Take the kids to the shark acquarium at the Mandalay and to see the Tiger/Dolphin habitat at the Mirage. A few years ago I was at the mirage with my kids (no problem walking thru the lobby/casino with the kids, and we didn't gamble either), we went to see the dolphins. They gave a brief presentation than let my kids 'play catch' with the dophins. One of the dolphins must have liked my son for some reason, the dolphin kept hitting the ball right at him and would not pay any attention to any of the other kids. My son would even give the ball to other kids, and the dolphin in turn would hit it back to my son! They had to ask us to leave, because this dolphin only wanted to play with my son and other people were getting annoyed.

Vegas always was, and always will be, an adult town. There have been feeble attempts to make the town 'family friendly' by adding themed casinos, water shows, shark reef, volcano, etc. but that still will never cover up what Vegas truly is - an ADULT playland. People gamble not only because they want to but because they CAN. A poster said that gamblers are a sorry looking group of people and that his/her kids were disgusted by what they saw. Here's an idea - take the kids to Disney World. We adults think that families in Vegas are a sorry looking group of people, what with their obvious disgust at the sex scene and the vacationing adults who want to gamble and enjoy themselves in what is supposed to be an adult atmosphere.

Some hotel/casino's keep the gambilng sections separted from the other areas (check in, resturaunts, shops, arcades, etc.), and some don't. But most have walkways you can get children quickly through the casino floors. Picking a more family friendly property may help.

I stayed at Circus Circus a few years ago (BAD choice - was very poorly advised!!) and the first night there we were sitting in a bar off the casino at 4am. Directly in front of me was a couple throwing money into the slots, oblivious to anything going on around them - including their two children who were probably 2/3 years old. They were just standing there, munching on a burger, bored out of their poor little minds. I have never felt moral outrage like it!!

Don't worry, I'm not assuming that you would do the same thing :-) I just thought I'd commment! It was outrageous!

Here today- I have a similar daughter to you. She's 21, married and in law school, 1700 miles from her mom. And I took her to Vegas as a teen, LOL. :-)