Vegas baby (YAY), with 2 small kids (Boo).. Help me plan the trip

(Before I get this thread started I want to get this out of the way. I have been to Vegas about 10 times and every time during the summer. I am well aware of the the heat. Please hold your judgment to yourself about traveling to Vegas with kids.)

Hi everyone. We have been planning this trip for about 18 months now. We go every 3 years because of a convention. In the last 2 years and since my last trip to LV our lives have changed greatly. We now have a 2 year old and my wife is having a c-section tomorrow with our 2nd child. The baby will only be 4 months old and our son will be almost 3. I have never traveled with kids before let alone 2. I have so many questions about places to go and stay. I don't know if this forum will be much help as I don't think the majority of the people on here have kids but I will take any advice that I can get. If you know of a better forum for this type of thread please feel free to post it in here or PM me.

We plan on staying for 11 days and we are trying to do this on a tight budget. The plane tickets are going to be taken care of and dinner for at least 4 days via the convention and parties at night. We are going to be there with an important person of the convention so we have a lot of perks.

Right now my biggest concern and reason to start this thread is a hotel. We want to be on the strip for at least the convention period which is 5 days. I was looking at deals with all of the strip properties (except circus circus). I know this might be ideal with a kid but I have stayed there before and will never stay again. I have a ton of points through MyVegas so it is possible to stay with an MGM property for at least 3 days but ideally we are thinking about staying on strip Thursday-Wednesday and then moving to another hotel for Thursday-Sunday. When I look at the rates through CET we can stay the entire stay at Harrah's for $264. The next cheapest one is the RIO but it is almost $600 for the entire stay.

So after all of that writing I guess today I am asking for advice on where to stay.

Options:
MGM properties -- I have 500k LPs through MyVegas but could only stay 3 nights in a row so I would have to move unless we pay the rates for the other days which would be pretty expensive.
CET- Harrah's would only be $264. We also have 250k RCs because of the great race. We are planning on blowing through all of these during our stay. We could use them for Hotel but we are planning on cashing some for free play, eating, and some souvenirs. Does anyone have any thoughts about staying at Harrah's with kids? Are the rooms decent, what about the pool? If not what lower end CET property would you recommend?

Any thoughts would be appreciated on where to stay.

Quote: GWAE

Does anyone have any thoughts about staying at Harrah's with kids? Are the rooms decent, what about the pool? If not what lower end CET property would you recommend?

Any thoughts would be appreciated on where to stay.

I agree that you probably don't want to have to switch hotels more often than is absolutely necessary. It sounds like the rate at Harrah's is pretty good. We stayed there and it was perfectly ok. The nice thing is that you have RC's from the Race to Rewards that will be good for restaurants, etc.

IF your budget allowed for it, Tuscany is a possibility - the rooms are pretty large, ~ 600 sq feet. You'll also get a mini-fridge. They have a very nice pool courtyard area. EI is nearby for some cheap eats, but I would try to go at non-peak times.

Now thinking outside the box, any chance you can have a mom/mother-in-law fly out to help with the kids ? I know that adds cost, but I think it could really be helpful and worth it and allow you to enjoy LV a little more. With your myVegas LP's you could send your wife & mom/mother-in-law to a couple of nice shows.

Quote: JohnnyQ

I agree that you probably don't want to have to switch hotels more often than is absolutely necessary. It sounds like the rate at Harrah's is pretty good. We stayed there and it was perfectly ok. The nice thing is that you have RC's from the Race to Rewards that will be good for restaurants, etc.

IF your budget allowed for it, Tuscany is a possibility - the rooms are pretty large, ~ 600 sq feet. You'll also get a mini-fridge. They have a very nice pool courtyard area. EI is nearby for some cheap eats, but I would try to go at non-peak times.

Now thinking outside the box, any chance you can have a mom/mother-in-law fly out to help with the kids ? I know that adds cost, but I think it could really be helpful and worth it and allow you to enjoy LV a little more. With your myVegas LP's you could send your wife & mom/mother-in-law to a couple of nice shows.

I completely forgot to mention that. We actually have my parents going, my aunt and uncle (but they will not be helping with kids), and my cousin who also has a 2 year old. They will all be staying at MGM but we don't have any discounts there so it will be close to $1000. I looked at staying across the street at Excalibur or Luxor. I can get decent rates for the weekday but the Friday and Saturday ends up being $200 a night.

Overall this is going to be an interesting trip. I guess we will be at the pool a lot. We were here in 2010 during the same week and it was 110 a few days. That is the part that may be troubling with small kids. We are still on the fence about renting a car but that me be the money best spent if it is that hot. I guess I should say, when it is that hot and not if.

Quote: GWAE

I completely forgot to mention that. We actually have my parents going, my aunt and uncle (but they will not be helping with kids), and my cousin who also has a 2 year old. They will all be staying at MGM but we don't have any discounts there so it will be close to $1000. I looked at staying across the street at Excalibur or Luxor. I can get decent rates for the weekday but the Friday and Saturday ends up being $200 a night.

Overall this is going to be an interesting trip. I guess we will be at the pool a lot. We were here in 2010 during the same week and it was 110 a few days. That is the part that may be troubling with small kids. We are still on the fence about renting a car but that me be the money best spent if it is that hot. I guess I should say, when it is that hot and not if.

