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Downtown Grand has a shopping shuttle

Discussion in 'Downtown Hotels' started by gambler, Dec 8, 2013.

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  1. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    Just read this on DTG Facebook page-

    Just in case you didn’t know, we have a shuttle to take you for some retail therapy. That's right... we'll get you to North Premium Outlets and Fashion Show Mall from our hotel and back!

    Tis the season to shop!

    When you check in or call to make your reservations with us, please ask for shuttle service details.


    I wonder if it's a December thing or runs year round? I never have time for shopping but I can see it being a draw for some. Good for them!
     
  2. salukidean

    salukidean High-Roller

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    Forget about catering to the gamblers.....lets cater to the shoppers!

    Sounds like a great strategy for a Vegas resort to adapt! :haha:
     
  3. Huddler

    Huddler VIP Whale

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    My first thought was, "why would you want to shuttle your gamblers out of the casino and into a mall"?. But then I remembered, they won't really have to worry about that as no gamblers are going to be there anyway!:thumbsup:
     
  4. earth-3

    earth-3 VIP Whale

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    I don't gamble 24 hours a day. I think they are smart in offering the service.
     
  5. imwired

    imwired High-Roller

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    also, there are couples where maybe one wants to gamble and one wants to shop....I think this is great
    But it looks like maybe it's just for their guests (unlike some of the shuttles - e.g., Ballys to Gold Coast - who will take non-guests)
     
  6. BeeeJay

    BeeeJay President of The Red Lobster Hostess Satisfaction

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    :thumbsup:
     
  7. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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    I think it's a great idea. You have to remember that they are not marketing themselves to us degenerates. And really, other than their odds on VP, everything else looks good.

    I could see my daughter and I really enjoying a stay there. Hell, it's probably cheaper for us to fly to Vegas and stay there for $27 a night than it is for us to drive to Vancouver and spend a few nights downtown at $170 a night. Throw in the fact that meals are way cheaper in Vegas and I think it would make for a great time. Daughter would be happy with the pool and exercise room and I'd be happy playing BJ.

    It's just one more option for those that like to stay downtown.
     
  8. Dewey089

    Dewey089 VIP Whale

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    Almost all of Vegas "improvement" has to do with places to buy stuff or buy high end food or drink.

    Bally's is renovating to open a new shopping mall
    http://www.vegaschatter.com/story/2013/12/4/141342/137/vegas-travel/Ground+Has+Been+Broken+on+the+Grand+Bazaar+Shops+at+Bally%27s+

    The observation wheel is merely a come on for new shops and food venues in the new Linq Mall

    Those changes coming to Tropicana are not fancy poker rooms. They are new shops

    http://vitalvegas.com/big-changes-coming-tropicana-las-vegas-shoppingwise/

    Funny. States like New York are scrambling to bring gambling in and Vegas is scrambling to make the place one big mall.
     
  9. billyinpg

    billyinpg Low-Roller

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    It is cheaper that's why we don't do Vancouver any more and now make Vegas our destination.
     
  10. Julie888

    Julie888 VIP Whale

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    MSS used to be the drop off spot for the Outlet shuttle. Once I took the city bus there. Had to transfer to another bus. It was a sketchy area, even in the daytime. Haven't been back to that mall since.

    I'd consider the shuttle if I needed a break. I do need a new purse.
     
  11. Auggie

    Auggie Dovahkiin

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    I don't think they really "have" a shopping shuttle but more that the shopping shuttle that has been there for years either now loads/unloads at Downtown Grand or has added Downtown Grand as one of the stops for picking up people.
     
  12. Funkhouser

    Funkhouser In Charge of the Big Door

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    Now my wife would totally take advantage of this since she hates the bus, except for the deuce. She hits premium outlet every LV trip.
     
  13. gambler

    gambler VIP Whale

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  14. Fishin' Coach

    Fishin' Coach Tourist

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    Re

    Am also interested if you need to be a guest to use shuttle... We usually head to strip for a day trip and with 8 guys cabs get expensive. Would be nice to get at least one side of the trip free...
     
  15. Iu25

    Iu25 High-Roller

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    There used to be, and maybe still is, a shuttle that stops just south of the GN on Casino Center Blvd. if its the same shuttle it comes whenever it feels like, we waited over an hour for it once and ended up splitting a cab with another couple since it never came!
     
