More tourists being fleeced, which surprises nobody

I interrupt my slowly evolving recap of my #VegasHalloween trip to comment on the depressing Vegas news of the week: Several more casinos will start charging visitors to park their vehicles on the property.

The announcement that casinos under the Caesars umbrella will be charging for parking is the news many of us have been waiting for. The fine folks that oversee the properties under the MGM umbrella blazed the trail with parking fees. It was presumed by many that if MGM survived the public relations storm that their parking fees reigned down upon them, the Caesars folks would follow suit, just as they did with the resort fee shell game that has been in place for a few years.

And fast on the heels of the Caesars announcement, Wynn Resorts announced that their valet customers would now have to pay for the service.

Parking fees are the latest in a growing list of gripes people have against the way Vegas casinos are doing business. Plenty of people grouse about such things, but the buck stops there. It's unlikely the few people who stop going to Vegas casinos because they charge a parking fee are going to make a noticeable dent in the bottom line. Most people are going to continue to do what they have always done, for the most part, and fork over the extra dough for parking.

Some people don't seem to be upset by the fees. Those who visit regularly, and loyal to a group of properties and are active gamblers can expect to have their parking fee waived if they are using the parking garage.

And there are those who don't drive to, or rent a car, in Vegas, so the parking fee doesn't affect them, either.

And there are some who rationalize that given the expense of parking in many major cities, the $18/day fee for valet parking at Caesars Palace and Planet Hollywood, or the $13/day fee at Flamingo and LINQ isn't a big deal. (Rates for self-parking weren't announced, but Vital Vegas suggests that $10/day would be logical, based upon what MGM is charging.)

The parking fees won't affect me much. I do rent a car every trip, but I tend to stay at either Orleans or downtown, and parking is included when I stay at a downtown casino, regardless of my gambling history, as best I can tell. I just stayed at Plaza, where I hadn't gambled in years, and parking was included throughout my stay.

But I do have to wonder, will the parking fees influence my future decisions? Case in point: I wondered if I was going to have to pay for parking in the future should I want to visit the High Roller observation wheel at LINQ.

My group visited the High Roller on Halloween afternoon, and we parked in a surface lot behind the High Roller. We were there less than two hours, and if we had to pay for parking at LINQ in order to access the wheel, it would have cost us several dollars, I presume. We had a group of five, so if we had to pay to park, the parking fee wasn't going to be a deal breaker for our group, particularly since it was a first-time experience for all of them.

But it was my third trip to the High Roller. I've patronized it twice prior with my girlfriend, and at this point I don't need to do it again. But if the price is right, I'd gladly return.

A High Roller representative responded to my tweet pondering the future of parking at LINQ and noted that, not to my surprise, there won't be free parking for LINQ access. Again, would an additional fee of up to $8 really keep me from another spin on the High Roller? No, of course not. But the next time I'm planning a trip to Vegas with my girlfriend, I will have less interest in taking another spin, simply because I know that Caesars Entertainment is now charging for something they've been able to provide free for generations.

Thinking about the impact of parking fees, I had several questions about the future of Vegas.

• What will other properties along the strip do? Stratosphere and SLS are a bit isolated from the rest of the strip these days. I've never set foot in SLS, but the last time I was at the Strat on a November weekday a couple of years ago, the place was rather dull and relatively lifeless. People weren't lining up to visit the observation deck at the top of the tower, and their crappy mall was so damn dead I felt sorry for the people stuck working there. Charge people to park there and it's unlikely you're going to attract a lot of new customers.

And how about properties elsewhere on the strip that aren't under the umbrella of the big two? Can Tropicana afford to continue offering free parking? I can't picture their parking ramp, but I have to imagine that it gets used occasionally by people as cheap as me who are willing to walk an extra five or 10 minutes in order to beat MGM at its game.

When Treasure Island inevitably starts charging a parking fee, will visitors who aren't staying at a casino hotel on the trip start their day on the strip by parking at the mall and heading south on foot or by bus? I suspect some will. 

Some people will decide the daily parking fee is worth the time it saves for access to where they want to go, but some will look to beat the system any way they can. Going to Bally's? Park five minutes down the street at The Westin.

