Trip Report- Las Vegas with Kids

Although it isn’t the first place you think of for a family vacation (we’ve been to Disney four times), my husband and I took our kids ages 7 and 8 to Las Vegas, Nevada for their winter break from school February 18-22, 2003 and had a great time!

Pre Trip Planning

-First we checked hotel rates for our dates of travel (big conventions or events in town can really jack up prices and increase crowds). An excellent tool to do this is an awesome program you can download to your computer called Travelaxe. It is a must have for the experienced traveler. It can be downloaded at <a href="http://www.travelaxe.net/" target="_blank">http://www.travelaxe.net/</A>

-You can often find great hotel deals for Las Vegas in the Sunday
Travel section of The Los Angeles Times. These are posted weekly at <a href="http://www.travel2vegas.com/latimes.html" target="_blank">http://www.travel2vegas.com/latimes.html</A>. This is where we found a room at The Orleans for $30 a night, which included 2 free dinner buffets and 2 fun-books with coupons for things at the hotel like free cocktails at the bars and a free day pass at the spa.

-We also spent countless hours researching Las Vegas on various web sites. Some of our favorites are …
- <a href="http://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/" target="_blank">http://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/</A>
- <a href="http://cheapovegas.com/" target="_blank">http://cheapovegas.com/</A>
- <a href="http://www.a2zlasvegas.com/" target="_blank">http://www.a2zlasvegas.com/</A>
- <a href="http://www.unlv.edu/Tourism/lvmisc.html" target="_blank">http://www.unlv.edu/Tourism/lvmisc.html</A>
- <a href="http://pub50.ezboard.com/blasvegastalk" target="_blank">http://pub50.ezboard.com/blasvegastalk</A>
- <a href="http://www.vegas.com/attractions/" target="_blank">http://www.vegas.com/attractions/</A>
- <a href="http://www.travel2vegas.com/messageboard.html" target="_blank">http://www.travel2vegas.com/messageboard.html</A>
- <a href="http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&num=25&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=alt.vacation.las-vegas&start=0" target="_blank">http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&num=25...s-vegas&start=0</A>

The Trip

We parked the family car at the Atlanta airport. We got an open-air daily rate of $3.40 a day at the <a href="http://www.theparkingspot.com/" target="_blank">http://www.theparkingspot.com/</A> on Camp Creek Parkway with airline employee ID or flight pass card (regular daily price is $6.00).
Our flight from ATL to LAS was on a Tuesday evening. We used S2 passes because we were hoping our daughter who recently turned 8 years old would get to be in first class for the first time. But while waiting in the gate the familiar announcement for $100.00 upgrades to first class was made and there was a mad dash of people with credit cards in hand to the counter. Needless to say, there was no first class for us. Actually we were the last non-rev group to be called. We ended up sitting 2 and 2 when a passenger volunteered to trade seats with my husband. I guess she wasn’t thrilled with sitting beside a 7-year-old for a 4-hour flight. Actually she was very nice and helpful. The flight was pleasantly uneventful. We all enjoyed the night view of the famous Las Vegas Strip as we approached the airport.
We rented our car from Thrifty. The car pick up was quick and painless. We got a Kia Rio for $16.00 a day from <a href="http://thrifty.com/" target="_blank">http://thrifty.com/</A>. Although it is a small car, we were comfortable and our two big suitcases and carry ons fit in the trunk with no problems.