You'd better have a car for the young kids. 4 month old in dessert heat is not exactly a good idea.

We went to Vegas about 20 years ago with our daughter, who was 3 at the time. The biggest issue was that we couldn't be alone together, one of us had to be with her all the time. We didn't trust any babysitting services. So, I would play, then she would play. It was kind of annoying.

Of course back then we didn't have the internet to check on reliability and for references.

Quote: GWAE

I completely forgot to mention that. We actually have my parents going, my aunt and uncle (but they will not be helping with kids), and my cousin who also has a 2 year old.

OK well that will make things about 1000 % easier !

There are several places where you can get a condo type unit for a relatively reasonable rate near the strip. We just stayed at the Holiday Inn Vacation Club on Koval, right near Linq. They have REALLY NICE 1 & 2 BR units there. Ditto for the Hilton property near LVH (it is not LVH). If you got a 2BR unit and split the cost with your parents, it might be in the ballpark $-wise.

Quote: GWAE

I can get decent rates for the weekday but the Friday and Saturday ends up being $200 a night.

Yep, been there, seen that, and have checked out and gone elsewhere. IF you get a car, think about going up to Mesquite to find a nice but less expensive place to stay, and then you are only 90 more minutes to get to ZION National Park. It's beautiful up there. And maybe not as hot.

I recommend renting a car. Is that a possibility?

Quote: GWAE

Right now my biggest concern and reason to start this thread is a hotel. We want to be on the strip for at least the convention period which is 5 days. I was looking at deals with all of the strip properties (except circus circus). I know this might be ideal with a kid but I have stayed there before and will never stay again. I have a ton of points through MyVegas so it is possible to stay with an MGM property for at least 3 days but ideally we are thinking about staying on strip Thursday-Wednesday and then moving to another hotel for Thursday-Sunday. When I look at the rates through CET we can stay the entire stay at Harrah's for $264. The next cheapest one is the RIO but it is almost $600 for the entire stay.

Any thoughts would be appreciated on where to stay.

Do you have Las Vegas Advisor and American Casino Guide memberships? There were a few coupons in each, I noticed, having to do with a free hour of daycare, or something like that. Let me dig those out and check out the terms later on today.

Okay, so when you say Harrah's is $264, is that for just the five days or is that for all eleven days? You could probably get a room at The Quad for five nights for less than that, and certainly a few places Downtown, but if you mean for eleven days, forget it, unless you want to stay at Four Queens.

YOU DO NOT want to stay at Four Queens, trust me, especially not with kids...their immune systems aren't as strong.

I don't know, I'm not seeing anything immediately on LVA that works, but let me peak through my coupon books again, check all of the individual websites, and see what I can come up with, just answer me this:

What dates comprise the portion of the stay that you do not want to be at Harrah's?

Oh, and I also need 24 because it's Easter, but if there is a cheaper trip that does not involve the Four Queens, I'll figure it out.

By the way, what is the maximum number of moves you are willing to make?

Also, is that $264 Harrah's before resort fees, or after?

Several thoughts, probably none of them any good at all:

Parenting is a learning experience, I'm told, and you'll soon learn how to handle things. Just remember: your wife will be far more sleep deprived than you and may also be more affected by time zone changes, so be certain that there are NO MISCOMMUNICATIONS about whose turn it is to gamble and whose turn it is to push the stroller around. (Don't laugh: it happens in Vegas more often than you think).

What about Mirage? I've heard that Excalibur something or other has kids crawling all over the place due to a midieval theme of some sort.

You want to avoid excessive hotel changes or excessively noisy rooms, if your wife is going to in the room with the kids for much of the day, you want to have a good TV for her. Remember to adjust the curtains at night so that sunshine through the windows does not awaken her prematurely.

Don't be hesitant to ask the hotel concierge for assistance. You may have to take shuttles and taxis for trips where you would previously have walked.

Look up the various WalMarts and Walgreens in advance. Also you may want to mail yourself some "care packages" before you leave so as to save yourself trips to get various stuff. Twenty dollars of mailed disposable diapers beats treking to Walmart in the heat of the day to get them. Don't forget phone chargers, you and your wife may be texting each other far more often than you would at home.


Good luck.

So I was up until 4 last night with a colicky newborn. The thought of taking her to Vegas in 3 months is horrifying.

Going to Vegas with a 3 year old could be a lot of fun. A 4 month old - not so much. I am in agreement with most - with your budget, get off the strip and rent a car. You are there for long enough that you'll get some fun in, but I just think staying on the strip is too much.

Rent a car ?????

Cheaper to use taxis. You going to drive on only vaguely familiar roads while watching two kids each of them wailing away at the top of their lungs while drunken tourists wander into the road to snap a photo of Elvis?

Taxi. And get the driver's cell number if you do stay off strip where there is no taxi stand.

I have some responses to some items mentioned but I am on my phone so I will have to wait till I get home.

What are thoughts about Harrahs?

Quote: GWAE

What are thoughts about Harrahs?

I stayed at Harrah's last year and it is OK. But I don't know that it offers anything special room-wise OR attraction-wise for the ages of your children. That's why I was thinking of Tuscany, at least you get a large room.

