I find myself intrigued by Harrah's "Buffet of Buffets" deal at their Vegas buffets — the one I mentioned here. The offer starts tomorrow and is for an indefinite period. It's an experiment and they'll keep it running until there's a good reason to stop it.
The pass is valid for any 24-hour period. If you buy one at 8 PM on Tuesday evening, you can eat at any of their seven spreads as many times as you like until 8 PM Wednesday evening. I don't know if that refers to admittance or actual dining. For instance, if you walk into a buffet at 7:55 PM Wednesday in that situation, can you eat for five minutes or for however long you want? I'm guessing the latter but it could be kinda funny if it's the former. Someone would come running up while you're loading more mashed potatoes onto your plate and yell, "Stop!"
Unlike some of the other day-pass buffet deals, this one does not allow you to just saunter into the buffet whenever you like. You have to wait in line with the customers who are buying one meal at a time. This also might make for some amusing situations. Let's say your pass expires in ten minutes and you get into a long line where people are fumbling for change and taking their time about paying. You could lose an entire free meal there.
You might also actually be able to eat for 24 continuous hours. One time when I was staying at Harrah's — this is more than ten years ago — I happened upon something with the ghastly name of the Graveyard Buffet. I was writing in my room all evening and around 3 AM when I finished the script, I decided to go down to the 24 hour Coffee Shop and grab a meal. To my surprise, the "we never close" restaurant was closed. A little sign announced that they had to shut down every so often for cleaning so instead, they were offering a "Graveyard Buffet" in the room that housed the usual buffet, which closed at 10 PM. I hustled over there and found a delightful spread of mostly Breakfasty items. It was open all night.
(And just to emphasize: That's what the sign called it — the "Graveyard Buffet." Sounds like a great place to eat, right? It's like going into a railroad station and seeing that you can get a meal at the "Terminal Diner.")
For some reason, these were never publicized, never advertised. I came across a similarly-unannounced Graveyard Buffet in a similar situation once at the Rio also, and I'm wondering if they still ever offer them. If so, your 24-hour buffet pass might just be good for a solid twenty-four hours of continuous buffeting. You could feast non-stop around the clock…which would be great because, after all, people in this country are not getting fat enough. Some of them can still fit through doorways.
I suspect this offer will do very well. Hundreds of people, probably into the thousands, go to one of the Harrah's buffets each evening for dinner. Let's say you patronize the one at Planet Hollywood, which is very popular and which costs $27.99 for one entrance. For only two bucks more, you can get the "Buffet of Buffets" pass which will let you dine tomorrow morning and afternoon at any Harrah's buffet. You could even squeeze in dinner tomorrow night if you plan it right.
Almost a whole day of all-you-can-eat dining for two dollars? Why wouldn't you grab that deal? Even if you'll only want to eat a modest breakfast and a light lunch tomorrow, it'll be a lot cheaper if you buy the pass. You can't get a meal off McDonald's Value Menu for two dollars and here's a chance to have darn near anything you want and as much of it as you want, unlimited beverages and desserts included.
Will people actually go into a buffet and eat a modest breakfast or a light lunch? I can imagine some figuring that since they can still go to other buffets later in the day, there's no need to try and clean out the one they're in. I can more readily imagine them succumbing to the allure of unlimited free food every time. There's also the revenge motive at a casino buffet: You often see people who've lost big at the tables trying to make it all back in pork roast and tepid sushi.
I don't know how this will play out. Might tourists be less inclined to see how much prime rib and shrimp they can cram into their tummies at one seating? Or will some decide to see if they really can eat continuously for every waking hour, starting at the Rio, pigging out there then taking the free shuttle over to Harrah's and the buffet there, then going next door to the Imperial Palace, dashing across Las Vegas Boulevard to Caesars, then crossing back to hit up the Flamingo and then work their way down the strip to Paris and then finishing up at Planet Hollywood? Harrah's Management may realize that they're creating a new, undesirable kind of Vegas visitor: People who are too damn busy eating to gamble.
I'm not even sure if I'll try this option my next trip to Vegas, assuming it's even still available. I kinda gave up buffets after my Gastric Bypass Surgery in '06 because they're no longer cost-efficient for me. I used to like them not because of quantity or even variety but because with all the odd food allergies I have, it's liberating to be able to control exactly what gets onto my plate. I've been to two buffets since the surgery and both made a nice profit off me since I didn't/couldn't eat anywhere near enough food to justify the price…not even at the $7.77 one.
Oddly enough, the deal here might fit in well with the way I eat now, which is 4-5 small meals a day as opposed to 2-3 normal-sized ones. If I were staying at a Harrah's property, and I often do, I really would just drop by for light meals. With a stomach the size of a hockey puck, I couldn't go whole-hog even if I wanted to. So this just might work. Then again, I'd probably have to fight long lines of people who were trying to see if they could make the circuit and hit up all seven Harrah's buffets in one day…and timing it all so they still have a shot at another meal tomorrow.