Caesars Demolishing History, Vegas Loop Expanding & Circus Circus Under the Knife

Hello and welcome to the MTM Vegas Podcast. I'm Sean Coomer, your host joined as always by Mark Osterman. We have a great show for you. As a reminder, you can watch this show, along with all the visuals that go with it at youtube.com forward slash miles to memories. On this week's show, we have a lot to discuss, including Vegas Loop Expanding. They are purchasing land from UNLV to expand their system. Plus, a man shot himself in the Cosmo. Mirage has removed some of the non-smoking slots. Resource world has announced their earnings and had a really great first full year of operations. Plus, circus circus is renovating the outside. That famous travel lodge on the strip is for sale and Caesars is tearing down another piece of history. All of that and more coming up right now. If you like what we do, don't forget to subscribe to your favorite podcast app and you can find all of our biggest content, posts, podcasts and videos at mtmvegas.com. Thanks so much for listening. Let's hit it. So Mark, the rock and roll half marathon was this weekend on the strip. And did you see the video? It's your absolute dream. No cars anywhere. Just people running up and down the strip. Definitely one of the nicer venues for a half marathon. No, it'd be really cool to be down there running. I mean, if you're going to run somewhere, at least you've got stuff to look at. If they're serious, I'm guessing they're not paying attention to that. But people that are just doing it to run marathons for fun. Definitely a cool venue. It did remind me a bit of a Disney queue because you had people running this way, people running that way, people walking in the middle. It looked like everybody was rushing to get on a ride or something. It was kind of funny. Yeah, they have a 10k and then the half marathon. I think the 10k they turn around at an earlier spot on the strip and then the half marathon, I think they went all the way downtown. But it's cool that they're running up and down the strip. So I think it's completely using Las Vegas Boulevard. So very unique and it looked like a great time. Yeah, say, and you know, life went on. So it can be done. We can we can shut it all down. It seems like there's so many projects in Las Vegas right now that people have doubts about, you know, the MSU sphere is a struggling, but that'll probably get done. Fountain Blue sat there for over a decade, but that'll probably get done. And then you have the Vegas Loop, which is partially done or there's a few stations. And we talked about the resource world part and the convention center part. I even have a whole video on the channel for people who want to see what it looks like. But eventually the Vegas Loop is supposed to expand to 69 stations around the city. And they got to start working on that at some point. And it seems like they are. They have agreed to buy 1.3 acres from UNLV in the parking lot of Thomas and Max Center. This new station there is going to be the central hub for getting to a Legion stadium and the convention center. So they're going to use, you know, the main tunnels and then secondary tunnels, all still a little confusing. But they're moving along, moving forward. Yeah, it's good to see progress. You know, we've talked about traffic a lot on the show and then on the strip and around the strip. So anything to alleviate that is going to be welcome, even if it is just people driving. Oobers in a tunnel, essentially. Instead of having, you know, the buses and all this stuff that we thought we were going to have. So it's good to see. And, you know, you and Elvie, that will be cool to have a stop for them, you know, near their campus for all the people that go there. And hopefully, you know, this works as well as you hope it does. Or think it will. Well, I think this is the great spot for the station in the Thomas and Mac parking lot. That's on UNLV's campus, but also accessible for sporting events and things like that. And it seems like they're setting this up as like the hub. So they're getting the land. And I think there's land in the parking lot there to be sold. UNLV has to sell it for fair market value. So it's not like they're giving a deal to Vegas Loop. That's all part of their bylaws within Nevada, higher education, bureaucracy. So the Vegas Loop boring will be paying for this. But it's good news and we're moving forward. And maybe a few years from now we'll have, you know, a couple dozen stations. I think that this whole system is going to take a long time to build out. But they need to make these deals in order for the happen. We talked on the last show about Brightline, how they're kind of moving through all the processes that they have to to get this train built. And boring is doing that with the Vegas Loop. And to your point, yeah, maybe it's taxis underground. But we have so many traffic issues on the strip. So this will help. It's not a train. It's significantly cheaper than a train. We're never getting an underground subway here. So, you know, I'm excited. I have hopes. I really like the system. I think it's cool. I've ridden it many times. I also don't think it's a replacement for a subway or mass transit of that type. So I see both sides of the of the deal. Yeah, I'll