Once upon a time, I stayed at Flamingo with my wife, mother-in-law (separate room) and young daughter. The nice thing there was that they have a small "park-like" area out back with the flamingos and a short walking trail. There are some trees so that offers some protection from the sun. I think the 2 year old would enjoy that.

As far as I know, the Lions are NO LONGER in the habitat at MGM. That would have been another nice thing to see.

The MGM Signature suites would give you a full kitchen and are a short walk to the MGM Grand. I think the kitchen would be a huge help with the kids having travelled a lot with young children. Groceries might be a problem without a car but probably worth a taxi trip to a grocery store when you first got there if you could afford to stay put there for the whole stay. They usually have some reasonable deals but you would need to check your dates.

Quote: GWAE

CET- Harrah's would only be $264. We also have 250k RCs because of the great race. We are planning on blowing through all of these during our stay. We could use them for Hotel but we are planning on cashing some for free play, eating, and some souvenirs. Does anyone have any thoughts about staying at Harrah's with kids? Are the rooms decent, what about the pool? If not what lower end CET property would you recommend?

If you stay at a CET property, you should pay for the room using your reward credits. If there is anything that you would have to spend your own money on that can be paid for with RC's do that before free play. The reason being 100 RC is $.50 of free play but $1.00 worth of rooms, food etc. If you aren't platinum, and don't have one, get a Total Rewards credit card, instant platinum, so no resort fees.

The rooms at Harrah's are fine, if possible though in your situation, in my opinion, Bally's would be better. Usually if you can get Harrah's, you can get Bally's for the same if you keep checking total rewards every day, but it may be the weekend making Bally's more... Bally's is much more calm than Harrahs, less waiting, less walking, less drunk NASCAR fans, decent pool that I've never seen too busy, much easier walk to MGM, than from Harrah's. I've stayed at Bally's 5 times, but always north tower, so I can't speak for the south tower, apparently it's been renovated though, but the rooms are fine, better than Harrah's. The Rio would be a pain, I wouldn't recommend it in your situation.

Quote: GWAE

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We are still on the fence about renting a car but that me be the money best spent if it is that hot. I guess I should say, when it is that hot and not if.

Rent a car. Imagine putting 2 car seats in a taxi every time. Rent a car. Start checking now, book without a credit card, change the reservation as you find cheaper rates, about a week or so before you leave, if you can prepay a better rate do it, it's usually about 15% cheaper to prepay than the current rate on the companies websites. Don't be afraid of the cheap rental car companies, I've used them all, the cars are fine, service can be a little annoying, refuse everything they try to sell you. Also, check rental car rates at different times of day. I've found much better deals at 2am than at noon, may just be coincidence.

Quote: speedycrap

You'd better have a car for the young kids. 4 month old in dessert heat is not exactly a good idea.

I know, right? At least with a car you can leave the kids inside and shade them from the sun, especially if you just run into some place real quick(slots are calling). To be extra safe and green...turn off car, roll up the windows and lock the doors.

Quote: GWAE

(Before I get this thread started I want to get this out of the way. I have been to Vegas about 10 times and every time during the summer. I am well aware of the the heat. Please hold your judgment to yourself about traveling to Vegas with kids.)

Hi everyone. We have been planning this trip for about 18 months now. We go every 3 years because of a convention. In the last 2 years and since my last trip to LV our lives have changed greatly. We now have a 2 year old and my wife is having a c-section tomorrow with our 2nd child. The baby will only be 4 months old and our son will be almost 3. I have never traveled with kids before let alone 2. I have so many questions about places to go and stay. I don't know if this forum will be much help as I don't think the majority of the people on here have kids but I will take any advice that I can get. If you know of a better forum for this type of thread please feel free to post it in here or PM me.

We plan on staying for 11 days and we are trying to do this on a tight budget. The plane tickets are going to be taken care of and dinner for at least 4 days via the convention and parties at night. We are going to be there with an important person of the convention so we have a lot of perks.

Right now my biggest concern and reason to start this thread is a hotel. We want to be on the strip for at least the convention period which is 5 days. I was looking at deals with all of the strip properties (except circus circus). I know this might be ideal with a kid but I have stayed there before and will never stay again. I have a ton of points through MyVegas so it is possible to stay with an MGM property for at least 3 days but ideally we are thinking about staying on strip Thursday-Wednesday and then moving to another hotel for Thursday-Sunday. When I look at the rates through CET we can stay the entire stay at Harrah's for $264. The next cheapest one is the RIO but it is almost $600 for the entire stay.

So after all of that writing I guess today I am asking for advice on where to stay.

Options:
MGM properties -- I have 500k LPs through MyVegas but could only stay 3 nights in a row so I would have to move unless we pay the rates for the other days which would be pretty expensive.
CET- Harrah's would only be $264. We also have 250k RCs because of the great race. We are planning on blowing through all of these during our stay. We could use them for Hotel but we are planning on cashing some for free play, eating, and some souvenirs. Does anyone have any thoughts about staying at Harrah's with kids? Are the rooms decent, what about the pool? If not what lower end CET property would you recommend?

Any thoughts would be appreciated on where to stay.

