🎰 I never thought I’d take my kids to Las Vegas, but we had a fantastic trip!
My daughter was turning 10 and it was her second pandemic birthday, so we wanted to do something big. We were ready to get traveling again, just not internationally yet. We wanted warm weather, fun pools, and a new place to explore. I had heard that the Four Seasons Las Vegas was a really family-friendly location, so we decided it was a great fit for this trip.
As adults, we love Las Vegas for the shows, excellent restaurants, and fun gambling. But on this trip, we were looking for relaxation by the pool and exploring some of the attractions with our kids. This was definitely a different trip than any other Vegas trip we’ve taken!
Four Seasons Las Vegas
We absolutely loved our stay at the Four Seasons Las Vegas. It’s a non-casino and non-smoking hotel and perched atop Mandalay Bay. Guests have access to Mandalay Bay Pools, including the wave pool and lazy river, but the Four Seasons has its own lobby and a private pool. Their service is truly the best, they take such good care of us there! They even had cute little robes and slippers for the kids, plus special kids' soaps for the shower.
We spent most of our time at the private Four Seasons pool. You can have breakfast, lunch and dinner served to you on adorable little trays while you lounge at the pool, so there’s really no reason to go anywhere else. And of course, they have delicious and fun cocktails for your relaxation in the sun.
When we were ready to head over to the Mandalay Bay side, which is a very short walk, we were able to leave items we didn’t want to take with us on our chairs at the Four Seasons, which made it really easy. (We were there during the week, that may not be something you can do on a busier weekend, but it never hurts to ask!) The Mandalay Bay beach areas were definitely more crowded, with no lounge chairs available. So when we headed over we all came ready to go in the water and brought our handy water bags for phones, masks, and room keys. The kids loved both the wave pool and lazy river. The wave pool has consistent big waves about every two minutes, and it was really fun to watch the kids surf them into the shallow area. We chose not to bring tubes for the lazy river and ended up racing around many times with the kids, which we thought was more fun anyway (and a great workout).
Dining Experiences
We chose Lago at the Bellagio for our daughter’s birthday dinner because of the view of the fountains, and it was spectacular! I made a reservation for 5 pm in the hopes that we would be seated on the patio, and we got very lucky with a front-row patio seat. We were there for about 90 minutes and got to see four different fountain shows. The kids were completely mesmerized, it was pretty special. The food was wonderful too, we enjoyed sharing the Italian small plates.
Our daughter is obsessed with Paris, so we knew we had to go to the Paris hotel and chose to have brunch at Mon Ami Gabi. Honestly, the food is nothing special, but if you have a view of the Eiffel Tower while you eat it’s pretty cool. Sadly no view this time, we were tucked in a corner. But we did have a nice view of the strip and the Bellagio fountains across the street.
We were excited to eat at Bouchon, one of Thomas Keller’s restaurants. The kids enjoyed walking through the Venetian to get to the restaurant. They saw the replica of the Sistine chapel and other beautiful works of art. My daughter even asked us to stop so she could take it all in. We had dinner on the patio and enjoyed our meal. I think my favorite thing was the beautiful French bread at the beginning of our meal. I’ve spent a lot of time in France and am constantly on the hunt for real French bread, and this brought back so many memories!
Family-Friendly Attractions
We walked to the Linq area to check out the enormous Ferris wheel. The kids decided they didn’t want to ride it (we had a great view from our hotel anyway) but it was really, really neat to walk underneath it and see all the exposed mechanics. This area had lots of fun shops and restaurants too. We stopped at a virtual reality experience where the kids got to enjoy a “Jungle Cruise” and three different roller coasters. I always get the biggest kick out of watching the kids do virtual reality, they’re screaming and flailing around, it’s the best entertainment.
Did you know they have flamingos at the Flamingo hotel? I didn’t until I was researching what to do with kids in Las Vegas! We were nearby one day so we stopped in. It was neat to see, but the Denver Zoo has more flamingos on display, so not really a must-see for us.
When we had dinner at the Bellagio we stopped at their Conservatory to see the beautiful displays. I was surprised at how interested the kids were. We didn’t spend too long there, but I’m glad we were in the area for a quick stop.
Would I take my kids back to Vegas? Maybe. Now that we’ve done it we probably don’t need to do it again. I was disappointed we couldn’t take them to see any of the Cirque du Soleil shows that were closed during our visit, so it would be fun to go back and do that. And our family loves craps (we love it so much we have a table in our basement), so it will be really fun to take them back someday when we can all hang around the craps table. This trip was perfect for us right now though. We needed to pamper our family and spend some time together exploring and being in the sun. We came home relaxed, refreshed, and dreaming about our next vacation away!
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