It turns out that this elevator at Bally’s Atlantic City is not intended for regular passenger use. A placard on the 2nd floor reads, “For use of elevator call #3164”. However, on the 3rd floor, near the Palace Theater box office in the old Claridge hotel, there was no sign. So we hopped on this elevator thinking nothing out of the ordinary. I then mistakenly pushed the 1st floor button and wound up in an abandoned bus station, apparently sealed off from the rest of the world. Certainly something for further investigation!
I was also concerned by the extremely slow speed of this elevator, which made it seem like it was entrapping passengers. It took nearly 40 seconds to go 2 floors. Also when it was traveling in the up direction, when it arrived at the second floor, there was a very noticeable jolt as a cavitation bubble in the hydraulic system caused a pressure drop. Cavitation in a hydraulic elevator is often indicative of low fluid levels in the reserve tank – the pump draws in air instead of fluid – which also means that this elevator is very poorly maintained and would certainly not pass a thorough inspection! Given that it is inside a casino, there are almost certainly political reasons that such an elevator would remain in service in such an unmaintained state. “Maybe it’s in bad shape, maybe it’s not.” Ya know.