wow, thanks for all the help everyone. The price in my first post was for a southwest vacations package, so I have checked that. It's possible booking everything separately will be more economical, albeit more work... but no big thing. By the way, Bally's rate, for our tentative dates (very tentative), was not that great. There must be a convention or something that week. But will check other properties. And, I see that Mirage has a good summer special, so that might be worth a look. Great ideas everyone, keep 'em coming. Thanks again! :)<BR><BR>

The Imperial Palace is quite inexpensive,and is very centralized on the strip.During the summer months they offer a $50 food credit per room,which was plenty to feed my wife and I a very nice breakfast buffet for four days.Rent a car at the hotel and head out early,you will appreciate the fact that you will beat all the tour busses.Stop at a store on the way out of town buy a cheap styrofome cooler(throwaway)some bottled water and ice.When you get back to your car from the dam you'll see why.You don't have to be a big spender to have fun in Las Vegas because their is so much to see and do.Use the bus service,it is very good,and you can even buy a weekly pass.Stay off the trolley,it stops at every hotel,and you can walk faster.Have Fun!!

I went to the Hoover dam and was disappointed. It looked like a huge construction site and it was very hot there. Instead I recommend going to Valley of Fire state park and drive along lake Mead. That was really spectacular. It took 50 minutes to get to Hoover dam and it's about an hour to V of F so it's not a huge distance. Some car companies like Enterprise and maybe others have offices right of the Strip. I recommend renting a car just for your daytrip, and use cabs the rest of the time. The distances are small, cab will probably cost same as 2 transfers.

Hoover Dam is really a marvel of engineering that shouldn't be missed. Having said that, I would drive out there myself to take the tour (if it's offered), rather than pre-booking and riding in a bus from Vegas. I drove by a few days ago, and there were lots of folks walking around outside, though security looked much tighter than in the past. Red Rock is also fantastic, though it might be unbearable in the middle of summer. <BR><BR><BR><BR>We go to Vegas often, and have seen quite a few of the shows, including O and Mystere, which were fun. We recently saw Rick Thomas' magic show at the Tropicana, and it was surprisingly good (and pretty inexpensive compared to the bigger acts, which we have seen those as well).<BR><BR>For lodging, I really like the Venetian and Bellagio. We stayed at Aladdin last week and didn't see any kids. We paid $59/night. If you really don't want to see kids though, check out Bellagio, which has midweek summer specials as well. I'm not too crazy about the Mirage or Paris. Bally's is also a good cheap alternative.