Trying to plan a trip to Las Vegas. Need Help!

[fun & fancy free]

We are trying to plan a trip to Las Vegas for February. The whole family would go Dh,Me and DD's(6&5). If someon could recomend a website or Travel Agent that is reliable I would be grateful. The air travel has me most confused.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Do a search here. Vegas is a topic of frequent discussion.

 

[Stacerita]

Vegas.com is a great site. Lots of info on hotels, places to eat, and shows as well as local attractions. Ive booked rooms through the site with no problmes. A few months back my BF and I went to Vegas, but he booked everything, room and flight through Cheaptickets.com Again, no problems with that. Good luck.

 

[MoniqueU]

One tip I can give you is both the Orleans and the Palms as well as a few other hotels have great drop in, by the hour child care facilities. My kids love them. They are very well run and safe IMHO. You can't leave the premesis of the hotels but they do give you a pager if you want. Kids have to have socks on there so don't forget the socks!

 

[bekkiz]

This may be a stupid question, and I don't mean anything by it, so I'll just go ahead, but feel free to ignore me or yell--it's ok, I may be totally stepping over the line, but this is my opinion

Why Las Vegas? My DH and I really enjoy Las Vegas, and we've been a number of times. I don't gamble, and I don't really "party" but I LOVE great restaurants and fun shows. And we always have a good time, just the two of us.

However, with a 6 and a 5 year old, I pretty much can't think of a worse place to vacation. The hotels are smoky, crowded, expensive places. There isn't a lot of kid friendly entertainment or food, childcare is hard to come by in most of the hotels, and I just can't imagine you or your kids would have a good time. You and your husband are going to miss out on all of the fun options for adults, and your kids are going to be bored.

So I ask again, why Las Vegas with kids? If it were just the two of you'd, I'd be giving every recommendation I could; I just CANNOT recommend it with kids that young. Disneyland/LA are just an extra 30 minute flight away. Or I'm sure there is something more kid friendly closer to you home. Please reconsider using your hard earned vacation money on something that the whole family will enjoy or if you're bound and determined to go to LV, please leave your kids at home--trust me on this one!

 

[Tiggerlover91]

However, with a 6 and a 5 year old, I pretty much can't think of a worse place to vacation. The hotels are smoky, crowded, expensive places. There isn't a lot of kid friendly entertainment or food, childcare is hard to come by in most of the hotels, and I just can't imagine you or your kids would have a good time. You and your husband are going to miss out on all of the fun options for adults, and your kids are going to be bored.

So I ask again, why Las Vegas with kids? If it were just the two of you'd, I'd be giving every recommendation I could; I just CANNOT recommend it with kids that young. Disneyland/LA are just an extra 30 minute flight away. Or I'm sure there is something more kid friendly closer to you home. Please reconsider using your hard earned vacation money on something that the whole family will enjoy or if you're bound and determined to go to LV, please leave your kids at home--trust me on this one!

I agree 100% with this.

However, I think MagicKingdom05 aka Jason is the one you should talk to. He's been to Vegas and is on his way again in February. He could help out a lot. I could PM him if you'd like. Just let me know.

Denise

 

[MoniqueU]

I live in California and have close friends I visit in Vegas often with my kids. For me I have been so many times it's more of a been there done that feeling when I get to vegas. We have stuff we like to do as a family there, The pools are the best in the west, the only thing that comes close is Phoenix and I don't always want to go to Phoenix. I often bring my mom to babysit at night if I want to go out. We hit the malls, we hit the buffets, the pool again we also go to Gameworks which my kids just love. We visit with our friends out at their house in GVR. My kids love the kids clubs too if I want to gamble for a little bit. There are plenty of locals kids in the kids clubs and plety of my friends from California as well use them.
Now would I want this to be my one and only vacation for the year with my kids? Heck no. If I lived far away and only got to Vegas once a year I would want to live it up, but for a quick weekend getaway Vegas has alot to offer US. We already have passes to Disneyland so my kids aren't lacking their Micky time either.

 

[AllieKat]

Is flying Southwest an option for you? They usually have reasonable fares. Sure, they lack "frills" but I'm finding that most airlines lack "frills" these days. If you can't or don't wish to fly Southwest, than you may want to check out Kayak.com. It's a good search engine to use for finding reasonable fares.

CheapoVegas.com has good comprehensive reviews of many Vegas hotels. I can give you my personal opinion of most of the strip hotels if you have any specific hotels in mind.

In most cases, I find that booking airfare and hotel separately will save you money. Also, I tend to find better rates by going on the individual hotel websites inside of some place like Travelocity. But of course, it's always good to look around. Of course, there are sites like PriceLine but I don't have any experience with them. HTH!

 

[Tina]

I agree with what some others here have said. Vegas is not really a family destination.

 

[tmt martins]

I booked my entire Vegas trip through SWV that part of southwest airlines .Compairible prices from different newpaper and TA offers.

 

[HayGan]

I agree with what some others here have said. Vegas is not really a family destination.