PM me with exact dates, I will see what I can do. One Problem is lots of comped rooms come with exact dates, or I may have to go out of town. Open room offers get snapped up very fast because friends can usually plan and deduct that from the cost of their trip. Of course EVERYONE wants to stay on the strip (except Mission). We have off strip wasted rooms all the time. of course.... never when we need them. Then again, I'm not sure if they are wasted, perhaps hosts may be more inclined to do other things 4 u, if you never use your rooms.

Also there is that getting tripped thing sometimes as well, now we have to play.

How much dose it cost to cancel rooms at the last minute? Where is the most liberal place to do this in Vegas? What I like to tell people is to just book your trip as you normally would. call right before you leave for Vegas, If I got them and I'm available cancel your reservations (some people lie and get out of a cancellation fee).

Also its not easy running around checking people in all the time. I try to avoid the strip if possible.

Quote: FleaStiff

Rent a car ?????

Cheaper to use taxis. You going to drive on only vaguely familiar roads while watching two kids each of them wailing away at the top of their lungs while drunken tourists wander into the road to snap a photo of Elvis?

Taxi. And get the driver's cell number if you do stay off strip where there is no taxi stand.

Depends on how much driving there is to be done. Just going from Mandalay Bay to Aria one way is like 15 bucks and you can rent a car for $25 a day.

Quote: geoff

Depends on how much driving there is to be done. Just going from Mandalay Bay to Aria one way is like 15 bucks and you can rent a car for $25 a day.

True.... and I failed to remember this stuff about car seats for infants and toddlers.

I think that is why there are these new "inflatable" car seats .... travel is easier.

Anyway, I find its always best to be as close to a convention as possible even if you don't use the convention's special block of reserved rooms or billing code.

Yeah we definitely want to be near the convention especially since there will be family there. We could book via the block of rooms but the rate is horrible. I guess they try to make as much off of these people since the companies are usually paying for them anyways.

Mission: The convention starts on the 11th of Aug. We are either going to go from the Wednesday before till Friday after or get there on the 11th and stay until the following Wednesday. Ideally we want to do 2 hotels at the max but that is not set in stone. The $260 I mentioned is for all 11 days. Basically it is $81 on Fri and Sat, 4 days at I think $21 for 4 nights and the others are comped. I will respond to everyone else when I get home. It's to hard to quote from the phone.

Quote: GWAE

Mission: The convention starts on the 11th of Aug. We are either going to go from the Wednesday before till Friday after or get there on the 11th and stay until the following Wednesday. Ideally we want to do 2 hotels at the max but that is not set in stone. The $260 I mentioned is for all 11 days. Basically it is $81 on Fri and Sat, 4 days at I think $21 for 4 nights and the others are comped. I will respond to everyone else when I get home. It's to hard to quote from the phone.

Does that or not include their resort fee?

duplicate

For eleven days, it's going to be really hard to beat that rate. There may be packages where you have slightly better value for a few days, specifically those that include food. I'll spend a couple hours seeing if I can find anything good tonight.

Getting you a better Fri/Sat rate shouldn't be too hard, or can you not be off-Strip those days.

Quote: GWAE

no resort fee when you are platinum. My wife is platinum because she has the total rewards visa.

Then make sure the primary name on the reservation is her and not you, or you will be paying the resort fee. I found this out the hard way.

Quote: AxelWolf

At least with a car you can leave the kids inside and shade them from the sun, especially if you just run into some place real quick(slots are calling). To be extra safe and green...turn off car, roll up the windows and lock the doors.

NOPE, NOT funny.

Thank you everyone for responding. I will try to address everyone and in my next post I am going to give a little more info about dates and current plans.

Quote: Mission146

Does that or not include their resort fee?

no resort fee when you are platinum. My wife is platinum because she has the total rewards visa.

Quote: speedycrap

You'd better have a car for the young kids. 4 month old in dessert heat is not exactly a good idea.

This has been one of our biggest concerns. When we were there in 2010 it was well over 100 degrees. Part of our plan is to spend some time at the pool. If it is that hot we will have to skip the pool, at least with the newborn.

Quote: Mosca

We went to Vegas about 20 years ago with our daughter, who was 3 at the time. The biggest issue was that we couldn't be alone together, one of us had to be with her all the time. We didn't trust any babysitting services. So, I would play, then she would play. It was kind of annoying.
Of course back then we didn't have the internet to check on reliability and for references.

I mentioned babysitting services but she is not for that at all. During our stay we really don't plan on gambling very much. We live 3 miles from a casino now so if I want to gamble I can just bike there if I want. We do want to catch a few shows so that is where the issue will be. My parents already said they would watch them whenever we need them to especially if it is only for a few hours while we see a show. I will feel bad since it is a vacation for them as well so we will see.

Quote: JohnnyQ

Yep, been there, seen that, and have checked out and gone elsewhere. IF you get a car, think about going up to Mesquite to find a nice but less expensive place to stay, and then you are only 90 more minutes to get to ZION National Park. It's beautiful up there. And maybe not as hot.

If we end up renting a car we will be making a few trips outside of Vegas so I will add this to my list of possible places to see. In 2010 we drove to Temecula, CA. It would be nice to see a few other local places as well.

