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Las Vegas Area Attractions Discussion


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Aside from the walk being so long to get to the park, MGM Grand Adventures was great. My first trip to Vegas was with my grandparents as a kid, so it was nice to actually have something exciting for me back then!

 

I also remember years later, after Signature towers had been built, going back to see the remnants of the park. The bumper car building housed their limo fleet and the Haunted Mine show building was mechanics work area for the fleet. Half of the drained lagoon and the facades of those buildings remained too. Now they are gone as well for Topgolf.

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  • 5 months later...

I feel very lucky to have had a great experience visiting New Years of 2017 going into 2018. The place wasn’t dead but was not crowded, the Mexican restaurant over the log flume was really good, all the rides were running, and although rough in a weird jerky way, I thought Desperado was awesome!!! Much better than I anticipated. Really good sudden airtime and a cool layout.

 

It’s too bad the fate of these rides is almost certainly permanent closure.

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In Vegas attraction news: the walking dead experience downtown has closed.

It's almost like these venues are hoping the attractions close. Is anyone really going to vegas for JUST gambling anymore?

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All three time's I've been to Vegas it was for drinking, shows, and nightclubs...none of those industries seem to be hurting.

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I have seen that too. I have seen a common reason is online gambling, millennials not really into gambling, the parking fees keeping away the locals, the lack of baccarat and diminishing Asian visitors. I have seen some unwanted changes especially to Caesars rewards program. Just last year I was able to find plenty free options for night stays but this year they changed to one night per 5,000 tier credits. I'm better off just going to one of the other properties and securing a lower hotel rate than being loyal to Caesars.

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^Online gambling has been around for a long time. Millennial's not being into gambling is just a lame excuse that's not true IMO. I'm a millennial gambler, and if you are ever in Vegas on a weekend you will see tables full of millennial's. Millennial's, however have a limit on what they will gamble, so you see the $25 minimum tables empty while the $5 and $10 are packed (I stick to $5/10 ultimate Texas holdem, which is still expensive and probably not smart of me...)

 

Fees definitely play a role. Parking and resorts. Sports betting being legalized nationwide takes something away from Vegas being THE spot for big sporting events. When China cracked down on corrupt gambling junkets, it definitely hurt the high end.

 

Clubs and shows are down because it's a heavily saturated market without much change. Same resident DJ's, same shows for 10+ years. You pay $5k+ once to see Tiesto with bottle service, you're never going back to do it again.

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I love going to Vegas, but really not to gamble. I will play a bit of black jack, but really not much. I enjoy just being able to walk up and down the strip open carry liquor. Also enjoy seeing one show every time and exploring Old Vegas, etc. I don't play too well into the hands of the casinos themselves. But we still make a nice time of it.

Edited by Taylor Finn
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I have a love, hate relationship with Vegas. I should love it. On paper it ticks all the boxes for me but I just don't. I always feel like time spent in Vegas is time that would be better spent driving a few hours away to Southern California or one of the awesome national parks / canyons nearby and I don't really like the casino vibe. It's fun in small doses but that's about it for me. The entire town feels like one giant ripoff hell-bent on taking your money while providing nothing of value in return, often by hustling people or using deceitful marketing tactics (see: high pressure club promoters for clubs that may or may not exist, cabs long hauling people through the tunnel over and over and over, hotel resort fees and parking fees doubling the cost of many rooms on the strip, etc...). That's true of a lot of tourist traps but Vegas takes it to the next level.

 

Also, even if you have a healthy attitude towards gambling (I'll take out a few bucks, chalk it up as an entertainment expense and expect to lose it all), it's depressing sitting next to someone who looks defeated and is clearly in the process of throwing their life away and those types of people are all over every casino on the strip. It's just not a fun atmosphere. Every time we see some guy at the roulette table looking at that bullsh*t screen showing the "hot numbers" and legitimately believing that there's actual strategy involved (aside from avoiding a basket bet), I die a little inside.

 

I get that a lot of people love it and there are a few things in Vegas that I really like but overall I just can't get into it.

Edited by coasterbill
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^

Fees definitely play a role. Parking and resorts.

 

 

agreed 100%. in particular the parking fees.

 

shows are hurting, and a large part of that I would say is due to locals not wanting to pay to park.

 

I have family in Vegas, and they have stopped going to the shows, even when discounted for locals - as the $25 parking fee (at some of the strip resorts) are killing any benefit they get from seeing a Cirque show for the umpteenth time, even if the ticket is heavily discounted.

 

it's a shame.

 

I remember the alarm being raised when the resorts started charging for parking -- and the response was basically: well, they've been charging resort fees for years, and it hasn't kept folks away, so this won't matter.

 

but of course, parking fee affects locals coming to your resort, not necessarily the people staying in your place (who very likely took a shuttle from airport and don't need to park anyways).

 

just my 2cents.

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^Online gambling has been around for a long time. Millennial's not being into gambling is just a lame excuse that's not true IMO. I'm a millennial gambler, and if you are ever in Vegas on a weekend you will see tables full of millennial's. Millennial's, however have a limit on what they will gamble, so you see the $25 minimum tables empty while the $5 and $10 are packed (I stick to $5/10 ultimate Texas holdem, which is still expensive and probably not smart of me...)