be curious to see when everything is up and running, you know, what kind of volume of people they can put through there, what kind of weights we're seeing, you know, issues along those lines. I know early on there's going to be tons of issues. But, you know, a couple of years down the road, when everything's complete, it'll be, you know, what does this save? Is it being used? You know, are you having to wait five to 10 minutes for, you know, your slot to show up and all that? And the other thing I was thinking, you know, reading the story was, I wonder how many college kids go to the strip? Can they afford to? Is it even like a thing? Or do they stay kind of in their little area with their, you know, college bars and stuff like that? I don't know if you would even know this, but I'm just curious to see what kind of draw, you know, you and all of the kids get to the strip and all that. I think one of the big draws of going there is just being in Las Vegas and the atmosphere. And UNLV is only located a few blocks from the strip. So I do think a lot of college students hang out on the strip. Obviously, they're not buying $20 drinks all the time. And, you know, just like you would see or the or the $1,500 or the $1,500 six pack we're going to talk about a bit. Yeah, crazy beers. But, you know, they're young and hanging out. So I think this is good for, for them. And, you know, they also do have college hangouts all over around UNLV. So it's kind of very typical college campus lifestyle except you're what a mile from the Las Vegas strip. So I do think that there is some influence there. And it'll be good. And not only that for students, once they build out the system, you can get downtown. You can get to different areas all around. So it'll be good in that way. But will it be enough to, you know, offset having a train? Would a train have been better since I'm just going to know that people are going to comment maybe now talking about public financing that public financing of the disaster that is the Tropicana interchange is going on. Drop a can is what they called it. They're redoing the entire interchange as part of that tropical. They should call it. They should call it. Crash a can. It sounds like or wrong way. Yeah, wrong way. A can. Yeah, it's it's been pretty ugly. Part of that we've talked about is a diverging diamond interchange temporarily on Tropicana, meaning that because it's only four lanes two in each direction, and in order to eliminate a traffic signal, basically cars temporarily cross on the other side of the street, this is a very efficient sort of interchange, but it's confusing. And a lot of people have been driving wrong ways. There have been a lot of incidents there. So what they're doing is installing new signage. They're repainting the streets. And then I think in like six, seven months, they're gonna have to do it all over again for the other half of the bridge while they do it. But it's gonna be till 2024 that this diverging diamond's there. I saw a video a few weeks ago of a truck, a semi turning the wrong way, going down the wrong way on the street. So it's definitely a problem. Yeah, you know, I have no love for diverging diamonds. I hate them around here. And there's never enough signage to show what's going on. And you know, my cousin's a big person in the DOT in Michigan. And he explained it as it isn't so much about, you know, flow of traffic or anything. Everything they do, like the roundabouts and stuff like that is to eliminate head-on collisions that don't want, you know, front end to front end. So these make it so when people hit each other, they usually are hitting on the side or back, you know, less casualty catastrophic damage type of thing. So that's really what the goal is, except for when you got people going their all the way down the road, it's doing the opposite of what was the intent. Yeah, it also does eliminate a left turn to get onto the freeway, which I think in this case is the big deal, because that left turn is so busy. And even when the interchange was at full capacity, the lines would get big. So I think that this is, that's the main reason they're doing it. People turning left, you know, from Tropicana onto I-15 South. So yeah, we'll see. I mean, it's not going away, but they're at least making it a little nicer for drivers. And it's still going to be ugly for a long time. Now, speed of ugly, Mark, did you hear about the shooting at Cosmo? Specifically, this guy shot himself, it seems like he had a gun in his pants and apparently went off. So he shot himself, then all of a sudden he's on the ground, paramedics come, he stuffs the gun under a machine. It turns out to be a ghost gun. One of those guns where the serial numbers were filed off. So I guess he's going to jail as well. I think he survived the shooting. I think he's okay. He wasn't critical condition, but a crazy story. Never know when someone's going to be carrying a gun, I guess. Yeah, I mean, is he robbing banks in Vegas too? Because this is kind of that level of stuff that we've seen where people are using a cab after a bank robbery and have him drop off their house. But you shouldn't be walking around with your gun without the safety on. I mean, that's just kind of crazy. It happens everywhere. We've always