Actually, the first Circus Circus "tram" allegedly dates back to the casino's opening in 1968. Reports describe it as an indoor aerial track that, thrice daily, transported a "flying" elephant (who, we can verify, did play slots, craps, and keno), on a circuit high above the casino floor, although there are no photographs of what was said to have been a short-lived publicity stunt and we're not certain that this story is anything more than a "flying pig" urban myth. Flying elephant or not, it was features like this that brought out the snob in rival casino owner Howard Hughes, who sniffed at the "poor, dirty, shoddy side of Circus [sic] life. The dirt floor, sawdust and elephants … The part of a circus that is associated with the common poor man …"
As far as a tram that took people from one part of Circus Circus to another, that was necessitated by the property’s growth from a stand-alone casino to a sprawling resort. Short on funds, Circus Circus creator and owner Jay Sarno didn’t build a hotel tower until 1972. After Sarno sold the property to William Bennett and William Pennington, a second tower was added in 1975. A third tower was added in 1986 (as was the tram) and a fourth – along with Adventuredome – followed in 1993. A quintet of low-rise motel units had also been built, in 1980.
David G. Schwartz, director of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas' Center for Gaming Research and biographer of Circus Circus creator Jay Sarno, confirms the tram’s existence, saying, "I remember riding it in the late 1990s." He must have been one of the last passengers: According to an official MGM Resorts International source: "The tram went from the Skyrise Tower, which is on the north side of Circus Circus Drive, to the front of the tent top on [Las Vegas Boulevard]. It was taken out of commission about 15 years ago mostly due to maintenance costs for the 1987 technology. Spare parts were given to Circus Reno over the years as they have the same system. The track and car are still there." Indeed, a car can still be glimpsed peeking out of the Sunrise Tower tunnel.
Our own investigations revealed that when Circus Circus branched out into Reno, a sister tram was imported from Switzerland. Mounted aboard an American truck chassis, it was hauled back and forth via cable, connecting the North Tower and Sky Tower. In 2012, a hotel representative told a Reno TV station, "We are not going to change it. You know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it." By that point, the four-mile-per-hour vehicle had logged over six million trips. The ride can be experienced vicariously here through the miracle of online video (spoiler alert: the videographer/rider describes it as "boring"). At the time of that filming, the faster of the two Reno trams had been shut down (perhaps on account of some kind of technical issue that had this rider describing it, via YouTube, as Circus Circus North Tram of Death!, which sounds much more exciting) but we put in a call to Circus Circus Reno this week and they assured as that both trams are now operational.