Quote: FleaStiff

Several thoughts, probably none of them any good at all:

Parenting is a learning experience, I'm told, and you'll soon learn how to handle things. Just remember: your wife will be far more sleep deprived than you and may also be more affected by time zone changes, so be certain that there are NO MISCOMMUNICATIONS about whose turn it is to gamble and whose turn it is to push the stroller around. (Don't laugh: it happens in Vegas more often than you think).
What about Mirage? I've heard that Excalibur something or other has kids crawling all over the place due to a midieval theme of some sort.
You want to avoid excessive hotel changes or excessively noisy rooms, if your wife is going to in the room with the kids for much of the day, you want to have a good TV for her. Remember to adjust the curtains at night so that sunshine through the windows does not awaken her prematurely.
Don't be hesitant to ask the hotel concierge for assistance. You may have to take shuttles and taxis for trips where you would previously have walked.
Look up the various WalMarts and Walgreens in advance. Also you may want to mail yourself some "care packages" before you leave so as to save yourself trips to get various stuff. Twenty dollars of mailed disposable diapers beats treking to Walmart in the heat of the day to get them. Don't forget phone chargers, you and your wife may be texting each other far more often than you would at home.

Thank you for these thoughts. A few of these items are added to my list of things to talk about. I will address a few of them in my next TLDR; post.

Quote: FinsRule

So I was up until 4 last night with a colicky newborn. The thought of taking her to Vegas in 3 months is horrifying.
Going to Vegas with a 3 year old could be a lot of fun. A 4 month old - not so much. I am in agreement with most - with your budget, get off the strip and rent a car. You are there for long enough that you'll get some fun in, but I just think staying on the strip is too much.

I am sorry that you are having those issues. We were fortunate enough with our first son to never have a rough night like that. If we are a month out and we are having sleep problems then we will rethink the trip. We plan on paying a little more for our plane tickets so we have the option to cancel. I will address the budget in my next post.

Quote: kenarman

The MGM Signature suites would give you a full kitchen and are a short walk to the MGM Grand. I think the kitchen would be a huge help with the kids having travelled a lot with young children. Groceries might be a problem without a car but probably worth a taxi trip to a grocery store when you first got there if you could afford to stay put there for the whole stay. They usually have some reasonable deals but you would need to check your dates.

I had looked into this. It would end up costing us about $1500 which we don't want to spend. We don't want to share a room with anyone to share some costs. I do plan on making a run to Walmart to buy diapers, water, snacks, and other items that would be a pain to carry with us.

Quote: Miles1

If you stay at a CET property, you should pay for the room using your reward credits. If there is anything that you would have to spend your own money on that can be paid for with RC's do that before free play. The reason being 100 RC is $.50 of free play but $1.00 worth of rooms, food etc. If you aren't platinum, and don't have one, get a Total Rewards credit card, instant platinum, so no resort fees.

The rooms at Harrah's are fine, if possible though in your situation, in my opinion, Bally's would be better. Usually if you can get Harrah's, you can get Bally's for the same if you keep checking total rewards every day, but it may be the weekend making Bally's more... Bally's is much more calm than Harrahs, less waiting, less walking, less drunk NASCAR fans, decent pool that I've never seen too busy, much easier walk to MGM, than from Harrah's. I've stayed at Bally's 5 times, but always north tower, so I can't speak for the south tower, apparently it's been renovated though, but the rooms are fine, better than Harrah's. The Rio would be a pain, I wouldn't recommend it in your situation.

I will check into Ballys here shortly. I agree with the idea of using our points to pay for the room and everything else. Why use cash for something that would be a 1:1 with points just to get cash back at .5:1. We already have a total rewards VISA so she is platinum through the end of this year I believe. I was planning on opening one as well to get the free buffet but we are in the process of buying a house so unless we find a house and close before then I can not add any new credit lines.

Quote: AxelWolf

PM me with exact dates, I will see what I can do. One Problem is lots of comped rooms come with exact dates, or I may have to go out of town. Open room offers get snapped up very fast because friends can usually plan and deduct that from the cost of their trip. Of course EVERYONE wants to stay on the strip (except Mission). We have off strip wasted rooms all the time. of course.... never when we need them. Then again, I'm not sure if they are wasted, perhaps hosts may be more inclined to do other things 4 u, if you never use your rooms.

Were you offering to help me get a room? If so I thank you very much for the offer but I would prefer not to. I have had issues in the past but I really do appreciate the offer, if it was an offer.

Quote: Miles1

Rent a car. Imagine putting 2 car seats in a taxi every time. Rent a car. Start checking now, book without a credit card, change the reservation as you find cheaper rates, about a week or so before you leave, if you can prepay a better rate do it, it's usually about 15% cheaper to prepay than the current rate on the companies websites. Don't be afraid of the cheap rental car companies, I've used them all, the cars are fine, service can be a little annoying, refuse everything they try to sell you. Also, check rental car rates at different times of day. I've found much better deals at 2am than at noon, may just be coincidence.

Originally when we talked about going with the kids a rental car was a must for me. Then I looked at the prices when you add 2 car seats. They are charging a ton for car seats. Something like $30 each per day. Someone told me that you can get free car seats with the Hertz Gold club which we are members of but I have not looked into it yet. I was also concerned if we could get a car large enough without getting a van of some sort to get 4 people, luggage, and a stroller in.

Quote: JohnnyQ

Then make sure the primary name on the reservation is her and not you, or you will be paying the resort fee. I found this out the hard way.

