Ever been to Vegas?

[Mark Ducati]

My wife and I want to take a weekend trip to Vegas with my 6 year old son before school starts...

I figured we'd go see the "O" Cirque de Solei show and the fountains at the Belagio... are there any other kid friendly things to do in Vegas?

[ubersoldate]

Ive been there alot, but havent gone in the last few years.
Im sure there is stuff to do for the young ones, but imo Vegas is the last place I want my kids.

[El Jefe]

The interest I have in Las Vegas is a negative number.

[Ruskiegunlover]

Been there. People will walk up on the street, THUMP a business card for prostitutes in their hand in your face to get your attention, start telling you about them. This happened all the time......on the main, famous strip, not the old one. Homeless people, hungry people....Yeah, they have an awesome car exhibit somewhere on the strip, forget where. Its in a hotel. Everything is overpriced, really expensive. I personally would say, get a baby sitter and go with just your wife. Or, take your kid to disney world, or the lake, or Worlds Og Fun, or someplece like that. A weekend at a lake......Not vegas....

[cciota]

This might help:

http://www.vegas.com/

I kinda agree with ubersoldate about kids in Vegas. Alot of dirtbags up and down the strip. Not to mention the guys handing out flyers to the titty bars and escort services. Tickets to "O" aren't cheap. THe wife and I went a few years back and the cheap seat were running about 95 bucks.

[ATAK, Inc.]

My wife and I want to take a weekend trip to Vegas with my 6 year old son before school starts...

I figured we'd go see the "O" Cirque de Solei show and the fountains at the Belagio... are there any other kid friendly things to do in Vegas?

Lived there for 18+ years, and am moving back now that we are reconsiling.

As far as the scumbags handing out smut, that has been cracked down by metro, you won't see much of that anymore.

Cost wise, with Nevada economy in the toilet(2nd worst unemployment in the nation), you can get some real descent deals for hotel/airfare and car if you want.

Attraction wise, Valley of fire is just flat awesome, about 1 hour east of Vegas, pretty much an all day thing (or until the heat brings you to your knees), but fantastic sandstone formations and tons of petroglyphs. You will need a car for this. Google valley of fire and take a look. Also, Hoover dam is neet to see.

Lots of kid friendly things to do, not sure if the M&M factory is open again, and next door to that is a Coca Cola store. Now I'm drawing a blank for other things, but they have really geared more towards the family in recent years.

Mark, PM me if you would like more info, I'll send you my #, and I'll try to think of more fun things for the family.

[matshock]

Stay at Circus Circus.

Get a rental car.

Get your son off the streets by 4:00 PM.

Big cool shark reef aquarium at Mandalay Bay.

Penguins/flamingos at the Flamingo

Excellent Children's Museum north of Downtown on Las Vegas Blvd

Red Rocks is a must.

Valley of Fire

Helicopter Tour of the Grand Canyon (West Rim/ Hualapie Ranch is best) if you want to go all out (son can go, will love it). They have bus/van tours but those are all day trips.

Hoover Dam tours

Many fine babysitting services that will go to the hotels. I use http://www.nanny4u.com/ at my house. Schedule a sitter ahead of your trip.

You WILL NOT be allowed to gamble with a child anywhere near you, even if they are in the care of a spouse who is not gambling.

EDIT: O might be better by yourselves with a babysitter, Circ is kindy of creepy at times, I don't know if I'd take a 6 year old.

[swampdragon]

I was born and raised in Vegas.
It's not a danger to kids.
I mean...look how normal "I" turned out.
:coffee:

[Mark Ducati]

Found the "Lied Kid's Museum"... also Circus Circus has some sort of Adventure Land with rides and games, then Excalibur has one of those medieval shows that you eat with your hands.

Sheesh! Short notice, airline tickets are like $900 a piece! Travel agent said if I booked 10 days prior they would have been more like $250 bucks... looks like we'll do vegas another time.

[AKTexas]

There is always the bunny ranch...

[O.S.O.K.]

Disney World Mark... not Vegas... sheeesh.

[Blacksmith]

Disney World Mark... not Vegas... sheeesh.
+1
IMO
Vegas is not a place for kids.
If you can swing it, you would be better off going to Orlando. There is a lot of good shows and Disney world is great. It’s not just for the kids. There is a lot of stuff you and the misses will enjoy as well.

[El Jefe]

Take em to Branson Mark, we're going next week.