With the directions we got from the Thrifty employee, we drove straight to our hotel, The Orleans. (The thing I liked about driving in Vegas is you could usually spot you destination several blocks away, so you knew you were going the right way!)
The Orleans <a href="http://www.orleanscasino.com/" target="_blank">http://www.orleanscasino.com/</A> is about a mile off the Las Vegas Strip on Tropicana Avenue. It has a Mardi Gras/French Quarter theme. Check in was quick and friendly. After showing our room key to the security guard stationed at the elevators, we were quickly whisked to floor 18. Next we walked down the very LONG hall to reach our lovely room-1808. It was a whooping 450 square feet-one of the largest standard rooms in Las Vegas. The décor was French Quarter-two queen brass beds and a sitting area with a couch and lounge chair plus a desk and chair. The bathroom was roomy also. Our room had a Strip view. We could watch the sunrise each morning over the entire strip from Mandalay Bay to the Stratosphere.
We found the hotel quite nice, too. It has a nice Spa and fitness center, a decent pool with lots of deck space and a HUGE hot tub. (We didn’t use the pool since the air temp was mid 60’s and the water temp felt cool too. But it was open for anyone warm blooded enough to go for it. We did see people enjoying the hot tub.) We ate at several of the restaurants and enjoyed them all. The staff was very friendly and the elevators were fast. The highlight of the hotel for our 7-year-old son was the 24-hour a day 72-lane bowling alley. He would have been happy to spend his entire vacation there! They also have a movie theatre and a child care center. We thought we might use the child care center, but we had so much “family fun” we never looked into it. All this for$30.00 a night! The only negative I had was that the casino area was rather smoky the night we arrived. It didn’t seem to be as bad during the day.
Although it was about 8:00 PM Vegas time (11:00 PM Eastern time), we were not ready for bed. We decided to have a snack at Terrible Mike’s-a burger joint right off the casino inside The Orleans. The burgers and fries were served hot and fresh and there was a nice fixin bar with all the fixins like lettuce tomatoes and even shredded cheese. The snack hit the spot and the kids were memorized watching and hearing the slot machines. (As a side note-we didn’t have any problems walking through the casinos with the kids anywhere we went. Usually when we entered a casino, I asked a security guard or bell desk employee for directions to the restaurant or attraction we were interested in seeing and they happily sent us on our way. I found this much more efficient than wandering around the HUGE casinos.)
On the way back to the room for bed we stopped by the gift shop to use our “free gift” coupon from the fun book. The gift was several strands of those plastic Mardi Gras beads. Of course these went straight to the kids and they were thrilled. This started their endless pursuit to collect beads-luckily they don’t have a clue of how you earn these beads at the real Mardi Gras-ha, ha. (This brings me to another side note I want to mention. In my opinion, the kids were at a perfect age to do Vegas-old enough to do lots of walking without lots of whining, yet young and innocent enough that they were happy to hang out with their parents-and didn’t even notice the low cut cocktail waitress uniforms etc)
Before lights out the kids hung a strand of beads from every lamp. We all slept soundly on nice comfortable beds.