seen people self-shoot themselves. But the fact that he had a warrant out and has a history, shouldn't be carrying a gun for all the ways to get busted. I mean, this is about as bad as it gets for yourself. Yeah, I hope his health, I hope he recovers. I mean, that's got to be such a terrible, painful thing. And he'll pay for everything else that he did. But just an insane moment, I imagine on the casino floor, as that happened, watching it happen, not knowing what was going on. I'm sure it was pretty scary for people. And I guess if there's going to be a shooting in a casino, this is the best possible scenario. I don't know. That's crazy to say. But yeah, I mean, it definitely is. But you know, everybody that's in there in the vicinity, it luckily happened at like five in the morning. So it was probably pretty vacant. But if you were there, you know, with all the mass shootings we've seen, one just happened at Michigan State a couple weeks ago, that's your initial thought. Anytime you hear a loud bang gunfire, especially in a crowded area, in Vegas has a history with it too. So I couldn't even imagine what I'd be thinking if I'm like sitting rolling dice and I hear a loud gunshot go off at a slot machines behind me. I'm getting under the table, I'm ducking, you don't know, you're waiting for more bullets to fly. And that's kind of the sad space we are in. So that's, you know, why you hope that they wouldn't bring it into a crowded place. But it just kind of crazy. Definitely crazy. So hard rocks taking over mirage and we're going to start to see different changes. We saw it change to the way that they do blackjack, the rules for their dealers to follow, which gives them a slightly better house advantage, apparently. And something new to the mirage non smoking slot area has been taken out. It's funny. We talked on the last show about if you'd stay in your least favorite Vegas casino for a free, you know, free trip and we talked about Vegas introvert and how he hated park MGM. And I guess somebody told me that he's a smoker. So I guess that makes sense why he hated park MGM. But it's done fairly well, it seems like with the non smoking, it took a little while for that to catch on. We see the Plaza building a non smoking casino area, the Brian Christopher slots area that's under construction now downtown. So those sorts of things seem to have been popular, especially a park MGM. But I never thought that like non smoking rooms were, you know, great, because they're still part of the casino. You get less smoke, I guess. You're not having the guy next to you smoking. But you know, you're still smelling smoke from the casino. This non smoking area was the former poker room at mirage. So maybe they'll be using it for something else. I doubt it's going to turn back into poker. Yeah, well, they have the no smoking rooms here in Detroit and the casinos and I mean, better air purifier and all that. So maybe you don't smell it as much, but you're definitely going to still get hit with it as you go anywhere else. So I can see that. And I know a lot of comments on Twitter were that this area wasn't used that much. They're throwing like private parties in it and stuff like that and the machines weren't the best. So I guess he was just floor space that wasn't being optimized. So I'm sure they'll find something to do with it though, make them some money, especially, you know, with the new takeover and everything, they're probably looking, Hey, anything we can improve on, that's what we're going to do. Yeah, the poker room at mirage used to have a great atmosphere. I had a friend whose husband was a manager there. So I hung out there a few times way back in the day and it was a great place. A lot of regulars, just a very cool atmosphere. And then one day they closed it as they've done with many poker rooms. And I'm guessing that they're just like, well, what are we going to do with the space? Let's turn it into a non smoking gaming space. And it's like an afterthought, right? And you're right. A lot of people said the machines in there weren't very good. You're not going to get the newest best machines in these areas. So I yeah, I can see hard rock doing a lot of this stuff over the next year or so kind of adjusting stuff before they get into the major renovations, making things work for them. Maybe we'll see a poker room come back the hard rocks in Florida have giant giant poker rooms. So maybe we'll see as part of the new renovation, a poker room return to that property. But we will see but by non smoking slots. And as you talked about earlier, there is the most expensive beer in Las Vegas. I figured this story was perfect for you. I know how much you love beer. Brewdog is that new bar on the south end of the strip with the rooftop bar looks very nice. And they have a six pack of beer that costs $1,500. I mean, I get turned off when the beer is like 30 bucks for a four pack around here. And I mean, that's nuts. It's not even like, you know, Vegas loves to throw these things where you you get a burger and it comes with dumb and it's $700 because of that, you know, beer. I don't I don't know that any beer could be worth more than 50 bucks a bottle. It just blows my mind. I can't fathom it being that that great. But you know, we've seen people