Mohegan Sun is laid out in a way that you have to skirt the gaming areas to get to the shops, restaurants and the basketball arena. Smoking is allowed on the gaming floor and the smell is noticeable despite the casino's attempts to cover it up. I don't know about the hotels because I was a local visitor and so I never explored that aspect. I used to take the kids there every few months for a restaurant and shops trip. I don't gamble so I don't know what the experience is like from that perspective but the noise and the smell of stale cigarette smoke hangs over the central area and then goes away as you branch out into the shops and restaurants. We'd pick restaurants well into the mall to avoid the smoke and noise of the the gaming area. The way eastern Connecticut is laid out you basically have just a few places to go for big malls and Mohegan Sun was the closest to Waterford. All the local malls went to hell after 2007 or so and became just the big corner stores with an ever-changing array of failing businesses between them. The next closest really big malls are Providence Place in Providence, the Danbury Fair Mall in Danbury and whatever the main mall is in Hartford. We'd go to Mohegan Sun because it was 30 minutes away instead of an hour and a half.
Atlantic City was heading for a fall before the casinos came in. It was essentially a victim of the jet plane and the middle class being able to take vacations further away than a car or train ride. The casinos came in and held off the downfall, until they lost their northeast monopoly. I was there last March, taking pretty much the same tour as Cman did. The one thing I will note is that what they call the Marina area's casinos are apparently still doing well, that includes the Borgata. But the Revel casino, which has just closed the fall before my visit there, is an unbelievable sight. Perhaps the worst real estate deal in recent memory. I also am surprised Trump's opponents have not focused on his failed casinos. I expect some will at some point. The visuals are incredible. What is referred to here as south AC, in the mention of Ventnor in particular, it needs to be noted that is a separate municipality. It attracts second home owners from the Philly area, and the next town down, Margate, is probably Philly's second most high end beachside second home site. I would guess that half the homes there are second homes. Neighboring Longport, the most southerly town on the island, is probably first. Also a wealthy second home location is Brigantine, just north of AC. What is Atlantic City's future? My guess is it will be pretty ugly for a time. Eventually the working class population will move away, and the bulldozers will move in. I could say maybe as someone mentioned you can run some cruise ships out of the Inlet, but that is not going to be enough to overcome the departing casinos.
Its sad. I used to love AC. In addition to the other problems people are mentioning, I think an issue is that they focused too much on casinos and didn't build any other cool shit.
I'd be surprised if any developers of any significance were looking at AC these days. The cost of doing business is high and the potential returns are not, since who in their right mind would buy a condo in AC at the inflated prices they'd have to be sold at to justify the development? AC actually had some real diversification early on. The boardwalk was a big deal and it was a family vacation spot long before it became a gambling resort. Gambling was only legalized in 1976 and the real post-WWII boom in AC was only in that initial period and through the 80's. According to the wiki the thing that really changed the nature of AC and led to it's decline was the common adoption of the automobile in American society. Before that families would take the train to AC and stay for a couple of weeks on vacation. After the car became the normal thing people would drive in for a few days and then go do something else or head home. Not sure I buy that but it's an interesting theory.
You kind of nailed it, they never invested in the city, in Vegas while it's not all unicorns and roses you have other things to do. There are many other attractions in Vegas. I also think what has hurt AC is the stubbornness of the state to approve sports betting, not that it would solve all it's problems but could you imagine Vegas style sports books in AC? Trump has his blame of it as well, he kind of took a live hard die young approach to it and as Cman said.... he had no plan B. His dad saved his ass about 25 years ago and there was no help this last time.
Borgata in the summer months is decent if you're in your 20's or love high stakes poker. The other casinos down there are terrible. Golden Nugget is about the saddest "fun" place I've seen
Its all the more frustrating because Vegas is basically a desert where as AC has the beautiful Atlantic coast, basically making it easy to develop a lot more than just casinos. Yet there is tons more to do in Vegas than AC. Imagine a family or a non gambling person going to AC? What are they supposed to do? During the day they hangout on the beach with nothing added to it basically just a beach. At night they stay in their hotel room and hope they don't have to hear any illegal prosititution at their hotel. In vegas they got zoos & aquariums , and museums and circuses and laser light shows and amusement parks, and awesome restaurants, etc... everywhere
I go to AC for the nightlife and to gamble (I am only 25). It is a shithole!! The nightlife has dwindled and it just isn't worth the 2.5 hour drive from northern NJ. Ironically, I already have w 3 night stay booked at harrahs over Easter weekend.
It used to be really cheap to take the Chinatown bus down to AC and take advantage of the cheap room rates and restaurants at the casinos. Never gambled so it was basically just a cheap way out of the city heat when I couldn't stand it any more. If the internet had been around I'd just have sat in my apartment in the air conditioning and virtually traveled instead. You young guys have no idea what life was like before the internet. I finally started to put on some weight in the late 90's because for the first time in my life I was sitting down most of the time at home after doing a lot of that at work. I look at my nephews and I'm trying to figure out how they're going to stay south of 300 pounds when they're done with school and all their rec time is sitting down.
In 2008, the financial crisis (and the resulting new legal casinos in the NY area) put AC on the ropes. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy delivered a knockout blow. Atlantic City is pretty much down for the count now. Since there's more legal gambling in the NY area, Atlantic City will probably never get back to where it was pre-Sandy.
Actually Atlantic City did not suffer as much from Sandy as further up the NJ coast. The eye of the storm came on land just north of Atlantic City. All the major wind and flooding damage was north of there. To be sure AC suffered some. But it was not all that bad.
You hit something else..... there is no train access to Atlantic City from New York and while there is rail service from Philly it's a hassle. The casinos should have set up direct service from Philly and invested in a line that would take you from Manhattan to AC. The only line stops in Bay Head which isn't anywhere close to AC. They could have had it maybe stop in Newark and somewhere in Monmouth county near the Ocean County border like maybe Manasquan or even Point Pleasant and then non stop to AC. Maybe even have slot machines on the train. They needed to think outside the box and they didn't so they failed.
Yeah, good thing they don't do shit like that anywhere else. On Long Island all the politicians are much more sophisticated; they get part time (no show) jobs with companies that do work with the town or county and get cash as well as a car to use. If that company just happens to get some no-bid contracts to do unnecessary work that's just a coincidence.
There was train service to AC from Philly and South Jersey until the 60's. Then the various passenger railroads began to go under and Amtrak was what came out of that, with very little commitment to AC. The casinos setup direct train service to AC from NYC, via Newark and Monmouth County in 2008 and gave up on it in 2011. They couldn't make the economics of running a railroad work. Amtrak exists for a reason. Without it interstate passenger rail would die and only the commuter rail lines would be left.
They might get some traffic if they lower the prices for rooms. 250+ to stay in a shit hotel/casino is ridiculous. I understand they need to make money to stay afloat, but if they lower their rates they will book up more often. On the plus side there is a phenomenal restaurant there called Chef Volas. Its a James Beard award winner, and its in a converted house right by Tropicana. You need reservations way out in advance, but its 100% worth it. Think it was one of Sinatras favorite places.
During the late 80's and early 90's you could get a hotel room in AC for about $50 a night in July and August. I also had friends down there with family houses near the beach but I'd usually just book a hotel room when I wanted out of the heat for a couple of days. I'm note sure what the prices were the rest of the year but the big AC hotels really fought hard to get people to come down and walk through the gaming floors in the months when everybody had vacation ideas that might include other locations.
Was at Chef Vola's Valentine's Day weekend. Great place but you're right, you need reservations way in advance. Also cash only but BYOB. If you're a carnivore, the veal chop is unreal.
