Kid Friendly Las Vegas



For the family that is headed to the Southwest for vacation, there is a kid friendly Las Vegas. While hotels such as the Tropicana and Bellagio have child unfriendly policies and should be avoided, others such as Circus Circus are family oriented and not only have policies that are friendly to kids and adults alike, but also feature exciting attractions that will provide lively entertainment for kids and adults alike, for hours, and probably for days.



The city has not traditionally welcomed families as much as the single high rollers who could afford to lose a months pay at a casino and participated in nights of adult fun, complete with half-clad show girls and escort companions waiting in the wings. However, years of experience showed that families spent far less on hotels, meals, and drinks, opting instead to scrimp on hotels, pony up for extremely low cost buffets, and drank very little, when at all. Can you believe that? It sounds like the Osmonds and the Partridge family going out to tear up the town in Nevada's sin city.

But never fear as all is not lost! World class attractions developed to provide wonderful entertainment for families, even if they aren't found on every street corner. Many of the parks require an admission price, but the parks are large enough and include enough diversity to accommodate the entire family for the whole day. At some of them you'd better remember to bring your bathing suits, as water rides will be the main attraction, including water slides, tanks with wave machines, and inner tube chutes. At others, tennis shoes are more the order for the day, as you'll wander through a maze of interesting sights, although there will be plenty of places to rest, eat, and buy souvenirs. Are you ready?

The Wet 'n' Wild Water Park will provide a relief from the heat of the desert while the family performs an inspection of the 26 acre park that was built in 1977. First stop for the teens might be the Blue Niagara water slide, with a slide that is six stories tall, plunging the daring toward the water on a nearly free-fall journey to a pool that waits below. Of course there are plenty of rides for the less daring, including log toboggan like chutes and quieter pools for very young children. Adults daily admission is between $24 and $30, with reduced rates for children. Kids under 3 are admitted free, and there is a senior discount. The park is only open in the summer, although it includes many months into spring and fall as part of the summer.

At the Mirage, children can enjoy shows put on by bottlenose dolphins performing their trained acts at Siegfried & Roy's Secret Dolphin and Garden Habitat. Lions, tigers, panthers, and leopards share the habitat with trainers and put on daily shows. Open daily, including weekends and holidays, adults pay $15 to $20, and children have the usual reduced rates.