spend money in Vegas on really weird stuff and you know, they're they're spending millions of dollars to watch the formula on race and get tickets and private bar and stuff like that. So I'm sure somebody will buy it, you know, on a regular weekend basis. It wouldn't surprise me. It's nice for the people who don't drink like hard liquor or champagne to have an option to splurge, right? I mean, this is their version of Kristall beer people have been beating it down the beer Instagrammers have been like, hey, where do I flex and try to get, you know, followers if I can't if I don't drink champagne and stuff. So yeah, I mean, what it says has like caviar in it, glacier water hops from all over the world. Even all that I'm like, okay, maybe like 75 bucks for a bottle. Yeah, it's called the high roller chocolate dessert stout. Now there is one thing it comes in 500 milliliter bottles of 17 ounces. So you're getting more than like in a standard 12 hour deal alert bottle. And yeah, if it was sold by the gallon, it would fetch $1900 a gallon, which is less than Chanel number five, but more than human blood. All right, and let's finish with resource world. They talked about their earnings update as a parent company did. And there isn't a lot here other than I think what we can deem from these numbers, which show definitely an increased year over year, still a small loss when you factor in all of their expenses and interest and everything else. 84% occupancy for the year. So they added 3500 rooms to inventory here. And yet 84% occupancy for the year is pretty much in line with other casinos. So it seems like they got their market share right away. There's still a lot of tweaking, there's still some money being lost. But with all of their momentum in the entertainment space, everything sort of that they got on the lineup for entertainment, working with the music festivals, all of that. I think you could say that their launch has been fairly successful. Yeah, the numbers were definitely better than I had expected to see, you know, just we give them a hard time sometimes because it's not the best product out there. And that's one of the things I'm wondering like what percentage of this 84% and I think even last quarter was like up to 89% occupancy. What percentages that people first time wanting to check out the property, you usually get a couple of years similar to opening a stadium, you're going to sell out a lot of games, even if the team's bad for a couple of years because people just want to see it. You know, how many of those people are going to come back to resource world afterwards because it's one of their favorite locations. That's the real goal and the real issue is, you know, three, four, five years down the road. What kind of recapture rate are we seeing? You know, are people picking that as one of their top three places that they go? Is it in their rotation? You know, and I think only time will tell there, but I give them a lot of credit. They put a lot of effort into creative things to bring people in the door. It's just the hotel product isn't isn't my favorite for sure. Yeah, I mean, the hotels are nice, right? We both think that they're very corporate, very off the shelf, very much anything you could find in any Hilton anywhere in this country. Crockford's maybe the exception to that. We both love the Crockford's lobby. It's great. The rooms I've stayed in a suite there, beautiful at Crockford's. But as far as the Hilton and Conrad go, it's that way. And we've talked about, you know, how it feels a little cold in there. And a lot of viewers have agreed with that. So they definitely have challenges, but they've also nailed it out of the park with their partnerships on the entertainment side, their residencies, turning into the EDC hotel, which is an upcoming thing that they're doing. So they're doing great. One other interesting thing I noticed from here is that they said convention attendance has reached 97% of pre pandemic levels and 2023 attendance is expected to surpass 2019 levels as larger conventions return and new sporting events are introduced, such as Formula One and the NFL Pro Bowl here in 2023. So clearly, I guess they're counting these big events. We talked on the last show about how experiences and events are maybe what are taking over for the old sort of corporate meetups. And this seems to say it, they're saying 2023 is going to be the best convention year ever. So good news, I guess, on that front as well. Yeah, I was surprised to see that. I wonder if they're, you know, fudging the numbers somehow or what, because it just doesn't seem like there's as many conventions and maybe like we've said, the space is being used for different things. So as long as the space is rented out, you know, that counts. And so maybe that's where it's going, but it just doesn't seem like, and this is everywhere conventions just aren't what they were before. So maybe Vegas is, you know, ahead of the curve here, getting experiences to show up. And we have like the streaming, the Twitch convention moving there and stuff like that. So maybe they're, you know, taking that from other areas. And that's kind of booster, you know, boosting their rates and what we're seeing book there. So Mark, did you see that picture of Zoltar laying