Altidude is ToddZ

l3fan-o-rama:

i’m planning to do jessica’s next birthday in vegas and need some advice:

• where should we stay?  where have you stayed?  favorite hotel where you didn’t stay?
• where to eat?  i suppose this is a dumb question, but anything we shouldn’t miss
• we will see a cirque show - any particular show better than another?

any other thoughts are welcome as well.  just brainstorming here - we have until december.

I’ve only been once, and stayed at the Golden Nugget in the older Fremont Street area. Everything was very nice, and slightly less Disney-fied than the New Strip area. Plus there were several places with cheap blackjack tables and friendly dealers who helped us have fun, coaching with occasional nudges and winks. The Nugget has been remodeled since then, and now has a pool area with a glass waterslide that passes through a shark tank. I would not want to miss that.

I found that the buffet at the Rio lived up to its #1 reputation.

If you decide to head south into the newer areas, I’ve heard that the Venetian has big suites for the rates of regular rooms elsewhere.

The only place I know to avoid, personally, is the garish clown acid nightmare of Circus Circus, but if you can stomach it, it might be fun for the kiddo.

Just out front of Circus Circus is a little casino called Slots-a-Fun that has always had cheap tables, $2 footlong hotdogs, and $2 Heinekens.

(And if you do the rides atop the Stratosphere, I’d suggest doing that before the hotdogs and Heinekens.)