VegasChic's Vegas FAMILY vaycay June 8-11th

Background~

After a particularly bad weather winter and spring in Vancouver, we were all looking for a warm weather pool vacation getaway. I've tabled the idea of Vegas to Mr. VC in the past, but he always figured there were more kid friendly options other than Vegas.....UNTIL one of the hockey dad's told him their family had just returned from a great family trip to Vegas. He finally seemed ready to embrace the idea! The trip would be with our three kids, J- son who is 11, N- daughter who is 9, A- daughter who is 6 plus Mr VC and myself. It can be a bit of a challenge booking hotels as most only have space for 4 sleeping, so we usually get suites wherever we go. Excitedly, I jumped on the internet searching Mandalay Bay with their awesome pools and Lazy river.

Mr. VC: "No, no....we won't be staying on the strip, too much party at the pools for the kids, we will stay off strip"

Me: **Sigh**....okay VC, don't rock the boat here...he's willing to do a getaway to Vegas, and I "get it"....."Okay, there's a place I've heard about off strip that looks to have great pools and lots for the kids....Green Valley Ranch, let me look that one up"

A quick search for a suite there during our times was showing a rate starting at $800 USD a night and I knew this would be a non gaming trip for me....YIKES!

Mr VC: "No, no.....our friend said to stay at Tahiti Village, good rates, great pools, and they have a full kitchen."

Me: "WHAT?!?"

Me: "TAHITI VILLAGE? I haven't even heard of that!"

Me: "A FULL KITCHEN?!? You expect me to COOK on a three day Vegas trip?!?"

Suffice it to say, I initially struggled with the idea of shedding all my trip typical expectations for what Vegas has become for me. I stepped outside to a blustery grey day in Vancouver, and something changed for me....I needed a warm weather getaway, the kids wanted a new location outside of our usual Disney trips, and I was suddenly EXCITED to take on Vegas in a new way- at least this time! I set out planning the trip making it kid friendly but still with the essence of what makes Vegas VEGAS, and I knew I could do it in a way to make everyone happy. Over the next few weeks Mr VC and I would go back and forth with some ideas of things to do in Vegas, and I thought we really did a great job balancing out the needs & wants for everyone. Flights were booked, room was booked, itinerary scheduled.....and we were wheels up on our first family trip to VEGAS!!!!!!!

 

Thursday, June 8th-

Hotel checkin, the pools, Sugar Factory & Presidential Limo tour!

After an uneventful flight we landed in Vegas at 11 am. Although a fan of UBER in Vegas, we decided to get a car rental, largely because we are 5 in the family and it can be difficult getting rides quickly with that many passengers. We ended up getting a big SUV from National (thanks to Mr VC tier level getting us onto the Emerald Aisle for car choices), the cost was reasonable at only $125 for the trip.

First stop was In-and-out for a quick bite:



Next was to stop at the grocery store. We decided to do breakfast only in the room (YAY!!) so we picked up some stuff for that, water/drinks, and fun snacks we can’t get in Canada. And new rainbow fidget spinners- can’t forget those!! Kids were amused to see even the grocery stores have gaming in them!




We then went to check-in at Tahiti Village. It’s really a time share resort that I was able to book into through expedia. We reserved a two bedroom suite that was 1550 Sq feet and sleeps up to 8. It had two king beds in the two bedrooms and two pullouts in the seating areas. We made one of the seating areas a bedroom for the duration of the trip for our son and it worked out really well. It does have a full kitchen, small patio and laundry in the room. Wasn’t at all disappointed with the suite, it would work out well for the family.



The property is located technically on the strip, just waaaayyy South- it is located directly beside the South Premium outlets. The resort has tons of amenities…..a restaurant/bar that had 15 barter video poker games, a great pool area, lazy river, gas bbq area, free parking, and a free shuttle that leaves every half an hour dropping/picking up at the Tropicana and the Mirage. You could easily stay here without a car and get to the strip easily. They had events going on all the time….movies for the kids, luaus….more stuff than I’d ever be able to partake in. I was worried it would be really cheesy here, but the resort was well done overall. We do have a vacation program that exchanges with this resort that we could have used points for, but it wasn’t available in the short time in advance that we booked- but I would happily book this on our points for a future trip.




Although there are no cabanas available, there was lots of shade with the thatched roof umbrellas. Despite it being busy it wasn't hard to find a chair. We spent the next couple hours at the pool having fun then it was back to the room to clean up and head out for a fun evening!

 

It’s now Thursday late afternoon and I was really looking forward to our evening plans! We drove to the Fashion Show mall to hit up the Sugar Factory Restaurant for dinner that recently opened- I hadn’t been here yet. Food was only okay. J’s sliders were fun, but it was the drinks that stole the show!! I had a cotton candy martini and it was very yummy!




We let the kids have a run through the candy shop, all of them were literally vibrating in excitement from their sugary drinks, haha.



Couldn’t help to have a moment thinking of how much fun it would be playing a Wonka slot when I saw these, but luckily the moment passed quickly.



The last little while our son J had been mentioning how fun it would be to ride in a limo. We decided to surprise the kids with a Presidential Limo tour for the night to see the sights of Vegas. This turned out AWESOME and would highly recommend. I wanted the kids to see the sights of Vegas but knew my 6 year old would struggle with too much walking the whole strip. With my 11 year old son….well, I wanted to limit the exposure of the porn slappers handing out the cards or stepping over them on the sidewalks as much as I could. I really didn’t want a call from the school after we returned from the trip with concerns of his new “trading cards” he recently collected in Vegas- haha. BUT, I did want them to get the feel of Vegas, the lights, and all the fun. Sun down was to be at 8 PM, so I scheduled a 2.5 hour ride starting at 7 PM picking up at the Macy’s Valet. This also turned out to be a really cost effective night compared to buying show tix for 5….the 2.5 hours was $187.98 and we could direct it to go wherever we wanted!

After dinner from Sugar Factory we headed to Macy’s. My daughter was already complaining her shoes were hurting, so we used it as the opportunity to go out the Valet door to sit her down for some bandaids facing the parking lot. Right at 7 on the nose, the Escalade limo pulled into the lot.

Mr VC: Hey J, there’s lots of nice cars here in the Valet….if you could take a ride in any one of the cars, which one would you pick?

J: Ohhh, there’s so many. Hmmmm, I’d pick the big limo, that would be cool.

We waved to the driver, he pulled up and came around to open the back seating area. The kids looked kinda confused….
“Hop in kiddo’s, it’s ours for the next two and a half hours to go see the sights!” LOTS of cheers and excitement. Kids were in awe of all the lights inside and were all wearing huge smiles. Couldn’t have gone any better!! At the grocery store I had picked up some sparkling grape juice that I had brought for them to enjoy in the limo.




We decided since it was still light out that we would hit the Las Vegas sign for pics, make our way back to see the Mirage Volcano by 8, see the Bellagio fountain show immediately after, then head to Fremont for the light show.



The limo would go to each property and drop us at the limo/valet area and wait for us until we returned. It was quick and easy.

 

They loved the light show on Fremont, but also really enjoyed watching the street artists.






This guy used only spray paint and could create a pic in about 4 minutes. They were $40 each, or 3 for $108- so the kids each picked one.




The kids did get a glimpse into more of the “adult” side of Vegas on Fremont which we knew would be the case. So far none seem too traumatized, haha.



These guys had huuuuge…..boots, it was quite a spectacle.



The entire day was super fun and we were back to our car rental at the mall by 9:30. We were totally spent by this point and called it a night! Yep, 9:30 in Vegas….no gambling and I’m heading to bed- and it was a blast!