I had not thought about that, but we will be using both of our cards on the reservation to get the extra few days comped.

Quote: JohnnyQ

NOPE, NOT funny.

Agreed.

But then when you tell someone that jokes about dead children aren't funny, they say you can't take a joke. So you can't win.

It might be cheaper to just buy 2 cheap car seats...

Quote: FinsRule

It might be cheaper to just buy 2 cheap car seats...

I thought about that. I would like to get the rental car right away if we are getting it. If I buy car seats they will have to hang out in the airport while I run to walmart and get them. Or we could shuttle to the hotel and I get the car later.

GWAE,

If Axelwolf has something for you around then, you can trust him. He does everything he says he is going to do, and then he adds some on top of that. In the meantime, I'm busy looking as I type this.

These will all be for Friday and Saturday, I will Edit this post as more deals will found and quote myself when I am finished.

Golden Gate (Las Vegas Advisor)

Room Type: Queen
Location: Downtown
Rate: $42/night
Resort Fees: None With Coupon
Transportation: Walk from Golden Gate to Fremont (Less than one city block) and take free shuttle to Harrah's, shuttle from Harrah's also goes back to Fremont.
Food: 1.) Free shuttle goes to Sam's Town and can walk to Eastside Cannery, free buffets and two-for-one can be earned via Webpass.
2.) For breakfast, if you earn 25 base points ($50 coin-in on VP), then you get a free stack of pancakes at Dupar's with LVA coupon.
3.) Various other food deals available Downtown, including buy-one get one entrees at Magnolia's (quite good, two people eat for x<$15 at Four Queens.

...The search continues

California Casino (American Casino Guide)

Room Type: Any
Location: Downtown
Rate: $60/night (two nights) free third night (must be Sunday)
Resort Fees: None that I can tell.
Transportation and Food: See above, free shuttle also goes to California.

***This California one may not be so great, but still $120 v. $183 for those three days.

Fremont Casino (American Casino Guide)

See above for California, rates are the same too, at least right now.

Sam's Town (American Casino Guide)

Same offer, except the rate for Fri./Sat. is $90/night. Plenty of other coupons there with decent value, and the price is basically the same for three nights. Beautiful looking property with this interior open courtyard adorned in plants and flowers that the family should love. Absolutely gorgeous. Great offers and values at neighboring Eastside Cannery, especially if you use WebPass. Free shuttle to Harrah's.

Straight up Rates

The D (Downtown) would be $155.94 total including tax and resort fees for the Friday/Saturday. Fremont shuttle, great food values all over Downtown.

The Plaza (Downtown) would be $133.34 total including tax (no resort fee, it appears) for the Friday and Saturday, "Ain't never been there, they tell me it's nice."

Downtown Grand: (Will PM with details, I forgot about this!!!)

El Cortez: $146.78, total. Downtown, see above.

For me to continue searching properties, please advise whether you will be travelling to the convention alone or with family that weekend.

Quote: FinsRule

Agreed.

But then when you tell someone that jokes about dead children aren't funny, they say you can't take a joke. So you can't win.

I have faith a good Samaritan would save them. No dead kids in my head, just yours.

I was merely pointing out how dumb people can be in a sarcastic way.

Jokes are jokes and as far as im concerned its exactly that. Unless i am making fun someone directly and their personal tragedy. If priests can joke about sinful stuff and I should lighten up on them. Certainly you could lighten up on me in this situation, since it was meant to be a sarcastic warning and remind people of the obvious.

I wanted to address a few things since they were mentioned already. Again I want to thank everyone for their thoughts. On TA I mentioned we were going to AC with a kid and there were 30 posts after that said I need to rethink our trip and go somewhere else. This is not my first trip there so I am well aware of what going to Vegas means. Sorry for the TLDR; post/thread. Sometimes I just keep going and going.

As I mentioned we are going with some family members for a convention. While we are there we do not plan on gambling very much. At night I may sneak out of the room but during the day I would say there is mostly likely going to be zero gambling. Seems a little silly to some people that we would travel all the way there and not gamble. Part of the reason is the family is going. The other reason is we have vacations planned for the next 3 years so if we don't go this year it is most likely that I will not get another chance for 4 years.

I mentioned in my OP that we need to do this trip on a budget. Our budget for the entire trip not including plane tickets is $3000. If we go for 10 days that is only $300 a day including hotel, food, rental car, and entertainment. We also have 227,756 total rewards rewards points. Between the 2 of us we have over 500k LPS on MyVegas. Because of the convention we will have dinner taken care of for us for probably 4 nights. I will also have access to some other perks like free tickets to Madaam Tussaud's and some other exhibits. Between our perks, MyVegas, and TRCs we should pretty much be able to stay and eat for free. I am going to do my best to stretch those rewards to get the maximum value.

I know a few people think we should just stay home with a new born. The fact of the matter is, people travel all of the time with babies. Just because you have a baby does not mean you have to be a shell of a person for the foreseeable future. If the baby is going to cry in Vegas then the baby is going to cry at home. I know it can be a little annoying to neighboring hotel rooms if he wakes up screaming but we will do our best to prevent that from happening. If he does we will deal with it then and not just let the baby scream like some people do. As I mentioned before, if he is not sleeping well at home then we will just cancel the trip. Also if we end up just sitting in the hotel room playing with cars or taking naps then we are ok with that to. Sometimes you just need to get away. Even if we are basically doing the same thing we would be doing at home it is ok. We will have a blast no matter what we are doing.

