Hawaii

It's not you. The number of destinations for the Prize Puzzle trips has dropped drastically. It used to be pretty much anywhere in the world, then around Season 26, it was almost entirely North American locations, and as of Season 30, it's now pretty much just tropical locations, not even the occasional ski, Las Vegas, or New York trip anymore.

Sure there are -- things other than trips, for instance -- but going that route would require effort, which (with few exceptions) the show is unwilling to do in regard to gameplay or prizes. And Wheel makes a ton of money, so it's not like that's an issue unless Sony's withholding money from them for some reason.

Generally, though, Wheel emphasizes the chrome while ignoring the problems year after year, because they're #1 and hence feel they don't need to exercise any real effort. On the other hand, sister show Jeopardy! has real effort as its backbone and has continually stuck to what works, which is part of the reason I've long suspected that Harry treats it like his favored son whereas Wheel has all the traits of a big-money primetime game show.

Alternately, you could say Wheel's rich in dollars but poor in sense (and yes, I admit I'm still a bit sore over Season 28).