Day Two

My husband Marty started his Birthday early by joining the slot club and heading to the video poker slot machine while the rest of us were still asleep. He quickly made his twenty-dollar donation and came back to the room looking for some breakfast! I personally didn’t gamble a nickel this trip. Marty and I have been to Vegas several times without the kids and we enjoy blackjack the most. But this was a different kind of trip and we were having so much fun with the kids that neither of us felt the call of the tables at all.
We had breakfast at the Courtyard Café in The Orleans. The service and food were fine. They actually have some great 99-cent breakfast deals before 7 am. We never made it down early enough to take advantage of these but they are a great deal for early risers.
After breakfast, it was off to see the Hoover Dam! We had researched the Dam on the Internet before our trip and even found coupons for free discovery tours for the kids on <a href="http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/" target="_blank">http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/</A> From The Orleans we went straight out Tropicana Ave and picked up the interstate to Bolder. It was a pretty and easy drive. Once in Bolder, we followed signs to the Dam. Because of a tip we read on the Internet, we knew that parking at the Dam is free if you go to the Arizona side. So we bypassed the paid parking deck and drove over the Dam (the state line is actually on the Dam). We passed another paid parking lot and then found free parking right beyond. This was ideal for us because half of the fun is actually walking across the Dam for great views and picture ops. The Discovery tour we took consisted of two film/slide shows of how the Dam was built, an elevator ride down to see the generators, some museum type attractions and access to an observation deck. It was all interesting, but to be honest the best part is just walking and gaulking at the Dam. If you wanted to only do that, you could do it for free-and have access to the gift shops, snack bar and restrooms. When walking back to the car, we realized that I had misplaced my daughter’s sweater. (Why is it that Mom is always in charge of everyone’s stuff?) So since we were now in Arizona, I made a big deal to the kids about having to run all the way to Nevada to look for her sweater and run all the way back to Arizona to get back to the car. All turned out well. Someone must of found the sweater and laid it prominently on a wall so I spotted it easily, and the family in the trusty rental car came across the state line and slowed down so I could jump in. The kids enjoyed laughing at me for running from state to state.
Luckily we had thought to bring a soft-sided cooler. We filled it with ice on our way out of the hotel this morning and stopped at Wal-Mart on Tropicana Ave on our way to the Dam to pick up bottled water, soft drinks, snacks and pop tarts (and Vegas T shirts and hats for the kids). So we now enjoyed much needed cold drinks and snacks in the car. We made a quick stop at Lake Mead <a href="http://www.nps.gov/lame/" target="_blank">http://www.nps.gov/lame/</A> to take a few pictures. There were some adorable chipmunks hopping around and we couldn’t resist sharing out Pringles with them.
We had read on the Internet about Ethel M Chocolate factory. So since it was free and on this side of town, we got out the map and stumbled our way to find it. We got to see the actual process of the candies being made and then got to choose a free sample at the gift shop on the way out. Our son had such a hard time picking only one piece that the nice lady gave both of the kids two pieces! When we went outside we toured the cactus garden right on the factory grounds. We were amazed at the variety of cactus! If you have any interest in cactus, this is a must see for you.
Next we stopped by Sam’s Town -a casino also on this general side of town. We had read on the Internet about free meal for your birthday at the Mexican restaurant here, but it turned out the restaurant is only opened for dinner which was several hours away. We did check out the Mystic Falls water show. Although the area was themed beautifully (Old West), the show only lasted about 5 minutes-definitely not worth a special trip to see.
Heading back to the strip, we decided to catch the 3:00 feeding of the penguins at the Flamingo Wildlife Habitat at the Flamingo resort. We self parked in the parking deck and soon found our way to the penguins. A trainer came out and fed the penguins their fish. She was very informative, and even answered questions. The penguins were only about 12 inches tall. It was a lot of fun to watch them wattle and swim around. Seeing that we were at the Flamingo, there were also flamingos and other birds such as ducks and swans, plus turtles and those big goldfish all in a very lush beautiful surrounding. While we were there, we checked out the Flamingo pool. It seemed neat with several small slides connecting small pools. We didn’t see much deck space, but maybe we just missed it. We were all ready to head back to the room for a break.
We decided to use our free buffet coupons at the French Market Buffet at The Orleans for dinner. We only had to pay for the kids. They got a reduced rate-I think half the regular price. We all found foods we enjoyed-especially the desserts. My favorite was the carrot cake.
After dinner, we headed over to Treasure Island Hotel on the Strip. We self parked in the parking deck and made our way to the front of the hotel for the Pirate Battle Show. We got there about 5 minutes before show time and the sidewalks were mobbed with people. We squeezed into a spot and put the kids on our shoulders to watch the show. It seems like a pretty good show, but being 5’4” and not interesting in getting there 45 minutes early to stake out a spot, in the three times I’ve seen it I’ve never had much of a view. The kids said it was good-explosions and ships sinking. I just said I needed a back rub.
We walked to the Mirage to see the white tiger on display in front of the lobby and the large aquarium behind the check in desk with small sharks, eels and other cool fish.
To our surprise the kids wanted to keep going so we went to Caesar’s Forum Shops next. This is a beautiful complex of shops with some really lovely Greek Mythology statues all around. The ceiling is painted like a sky and it goes through a day/night cycle every hour or so. We all enjoyed checking out FAO Swartz Toy Store. They had a huge wooden Trojan horse that you could enter from the second floor and lots of other really fun stuff. We caught the Atlantis show in the back of the Forum-not very impressive. Directly behind the Atlantis show (across from Cheesecake Factory) is another nice aquarium with stingrays etc. We all decide it’s time to head back to the hotel-so we head toward our car parked at Treasure Island. As we are going past the Mirage, the volcano starts to erupt so we stop to watch-only in Las Vegas could we have such a variety of sites-and this is only our first full day!