[matshock]

Take em to Branson Mark, we're going next week.

+1 always wanted to go there and see Charlie Daniels.

[2rowdy]

Just a couple off the top of my head. The M & M's factory, Coke place

[Lysander]

Alan Thicke says that what happens in Vegas should be happening to "you".

[Ruskiegunlover]

I would say branson too. My inlaws have a house on table rock, we were there last weekend....branson is an awesome place, has a good water park, silver doller city, tons of places to eat. Ripleys believe it or not, good titanic museum, tons of stuff. Not to mention the lake right next door to it. The dam, all kinds of stuff to do.....

[Mark Ducati]

I don't know why you guys are so against kids in Vegas... I've been there 3 times before for dental meetings. The reason I asked about kid friendly activities is that before, it was just me with some colleagues and no kids... we did go to the main street/strip... I never had anybody present me with a business card for an escort or porn. Seemed safe to me?

Anyway, we booked the trip to Vegas last night... we're staying at the Excalibur.

I figured we'd go see the "Tournament of Kings" show, kinda like the medieval knights/eat with your hands show, we've got tickets to see Cirque du Solei Mystere, maybe the kids museum, pool activities, see the big shark tank at Mandalay Bay, Bellagio fountains, Circus Circus adventure land/rides... etc...

One thing I learned from my business trips to Vegas... book a limo or town car from the Airport to your hotel ahead of time! The taxi line in the airport is INSANE! It can take 90 minutes waiting for a cab!

[crapshoot]

There is always the bunny ranch...

The Bunny Ranch is 425 miles from Vegas. No where even close.

It's only 14 miles from me.

[Ruskiegunlover]

We went.....oh, 5 years ago in Feb.....wanna say the 23rd, 24th, 25th? My then girlfriend, and her parents. We walked the strip all night......and I cannot believe no one else has ever had a street vendor do the card and hand THUMP! in your face before. It happened all the time. By law they cannot touch you, but they did this countless times. Got old quick. Not to mention the machines all over the place that distributed fliers for prostitutes. And, the ones you just saw on the street. Yeah, tons of other people too to be fair. But your kids will still see things they wouldn't see normally....things I don't want my kids seeing.

Crappy, ha, have you ever BEEN to the bunny ranch? Now be honest......

[matshock]

It's true- metro chases off the card thumpers now.

There's still T&A plastered all over the cabs and now there's billboard trucks too.

Those damn things run during the day on the weekend. I have to cross the strip to visit Aunt Keku- pisses me off.

[videodon]

Meet the Pawn Stars!
http://www.gspawn.com/
:)

[Ruskiegunlover]

ha, no, crappy's been to the DUDE ranch.....



just joking crappy....

[ATAK, Inc.]

I don't know why you guys are so against kids in Vegas... I've been there 3 times before for dental meetings. The reason I asked about kid friendly activities is that before, it was just me with some colleagues and no kids... we did go to the main street/strip... I never had anybody present me with a business card for an escort or porn. Seemed safe to me?

Anyway, we booked the trip to Vegas last night... we're staying at the Excalibur.

I figured we'd go see the "Tournament of Kings" show, kinda like the medieval knights/eat with your hands show, we've got tickets to see Cirque du Solei Mystere, maybe the kids museum, pool activities, see the big shark tank at Mandalay Bay, Bellagio fountains, Circus Circus adventure land/rides... etc...

One thing I learned from my business trips to Vegas... book a limo or town car from the Airport to your hotel ahead of time! The taxi line in the airport is INSANE! It can take 90 minutes waiting for a cab!

Mark, Good itinerary you have, you all will really get a kick out of the Tournament of Kings, we just went a month ago. There is both the Leid kids museum and a real cool natural history museum, both are close to each other on the north end of the strip. That is also the homeless area, but no worries!
Cirque is a blast, the shark reef is way cool and there is lots of rides at the Adventure dome, and it's indoors!!!
While here, shoot me a line if you need a drive by!:lol:

[Mark Ducati]

Videodon, GSPawn.... that's already a given.

My son and I watch that show a lot in bed, It'd be cool to get his picture taken with Rick (if he's there), but I'm sure he/they get that a lot.

[cciota]

Keep an eye on the little one around the triple digit heat.

[swampdragon]

http://vegasclick.com/vegas/las-vegas-roller-coasters.html

[ksuguy]

The view from the top of the Stratosphere is nice. When I was there in may, they had a deal where you got $15 in free play if you signed up for the club and bought a ticket to the top at the same time.

