Vegas (with a) Baby!
Let's just say that taking a 1-year-old to Las Vegas wasn't exactly on our bucket list. But hey, when a family wedding calls, you pack diaper bag and get on a plane! We're not exactly "Vegas People" – we don't gamble and don't even particularly drink much anymore – so this post isn't going to be a "guide to Vegas with a baby" or anything like that. In fact, I'm certain we did Vegas "wrong." But that's ok, I'll blog about it anyway. 😁
Flight to Vegas
We flew Southwest this trip. It ended up being cheaper than United and the two free checked bags came in handy because I had to pack our travel crib (a Guava Lotus that we really like!) and all of the usual baby stuff.
We got to the Denver Airport early and I'm glad we did because the TSA Pre line was oddly long and we made it to our gate with not a lot of time to spare. The flight itself went fine and our travel carseat (a Cosco Scenera) fit well – definitely better than it did on our United flight to Disneyland!
For this flight I broke down and did something I said I would avoid as long as possible – I bought a cheap Kid's Edition Kindle Fire (I got the 2022 edition for about $80 on Prime Day – don't pay full price for these things) and loaded it up with Bluey episodes that I downloaded from Disney+. I got some baby headphones too, but our daughter didn't like wearing them. I think they worked well enough and were quiet so I wasn't concerned about them, so we will try those again in the future. Just watching was enough to keep her entertained and content for the majority of the flight.
Hotel
We stayed at the Palazzo since it was across the street from the wedding venue at the Wynn. We booked through the American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts (FHR) program and I'm glad we did. With it we got:
- A room upgrade (handy to have the extra space)
- 12 am check in (nice because we had a morning flight)
- 4 pm check out (essential because our flight back wasn't until 8 pm)
- $100 dining credit and a daily $65 breakfast credit
Palazzo pool and room.
The temperature was over 100 degrees every day, so I can say we definitely enjoyed the pool and it's water bottle refill station (a rarity in Vegas apparently).
The hotel was a bit cagey about whether or not they could guarantee a crib or Pack'n'Play for our arrival so we just went ahead and brought our own travel crib: the Guava Lotus. I should probably do a review of it sometime since it's one of my favorite pieces of baby gear, but suffice to say our daughter had no trouble sleeping in it during this trip.
Walking the Strip with a Stroller
As newcomers we found it a bit hard to navigate. Walking the strip itself is pretty straightforward, but when it is 104 degrees out and you're pushing a baby you have to go through some casinos. GPS doesn't work so well in there so you can see from the map above we got a bit lost on our way to meet the family for dinner on our first day there. On our way back we understood the way a little better and by the next day when we walked to the Bellagio I can say we knew what we were doing.
We brought our Summer Infant 3Dlite stroller for this Vegas trip and I'm glad we did – it was the right stroller for the job (read more about my thoughts on it in my Summer Infant 3Dlite Disneyland review). The sidewalks were pretty dirty (reminded me of San Francisco in some ways) and I wouldn't have wanted to subject our more expensive Nuna Tavo or Bugaboo Butterfly to them. The casinos themselves were also surprisingly not very stroller accessible and I found myself having to carry it up stairs and on escalators – not something I would want to do with a heavier or larger stroller.
Eating with a Baby in Vegas
On this trip we ate at the following places:
- Battista's Hole in the Wall
- Miznon at the Palazzo (covered by FHR dining credit)
- Capri Pool Restaurant at the Palazzo (covered by FHR breakfast credit)
- Sadelle's at the Bellagio
- Lindo Michoacan
- Venetian food court
- Amex Centurion Lounge - Las Vegas Airport
Of these I'll focus on a few of our favorites.
Sadelle's
Bellagio Conservatory
Thanks to Jessica's aunt and uncle, we had a reservation at this fantastic spot for breakfast. Our table overlooked the breathtaking Bellagio Conservatory, making for a truly amazing experience. The food was delicious, the atmosphere pleasant, and our daughter happily munched on bites of omelette, pancake, and fruit. This was undoubtably my favorite dining experience in Vegas.
Capri Pool Restaurant at the Palazzo
A perk of booking through Amex FHR was a daily $65 breakfast credit. However, the smoky air within the casino made many of the restaurants there unappealing when you've got a 1-year-old. So we were drawn to Capri, an outdoor restaurant with a relaxed atmosphere located by the Palazzo's pool. Our daughter enjoyed the scrambled eggs and bites of melon we offered her at Capri.
Amex Centurion Lounge - Las Vegas
Even with a 4 pm checkout, our 8:20 pm flight left us with a considerable chunk of time to kill. But the prospect of spending those hours in the loud, crowded Las Vegas airport with a baby wasn't appealing. The American Express Centurion Lounge was a welcome oasis.
Amex Centurion Lounge buffet with our baby
We were pleasantly surprised by how accommodating the Centurion Lounge was for families. They provided a high chair, which made it easy to feed our daughter a nutritious meal of macaroni and cheese, roasted brussel sprouts, mashed sweet potato, and chicken – a welcome change from some of the less healthy options we'd encountered in Vegas. And maybe we were just dehydrated, but the watermelon lemonade tasted like a nectar of the gods. 🤤🧃
It also had nice, clean changing tables. 👍
Transportation around Vegas with a Baby
Relying on Ubers and Lyfts to get around, especially with a car seat, presented its own challenges. Our travel car seat, while perfect for airplanes, isn't the easiest to install in our own car, let alone in unfamiliar rideshare vehicles. Wrestling with it in the 100-degree heat while impatient drivers honked (in the Palazzo rideshare loading zone, not in the street!) certainly didn't enhance our time in Vegas.
All I have to say is that our rideshare experiences in Anaheim was much more relaxed.
Flight Home
We decided to check our stroller (instead of gate check it) this time and rely on the TushBaby for navigating the airport so that we'd have one less thing to cart around. I'm usually hesitant to do so since I feel it makes it more likely for the stroller to get damaged, but I'm glad we did this time because it would have gotten in the way in the lounge and the Las Vegas Airport has a surprising number of random escalators (there are elevators of course, but I found them to be small and slow). In the end, our stroller made it through unscathed. Our gate check bag had a few tears, but I suppose that means it did its job. I think it will survive another trip, but we probably need to get a new bag eventually.
The flight itself was mostly uneventful thankfully. The silent Bluey-watching device did its job and kept our daughter content for most of the flight. By the end of it though she was overly tired and didn't want to sleep. In retrospect I would have preferred to book an earlier flight, but they were all exorbitant for some reason.
Takeaways
So, would we take a baby to Vegas again? Maybe not on our own, but it was a great way to introduce her to a lot of Jessica's extended family. I wouldn't mind going again when she's older and checking out Omega Mart or even renting a car and driving to the Grand Canyon.