DAY THREE

We start the day with pop tarts in the room, and are soon off to do some more exploring on the Strip. We parked at the Harrah’s self park parking deck because we will be seeing a magic show here later today. We had clipped coupons for free admission to the car show at Imperial Palace from a tourist magazine I had picked up at the Thrifty rental car office, so we headed over there to check it out. A security guard led us on our way to redeem the coupons for tickets at a service desk, and then we were off to the museum. If you are at all into old cars, this is for you. You can see and even buy (they are all for sale with prices posted) some rare cars in mint condition. Next we walked across the strip to Treasure Island for lunch at Kahunaville. This was a fun restaurant even with its own water and light show on one of the walls every hour. My husband and I enjoyed huge tasty salads and the kids had grilled cheese and fries.
The highlight of today is the 1:00 showing of the Mac King Magic/Comedy Show at the Improv at Harrah’s. My husband’s sister purchased the tickets for us over the Internet as a birthday present for him. We just went to the will call desk and picked them up and proceeded to the Improv. My husband tipped the matre de $10.00 and he asked if we would like to sit up front. “Sure!” We answer. So he takes us all the way to the stage and sits us on the front row. I highly recommend this show. It was funny and the magic was impressive. It is entertaining for adults, but very clean so you can take the kids. The magician tried to get our daughter to come on stage, but she just looked at him like he was crazy, while on the other side of me our son was jumping up and down with his hand in the air saying “Pick me, pick me!”
So guess what- Kyle is on stage ready to assist. The magician tells him to stand next to a suitcase. When he walked over to it he accidentally bumped into it and the top slams shut. The magician says “Well folks, I guess that concludes our show for the day.” But then they go on to do a cute trick.
After the show, Mac King signed the T-shirt we got for Kyle and posed for some pictures with the kids.
Next we went to the Mirage to visit the Secret Garden/Dolphins. The admission was $10.00 for adults. The kids were free. This was a lot of fun although it was very crowded. Bailey said, “If this is a secret garden, how did all these people find out about it?” First a tour guide takes a group down to see the dolphins underwater and gives a little talk. Then you are free to explore. Several times an hour the trainers come out and the dolphins do some amazing flips and tricks. They come right up to the edge of the pool so we had a great view! The other portion-The Secret Garden-is a small zoo with the big cats and the elephant from the Seigfried and Roy show on display. We were able to see white tigers (even babies), lions, white lions, a Black Panther, and an Indian elephant all up close (just through a fence). I highly recommend this attraction, but I would suggest trying in the morning. Maybe it wouldn’t be so crowded.
Time to head back to the hotel to rest a bit. We ate dinner at the Mexican restaurant in The Orleans-Don Miguel’s. They bring salsa, guacamole and bean dip with chips when you are seated. It was all yummy. I could have made a meal out of that alone. I did split an entree with my daughter. Once again, we had good service and good food.
For our after dinner entertainment, we decided to drive over to the Rio casino to see the parade in the sky show. From a tip we read on the Internet, we stood on the second floor under a watch (or clock) sign. You’ll know it when you see it if you should choose to go. From this spot, you can see the performers who dance on the stage, and you are in a great position to catch beads that they throw from the floats that move along a track on the ceiling. Arrive a little early to get a good spot. There was a guy on stilts on the casino floor for the “pre show” dancing and fooling around with the people playing slots. He was fun to watch. I had read on the Internet (how many more times am I going to say that phrase?) That if you take a picture of the performers on the float, they will throw beads to you. Sure enough when I took a picture, the guy obviously started throwing beads directly to me. A tall man beside me grabbed the first strand he threw to me because his arms were longer. So he threw another strand straight to me, and I said “He’s throwing them to me.” And was able to snag this strand. Isn’t it silly what we do to get these silly things? My husband and daughter found a spot that was less crowded and got a few strands for her also. A side note for those of you who won’t be travelling with kids-this place seemed like the place for people to see and be seen. I believe there is a popular dance club here. And the casino was lively with party music.
When the show ended, we headed back to The Orleans and finished the night at Kate’s Corner-the ice cream parlor.

