Is Las Vegas the Next Detroit?

The Mrs. and I may be the only ones that plan this way, but where we stay has a lot to do with the type of trip we're taking to Vegas. If we're taking a relax / pool / pamper / resort type of LV trip, we stay on the strip. Mandalay Bay & the Mirage tend to be out top choices.

For a plain old GAMBLING trip, Fremont St. (or a Boyd / Station type locals property) it is. The Nugget is a great property, still giving us a strip resort feel. While we certainly don't stray too far off the beaten path, I can't say I've ever (in 20+ trips) felt particularly unsafe. Tough to beat the table limits, the rules aren't quite as grotesque & it's easy to hop between properties.

Just my .02, of course.

 

Unless they include wrecking balls and bulldozers, they won't be extensive enough.

I'd sleep in my car before getting a room at the IP.

 

Wow, I thought this was a journalists' board. Where are you people getting the money to take regular trips to Las Vegas? And to gamble?

I haven't been able to take a vacation trip since 2001.

 

Their sports book always has a lot of fun prop bets.

 

Jay Kornegay was the first one who went hog-wild with it, when he managed sports at the IP. At the LV Hotel (ex-Hilton), now.

 

Good point -- you can take the monorail from the Wynn (I think, or maybe the convention center) all the way down to MGM. For time and money I'm not sure a cab wouldn't be just as easy, though.

I stayed at the IP a few times before upgrading in later trips. Do you all think it's really worse quality than the downtown or outlying casinos? I'm not arguing that it's of the same quality as more expensive places, but it's basically the same as any motel you'd stay at anywhere else. And again, if you only need the room for sleep, it's a passable option.

 

Just returned from my second trip in a month. Last time it was the Orleans, this time Bally's (free room, two nights on weekday booking).
The revelation this time: visited the Bellagio and got their player card. I was told when I got it that the pit only monitors you if you're betting at least $25 a hand. Also, some mumbo jumbo about slot play, which I rarely do so I didn't bother listening.
Sat down at a $10 blackjack table, offered my card with a $100 buy-in. The dealer gave me four $25 chips. I asked for $5s. He gave me $5 chips and my card back.
The next day, went back (my dad likes to play poker there) and got a seat at the only $5 blackjack table in the place. It's a lower table with 2 spots reserved for wheelchairs and 4 spots open to anyone.
I felt more comfortable in that game, but still didn't feel all that comfortable in the place. Yeah, I'm a sports writer who earns sports writer pay.
But did enjoy some time at the bar next to the poker room and the sports book. Won close to a hundred playing video poker and talking to a way-cool bartender who made me a killer drink. Next day, he saw me coming and had my drink ready before I even sat down.

 

The noise, the logistical nightmare, almost-certainly the worst buffet on the Strip . . . there are so, so many ways to go.

It badly needed a facelift, and glad to hear it's getting it. They need to change the name . . . given the well-known Axis leanings of the previous ownership.

 

The monorail's fatal flaw, other than it's location way off the strip, is that it doesn't go to the airport. Build it out to the airport, and its financial issues go away quickly. Vegas cabbies object to that plan, however, so it doesn't get done.

That said, the bus system in Vegas is pretty good. Haven't been out there in four years or so, but at the time you could catch a regular bus at the airport, take it to a transfer station near the airport and then hop on one of the double-deckers that went up and down the strip. Haven't bothered to rent a car the last two times I've been out there, even though car rentals there are usually inexpensive.

 

Isn't the IP renovation part of some upgrade master plan? Not sure where I read it, but I believe the idea is to turn the alley between the Flamingo & O'Sheas into an entertainment area & absorb the entire Flamingo / O'Sheas / IP / Harrahs area into a stand alone, never have to leave, Caesars Entertainment Corp. Land.

 

They've added some express buses between the Strip & the Fremont St. area, as well. Routed through the new "arts district" that the city is pushing, just south of downtown. The buses can get a bit creature-rific, particularly after dark.....but that just adds to the "adventure".