  16. Dewey089

    Dewey089 VIP Whale

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    I don't think the shuttle is too great, but it might get you one way. You do have to be a guest. And according to the comments on that Chatter site, it ends early in the evening, so it would get you to a very early strip show, but not back again. It might get you out of downtown in the morning when the place is so dead and perhaps a day trip would work. So it might be good to use some free offer from another casino and stay a couple nights just for the shuttle use.
    If I do that, I'd be stiffing them once because there is nothing there to play. All their new improvements did not include any improvements in bad gambling. I guess the market research indicates to all these places that gambling does not attract customers. The good VP goes away and so do the poker rooms. I guess I'd like to use my comps at places I'll play and get comps again.

    You do NOT have to be a guest to use the free Sam's Town shuttle, but it would take a half hour to head out there and then wait for a similar half hour ride to Harrah's for free.
    However, if you wanted to have some time on Boulder to poke around or have an inexpensive meal or play full pay VP there or at Eastside , or do a coupon run, and then take a later shuttle to Harrah's, that would get you to the strip one way without cab prices.
    Also, if your visit times fit in the WAX schedule, that bus leaves every hour from Binions and is cheap enough to cut the cab fare even for 8 people, $2 per person one way. It stops at Tropicana only on the strip. Then there are free shuttles from Excalibur South or from Monte Carlo to Bellagio. And it leaves again from NYNY and comes back downtown up until ten or eleven. Here is the schedule:
    http://www.rtcsnv.com/wp-content/uploads/routes/2013/WAX(07-07-13).pdf
    This is generally faster than a cab.
     
  17. Iu25

    Iu25 High-Roller

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    You can also pick up the Centennial Express outside Bininions, it will have you to the outlet in 10 minutes flat. It runs about once an hour so you have to plan accordingly if you are hoping to catch one back to downtown from the outlet. If we don't get a car on our trip, this is the way I get there every time now. As dewey said, its much cheaper than a cab unless you have multiple folks going the same place!
     
  18. Fishin' Coach

    Fishin' Coach Tourist

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    Re...

    Dewey thank you for the info... I like your idea of the bus have never taken it at vegas before, not opposed to it, have just never done it before...I can usually schlep anywhere I need to get downtown. I gave up on the strip years ago, but we have some newbies so were discussing a day/evening trip to check out Ellis island for early dinner and then sightseeing checking out quad and new osheas "old haunts"... And let them walk threw new more glamorous hotels.

    Anyways thanks again for tips!
     
  19. Dewey089

    Dewey089 VIP Whale

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    Well, it is hard to advise folks because everyone has different needs. Us old folks who go for a long time get the 15 day bus pass for about $17 and we can come and go even on strip buses all we want.

    Here is another round about way to get where you want to go.
    Spend $5 for a 24 hour pass on the WAX in front of Binions, get off at MGM and cross over to the NYNY bus stop. Catch the 201 there to the Orleans. Poke around that interesting place and when you are ready, take the free Orleans shuttle to the strip. It will get you very, very close to Ellis Island because it leaves folks off now in the back of Bally's.
    Have the steak special at Ellis Island.
    Then walk to Oshea's.
    It is a bit of a walk, but the only one in this itinerary and you have to work off that steak and potato lunch or dinner.
    If Caesar's is on the itinerary for your newbie buds, you can take the 202 on Flamingo right near Ellis, save the walk, and using your residential pass get off at Caesar's.
    Bellagio is nearby too.

    Walk up the strip to O'Shea's and on the way note where the Deuce stops. Do a little beer pong and when you get tired and want to head back downtown look for that Deuce stop you noticed on your way down or head farther North for the next stop.

    Now I'm not actually advising you break the bus rules, but just sayin' this next hypothetically:
    Technically, you need a strip bus ticket to ride the Deuce or SDX. However, if when you get on the Deuce and run your 24 hour $5 residential pass through the machine, the driver does not ask you for a local ID (I only know of people being asked for this with luggage in front of MGM,) then you are golden for the trip.
    On the SDX, inspectors jump on sometimes in odd places along the route, and so they might toss you off in that no man's land between the strip and downtown to get another ticket, but no inspectors do anything on the Deuce once you are past the driver.
    You can catch the Deuce somewhere close to O'Shea's around Harrah's. I think the exact spots have changed since the construction.
    Or if you want to show them the Venetian, there is a great Deuce stop there that is usually not too crowded.

    If you are doing this every day, I'd not suggest it, but one time in your trip, I'll bet you get back downtown as late as you want to on that $5 residential pass you bought on the WAX bus that morning.
    And if you are asked for local ID, play dumb and maybe they will let you ride with a lecture to the newbie, but at worst it will cost you another $5 for a one way ticket downtown. So it is still a good bit of traveling to the places you want to see for $10 each tops and probably only $5 each.
     
  20. Fishin' Coach

    Fishin' Coach Tourist

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    Re...

    Wow, and thanks again... Have copied you post above and printed off thank you again for you time. Can't wait for the trip
     
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