FRANKLY SPEAKING BY FRANK LEGATO
Showboat Splash
For a couple of decades , the Showboat in Atlantic City was one of my favorite haunts . I used to love the Mansion Café , this huge restaurant with various dining rooms styled as different rooms of a 19th century New Orleans mansion . The fried chicken was to die for . I also loved going to the House of Blues and the Plantation Room at the Showboat , and I loved all the trappings of the Mardi Gras theme everywhere you looked .
In 2009 , they even had Dr . John , the Night Tripper — the quintessential New Orleans icon — perform at the House of Blues . Regrettably , I missed it . But I digress .
I liked everything at the old Showboat except for the video poker . That ’ s all I ’ d play in the old days , and Showboat was one of two casinos in town from which I never emerged a winner . I don ’ t know if it was just coincidence , or the result of some New Orleans Mardi Gras voodoo spell .
Probably the first . The coincidence thing .
And it was Harrah ’ s . I know you were wondering . Harrah ’ s was the other Atlantic City casino I never won in .
Harrah ’ s Entertainment , in fact , owned Showboat at the time . Harrah ’ s and Showboat were sister properties . ( Mean sisters to me .)
Though the Showboat was still profitable , Harrah ’ s closed it , House of Blues and all , in summer of 2014 — part of the general contraction of the Atlantic City industry that year . Harrah ’ s sold it later that year to Richard Stockton University , with a deed that stipulated the property could never again include a casino . In 2016 , Philadelphia developer Bart Blatstein bought it for $ 23 million .
Blatstein reopened the Showboat Hotel that year , its former casino floor serving as an event center of sorts — except when they plugged in slot machines again for that zombie movie in 2021 , which was really cool . The film , Army of the Dead , was shot mainly in the old Atlantic Club / Atlantic City Hilton / Golden Nugget , which at the time was covered in cobwebs with big chunks of brick falling from the façade to the sidewalk . Good place for a zombie movie . Even though it was a very bad zombie movie . But again , I digress . This year , Blatstein opened up the Island Waterpark at Showboat , a year-round splashfest with huge water slides , waterfalls , a lazy river , a “ Rip
Tide Zip-Line ,” the “ Coconut Zero Gravity Coaster ,” and the “ Flow Rider ,” this massive contraption that has you navigating through water going every which way while riding something called a wakeboard .
That last one is so intense they offer “ Flow Rider Lessons ” for $ 25 . If you want to go on the attraction , you have to sign a “ Release and Waiver ” form that says you ’ re aware that the ride involves strenuous physical activity that you feel you will be able to handle without , you know , dying .
My wife told me immediately she wants to go . Though technically a senior citizen , she is fearless . She ’ s always the only grandmother up there with the kids on some hazardous ride that would surely kill me . In fact , I ’ m pretty sure the Island Waterpark would kill me . I haven ’ t been on a carnival ride since I slipped a disk at age 34 . I once took my kids on one of those saucer rides , and ended up hobbling around like some twisted freak for three days . Beyond that , I ’ m not good at waterparks . In the Bahamas , I got injured on the lazy river , for crying out loud .
My innertube got rammed from behind by some punk kid , and the force sent my face , sunglasses and all , smashing into the cave wall . I had to go to the on-site infirmary at Paradise Island .
Who knew they even had one ? The next day , I interviewed a vice president at Baha Mar looking like I just came from a bar fistfight .
By the way , I got my sunglasses back . They were unusable , but damn . They actually found them . It ’ s actually become a tradition in my family that vacations mean some freak accident for Dad . So thank you , Mr . Blatstein , for opening the Showboat back up . Reopen the Mansion Café , and I ’ m there . Maybe you can open the House of Blues back up too . That would be a blast , except that Doctor John ’ s no longer with us . These days , though , I ’ m sure you can find a tribute act .
Yes , I may return to the Showboat some day . But thanks anyway , I ’ m not taking my relatively ancient bones in to try out the Rip Tide Zip-Line or the Coconut Zero Gravity Coaster .
And certainly not the Flow Rider . I wouldn ’ t even make it through a lesson .
38 Global Gaming Business AUGUST 2023