Sh*t You May Have Missed While Livin’ La Vida Loca
It’s Sh*t You May Have Missed for the week ending 11/18/2016.
Hey, all! BigAZMarty here with this weeks news:
1) First off Thanksgiving festivities are all planned out, and EATER Vegas has some of the best places to go for Thanksgiving read here.
2) EATER Vegas also has a more detailed look at the newly unveiled Alto Bar (Formerly Seahorse Lounge at Caesars Palace). Read and see here. Looking at this, and, is it me or did they use the former space of the retail for the Pussy Cat Dolls that was there a few years ago? I will miss that aquarium, and my wife will miss the former best Strawberry Daiquiri with Malibu Rum you could get COMP’d while playing .25 Video Poker. It will be missed sorely.
3) EATER Vegas also has inside shots of the newly opened Taco Bell Cantina on the corner of Harmon and LV Blvd (odd that it is right next door to the McDonalds). I am not sure how this will catch on….for some reason I just don’t see Frozen Cocktails and quick flow inducing “Mexican” food as a good combo. Somehow I think they will need a designated hose down area soon. Read and see here.
4) EATER Vegas also has what MGM was talking about for their Millennial Space in MGM Grand, so MGM copying Gold Strike downtown? You betcha…read here.
5) EDGE Vegas (linked to Travelvegas) also has a good Thanksgiving Dinner Guide, read here. Personally, the Buffet at Bellagio is pretty hard to beat. My wife loved their turkey last year (we got there the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and they were still serving Turkey)…but we’ve not been that far south to hit the M Resort’s buffet…a two-hour wait line, must be fantastic.
6) Funny story about feral peacocks via Stiffs and Georges. Free peacocks are roaming Wayne Newton’s luxury neighborhood….that’s some gangsta bird stuff, read here.
7) More shows closing reported via Vital Vegas, first off is the 53X at Paris read here. The second continues the curse at the Tropicana for shows (only running for three weeks), read here.
8) Lucky Dragon is rushing to the Dec. 3rd grand opening date, we have coverage here. Vital Vegas covers it here. Las Vegas Sun has a time-lapse video of the glass dragon being hung.
9) After all the rants here and other places…even the experts agree, you can’t squeeze the table players and expect to have a good result. Read the Las Vegas Sun article here. Go figure, time vs. play…if the player is off the table too quickly due to “favorable” household (i.e. 6/5 blackjack), they will not return. They will instead look for somewhere they can play longer. For some reason, my head is picturing the “Full House” girls saying DUH here. Now, if they would research the slots and video poker they’d come up with the same results!!! Bring back 3-2 blackjack, 10-6 or 9-6 VP and let the slot players win once in a while…you will find more visitation as that translates to a “good time” vs. I’m busted, depressed and heading home, never to return to that property again.
10) Ricky Martin to start a residency at Park Theater in April, read LV Sun here and BestofVegas here. So far nothing on the rumored Lady Gaga residency yet, though. The Park Theater is very much taking a merged approach, combine Axis Theater at Planet Hollywood and The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, and The Park Theater seems to drop right in the middle there.
11) LV Sun via Las Vegas Weekly has 20 of the best LV Shows past and present, read here. Notable missing ones, Bab’s run at MGM Grand, any of the Rat Pack shows. Don Rickles at any LV location.
12) Ethel M’s Holiday season is here in Henderson, read LV Sun here. See video from LVRJ here as well as Robin’s coverage here.
13) Trump pulls in LV Executives for his Inaugural Committee. Read LVRJ here. The usual list of suspects Adelson, Ruffin, Wynn…go figure.
14) Wow, that didn’t take long, the owners of the recently reopened Klondike Sunset Casino have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, read LVRJ here.
15) Kats reports on new Palms chief saying they are reviewing everything, read here via LVRJ. I hope they do that install of the new floor at GhostBar correctly…no one wants that drop off to occur.
16) Robin covers a heck of a “trick shot” from Tower 2 of the MGM Signature towers to a specific landing zone in Top Golf. See here. Also mentions that W Hotel at SLS is slated to be open on time Dec 1, beating Lucky Dragon’s grand opening by two days.
17) Speaking of The Palms, 15th anniversary and LV Sun via LVWeekly has it in photos here.
18) Roughly 1/4 of all funding for the new Resorts World, at the former Echelon Place site, to the tune of $1B has been raised by the EB-5 program. This is quite a lot of funding, now if Resorts World can get the remaining $3B and actually work on something big and new instead of a parking structure. I tend to remember SLS and Lucky Dragon were funded this way (partially) as well. Read LV Sun here for details.