If there are ways to beat the system, there will be people who set out to do it. Any property within a short walk of the major casinos is going to have to consider how the parking fees affect them.

• How will parking fees affect the car rental companies? I'm guessing that parking fees aren't putting a significant dent in the number of daily rentals, but the fees can't be encouraging more people to rent a car. Somebody remarked today that the new parking fees will only drive more business to car services such as Uber and Lyft. 

• How pissed are the valet attendants at the major strip casinos? I'd love to know how fees have affected attendants at MGM properties. I can't imagine that people who have been parking free and tipping the valet attendant for years are going to start tipping more if they have to fork over more than $10 for a service they've been receiving free. Maybe they'll tip the same, but how much is traffic going to decrease at the casino valet if we can no longer pop in and out for an hour or two without paying a fee of $8 or more? 

• How soon will rates increase? The casinos seem to have no problem testing the limits of the daily resort fee they charge outside of your room rate. What's to stop the parking rates from increasing in a year or two? Nothing, and I expect to see rate hikes from both major chains within three years. 

• Will parking fees impact the bottom line of ancillary businesses at strip casinos? I'm not aware of proof, but there are suggestions that fewer people are dropping by MGM casinos for an hour or two to dine and shop. Could it really be enough to reflect upon the bottom line of the businesses inside the casino? It seems unlikely, but the suggestion is out there. And again, it's unlikely that parking fees are driving additional traffic to the casinos. 

It's common to read comments about how Vegas isn't what it use to be. (I wrote about that not so long ago.) It's true, although it goes both ways, I'd argue.

Regardless, I can't help but wonder, what will we be adding to our list of Vegas complaints in five, 10 or 30 years? 

#VegasHalloween (day 2): Costumes aren't just for kids

One of the benefits of staying for several nights in Vegas is that you don't have to cram 10 pounds of flour into the proverbial five-pound sack.

Having limited sleep the night before I flew out to Vegas, and then staying up past 3 a.m. Vegas time during my first night in Sin City, I was plenty tired. I vowed not to get up for breakfast or hang with the group. Despite the fact I could have used about 12 hours of sleep, I couldn't sleep much past 9 a.m., so I turned on the TV and watched random channels until 10 a.m., when "The Price is Right" came on. Yeah, I watch TPIR some mornings on vacation. My normal Mondays are very hectic, so laying in bed and watching a game show felt like vacation to me.

We had a definite plan for our Halloween afternoon. We were heading to the High Roller. But before we did that we were going to Ellis Island for lunch. My group was going to be introduced to their cafe, and since two of us had Las Vegas Advisor coupon books, we split into two groups, as I assumed they wouldn't honor two coupons at the same table. Irony, all five of us ordered the same meal, the 50-50 burger: half beef, half bacon. Damn delicious.

We didn't gamble much at Ellis Island that afternoon, but I made everyone get a player's card, as we had both LVA and American Casino Guide coupons beckoning us with free play. Nobody realized a big payday that afternoon, but I walked out of there $15 ahead for my effort. I never play to win a car payment at Ellis Island, so I'm happy pocketing a few bucks for my time.

Before heading to the High Roller we had to find a local Halloween shop or Party City store so that the group could pick up a few odds and ends for that night. Everybody brought a costume, but green hair spray wasn't going to fly in Jon's carry on bag, and he managed to travel without checking a suitcase. I flew Southwest, so I had a regular suitcase and a full-size carry on bag, at no additional cost. I looked like Imelda Marcos compared to my friends when we were loading up the SUV on Thursday morning.

We found both a Party City and a temporary Halloween store next to each other, on Maryland Avenue, I believe. They were easy enough to get to, and easy enough to leave when it came time to head to the High Roller.

I stressed a few things before our trip. I didn't plan a daily itinerary, but I had a few activities in mind. I thought the High Roller would be a fun group activity, and something special to do on Halloween afternoon. We chose the bar car, naturally. Trista and I pre-purchased our tickets in early September. Travelzoo had a deal on afternoon bar car tickets: Two for $35. That was a good deal, and we waited until the last day of the deal to order them. Magically Travelzoo offered a bonus discount on the last day of the deal cycle, $10 off a purchase. So we bought two pair of afternoon bar car tickets for $25 per pair. That's $12.50 per person... heck of a deal.

