The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Casino Country: No more ‘Where is Everybody?’
AFoxwoods employee told us recently there are no locks on the doors at Foxwoods, so when the resort closed in March for the first time since opening in 1992, workers had to find plastic ties to secure the doors.
Connecticut’s two huge casinos are like small fantasy cities where thousands worked and played and dined until a day in March when the action stopped and the people disappeared like “The Twilight Zone” episode “Where is Everybody?” Here’s an occasional column on elements of their revival:
Foxwoods and Mohegan returned June 1; we checked on both this week in a (yes, masked) visit. As usual, the parking garage at Foxwoods held many New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and even Maine cars (The Guv’s nightmare); Mohegan Sun’s had a higher percentage of Connecticut cars.
Mohegan President Jeff Hamilton said the resort was refusing out-of-state hotel reservations from June 1-16, but the new phase of reopening allows them since other CT hotels have reopened.
Foxwoods Interim CEO Jason Guyot said in a phone chat June 15 that it was a smooth two weeks after returning June 1, citing cooperation by guests on safety. He said the resort had to turn away a handful of guests who refused to wear a mask, and one guest who failed a temperature check. Hamilton
said Mohegan had to turn away “a few per day” over not wearing masks and a few for having a slight temperature over 99.9 F.
On June 16, Monza WorldClass Karting reopened at Foxwoods, where there’s a UV helmet sanitizer employed after each use. We’ve tried the racing there once, and the helmet’s heavy, stuffy and snug; so it better be clean.
The June 17 return of indoor dining at Foxwoods (at 50 percent capacity) applied to David Burke Prime, Guy Fieri’s place, Scorpion Bar, Sugar Factory and Veranda Cafe, with California Pizza Kitchen joining a day later. No Alta Strada, Red Lantern or Cedars
Steakhouse yet.
Hamilton said while Mohegan eateries such as Bobby’s Burgers were doing carry-out business (I had the Philly burger and Whale’s Tail ale), most other “tenant restaurants” were reopening June 17, except Tom’s Urban and Hash House A Go Go (returning in weeks). Sports bar Bow & Arrow will serve food on weekends for now.
On July 2, Foxwoods will start a drive-in movie operation in the lot on the other side of Route 2 across from Tanger Outlets. Movies will be shown every Thursday-Sunday throughout July and August, and every Friday-Sunday in September and October. The price is $35 per car.
If that’s good news, the word on Foxwoods’ four pools is bad. “We’re probably not going to open any of the pools this summer,” Guyot said, then qualified that to say the indoor pools are a possibility later this summer. The pools at Mohegan are also closed for awhile longer.
As for live entertainment, it was set to resume in a small but significant way weekends starting June 19 at Comix comedy club with a revamped performance space allowing pods of folks socially distanced and at least 12 feet from the comic, Hamilton said. We need the laughs.