Las Vegas / Grand Canyon / Sedona / Hualapai Raft Trip

[JeffR]

We are planning our Spring Break trip to be Las Vegas to Hoover Dam to Sedona (two days) to the Grand Canyon (one day?) to the Hualapai One-Day Raft trip & back to Vegas (2 nights). I have a bunch of questions:

My priority question is:

Hualapai:
- Everything I read says to stay at the Hualapai Lodge, but the reviews aren't very good. Do you think 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:
- What shows in Vegas would my 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. What are your thoughts on this hotel?
- 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 need for a pool. True?

Grand Canyon South Rim
- Do you need more than one day at the Canyon (we may take a hike, but not an all day one)?
- As you can see, a lot of travel and a lot of activity (our kids really disliked our last Disney Hilton Head vacation as too sedate - not a problem for their parents!). To try and cut down on the number of times we change hotel rooms, one option would have us drive to the Canyon from Sedona early in the morning (2.5 hours) and then drive to either the Hualapai Lodge or Kingman that evening (~ 3 hours). How tough are these drives?

General:
- What are the speed limits in AZ? I know the West used to have higher (or no) speed limits in years gone past. Is this still the case? With all the driving we'll be doing, it will help in planning.
- I would guess that Desert Highways generally don't have much traffic, but as this is the primary route to the Grand Canyon, maybe this is different. Does anyone have a first hand account? What about in early April?

Proposed Itinerary 1
Day 0 - Arrive Las Vegas (probably stay at an airport hotel)
Day 1 - Drive to Hoover Dam, Drive to Sedona (4.5 hours drive time), short hike
Day 2 - Grand Canyon Day Trip (2.5 hr drive each way)
Day 3 - Pink Jeep tour in AM, hike or other activity, drive to Hualapai/Kingman (3.5 hr drive)
Day 4 - Raft Trip
Day 5 - Drive to Las Vegas (3.5 Hours), walk strip, take in show
Day 6 - Las Vegas activities or pool, show in evening
Day 7 - Las Vegas, early show? / Red Eye Home


Proposed Itinerary 2:
Day 0 - Arrive Las Vegas
Day 1 - Drive to Hoover Dam, Drive to Sedona (4.5 hours drive time), dinner and/or short hike in Sedona
Day 2 - Pink Jeep tour in AM, hike or other activity
Day 3 - Drive to Grand Canyon AM (2.5 hr), drive to Hualapai/Kingman PM (3.5 hr drive)
Day 4 - Raft Trip
Day 5 - Drive to Las Vegas (3.5 Hours), walk strip, take in show
Day 6 - Las Vegas activities or pool, show in evening
Day 7 - Las Vegas, early show? / Red Eye Home


Proposed Itinerary 3:
Day 0 - Arrive Las Vegas
Day 1 - Drive to Hoover Dam, Drive to Sedona (4.5 hours drive time), dinner and/or short hike in Sedona
Day 2 - Pink Jeep tour in AM, hike or other activity
Day 3 - Grand Canyon Day Trip (2.5 hr drive each way)
Day 4 - Sedona Activity - Drive to Hualapai/Kingman PM (3.5 hr drive)
Day 5 - Raft Trip (2 hr RT drive / 3 hrs in Bus)
Day 6 - Drive to Las Vegas (3.5 hours), walk strip, take in show
Day 7 - Las Vegas, early show? / Red Eye Home

 

[3boymthr]

We did Vegas to Grand Canyon to Albuequerque in 2006. IMO Drive time to Sedona is MORE than 4.5 hours figure 5 to 6. There are check points that must be cleared before going over Hoover Dam. The road is not a 4 lane highway. Two lanes over the dam and people are crossing the road, etc. They are supposed to putting in a bypass but who knows if it will open before you get there and if it will be any faster. If you plan to see the Hoover Dam allow a couple of hours so you can take the tour inside.