At one point we thought there were going to be six of us on the trip, so it would have worked out beautifully if Joe or Mike had taken my advice and purchased a pair of tickets in September. They didn't. And since our trip wound up being five people, I purchased one discounted bar car ticket on Halloween and Joe and Mike split the cost of my extra $12.50 ticket and the far less discounted Halloween day ticket. Their tickets ended up costing them $22.50 each, which is still a great deal.

I had been on the High Roller twice, both times at night. So it was my first afternoon spin through the air. It turns out they run fewer bar cars during the day. I'm not sure there was more than one in play that afternoon. Besides our group there were seven others waiting for the bar car to reach the loading platform. I think we waited for more than 15 minutes. I was surprised at first, but given how tepid the afternoon attendance is, it made sense. We saw a few regular cars pass by the loading platform with two people in them, and a few that had no passengers.

I had hoped that we'd end up with a bar car all to ourselves, but from past experience I've found that a group of 10-12 works pretty well. Once an initial round of drinks is poured you rarely have to wait more than a few seconds for the next drink. I had at least six drinks during our trip, and I needed to slow down near the end since I was our driver and I planned to take a can of beer with me when it came time to exit the bar car. So my last mixed drink was Diet Pepsi with a tiny splash of Jack Daniels. Joe thought that was funny.

You'll love the view from the High Roller.

High Roller trivia: If memory serves me correct, we learned there are 28 cabins on the wheel. Trista and I also bet whether or not there was a cabin 13. I didn't think so. She won $5.

I'd like to think three trips on the High Roller is enough, but if I can get daytime tickets for $12.50 again some day, I'll be back.

Following the High Roller it was time to head back to the Plaza and get ready for Halloween.

I've been a member of one Vegas online forum or another for years. I don't go out of my way for meet and greets for a few reasons, but I have met a few people in Vegas through my online networking during the last several years. On Halloween 2011 I started my day by meeting up with a handful of people at El Cortez, and I've kept in touch with one of the guys occasionally. We even met up a second time a couple of years ago for an hour.

There's something about Vegas that brings out a communal spirit in many of us. I suspect there's a similar online community surrounding the Disney theme parks. I know there are plenty of online forums and resources out there for Disney fans. Do you think fans of San Antonio, New Orleans or Key West share the same sort of online kinship?

I mention this because a bunch of folks associated with the Facebook group "Everything Las Vegas" were gathering at 5 p.m. in a suite at the Plaza. I'm not known by these folks, and I don't have a lot to contribute to their discussions, but I do chime in now and then. I wouldn't have gone out of my way to track this group down on Halloween, but given the fact they were gathering in the same hotel tower I was, I wanted to stop in and say hello. I had anticipated returning to the Plaza by 5 p.m., but by the time we got back it was after 5:30. That left me 20 minutes to make a cameo, so I did, and talked to several people whose names I forgot.

I talked to a few people from the Midwest, including a guy from Madison, Wisconsin, and two women. I don't recall if both of them were from Canada, but at least one of them was, and she was from Fort Frances, Ontario, across the border from International Falls, Minnesota, where I had lived 20 years ago. Not exactly a "small world" occurrence, but amusing to me.

I also briefly met the evening's host, Michelle, and Nicki, who is a somewhat frequent contributor to the Facebook group. Nicki had no idea who I was, naturally, but I knew who she was, and had to say hello and give her a hug like I was an old friend. I have no idea how awkward that was for her, but I'll chalk it up to the High Roller cocktails.

The ELV folks headed out to Fremont Street at 6 p.m., many in costume, and I headed to my room to put my costume on before meeting up with my friends and hitting Fremont ourselves.

Fremont gets rather congested on Halloween, even when it's on a weeknight. Lots of people parade under the canopy in costume, and there are lots of pictures being taken. I swear Halloween 2016 was busier than Halloween 2011, but perhaps not. Those 2011 memories are obviously vague.

