlers from what I could see.
It
wasn't the most fun I've ever had at a NYE party, but it was a nice change of pace.