There was quite a bit of traffic going from Williams to Grand Canyon. The last couple of miles took quite a while due to traffic getting thru the park entrance and finding parking on the rim was tricky. Luckily we were staying there so we didn't have to find parking. I would say if you can get a room there and stay overnight in the Canyon. There is definitely more than enough there for a FULL day. Rooms there are very reasonably priced (under $100). There is not just the canyon but some 1000 year old Indian ruins with a museum and a few other places you can explore. If you hike the rim trail from the South Rim to Hermit's rest it will take a good 5 or 6 hours if you are in good shape. I would not recommend hiking down into the canyon unless you are allowing multiple days for staying there. Just taking the bus takes a while because of all the stops and you do want to get off at each stop to look around. It took us another 4 hours to tour the other direction from the south Rim out toward Cameron and that was with skipping a lot of stops. You don't need much more than a full day but you will want a full day if you plan to hike.

ETA - I just wanted to give you a photo of what the road over the Dam looks like and the other things at GCNP:

 

[JeffR]

Nice Pics! I read where you should arrive early at the Dam for the first tour of the day, so that will hopefully cut down on the traffic. I'm wondering, can you park on the south of the dam so you don't have to worry about crossing it when you leave?

 

[NEchie]

Hi,

Sounds like a great trip! The rafting trip down the Colorado is terrific! You and your family will absolutely enjoy it! My family and I did! The Hualapai Lodge is a nice place to stay, just ask for roadside, the trains did not bother us at all---it's very clean and there is a great restaurant there to eat at. Breakfast is included. They also have a pool and jaccuzi that is well maintained. Kingman is about a 50 minute drive but we opted to stay at the Lodge and enjoyed it!

Have you thought to visit Grand Canyon West and the Skywalk? It's a sight to see! It's just 2 hours from Las Vegas or you could add the Skywalk to your river trip.

Sedona is beautiful and the Pink Jeep tour is great fun! I would reccomend Slide Rock, our daughter loves visiting the park and spends the entire day playing in the water and sliding down the rocks!

The speed limit is 75 on I 40 and most highways are 55-65 mph. Arizona is a beautiful state and hope that you have a great time!

 

[JeffR]

Thanks greatly for your reply!

My biggest problem with the Lodge is I have a kind of sleep disorder and the idea of a train keeping me awake sounds like my worst nightmare (no pun intended). I use a white noise machine (turned to full volume) to cut out ambient noises. Do you think this would eliminate the train noise if we couldn't get the other side of the Lodge? Also, other than the relatively short (1 hr) drive to and from Kingman, are there any other reasons to stay at the Lodge (I found some nice hotels in Kingman)?

It looks to me like Sedona doesn't get much warmer than 50 degrees or so in early April. Would the rock slide be doable at this time of year?

Thanks again! This is going to be a challenge to combine everything we want to do without wearing the old guy (me) out.

 

[JeffR]

Hi,

Have you thought to visit Grand Canyon West and the Skywalk? It's a sight to see! It's just 2 hours from Las Vegas or you could add the Skywalk to your river trip.

We've talked about the Skywalk and to be truthful, we're all a little hesitant. We're trying to pack a lot in to a fairly short amount of time and this may just be a little too much (although my latest attempt at an itenerary may leave a little more room). Is this convenient to the Dam (if visiting from Vegas)?

 

[JeffR]

Hi,

Sounds like a great trip! Snip...

Oh, and thanks for joining to respond to this thread, and if appropriate, Welcome Home.

 

[kacaju]

How about instead of the Hualapai raft trip you head to Page AZ and do the Antelope canyon tour and raft ride there? It is about 2.5 hours from Grand Canyon, but the Antelope canyon is worth it!! We didn't do the raft tour, but our friends did and they loved it.

 

[JeffR]

Have you taken the raft trip from Page? Can if be done in a single day?

 

[kacaju]

we didn't do the raft trip, but yes, they do have one days tours. Our friends did the antelope canyon and raft tour as a 1 day (maybe 3-4 hours) package.

 

[kacaju]

check out tripadvisor(dot)com go to the AZ forum you will find they are very helpful with planning a trip to Grand Canyon.