I haven't been in Vegas for Halloween the past couple of years because it has fallen on a weekend and I've been working at my Minnesota haunted attraction. I've never done anything particularly spectacular on a Halloween night in Minnesota, but it's warm enough in Vegas to enjoy the evening without bundling up, and there's always a party on Fremont Street. If you enjoy the pageantry of Halloween, Vegas will provide plenty of free entertainment. I can't recommend it enough, and certainly plan on returning in 2017.

As for my costume, I portrayed a classic pro wrestler, as depicted below. And no, I wasn't Hulk Hogan.

When "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan wrestled as a tag team, they were known as the Mega Powers.

The group walked around for a while, took a break at the Main Street Station brew pub for late night munchies and then returned to Fremont for more Halloween hijinks. I regret that I didn't take more photos or better video of the ridiculousness, but here's a sample of the frivolity:

Click here for day 3. 

So, what happened in Vegas?

In the days to come I will detail many elements of my Halloween week trip to Las Vegas. For now, here is a list of highlights:

The night before Halloween my group received VIP treatment from the Freakling Bros. Trilogy of Terror. It was our first night in Vegas and one hell of a great way to kick off our trip.

My group also did the High Roller on Halloween afternoon. It was my third spin through the air, but my first daytime trip.

Halloween night was spent roaming up and down Fremont Street. I didn’t take enough pictures, but here’s one:

My group took a road trip to see Seven Magic Mountains on Wednesday, Nov. 2, and our visit included a free show.

Since my nieces are fascinated by mermaids, I had to visit Silverton Casino on Nov. 3 and see them for myself. I shared my visit with my nieces via FaceTime. 

Those are the highlights, but there were plenty of stories to share, and I will. 

Goodbye to 100-degree heat

I just finished a five-day stint in Las Vegas. Here are some highlights:

• Sunny and hot weather all week long!
• Driving around Vegas with the top down.
• Another trip on the High Roller.
• A road trip to Laughlin. No I'm not making that up.
• Local beer.
• Local tiki room.
• The match play gods did not like me.
• The "Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em" gods liked me.

Some of these highlights will be covered in greater detail in the days to come. Stay tuned!

Monday night at The Linq

Hours after the Riviera closed its doors last month I was making my first visit to the retail and entertainment mecca known as The Linq.

I don't spend a lot of time on the strip these days. I went to see "La Reve – The Dream" at Wynn last November, and we stayed two nights at the Stratosphere (which I'll never do again), which included a viewing of "Pin Up" (which was better than I expected). Thanks to my girlfriend I've found my way to the strip a few times the past couple of years for things I wouldn't do if I were traveling solo.

The Linq had never been on my "must see" list, and despite my girlfriend's fear of heights, she was fascinated by the High Roller last November, so we made a pilgrimage to the big wheel.

But first we stopped off at Brooklyn Bowl. OK, that was at least second. We stopped off at some fun, interesting retail store, the name of which I don't remember. It had cool stuff, and it had a book I was interested in, but I wasn't going to carry it around all night, so I didn't buy it.

We went to Brooklyn Bowl because my girlfriend wanted to see something resembling live entertainment on this trip, and we didn't make it a priority in May given we went to three shows during three nights last November. (The third being Gordie Brown at the Golden Nugget. Not good. The tickets were comps and I still wanted my money back.)

Our compromise was to go to a show at Brooklyn Bowl. On Monday night, the night before Cinco de Mayo, we went to see Mariachi El Bronx.

It's what you think it is. It's mariachi music.

This seems like an odd fit for a live music venue that sells itself as a punk music haven. Why a bowling alley is attractive to the punk music lovers of America I don't know, but that's what they're going for.

Brooklyn Bowl is a second floor venue, featuring 10 or so bowling lanes and a big open floor in front of a stage. If you bowl during a concert your back is to the music, but they have live video of it on big screens above the pins. It seems like a fun way to bowl. I'm guessing they play music videos on those screens during the daytime hours.

From what I could tell, the bowling ain't exactly cheap at Brooklyn Bowl. You rent a lane by the hour, and I think the range was $20-25 per hour, depending upon when you're bowling. Live music in the house, it costs more to bowl, evidently. Perhaps the rate is no worse than four individual games at a premium price, I don't know, I'm not a bowler.

Overall I still find the merger of bowling and punk music to be odd.