out in the parking lot of tacos, El Gordo? I guess the people didn't like whatever his fortune was that he read for them. I heard it's the actual one from the movie big. I don't know if you've ever seen that movie like it came from comics. I just made that up. I did. What's more confusing, the fact that this just randomly ends up stuck on the side of the road, like on a fire hydrant or that tacos El Gordo had no line in front of it. You know, miracles happen at tacos El Gordo, but Zoltar, he's one of my favorites. This is sad to see, although it's perhaps one of the most Vegas pictures I've seen in a while. Yeah, who knows where it came from? Mark, I have some good news for you. Circus Circus, they announced last summer that they were in the middle of $30 million in renovations and that included their new food court, which has already been installed, a bunch of work on the elevators. They built a new pool as well, which doubled their pool capacity, but the outside of the building still looks terrible, right? No paint is faded, cracking everywhere, but vital Vegas shared some pictures this week. Apparently they're finally getting out, working on the paint and the facade. They said they're going to freshen it up, brighter colors, bring back those circus vibes fresh from when the property opened in the 1960s. Good to see finally some work happening on the outside. Yeah, it's definitely needed. Maybe Paris will get the memo and start taking care of their stuff, the out front, but no, it's been an eyesore for a long time. I mean, when they announced $30 million, you're like, really? That's it. I mean, circus circus needs a lot more than $30 billion, but it's good to see the front facing thing, the sign, the tent, all that. It just, you know, you drive by, it doesn't make you want to stop there. So it's something that probably should have been done first out of everything that they're doing. It's the least exciting thing maybe for them. I don't know, you're adding pool, which is good for guests. Food court brings in money. So this is like lower on the list, but I would have done it first. Yeah, their new pool is really nice. They also have that kind of mini water park over in their RV area, their manor area. So I mean, as far as pools go, a lot of people don't talk about the pool there, but I think they have a good product. I agree with you, though, like what's bringing you inside? And we talked about slots of fun a few weeks ago, looking as sparse as it is. It has gotten some refreshment with that new bar and stuff, but it still doesn't. It's not a welcoming way. And a lot of people, I think, get to circus circus via slots of fun. I wish that they would just incorporate it all into one thing now. But the state of the building on the outside is it's just terrible. So this is well needed. Want that bright pink, bright white? I'm excited, but $30 million to your point, not a lot, not the investment that maybe we'll see down the line. Hopefully, I mean, Phil Ruffin, not known to spend a lot, but maybe this property will eventually get in the hands of somebody else. We do know Fountain Blue is opening up and Resorts World next door. So it's right in the middle of the action. Yeah, I wonder if there's any money left over to fix the arcade, you know, every other machine doesn't work or is broken. Maybe we can bring in some new games and stuff. It's just sad when you walk around the adventure dome, how much stuff is out of order and not working. So that should be an easy fix too. And you know, hopefully they do something there. I like the games there because they're the same games that were there when I was a kid in the 1980s. So it just brings me right off road with the pedals and the steering wheel and there. Well, also like the midway games, you know, like the hammer thing where you hit the hammer and then go in all the like squirting games where the camels go across the street, green, all that stuff. So our horses, whatever it is, I guess camels was at Luxor or Excalibur or somewhere. But yeah, I love those midway games. They do need a refresh. The whole thing needs a refresh. So good to see that. Now, what's interesting is that right across the street, the travel lodge, which was built in 1952, is now up for sale. Now, of course, we saw there was two travel lodges on the strip, one on the south end of the strip, kind of near Harmon in Las Vegas Boulevard. That was bought by Tillman Fertita and torn down just in the last year to make way for his new casino, whatever that is. And this one is for sale now to 100 rooms. They call them renovated. Two of them are Jacuzzi sweet marks. So, you know, that's that's premium right there. You get the lobby, guess park and pool. So 1.77 acres altogether for 30 million dollars. There is a large lot behind it, like an empty parking lot or a lot. I thought it was always owned by the travel lodge, but apparently not, because this is only 1.77 acres. But fountain blue opening right up. So I could see this being prime real estate, 30 million dollars a lot, though. You know, what's going to happen? The next CVS for Vegas will be put there. That's what, you know, maybe it'll be a Rite Aid this time. Maybe they'll switch it up. No, come on. We need something interesting there. The interesting thing in the