I will post the report as the second post so you don%26#39;t have to see it on every page!!
Long Trip Report %26amp; Post Trip Thoughts About Vegas with Kids
This is my first trip report---first I want to thank all of the folks who provided me with advice here. You really helped to make my trip more enjoyable. First, about us—we are a family of four (me –44, wife - 43, son – 15, daughter 13), none of us have ever been to Las Vegas before. I had mixed feelings about taking the kids here (more on that later), but circumstances were such that “it made sense”.
Our trip to Las Vegas was split in two parts. We arrived in Las Vegas about 9:30AM on Saturday August 5, 2006 on Southwest Airlines from Columbus, Ohio. Flight was non-stop, on-time, uneventful. We collected our luggage, and made our way to the Dollar Rent-A-Car facility via the shuttle. Based on suggestions here, I had registered for Dollar Express, so we had our car in minutes and set off to our hotel. We were only staying in Las Vegas for one night, as the main part of our vacation was actually a 5-Day River Rafting Trip through the Grand Canyon. The rafting company was to pick us up at 5AM on August 6 (Sunday) at the Hawthorn Suites Hotel (Near the MGM Grand), and offered a discounted rate ($75) for the evening before the pick up. When we arrived at the hotel, I did not expect a room to be ready, but they did have one and let us check in. The hotel itself is somewhat older, and the rooms are off outdoor corridors. When we got to our room, we could tell immediately that the air conditioner was not working, but after calling the front desk, they took care of making the repair. The rooms were ok---two room suite with two double beds, a living room/kitchen with sleeper/sofa, and a very small bathroom. Everything was clean, but pretty worn and tired. We did go to the pool area at the hotel later in the day---pool was pretty small, no towels were available, nothing special, but was adequate.
As we had an entire day in Las Vegas before we headed off on our rafting trip, we decided to drive/look around. It was about 11AM (2PM East Coast Time) and everyone was hungry, so we drove down the Strip to the Peppermill Restaurant. I had read mixed things about the Peppermill on TA, but looked like there were more favorable comments than negative. The food and service were good---the portions were huge, and it was kind of a neat place—the interior had a lot of neon, and “indoor landscaping”. I would go back. Afterwards, we headed back down the Strip and parked the car, and walked around a bit. We walked through Caesar’s Palace and went into a pretty neat store where they sold antiquities (ancient coins, etc.)---we were the only folks in the place, so the shopkeeper spent a lot of time telling us about the relics---pretty interesting. We went to the Paris and up the Eiffel Tower (no wait to get up) and had a great view of the Bellagio Fountains. We eventually headed back to the Hawthorn Suites, as it was so hot and took a dip in the pool.
For dinner, based on some TA recommendations we decided to visit Lindo Michoacan—a really great Mexican Restaurant. They had a lot of unique items on the menu---we started with fresh Guacamole made tableside, and then my wife had Shrimp in a Tequila/Cream Sauce, my son had Goat, and I had Peppers stuffed with shrimp. For desert I had the best Flan I have ever had in my life. This place is off the Strip, but well worth a visit.
After dinner I had to return the rental car back to the airport ( I could have returned it to the Dollar Location at the MGM, but they closed at 5PM and it was now about 8PM), and take a cab back to the Hawthorn Suites. We retired for the night about 9:30PM. We got up the next morning at 4:30AM and checked out of the hotel and began our River Rafting Adventure. As this is the Las Vegas Forum, I won’t spend anytime reporting on the river-rafting trip except to say it was a wonderful experience. If you have the opportunity to go, you should.
After 5 days of rafting out trip concluded with us being returned to the Hawthorn Suites on Friday (August 11) about noon. My son and I made a short walk to the MGM to pick up another rental car from Dollar, and drove back to the Hawthorn Suites to pick up my wife, daughter, and luggage. We had 4 days in Vegas before we returned home, and decided to stay at the JW Marriott in Summerlin. It was an easy drive there and we checked in about 2PM or so. The JW gets pretty high marks on TA and I can see why—the rooms are huge and very nice. We had a room with two queen beds and a huge marble bathroom with separate shower and bath. The room also had a balcony. It was one of the nicer hotel rooms I have stayed in. We headed down to the pool area, and I thought it was pretty impressive---very large—kind of free form and had a waterfall. They had plenty of lounge chairs, towels, and drink service. We spent the afternoon enjoying the pool.