DAY FOUR

We had been promising Kyle to take him bowling but when we had tried before we found all 72 lanes were often reserved for leagues at night, so we decided to do it this morning. We all bowled a game and of course Kyle had a blast. It’s a very nice bowling alley.
Next we were off to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area <a href="http://www.redrockcanyon.blm.gov/" target="_blank">http://www.redrockcanyon.blm.gov/</A> about 20 miles west of Las Vegas. This is a 13-mile scenic drive through some beautiful mountains with about 15 stops where you can get out and hike around. Our favorite stop was the first one past the visitor’s center-Calico Basin. We had a great time climbing on the huge rocks. We were amazed at the views-and I guarantee you would be too if you get an opportunity to go! If you don’t like to hike, it’s still worth the drive to experience the natural beauty. But I’m sure it would be HOT in the summer months. We were glad we had loaded the cooler with cold drinks.
A few miles from Red Rock Canyon is a place called Old Nevada <a href="http://www.bonniesprings.com/" target="_blank">http://www.bonniesprings.com/</A>. Even though it was only an hour before closing time- 5:00 PM in February, we decided to pay the $5.00 per car and check it out. It was basically an Old West town main street setting with a very corny gunfight show. They “hung” the bad guy at the end of the show, but it was all done very tongue in cheek so it wasn’t upsetting to the kids. After the show we rushed to check out the zoo area before closing. There were a lot of farm type animals in pens. We also saw a beautiful lynx, a bobcat, and lots of birds including two peacocks with their feathers spread.
A little past 5:00 we were headed back to town trying to decide what to do for dinner on our last night in town. “What’s a trip to Vegas without a cheap prime rib dinner?” My husband asked. After all that hiking, a slab of meat sounded great to me, so we headed to downtown Vegas for the $5.95 prime rib dinner at The California Hotel. We self parked in the parking deck and got our ticket validated for three hours at the casino cashier. The dinner was served in the café (I asked the people at the bell desk to lead us to the prime rib) Who would believe such a great meal for such a price. We started with an expansive salad bar, the prime rib was huge and delicious and was served with your choice of potato and green beans, and cherries jubilee was included for dessert. Our daughter ate the prime rib as well while our son dined on a drum-roll please- hot dog.!?!?!
The cool thing about downtown Vegas is that the casinos are so much closer together than on the strip. We were able to walk a block over to Freemont Street <a href="http://www.vegasexperience.com/" target="_blank">http://www.vegasexperience.com/</A> to catch the light show on the canopy that covers the street (opened only to foot traffic) for several blocks. We saw the Disco themed show. It was lots of fun. We were all dancing in the streets! We found downtown to be clean and safe. We were there early in the evening. I certainly wouldn’t wonder far off of Freemont Street, but we were pleasantly surprised at the new Neonopolis <a href="http://www.neonopolis.net/" target="_blank">http://www.neonopolis.net/</A> -a shopping and dinning complex that is decorated with some really cool retired neon sights. The kids played air hockey at the game room there-Jullians while we were waiting for the light show.
We decided to “cruise the strip” as we headed back to our hotel. Even though it was a Saturday night, the traffic moved along slow enough for us to sight see but not so slow that we got frustrated. When we passed the Bellagio, we saw the water show. This was one of the things on my “must see” list that we hadn’t been able to catch yet. (The night we wanted to see it, it was not running due to high winds.) On a spur of the moment decision we pulled into the Bellagio parking deck so we could get out and watch. This was the only deck where we encountered security-searching trunks upon entry. We felt somewhat silly when he asked us to pop the trunk, but the Kia Rio rental didn’t have a trunk opener inside so we had to turn off the ignition and give him the car keys (so much for our grand entrance-ha, ha). Upon parking we remembered that the Bellagio does not allow children under 18 that are not registered guest of the hotel. We attempted to get to the front of the hotel by walking around outside-no go- concrete walls everywhere, so we decided to enter the hotel and see what happened. We cruised right through without any problem and exited at the front to get a good view of the massive fountains. It was worth the hassle! We liked it so much we stayed for three shows. They were occurring every 15 minutes since it was Saturday night. Unlike the pirate show at Treasure Island, there is plenty of room for spectators since the fountains are so big. This was a great way to finish another day in Vegas.

DAY FIVE

We are scheduled to take a noon flight out of town today so we decide to spend our last few hours in Las Vegas doing a little more sight seeing on the strip. We parked at the Tropicana right on Tropicana Ave so we would have an easy exit to go to the airport. We walked past the MGM and New York, New York. I just love how New York, New York looks and we were able to watch the roller coaster that goes around the tops of the building go by. We let the kids check out M & M world-basically a three-story store. They do have a 3-D movie but it didn’t start until 10:00 am. We walked down to check out the new Aladdin shopping complex-Desert Passage. It was pretty, but it was time for us to head to the airport.
When we got to our departing gate, the familiar announcement began again-“Check for me for $100.00 upgrades to first class.” But unlike our flight out, the place became like a ghost town. Not one-person even reached for their credit card. Guess Vegas was rough on their wallets! So Bailey did get to ride home in first class and she loved it.