AZ Blog

6 Ways to Spend New Year’s Eve in Arizona

Posted on by Marketing Team

If trying to figure out how you’ll be ringing in 2013 in Arizona has you drawing blanks, fear not; we’ve got you covered. Here are 6 big ways to spend New Year’s Eve in the Grand Canyon State.

 1. SCOTTSDALE’S ULTIMATE BLOCK PARTY. Each year Scottdale’s Ultimate Block Party, a collaboration between local venues Dos Gringos, RockBar Inc., and Blitz Sports Grill, throws the state’s only New Year’s Eve block party. For the past 10 years, Scottsdale’s 21+ residents have gathered in Craftsman Court to enjoy what can only be described as the ultimate indoor and outdoor New Year’s Eve block party. Attendees are treated to a street festival featuring live entertainment from local and nationally known musicians and are, of course, encouraged to visit the variety of bars and restaurants in the area.

 2. ZOO YEAR’S EVE. This year the folks at the Phoenix Zoo are putting a very adult spin on a place we’ve all visited a time or twelve during our childhood and are challenging you to let your party animal loose at their Zoo Year’s Eve celebration. The zoo will be spoiling partygoers with a three-hour New Year’s Eve shindig with three complimentary drinks, complimentary appetizers, party favors, live entertainment, a cash bar, and a lightshow! What better way to start of the New Year than with free stuff?

3. PLAYGROUND BAR. Tuscon’s Playground Bar seems eager to continue its rep as the city’s #1 nightlife destination in 2013. For this year’s New Year’s Eve fete, Playground Bar is offering 3 bars on 2 levels, 3 areas for the New Year’s countdown, an all-star DJ lineup, and a tribute to electronic music duo Daft Punk. That alone sounds like amazing time, but Playground Bar is sweetening the pot a little more for those who buy advance tickets: Advance ticket holders will get guaranteed and express entrance to the New Year’s Eve celebration as well as a midnight toast and rooftop access.

4. SAVE THE FAMILY’S HEARTS OF GOLD NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATION. If you like to mix in a bit of philanthropy with your partying, then you should consider attending Save the Family’s annual Hearts of Gold New Year’s Eve Celebration. Thrown at the Tempe Center for the Arts, the event promises a night of delicious food, live entertainment from popular cover band TréJa Vu, champagne, casino gaming, and lakeside fireworks. And since all proceeds benefit Save the Family, an organization that has been dedicated to servicing homeless families with children for over two decades, you can feel free to indulge guilt-free.

 5. THE NATIONAL COMEDY THEATER. Laugh in 2013 at the National Comedy Theatre’s New Year’s Eve Comedy Extravaganza in Mesa, AZ. The theater is known for its unique, interactive, and improvisational comedy shows and was even awarded the title for 2011’s “Best Local Performing Arts Troupe” by the East Valley Tribune. At its New Year’s Eve Comedy Extravaganza, guests of all ages are welcome to participate in 90 minutes of improv and mingle with the cast. Guests will also receive party favors, a countdown to midnight with complimentary champagne or cider toast, and delicious desserts.

6. HOTEL VALLEY HO. Hotel Valley Ho is vowing to “shake (not stir) it up” this New Year’s Eve. Guests who stay at this Scottsdale hotel during New Year’s Eve will have the opportunity to enjoy a four-course dinner paired with Belvedere Vodka, Moët & Chandon, and Veuve Clicquot. Talk about classy! Guests will also enjoy live entertainment all night long and a champagne toast at midnight on top of the hotel’s seven-story tower. And if you think all the fun will be over come New Year’s Day, think again. The good people at Hotel Valley Ho open their Bloody Mary Bar 9 am – 2:30 pm on New Year’s Day.

However you choose to ring in 2013, AZ LIMO can help you do it safely. Rely on our responsible drivers, available in Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe, and Phoenix, to get you to and from your New Year’s Eve destination safely.

 

Image via village14.com

Santa Trackers

Posted on by Marketing Team

Santa Claus and reindeers

In 1955, a Colorado Springs business advertisement misprinted the telephone number for children to call Santa Claus. The number instead put children in contact with CONAD, the Continental Air Defense Command. Instead of turning the misled children away, the Director of Operations at the time turned his staff into Santa trackers, asking them to check the radar for indications of Santa making his way from the North Pole and update inquiring children on Santa’s location. For two years CONAD continued to act as a Santa tracker until 1958, when the governments of Canada and the United States created NORAD, North American Aerospace Defense Command.

Since then, volunteers for the NORAD Santa Tracker have responded to phone calls and emails from children around the world. For those who prefer a more modern approach, the NORAD Santa Tracker now tracks Santa on the interwebs. Noradsanta.org, available in eight languages, provides up-to-the-minute updates on how many gifts Santa has delivered, the cities and countries he’s delivered to, and even gives kids info on where Santa and his reindeers will be going next and how long it’ll take him to get there. So far, we’ve spotted Santa in Hat Yai, Thailand, Alice Springs, Australia, and Magadan, Russia, among hundreds of other cities in the Eastern Hemisphere.

For the child who might get a bit bored of the NORAD Santa Tracker, the site also offers a Santa Cam that captures images and video of Santa Claus as he journeys around the world and interactive holiday games.

Google, who formerly collaborated with NORAD on the Santa Tracker, is now engaging in its own Santa tracking fun. The Google Santa Tracker provides pretty much the same info as the NORAD Santa Tracker, but Google’s Santa seems a bit slower than NORAD’s: as of this morning, Google’s Santa has delivered a mere 594 million gifts while NORAD’s Santa has delivered well over 1 billion. Google’s Santa also seems quite social: about twice every minute, he updates his status, saying things like, “Mmm those cookies were delicious” and “Jingling all the way!”

Try one or both of these Santa tracker sites to add a bit of location-based fun to your holiday season!

 

Image via scienceblogs.com

Arizona Celebration of Lights

Posted on by Marketing Team

Phoenix, AZ may not have the whitest Christmas, but what the city’s residents lack in snow, they make up for in lights. The annual Arizona Celebration of Lights boasts the state’s largest presentation of holiday lights. The high-wattage celebration includes more than 7,000,000 lights and 600 animated and still displays.

Located at the Phoenix Event Complex at 2209 N. 99th Avenue, the Arizona Celebration of Lights is how we imagine the Las Vegas Strip would look if Santa were in charge of decorating. Homes in the one-mile long spectacle are decked out in displays depicting nutcracker men, frolicking reindeer, and other Christmas-inspired scenes.

Now in its 15th year, this family-friendly event promises to be bigger than ever with appearances from and photo ops with jolly ole St. Nick and a projected 140,000 participants. If this sounds like the perfect addition to your holiday plans, get in on the fun and hire a car service to guide you and your loved ones through the display! The Arizona Celebration of Lights opened on November 18 and runs through January 6, 2013. Gates to this drive-through event open 5:30pm-9:00pm Sunday through Thursday and stay open even later, 5:30pm-10:00pm, on Friday, Saturday, and holidays.

Don’t be outshined by the extravagant light displays: make sure you and your family attend the Arizona Celebration of Lights in style in one of AZ LIMO’s luxury chauffeured limousines. We offer a Holiday Light Tour Package that allows participants to choose between several light tours throughout the Phoenix Metro Area, and if you just can’t decide which light tour to attend, we can customize a route for you! Contact AZ LIMO for more details on how we can make your Holiday Light Tours experience that much brighter!

 

Images via phoenixnewtimes.com