Tag: Family-Friendly Vegas View All Tags
Tags: Attractions / Cloud 9 Balloon / Photo Ops / Family-Friendly Vegas / → All Tags
Get High in Vegas: Cloud 9 Balloon Rides to Launch Oct. 5
If you were across the street from Mandalay Bay last night around 9 p.m., you would have born witness to the dramatic appearance of a giant, glowing white orb. A refugee alien aircraft escaped from the infamous Area 51, perhaps? Not quite. What was really happening was the inaugural inflation of the new Cloud 9 Balloon, a two-ton, 75-foot diameter, helium-filled tethered balloon that will begin ferrying passengers 500 feet into the air on October 5.
The company, based in France, claims the balloon is the world’s largest, tethered, helium balloon ride. Its gondola can hold 25-30 passengers at a time for 10-minute rides that will offer a 360-degree vista of the Las Vegas valley.
Ticket prices are $17.50 for children 5-12 years old and $22.50 for adults from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The premium time to take in the Vegas skyline, of course, is nighttime, so prices rise to $22.50 for kids and $27.50 for adults from 6 p.m. until 2 a.m. Children under 4 are free, and the balloon is wheelchair accessible.
Tags: Attractions / Paris / Eiffel Tower / Family-Friendly Vegas / Long Lines / → All Tags
There Will Be a Wait But the Pictures Will be Worth it at Paris' Eiffel Tower
So, we always thought it was funny that Paris Las Vegas named one floor of its parking garage after the “Eiffel Tour.” “Tour,” you may know, is the Frenchified spelling of “tower,” but in France they actually call it the “Tour Eiffel.” Oh, well. Perhaps we’re just hanging on a bit too tightly to our junior high-level grasp of the French language.
Paris’ Eiffel Tower is actually a half-scale replica of the real thing, and features both an 11th-floor restaurant and a 460-foot-high observation deck reached by the “Eiffel Tower Ride.” Take this elevator trip to the top and enjoy a view of the Strip from one its most scenic, centrally located points – as well as the commentary provided by your elevator attendant.
Tags: Shows / Family-Friendly Vegas / Excalibur / Tournament of Kings / → All Tags
The Excalibur's Tournament of Kings: Forever Cheesy, Always Family-Friendly
By all accounts, the show at the Excalibur billed as replete with “Invading armies! Dancing maidens! Jousting! Fireworks! And eating with your fingers!” offers families visiting Vegas the most memorable and age-appropriate opportunity for entertainment in town.
The Tournament of Kings dinner show is a completely safe and, all told, reasonably entertaining way to occupy a mixed-ages group looking for a way to bond while in Vegas. Sure, there are other shows that are appropriate for children: Blue Man Group advertises kids’ rates, for example, and the Cirque shows generally allow children 5 and over to attend. But you run the risk of attracting sidelong glances from unappreciative strangers if your young ones start gleefully exclaiming at the wonderment they’re witnessing (and who could blame them?).
Tags: Did You Know / Active Vegas / Attractions / Family-Friendly Vegas / → All Tags
That Vegas Has a Wetlands Park You Can Visit?
Take Tropicana Avenue east from the Strip all the way to its ending point, and you’ll find Wetlands Park, which is shaping up to be Las Vegas’ most interesting civic undertakings.
Las Vegas isn’t all desert, after all, but features natural wetlands that are in the process of being reclaimed and restored to create this park. Here’s a cool sidenote reported in Saturday’s LVRJ: for every acre of “environmentally sensitive” land developers disturb in Clark County, they are required to purchase an acre of land in the Wetlands Park.
Tags: Family-Friendly Vegas / Forum Shops / Shopping / Kids in Vegas / → All Tags
Why The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace Are So Kid-Friendly
Whether your kid’s still small enough to carry in a sling or old enough to nag you for your car keys and credit card, the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace is sure to keep the kiddies entertained. Aside from that, the Forum Shops have been named most profitable mall in America for well over a decade, which means it’s got great stores and is well trafficked. In other words: It’s a people-watching bonanza.
But back to the kids. We’ve compiled this handy list of some of the reasons why The Forum Shops is a great place to take the kids:
FAO Schwartz: ‘Nuff said. At this famous toy store, you can make like Tom Hanks in “Big” and dance on the giant floor piano. You can also effectively bribe your kids to behave on the plane ride out here by promising to take them to FAO Schwartz.
