Is there anything wrong with tourist traps?

[bcla]

In my view, a "tourist trap" puts the emphasis on the "trap" part of the deal. Driving through South Dakota has all these signs for Wall Drug for example. "Free Ice Water" "5 cent coffee", etc. Well, everyone has free ice water with meals, and the five cent coffee turns out to be 5 cent refills on coffee. Most places do free refills.

They give the perception of a great deal, but to have any real fun, you have to spend a lot more money than perhaps you planned. Thus, the trap.

I wouldn't call the Freedom Trail in Boston a "trap". It's a free, informative history lesson.

I think for the most part now with the internet and information readily available, people tend to know what they are getting into and there aren't as many "traps" as once existed.

Depends on where you are of course. There's this famous greasy spoon in LA called Philippe the Original that had nickel coffee for years until they bumped the price up to 9 cents (10 cents with tax). They got lines out the door of people just there for the coffee. And they were serious about it. Now it's 45 cents. However, they made their money off of sandwiches which were supposedly pretty good.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/26/local/la-me-0126-9-cent-coffee-20120126

I think the basic idea of a "tourist trap" is possibly overpriced and with a lot of kitsch. But even then you can find some real bargains like I found.

 

[lovesmurfs]

It's a beautiful part of the country. My sis, BIL, and I took a day trip up there. Our relatives in Dundee kind of scoffed that there was "nothing up there". Truth be told, it was my favorite day of the trip. Almost hit a red stag on the way up, which got our attention LOL

We're actually staying 3 nights in the area (Flichity near Inverness): first day, visiting Culloden and Fort George; second to Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle and Glen Ord distillery; and the third a full day trip tour to Skye from Inverness (it's all we could fit in of Skye, but wanted to go). Can you tell I'm psyched?

Okay, OP. Sorry for the derailment of your post. Back to your regularly scheduled thread, now in progress.

 

[RedAngie]

It should have its photo in the dictionary for "Tourist Trap" as it is the biggest in the world. It's a place I both love and hate at the same time!

How does it compare to Wall Drug?

I've heard of but have never been to Wall Drug so I can't compare.

South of the Border has three or four tacky gift shops, a sit-down restaurant, several fast food places and snack bars, a fireworks shop, gas station, mini golf, a few carnival rides, a Reptile Lagoon, campground, a motel (which I heard is pretty skeevy), a sombrero topped observation tower, several large concrete statutes of dinosaurs and other animals, and more.

100% total schlock.

The best part, however, are the billboards along I-95, which some may find insensitive or even offensive.

 

[bcla]

I've heard of but have never been to Wall Drug so I can't compare.

South of the Border has three or four tacky gift shops, a sit-down restaurant, several fast food places and snack bars, a fireworks shop, gas station, mini golf, a few carnival rides, a Reptile Lagoon, campground, a motel (which I heard is pretty skeevy), a sombrero topped observation tower, several large concrete statutes of dinosaurs and other animals, and more.

100% total schlock.

The best part, however, are the billboards along I-95, which some may find insensitive or even offensive.

Maybe not that schlocky, but I do remember driving to the Grand Canyon and seeing signs on the Navajo reservation about visiting roadside tourist stands selling rugs and other crafts. Some of the signs said stuff like "Friendly Indians" and when you drove past the actual stands there might be signs saying "Wait, it's not too late to turn back".

 

[bcla]

There are some quintessential tourist traps like The Big Texan in Amarillo. I've talked about the legend of the free steak if you can finish it, and quite a few people I've talked to from Texas immediately thought of this place.

I'm a big fan of our national parks, but there's no doubt that a lot of tourist traps spring up around them. You get these little tourist towns like West Yellowstone, MT, Tusayan, AZ, or Bryce, UT.

 

[StarGirl11]

I think it depends. Tourist traps as far as locations aren't necessarily a bad thing or bad places to visit. Tourist traps as far restaraunts can go can become a mixed bag. The problem being with them being they don't rely on repeat customers so much and so sometimes they can get a bit lazy.

 

[Albort]

just came back from a weekend at SF. Decided that i wanted to ride the trolleys. 2 hours wait each way, $7 per person($2.50 on a regular bus).