As for the non-punk band playing that night, it turns out that Mariachi El Bronx is a band that developed from a punk band called The Bronx, so says Wikipedia. From what I can tell, it's basically an alter ego of the punk band, and it seems like the mariachi version of The Bronx is doing pretty well, and keeping pretty busy. MEB has performed on "The Late Show with David Letterman," and the lead singer spoke about having recently toured somewhere overseas.

Now that I know that MEB is an alter ego of a punk band, (I didn't that night,) the lead singer's comment made sense. He said something about people calling them posers, and scoffed at it. Other than the fact much of the band is white guys (and a white woman), I didn't think it was fraudulent. They seemed to do a good job playing mariachi music, although what do I know about that?

They played for a little over an hour, and the small crowd there that night seemed to be into it. Some folks looked like they were there for a punk rock concert. And there were some elders in the audience. Plenty of people were younger than me, but I didn't look like an old guy trying to fit in with youngsters. It was quite a mix of people. I'd estimate the crowd at somewhere south of 300.

The show ended and it was time to go to the High Roller. The giant Ferris wheel takes you 550 feet in the air. Unlike a Ferris wheel, however, you're not in an open-air cabin. It's enclosed, and they have a video narration playing inside as you make your revolution.

This giant wheel is set at the back side of The Linq. It offers views up and down the strip, although they're not the best views. At night the wheel lights up and changes colors.

The High Roller is a major attraction, but it's not doing the numbers that the Caesar's empire envisioned. Since opening more than a year ago they've run countless deals trying to pack up to 40 people in the cabins. (They claim the capacity is 40, but there's no way 40 people can stand around inside a cabin and enjoy the rotation.)

Among the deals have been ticket discounts through the daily deal sites, and I procured a pair of tickets that way. Two nighttime tickets were less than $60. (Nighttime tickets are more expensive.) And our tickets were for the booze cruise.

After the High Roller showed signs of underperforming, the geniuses running it decided to start offering cocktails on a portion of the cabins. There's a bar with a limited selection of canned beverages and a bartender that will mix drinks with the limited inventory of available liquors. You can drink as many as you can get your hands on during your 30-minute loop through the sky.

We had about a dozen people in our cabin, and once everybody had a drink, you didn't have to wait long for your next one. Our bartender was sharp, she would remember each person's drink of choice. I knocked off six or seven mixed drinks, mostly Malibu sunrise, during the rotation. I think I took a can of beer for the road.

Booze and a 30-minute spin 550 feet into the sky for less than $30 per person, I have no complaints. That's not something you can do many places. I won't make it a priority to return during my next trip, but if there's a discounted ticket to be had....

As for The Linq, I didn't hit up any of bars, restaurants or other gimmicky places. Most of our time was spent at Brooklyn Bowl and at the High Roller. I should have set foot in O'Sheas to see what they're passing off in the name of the former low-roller casino that was closed down three years earlier to make way for The Linq.

I'm not in a hurry to return to The Linq, but you never know who will be rocking the maracas the next time I'm in Vegas.

Vegas, conquered

Twelve hours ago I was playing pinball in Las Vegas.

I have returned from six nights in Sin City, and here are a few hightlights:

Sunday evening:

• An hour or so during the final night of the Riviera

Monday: 

• More than two hours at the Riviera as they closed the doors 

• A Mariachi el Bronx concert at Brooklyn Bowl

• A ride on the High Roller

Tuesday:

• Dinner at the Prime Rib Loft in the Orleans

Wednesday: 

• A cameo in Primm

Thursday: 

• Dinner at Marrakech 

Friday:

• Container Park

• A whole lot of Fremont Street

Saturday:

• Pinball Hall of Fame

• Traditional "last supper" at In-N-Out Burger

The trip included a couple of afternoons at the Orleans pool. It was supposed to include pool time every afternoon, but the weather didn't quite cooperate. 

I will elaborate on some, if not all, of the aforementioned highlights in the blogs to come. And I will also explain how I managed to hit all three of my $25 match plays and three $10 match plays, thanks to my good luck charm.

And if you've seen the Twitter feed, @vegasinsight, you've seen pics from the final hours of the Riv. Some day I'll find a way to share some of those via my blog, as well as through a separate website.