The next two days (Sunday and Monday) w/my sister pretty much followed the same pattern. We’d wake up early, catch a breakfast buffet (one day Harrah’s Flavors and the next Flamingo). I enjoyed the quality and selection of both these buffets, with the Flamingo gaining a slight edge over Harrah’s. After breakfast we’d “ooh and aah” over the turtles and flamingos in the courtyard and ponds. We’d roam around the strip a little, visiting the Bellagio Conservatory, watching the dancing waters, and doing more shopping than I’m used to. My sister would then take 'em off to the pool and Hubby and I would carouse on the strip here and there gambling degenerately. I could never really get into a good gambling rhythm because we always had to meet up at certain times to do this or that. On one of these two days we went to the Mac King Comedy Magic Show. Mac King was not there that week, so he had a stand in. I thought the show was cute and entertaining and appropriate for all ages (3 claps). The thing I disliked most was Dinner. My sister kept insisting we eat at Margaritaville every night! This was terribly annoying. I mean, I enjoyed it the first night, but it’s Vegas, and there are so many quality choices, why limit yourself this way? By the third night we gave her some cash and said, “Have fun at Margaritaville! We’re walking over to Ellis Island.” Thank goodness for this reprieve. Best dinner of the entire trip. We had our free cocktails at the bar, played some video blackjack while we waited for the BBQ, and thoroughly enjoyed the gritty ambiance. Best part: not a parrot or parrot head to be seen ANYWHERE.
We’d thought about taking the kids to see nighttime attractions like the Mirage volcano or Treasure Island pirate show, however, they were so tired at the end of each day and the Vegas strip gets pretty seedy at dusk, what with all the strange characters who crawl out of the woodwork after the sun goes down…. I don’t think it’s appropriate to have my kids in that environment after dark, so it worked out nicely that they were wiped out and hit the hay early each night without complaint. We often found ourselves falling asleep early with them (I’m talking 8:00pm here people) but then I would wake up about 1am and hit the casino. I’d crawl back in around 3am and Tony would whisper, “My turn!” then he’d run out in the wee hours to play craps, usually at Casino Royale.
On Tuesday, my sister had to head back to Colorado. We bid them adieu after breakfast and now we were completely on our own. First thing we said to the kids after waving goodbye to auntie was that they would NOT be eating at Margaritaville this night or any other night for the remainder of our trip!!
O'Shea's. Going to miss this place and the little, green dude!
After some afternoon pool time, the five of us hopped on the bus and headed downtown for Freemont Street. We ate dinner at Magnolia’s with a 2-4-1 coupon. Whatever Tony and I ordered was adequate, but I distinctly remember the kids ordered a small cheese pizza to split and it also was pretty good. We all enjoyed the Freemont Street Experience. Because everything is so much closer together, I’d walk around and shop w/the kids while Tony would go in and matchplay/coupon run. We took turns ducking into the casinos and doing this for a couple hours and it worked out well for us. This was our latest night out in Vegas, not returning to the strip (via a cab) until well past 11:00!
Wednesday was our last full day and night in Vegas. We had buy one hour, get one hour free at the Palms Kids Club, so we shuttled over to Rio, ate at the breakfast buffet there, then walked across the street to dump the kids in their “club” and play some multi-line VP! We had two hours of great fun and gambling relaxation and when we went to pick the kids up two hours later, they didn’t want to leave. I give the Palms kids club Five Crayons! By now it was early afternoon so we got them some food at the Palm’s food court and shuttled back to Flamingo. I was pretty sick of the loud, crowded Flamingo pool by now, so we walked over and used the Paris pool. Far more laid back, shade is aplenty, and they have great food/drink service. Excellent all the way around. We actually stayed here through dinner and ordered burgers – eating right at the pool –loved it.
Vegas Baby...I'll be back when I'm 21!
The next day we rented a car, headed for San Diego, and enjoyed another full week out west. My overall thoughts on bringing your kids to Vegas: if you can, leave them home! I think we did a good job keeping it PG, but let’s face it, they completely interfere with what YOU want to do! I was thankful to have my sister (and Palms Club) there, but you still have to be terribly responsible (that’s no fun) and cater to their needs and interests almost exclusively. At any rate, it was a good time, we just had to adjust our expectations is all, and the quality family time together created great memories.
This summer, kids WILL be staying put in Colorado with my mom and sister. We have 7 nights booked in Vegas – our longest trip ever. Five nights at Bally’s (discounted rate of $225 w/tax for the updated North Tower) and 2 comped nights at The Orleans. I had a total of four nights comped (2 in my name + 2 in Tony’s name) at Orleans but it would have meant switching hotels 3 times vs. 2. We thought about how much we dislike waiting in the check-in/check-out lines and transporting luggage all over town, and decided to make Bally’s a full 5 day reservation, thus cancelling my two free Orleans nights. It’s worth the extra cost to us to not to have to hassle moving hotels every 2/3 days.
And now for the good stuff, starting w/the Coupon Chase!
I’ve purchased two ACG books (one for me, one forTony) and one MRB, then categorized and planned the most efficient ways to use them all. I’ve got four envelopes with the following labels: strip, downtown, east of strip, west of strip.
