Bally’s Atlantic City eventually absorbed the Claridge Hotel & Casino next door, but the hotel remains somewhat independent structurally, and even has its own parking garage (which, IMO, is more convenient than the Bally’s parking garage). This is the elevator that serves 13 floors (including the rooftop) of the parking garage.
Behind the main cashier’s cage at Bally’s Atlantic City is a hallway that leads to some public restrooms and private service areas. This elevator is located near those bathrooms at the end of the hall. Although it was accessible to the public, it seemed to be primarily used by casino employees. However, it only serves the 1st, 2nd, and 6th floors, skipping the 4th floor which has executive offices. When we went for a ride, there was a casino employee wearing a suit in the elevator. We had a brief conversation about the building’s elevators, but due to general sensitivity about recording devices inside casinos, I did not get to give the elevator the attention it deserved. The casino employee called this the “secret” elevator, so we couldn’t help but do the same.
Hidden behind a door with an “authorized personnel only” sign in the Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City parking garage, protected only by a simplex lock, is an old-fashioned manlift (also known as a beltovator). These types of personnel lifts are extremely dangerous, and unlike a paternoster, it is possible for a passenger to be severely injured if they do not step off at the top or bottom of the hoistway. It is also a very unusual place to have a beltovator because the passenger elevator bank is adjacent to this. It did not seem to be used frequently, if at all, and remained in the same position for the entire 3-day duration of my most recent visit.
One unusual feature of the Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City is the inaccessibility of the parking garage fly-bridge. This escalator is the route most hotel guests will take – unless they use valet parking. Although the parking garage has an elevator serving all six floors, the fly-bridge on the 2nd floor that connects the parking garage to the main building (and casino) are accessible only by a short run of stairs and a narrow escalator to the main casino floor. The handicap accessible route is to take the parking garage elevator to the ground floor (requiring handicapped patrons to actually leave the enclosed building and cross the street). This also presents an unusual level of luggage and strollers being taken on this escalator, despite its extremely narrow profile. On a previous trip, I watched as a woman with a stroller nearly lost control and dropped her child. Certainly this is an area for improvement for accessibility of Harrah’s Resort.
Taking a ride on the elevator in the parking garage at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City. One interesting feature of these elevators that is not immediately apparent from the video is the presence of a “Door Hold” button in addition to the usual “Door Open” and “Door Close” buttons. These elevators have a very fast door cycle time – passengers have only a moment to enter and exit the elevator. Whereas the “Door Open” button keeps the doors open while continuous pressure is applied, pressing the “Door Hold” button momentarily provides at least 15 seconds of door dwell time, allowing passengers to unload their luggage without having to manually “hold” the doors by interrupting the photo sensor circuit.
Taking a quick ride on the parking garage elevator in Bally’s Atlantic City. Normally these elevators are fairly clean, but this time, the elevator smelled like a discarded sandwich.
A long series of fly-bridge connectors between the parking garage at Bally’s Atlantic City and the Bally’s / Wild Wild West / Caesar’s casinos uses these Otis moving walkways to speed up the trip and get patrons into the casino faster.
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.
Taking a ride on one of three main passenger elevators that link the casino floor (2nd floor) at Bally’s Atlantic City with the street level (1st floor), executive offices (4th floor), and the restaurants, exhibition spaces, and poker room on the 6th floor.
