Posted on 05/25/2007 2:05:06 PM PDT by devane617
There's lazy, and then there's Las Vegas lazy.
In increasing numbers, Las Vegas tourists exhausted by the four miles of gluttony laid out before them are getting around on electric "mobility scooters."
Don't think trendy Vespa motorbikes. Think updated wheelchair.
Forking over about $40 a day and their pride, perfectly healthy tourists are cruising around Las Vegas casinos in transportation intended for the infirm.
You don't have to take a step. You don't even have to put your drink down.
"It was all the walking," 27-year-old Simon Lezama said on his red Merits Pioneer 3. Lezama, a trim and fit-looking restaurant manager from Odessa, Texas, rented it on day three of his five-day vacation, "and now I can drink and drive, be responsible and save my feet."
The Las Vegas Strip is long past its easily walkable days. Casinos alone are nearly the size of two football fields. That doesn't count the hotel rooms, shopping malls, spas, convention centers, bars and restaurants.
And that's just inside. For tourists who plan to stroll from one big casino to another, there are crowds, construction sites and long stretches of sun-baked sidewalks between.
A tourist could accidentally get some exercise.
"We're seeing more and more young people just for the fact that the Strip has gotten so big, the hotels are so large," said Marcel Maritz, owner of Active Mobility, a scooter rental company whose inventory also includes wheelchairs, crutches and walkers.
Most of those using the scooters are obese, elderly or disabled. But many are young and seemingly fit.
The number of able-bodied renters has grown in the past few years to represent as much as 5 percent of Maritz's business, he said. The company, which contracts with some casinos, has a fleet of about 300 scooters.
"It makes it a lot easier for people to see everything," he said.
At full throttle the scooters open up to about 5 mph, though crowded sidewalks allow little opportunity for such speeds. They can go anywhere wheelchairs can - elevators, bars, craps tables - but are banned from streets. They come with a quick operating lesson, an instruction booklet, a horn and a basket.
"At first, I figured it was for handicapped people, but then I saw everybody was getting them. I figured I might as well, too," Lezama said.
Las Vegas has other transportation options, although each has its problems. The Strip is regularly clogged with cabs and drive-in tourists. A double-decker bus system, dubbed the Deuce, often gets stuck in the mess. A $650 million monorail with stops at eight casinos has been plagued by poor ridership, perhaps because it runs behind the resorts, well off the Strip and out of sight.
Police and casino workers often use bicycles.
Some find the notion of using a device intended for disabled people unethical.
"It's the same principle as parking in a handicap spot," Mike Petillo, 64, a disabled tax accountant who recently visited from New York City.
Several hotel bell desk workers - who handle most of the rental requests from tourists - said they try to discourage people who do not appear to need the scooters from renting. But refusing the self-indulgent is not really an option.
"You can't really discriminate against anybody," said Tom Flynn, owner of Universal Mobility. "We don't require a prescription or an explanation of why they need it."
Michelle Bailey, a slender, apparently healthy 22-year-old, used a scooter to get around a recent pool tournament at the Riviera hotel-casino. "Four-inch heels," she explained with a laugh, pointing to her lipstick-red pumps.
But Troy Burgess, a 21-year-old optician visiting from Detroit, said he considers it "immoral" for an able-bodied person to rent wheels. And not only that, but "you probably wouldn't pick up too many chicks on that scooter."
More and more casinos are using Steve Wynn design principles and putting hotel elevators a VERY long way from the casino floor, so you’ll think twice about heading to your room for a break.
***
They all try to keep you gambling as much as possible. I won’t go back to the Venetian ever since one day, I walked in and couldn’t find my way back out. I don’t usually have panic attacks, but I had one then. It was a nightmare.
I do not like the Strip at all. Although for some unique things you have to go there.
***
I just love to go from one hotel/casino to another just to take in their schticks. Nost have some kind of free show, and those can be lots of fun.
My favorite is the Bellagio. The gardens are to die for. And that glass flowers sculpture on the ceiling in the lobby...I just find that so exquisite. I’ve tried to take pictures of it, but photos don’t do the sculpture justice. You just have to see it in person.
Back? Side? Garages????
No, no, no. Uh unh.
Park directly at the front door everywhere in Vegas, and hand your keys to a valet. Much easier.
At the link, the picture looks like a ‘Rascal’. Do the people at the Segway manufacturers have plans for something one can sit on that is two wheeled?
I take a cab to/from the airport. Those drivers for the most part use those back roads and service entrances...they try to avoid the Strip as much as possible. But yes, if you are going from Point A to Point B on the Strip, you do not want to take a taxi. They will sit in that traffic for hours just to run up the meter.
I think it's LV Blvd. rather than the car that's the problem. We just avoid the Strip except for necessity. And you know what, we really don't like the Strip anyway.
Years ago, some buddies and I were in Las Vegas celebrating his divorce, and we decided to go to the Luxor... We were staying at Ballys, and it didn’t look that far away... Well, those damned buildings are SO BIG, you don’t realize just how long a walk it’s going to be! It was a pretty good distance!
