How far to drive from Las Vegas ?
 

We will be in Las Vegas for 1 week and were thinking of going to Disneyland or San Diego.
Can someone please tell us how long the drive will be?
Also looking for playgrounds etc[things to do] for toddlers in the Las Vegas area?

mapquest or freetrip.com will give you time and miles.

See this thread:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34614140

You are looking at a solid 350 miles which in theory could be done in 5 or 6 hours.

Theoretical driving times go out the window on that drive. Day of week, time of day and weather change everything. One accident on I-15 or any of the LA area expressways and all bets are off.

Isn't Vegas just one big playground?? Oh...that kind, I suspect that you need to get into the residential neighborhoods to find swings and slides for little ones. Can't help you there.

Downstairs in Excaliber there a video-arcade type place that has (as I recall) some toddler-friendly rides, games, puppets and jugglers.

The pool area of the Flamingo has lots of trees and wooded paths, with birds (flamingos!) walking around. It would be a pleasant walk for the kids.

A google search with Las Vegas Parks turns up Las Vegas kids.net, a big list of all parks in the city.

In my opinion, you should definately drive to San Diego for a few days. I did a similar trip from las vegas going to San Diego and Tijuana. It is very doable. It took me only about 5 hours from city to city. Traffic will be very congested on the highway from San Berindino to San Diego. The Drive in the Mojave Desert is very beautiful and always fascinates me.

I would kill myself if I took toddlers in a car to Disneyland from Las Vegas. The traffic can be a nightmare and you are stuck, once you are on that highway. Not to mention, it is about 6 hours or so driving one way.
I cannot remember ever seeing a playground in Las Vegas, but that is because we never took children. You might have some luck at the Excalibur, they are always full of families.
placeu2, LOL, one big playground, yes, but just for us Big Babies!

We live in Orange County (not that far from Disneyland) and we can make it from Las Vegas back home in about 4 hours and even stop for a quick hamburger on the way too. Of course if the traffic is terrible that might not be the case but we always go on weekdays and come back on any day except Sunday and Monday. It really isn't terrible. I think a week in Vegas with Children would be worse thn heading to Disney or San Diego.

Without traffic, the drive to Los Angeles/Anaheim is about 5 hours. A good place to stop is about half way at Barstow. Get off the freeway where the discount mall is --there are lots of fast food restaurants as well as some sit-down restaurants. Baker is halfway--it has a good Greek restaurant, a burger place (the famous "Bun Boy") and fast food restaurants.
In Las Vegas, we like to take the kids hiking at Red Rock Canyon (bring water and picnic food), Mt. Charleston (skiiing in winter), and Valley of Fire State Park (bring lots of water and your own food)--it is 1/2 hour up the freeway from Vegas and the turn-off is at a Native American store/gas station--with another 1/2 hour to go from there (for a total of one hour--do it during nap time!) I think a toddler would do better at Sea World than at Disneyland (unless your toddler prefers rides to seeing giant whales)