I’d like to visit (or re-visit) the following buffets: Golden Nugget, Mirage, Paris, Planet Hollywood, Rio, and Harrah’s. Dinner at The Flame, Ellis Island, Nove (w/50%off coupon) and maybe even the steak dinner promo I recently read about at The Trop. I’ve got coupon runs and win card runs planned almost daily. Of the seven days in Vegas, we’re planning on taking the SDX bus downtown two days and spending a good deal of time (and bankroll) over at Palms, Gold Coast, and Orleans as they seem to be offering the most bang for our buck gambling wise this summer.
I've got very little pool time scheduled here, and that's fine by me. I also likely will not be squeezing in a return visit to Margaritaville!
We’d thought about taking the kids to see nighttime attractions like the Mirage volcano or Treasure Island pirate show, however, they were so tired at the end of each day and the Vegas strip gets pretty seedy at dusk, what with all the strange characters who crawl out of the woodwork after the sun goes down…. I don’t think it’s appropriate to have my kids in that environment after dark, so it worked out nicely that they were wiped out and hit the hay early each night without complaint. We often found ourselves falling asleep early with them (I’m talking 8:00pm here people) but then I would wake up about 1am and hit the casino. I’d crawl back in around 3am and Tony would whisper, “My turn!” then he’d run out in the wee hours to play craps, usually at Casino Royale.
On Tuesday, my sister had to head back to Colorado. We bid them adieu after breakfast and now we were completely on our own. First thing we said to the kids after waving goodbye to auntie was that they would NOT be eating at Margaritaville this night or any other night for the remainder of our trip!!
O'Shea's. Going to miss this place and the little, green dude!
After some afternoon pool time, the five of us hopped on the bus and headed downtown for Freemont Street. We ate dinner at Magnolia’s with a 2-4-1 coupon. Whatever Tony and I ordered was adequate, but I distinctly remember the kids ordered a small cheese pizza to split and it also was pretty good. We all enjoyed the Freemont Street Experience. Because everything is so much closer together, I’d walk around and shop w/the kids while Tony would go in and matchplay/coupon run. We took turns ducking into the casinos and doing this for a couple hours and it worked out well for us. This was our latest night out in Vegas, not returning to the strip (via a cab) until well past 11:00!
Wednesday was our last full day and night in Vegas. We had buy one hour, get one hour free at the Palms Kids Club, so we shuttled over to Rio, ate at the breakfast buffet there, then walked across the street to dump the kids in their “club” and play some multi-line VP! We had two hours of great fun and gambling relaxation and when we went to pick the kids up two hours later, they didn’t want to leave. I give the Palms kids club Five Crayons! By now it was early afternoon so we got them some food at the Palm’s food court and shuttled back to Flamingo. I was pretty sick of the loud, crowded Flamingo pool by now, so we walked over and used the Paris pool. Far more laid back, shade is aplenty, and they have great food/drink service. Excellent all the way around. We actually stayed here through dinner and ordered burgers – eating right at the pool –loved it.
Vegas Baby...I'll be back when I'm 21!
The next day we rented a car, headed for San Diego, and enjoyed another full week out west. My overall thoughts on bringing your kids to Vegas: if you can, leave them home! I think we did a good job keeping it PG, but let’s face it, they completely interfere with what YOU want to do! I was thankful to have my sister (and Palms Club) there, but you still have to be terribly responsible (that’s no fun) and cater to their needs and interests almost exclusively. At any rate, it was a good time, we just had to adjust our expectations is all, and the quality family time together created great memories.
This summer, kids WILL be staying put in Colorado with my mom and sister. We have 7 nights booked in Vegas – our longest trip ever. Five nights at Bally’s (discounted rate of $225 w/tax for the updated North Tower) and 2 comped nights at The Orleans. I had a total of four nights comped (2 in my name + 2 in Tony’s name) at Orleans but it would have meant switching hotels 3 times vs. 2. We thought about how much we dislike waiting in the check-in/check-out lines and transporting luggage all over town, and decided to make Bally’s a full 5 day reservation, thus cancelling my two free Orleans nights. It’s worth the extra cost to us to not to have to hassle moving hotels every 2/3 days.
And now for the good stuff, starting w/the Coupon Chase!
I’ve purchased two ACG books (one for me, one forTony) and one MRB, then categorized and planned the most efficient ways to use them all. I’ve got four envelopes with the following labels: strip, downtown, east of strip, west of strip.
I’d like to visit (or re-visit) the following buffets: Golden Nugget, Mirage, Paris, Planet Hollywood, Rio, and Harrah’s. Dinner at The Flame, Ellis Island, Nove (w/50%off coupon) and maybe even the steak dinner promo I recently read about at The Trop. I’ve got coupon runs and win card runs planned almost daily. Of the seven days in Vegas, we’re planning on taking the SDX bus downtown two days and spending a good deal of time (and bankroll) over at Palms, Gold Coast, and Orleans as they seem to be offering the most bang for our buck gambling wise this summer.
I've got very little pool time scheduled here, and that's fine by me. I also likely will not be squeezing in a return visit to Margaritaville!
