A Tale of Two Destinations

If I'm going on a trip there's a 90% chance I'm either going to a theme park or Vegas. So when an article appears in the San Fran Chronicle about both it quickly grabs my interest. Here's my personal take on a story of how the economic climate effected the two--

When I first went to Vegas it was during its familization period, where Vegas tried to become a family friendly theme park by adding attractions [including, of course, a theme park]. This coincided quite perfectly with my age at the time and, in fact, both Vegas and I grew out of it in much the same time frame. It was the period of highly themed hotels-- Excalibur, New York New York, and the Aladdin.

Vegas' next incarnation was ultra-luxury. To me it was just as much a put-on theme as the knights of the round, the big apple, or the middle east, except that now each hotel had more or less the same gak in it: Chanel, Gucci, Dior (with its obnoxious, disproportionately large D), etc.

Things were going great for he old Mafia town. Meanwhile, back at Disney, they were diversifying in the other directions, adding value-priced (okay, this is uber-relative) hotels and packages to entice a broader market spectrum.

So when this most recent recession (sorry, Bush) hit everyone expected the same results as had always happened in the past, Mickey would feel the hit while Vegas would keep on gambling into the night. Gaming is, after all "recession-proof".

But not so fast. Vegas had done SO WELL in their luxury play that it was now generating 59% of its revenues from $1,000 watches, $300 dinners, and $140 Cirque shows. Well, guess what ISN'T recession-proof? That's right. Disney, on the other hand, now offers a way to scale back yet still enjoy a vacation there.

Looks like the mouse was the better gambler this time around.

So at the moment I'm looking into upgrading my hotel for the Vegas trip I'm taking next month, as prices there are in quite the slump. But of course, I also have 1 day left on my Disneyland 2-fer pass I have to use soon.

For more info, check out the SF Chronicle article.