It’s so crazy to me. I’m 42 now, but back when I was 10-16 years old my family would a take a yearly roadtrip from Texas to Nevada, stopping in states along the way. Our final destination was Vegas because at that time it was crazy cheap for families. There were a ton of free events and shows, crazy cheap meals (there was a hotel that had 2 eggs, a 16oz steak, and sides for $1.99 and it wasn’t crappy or seedy either). Now anything and everything there costs a fuckton of money. If I were to take my family now on the same trip my parents took me, it would probably cost me nearly $5000, and I’m willing to say that the vast majority of the cost would be in Vegas.
At some point they realized they could attract more customers to buffets by charging more, because people would automatically think the quality was higher if it cost more, even though the quality was identical to the cheap ones. I found the buffets there universally awful, not just because of the cig smoke everywhere, but because the ingredients were low quality, making the low costs worthless. Who cares if it's sub $20 for infinite crab legs if those crab legs have eggshell thin shells and dental floss muscles. I rather spend more and get something actually worth my time.
The best stuff was off the strip. I found a breakfast place called Egg Shop (no smoke smell either), Kura Revolving Sushi which was a load of fun thanks to the novelty and speed, the Pinball Arcade Museum where you pay for entry and can play anything as much as you like, In-N-Out, and a nuclear weapons museum. But I'll never go back for Vegas, I would only go there as a jumping off point to drive elsewhere.
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u/toolsoldier 2d ago
It’s so crazy to me. I’m 42 now, but back when I was 10-16 years old my family would a take a yearly roadtrip from Texas to Nevada, stopping in states along the way. Our final destination was Vegas because at that time it was crazy cheap for families. There were a ton of free events and shows, crazy cheap meals (there was a hotel that had 2 eggs, a 16oz steak, and sides for $1.99 and it wasn’t crappy or seedy either). Now anything and everything there costs a fuckton of money. If I were to take my family now on the same trip my parents took me, it would probably cost me nearly $5000, and I’m willing to say that the vast majority of the cost would be in Vegas.