Family-Friendly Las Vegas Hotel -- Where to stay?

Hunnybee

DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 26, 2001
Help!!!

We are going to be in Vegas on Thanksgiving Day -- staying overnight 1 night before heading to Disneyland.

We (DH, Me, DS(17), DD(13) ) are looking for a place to stay that night. We've looked at Circus Circus and Embassy Suites. Anyone have any thoughts on these?

As we research more, we come up with other options too!

Do you prefer to stay on or off the strip with kids?

Let me know if you have a favorite hotel to stay at with teenagers!!

Thanks!
 
All the free stuff to do with kids is on the south strip. Circus circus is rather far north. Look into Luxor or Excalibur. Both are reasonable and walking distance to many things.
 
Well, I think staying on strip vs off strip depends on what you plan to do. Some people prefer the more outdoors activities in the area, in which case off strip is probably better. I always stay on the strip and pretty much never leave there, so I always stay on the strip.

In terms of "family-friendly" hotels, I suppose it depends on exactly what you're looking for. Are you more concerned about having fun activities for the kids, or more about avoiding the general Vegas debauchery?

Pretty much all of the large casino hotels on the strip will have gambling/drunk people/ party goers to some degree. Places like Circus Circus and Excalibur less so than say Cosmopolitan or Wynn. The uniforms of the cocktail servers are also much more modest at Circus Circus type places than Wynn (Wynn also bans strollers). That being said, I would feel comfortable staying at any hotel on the strip with teenagers, but others may not. Also, I'm not sure that you're 17 y/o (and possibly your 13 y/o) will enjoy Circus Circus or Excalibur all that much (though I do love carnival games, lol), so depending on your tolerance for drunk people hitting the clubs, I would probably just pick some place you like. Off strip will have much less of that as well, and any hotel that doesn't have a casino or clubs.

In terms of family friendly activities, I think that the strip has become less family friendly over the years IMO. I don't have teenaged kids, but I would probably spend most of my time checking out the hotels and maybe catch a show. Ideally you would stay where the action is, on the other hand the walks on the strip are deceptively long, so you may end up driving/cabbing it more than you might expect. I would probably prefer the Caesar's/Bellagio/Paris/Planet Hollywood area with teens I think, but you could make an argument for a lot of different areas. As Mike said though, Circus Circus is pretty far north, and Stratosphere is even further north, so I'd probably avoid them unless you want to drive and get a really good deal.
 
I stay at the Desert Rose , which is a Resort, It has one and two bedrooms, and the couch is a bed. And full kitchens. You can BBQ. It has a baby pool, regular pool, and a jacuzzi. It is enclosed. Very Quiet. It is right behind the Hooter's and Tropicana so still close to the airport and close to the strip.
 


Red Rock Resort has bowling, kids quest, movie theater and a nice pool. By far the kid friendliest place in Vegas I've seen. Located well off the strip near Red Rock Canyon (also a kid friendly place with awesome hiking).
 
For a 1 night stay I'd suggest Excalibur. Right across the street is NYNY which has the roller
coaster and a fun arcade - that is geared toward younger than teens but still fun. I'd even
suggest staying there with teens.
 
I've stayed at the carriage house, midstrip.

I have also read great reports about desert rose from friends with families.
 


Are you driving or flying in? Do you want to do kid friendly activities or are you just planning on staying the night and going through? I would not stay at circus circus. It is one of the older casinos. And really smells stale. Excalibur is pretty much same but also has construction going on behind it and the Luxor next door while they build a new parking structure for T-Mobile arena and mandalay bay events. One person suggested red rock casino which I would agree is nice and pretty standard for a local casino, it is really off the strip and no matter which way you go it will take you 20 minutes minimum to get there from the "strip". The cannery in the north is also a local casino and right off the 15 freeway that will take you to Anaheim. There is also a parking fee now for some of the resorts.

If you give me an idea of what you are planning on doing and what you are looking for I can probably give you better suggestions since I live here.
 
Where did you end up staying? What all did you do?
We will be staying one night this summer on our road trip adventure, my kids are also 17 and 13 but daughter is older and son is younger. I am thinking of staying at NY, NY. A few things I would like to do are ride the Big Apple coaster, go to Hershey's chocolate world, go up in the eiffel tower, go to M&M world, watch the fountains at Bellagio, and maybe travel down to see the Volcano at Mirage and ride the Gondolas at the Venetian.
 
Location wise.... I prefer Excalibur more over Circus. The South strip is more exciting to walk through. It's been 4yrs since I was at Excalibur and I enjoyed my stay... check reviews for both hotels.
 
Where did you end up staying? What all did you do?
We will be staying one night this summer on our road trip adventure, my kids are also 17 and 13 but daughter is older and son is younger. I am thinking of staying at NY, NY. A few things I would like to do are ride the Big Apple coaster, go to Hershey's chocolate world, go up in the eiffel tower, go to M&M world, watch the fountains at Bellagio, and maybe travel down to see the Volcano at Mirage and ride the Gondolas at the Venetian.


NYNY would be a good choice for you. M&m is across the street. The mirage, belagio, and Venetian are all north. The nyny is more towards south with just Excalibur ( older and smells), Luxor ( pyramid), and mandalay bay ( go see shark reef) south. Nyny also has the sprinkles cupcakes on outside. Check out city center too, lots to entertain teenagers there.
 
I would avoid Circus Circus. It gets rather poor reviews and the location is sketchy. We take our girls with us and have always stayed at Mirage.
 
