Vizcaya Sundowner

This was my first time attending this event. I won tickets thanks to one of my favorite foodie blogs, Hedonist Shedonist, and was so excited for the opportunity. As soon as I arrived (parking was super easy, which was a plus) I was in awe at the Halloween décor of the mansion and was greeted with drinks at the entrance. It was a fun maze walk to reach the mansion with graveyards and gargoyles along the way. Once we reached the mansion the live band was playing some great tunes and we made our way to one of the various bars they had stationed throughout. Bacardi drinks were on point. Costume people watching was super fun. My only disappointment was that there weren’t many vendor booths with food options, only four booths two of them being beer booths. The Crêpe Makers did an excellent job with their crepes (longest line) but other than that was only a piece of brie cheese on a cracker at the booth next to them, that is it. For the price of this event I would at least expect some more delectable bites. All in all we had a blast, danced the night away, took multiple picture at the stationed photo booths and met lots of great people.

I hadn’t been to Vizcaya since probably around high school, back when the Renaissance Festival used to take place here. I’d been itching to return, since the property is so gorgeous, so when I saw Unilocal Miami holding a ticket giveaway contest for the Halloween Sundowner party, I jumped at the chance. After all, I love dressing up in costume, and combining that with Vizcaya seemed pretty awesome. I’m so grateful to have won these tickets, since I know it’s out of my price range normally.
When Greshka and I got to Vizcaya, there were cops blocking the entrance but no signs anywhere that said where to park. We slowly drove by and asked the cops, who said to park at the museum. We had brought cash with us in case we had to pay for parking, but this was thankfully free. The cop in charge of the crosswalk was one of the friendliest cops I’ve ever met, and he loved my Abby (from NCIS) costume :)
We were let in right at 8 pm, and as we got to the main area, we were surprised at how empty it was. Clearly, people were running on Miami time, since this place was jam-​packed by the end of the evening. A DJ provided music the whole night, and he played a great selection of fun, upbeat songs (although personally, I would’ve loved to have heard «Thriller» play more than just once… c’mon, it’s a classic). We each got a drink and started exploring. Now let me say this: if you want to see some awesome, creative costumes in a beautiful setting, this is absolutely the party for you. But if you’re coming to try lots of food and drinks, look elsewhere. Thankfully, I expected more of the former and less of the latter.
The «tasting village» was ambitiously-​named, considering there were a grand total of three booths giving out samples. There was a cold chicken wing, a sausage bite, and a turkey slider. You just weren’t going to get full on these options, try as you might. Thankfully, on the gazebo end of the property, there was a Crêpe Maker tent, and that proved to be a very popular spot. They had dessert crepes to try, with strawberries, bananas, dulce de leche, tiramisu, cheesecake and (of course) nutella as topping options. When I ordered the red and black crêpe (strawberries and nutella) but asked for it to be mostly black, the gentleman didn’t hold back and made one very tasty crêpe for me. I’ve had worse dinners, for sure ;) And finally, there was a «trick or treat» table set up in the middle, where you could fill up bags with candy for yourself. That was a neat little touch.
The sheer creativity and time investment that went into the costumes here showed. Sure, some were of the store-​bought variety, but plenty were awesome. This was my favorite part of the evening, just looking at how intricate and well-​put-​together these costumes were. When we weren’t people-​watching, we explored the grounds, which are obviously gorgeous. Walking through the gardens, I really wish the Renaissance Festival was still held here.
I’m so glad I got the chance to experience this for myself. Overall I had a lot of fun, although it appears from reading other reviews that this event has definitely changed a lot over the past few years. It really could have benefited from having some more food options or even food trucks, and perhaps a photo booth (even if you had to pay for the photo, I’d be willing to bet it would’ve been a popular attraction).

