saacnmama,
I get it. You had to go for work and had no option but to take your kid and you just needed advice to make the best of things.

You weren't going on vacation or looking to spend heaps of money for a good time and unfortunately I think that's what Vegas is all about.

I didn't enjoy Vegas but it's cheap to fly into, cheap to stay overnight mid week and there's plenty to enjoy nearby.

I hope work doesn't send you there again!

We, too, did Vegas when the kids were young and felt pretty much like the OP. Other visits in conjunction with work weren't particulary fun, either. However, we recently went back on a cheap airfare/rent car/hotel "adults only" long weekend and had a blast. I think it's an acquired taste...

Sassy cat,

Thanks for your note. I appreciate someone bothering to actually read the report for what it is.

I didn't trash the city. I said our trip "was not so great but also not such a disaster". I tried to deal with the difference between our experience and Vegas' reputation. The hype about Vegas "not being for kids" had me worried that there were going to be half-naked hookers wandering around looking for a fix, couples pairing, threesomes tripling, other equally child-unfriendly things that I can't even imagine going on right there in front of my kid in broad daylight.

It wasn't like that. We stayed in a nice hotel and went to a good nature preserve, a fun camp-ish show or two, and hung out at the playground at an outdoor mall. All of that was nice. He went to a church picnic with a nice babysitter, and an amusement park he didn't like, and the Lied Discovery Center which sounds great. All of these things (except the Lied, which slipped my mind) are in the original post.

So what about the warnings? The objectionable things I saw were not the massive perversion suggested in the warnings to keep the kid away; I found a lack of urban planning and street-cleaning, and a general NASCAR/whitebread kind of appeal. There are plenty of people who love suburbs and whitebread and Nascar pinup girls. Fine. We don't like those things, but they really are not the hell-on-earth forces of evil that will ruin a kid's entire childhood for having been exposed to them. I tried to make clear in my original post that although we did not go to Vegas in the classic style you outline and were not ecstatic there, we still were fine. I don't know why people persist in saying that kids will have a particularly bad time in Vegas.

Again, thanks for your post.

Why is it necessary to denigrate someone/something in every single post. I despise stereotyping & it doesn't get much worse than - "... and a general NASCAR/whitebread kind of appeal." What, does that mean ?!

saacnmama,

You're welcome and I had a similar view of Vegas and it was what I expected. It's a place of entertainment for adults that enjoy gambling and glitz. Everything is intentionally over the top from the building facades to the casino interiors and designed to promote over consumption and excess.
Not trashing it per se just my opinion and I prefer simpler entertainment like a walk on a beach lol but it's what some people want.
My kids are older (16 and 9 when we went) and they enjoyed a buffet, the pool, the Bellagio fountains and a show. We stayed at the Paris hotel and having been to Paris many times it seemed a little tacky to them like Disney for grown ups.

I noticed you contributed advice to another thread on Vegas for families and I appreciate you taking time to help others have a better experience.

@San Paris, see the line in the OP that begins "One expectation I was glad..." for a lengthier version of what I'm trying to say in shorthand in that line. It really isn't the awful place people make it out to be, but struck me as boringly tacky. Your opinion may differ. People researching trips should always read lots of opinions from as many people as they can. As for why include the good and bad together--I think that makes a more helpful report. To only tell one side would not help someone looking for information on a place they've never been.

@jayne, thanks for your note. I'm glad you enjoyed it more later.

@Sassy_cat, Thanks again. If I ask for advice, I always report back and try to be helpful to others. I note the other person looking for advice has already been told she should change her plans, even though she has been to Vegas before. *sigh*

You mention having been to Paris (in France) many times before staying in Vegas' "Paris" hotel. I think traveling may color my expectations too. I've been to Venice (in Italy) several times, am taking my son there this summer because I love that city. We'll also go to Pompeii, because we are both intrigued, and to Paris, because he wants to see the Eiffel tower. He's done a bit of traveling in his life--Chicago, San Fran, Boston, Philly, Tahiti, Brisbane (for conferences) the Outer Banks, Oaxaca (for fun)...lots of happy memories and he learns a lot each trip, including intangibles.

Of course, it works the other way too: when I hear vague threats of horrid, sordid scenes, I remember hookers in fishnet and thongs who turned their asses to the streetcar, the toilet at the prison where our whole bus was taken after the driver ran a car off the road, the train conductor who woke me by prodding me with his penis and said he could make it OK for me not to buy a reservation. I could go on but I think you get the picture. I have plenty to draw on when imagining the things that could come leering into my little one's path. I am glad we did not encounter them in Vegas.

I've probably said this before but I'll say it again. My kids & I are well traveled & I/we take them most places w/us, including Europe, the Caribbean & some other places that many would consider more adult venues, such as Nola & Key West. Paris is the most wonderful city for kids (& for adults as well). I've been to Vegas probably 10x over the years, but I would just not take my kids there, until they are older. My opinion. My kids are almost 7 & 4. There is some reasoning behind my decision. As Vegas goes - most people either love it, or hate. I tend to be somewhere in the middle, but it can be fun, in small doses.

Sorry the sheriff's card didn't pan out, but I'm glad you were able to find a babysitter with whom you were happy.

I hope you weren't including locals in your lowbrow or lowest common denominator comment. But if you did, oh well. I tried.

ttt

jbee, this conversation is otherwise done, but I do want to apologize if you felt bad for the sheriff's card suggestion. It was an honest attempt to help, and I honestly appreciate it.
I didn't get to know many locals, but the folks working at the various places we met were generally very nice and very helpful.
And I did not mean to insult the whole city--reading the paragraph that phrase was taken from shows that the pronoun antecedent is "the danger" not "the town". I'm just trying to argue against the idea of a Vegas boogeyman whose going to get your kids.

Oh brother.