When our first son was 6 months old we took a trip to AC for 5 days. My wife and I have already been through having a baby in a hotel and it went fine. As mentioned before in this thread, she is going to be more worn out that me presumably. This actually was the case. Originally we were going to split the nights up gambling but she was more than happy to just relax in the room when the baby was napping or sleeping. If I end up with both kids taking a walk while she is sleeping then I am happy with that. We may not be able to run around like Mission was or like we did 4 years ago but times change. This is actually part of the reason we are going for an extended time. If we were only there for 4 days then I would want to run run run. Being there for 10 days means we can go at a slower pace.

As for the hotel. I am a little annoyed because I was just checking on the rates for Ballys. When I got my price for Harrah's it was based on looking at the calender that they show. What I didn't know is that when you actually click on the dates you get a different price. That was slightly annoying. So officially our dates are going to be Aug 5th-Aug 14. The turns out to be 9 nights. With CET it appears that they will only give a discount rate for a 7 night stay. Whenever I put in all 9 days it jacks up the rates. I guess this means we will be switching hotels. I think what we are going to do is book Bally's for 7 days. All days are comped except Fri and Sat. They are charging $95 a day for those 2. Our total will be $190 for 7 nights. I will then book 2 days at an MGM property using MyVegas. That will get us 9 nights for $190

There have been some things in this thread that I may have overlooked so this thread has already payed dividends to me.

Call Total Rewards and talk to a person about how the internet price goes up for 9 days. I have found they can do more than the computer. That way you don't have to switch.

GWAE,

Nice post, but you have nothing to justify to us or anyone else. If you want to take a trip and feel as though you will have a good time, then you will take a trip and you will, indeed, have a great time.

Just make it clear when you book you have a newborn, I tend to put people with kids near people with kids to the greatest extent possible, that's part of good hotel operations. I'm not saying nobody will knock on the door when lil' GWAE is going nuts at 2:00a.m., and that will happen at least once, but the likelihood is less because other parents tend to be more understanding.

You'll also have family there, as you said, so I am sure they will help out so Mrs. GWAE and yourself can get away for a bit, if not a full day. Perhaps they will take responsibility for the kids overnight and you guys can drop a few bucks on another hotel room and check out a different part of (Down)town. There's value there for a trip such as this, use the coupons available to you, use them the right way, and I personally guarantee you can make that one night away essentially free.

Shuttle around, see the sights, get a late check-out. Hopefully, your family will be willing to give you that one day. Mrs. Mission gave me my vacation and I will be returning the favor this Summer.

Take that one day and blaze hard, be everywhere, do everything, crush it! And then, you go back and take care of your kids!

GWAE - Hope you didn't think I was telling you not to go. You can do whatever you want, and I think people should do more things with children. People's disdain for children really pisses me off.

I was just saying that it wouldn't be my idea of fun. I get to go to Vegas so infrequently that bringing a newborn would be a terrible tease. And I just think the Strip might be a little too crowded and hectic. Off the strip will be a little quieter and easy to maneuver.

I wish you good luck with everything. It sounds exhausting, but probably only a little more exhausting than you'd be anyway.

Quote: AxelWolf

I have faith a good Samaritan would save them. No dead kids in my head, just yours.

I was merely pointing out how dumb people can be in a sarcastic way.

Jokes are jokes and as far as im concerned its exactly that. Unless i am making fun someone directly and their personal tragedy. If priests can joke about sinful stuff and I should lighten up on them. Certainly you could lighten up on me in this situation, since it was meant to be a sarcastic warning and remind people of the obvious.

I just didn't think the joke was funny. Nothing really more than that. I tell unfunny jokes all the time.

Quote: FinsRule

GWAE - Hope you didn't think I was telling you not to go. You can do whatever you want, and I think people should do more things with children. People's disdain for children really pisses me off.

I was just saying that it wouldn't be my idea of fun. I get to go to Vegas so infrequently that bringing a newborn would be a terrible tease. And I just think the Strip might be a little too crowded and hectic. Off the strip will be a little quieter and easy to maneuver.

I wish you good luck with everything. It sounds exhausting, but probably only a little more exhausting than you'd be anyway.

no not at all. I may have come off a little defensive. I just wanted to clarify our plans and on TA people bash quickly so I like to put more details than needed.

DOLLAR car rental has some great rates for weekly rentals .... I have one booked for later in May Nissan Altima for $210 all
fees included.... unlimited mileage ....here is what is on there right now for week starting Aug 11


Pick-up
LAS VEGAS - MCCARRAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Las Vegas, NV
Mon Aug. 11, 2014 at noon
Return
Same as Pick-up
Mon Aug. 18, 2014 at noon
CAR & RATE
Change
Car Class:
Mid-size Dodge Avenger (or similar)
Rental Time:
1 Week at $110.00 per week. Unlimited mileage.
Total Base Rate
$110.00
Car Options
Change
Not Selected
Book the Car
You are here
Totals
Airport Access Fee
$12.05
Facility Charge
$26.25
Rental Tax
$19.06
State Tax
$12.86
Vehicle License Fee
$10.50
Total Est. Mandatory Charges
$80.72
Est. Grand Total
$190.72

.....now if you want it all 11 days it will be more but maybe 7 days will work out say after the convention is over


and if you do rent from DOLLAR join their club and avoid standing in line to pick up your car.... last December my time there
from the time I walked in to the time I drove away was under 15 minutes


BTW what does the airline charge to ship two kids seats?

