Las Vegas - Accomodation & to do list...

Heading to Texas in October (feels like a long way away) to visit my younger brother.
Thinking of heading to Las Vegas for a few days at the end of the holiday.
There will be 5 of us, my parents, my wife and my son (will be 7 months by then) and myself.
I have done a little accomodation searching on sites such as:
http://www.cheapovegas.com/index.php

http://www.lasvegas-nv.com/las-vegas-strip-hotels.htm

I would really like to find out what the most baby/child friendly hotels on or around the strip itself are?
I'm not looking for the cheapest but more value for money under the $250 per night where babies/children are catered for.

Also, besides gambling, shopping, the Grand Canyon, the Hoover Dam and shows is there anything in particular to look out for?
I have heard there is a possibility of doing some sort of Nascar driving on the local track, does anyone have any information on this?

Thanks,

The Excalibur Hotel is great - I've stayed there twice!I dont have kids myself but seen plenty of them around the hotel! They have about 8 different restaurants on site at the hotel plus under the casino, they have a games room for the kids plus a kids show at night! Childrens outdoor pool also. Its in a great location, beside New York New York hotel and opposite the MGM Grand!

As regards the tours you mentioned, we didnt have enough time to do any but I know there are helicopter tours you can take of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam etc... hotel might recommend more info on this.

Thanks for the info Ciara, I have checked out the hotel on the web, it looks good and in a great location.

When going about booking would the advice be to try to book now or leave it closer to the date of arrival with the hope of landing a deal, bearing in mind it is October we are travelling?

To do
1.Go around all of the hotels especially the Venetian.
2.Do a flight over the grand canyon/Hoover damb.
3.All you can eat breakfast buffet in treasure island.
4.Go and see a show in vegas.
5.See the free pirates show outside treasure island nightly at 7pm.
6.Get free card lessons at your hotel if they provide it
have a go at palying cards at the casinos,blackjack/poker have
best odds.
7.Avail of the free drink in the gaming halls !!
8.Pick a central hotel as some hotels are far away from the centre of the strip like the luxor, circus circus stratosphere,the central hotels are
the venetian , ceasars palace and around that area otherewise you will have to use the packed trolley 2 bucks a go.
Enjoy

finbar said:

3.All you can eat breakfast buffet in treasure island.

Enjoy

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We had the breakfast buffet in the Bellagio, more expensive than other buffets but really worth it.

Check out the gold public telephones while you are there!!!!

I've copied most of this from a previous post.

Stayed at Treasure Island, fairly good room, excellent view of the strip.Request this at the time of the booking.Ask for a high floor looking South/Pool view

http://www.travel2vegas.com/messageboard.html
This forum has tons of advice on Las Vegas. I got a tower deluxe room + $10 free slot play, all for $91 a night including all taxes.They will supply you with loads if discount codes.I used a code on the forum above to book my accomodation.

https://reservations.mgmmirage.com/bookingengine.aspx?pid=170&host=promo&code=DWEBST
IMHO this website has some great offers. Some offers are actually better than the actual hotel websites. If you find a good deal on this website,check the hotel's and travel2vegas websites before booking. Also most prices quoted are before taxes are added so beware.
The strip is just one big long road.Stratosphre(big tower) at one end and Mandalay Bay at the other. You can see the airport runways from here I reckon.

Hotels
The best looking hotel in Vegas is Wynn's, it is probably the dearest also.
Most Vegas hotels look the same. The hotel with the best atmosphere was Tropicana (Good deals usually available) .
Saturday nights in most hotels are more expensive to stay.
Downtown is cheaper & ok, but do not venture far from the Fremont Street.

Airport
Airport is relatively close, Mini buses are about $5 to hotel door. $1 tip also.
The bus service is quick, efficient and often.

Shows
Do not buy tickets for a show before you get there unless it is a show that sells out. The are 4 outlets (2 on the way to each end of the strip)that sell half price tickets to most shows.They only sell tickets to show that day and the list and prices come out at about 11.30/noon.

