June 24, 1999
Access Vegas Insider Vibe – June 24, 1999
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June 24, 1999
Welcome to Access Vegas News and Reviews! This is the newsletter that talks about the Las Vegas attractions, dining, and shows that YOU really care about. This is not spam. If you receive this by mistake, unsubscribe information is at the bottom. Feel free to forward this to friends or repost it in Las Vegas forums, but only in it’s entirety.
This is the official newsletter of http://www.accessvegas.com Quality Las Vegas Tourist Information – Hotels, Casinos, Insider Tips, and more. If it’s about Las Vegas, it’s In-Vegas.Com!
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This Issue: Kids In Las Vegas
Curious about a restaurant, event, or other Las Vegas attraction that looks fun? Let us review it for you first! Suggestions are always welcome at: allvegastv@aol.com
LAS VEGAS NEWS – of interest to tourists:
4′TH OF JULY FIREWORKS IN LAS VEGAS – Unlike previous years, fireworks abound in Las Vegas on July 2, 3, and 4′th including a big display on the Las Vegas Strip this year at the Stratosphere Tower. You can do a free price and availability search for Stratosphere rooms by going to http://www.accessvegas.com/las-vegas-strip-hotels.htm and clicking on the Stratosphere Tower link. Details and contact information for all fireworks activities are available at http://www.lasvegas.com/events/4thofjuly/
MANDALAY BAY TRAM – The Mandalay Bay trams connecting the 3 Mandalay Resort Group properties (Mandalay Bay, Luxor, and Excalibur) run a very interesting configuration worth noting before you hop on board. Running side-by-side, the east tram runs one-way from from the corner of Tropicana and L.V. Blvd. (the Strip) to Mandalay Bay. This tram makes no stop at Luxor and a return trip from Mandalay to the street intersection is not offered at this time (it runs empty).
The west tram stops at Mandalay Bay, Luxor, and Excalibur, but does NOT serve the intersection. In addition, the tram only makes the Luxor stop northbound, which means that a ride from Excalibur to Luxor necessitates riding all the way to Mandalay and staying aboard for the ride back to Luxor.
This crazy scheme was carefully crafted to feed people from the street down to Mandalay Bay and designed to encourage you to use the walkway from Excalibur to Luxor through the (surprise) new shopping areas.
On another Mandalay Bay note, the wave pool is functioning properly now. It is available only to hotel guests at this time, but there is word of pending construction of a second wave pool that will be available to the general public.
RISE AND FALL OF BINION’S – This obituary is premature, but there is no question that the new ownership of Binion’s Horseshoe downtown have instituted cost cutting measures drastically reducing the tradition and allure of this downtown landmark. The days of comp meals for $5-10 blackjack players are a thing of the past, if you want your photo taken with the million dollars you had better bring your own camera, and top table limits have been instituted for the first time in the casino’s history. One wonders how long the $3.00 steak special (referenced in our last issue at last issue will last.
Since the opening of the infamous gambling joint, founder Benny Binion had let you establish your top betting limit with your first bet, no matter how big. Million dollar bets have been made, won, and lost there. For those who long for the “good old days”, the Review-Journal has a great historical piece on Benny at http://www.1st100.com/part2/binion.html
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Quick Concert Notes:
STARSHIP and SURVIVOR play free concerts downtown at the Fremont St. Experience this weekend on June 25 and 26′th. They play two blocks from each other on separate stages and both concerts start at 9:00 PM. Check http://www.accessvegas.com/las-vegas-hotels-downtown.htm and click on the hotel of your choice for downtown hotel availability.
WAYLON JENNINGS plays Texas Station July 3, MORRIS DAY AND THE TIME July 3 and 4′th at Boulder Station, and THE STEVEN SEAGAL BAND July 16′th also at Boulder. Check room rates by going to http://www.accessvegas.com/rooms/las-vegas-hotel-reservations-strip-area.htm and clicking on the appropriate hotel.
NOTE: We have heard your requests and will soon be moving the our publication date to Tuesday in order to give you more advance warning on concerts and events so you can ponder that last minute trip to come have some fun!
FEATURE STORY – Kids In Las Vegas
Bringing children to Las Vegas has long been an intense debate among both Las Vegas tourists and tourism professionals. In the early 90′s, casinos thought it would be a great idea to build theme parks and try to turn the town’s image from “sin city” to “family-friendly”. Then they realized that they GOOFED. Mirage Resorts started instituting “no stroller” policies, and hotels like the Riviera and Tropicana started advertising slogans like “Rollers, Not Strollers”. The word got around that catering to families is stupid because they use the cheap rooms, eat the cheap food, and are too busy with the kids to gamble.
While we aren’t concerned about the casino’s bottom line (our income is derived from booking rooms and rental cars), every trip to the Strip or downtown — made often in this line of work — we see tourtured-looking parents with the mommy pushing the stroller and the daddy dragging along the 5 year old, neither of whom should have been subjected to miles of walking through this adult playground.
I’ve seen happier faces on gamblers who just lost 5 straight $100 hands at blackjack than on these parents faces, who undoubtedly have to be envious of all child-free tourist couples whom look like they are having the romantic vacation of a lifetime. And these kids that young won’t remember their first visit to Las Vegas.
If your children are old enough that you feel comfortable letting them run around an amusement park, checking in every few hours, then they will find plenty to do here. Just give them the cell phone, you keep that SkyTell pager, and have a great time. And if they are old enough to perhaps remember a supervised vacation and you can resist the temptation of parking them in the hallway or stuffing in the room while you take just one more pull or play just one more hand (let’s face it, winning seems to always happen when you don’t have the time to keep playing), then you might do fine.
But you will be happiest leaving them with the grandparents for the weekend and really enjoying your stay.
Next week, we return back to regular reviews, but the amount of very young children baking in the summer heat and the unhappy parents pushing them around that we have seen the past couple of weeks made us feel compelled to comment.
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Have a request for a review? Boggled when you come to town and see the hundreds of dining, attraction, and show opportunities? Let us know what you’d like to hear about! Unlike the tourist magazines where all of the “articles” are really paid ads, we pull out our own wallet and give you the honest scoop. If you appreciate this service, please consider booking your rooms and rental cars for ALL destinations with us.
http://www.accessvegas.com offers you low prices for hotels and rental cars in LAS VEGAS and NATIONWIDE! It’s our sister site featuring secure online booking and INSTANT confirmation. Don’t spend hours on the phone. Book today the cheap, easy way and save!
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Your input is welcome. Don’t agree with something we said? Write us a “letter to the editor” at allvegastv@aol.com Guest article submissions are also welcome with full credit to you, your website, etc.
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All contents copyright 1999 Ted Newkirk
June 24, 1999
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