Family-Friendly Fun in Las Vegas, Part 2

This is my second post about our time looking for the best family-friendly activities in Las Vegas. I suggest reading the first post from the trip before this one. Because I blog about educational travel, I was given media passes for some of the places we visited during our trip. Other places we went are free for everyone. We paid full price for the rest. This has no bearing on my reviews. If you see any gaps in my narrative, it is because I didn't love that particular attraction enough to recommend it, regardless of how much I paid or didn't pay.

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Celebrating 50 in Las Vegas, Nevada

Our first full day in Vegas, 1/26/26, was a special day: Steve's 50th birthday! Months ago, when I'd asked how he wanted to celebrate his 50th, he said he wanted a celebrity chef to come to our house and cook dinner. I think he was only about 10% serious, which is a good thing. For a number of reasons, it wasn't going to happen. Instead, I planned a Vegas trip as a way for us to enjoy high-end food at four different celebrity chefs' restaurants. Of course, we wouldn't (couldn't? shouldn't?) spend all day eating, so I scheduled lots of fun activities for us to do during the daytime and saved the fancy food for dinner. 

This was my third time in Vegas. The first time I went to Vegas was in my mid-20's, before I met Steve. The second time was with Steve in 2003, when we were newly engaged. Needless to say, a lot has changed in the 23 years since I've visited! Steve has been to Vegas twice for conferences during the time we've been married, but it's been awhile for him too. So there were plenty of things for us to see and do that were completely new for both of us. 

When we'd checked into the Bellagio the previous afternoon, the Conservatory and Botanical Gardens was pretty crowded and only got more packed in the evening. We thought we'd have a better chance of seeing everything and getting decent pictures if we went first thing in the morning. Success! 

  

The 14,000 square foot displays change seasonally, with a special fifth design for Lunar New Year. It's almost time for the Year of the Horse!

  

The floral displays throughout the hotel were also themed for Lunar New Year. So beautiful and elegant. 

We left the hotel and headed south. Besides the lack of crowds, another benefit to getting an early start in Vegas is that the majority of the scam artists aren't out yet. It was actually pleasant to walk along the Strip at 9:00 am. 

We popped into M&M World to look around, since we were early for our first timed activity of the day. It's enormous and worth a visit. 

We didn't buy anything, but I can't say I wasn't tempted. 

Same, Orange. Relaxing makes me anxious. I much prefer productivity. 

  

At 10:00, we were there to board Big Bus Tours. I love Big Bus for their outstanding narratives that cover the history, culture, and important sites of each cities. This was our fourth time with Big Bus - we've previously enjoyed tours in Rome, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Each has been excellent and a great way to get a general overview of a place before hopping off and diving deeper. 

While we were waiting for everyone to board, we got to chatting with a couple sitting near us. When they told us they were celebrating his 50th birthday that day, I had to take a photo of the two new friends, born the same day exactly 50 years ago! In case it's not obvious, they're making "50" with their hands. 

You can hop on and off at any of the 9 stops along the Big Bus route in Vegas, but we opted to do a full loop. The route took us north, from the High Roller at the Linq, then all the way to the Art District. I'd never been there and knew absolutely nothing about it, so that was particularly interesting. 

  

We passed the stop for the Mob Museum and Fremont Street Experience, both of which we'd be visiting later in the trip. Then we headed south along the Strip. 

There's always something new coming in Vegas. The Mirage closed in 2024 and the Hard Rock is scheduled to open in 2027. 

The southernmost stop on the Big Bus Tour is the iconic Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign. 

Even early in the day, there was a huge line of people waiting to take their picture in front of the sign. I was glad to be able to get a good picture from the Big Bus!

A full loop on Big Bus Las Vegas takes between 1 hr 45 minutes and 2.5 hours. There was very little traffic when we started our tour at 10:00, so we got from place to place promptly. Check it out - there are almost no cars in any of our photos from the Big Bus. We thoroughly enjoyed our Big Bus Tour and came away with a much better understanding of the city of Las Vegas, past and present. 

We got off the Big Bus at the same place we'd started, walked past M&M World and popped into the Coca-Cola Store. (Popped. Get it?)

  

We'd really enjoyed tasting interesting sodas at World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, so we went to The Fountain and bought the Around the World Tray. It comes with 14 Coca-Cola beverages from around the world.