Gambling
To get COMPED you need to play at a $25 table for 4 hours.
My advice is to gamble at a hotel that apprciates your play. Riveria or Tropicana.PS: Go with an attitude that you are going to win, rather than bring a gambling budget & saying this is how much I can affird to lose..

Hoover Dam & Grand Canyon.
Did not get to the Grand Canyon,helicopter ride about $320
Went to the Hoover Dam, worth going to see.coach tour about $35(We had to stop off at some nitamin factory to purchase/get our entry tickets for the Hoover Dam (Which Created Lake Tahoe), you get to see the areas surrounding Las Vegas(Las Vegas is one if the fastest growing cities in America)The Dam itself is done in an art deco style.

The hotel that had all the children in it was Circus Circus, it was a real cheap and cheerful place.The only other 'children like hotel, as ciara_gmail said was excalibur & is really the last Themed hotel on Vegas.

Bit of advice is to carry about 20 $1 bills with you for tipping all over Vegas.
As for when to book, click on the forum
http://www.travel2vegas.com/messageboard.html & read, it may say when to book.If not use some of the codes and see if you can get a good deal.

Also some airlines do package deals, southwest,america west,
Bellagio fountains are excellent,


Best of luck

tall chapy said:

The hotel that had all the children in it was Circus Circus, it was a real cheap and cheerful place.The only other 'children like hotel, as ciara_gmail said was excalibur & is really the last Themed hotel on Vegas.

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I would not recommend staying in Circus Circus, I stayed here and thought it was a complete dive.

maybe I should have underlined Cheap...

Thanks for all the info to date.
"Tall Chapy" the links you included will hopefully save some dosh!

Final question on the Grand Canyon itself;
is it better to fly from Las Vegas or drive to the Canyon and get the helicopter there?
(We will have 5/6 days in Vegas I would think)

Cheers.

A friend and I stayed at the Orleans Hotel (off the strip) in March. It's a really nice hotel (and not too pricey) with lots to do. There's a huge bowling alley, cinema and kids area as well as the usual restaurants, spa, pool etc http://www.orleanscasino.com We stayed for 7 nights and paid approx €500 for a huge twin room which looked out over the strip. They also operate a price match policy and will price match any deal you find on alternative websites. We saved about $100 this way!!!

There's a free shuttle bus which brings you to the strip every 20 minutes or so. They also give you a book of vouchers for lots of freebies!!

We went to the Grand Canyon but chickened out on the helicopter!! We picked a bus tour. It was a long day.........almost 16 hours!!! We were picked up at our hotel and brought to the vitamin factory where we had a light breakfast and transferred to a luxury coach (reclining seats and TV screens) with a very informative driver/tour guide.

We made several stops along the way (Hoover Dam, a 7/11 type shop, lunch and IMAX movie in the National Geographic Visitor Centre and two stops at the Grand Canyon itself). I think we visited the South Rim. We had a few viewing points and ended up at Brightangel Lodge (nice gift shop there) and had other views of the canyon.

I think this is the website

We didn't book it online - we just rang from the hotel.

We also had a stop in a 7/11 type shop on the way back. The trip cost about €95. This included breakfast, lunch and the IMAX movie.

Have a fantastic time

gocall01 said:

Final question on the Grand Canyon itself;
is it better to fly from Las Vegas or drive to the Canyon and get the helicopter there?
(We will have 5/6 days in Vegas I would think)

Cheers.

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I reckon 5/6 days is plenty in Vegas, personally I think it is a 3 day town and would not stay much longer than this.

The drive from Vegas to the Canyon is fine and you can stop at the Hoover Dam.

Try negotiate a deal with the helicoptor people, they are all the same price but sometimes they can offer the longer tour for the price of the shorter one. They did this for us as they had a helicoptor leaving in a few minutes and they needed to fill it when we arrived. It was short 2 places so we jumped at the offer!