listing was that it put their four suites at a nightly rate of $82. This is the commercial real estate listing and they're 96 rooms at a $47 daily rate. So I don't know what that means. I'm sure they get more during really busy times. But I can't imagine when the strip isn't full that a lot of people are staying. How long does it take to get paid back 30 billion dollars on a $47? I have like a $50 resort fee attached to that. But yeah, it's it's just I've never seen people staying now. I don't know if people do or how useful it is. It's if those are the prices that's cheap. I thought it was kind of funny how it's it looks like a house listing almost. Like that's the feeling I get. You don't feel like a travel lodge type of thing on the Vegas strip would just show up like a house listing with walkthrough photos and stuff. It's very very crazy. Oh yeah, that's LoopNet, which is where all the commercial real estate I I love looking through there. There's some fun stuff on that website, but we'll put a link in the description so people can check it out. Now more formula one news specifically, Bellagio released some details of their fountain club, which is going to be this rooftop exclusive club within their grandstands. They also announced that the grandstand tickets have sold out. So that's insane. What did you say they were about $500 for standing room only? I think and I don't even know if that was grandstand or just there what and $1,500. I'm guessing for grandstands. I don't know, expensive and it's kind of crazy that they sold out so quickly, but you know not unexpected, but just the fact that people are bringing this kind of money for this event is shocking to me. But I didn't know much about F1 before. So the cheap $500 plus standing room only seats have sold out and they said demand for the grandstands was spectacular and those packages sold quickly. Guess we'll still have the opportunity to enjoy the race from the exclusive Bellagio fountain club, which we believe provides one of the best viewing settings in all of sports coupled with an overall experience to match. This is going to have like a rooftop viewing over the Formula One track plus the mountains behind you and then they're going to bring in chefs from all over there. Restaurants to cook for everybody. So they're going to have like different chef menus throughout the three days. Some of the chefs are Mario, Carbone, David Chang, Michael Mina, Morimoto, so many crazy chefs at that. I don't know what it's going to cost, but it'll be fun. They're trying to top Caesar's. Take my money. They're trying to top Caesar's with the million dollars. I don't know. It sounds amazing. I just don't think even if I was filthy rich, I don't know if I could spend that kind of money. I don't know. I guess I would. It'd be like a hundred bucks to me, but yeah, what a cool experience. Hopefully we get to see some video from it or photos when all this goes down. I'm sure that weekend is going to be just crazy. Like people throwing up stuff on Instagram after they spent $10,000 so they can write it off or whatever. Yeah, we couldn't see the exact prices for the Bellagio club. They say to call them. I'm surprised they kind of missed out on a marketing thing like win and Caesar's with their million dollar plus packages. They should have done it. But I expected with private chefs of that level cooking for you, rooftop exclusivity, I mean, you're probably in that price range or somewhere there. I don't even want to. I mean, just this amount of money is just blows my mind. But so glad that I guess the casinos are getting rich, but it's bringing people to Vegas, helping everybody top to bottom. So excited for it. That concept art looks great of the rooftop and everything else. The updated concept art we saw. So good stuff there. Now, Mark, there is a new reality show coming to Las Vegas. Did you watch that reality show on HBO last year about perump? The small town news? No, I never did. I did what the what was the old show like in the ranch or whatever. I think I watched an episode or two of that like years and years ago. So this kind of gives me that same type of vibes. Yeah, so the the prompt one was fun just because it was kooky perump. But this is going to be the complete opposite. But you're right, HBO used to have that show in the bunny ranch, right? That followed the brothel and all the people inside the brothel. I think it was on HBO. Well, there's a reality show coming from Crazy Horse 3 gentlemen's club. It's coming to Paramount plus, which is an interesting place for it to go. And they're starting filming next month. It's going to debut in 2024. So it's going to follow all the people in the strip club from the work from from the entertainers to the people who run it, everything else. They describe it as real housewives for the adult industry. I don't know. I think it'll be interesting just to see what the lifestyle is like and you know what their daily life is like, what kind of money they bring in all that kind of stuff, what kind of stuff they have to deal with. You know, it'll be scripted and you know, a smidgen of truth in there with a lot of production. But I still think it'll be kind of fun. I think it'll do well. Yeah, and it'll be a nice way for them to kind of highlight Las