Some thoughts: 

• Taste tests are always fun!
• I don't think of cucumbers having a strong flavor until I taste them in a beverage. Delicious!
• Zimbabwe likes their really sodas sweet. So do I.
• Beverly is the worst soda of all time. (Turns out, it's not meant to be served like this.)
• Fanta Sour Plum tastes like carbonated BBQ sauce. I'm not a fan. 
• 14 cups of soda is WAY too much for just two people to split, particularly since I'm barely a soda drinker. 

We didn't even come close to finishing the sodas; fortunately, my extreme aversion to food waste doesn't really apply to soda, so I was willing to throw out the unfinished samples. I'd definitely recommend trying the Around the World tray, ideally with 4+ people. 

If you like unusually large things as much as I do, don't miss the Giant Typewriter Eraser on a pedestrian bridge by the Aria. It's by the same artists as Big Sweep in Denver, Free Stamp in Cleveland, Cupid's Span in San Francisco, Plantoir in Des Moines, Shuttlecocks in Kansas City, and Spoonbridge and Cherry in Minneapolis: married couple Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. 

We had lunch at Block 16 Urban Food Hall at the Cosmopolitan. There are a lot of fantastic choices there. We ended up choosing Lardo. Their hot sandwiches and parmesan fries are both spectacular. 

After a delicious lunch, we got back on The Deuce and headed north. We got to our destination around 1:00 and spent the next few hours marveling at what a great place it was. I'll be back on Monday to tell you all about it and everything else we did that day.

Family-Friendly Fun in Las Vegas, Part 1

Steve and I are relatively new empty-nesters, but traveling without our son hasn't changed our focus on finding the best family-friendly, educational activities to do wherever we go. We spent 4 wonderful days in Las Vegas and managed to avoid everything that gives it the nickname of Sin City. But we didn't skimp on fun! I'm excited to tell you about the awesome museums, tours, restaurants, and more we experienced during our time in Vegas.  

Because I blog about educational travel, I was given complimentary admission tickets for many of the places we visited during our trip. This has no bearing on my reviews. Unless I say otherwise, everything I'm sharing is something that I recommend. If you notice any gaps in my narrative, it is because I didn't love a particular attraction enough to recommend it, regardless of how much I paid or didn't pay.

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Travel Adventures in Las Vegas, Nevada

On Sunday, January 25 Steve and I flew from Sacramento to Las Vegas. I've been to a lot of airports and can say with confidence that Vegas' is one of the most unique, in that there are slot machines and neon everywhere. 

We didn't check luggage, so we didn't get to see if the baggage carousels were themed like the ones in Rapid City. I hope so. 

We had a short ride from the airport to our hotel. We splurged on a fountain-view room at the Bellagio. It was totally worth it. The first thing we did was rearrange the furniture so that the comfy chairs were side-by-side overlooking the fountains. 

Even the bathroom had a view. 

We unpacked and then watched the fountains until it was time for dinner. Then we walked next door to the Cosmopolitan. 

We had dinner at Jaleo by Jose Andres. 

Jaleo features Spanish tapas. Our server recommended getting five dishes for the two of us to share, which ended up being the perfect amount of food. 

  

My favorite dish ended up being this Pan de Tomate. I was expecting something closer to bruschetta, but it was completely different. Light, crispy, and bursting with more tomato flavor than tomatoes have.  

We also had ham croquetas, an iberico slider, brussels sprouts, and their paella of the day. 

Everything we ate was perfection. We both agreed it was one of the best meals we've ever eaten. 

Feeling pleasantly full, we crossed the street and waited for The Deuce. The Deuce is, by far, the easiest way to travel on the Strip. The double-decker buses covers a nine-mile route that takes you close to many of the best attractions in Vegas. We paid $20 each for a 3-day pass and definitely got our money's worth. We never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus to arrive and the buses were never even close to full. That said, we were there during the off-season and never took it later than 8:00 pm; I'm guessing that makes quite a difference. 

Our destination was the Wynn. We started by exploring their beautiful lobby displays. 

Then we headed upstairs to the viewing platform to watch the Lake of Dreams show. It's free and runs every 30 minutes after dusk. The show itself was about 7 minutes long and included water elements, cool lighting, video, and puppetry.  

After the show, we explored more of the Wynn. It's a really nice hotel. 

We headed back to the Bellagio....

... and got back in our chairs to watch the fountains. They're beautiful during the day and even more so at night. 

The shows run every 15 minutes in the evening. Between the shows, there was still plenty to watch: the High Roller, the lights at the Paris, and the nighttime traffic and pedestrian crowds that we were not stuck in. 

We had a wonderful first day in Las Vegas with much more fun to come the following day. It was a special occasion, which I'll tell you about tomorrow.