We did that and won about $50, so that paid for the tickets and a good chunk of our buffet lunch.

Hoover Dam is a good family activity too, lots of walking involved though. Make sure the kids are up for it.

[swampdragon]

The view from the top of the Stratosphere is nice. When I was there in may, they had a deal where you got $15 in free play if you signed up for the club and bought a ticket to the top at the same time.

We did that and won about $50, so that paid for the tickets and a good chunk of our buffet lunch.

Hoover Dam is a good family activity too, lots of walking involved though. Make sure the kids are up for it.

The tour that goes all down inside the dam is really cool.
Done that quite a few times.
We always called it Boulder Dam, but it's the same thing.

[Uncle Scary]

My wife and I want to take a weekend trip to Vegas with my 6 year old son before school starts...

I figured we'd go see the "O" Cirque de Solei show and the fountains at the Belagio... are there any other kid friendly things to do in Vegas?

I'm not sure if the still have the Star Trek ride at the Hilton, but if they do, it's good family entertainment. There is the Lion Exhibit at the MGM (free). If you like cultural stuff, the Venetian has a Guggenheim Museum, where they show original paintings from the impressionist, cubist, and surreal schools of art. I believe there's also a Harley Davidson museum at the Venetian, too. Let's see what else, Medeival Jousting tournaments with dinner in the Excalibur, there's the free Maquerade in the Sky show at the Rio (good buffet at the Rio, too). Sometimes there's a free pirate battle at the Treasure Island. Don't forget the Fremont street light show. It's a free show with music that they put on at night where they project moving images on a canopy over your head with a soundtrack. It's worth seeing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvzHysICfZU&feature=fvst (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvzHysICfZU&feature=fvst)

[ksuguy]

They redid the treasure island show, its not kid friendly anymore. Now its practically a softcore porn show.

[matshock]

They redid the treasure island show, its not kid friendly anymore. Now its practically a softcore porn show.

I managed to catch it before they went raunchy. At least that's one vegas tradition I didn't miss. I still haven't seen Wayne yet.

[ksuguy]

I managed to catch it before they went raunchy. At least that's one vegas tradition I didn't miss. I still haven't seen Wayne yet.

I saw the old one about 10 years ago, it was better. The new one isn't just raunchy, it is also incredibly stupid and lame.

[crapshoot]

We went.....oh, 5 years ago in Feb.....wanna say the 23rd, 24th, 25th? My then girlfriend, and her parents. We walked the strip all night......and I cannot believe no one else has ever had a street vendor do the card and hand THUMP! in your face before. It happened all the time. By law they cannot touch you, but they did this countless times. Got old quick. Not to mention the machines all over the place that distributed fliers for prostitutes. And, the ones you just saw on the street. Yeah, tons of other people too to be fair. But your kids will still see things they wouldn't see normally....things I don't want my kids seeing.

Crappy, ha, have you ever BEEN to the bunny ranch? Now be honest......

Yes I have. And when they say that women will do anything for money, they really mean it.

[mrkalashnikov]

Just got back from a week in Lake Tahoe (Nevada side) and it was spectacular. My BIL & his wife bought a home in the mountains there overlooking the lake the other year. Lots of family-friendly stuff to do there this time of year; boating, jet-skiing, para-sailing, biking, hiking, etc.. Or if you're of a LV state of mind, gambling, drinking, great dining, tail-chasing, qwikie wedding etc just like the big city, only on a smaller scale.

[az_paul]

We're in Northwestern Arizona and head to Las Vegas frequently, especially when the rates are down. We were there last Thursday through Saturday. When we left to come home, it was 113 degrees in Las Vegas. Be sure to drink plenty of water and take some Chapstick with you.

We have enjoyed many of the buffets, however, the one at the Excaliber is nowhere near the top of the list. On the Strip, the best buffets are at Planet Hollywood (~$23 per person) and the Bellagio (~$30 per person). The Wynn is supposed to be good, but we haven't tried it yet.

Hope you guys have an enjoyable trip!!

[sniper_n_training]

The better half and I just went there last weekend to celebrate her 21st. The Fremont would probably be a nice place to take your kids.
If you want to meet the guys at the pawn shop, be there anytime M-F between 9-3. From what we were told by a few different employees, that is the best chance to meet and greet with the "Pawn Stars".