For dinner we headed back into Vegas and went to the Paris Buffet. I am not a big fan of buffets, but this was pretty good. The selection was huge, and the food was nicely prepared. They had an apple pie/tort kind of thing of dessert that was really excellent. I was surprised that seeing how we arrived about 7PM on a Friday night, we had only a 5-minute wait to get in.
The next day, my wife and kids slept in, and I went to play golf at the TPC Canyons Course. The course is adjacent to the JW. The greens fee was $100 (typically a lot more than I am used to paying), but the course was nice, pretty wide open/forgiving, and was in good shape. They have a very nice practice facility (range/putting green) that they make available to you before you start your round. The pace of the round was a bit slow---taking slightly more than 5-hours. I do think they should have rangers on the course making sure the pace of play is not slowed.
For dinner that evening, we went to Rosemary’s --- again, right near the hotel. The restaurant gets consistent rave reviews on TA, and I thought it was good as well. There are two rooms at the restaurant—one where you can see the open kitchen, and one where you are adjacent to the glass enclosed “wine cellar”. We were in the later, and glad --- the other room seemed quite a bit noisier. The food and service were very good---we all had the three-course prix fixe dinner, and my wife and I had a couple of glasses of wine as well. The service at Roesmary’s was how I like it---the waiter and his assistants were friendly, polite, professional, but did not hover around the table. We are not very knowledgeable about wine, and left the selection of the wine to the waiter. We liked his selections he made. Regarding the food—it was very good, but honestly, would not call it memorable. While we just ate there a no more than 2 weeks ago, I cannot now recall what I had. For the four us, the bill was $300.00 (including tip)—which I felt was fair given the quality of the service and food.
The next day (Sunday) we got up and headed back to the Strip. The kids wanted to ride the roller coaster at NYNY and play games at the arcade, so we headed over there. The roller coaster was a lot of fun for the first half of the ride; then I thought it got pretty tame. They have big arcade there, and the kids wasted a lot of quarters on video games, etc. Later on, we went to what I thought was a rather remarkable exhibit at the Tropicana called “Bodies”. If you have not seen it, and have any interest in human physiology, it is a must see. They basically have taken cadavers and removed all of the water from the bodies and replaced it with a silicone-based product. What you end up with are very realistic portrayals of the body’s organs, muscles, tendons. bones, etc—how they are all inter-connected. The accompanying signage is all very informative. I would suggest budgeting about 2 hours if you want to do it.
Afterwards, the kids wanted lunch, so we headed back over to NYNY and had some Pizza at a place pretty much adjacent to the Casino----cheap, fast, not bad. We had tickets to the 7:30PM show to Mystere, so went over to TI box office and got our tickets. Thanks again to the info on here, we had good seats—Section 202 (front row of the upper section). The show was good, though to be honest, we saw the Cirque show in Orlando/Disney a few years back (I forget the name) and thought it was better. Mystere had a lot more “filler” in between the acrobatic acts than the Orlando show, and I thought the acts in Orlando were more sophisticated/difficult. Still, it was fun to see, and was glad we went.
The show got out around 9PM and we headed over to the In-and-Out Burger right off Tropicana. I had heard this place recommended many times on TA. I was impressed how busy the place was on a Sunday evening---we had to wait 25 minutes to be served—obviously a popular place. Anyway, the burgers were good, and worth the wait—good fries too! Afterwards, we decided to go downtown and take a look around. We didn’t hang around long---we all thought the place was seedy
The next day, I met my brother, who drove in from LA, and he and I went up to Mesquite to play golf at Wolf Creek. It took about 1 ½ hours to get up there, but it really was worth the drive. It is one of the most remarkable golf courses I have ever seen---very dramatic scenery, elevated tees and greens, big forced carries from the back (and even some of the intermediate tees). If you like golf and are in Vegas, you should consider making the trip. Greens fee was $85.00
That evening we met back up with my family (they had spent the day shopping), had dinner at the Peppermill again, and returned back to the JW. Our flight was at 9:00AM the next morning, and the JW staff were kind enough to print our Southwest “A” Boarding passes for us the day before, so we were good to go. No traffic to speak of, returned the rental car to the Dollar airport location, and headed home.
