Las Vegas / Sedona / Grand Canyon

[JeffR]

Posted this on another board but thought this might be more approprate.

We are planning our Spring Break trip to Las Vegas/Sedona/Grand Canyon/ Hualapai One-Day Raft trip. We looked into booking the Las Vegas & Sedona stays using points but had no luck (we're actually trying to rent points, but no luck so far - I thought it would be easier). So even though it's not near one of our DVC properties, I still thought this might be the best group to ask a bunch of questions:

My priority question is:

Hualapai Rafting Trip:
- Everything I read says to stay at the Hualapai Lodge, but the reviews aren't very good. Does anyone have an opinion on whehther it would be a bad idea to stay in Kingman and drive to the Lodge the morning of the trip (check-in time for the trip is 7:30 AM - mapquest says it's an hour drive)?

Vegas (We are not gamblers and will not be doing anything but walking through the casinos):
- What shows in Vegas would my (U18) teenage sons enjoy most (apart from Cirque, which we are familiar with)?
- My cousin works for Cirque Ka and so we think we can get an employee discount at the MGM Grand. Has anyone who has stayed in Vegas with kids got an opinion on this or any other hotel (we would prefer the strip)?
- What other activities would "X-Game" type teenage boys enjoy in Vegas?

Sedona:
- We are planning to take the Pink Jeep tour and at least one hike. Any other activity recomendations ("active" activities only please)?
- Hotel recomendations?
- Weather looks to be very cold in Sedona early April and so no need for a pool. True?

Thanks.

[Ctsplaysinrain]

Weather looks to be very cold in Sedona early April and so no need for a pool. True?

Weather can be very variable in April . It can be COLD but it could also be 80 degrees or so.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Posted this on another board but thought this might be more approprate.

We are planning our Spring Break trip to Las Vegas/Sedona/Grand Canyon/ Hualapai One-Day Raft trip. We looked into booking the Las Vegas & Sedona stays using points but had no luck (we're actually trying to rent points, but no luck so far - I thought it would be easier). So even though it's not near one of our DVC properties, I still thought this might be the best group to ask a bunch of questions:

My priority question is:

Hualapai Rafting Trip:
- Everything I read says to stay at the Hualapai Lodge, but the reviews aren't very good. Does anyone have an opinion on whehther it would be a bad idea to stay in Kingman and drive to the Lodge the morning of the trip (check-in time for the trip is 7:30 AM - mapquest says it's an hour drive)?

Vegas (We are not gamblers and will not be doing anything but walking through the casinos):
- What shows in Vegas would my (U18) teenage sons enjoy most (apart from Cirque, which we are familiar with)?
- My cousin works for Cirque Ka and so we think we can get an employee discount at the MGM Grand. Has anyone who has stayed in Vegas with kids got an opinion on this or any other hotel (we would prefer the strip)?
- What other activities would "X-Game" type teenage boys enjoy in Vegas?

Sedona:
- We are planning to take the Pink Jeep tour and at least one hike. Any other activity recomendations ("active" activities only please)?
- Hotel recomendations?
- Weather looks to be very cold in Sedona early April and so no need for a pool. True?

Thanks.

We were just in Vegas and saw 5 shows. I'd do KA in your situation. The Lion King was at Mandalay Bay, Bette Midler (or Cher) will be at Ceasars. The best one we saw was Rita Rudner, she is very funny and about as clean as you can get in that situation. Bill Engval will be at TI periodically. There are many other shows, some of the afternoon shows may be great for the situation. We got a significant discount for each and every show but found them all different ways. 2 were on the website for the venue, 2 were through Tickets at Work and the last (Lion King) was through the half price ticket venders for same day (30% off though not half price).

I'm not sure the exact dates your looking for but there is a fair amount of availability for March and April next year overall in RCI including the Hilton resorts for up to 2 BR units. My guess is you're looking for less than a week and there's likely to be far less or no options for that situation.

[JeffR]

Yes, we were looking for less than a week and so couldn't lock in anything.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Yes, we were looking for less than a week and so couldn't lock in anything.

Less than a full week significant limits you to only RCI points resorts and even then, a small subset of the time deposited. Plus you have an extra housekeeping fee beyond the exchange fee in almost every instance. I've taken to getting a full week in most situations even if I need less.