Friday, November 7, 1997
Taking a gamble
TRAVEL: Vegas has revamped itself, and students are taking
notice
By Mike Prevatt
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, Las Vegas was known strictly
for being the adult getaway, a place where youngsters under 21 were
generally not welcome. Yet, with the opening of the 4,000-room
Excalibur Hotel in 1990, and several other themed resorts, Las
Vegas has become a hugely popular weekend getaway for college
students, especially in the past couple of years.
Going to Vegas has almost become a rite of passage. Many
students nowadays celebrate their 21st birthdays in "Sin City,"
heading for the casino at the stroke of midnight with ID in hand.
For New Year’s Eve, Vegas is the ultimate party scene. For Spring
Break, it rivals such vacation locales as Lake Havasu, Daytona
Beach and Palm Springs. And there are hundreds of students bitten
by the Vegas bug so badly that they make return trips on various
weekends throughout the year.
Part of the surge of students going to Las Vegas has a lot to do
with the rising numbers of the general population visiting the
Nevada hot spot. In the late 1980s, Vegas experienced a high
vacancy rate in most of their hotels. Only a handful of new resorts
were built, like Bally’s, with no real theme to draw adults in, who
instead took their families to such places as Walt Disney World and
the Grand Canyon.
However, things changed in 1989 when Steve Wynn, owner of the
four star Golden Nugget hotel in downtown Las Vegas, built the
Mirage. The first Vegas hotel to require a $1 million daily budget
to operate, the lavish Mirage brought "excess" to a new level, with
an erupting volcano and rain forest restaurants.
Then, when Circus Circus opened Excalibur in 1990, people began
to take notice, and soon Vegas’ vacancy rate began to lower. Not
only that, but more families were coming, especially with Excalibur
and Circus Circus offering family-oriented entertainment. In 1993,
the openings of the 2,000 room pyramid, Luxor (also built by Circus
Circus), the pirate-themed Treasure Island (headed by the new
Mirage Resorts company) and the MGM Grand brought in more families
and students than ever. The tradition has continued with the 1994
opening of New York, New York and the non-gaming additions to
Caesars Palace. Nowadays, Las Vegas attracts more people than
Orlando, Fla.
Yet despite the surge of students flocking to Vegas, some still
try and keep Vegas focused on the adult clientele.
"To say Vegas is marketing towards a younger crowd is an
overstatement," says Terry Jicinsky, a representative from the Las
Vegas Travel Bureau. "Certain hotels are offering amenities for
younger people, like the MGM Grand, Luxor, Excalibur and Circus
Circus. But Vegas as a destination isn’t changing. The college and
younger crowds are still not a major market."
"Although we’ve never marked to families or younger people, we
get them because we’re very value-oriented," says Paul Speirs, a
representative for Excalibur Hotel and Casino. "This especially is
important for college students."
Indeed, the relatively inexpensive Excalibur has become one of
the most popular hotels for the younger generations. A tour on any
given weekend is not without sights of students running throughout
the casino and the downstairs Fantasy Faire level. With Luxor right
next door (connected to Excalibur by a long corridor), the Circus
Circus conglomerate has been extremely successful in luring
students to their non-gaming facilities.
Caesars Palace, one of the older resorts in Vegas, has also made
their hotel more accessible to all sorts of people. With the
opening of the Forum Shops mall in 1993, Caesars gave the people
not welcome in the casinos a reason to enter the Roman-esque
complex.
Treasure Island, the Mirage’s next door neighbor, has also not
secluded the younger crowd, despite the huge amount of over-21
students gambling in their casino. The MGM Grand features their
Grand Adventures Theme Park and will open a huge nightclub soon.
New York, New York is surrounded by a tall, looping roller coaster.
And the Stratosphere has inspired the curious to ascend the
1,100-foot tower, either to enjoy a spectacular view of Las Vegas
or to ride the two thrill rides, which are definitely not for those
with vertigo.
Another draw is Vegas’ party-style atmosphere. With free drinks
in the casinos, people walking up and down the Las Vegas Strip at
all hours, and full lounges and clubs, Vegas is the town to beat
for 24-hour fun. The holidays are especially full.
"(Excalibur) gets tons of students during Spring Break," Spiers
says. "It’s like Daytona Beach! And New Year’s is hilarious.
Streets are closed off, and people just line the roads. It’s
packed, and people are just happy all over each other … it’s like
a ’60s style love-in."
Clearly, though, the biggest draw to Vegas is the gambling. With
the influx of students making the pilgrimage and the increasing
number of attractions at the bigger resorts, foot traffic in the
casinos has gone up significantly. Even the under-21 college crowd
have found ways to gamble, whether its ditching security guards and
cashiers, or using their legal-aged friends’ wristbands. Of course,
fake IDs are also a reality.
Most of the newer casinos, like Excalibur and Treasure Island,
tend to be less anal about under-aged students roaming about the
casino. You can even take pictures in the Excalibur casino.
However, hotels that aren’t as popular, like the Aladdin and the
Stardust, are a lot more strict on where people under 21 can stand
and walk through. The same goes for the Hard Rock Casino and most
of the downtown hotels (i.e. Fitzgerald’s and the Golden Nugget),
which are off the Las Vegas Strip.
Clubs are also a big attraction for students at Vegas, even
though they too cater to those over 21. The most popular clubs are
the Drink, The Beach and Club Rio, which is situated inside the Rio
hotel.
"We play all types of music and get lots of local and tourist
college students," says Sharon Glainse, who works at The Beach.
"We’ve got five different bars. Upstairs we have a 24-hour sports
bar, and downstairs we’ve got a dance floor open 10 p.m. to 6
a.m."
One club that features big name rock acts is The Joint, located
at the Hard Rock Hotel. Other bands play at such hotels as the
Aladdin, Caesar’s Palace and the MGM Grand. Most of these venues
are either all ages or 18 and above.
And there’s lots more. But before the Vegas experience comes the
archetypal road trip. Your best bet is to take the 10 freeway to
the 15 all the way to the Strip. Greyhound and Amtrak both have six
to seven hour trips to Vegas, and Southwest Airlines flies in 45
minutes to and from the neon capital two or three times a day. No
matter what you do, make reservations at least two or three weeks
ahead of time for both transportation and the hotel. The week of
Nov. 17 (because of a major computer convention) and New Year’s
week are already pretty much booked solid.
As for hotel prices, the longer you wait to make reservations,
the more expensive the rooms are because hotels charge according to
how full they expect to be. Weekends, holidays and days of major
conventions will be more expensive. But weekdays are almost 50
percent cheaper. No matter your choice, have a travel agent arrange
your trip, as most of them will do it free of charge, and make sure
to plan ahead.