Looking over the reviews, you’ll notice that the two reviews from 2010 are 5-​star and the two (now three) reviews from 2011 are 1– and 2– stars. This isn’t a mistake — in only one year, the event went from fantastic to terrible! In 2010 there were plenty of open bars and bartenders, enough so that you couldn’t walk in any direction for more than ten steps without someone shoving a drink in your face. Plus, the bars were fully stocked with all types of liquors and wine. This year? Three liquors, two open bars, they ran out of liquor early, AND they raised the price of tickets! As another reviewer pointed out, the ol’ open-​bar-​til-​midnight-​but-​run-​out-​of-​alcohol-​at-​9 scam. And that’s exactly what this was: A SCAM. You don’t charge $ 150+ per ticket for an open bar party, sell a thousand+ tickets, and then buy a couple of bottles of vodka to back up the $ 150,000 you just charged your guests.
Even if it did rain, you can’t control the weather. You CAN control being a horribly-​planned, horribly-​managed event run by cheapskates, which is exactly what this was. Shame on you, Vizcaya.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I’ve been a HUGE fan of the Vizcaya Sundowner for years. I can’t even remember the last time I missed the event as I’ve thought it was Miami’s «party of the year» since the very first time I had the opportunity to experience it for myself. Unfortunately, this year they dropped the ball in a very big way.
A few weeks ago I heard that the party was now being organized by a different set of people, and although I assumed that’s where the price hike came from I didn’t expect much more of a difference… I was definitely misguided.
Before this weekend I would have told anyone who asked me that the party was definitely worth the $ 150 price tag. Sadly, my opinion today is very different as this year’s event wouldn’t even have been worth paying $ 50 for.
The party was VERY poorly planned. From the minute my friends and I approached the tent where you turn in your tickets, I realized something was very wrong. It had just begun to rain cats and dogs and there were about thirty five people huddled under the small tent in an attempt to save their costumes. There were another twenty something poor souls getting soaked because they didn’t fit under the tent. Thankfully, I brought my umbrella with me so I was able to keep the upper part of my body semi-​dry. The scene itself was normal enough since it’s common knowledge that Miamians loose their minds the minute it starts to rain… you’d think we’d be used to it by now. However, the staff that was supposed to be scanning tickets and letting guests into the party weren’t doing so. They kept saying their scanners weren’t working. So, instead of letting people in who clearly had tickets, they let their guests stand around while their costumes got soaked. NEWSFLASH: if your scanners aren’t working, it’s YOUR problem! NOT the guests’! The staff was completely incompetent, unprepared and inconsiderate.
After twenty something minutes spent soaking in the rain waiting to get in, and after the bottom of my costume and my shoes were soaked through, my friends and I were FINALLY able to get inside. What we found was nothing like the party I once loved. To say this event was poorly planned is a gross understatement. Anyone who was paying attention to the news throughout the week was well aware that it was very likely it would rain on Saturday night, yet it was very clear that the tents weren’t put up outside until the very last minute because the floor outside was so wet there were several puddles and one VERY large one in the very middle. So, if your shoes weren’t ruined as you were trying to get into the place, they certainly were once you got inside. Soon after, we realized that the plethora of bars open in years passed were now absent. There was only one bar at the very back that served vodka and the line was impossibly long. To make matters worse, they ran out of vodka WAY too soon. I remember last year there were so many bars that it didn’t take longer than two or three minutes to get a drink, this year you were lucky if you got a drink in a half hour.
Those of you that went to the party last year (yes, it was awesome), may remember the super cool photo booth that reflected the pictures taken on the outside of the building. That wasn’t there on Saturday night, and if it was taken down because of the rain, they should have anticipated that it would rain and put the booth under a tent to begin with.
I’m not sure why they changed the party organizers this year, but I think it’s a shame that the Vizcayans would take advantage of their loyal guests by upping the price of the tickets and offering so much less than they have in the past. I truly hope that the organizers of this year’s event read these reviews and perhaps gets some tips from the party’s previous organizers. I would never have imagined that the party’s 25^th anniversary would be met with such disastrous preparation, and although I never ever thought I’d say this, I’ll likely not go back.

