Sh*t You May Have Missed While Pondering an Excalibur Implosion


Hey, all! BigAZMarty here with this weeks news and after the holiday it’s a lot because everyone went back to work.

First, their sh*t…

1. LV Sun gets a tour of the newly ongoing construction at Lucky Dragon. Something to note: it looks like they are using that rose-colored glass from the Hilton Elara tower at Planet Hollywood. I’m not sure I’d want that in a hotel room; it makes everything look rosy. Read here and go through the gallery.

2. After Sunday night’s Vegas Bright podcast…this article here happened to be on Las Vegas Sun’s site on what the “new” skills based and social gaming will look like.  I’m thinking more TAG bar as a phone won’t be able to be regulated by the Gaming Commission with as much certainty as a dedicated machine on the casino floor….Hey Michael…that dream in the podcast may not be that far off….MGM is going to do Slot Tourneys ONLINE read here. There’s also a Vital Vegas article on one of the testers here.

 

3. Say what? Red Rock Resorts to possibly use Days Inn, Wild Wild West Casino and Truck Plaza land for Raiders Stadium? Read LVRJ article here.  This shines some light on recent Red Rock Resorts actions as the recently purchased Palms Casino is very close to this land. A renovated Palace Station would be far enough north to not really compete (Palace Station is off of Sahara). Can you picture it? T-Mobile Arena right across the freeway from the Football Stadium? LV will seriously need to rework the I-15 and Tropicana interchange to make all this work, or it will end up being a parking lot…and think of the line for In-N-Out after a football game!!! Another article on LVRJ is showing a lot of this is up in the air because the original site to the east of MGM Grand is under fire by the airlines and FAA so, it is one of those maybe it will and maybe it won’t items, read here.

4. More Tropicana news: Penn Gaming is taking the previous plans of a mall concept, making it more manageable, and has an anchor restaurant already. This also means if I read it right, that they have canceled out the outside access, so you have to go through the casino to get to these new areas. Thanks to EATER Vegas for the update here.

5. Goose Island Pub is open now at the Hard Rock Casino Resort. EATER Vegas has info and pictures here.

You May Have Missed

6. Excalibur rumored to be imploded in the near future and a new luxury resort by MGM to be built in it’s place. Stiff’s and Georges have the rumor here. This rumor is odd figuring the CEO of MGM had identified Excalibur and Luxor as the next renovation targets (not tear down and build new) by MGM Resorts after “The Park MGM” is finished from the old Monte Carlo and Hotel32 bones. However the Excalibur does have those lame wall air conditioners in each room, and those are usually noisy, so at least the HVAC would need to be redone….perhaps they can do that rumored Mayan resort next to the Luxor and have both pyramid types in the same vicinity. At least raise the casino roof line up about another 20 ft to get the smoky smell away from “resortists” as MGM calls guests.

7. EEEEEWWWWWW….to the south of Las Vegas to the Colorado River. Laughlin Harrah’s had a sewage issue last week per Mohave Valley Daily News here. So bad in fact they had to provide bottled water to guests, and some were relocated as the water main was shut down. My wife and I haven’t been to the Harrah’s Laughlin property in a long while since it’s only another hour to Las Vegas for us…but still, that is a large property and right on the Colorado River front…so where did the sewage go? And didn’t something like this happen to The Flamingo when they were doing construction on The Linq shopping promenade?

8. Speaking of Caesars…a couple of things happening this week with the bankrupt division (CEOC). First off, a merger between CZR and CACQ has been amended to a lower percentage of stock for CACQ from CZR read here. And then, the bankruptcy judge is telling someone “get off your rear and play ball” here but no details which party was being referred to. Also of note: a lot of the online social gaming formerly listed under TR Social or CIE being re-branded back to Playtika so maybe that “estimated $4b sale price” was to get bidders going…a new bidder for it is reported here as well.

9. Well, I guess Dana White’s “no we aren’t selling UFC” report should have said, “Yes, yes we are selling the UFC.” Dana White will hang on to CEO job for a bit until the new company can take over. The price…as reported previously: $4 Billion. Read here. Nice profit…buy for $2 million, hold for 14/15 years, and sell for $4 B. Now remember this is the same Fertitta family that runs Red Rock Resorts and cousin’s to the Fertitta that owns Golden Nugget. So what would the two brothers do with $4B?New casinos anyone?

