Las Vegas with a toddler?

[tinkerbelljenny]

Has anyone done this? Where did you stay, where to eat, and what did you do? I have been to Vegas many times but never with a child.

[claribella]

I went to vegas with my toddler. We stayed at the Time Share Condos my parents owned, not one of the hotels. It was on the strip but a bit further down, past the Luxor. But it did provide shuttle which was nice.

Do you have a play pen that can be folded? We took that and it worked great even though the condo management did provide a crib.

As far as eating, its the same as in any normal restaurant. Nothing really different.

As far as strolling around, just don't stop in the casinos. We strolled thru the casinos to get to places and my sister or cousin or mom would want to put some quarters into a machine and I was asked to keep moving if I had a child in the stroller. I wasn't allowed to stay and watch. ;)

HTH

[littlebear]

We went with our 8 month old in August. We stayed at Caesars Palace. I liked staying at Caesars because they had the Forum Shops that have lots of more casual places to eat. We did end up going to some nicer restaurants with him too. Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill has no problem with kids. If we wanted to eat somewhere, I would just call ahead and see if they had high chairs and ask what their policy on children were. A lot of the restaurants were OK with kids. Restaurants in the Bellagio were the exception. They are strictly for children above 5. We spent time at the pool, went to Siegfried and Roy's Garden, and walked around a lot of the casinos. We also went to the Bellagio Art Gallery, and they had no problem with me taking my son in as long as he was in a carrier instead of the stroller. He actually liked looking at all of the art while riding around in the Bjorn.

Like the PP said, the big no-no is stopping on the casino floor since there aren't supposed to be any minors in the gaming area.

[claribella]

We spent time at the pool, went to Siegfried and Roy's Garden

Oh yes, we went there too and my DS love it. We also went to the Shark Exhibit in Mandalay Bay. He REALLY loved that!

[littlebear]

I forgot that we went over to the Flamingo Hilton too. It's kinda cheesy for the adults, but they have a little tropical garden with some flamingos and small warm weather penguins and some other tropical birds. There were tons of kids there.

The big fish tank in the Forum Shops was also a hit with him. There's an FAO Schwartz in the Forum Shops that we spent an hour in letting him look at all of the big stuffed animals. He actually liked the Fall of Atlantis show too. At first I thought he would be scared because it's a little noisy, but I decided to give it a shot. It's free and right in the middle of the shops so you can always leave if your baby freaks out.

[sdauer21]

We took our daughter to Vegas last summer, for a family wedding. She was 18 months old at the time. We stayed at the Frontier, a pretty non-descript hotel on the strip (the opposite end from the Luxor, New York New York, etc.). It was very affordable, decent rooms, and fantastic pool. We actually liked our rooms much more then the ILs room - they stayed at the Excalibur, paid 2x what we paid, and spent more time at our hotel then theirs. Our pool was much less crowded, had nice grass and lawn chairs, and was better suited for our non-swimming toddler.

Honestly, I probably wouldn't take kids to Vegas again. While its advertised as being very kid friendly, I really felt like it wasn't. Many of the attractions that would have been fun for DD were too expensive for us to take her to, or too crowded for her to enjoy. We went to Circus Circus one night, and even that was a zoo!! DD was completely overwhelmed by all the people, noise, and business, and really couldn't see the circus attractions well enough to enjoy them. We also went in June, so it was very hot, and hard to have her outside in the heat. The one thing she did really enjoy was the light show over in the Freemont district. We were able to find a nice space in the street so she could move around and not have to be confined, and no one got in her way so she could actually see the lights. Other then that, we spent a lot of time swimming with her, and hanging out in our hotel room. Not much fun :(

[tinkerbelljenny]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. I am going to print them all out. Were the kids allowed in the pool with swim diapers on? I know that some hotels don't allow some kids in the pool if they have to have swim diapers. Did anyone run into this problem?
I am thinking of getting a hotel away from the strip.

[claribella]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. I am going to print them all out. Were the kids allowed in the pool with swim diapers on? I know that some hotels don't allow some kids in the pool if they have to have swim diapers. Did anyone run into this problem?
I am thinking of getting a hotel away from the strip.

Where I stayed, yes, I just put the swimmers on him. That should be fine.

[August'05Mommies]

I didn't even think to ask - we just put her in, with swim diapers on. Most of the time, we were the only ones in the pool. Once, there was another dad with his little girl - she had swim diapers on, too.

[sdauer21]

Oops - I posted while I was still logged in as a thread mod... :o

In case my previous post disappears (I deleted it), here's my answer again. :)

I didn't even think to ask - we just put her in, with swim diapers on. Most of the time, we were the only ones in the pool. Once, there was another dad with his little girl - she had swim diapers on, too.