Las Vegas With Kids, 2019

June 16, 2022 Aukse Comments 3 comments

Boy, did I get a lot of raised eyebrows when I told people we were taking our two littlest kids, then ages 8 and 9 to Las Vegas, Nevada, but Las Vegas has a lot to do for people of all ages, and I’m here to dispel the myth that Vegas is only for adults. The first time I was there was when I was 16, back in the mid-90s, when Vegas was going through a whole, “this is a family place” identity crisis. What is now the massive pool complex and the three Signature Towers at MGM Grand Hotel used to be a small-ish amusement park. There were pretty solid sized arcades in every hotel/casino, and while my parents gambled, my brother and I went to the arcades where we collected zillions of stuffed animals and other crap that we dragged back home to Chicago in a couple of big black garbage bags.

Well, gone are the days of amusement parks in the backlot of a hotel/casino; but here and now there are even better experiences for families in Las Vegas! And, you can still ride a giant ferris wheel or roller coaster if you want to! We stayed at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino for the 3 nights that we stayed in Vegas with the kids. We had a large room with two queen sized beds which was plenty of space for us and two little kids. The Mandalay is a great choice because they have epic pools and it also houses an entire aquarium. The kids could not believe that there was an aquarium in a hotel! They were also wowed by the sheer size of the place. They spent a ton of time at the giant wave pool, which may have been the biggest hit of the trip.

The other cool thing about staying at Mandalay, is that it is really close to some of the more unique hotels in Las Vegas. I don’t ever recommend staying at the Luxor hotel because the rooms are old, dark, and in massive need of updating, but if you are ever walking through the place, definitely ride up to a high floor on the diagonal-track elevators that are located in the four different corners of the pyramid. It feels really weird and I don’t think you can ride an elevator like this anywhere else. The kids also liked walking through the Excalibur and the New York New York Casinos, as they also are heavily themed and interesting to look at. We checked out the big huge Hershey’s store in New York New York. We also stopped in the basement of Excalibur because this is one of the last big arcade areas besides at New York New York left in a hotel on the Strip. The kids played all sorts of games, and even managed to get enough tickets to purchase a few trinkets.

We also hung out for a while at Eataly Las Vegas. You can check out my thoughts about Eataly Chicago and a little bit about the Las Vegas version here.

Across the street is the giant, four floor M&M store right on the Strip. We stopped and got a whole bunch of merch and unusually colored M&Ms there. We also caught a Cirque du Soleil show, Ka, at MGM Grand. The acrobatics are extraordinary, and there is a story that the kids could follow along with. I wasn’t sure if they loved it at the time, but it must’ve made an impression because they have brought up the show randomly from time to time since then.

You can also make going out to eat with the kids fun too – we went to a whole bunch of different restaurants with different cuisines around the southern end of the strip. While my husband and I sampled different beers and wines, the kids became Shirley Temple drink connoisseurs. Just be careful with those – some places give free refills, and some definitely do not and it can get pricey!

Finally, we had rented a car and we drove about 45 minutes to the Hoover Dam for a tour. The Power Plant tour was about 30-45 minutes, which was JUST long enough to hold the kid’s attention and not too long that they were bored. It is definitely worth it to do the tour. Adults are $15 and children ages 4-16 are $12. Kids under 4 are free. We also walked along the top of the Dam and it was fun to take some pictures with the kids standing in two different states at the same time – Nevada and Arizona. Afterwards, we drove to the opposite side of the Strip and drove around Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. It is only about a 15 minute drive outside of the strip, and offered gorgeous views of cool rock formations. The whole thing takes about 1 – 1.5 hours depending on how long you stop at each area. There are also hiking trails in certain places, which we did not do since we were short on time.

All in all, this was an absolutely packed few days full of activities, and we didn’t even touch on all of the things you can do with your kids in Vegas. Below is a list with some additional activities, some of which are free, that I love to do with or without kids that are well worth your time!