I have seen a lot of debate on TA about bringing kids to Vegas. Now that I have been there, I can say that I would not bring my kids back, and would discourage others from bringing theirs. No, it would not be a “fatal” mistake to bring them, but I underestimated the amount of sexually oriented material that was in plain view for everyone to see. Maybe I am a prude, but I was not thrilled to see my 13 year old daughter (and son) exposed to countless posters/video displays with half naked women for shows like Erocktica, and Fantasy; every where on the Strip there were porn slappers passing out cards of partially nude women, and while they never gave me or any of my kids one, there were hundreds of them lying all over the street in plain view for anyone to see. I also saw countless vehicles with “billboards” advertising escort/dancing services with scantily clad women. Team this with people drinking yard-long drinks at 9AM walking down the Strip, adults slumped over slot machines in a partially drunken stupor, and you have a very kid unfriendly environment. I am not a prude, and think if an adult wants to avail him or herself of all of this, than that’s fine. I personally would have no reservation about going back to Vegas with my wife---going without the kids would, in fact, make a whole lot more entertainment options open to us, but I won’t be bringing the kids back. Because Vegas is so open about selling drink, gambling, and adult oriented shows/services, I don’t think a parent can shelter a child from seeing all of this---it starts as soon as you hit the airport. In retrospect, I should have given more deference to some of the opinions on here. Thanks for all of your advice and help.
Long Trip Report %26amp; Post Trip Thoughts About Vegas with Kids
Excellent job on the trip report, Happy! I am glad that you and your family had a great time. I agree with your thoughts on bringing children to Vegas. I always thought it was just plain cruel to bring the wee little ones, and thought that if teenagers were well behaved why not, but after reading your perspective about the visuals they are exposed to, well, let%26#39;s just say that it opened my eyes. Thank you, very well done!
Oh, and great idea on the format... writing your TR as a post so it doesn%26#39;t show up on every page!!!
Dee
Great TR! I also debated whether or not to bring our 13 y.o. son in July and after reading all the information here on the forum decided to go to Vegas the first time just hubby and I. My son was disappointed but I promised him a trip to Disney in the fall, I am glad also we chose to heed the warnings after seeing all the stuff you mentioned. Also it gave my hubby and I a chance to play some slots and spend time in the casinos which we otherwise would have had to skip.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write a TR of your visit. I support your view of kids in LV and noone will ever change my mind. There was an effort in the late 80%26#39;s and early 90%26#39;s to attract kids but that really backfired and now LV is more of an adult playground. Even MGM realized the waste of money and real estate and took out all the kid based amusements behind the resort to build The Mansion and Signature.
Love the comments on Wolf Creek in Mesquite, just supports my efforts to get the guys to drive up there in October when we go. I for one would like to read about your river rafting experience so if you decide to write that part up in a different forum, could you let us know, or email me? eddieboy77@yahoo.com That is something I want to do with the kids when they are older.
Loved they way you posted your TR as well, I posted as a reply after our July trip, makes it alot easier to read.
Thanks again.
Great report Happy! I too feel your comment on children, even teens as being very well said!
Great TR, thanks. I have not been lucky enough to have children yet but if I do, they will not be coming to Vegas with us.
Am I the only person who doesn%26#39;t like when the TR is in the comments? Everyone else seems to love it, but I like having the TR to refer back to when I am responding so I can see what all I wanted to comment on.
bunny- Guess that is where my anal habits come in. I took notes and then replied back. Yes, I am a geek.
Great post HappyTraveler! I don%26#39;t have kids, but I%26#39;ve always wondered why people want to expose their children to the many adult themes of Vegas. That%26#39;s why I love Vegas - it%26#39;s an adult playground. I think if you%26#39;re passing through Vegas, sure, drive the kids around, but I don%26#39;t think it%26#39;s a place to bring your children for anything more than that and I don%26#39;t consider myself a prude either. I think children are exposed to enough in this day and age and Vegas just puts it over the top. Besides, kids have Disney, why can%26#39;t adults have a place like Vegas to go and enjoy themselves?
I realize sometimes it can%26#39;t be avoided, but if it can, leave your kids at home.
Sounds like a great trip - love the rafting idea. Wished you tried the Sahara coaster - talk about a thrill ride!!
Glad to hear your perspective on bringing kids to Vegas - I fully agree :) They don%26#39;t call it Disney for Adults for nothing!
E%26amp;M - if I write up a trip report for the rafting, I will be happy to drop you a line.
Bunny--I agree with you regarding the placement of the first post, but because this one was so long, i figured it might be better to do it this way.
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