Planning a visit with children - bad idea??

[Grammy4Lizzy]

Well I just have to say first I live in Las Vegas.
There are things to do that are not on the strip. We have museums, the Springs Preserve, Red Rock Canyon, Mt Charleston.
There are hotels with great kid friendly places, Excaliber, Circus Circus, Mirage has the dolphins, Mandalay Bay has the Shark Reef, several hotels have movie theatres.
As far as smoke goes, there is no smoking in restraurants.
There are wonderful pools at almost every hotel.
Who says you have to stroll your kids down the strip?
Have fun, bring the kids.

[Judy from Boise]

Personally my DD was exposed to more nudity at home than in Vegas. Not too modest around here, no shame in the bodies God gave us. What you do with nude bodies is outside the realm of thinking for most children until they are Tweens . We adults sure do tend to project !

[happygirl]

We took our kids they were 4 and 6 at the time, We had no problems beside the pushy time sell people. We didn't go on the strip past dark

[c&m]

We have gone to Vegas with our DDs since they were 7 and 10. We tend to stay at a non-smoking hotel, non-gaming hotel when we have our kids with us. The last hotel we stayed at was the Mandarin Oriental LV. Other hotels like that are the Vdara, Trump LV, and the Signature at MGM. Things we enjoy doing with our DDs are:

- going from hotel to hotel is entertainment in itself, especially at the Venetian, Bellagio, and Caesars Palace
- going to a Cirque du Soleil show (I don't know if there're age minimums on attending these shows but I did see young school-aged kids in the audience at the Beatles Love show)
- shopping at the Fashion Show Mall and the factory outlets (I have daughters, so shopping is always on the agenda)
- eating at a buffet, and with kids, the dessert table is jaw dropping
- relaxing poolside with a good book while the girls splash around
- Watching the Bellagio fountains
- Grand Canyon

[Disneyland_Mama]

We're taking our 7 & 10 year old for Spring Break for a few nights. My DS7 has been asking to go for a few years now. I have no idea why, but he says he just wants to "check it out".

I would recommend a non-gaming hotel, though. They tend to be quieter, non smoking, etc. As a PP stated, there are lots of places to go and things to see for the kiddos. Have a great trip!

[viaggiamo]

HI
we are going for this trip with our 3 and 5 yos. We are staying in Four Seasons, after heaps of research as DH will be attending a trade show and I wanted somewhere quiet with no attached casino. The other option was Mandarin Oriental. What was it like c&m?

I am not planning on going out at night and if we do it will be for dinner somewhere and we will take a taxi from the restaurant to the hotel.

I am not phased about nudity and think it will be a great experience for the children just seeing the incredible hotels. We are not drinkers or gamblers so early nights for us!!! LOL.

C

[DisneytheKid]

I think it can be done. I would just take them to places like the amusement park dome at circus circus and to some of the more "kid friendly" shows. Have a great time!

[PigletSeeker]

I also live in Vegas and have kids. We do occasionally take them to the Strip to see the fountains, attractions, or to visit friends in town. The only issue we had was walking them through Caesars casino to get back to our car after 9 PM. They had go go dancers in cages..but they weren't there when we passed through a couple of hours prior. So no casinos after 9

You will get stares and comments though. Every.single.time we take the kids to the Strip, I overhear someone say, "I can't believe they'd bring kids to Vegas." The Bellagio does not allow strollers inside, but they do allow kids if they belong to paying guests.

There are some amazing family friendly things to do nearby. Definitely go hiking at Red Rock...at the very least take the scenic drive around the park.

[Nancy for Disney]

Just got back from Vegas in May with a family trip. Kids are ages 18, 16 and 11. We are a little different in that my mother and sister live there. We stayed with my sister so no need for a hotel. Since this was our vacation for the year we of course saw the sights. Here is what we did: Hoover Dam (very interesting), mini-golf, walked around the strip. We only viewed 3 casinos/resorts: Bellagio, Ceaser's and Flamingo (they have a nice area with birds and turtles. My son had his 16th birthday while there and he likes his thrill rides so he went to the top of the Stratosphere and rode the rides to celebrate. We also did Circus Circus one day. There were several things we didn't get to do that I would have liked. One was horseback riding. I would have also liked to have gone on a hike. We would have liked to have seen the Criss Angel show. My 11 yr old loves him but we were on a budget. Taking kids to see shows is very expensive. I also think the kids would have enjoyed the Tournement of Kings at Excalibur. Oh we also did Freemont Street. That was fun. We did see lots of advertising for adult shows but we just ignored them. Oh, The Golden Nugget looked like it had an amazing pool.

[Judy from Boise]

it does have a great pool, stayed there for Spring break this year !

[Lisa71]

Kids can do Vegas and just like anywhere you need to be sure they are in places that are kid friendly. We took our DD there twice when she was little and she loved the pools. We stayed at MGM on the Monorail route and had a fun time with her. The area from the elevators goes right out to the pools and at Mandalay Bay you can avoid the casino entirely and go from room to the "beach". I love going without kids, but Vegas has some great pools that are family friendly. Consider renting a cabana poolside and let the coordinator know you have kids. They will find a kid friendly area of the pools for you. We have not been as a family of 4 yet but I sure we will sometime. Shark Reef, Tigers, Circus Circus.