I mean hey, i'm just going by what the articles are saying and that seems to be some of the common reasons across the board. I can only personally speak for myself and say that out of the 3 times I went last year I may have spent a collective of 100.00 gambling. Compare that to the 117.00 I spent on one meal. At 37 i'm not too sure if I would be considered a millennial but I def don't go to Vegas for slots.

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^Online gambling has been around for a long time. Millennial's not being into gambling is just a lame excuse that's not true IMO. I'm a millennial gambler, and if you are ever in Vegas on a weekend you will see tables full of millennial's. Millennial's, however have a limit on what they will gamble, so you see the $25 minimum tables empty while the $5 and $10 are packed (I stick to $5/10 ultimate Texas holdem, which is still expensive and probably not smart of me...)

I mean hey, i'm just going by what the articles are saying and that seems to be some of the common reasons across the board. I can only personally speak for myself and say that out of the 3 times I went last year I may have spent a collective of 100.00 gambling. Compare that to the 117.00 I spent on one meal. At 37 i'm not too sure if I would be considered a millennial but I def don't go to Vegas for slots.

 

Millennial's have been blamed for everything that is actually just poor business decisions...we're killing everything.

 

Casinos thought millennial's wanted skill based machines instead of typical slot machines too. I never see anyone actually playing those machines.

 

They are choosing to ignore the actual problems by covering them up with cost cutting moves and layoffs that change Vegas from a special place to just any other resort destination.

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I've looked into Vegas a couple of times in the past couple of years, but each time it came down to the actual cost being significantly higher than expected cost.

 

As mentioned, resort fees play a large role here. The first time I was shocked to be looking at a "$49/night" room and seeing that it would be $100+/night after all was said and done. And this was already in places I wouldn't call "luxurious". Add in that flights from Chicago never really seemed to drop compared to other cities out West, and I faced sticker shock. As others have commented on, my total cost ended up about double the number I had going in. That's a tough pill to swallow when I have to save up and "play the game" to make a trip of this nature feasible for me. Also, Vegas is a tourist trap where you have to "play the game" your entire time there. It seems like you should never pay list price for ANYTHING. But if you have to do a bunch of legwork to get the affordable price, it becomes a cost/benefit analysis that isn't favorable...

 

I don't mind spending my hard earned cash on a getaway. This was all about the aftertaste that was left by how the cash was being spent. Ultimately I've passed each time I've had the option to go to Vegas.

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Millennial's have been blamed for everything that is actually just poor business decisions...we're killing everything.

 

Casinos thought millennial's wanted skill based machines instead of typical slot machines too. I never see anyone actually playing those machines.

 

They are choosing to ignore the actual problems by covering them up with cost cutting moves and layoffs that change Vegas from a special place to just any other resort destination.

I definitely get what you are saying. One of the reasons I don't play is because the machines tend to be very confusing. At times I have no idea what i am looking at with all the "ways" you can win lol. They say win 12 ways then you realize you're paying 10 dollars for one press of a button and still lose! I think if they become more forthcoming with programs to help you learn the table games I would be more comfortable playing them as I have never played poker a day in my life but I love Vegas.

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^That's part of Vegas problem. They don't want you to learn to be good at table games because the house edge is much less. They offer the gaming classes, but usually it's morning/early afternoon only.

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I've looked into Vegas several times and every time I do I think I could find a better quality version somewhere else. Maybe it's that I grew up with Ned Flanders' version of Vegas in my backyard. I would fly to LAS to go to national parks though.

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I can stand Vegas for about three days and then I need to get out...basically for all of the reasons listed above plus the smell of dank smoke and cheap booze. I really like it for about three days every other year though!

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I stayed at the Linq, and wish I had known about this before booking, but I signed up for the Total Rewards players club. And if you book a hotel through their website, they’ll often times heavily discount the room. In fact they completely waved the room fee when I looked at a room in December, so you only had to pay the resort fee per night to stay at the Linq. The other hotels like a Bally’s or Caesars Palace were discounted but not as much. I had already booked through Orbitz so ended up paying much more. Next time though!

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I've looked into Vegas several times and every time I do I think I could find a better quality version somewhere else. Maybe it's that I grew up with Ned Flanders' version of Vegas in my backyard. I would fly to LAS to go to national parks though.

 

Here's the thing...as much as I point out that Vegas has gone corporate and lost touch of what made it special...it's still one of the most unique cities in the world. I still love to visit for the combination of entertainment, food, gambling, booze, and really anything else you could possibly imagine (marijuana, strip clubs, simulated police chase, drive a NASCAR/Indy car, drive exotic cars, shoot any gun you want, crush a car driving a tank, play with construction equipment, skyjump...)

 

The problem is that it is not perceived as being a good value anymore. You're out $60-70/night extra for parking and resort fees, putting in $5 at a video poker machine won't get you a free drink anymore, the restaurants (while delicious from every celebrity chef imaginable) are $50+/person, going to the club for a headliner DJ is $50+ cover for guys, table minimums are higher, penny slots require $3-5/spin for max bet...

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