Where did you end up staying? What all did you do?
We will be staying one night this summer on our road trip adventure, my kids are also 17 and 13 but daughter is older and son is younger. I am thinking of staying at NY, NY. A few things I would like to do are ride the Big Apple coaster, go to Hershey's chocolate world, go up in the eiffel tower, go to M&M world, watch the fountains at Bellagio, and maybe travel down to see the Volcano at Mirage and ride the Gondolas at the Venetian.

Yes, NY NY is a good location, probably an ideal location for the stuff you are trying to do.

There are some lesser known options. Many hotels actually have separate "boutique" hotels within them. We have 5 & 3 y/o kids and are going in a few months. We are staying at the Delano at Mandalay Bay, which is an all suites hotel connected to Mandalay Bay (it's essentially a separate tower of the hotel). The hotel rooms are more like timeshare layouts. They have kitchenettes and those types of things. MGM has a similar thing called the "Signature at MGM". We ultimately decided on the Delano because we felt we wanted to have easy access to the Excalibur, but wanted to stay someplace a little bit nicer. There is a free tram that connects Mandalay Bay to Excalibur. (There are similar free trams connecting Monte Carlo and Bellagio, as well as Mirage and TI, FYI). The main downside to the Delano and MGM Signature is that they are generally more removed from the casinos, but this may be a good thing depending on your viewpoint.

This will be our first time at the Delano, but I think it will be good place to stay.
 
Yes, NY NY is a good location, probably an ideal location for the stuff you are trying to do.

There are some lesser known options. Many hotels actually have separate "boutique" hotels within them. We have 5 & 3 y/o kids and are going in a few months. We are staying at the Delano at Mandalay Bay, which is an all suites hotel connected to Mandalay Bay (it's essentially a separate tower of the hotel). The hotel rooms are more like timeshare layouts. They have kitchenettes and those types of things. MGM has a similar thing called the "Signature at MGM". We ultimately decided on the Delano because we felt we wanted to have easy access to the Excalibur, but wanted to stay someplace a little bit nicer. There is a free tram that connects Mandalay Bay to Excalibur. (There are similar free trams connecting Monte Carlo and Bellagio, as well as Mirage and TI, FYI). The main downside to the Delano and MGM Signature is that they are generally more removed from the casinos, but this may be a good thing depending on your viewpoint.

This will be our first time at the Delano, but I think it will be good place to stay.
I happened upon this thread b/c we're planning an October trip to Vegas, our first. Originally it was to be an adults-only trip for our 40th b-days (both are in October) but we're not gamblers or into night clubs, just interested in the hotels and kitsch, and everything I want to do seems like stuff our kids would like too! Our kids will be 12 and 9 by then, so removed from the casinos = bonus. Have you already gone on your trip, or is it coming up shortly? Would you mind reporting back on the Delano? Mandalay Bay is on my short list b/c of the wave pool/lazy river, restaurants, shark aquarium.
 
I happened upon this thread b/c we're planning an October trip to Vegas, our first. Originally it was to be an adults-only trip for our 40th b-days (both are in October) but we're not gamblers or into night clubs, just interested in the hotels and kitsch, and everything I want to do seems like stuff our kids would like too! Our kids will be 12 and 9 by then, so removed from the casinos = bonus. Have you already gone on your trip, or is it coming up shortly? Would you mind reporting back on the Delano? Mandalay Bay is on my short list b/c of the wave pool/lazy river, restaurants, shark aquarium.
Kids will love the pool. It's probably one of the better pools. The shark reef is a bonus for kids. Mandalay Bay is more kid friendly then some of the other casinos in that the restaurants and activities are separated from the slots and tables. Other activities your kids might like are belagio gardens, m&m store, and other stuff that I can't think of at the moment with my headache. There is actually a lot to do here besides clubs and gambling.
 
Kids will love the pool. It's probably one of the better pools. The shark reef is a bonus for kids. Mandalay Bay is more kid friendly then some of the other casinos in that the restaurants and activities are separated from the slots and tables. Other activities your kids might like are belagio gardens, m&m store, and other stuff that I can't think of at the moment with my headache. There is actually a lot to do here besides clubs and gambling.
Thanks, yes, I'm surprised how much there is to do that will be kid-friendly! We're fairly recent transplants to the southwest from the east coast, and we just are not gamblers, so we hadn't bothered to look into a trip right away... but a 4-story M&M store?? I added to that my running list of other things to do (the NY NY coaster, Eiffel Tower, gondolas, Bellagio fountains, etc.) and it just seemed silly to leave the kids with my in-laws... so we're bringing the kids AND the in-laws along! That's great that Mandalay keeps the restaurants away from the slots. It's not that I need to shield my kids from casino atmospheres (frankly, I doubt they'll notice drunk or rowdy adults), more of an issue with the smoke b/c DD is asthmatic.
 
Thanks, yes, I'm surprised how much there is to do that will be kid-friendly! We're fairly recent transplants to the southwest from the east coast, and we just are not gamblers, so we hadn't bothered to look into a trip right away... but a 4-story M&M store?? I added to that my running list of other things to do (the NY NY coaster, Eiffel Tower, gondolas, Bellagio fountains, etc.) and it just seemed silly to leave the kids with my in-laws... so we're bringing the kids AND the in-laws along! That's great that Mandalay keeps the restaurants away from the slots. It's not that I need to shield my kids from casino atmospheres (frankly, I doubt they'll notice drunk or rowdy adults), more of an issue with the smoke b/c DD is asthmatic.
My daughter has bad asthma too. My suggestion stay away from the really old casinos. Smoke has built up in them and it's bad for asthma. Also right before you come check the weather. If your Dd has allergy medicine that helps asthma take it before coming if there is even a hint of wind. October is the start of wind season. Usually October weather itself is gorgeous but when that wind starts it's horrible. Just google last Thursday's wind storm. Feel free to message me if you have any questions or need ideas.
 

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