I would have to agree as well. There are some things for kids to do in Vegas but it really isn't a kid friendly town.

 

[Alice's Mom]

Vegas wasn't built with kids in mind, but I think if this is a quick romp then they will have lots of fun. Many of the hotels are being built in a way that you don't need to walk through a smoky casino to shop, dine or sightsee. The Venetian, Aladdin, Paris and Wynn are prime examples.

The Bellagio has the dancing fountains. The Venetian has the gondola rides, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, and great shopping. MGM has the Lions. Mirage has the Dolphin Habitat, and a small zoo. Mandalay Bay has a shark exhibit. There is lots of shopping to do and the Fashion Show mall really does hold a fashion show, Caesars Palace has the Forum Shops with an FAO Schwarz, statue shows and a huge fish aquarium. There are so many amazing places to eat. Luxor is a great hotel to tour, has an area for kids and an IMAX theater.

Downtown used to be very seedy, but has since been cleaned up to feature an amazing light show.

You can take a day trip to Lake Mead, tour Hoover Dam and take a Lake Cruise

 

[Andrea]

i just sent you a pm about it...

one of the many time we were up there, we went to a comdey show and they wouldnt let anyone under 18 in

 

[Hermosa11]

I went last February (great weather!!!) with my son (17 yr old at that time).
I did not go with any intentions to gamble., but we walked and walked and walked. I could not imagine doing lots and lots of walking with little ones.
We stayed at Circus Circus........he played just a tad in the adventuredome, but just a tad. we roamed the main drag and he went in (with me) GAMEWORKS, and we browsed at the M&M store. we had a blast, but he was old enough to somewhat enjoy our roaming. We did not do any shows (spur of the moment trip with limited funds). We did enjoy Hoover Dam !!!

I would consider the Grand Canyon for some other place with the kids........
I agree with some of the comments about little tykes and Vegas.
But if you go, have fun!

 

[MagicKingdom05]

fun & fancy free,

Vegas is a really fun place to vacation and I really enjoy going, but really can't recommend going with kids as young as yours. The majority of the things to do in Vegas as suited for people 18+ and 21+ and I think you might be better of looking at another destination more suited to the age of your kids.

Whatever you decide have a good time.

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

I took my kids to Vegas last year for spring break, they were 8, 3, and 10 months. They loved it, my now 4 year old wants to move to Vegas or at least return on a monthly basis.

We stayed one night at the MGM - never again. Hotel is huge with no soul, blah. But they saw the lion cubs and that made them happy. M&M world and the Coke store were right next door too, they had a great time there. We moved out to the Hyatt Lake Las Vegas after that, it's further away but worth it. It was awesome out there! The kids loved the pool and we all had a great time relaxing. We moved back to the strip after that and spent two nights at the Venetian. I would stay there again anytime! They were very friendly and treated the kids like they were royalty. The had their beds turned down every night with a chocolate on the pillow. Both nights someone showed up at our door just before bedtime with a box of chocolates for each of the kids - they were in awe. We visited a lot of the hotels along the strip. They loved the Aladdin and Paris, DD loved the pirate show at TI, I was horrified. We had a rental so we drove the strip at night, they were amazed by all the lights.

Sure Vegas mostly caters to adults, but there is plenty there to keep the little ones happy. DH and I took turns going down to the casino at night, but the rest of the time was walking around and checking out the sights.

I say take the kids and have a blast!

 

[fun & fancy free]

Thank you all for your input. I know our kids are young but several friends with kids the same age have gone and loved it. I would rather go just my DH & I but we are not fortunate enough to have family that would take our kids for a long weekend. We have been doing the WDW since they were 3&4yo. They have now been there 5 times. We ask them what they want to do for a day trip and my kids say "IKEA". They love the play area and are always upset when we come to pick them up. I have looked into cruises but DD5 gets sea sick and I don't know how she would do. I will definitely give this some more thought. Thanks again.

 

[AdventurerKat]

I just want to say ... I'm jealous! I haven't been to Vegas in about four or five years. Have a great trip!

 

[disneysteve]

We did Las Vegas in August for 4 nites. It was me, DW and DD-9. We all had a great time. There is PLENTY to do in Vegas with children. Just touring all of the strip resorts can occupy the better part of a week. We stayed at Excalibur which is very family friendly. They have a huge arcade on the lower level with video games and carnival-type games. They have motion simulator theaters. They have a free stage where there are shows going on constantly throughout the day - jugglers, magicians, etc. All kid-oriented. They have a great and reasonably priced buffet restaurant as well as a small food court. All family-friendly.

DD loved walking up and down the strip, seeing the canal at Venetian, doing the Star Trek Experience at the Hilton, going through the Vegas museum at the Trop, seeing the tigers at Mirage, the lions at MGM, the fountains at Bellagio, the Fremont Street Experience, the conservatory and shops at Bellagio (especially the chocolate fountain). Needless to say, we were never bored or lacking something to do that appealed to all of us.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I agree with what some others here have said. Vegas is not really a family destination.

A simple, true statement, I'll go with this one.