We are going to CA for Christmas and considering flying in to Vegas on Xmas Day and renting a car. We would stay one night in Vegas then drive to the Victorville area for the rest of the week returning to Vegas to fly home New Year's day or the 2nd. We will have 3 kids with us so won't be gambling only seeing some sites. Is this a crazy idea given the time, also, what hotel for one night with kids is best?

I would expect Christmas to be quiet. Jan 1 and 2 falls on a weekend this year and I expect it to be booked and expensive. Perhaps your dates are flexible? If not that will be a problem weekend in Vegas.

You might try off-strip, for which I like the Orleans. Expect big money, even there, on NY's weekend.

MGM might be decent with kids. There's a lot going on there. Circus Circus is geared toward kids but it's a dump.

Since you only intend to spend one night in Las Vegas, what is the point? Why don't you fly into Ontario, California and drive to Victorville from there. It's much closer. Besides, do you really want to deal with the hundreds of thousands of folks who have come to Vegas for New Year's when you are trying to fly home? What would be the point of driving all the way back to Las Vegas and then having to deal with McCarran airport during the New Year's Eve exodus? Sounds crazy to me.

Our biggest reason to fly into Vegas was cost. We can get good fares into Vegas vs. Ontario, CA and with 5 of us it really adds up. Since we have to rent a car anyway we thought maybe Vegas would be more economical. We'd only need the hotel on the front part of our trip (Christmas) and we're hoping to fly out before the New year's eve revelers decide to fly home

Your plan will work as long as you know that Vegas is busy around Christmas as well as New Year's. You may have to be at the airport a little earlier than normal for your flight home, but it will be manageable.

During the holiday season, many of the casinos will decorate and the Bellagio gardens and fountain show are just amazing year after year. We'll brave the crowds every season just to walk through the gardens and the shops. It's turning into a tradition for us, which says a lot!

Another thing to look at is the cost of a hotel room. I believe they can get rather pricey around Christmas as well as New Years. For the kids, I think staying in the Luxor or MGM might be good. They're both close to the airport and the Luxor has an excellent arcade and a decent buffet. MGM has the lion habitat, which is free to view. (I don't know on the quality of the hotels, just the activities.) Other people have highly recommended the Mirage in the past, which has a free lion exhibit and a paid zoo/garden place called the Secret Garden, which is totally neat.

I hope this helps. Like I said, I can't recommend a hotel based on quality, but if you do a search, there's been many posts on all the major hotels in the past few months. Have a great trip!

If your going to do Vegas I would suggest the Excalibur for kids. You might also check for Amerisuites type stays off the strip for the New Year period.

There's a big problem with your plan. Christmas is on Saturday. It'll be extremely busy in LV. And virtually all the hotels of note will require a 2 night stay that weekend.

You should check out hotels online. I know i got a good deal at a vegas hotel through Orbitz a while back and when I was trying to book my ticket home the other day, I noticed that they have package deals for hotels and cars now. The prices looked pretty decent.

In terms of hotel stay, i would check out MGM or Bellagio. Those hotels are catered to both kids and adults. And you can check out a show if you are interested there. They have tons of good ones.

I just wanted to discourage you from staying at the Excalibur. It will be a zoo and there are so many other really nice places to stay in Vegas.

Some better choices would be Paris, Treasure Island, MGM, Mandalay Bay, Flamingo, or Monte Carlo.