I knew something was going to go wrong early, when we arrived to a completely chaotic parking situation just before 9 PM. After paying an unannounced $ 20 parking fee, the car crawled for half an hour on a long line down a winding road, only to be told at the end that the parking lot was full and directed out to the street. It was obvious that the lot had been full for a while as all the cars we could see in front of us had gone the same direction. We drove to another lot, where we merged at the entrance with other cars coming in from the street who were paying a $ 10 fee (waived for us). As we walked through the rain to the Vizcaya entrance we saw they had just placed a «Lot full» sign at the original parking entrance but a long line of cars already inside still awaited the news that they had filled the Vizcaya lot an hour earlier. Way to collect twice as many $ 20 parking fees as you have spaces in your lot.
On entering the Vizcaya, more bad news awaited. A welcome bar at the entrance was out of alcohol, but we were told that many more bars were available inside. Instead, only two bars at the back appeared to be stocked for a crowd I would estimate at close to a thousand. The old «Open bar til midnight but we ran out of drinks at 9» game. Great for a $ 30/​head New Year’s at a ghetto Washington St. club, but for $ 160/​ticket at the Vizcaya? Pathetic. Took another half hour to get to the bar and endure elbows to the ribs from hardcore Kendalloids until I finally escaped with two watery drinks.
In the Vizcaya’s defense, they couldn’t control who bought the tickets. The crowd wasn’t interesting at all, with boring store-​bought costumes, hospital scrubs, sports uniforms, or no apparent costume at all. I think I saw about 200 pirates, 100 Alice and Mad Hatters, 50 pimps, 50 hoes. The costume contest was so pathetic that the bored presenter let the band choose the winner. He was too busy shoving uninvited drunks off the contest stage. Also, the relentless pouring rain wasn’t the Vizcaya’s fault either, but it just added to the general sense of misery and desperation at the party.
I finally got around to going to this party after seven years in Miami, and it looks like I found the year where it jumped the shark. Needless to say, I won’t be back.

This USED to be the best costume party in Miami. I’m not sure what happened to the group who runs it. There were long lines at the bars. The music was very bad. They ran out of alcohol at several spots before 10:30. The beer they served after 10pm was hot. I hope they are able to resurrect this party. However ran it this year should retire. The grounds were beautiful, which is why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1.

There is not a better Halloween party every year than the Sundowners at Vizcaya
At first I scoffed at the price to get in but at the end of the day, it is well worth it It keeps the party’s exclusivity and makes sure that people go all out on their costumes Never in my life have I seen a greater collection of Halloween costumes
What’s great is that you van come up with any proffesion or costume idea and the girls here will convert it to sexy: cough: slutty: cough: outfit
My vote for best costume of the evening? Easily the Lego Block Vizcaya Security Guards

After yearning for so many years to go to a real Halloween costume party we finally were able to. Words can not describe this incredible event. Parking was easy, with no waiting at all, very well organized. As we walked through smoke filled the air, scarey music playing, pumpkins lit the building up and Patron was pouring some stiff cocktails. It was dark, seductive, cool, and amazing guest arriving with the most incredible costumes I had ever seen.
Some were just flat out funny, while others were so creative. Tables were lined up outside throughout the gardens with Patron, Ultimat vodka, etc… they even had Crepemaker making some delish crepes. The mixologist were all so friendly and we seriously never had to wait more than maybe five minutes for a cocktail. Stella Artois was giving out ice cold beer as well. They had wine, water, anything to quench your thirst. They had three different DJ’s playing various types of music. The dancer’s were amazing from belly dancers to sexy sultry ladies on stage.
We were very impressed with not only the décor that Vizcaya had created but also how friendly every single guest was. It was just a big huge party with happy people all there to have a great time. I thought the event was very well organized, incredible cocktails, amazing entertainment, on top of just a beautiful place.
Patron had a table set up where they taught you how to make your own Mojito. Fresh mint, fresh fruit, Patron then you were able to muddle, shake, and drink. Wow was this fun! Then you walk over to another table with your freshly made mojito and Patron gave you a gorgeous shiny silver muddle that said Patron on it and they engraved whatever you wanted it to say. I wrote down what I wanted to get engraved and came back twenty minutes later to pick up. It came out great, nice addition to my bar and a good memory for the evening.
Food trucks were out back, oh thank goodness we needed some food. We grabbed some taco’s from Jefe, so good. We walked through the gardens, took many pictures, met some really cool people, danced, drank, and mingled.
We were in complete total awe of this experience, as it was one heck of an incredible event. This is the place to be on Halloween. Guest go all out with costumes, Vizcaya goes way over the top with the décor and entertainment.
I must say this is one of my favorite places in Miami, it is just so breathtaking and beautiful. Much thanks for a wonderful amazing evening, and we look forward to going back next year.
Extra special review as this made my 100^th five star, so deserved.