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I think this is a brilliant consideration. Most chains choose to own their own fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo from American fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo (including Al Weber's former Paramount Parks). I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if SF corporate chose to invest in their own fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo and ditch Smart Locke. And with such a move it would be very difficult and costly to continue the present "no loose articles" policy while only offering key and lock fluffy, fluffy bunnies filled with medicine and goo. Smart Carte pays rent and owns the lockers. Not worth it for Six Flags to take over.

Should be fine. Kings shoot twice into that goal.

Most of the technical people are unionized. I think the case of SFMM it is really just a matter of them realizing that SFMM is NOT the place you go to spend time with your family over the holidays.

So far I have to say that cosmo is my new favorite casino. It's what aria should have been

While I get ready to leave for the Cosmopolitan opening, here's a story that is straight out of a movie: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hTkGqAG7C7u4r09JoflKqG8CSkfg?docId=75dbaa513bc84ee4b774c90c2f216090 Unfortunately for that guy, all casinos use RFID chips in their high denomination chips. He has no chance of cashing them in, and any pour tourist suckered into buying/taking them is going to get a lot more than they bargained for...

"Sure, I'll send money to a random person on the other side of the world and have no oversight whatsoever! It's just my name and my money. What could possibly go wrong?"

^The problem is that supply far exceeds the demand. There's only so many locals who would be crazy enough to want to live on the strip, and only so many high rollers who want to trade their comped suites for a place of their own. And yes, Trump Las Vegas has condos.

^That's why I called it a mistake. The developers went bankrupt because they couldn't sell the condos. Now Deutsche Bank is stuck operating the place and won't be able to find a buyer for a LONG time.

^That was the asking price before the market collapsed. I believe some are listed for as low as $350,000. Personally, I think condos on the strip was by far the worst idea anyone has come up with to make money on the strip. Strip real estate is far too valuable to used for condos. It was an incredibly short-sighted decision that is going to haunt MGM, The Venetian, and The Cosmopolitan for a long time.

^No way. They'll have to carefully demolish it. Too close to everything to implode.

This discussion is getting to the point where it belongs in the rumor super thread... To get the thread back on topic, it is very much worth noting that Universal's intention with this plan is to "throw sh*t against the wall to see what sticks." Nothing about this is anywhere even remotely close to finalized to the point where we should be discussing how awesome Harry Potter would be in Water World/Gibson Amphitheater's spot. They simply wanted to get the approval process started now, so the "red tape" is gone by the time it is time to re-develop the studio. Also, T2 is NOT part of this plan. And removing the Amphitheater is listed only as being an option in the event they do decide to replace it with the smaller venue (which would be behind where the iFly place is now). I personally don't see them removing the Amphitheater unless the Nokia Theater manages to take all their business.

Those might be the only 5 residents! Word around town is that they weren't able to close on very many units... Regarding the Harmon: they won't touch it until the lawsuits between MGM and Perini are settled. 2012 seems a bit optimistic. It will eventually be demolished (no engineer will dare put their stamp on it), but it will probably happen after 2012. There's a lot of money at stake for both companies. Great update. Can't wait to be back in a few weeks!

^^Cleveland seems to have a thing with losers who provide false-hope.

I'm shocked. Who would have guessed this wouldn't work out?

One of them was removed after Bryant Gumbel put in on national TV. The one in the photo still remains. But it wouldn't be hidden if someone posted where to find it.

Don't plan on getting your Desperado credit until the end of this month! http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/nov/29/buffalo-bills-primm-close-temporarily-renovations/

I think it is funny people are complaining about the food at SFMM. Even if they removed Panda Express, Johnny Rockets, and Papa Johns.... There is still Longhorns BBQ, Los Cuates, Fresh Cut Fries, and fresh sushi all from outside vendors. This is in addition to Mooseburger and the upgraded Katy's Kettle (with the outdoor BBQ), that are probably some of the best "in-house" food options within the Six Flags chains. SFMM is probably a model by which other Six Flags parks should go by: a good mix of the traditional food items (that everyone seems to hate), good outside vendors (but not too many---I'm sure there is a lot more profit in selling the food yourself rather than just collecting rent), and some nicer food items. It's just not feasible for Six Flags to filled with "high quality" food items. Get over it.

I don't really get the food argument. It's the same, edible, but certainly not amazing food you get at just as marked up at movie theaters, concert venues, lots of stadiums/arenas, etc. Lots of the posts here are making it sound like you are guaranteed to get food poisoning by eating at a Six Flags park. FWIW, I had a $14 burger at the Farm of Beverly Hills that I thought was the same quality as a Six Flags burger.

Preparing food for 20,000 people every single day is no easy task. You can't just hire a gourmet chef, throw him in the kitchen at Waterfront, and expect everything to magically improve. Here's an article on how USH does it: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/12/business/la-fi-0812-universal-kitchen-20100812-74 While not all parks centralize everything like USH does, the idea is still the same: your kitchen needs to be set up to be able to handle a high volume of food to be prepared and ready to serve in a timely manner. Over and over again. That's not cheap. Even something as simple as a higher quality hamburger patty may require more refrigerator space, more prep time, a different cooking method, etc. etc. that all add to the cost.

THIS. I imagine that Six Flags was essentially just a large franchisee for the companies they placed in their park. I'm sure they got some sort of special agreement to take advantage of the unique partnership opportunity, but I am also guessing the costs were still much higher than before. Instead of being able to buy their food from any random vendor, using the chains locked Six Flags into having to buy from Papa John's, Johnny Rockets, Subway, TCBY, Panda Express, and Coldstone's directly. I am also going to assume that involved purchasing special equipment and other associated higher costs to maintain the expected quality from those brands. In the case of Johnny Rockets, it had to sting even more...six Daniel Synder owns Johnny Rockets.

^Because I am sure people are going to be like "Dude! there's a sports bar at SFMM? Now I *HAVE* to get a pass!"

My paycheck.

That's actually not true. The original location is where the Chicken Ranch house currently resides. And the Bates Motel as it currently stands was built for Psycho II, as the original one was only two rooms+matte paintings and removed. 146,000sqft is a TON of room in theme park terms. The two soundstages that housed Backdraft (stage 30) and Special Effects (stage 32) that are set to become Transformers was only listed as a total of 25,000sqft between the two.

^The Psycho House (and Colonial Street) will be moved to new locations on the lot.

Brady McDonald is only 4 years behind the times in reporting this. All of this information was first announced in 2006. Nothing has changed, except they got a little further along in the approval process. He's also incorrect about the 3,000 seat theater: that would be a replacement for the Gibson Amplitheatre, which is listed in the plans as possibly being removed for theme park expansion. It's important to note that all of this right now falls under the "throwing sh*t against the wall to see what sticks" strategy. Universal is expecting many changes to the plan by the time it is finally approved, which is why they started the process in 2006. That way it will be ready for construction when the economy improves to the point developing condos is profitable again.