Talking Statue Shows: There are two of them, one starring Bacchus, god of the good life, and one about the brother-and-sister brats who angered their father and caused the fall of Atlantis. They both feature kind of retro, Disney-esque animatronics – not the most cutting-edge production value you’ve ever seen. Nonetheless, people of all ages line up to see them at the top of the hour.
Tags: Hotel Reviews / Circus Circus / Family-Friendly Vegas / → All Tags
An Open Letter to Circus Circus
Dear Circus Circus :
You have us so conflicted. Your renovated rooms are nice. Really nice. Surprisingly nice. The dark wood furniture, the plush bedding, the flat screen, the granite in the bathroom. If we didn’t know better, we’d think we were farther south down the Strip, in something with an Italian-sounding name, perhaps.
The people that work in the hotel? Very nice, friendly, and helpful too. Even the food—super cheesy pizza for dinner in the Pizzeria and a light, fluffy egg white omelet with a generous helping of fresh melon on the side the next morning at the Casino Cafe—was pretty good.
The people who stay with you, however... they are another story. We nearly lost it on a group of three men behind us during check-in who felt entitled to continually make comments about how kids shouldn't be allowed in the check-in line. Ummm, if you don't want to see kids running around, don't stay somewhere with circus in the name, let alone twice. Pony up the extra hundred-or-so bucks and go stay at the Wynn.
Tags: Candy Shops / Attractions / Family-Friendly Vegas / Chocolate / MM World / → All Tags
M&Ms World Will Take Care of Your Chocolate Fix
One of the most colorful attractions in Las Vegas certainly has to be M&Ms World, a four-story shrine to the popular candy-coated chocolates.
Here you will find M&Ms-themed attractions like a 3-D film, a replica of Las Vegas NASCAR driver Kyle Busch’s M&Ms branded car and a time line charting the evolution of M&Ms’ advertising over the years.
Don’t mistake this for a real museum or anything, though. It’s a merchandising extravaganza for the M&Ms/Mars folks. Here, you’ll find more M&Ms merchandise than you would have ever thought possible (or necessary), from squishy M&M-shaped pillows to – no kidding – crystal-encrusted tie clips, plus every kind of garment, candy dispenser and tchotchke in between.
Tags: Attractions / NBA / Family-Friendly Vegas / Planet Hollywood / Hoop Hall Experience / → All Tags
Hoop Hall Experience Opens at Planet Hollywood
A couple of years back, Vegas hosted the NBA’s All-Star weekend. For the year or so leading up to it, city officials trotted out Vegas’ All-Star hosting gig as proof that Vegas was the quintessential sports destination and talked themselves hoarse about it to any media person within earshot.
Of course, Las Vegas doesn’t have an NBA team – or any major professional sports franchise, for that matter – so the claim of uber-sportsness may ring a teensy bit hollow. Somehow, though, Vegas manages to retain its cred as a top choice for sports fans, likely owing to the existence of legalized sports betting here. That alone makes Super Bowl weekend and the first weekend of March Madness among the most frenetic times to visit Sin City all year.
Tags: Family-Friendly Vegas / Vegas for Kids / Attractions / Downtown / Museums / → All Tags
How To Keep Your Kids Away from Early Gambling Tendencies
Despite its avowals to the contrary, Las Vegas really is naturally geared for entertaining the knee-high set. After all, casinos represent the world’s biggest Busy Boxes with their flashing lights, continuous doop-de-doop music and candy colors...like adults, kids are mesmerized by all this stuff.
Sadly for mom and dad, however, it is not permissible to set Junior’s stroller next to your slot machine while you methodically deplete his college fund, one quarter at a time. Nor do cocktail waitresses look kindly on patrons observed pouring their libations into sippy cups, no matter how much the young ones clamor for it. Pity.
Tags: Family-Friendly Vegas / Kids in Vegas / → All Tags
What Happens In Vegas...Can Still Be Fun For Families
It’s been awhile since the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's (LVCVA) short-lived, family-friendly marketing message was replaced with the more appropriate "What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas." Today’s Vegas may celebrate its more naughty side, but a visit to Sin City with the kids can still be a worthwhile and fun-filled experience—if plan it out before you go.
Today, we discuss the best places to stay as a family. Next week we'll talk about where to go and what to see.
