Las Vegas never takes a break. There is so much news this week that the quick hits will be overflowing. There’s actually so much news to dive deep into for one company that I’ll just leave a tease for later.

More On Those Changes At The Cromwell

During my week of vacation away from banging on a keyboard all day I spied a slew of changes happening at the Cromwell. We already have more information on two of the construction spots I noticed on the casino floor. Eater Vegas has, even more, details on the changes at The Cromwell Las Vegas.

Eatwell is open and the former high limit space near check-in that was rumored to become a sports book will, in fact, become a sports book. As expected by the photos from last week, the sports book will be *tiny*. According to Eater Vegas “ $1,274,642 has been allocated in estimated construction costs to create a new, 1,525-square-foot Race and Sports Book.”

That’s a very small space for a sports book. I’ll have more information on this sports book as construction continues.

Convention Center Coming To Bally’s

About two months ago we shared information that Caesars Entertainment was planning to develop some of the vacant land they own. Hidden deep in this Bloomberg article we now know what their first glorious addition to the Vegas Strip will be.

Some of the land behind Bally’s will be dedicated to a 300,000 square foot convention center. Ta-Da! Control your excitement for more convention space. Hey, if nothing else the added convention space at every casino should mean that there are more trips to Las Vegas that can be expensed. We can all appreciate that!

There’s more in this article about corporate developments at Caesars Entertainment. I’ll look deeper into that during the week.

Cirque Du Soleil Purchases Blue Man Group

Cirque Du Soleil purchased Blue Man Group for an undisclosed amount last week. The deal shouldn’t impact the Blue Man Group show in Las Vegas much if at all. It appears as if Cirque Du Soleil is on a shopping spree and wants to add more shows. According to this interview on CNBC this is more of a worldwide deal so Cirque Du Soleil has more shows to offer in the United States and around the world.

Unrelated to Las Vegas, Cirque will be opening the NFL Experience in New York City. NFLexperience.com doesn’t offer much insight but this will be an interactive show with a retail outlet. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see partnerships like this in Las Vegas in the future.

Self Parking Fees Coming Soon To Wynn And Encore

Last year Wynn Las Vegas announced that they would charge for valet. It was only a matter of time before they decided to switch over their free self-parking to paid self-parking model. Various visitors have shared pictures on twitter of the parking gates being installed over the past couple of weeks. Well, the gates have appear ready to go. Expect to see a self-parking fee shortly.

Strangely enough, a Wynn spokesperson wouldn’t tell the newspaper owned by their nearest competitor (Las Vegas Sands/The Venetian) when the fees will begin and how much they’ll be. The self-parking fee will be for both Encore and Wynn.

We’ll have to update this handy Vegas Strip parking and resort fee list in the next few weeks.

Ellis Island Begins Construction On Bar and Restaurant

The Front Yard is a huge investment for independently operated Ellis Island. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal the two-level bar and restaurant will cost approximately $10 million. The new venue will offer food, drink, live music, karaoke, bar games, and more.

The Front Yard sounds like a great addition to Ellis Island. However, if you’re looking for the great steak special, you’ll still have to go into the casino. The Front Yard should be open later this year.

No Resort Fee At Lucky Dragon If You Book Now

I received an email from Lucky Dragon offering rooms as low as $52. The current promotion states that there is no resort fee if the room is booked at luckydragonlv.com between July 9 and 13. That’s a $28 savings per night. You’ll just need to use the code “LDNOFEE.” The email doesn’t mention any other information. Good luck!

Related: Hotel Review | Lucky Dragon Las Vegas

New Eats In Downtown Las Vegas

There were a few dining developments in downtown Las Vegas over the past couple of weeks. I’ll share them as extended quick hits for easy consumption.

• Two Bald Guys (Mediterranean food) is open on Carson. This isn’t my kind of cuisine so I have nothing more to offer (for a change). Read more here.
• The tiny Carson Kitchen will be expanding into the space next door that was occupied by a tattoo shop. Almost everyone I know loves the food here. I wasn’t impressed on my first visit but I should probably return after the expansion. Read more here.
• Downtown Grand will have a street festival called “Treat The Street” on July 20. The festival will include five food trucks, art, booze and more. You can read more here. This sounds very similar to Vegas StrEATS that used to take place near the El Cortez.

Downtown Grand Planning A New Hotel Tower

Speaking of downtown Las Vegas…things must be going well at Downtown Grand. I had a great time playing blackjack in the casino last week in-between Happy Hours at Pizza Rock.

Eater Vegas is reporting that Downtown Grand will be building a third hotel tower. The new building will be a modest eight floors with 495 hotel rooms. For comparison, the existing towers are 18 and 25 floors. There’s no start date for construction so there’s no end date for construction.

There’s A Crane At Resorts World

Maybe construction will begin soon at Resorts World and maybe it won’t. I’m not falling for progress reports anymore until there’s actually something moving. Vegas Bright has pictures of a crane being delivered the construction site. Vital Vegas has a 360-degree picture on Facebook of the erect crane doing nothing.

Let’s hope this is finally the beginning of construction at Resorts World. Here’s a look at some of the possible design ideas you might see when/if Resorts World opens. I’ve been reading that the project has been scaled way back, so I’m not sure the specifics mentioned in the article are precise. However, the design aesthetic should remain.

Quick Hits:

• Lyft and Zappos are offering free rides in this lit up dragon art car from Burning Man. Read details here.
• The World Series of Poker Main Event started this weekend. You can read more here.
• A man tried to carjack someone at the Cosmopolitan. It didn’t work. Read more here.
• The bridge between MGM Grand and the Tropicana is open! Read more here.
• Blackstone, owners of the Cosmopolitan, purchased the World Market Center. Read more here.
• Wynn Resorts is suing Want Tickets for $600,000. Read more here.
• Spam turned 80 last week. If you’re a fan you might enjoy this article with Las Vegas chefs talking about the stuff.

The new Killers video for “The Man” is chock full of Vegas goodness. You might enjoy the cameo from The Plaza. Check it out.

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