pixierae99

Hello,

My 19 month old and I are going to tag-along with my husband on a business trip for a week. During the day I will be on my own with my son and I was wondering if anyone has any tips on things that we could do. We will be staying at the Mandalay and we won't have a car so we will need to walk or take the monorail to things. So far I have found the following activities that he might like:

Aquarium at Mandalay
Bird show at the Tropicana
Lions at Mirage
Aquarium at Mirage
Flamingos at the Flamingo
Rides on the monorail
Acrobats at Tropicana
M&M's next to the MGM (??? - no idea what this is)

If you know of anything else I would love to hear about it. Also, is there anywhere where he will be able to walk around a bit and stretch his legs? I am guessing there aren't any actual parks in walking distance, but are there any hotels with nice grounds to walk around?

Is there anywhere in particular that you suggest we eat that is kid friendly?

Thank you so much for any advice.

FainaAgain

Pixie, you are looking at something really old! There are no birds and no acrobats any longer at Tropicana.

M&M is a candy store.

There is a short free monorail from Mandalay to Luxor to Excalibur. If you mean the monorail along the hotels for which you pay, the walk to/from is so long, not worth it.

beachbum

There's also a lion exhibit in MGM Grand, which is closer than Mirage to Mandalay Bay. And Faina's right; M&M's is a store that sells mostly M&M's products/candy. Right next to the Coca Cola store, I think. Except that he likes candy, you son might be too young to enjoy these places though. Same is probably true of the kids' game room in Excalibur, but you might give it a shot.

Aside from the food court type options available in several hotels, MGM Grand has a Rainforest Cafe.

Good luck, and I hope you have fun. But I honestly think you might be climbing the walls after a couple days.

anna_roz

A week is a long-long time to be in Vegas even without a small child.

If all else fails, you could always head to the extensive shopping promenades at the Cesars Palace, Venetian, and/or the old Alladin.

You are not saying when you would be going. If it were during warm months, you could spend some quality time by the pool.

As far as kid friendly places to eat, there is a California Pizza Kitchen at the Mirage, and just about any decent dinner buffet would do, since there would be lots of food options to choose from.

Enjoy!

Anna Roz

pixierae99

Faina, thank you for letting me know that those events are no longer occurring at the Tropicana. I had no idea the M&M place was just a store. We won’t be going there. As for the monorail, considering how many times I have repeatedly gone up and down (and up and down) the glass elevator at our local mall because my son loves it so much, I have a feeling the monorail between Excalibur and Mandalay will be a hit too. I was going to use the other monorail to get down to Belagio for the water show and the Flamingo to see the Flamingos. I was just going to take the free monorail from MB to Excalibur and then walk to MGM and pick up the other monorail there. Bad idea? Long walk?

Beachbum, we will check out the lions at MGM. Thank you! I can see what you’re saying about climbing the walls. I know we won’t be doing any of the usual things that people go to Vegas for, but I do hope to make the best of having the opportunity to go and get out of the house for a few days.

Anna Roz, we are going next week so I think it will be too cool for the pool but I am wondering if maybe it will be a nice area to go for walks and play a little. I heard there is a “beach” there so I wonder if we can play with his sand toys there? Y’know, maybe I shouldn’t have said a week. We arrive late Monday and leave early Friday so we actually have three full days. BTW, thanks for the CPK tip. They have a great kid’s menu and I enjoy their pizza too.

He takes a nice long nap around noon so we just need to have a little morning outing after breakfast for a few hours and then an afternoon outing after he wakes from his nap and has lunch. We’ll be going back to the room each day for his naps. I guess for 3 days we need six little outings so I am a few short.

Thanks again to those who responded. Any other suggestions would be great too.

Pixie

KELDEL

There is a Circus at the Rio, but you will need to look up the times of the show (it is free though). You will need to take a cab there too.

FainaAgain

"I was just going to take the free monorail from MB to Excalibur and then walk to MGM and pick up the other monorail there. Bad idea? Long walk?" - maybe not. If your son loves transport, the monorail can be an attraction for him - it goes on the 2nd floor level above the street, he can look out of the window.

You can "break up" this walk looking at the tigers or having a meal at the Rainforest Cafe. They have some "rainstorm" and animation.

There is a glass elevator at Tropicana, somewhere in the buffet area going down to the pool.

Is Circus Circus still offering free circus during the day?

Definitely go to Flamingo's arboretum, they also have penguins and ducks and koi pond (at least when we were there!) I think the pool area (grass, trees) is opened for visitors in winter.

Check out the times of the "freebies" like Bellagio fountains - they dance to music. Mirage has a "volcano".

FainaAgain

Take him to Luxor to run from a statue to a statue!

There are elevators to overpasses to cross the street, I think they are glass elevators.

At Venetian he can watch boats and stand on a moving walkway in the Wax museum area.

pixierae99

Faina,

Thank you so much for all of the terrific suggestions. We've all gotten sick around here so between that and the fact that it sounds not particularly pleasant to go to Vegas with a toddler, with mixed emotions my son and I won't be joining my husband for this trip. Thank you again for the great ideas.

MonicaRichards

Pixierae, I think you are making the right decision. I love to travel with kids and I like Las Vegas enough but the two together don't make for a fun week in my opinion.