Mark
I have a Mad magazine from the 1950’s. In one section it predicted the future for Americans and it showed everyone on scooters. The final part of that section showed that American arms and legs would become useless from our reliance on scooters and such. We would become bottom heavy like those wobbly dolls and the Red Chinese would take us over.
Of course that was Mad Magazine so I am sure there is no way that it could come true.
Paradise for George Costanza.
But Troy Burgess, a 21-year-old optician visiting from Detroit, said he considers it “immoral” for an able-bodied person to rent wheels.”
Wouldn’t want to do anything immoral in Vegas.
And not only that, but “you probably wouldn’t pick up too many chicks on that scooter.”
Young guy who can afford $40.00 a day to sit on his a$$, plus drink, gamble, etc.,Troy, you don’t know a lot about the women in Vegas.
You’re right...I’ve stayed in some nice places off the Strip. And there are a lot of attractions outside LV, if you have a vehicle and know how to get there. Most hotels have some kind of travel desk — just grab a brochure and a map and get away.
“Years ago, some buddies and I were in Las Vegas celebrating his divorce, and we decided to go to the Luxor... We were staying at Ballys, and it didn’t look that far away... Well, those damned buildings are SO BIG, you don’t realize just how long a walk it’s going to be! It was a pretty good distance!”
***
Once took my mother to Las Vegas. We were staying at the Excalibur and one day, we came out of the hotel and started walking down the Boulevard. We were chatting away and at one point, Mom asked, “where are we now?” And I said, “still in front of the Excalibur.” She couldn’t believe it till she saw parts of the castle. You could walk and walk and still be on the same property.
Let’s see. If you hit the Vegas buffet lines (and most tourists do) do you really want to go around in motorized wheel chairs? I am planning on going to Vegas in November and I was already thinking of doing a lot of walking to counteract all that chow I will be scarfing down.
It is long, true. But an able-bodied adult should be able to amble from one end to the other in about an hour without difficulty.
What annoys a great many tourists from other areas of the country is that you cannot hail a cab on The Strip. You have to be at one of the hotel properties or designated taxi areas. A taxi that pulls over to the curb to pick you up can (will) get a ticket and hefty fine.
Speaking purely as a Nevadan from the other part of the state, the entire city is rapidly becoming a problem. Too much growth on false promises, too many illegals, too many gangs, too much crime, you name it. All the while, the tourism board is relentless in their propaganda that you can be as big a deviant as you want and somehow, no one will know. (yea, just how successful is that in real life?)
Here you go. Electric scooters for all the personal transportation one needs.
http://www.cheap-electricscooters.com/
They start at $150; I got a few no-name Taiwan knock-offs for under $100 — with a few shortcomings. But there’s a tipping point out there waiting to happen — when people realize, this is the solution for a lot of problems in modern life.
Walking and standing for many people is not exercise or a virtue; it can be torture.
Some people give you looks as though they resent your not being crippled to use one — and that you actually have an advantage. The major handicap is the thinking about these things.
Possibly lazy, but hardly immoral.
Its not like these are rare devices and using one denies a handicapped person a vehicle. Vegas will buy as many as it needs to serve its paying customers.
I usually don’t get in on the topic of disability.
Last night, I walked about 4 miles from my hotel to the movie and back.
Sounds pretty healthy?
Three nights ago, I couldn’t stand up, and my left leg was so numb I had to drag my butt to the tub to soak for 2 hours.
A week ago, I walked to dinner about a mile and a half away and then back. Two days before that, I was in so much pain, I literally cried myself to sleep after soaking and taking pain pills.
I have scar tissue on my spine that occasionally causes me chronic pain. I constantly have severe back pain to a point that I ignore it most of the time. Sometimes, it gets too intense.
Please tell me, why, if I could, I wouldn’t want to rent one of these? I’m 6’0, and about 235 lbs. Occasionally, I carry both my boys (80 and 55 lbs), and others, I’m in so much pain, I can’t walk. So, am I a bad person for wanting to occasionally use a service to keep my agony down?
Paul
I have a small motorhome with a foldable carry rack on the back that is 2’ x 4.5’. I can lift fiarly heavy things but cannot carry them off, so do you have a reccommendation for a gas powered from the list at the link? I need to be able to pick it up and place it on the rack, then take it down and drive it around, then return it to the rack. I’ve avoided an electric because of distance on hilly ground. My current solution is to rent a car from Enterprise (they bring it to you) when I need to stay somewhere while I do my laundry and shopping. A backpack (I have two for different uses) and a good scooter would be a better solution.
I see perfectly healthy people using these things all the time. In Wal-Mart, I see people I know using the free ones they provide, when they are walking under their own power everywhere else I see them. There are a couple of (young) welfare recipients in my town who recently got one of these things via my tax dollars, and now drive it all over town. I sincerely hope they scoot out in front of a semi some day soon.
Sounds like you need a scooter. I say go for it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.