Vegas and this side of it. And I agree with you, it'll be interesting. I mean, it'll be an interesting thing nonetheless, as far as following all the things and just the backdrops of the city. And as you say, the real housewives just describing it that way means you're going to have a lot of drama, a lot of that sort of stuff happen. And you know, that will probably be interesting for people who like those types of shows, but it'll kind of, you know, be a different setting that we haven't seen. And you know, I don't spend a lot of time in Vegas strip clubs. So it'll be interesting to see the whole business aspect of it, the behind the scenes, and some of the crazy stuff that happens along the way. So I'll look forward to it. Yeah, so I guess head out there if you want to be in the reality show or try. All right, Mark, this is a little bit of a fun thing just real quick to talk about nachos. You got inspired or you sent me a tweet talking about the nachos at when how they're maybe the best value there. I think either be a room service or Charlie's, the steak nachos are apparently really good. And nachos are like a great comfort food, right? And there are so many different variations from like traditional or quote unquote traditional Mexican nachos to, you know, bar nachos, stuff like that. I thought it'd be fun to kind of ask everybody out there, what are the best nachos on the strip? I know for me, Pepper Mill has great nachos and I've had them a few times, although I'm always kind of torn as to what to get there because I like a lot of stuff on their menu. Margaritaville, which isn't specific to Las Vegas has really good nachos. But I was looking through my pictures when you sent this to me and I don't have a lot of great Las Vegas strip nacho pictures. I think a classic version of Vegas nachos would be Roberto's taco shop, which isn't a place you see on the strip, but is all over the city. There's, I don't know, dozens and dozens of locations, more of a traditional, I guess, again, Mexican nachos. So yeah, I'm just throwing this out there, got inspired, tell me your favorite Vegas nachos in the comments. Marc doesn't like nachos at all, so I don't even know why you sent this to me. I like, I mean, yeah, they're okay. And I just thought it was interesting because I've never really eaten at when, you know, every, a lot of stuff is expensive there. So I thought it was kind of cool to see something that's of a good value. And it looks like you get a lot of steak on it. And I like that they use the nacho cheese. I hate when it's the melted cheese nacho. They're always dried and overcooked and, and they even get, it looks like they give you a little cup of extra cheese to pour into. I don't know if they, if a Vegas stuff he specifically asked for that or what, but I think that's a great thing too, you know, because you always eat the top layer and then there's nothing left. So having a little extra sidekick there is pretty cool. I think the key to good nachos are multiple layers of cheese. And I actually like the ones that mix the liquid cheese with regular cheese. I like the melted cheese, but I don't mind mixing in a little bit of the liquid cheese as well. But that can be a problem. You get all the good stuff on top and then you end up with a plate of chips. We talk about nachos and we didn't even talk about the trash can nachos or whatever. Oh, yeah, you got what you do. You have Guy Fieri's trash can nachos. I should also say Victory Burger at circa has some amazing nachos, which I'll throw up on screen. They're not cheap. I don't know. They're 20 something dollars, but, and they're like chilly. So they're not like traditional. So it's chilly on top and stuff, but the taste is there. The portion is enormous. So yeah, good nachos. Let us know in the comments. Where else we should try nachos because now I'm hungry. And Mark, let's end with this. Back in the day, when you're walking up and down the strip, the casinos had these moving walkways that would suck you in. Yes. One way. The best. Moving walkways. Yeah. I mean, Caesar's Palace had one. Bally's had one. Velagio had one. There were more of them. I think the only one maybe still left is Excalibur. Excalibur's is left there, but I don't think any of the other ones are still there. But the one from Caesar's Palace was kind of cool because it went from this rotunda out by the street, which is still there. And, you know, it took you in there and there were some dioramas, which honestly I had forgotten about. I was just watching a video on YouTube. I'll throw up some of a clip of it. And it was kind of a cool way to bring you into the casino. And it got taken out. I think about 10 years ago, the rotunda has just been sitting there. There's some statues and stuff. The whole area is sort of rotting away. It's not maintained. It's kind of off on the north end of the property. So it just doesn't look very good. Finally, the day announced they're going to take it out. Probably going to put Formula One grandstands there, I would imagine. Although when you look at the aerials of that, that's a pretty prime piece of land to maybe put something. Yeah, it's just crazy to think of, you know, what it used to be. It was all about getting you into the casino back in the day. And now they've