DELTA AIRLINES rules for kids seats

Strollers & Child Restraint Seats

Children’s strollers and seat restraints are not counted as part of the standard baggage and therefore can easily be checked for free. For your convenience these items may be checked at curbside, the ticket counter, or at the gate.

Child restraint seats may be brought on board the plane in certain circumstances. For instance, if there is an open passenger seat in your row, you may place your child in an FAA-approved child restraint in that seat during take-off and landing. If an empty passenger seat is not available for your child restraint, the item must be checked at the gate by a Delta representative.

Quote: GWAE

Originally when we talked about going with the kids a rental car was a must for me. Then I looked at the prices when you add 2 car seats. They are charging a ton for car seats. Something like $30 each per day. Someone told me that you can get free car seats with the Hertz Gold club which we are members of but I have not looked into it yet. I was also concerned if we could get a car large enough without getting a van of some sort to get 4 people, luggage, and a stroller in.


I had not thought about that, but we will be using both of our cards on the reservation to get the extra few days comped.

You can rent car seats, from baby rental places, every big city has them, for about $2 a day or $10 a week in Las Vegas. Just search "rent car seat las vegas"

If there is any way you can afford it, stay in the same hotel as the sitters, especially the other couple with their kid. It will make doing anything much easier if you can simply walk them down the hall, or up or down an elevator, rather than loading up the car, or having to cross the street. You can swap sitting duties with the other couple with the kid, and not feel like you're imposing.

The summer heat is oppressive, and it will make it very difficult to spend an extended amount of time in at the pool, or even walking outside, during the day (and maybe even at night too). Dehydration, dry skin, and static electricity make it very difficult for young kids to get comfortable. Indoor malls, like the ones at Venetian, Caesars, or even Planet Hollywood will provide a good place for your toddler to get some exercise.

There is a kids museum near downtown that you may want to look into. The Ethel M Chocolate factory has a free tour that might be fun. At the end of the day, your kids are too young to remember anything from the trip, so don't spend a lot of time or money on things just for them.

Bring a portable DVD player, and a patch cable. A "Pack-N-Play" is also worth the hassle. Hotel room carpet is pretty nasty, so you don't want them touching it with their bare hands and feet if possible.

I wish you the best.

Most hotels have a crib or more like a pack-n-play. Get some sanitizer. Much easier.

I started this thread last year but we had to cancel the plans because our plane tickets were going to cost $1800 at the time. On Sunday I booked 3 tickets round trip, plus lap baby for $148 total. This will be on spirit so we will see how it goes. We will be in town Sept 29th for 3 days. Very short notice so we are scrambling to make plans.

So far this is what we have planned.

Tuesday, going to Mandalay bay for shark reef.
We are thinking about walking from there to the vegas sign. Is this a safe walk? I was looking at Google maps and it seems ok. Thoughts?
Tuesday night we are going downtown to see the light show.

Wednesday we are staying on the strip. We want to go to tournament of the Kings. Originally had planned on getting tickets through myvegas but it says nothing is available even though they let me take the reward. We also want to see the volcano and fountains.

We will be staying at Paris which is a first for me.

We didn't have this trip budgeted since it kinda came out of no where so our goal is to budget only $500 including airfare. There will be very little gaming if any. This is my 5th or 6th trip and even though it will be a different kinda trip we are excited to go.

Can you remind me of the age of the little one(s).

I would probably skip the downtown light show. A bit shady downtown. Plus how would you get your child from Paris to downtown.

So, what else you say ?

- Walk through the pool area at the Flamingo to see the birds.

- Scenic Red Rock canyon if you get a car ( but on your budget, that may not fit ).

- How 'bout the silly animatronic statues at the Forum shops ?

Thanks for the reply. I missed it somehow. Kids are 2 and 4.

Just found out that the adventure some is closed for maintenance that week we are there. May still go there for the curcus acts and midway.

I was finally able to book ToK tickets for free through myvegas so that is good news.

Question: wife wants to walk from man bay to vegas sign. Google Street view seems like it is doable. Has anyone done it? Is it safe walking?

Quote: GWAE

Question: wife wants to walk from man bay to vegas sign. Google Street view seems like it is doable. Has anyone done it? Is it safe walking?

I can't remember exactly how far that would be, but from what I recall it should be walk-able. I would suggest doing it in the daytime.

I think Google maps said it was .8 miles. Wasn't sure if there was a sidewalk on that stretch of road. It looks like there is but couldn't tell for sure. It will probably be around 1pm. Other than 95 degrees it should be ok as long as there is a sidewalk. Kids will be in stroller.

It seems like there is a sidewalk on the east side of Las Vegas Blvd all the way to the Welcome Sign, but I am not 99.54 % sure. Don't forget to take sunscreen for the little ones !