19) Not to be outdone by Ethel M, Glittering Lights Las Vegas 2.5 miles of light are now open as well (opened Nov. 11). No article but a review of the website for the Las Vegas Speedway light show reveals it is now open through Jan. 7th. Read here.
20) The Linq tree will be lit by Donny and Marie on Nov. 19, read Vegas News here.
21) Norwegian Air Shuttle is curbing summer Las Vegas service as it is too hot to operate. Read LVRJ here. I would say that’s a bad decision by the airline as others fly into Las Vegas and even Phoenix area (add 5 – 10 degrees to LV temps to get Phoenix temps usually) using the same planes…but within the recommended seat capacity. So greed trumped rational thought and backfired on them…go figure.
That’s it for the LV news around the web this week, now to our editor-in-chief, Michael Movestro for our news and other items.
As it turns out, the big under-reported piece of news… LUCKY DRAGON IS OPENING ON NOVEMBER 24TH. It’s a soft opening (whatever that means), but it’s an opening! Lucky Dragon emailed there subscribers to let them know they can now book rooms starting on November 24th to see/stay there before (what is now being referred to as) the Grand Opening on December 3rd.
See this tweet per Vital Vegas:
Booked. @LuckyDragonLV pic.twitter.com/XxpE1dIpP0
— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) November 17, 2016
Now for the stories we brought you this week.
22) Blonde4ever stayed at the Plaza Las Vegas and got us some scoop!
23) Greg C captures the night-time lights of Lucky Dragon Las Vegas.
24) Matty Ice does wants to keep Las Vegas, Las Vegas.
25) Kelly Lamrock compares Beer Park to Beerhaus in this Battle of Beer Gardens.
26) Gennadius shares pointers on Futures Betting at the sportsbook.
27) Michael James learned that Binion’s famed poker room is now only for special events.
28) I share pictures from Bellagio Conservatory’s Harvest Show.
That’s it for this week; we’ll see you next week!
[Photos: Greg C, Michael Movestro, Michael James, 53X Facebook, | Cover: BestofVegas]
A computer professional who has worked at several types of positions with several different businesses and still learning and changing.
Introduced properly to Las Vegas and Laughlin by the spouse and have been going ever since 1990.
A frequent visitor from not to far away where it’s almost always 10 degrees warmer than Vegas.
6 thoughts on “Sh*t You May Have Missed While Livin’ La Vida Loca”
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Regarding Lucky Dragon’s soft opening – “When they opened The Flamingo, one day it was closed, the next it was open. End of story. I know, I was there.” – Saul Bloom, Ocean’s 13.
*applauds* nice!
Nice to see the mention for Eater VEgas. They do a great job over there and have told Susan and the team that before.
RE : DY (Norweigan), I do believe that 787-8s are rather “rare” at PHX and LAS (remember, it’s a widebody, long range plane that is not used very much for US Domestic Service) Though, it is true, they often would have closer to 225 seats (for reference, British Airways 787-8 had 214 seats in three classes of service). With that being said, I don’t really think it’s so much greed but the model for DY. They have a consistently configured plane, and to modify seat configurations for one city would be a logistical nightmare. The main constraint for DY is their longhaul operations are based on the 787. Many airlines (such as BA) have multiple aircraft they can use. Another issue not mentioned is EU261. All European carriers traveling to/from Europe are subject to penalties that must be paid out to all passengers if there are delays. The penalty can be as high as €600 per person (cash payment). So delays are very costly for European carriers.
True, I am guessing they are following the old America West and Southwest design of flying only a certain plane configured a certain way for maintenance reasons. I would have thought they’d at least refer to the US Southwest airports and see the max temps and adjust to that before being delayed and having to pay those penalties out. I still remember the 122 day in Phoenix in 1990, the planes couldn’t take off because if I remember the guides for the planes (flap settings and such) only went up to 120. They have since been updated to allow continuous operations.
I believe they are adding more -9 (787-9s) to the fleet, which are a stretched version with a higher MTOW (Maximum Take-off Weight). I only follow Norwegian tangentially; but they are a very successful and growing operation. My “gut” is the very smart point to point service from multiple cities in Europe (not just OSL, Oslo). They started LGW-FLL (London-Gatwick to Fort Lauderdale) nonstop; and it even convinced BA to add the route and compete against them in 2017 (not sure that’s so smart) on the FLL route; even though BA has multiple nonstops every day to MIA (Miami). But, as we mentioned. It’s all about fleet optimisation. Without loads >75% (i.e. full planes) they just don’t make money with their business model. In addition, for those that do not know, they charge for everything. Including water, drinks, and snacks/meals onboard. They also have very strict carry on rules (10kg) and rather high (especially if not purchased in advanced) checked bag fees.