said, hey, we can make some money off of those spots because I used to remember taking it up to Bally's back when it was Bally's. And man, I missed the one at Bellagio because that walk is just killer going around the fountains. It was always nice to have that coming in. And it just was cool that you wrote it in. But I understand they're outdoors. They're probably hard to maintain. I don't know if the ones are still indoor that connect like Luxor to Mandalay Bay and then Overdeck scalbert. Like that walkway that has a whole bunch of them. I couldn't even imagine a going that. I know the trams there, but it was always nice if the tram was down that you could hop on those. I'm assuming they might still be running because they're inside, but I haven't checked it in a while. You also have moving walkways at Venetian, you know, going over the bridge and stuff like that. The last time I was there, they were all shut off. So I don't know if what the status of those are. I think the walkways you're talking about are still open. But yeah, it just used to be very common to get on a moving walkway. It would suck you in to the hotel. The Bellagio one, as you point out, that's interesting because that entire corridor is still there. They just took out the moving walkways, I guess because it expenses, you know, the maintenance, the parts, all of that stuff. And we've even seen airports take them out. Some of the older ones. So I don't know what the issue is, but apparently parts become hard to get and the technology, you know, to replace it is expensive. So sad to see that. It's kind of a cool little piece of theming though that rotunda out on the strip. I mean, I like it. I wish they would have cleaned it up, done something with it. But since they haven't put any money into it, I guess it's time to get rid of it. I'm okay with it. Yeah, I think this is all before my time, because I don't even remember seeing that or going to it. And it does look kind of cool. It almost looks like they had like a little waiting period for you to get in like a ticket booth type of setup. That's what it kind of looked like in the pictures, which looked unique and something different. And this just goes to show like there's so much stuff theming out by the street that we just don't pay attention to anymore go through like the walkway to get into Manolé Bay from the strip and all that. And you know, just take the time and go check those things out. And I'm guilty of it too. I don't want to buy any of that. I just want to go from casino to casino and I don't really pay attention to everything they used to do on the outside. And maybe that's why they don't do it anymore. Yeah, it's sort of sad to think about this. The modern casinos are nice. They're built right out up to the street. You got big signs and screens everywhere. But just the simple kind of thing, setting the stage, bringing you in to the casino with the moving walkway was really nice. There was parts of it that weren't nice. It was just like a hallway at some point before you got to the end. But it had windows and it was kind of a cool way to get in. I don't have a lot of memories or really any memories of taking that moving walkway either. I have a lot from some of the other places like Bally's and Excalibur and Bellagio. But for some reason, I don't remember it that well, even though it only got taken out 10 years ago, I think. So yeah. And I said before my time. But I was there a lot before that. I don't remember it was just the where it was placed was kind of weird, I guess. I mean, you weren't really walking further past Caesars that much. So, I don't know. It was kind of a waste maybe, but sad. Yeah. I don't know that a lot of people approach Caesars anymore or as many from the north, from the Mirage Treasure Island side. So that's really I think where you would hit it. Because if you're coming from the other side, you're already going to have gotten the Caesars Palace go inside. So I feel like it probably as they built the property out more towards the strip and expanded it and out of the Colosseum and all that other stuff, it made less sense to have that because the property kind of made its way all the way out to the strip anyway. So yeah, let us know. Do you guys remember that show going in there of the dioramas, the moving walkway into Caesars? Are you sad to see the Rotunda go? What do you think they're going to build there? I think that they could build some sort of an expansion on that piece of land, but probably not, right? Maybe some retail or it seems like a wasted piece of land once they take out the Rotunda. It is in that but it's also like in a weird spot that I don't think gets a lot of traffic either. So I think they can put a fountain for more people to bathe in. Like throw that video right now. I just gave it a chance. They did put up the Samsung store temporarily over the fountains a few years ago and you know maybe something like a standalone retail would do good right there. Although you know, do we really want something like that on the strip, to replace something like this? Probably not. Thank you for listening to this episode of the MTM Vegas podcast. As a reminder, you can find all of our Vegas content at MTMVegas.com. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.