10. Sam’s Town is hosting the Elvis Festival starting 7/14…read here for details…love the Elvis Meets the Beatles on Friday night.

11. An Adult Dark Tale of 48 hours in Las Vegas from penthouse parties to the underground dwellers and everything in between here. This is NOT an article for the faint of heart or for anyone under the age of 18. In no way does this blog approve of any of the illegal activities described…I think.

12. Moulin Rouge property is not sold after the judge rejects the sale. Read here….back to square one on this one.

13. This is nuts and kept so secretly under the radar it’s amazing. Around the corner from the old Moulin Rouge site investors quietly put together a large land ownership package to build a $2B “Tokyo Casino” with a gondola ride to downtown OVER the I-15 but were told by Gaming Control Board to go back to the “drawing board.” Details here. It sounds like it’s not a “Show Me The Money” issue as much as a “Show Me Where You Got the Money” issue. The Gaming Board never takes “no response” to inquiries well.

14. Taco Bell Cantina is coming soon to The Strip at or near Harmon….hmm alcohol and boil in a bag meat & soggy tortillas? Hopefully, they will have a lot of bathroom space near-by. Read about the concept here.

15. Cleopatra’s Barge rumored to be redone at Caesars Palace in the near future (it houses the hardest to reach but nicest lucky rub anywhere in Las Vegas). I boosted the wife up for an embarrassing lucky rub once…she later hit a 4OAK Ace’s with the kicker on a DDB machine for a good night, but she will never say that was why. Matt Goss rumored to be ending his residency there as well, read here. This makes two places that have an identifiable landmark at Caesars to be remodeled (Seahorse Lounge mentioned last week)…let’s hope they don’t lose the character of these places.

16. Smashburger opens at the Rio according to EATER here. I think this may be where the old Burger King was near the east side parking garage exit. Now if they’d just bring back the Masquerade Show In the Sky to get some energy at that end of the casino…not sure Kiss Mini-Golf is enough. No matter when we were there at the Rio, we always stayed for that free show and although it was fun and hokey it always drew crowds that would watch it because it closely reminded people of a Vegas version of the Disney Electric Light Parade.

And that’s all for the around the webs LV news…now to Michael Movestro for our news and other items!

Thanks, BigAzMarty! Regarding that second item…I sure hope my futuristic dream does NOT come true. Alrighty folks, let’s get to the stories we brought you this week.

Now, our sh*t…

17. On Sunday we started off with the Vegas Bright Podcast Episode 13: Futuristic Vegas Dream (in hindsight I should have called it: Futuristic Vegas Nightmare).

18. Blonde4ever Shares Her Meal and a review of The D’s Andiamo Steakhouse.

Andiamo7

19. Michael Movestro reviewed the Big Fat Greek Burger at Holstein’s.

20. Our Reader “Djannsen” shares memories of his first Vegas stay…At Riviera Hotel. Great pics, btw (from Sammasseur).

21. Michael Movestro reviewed Blondies Sports Bar & Grill at Planet Hollywood’s Miracle Mile Shops. The place helps you forget that you’re in a mall.

Blondie's Sports Bar

22. Kelly Lamrock brings us a Vegas Life Hack about Vegas counter-service favorites.

23. Michael Movestro: The Downtown Las Vegas Events Center’s versatility shows that major events don’t only happen on the strip.

24. Paperposter shares his thoughts and pics of the Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood show at T-Mobile Arena.

25. Matty Ice reviewed the timeless Italian cuisine of Carbone at Aria.

[Photos: Andiamo’s Steak House, Sammasseur, Michael Movestro, DHGate | Cover: Greg C]

2 thoughts on “Sh*t You May Have Missed While Pondering an Excalibur Implosion

  1. I guess I didn’t realize that the Excalibur had individual AC units for each room. The only I time that I stayed there was in 1993 and I was only 10 years old so I didn’t really notice. Removing those units from all of the 4,000 rooms and installing a new HVAC infrastructure would be incredibly daunting and probably not very cost effective. The Excalibur has been a long time Vegas icon from the exterior but the inside has always been underwhelming.

  2. Excalibur is not set up for what Vegas is today; is it really that shocking that they would want to get rid of that property and replace it with something marketed towards adults?

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