The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Foxwoods looks outside for new thrills
MASHANTUCKET » Foxwoods’ High-Flyer Zipline was officially announced in June but it’s been in planning for two years. And it represents not only an audacious move into “eco-tourism” for the largest casino in North America but a recent surge in development after years of funding woes and gaming revenue slippage.
At its 20th anniversary five years ago, the vast resort announced plans for a new outlet mall despite the fact it had just endured four years of economic pain from too much expansion and debt, particularly opening the MGM Grand hotel in the teeth of the 2007-2008 global economic crisis.
The plan for 300,000 square feet of “upscale stores” sounded risky, especially with developing challenges to brick-and-mortar retailing, buffeted by online sales.
But Tanger Outlet Foxwoods opened in 2015 and has been a burgeoning success, adding an estimated 3.5 million property visitors to the previous average of 9 million visitors, says Foxwoods executive Jason Guyot, who was on the opening team of the MGM Grand (since renamed Fox Tower) and is now vice president of resort operations and development.
In Foxwoods fashion, the new zipline will be a beast (or “wonder” in Foxwoods marketing parlance) when it likely opens in September. It starts atop the Fox Tower and covers 3,750 feet of zipline, leaving excited riders at ... a museum — the underrated
Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center.
“It’s very exciting . ... You know, it actually is a pretty intricate build when you talk about 3,700 feet on top of a 33-story hotel,” Guyot says. “It’s really the first of its kind for that kind of zipline to come off the roof of a hotel, and especially one that goes 60 miles an hour.”
Speaking via phone Wednesday, Guyot says construction is ongoing with some trees cleared, deployment rooms being built at the tower and the runway (landing) area built about 100 feet to the right of the Pequot Museum, if you’re looking at the front of the museum.
“So not only is this an awesome, bucket-list type of amenity we’re going to add on-property, but our goal is to also drive more awareness and visitation to this beautiful museum that we’ve had here onproperty right next to the main campus,” Guyot says. “We feel like the land surrounding that area of the museum is actually really prime for some more development specific to ecotourism, and this is really the first step in trying to really execute the vision of really having a full-service destination resort with a huge focus on eco-tourism.”
There are several ironies at work in the recent push by Foxwoods- and Mohegan Sun-announced plans to be full-service resorts with outdoor attractions. First, of course, is the two old rivals working together on an East Windsor casino to beat off a gaming challenge from the MGM Springfield facility that is taking shape. Then there’s the idea of outdoor activities for the adventurous when glimpses of the outdoors are fairly rare in gaming and restaurant areas, especially at Mohegan Sun.
Increased competition for gambling dollars in surrounding states has led to such diversification pushes, and Mohegan Sun has followed construction of its long-awaited Earth Hotel with plans for a convention center and then a plan for its own adventure park, shopping and dining area and marina on the site of the old Norwich Hospital in nearby Preston.
Another irony is Foxwoods’ plans to run the zipline 365 days a year, weather permitting, but the $193 million museum is open just eight months a year from Wednesday through Saturday.
Asked what Foxwoods means by “eco-tourism,” Guyot says it is “taking advantage of the beautiful land the tribe owns and that surrounds Foxwoods. It’s land the tribe owns that’s within either North Stonington or Ledyard or Preston, or land that is directly on the reservation. When we think of ‘ecotourism,’ we think about outdoor activities that are more driven toward adventure, thrill-seekers that really want to be out in nature an experience something unique.”
It’s part of what Guyot calls “this huge masterplan project looking how we can better utilize some of the land around the facility. It’s beautiful, we have a ton of it and we really feel like it adds something unique that can’t be duplicated. And when we look at development opportunities and future expansion, I think taking advantage of those things gives you a leg up on your competition.”
The plan now is to take zipliners, who will pay $49-$69, on four lines to the museum (where they can tour if they buy such a package) and then shuttle-bus them back to Fox Tower, says Guyot. The zipline will even run late at night, lit by LEDs for effect.
“It really makes for an unbelievable late-night experience,” Guyot says, “especially because we feel like we’re the party destination in Connecticut, based on everything we have here under one roof, you know? Where else can you go zipline at midnight and then go to the club after or go to a show ... stay overnight, go to the mall...”
Led by Las Vegas veteran executive Felix Rappaport, Foxwoods is on the hunt for “new and fresh concepts, things that are up and coming, things that we believe are going to be the next cool thing that others will follow us on,” says Guyot.
That has included successful additions of restaurants such as Guy Fieri’s Foxwoods Kitchen & Bar and the crazy-popular Sugar, along with plans for Caputo Trattoria by the group that runs David Burke Prime, in the space of the closed Al Dente, in November.
Rappaport introduced Guyot to a group called Legacy Tourism; conversations led to an introduction to eco-tourism outfit Redwood Parks Co., which is overseeing the HighFlyer Zipline installation in the resort’s 25th anniversary year.
As part of the master plan at Foxwoods, which Guyot says has not been affected by the East Windsor campaign and drama in the state legislature, a team is working on many proposals and he’s looking at 30-40 different concepts for the main property.
Foxwoods’ first 15 years were characterized by gushing gaming profits and a matching outbuild of grandeur; it’s next 10 years have been a figurative rollercoaster leading to a new focus on splashy eateries and high-flying experiences for a new generation. And maybe a real rollercoaster.
Guyot says a deal has just been signed on an indoor racing track at Foxwoods and there will also be another thrill ride built behind Fox Tower, expected to open in the fall.
High flyers, indeed.