Def a tourist trap... but heck, i can finally say i rode the trolley. Got cousins who have lived in SF all their life, never did they ever go on it. lol

 

[RedAngie]

South of the Border also has signs saying it's never too late to back up.

 

[bcla]

just came back from a weekend at SF. Decided that i wanted to ride the trolleys. 2 hours wait each way, $7 per person($2.50 on a regular bus).

Def a tourist trap... but heck, i can finally say i rode the trolley. Got cousins who have lived in SF all their life, never did they ever go on it. lol

Many tourists have the multi-day pass that allows rides on all San Francisco MUNI services including the cable cars. I remember when a day pass was less than a round-trip on the cable cars. The prices are kind of through the roof now. However, the San Francisco CityPASS comes with a 7-day MUNI pass that includes cable cars.

https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/transit/fares-passes/visitor-day-passes

 

[tvguy]

Busch is most definitely NOT the "big" beer in St Louis.

LOL. I think my MIL's family there might disagree. I haven't been to the new Busch stadium, but Busch beer was all they sold at the old when when I went there.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

LOL. I think my MIL's family there might disagree. I haven't been to the new Busch stadium, but Busch beer was all they sold at the old when when I went there.

A) You should ask them again
B) if that were ever true of Busch Stadium, which I doubt, it would have had to have been more than 40 years ago. When my grandfather took me to ballgames in the 70's, he bought Budweiser - THE signature beer of STL.

But, what do I know? I've only lived here my entire life

 

[bcla]

A) You should ask them again
B) if that were ever true of Busch Stadium, which I doubt, it would have had to have been more than 40 years ago. When my grandfather took me to ballgames in the 70's, he bought Budweiser - THE signature beer of STL.

But, what do I know? I've only lived here my entire life

Yeah. I've watched enough baseball games on TV that I remember that the big scoreboard at Busch Stadium says "Budweiser".

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I've heard of but have never been to Wall Drug so I can't compare.

South of the Border has three or four tacky gift shops, a sit-down restaurant, several fast food places and snack bars, a fireworks shop, gas station, mini golf, a few carnival rides, a Reptile Lagoon, campground, a motel (which I heard is pretty skeevy), a sombrero topped observation tower, several large concrete statutes of dinosaurs and other animals, and more.

100% total schlock.

The best part, however, are the billboards along I-95, which some may find insensitive or even offensive.

Don't remind me!

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

No trip is complete until you've stopped at the infamous tourist "trap" known as South of the Border! Who's stopped there?

Oh that place is so.....quirky.

We ate at the little Mexican "quick service" place (just to say we did) and it was...horrible.
DS did have fun playing the "drop the quarter" games. He spent about $20 over the course of 2 hours, while we explored the shops, on these.

 

[tvguy]

A) You should ask them again
B) if that were ever true of Busch Stadium, which I doubt, it would have had to have been more than 40 years ago. When my grandfather took me to ballgames in the 70's, he bought Budweiser - THE signature beer of STL.

But, what do I know? I've only lived here my entire life

LOL. My wife's family only goes back to 1908 in St. Louis when they immigrated from Chicago.
So, then you know the difference between Busch, Bud and Michelob beers I presume?'
St. Louis to me is the arch, White Castle, Steak N Shake and humidity.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

LOL. My wife's family only goes back to 1908 in St. Louis when they immigrated from Chicago.
So, then you know the difference between Busch, Bud and Michelob beers I presume?'
St. Louis to me is the arch, White Castle, Steak N Shake and humidity.

We've been here since 1823 & my grandfather retired from A-B

 

[soccerdad72]

Cool! Another pissing match over who knows a city better!

 

[princesspiglet]

I live in a tourist trap- my house is literally 1 mile from Hersheypark...which means I have to traverse through downtown Hershey on a daily basis. And I vacation at the biggest tourist trap in the world-Disney!

 

[tvguy]

We've been here since 1823 & my grandfather retired from A-B

Other thing I think about food wise with St. Louis, fried Walleye. Seems like every restaurant along I-64 features fried Walleye.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Other thing I think about food wise with St. Louis, fried Walleye. Seems like every restaurant along I-64 features fried Walleye.

That's weird