INSIDE THE NEW LAS VEGAS : Gamboling for Children : Sin City’s Drive to Attract Families Translates to New Venues for Play

Be prepared. They’re everywhere you go on The Strip these days, especially on weekends and holidays--walking (or being carried) through the casinos, impatiently awaiting service in the restaurants, hogging the arcade games, sprawled on the floor in front of Gargantuan hotel check-in counters, noisily making their presence felt in even the elegant shops.

They’re a new generation of visitors that hotel officials say is growing by the month. Kids--from babies in strollers to 14-year-olds in oversize T-shirts and expensive high-tops--have invaded Vegas . . . just as city officials promised they would.

It’s no secret that Las Vegas hoteliers set out to lure families by creating resorts with facilities that children and non-gamblers could enjoy. But now, just a few months after three major family-friendly attractions opened, it appears that the experiment is already paying off.

With the opening of such kid-attractive hotels and resorts as the Treasure Island resort, where mock pirate battles are fought aboard a frigate in front of the hotel; the MGM Grand Hotel, Casino & Theme Park, the city’s first theme park; the pyramid-shaped Luxor, with its futuristic, state-of-the-art Sega Virtualand game arcade, and Circus Circus’ Grand Slam Canyon, complete with indoor roller coasters--this most adult of cities is trying to sell itself as a destination resort, not just a place for gambling.

The openings have spurred an instant and dramatic demographic shift, startling even the experts here with its swiftness. At the 5,005-room MGM Grand on some weekends, half of those checking in have a child along, according to Dan Shumny, vice president of sales, while officials at the 2,900-room Treasure Island say as many as 40% do. Vegas hotel officials are also reporting that since the new family-friendly attractions have opened, many visitors are staying an extra night.

This is not to say that we should confuse Las Vegas with Disney World. Gambling is still what Vegas is about. “We’re not selling the kids,” Shumny said. “We’re telling people that now it’s OK to bring the kids and the grandkids.”

The bottom line, of course, is money.

“We realized if we wanted to continue to be popular with adults, we had no choice but to recognize that they were going to bring the kids,” said Treasure Island spokesman Alan Feldman. “Las Vegas was going to be left out of the kitchen-table vacation discussion if there was nothing for the kids to do.”

But are the new attractions interesting to children? Accompanied by my 10-year-old son, Matt, 7-year-old daughter, Reggie, and a local guide (my 6-year-old nephew, Michael Fieldman), I set out to explore the new offerings. First stop: the 33-acre MGM Grand Adventures theme park, which more than 170,000 people visited in its first month.

It is small compared to Disneyland--just seven rides, one of which, the Deep Earth motion simulator (hyped as a wild journey to the Earth’s core), will not open until spring. It also has five shows in four theaters spread across nine themed areas, in addition to restaurants and exhibitions designed to make visitors feel like they’re on an old MGM lot. We easily walked from a New York street, where New York-style pretzels are sold, to the New Orleans area, where the Cotton Blossom Riverboat vends Cajun food.

Also in the theme park, we all enjoyed the Backlot River Tour that took us on a riverboat cruise through several simulated movie sets. “All of a sudden a swamp monster pops up at you and then you go through a war zone and everything blows up,” said Matt, summing up the experience. We also took the “Over the Edge” ride in log flumes through an old mining camp and over a water drop. Reggie rated the ride: “I liked it because it felt like we were really falling.”

The kids also gave the shows we saw a thumbs up--especially the live “Three Stooges” show produced by Moe Howard’s grandson, Jeffrey Scott.

Even better, because the MGM has placed a cap on crowds--no more than 7,500 tickets are sold a day--the lines weren’t bad anywhere. Our longest wait was about 20 minutes for the indoor roller coaster Lightning Bolt.

Matt’s favorite ride turned out to be the Lightning Bolt. “It’s really realistic because you see all this stuff that looks like you’re in space--flashing lights and big drops.” He also liked slamming into his sister on the Parisian Taxis bumper cars.

The MGM theme park is cute and plenty big to keep us amused for several hours. But I’d think twice about taking my preschooler there for an extended visit. Other than seeing the life-size characters of Popeye, Olive Oyl and Betty Boop, there isn’t much of interest for the diaper set.

(Tickets may be purchased in advance for the theme park; call 800-929-1111. Admission until March 31 is $15 for adults, $10 for children ages 4 to 12. Senior citizens and children under 4 are free.)

When we had had enough rides, we walked through the new MGM casino (children aren’t allowed to stay but families may pass through), gaping at its sheer size. We checked out the hotel’s sparkling, 3,000-square-foot King Looey Youth Activity Center--a day-care facility open to the 3- to 16-year-old children of hotel guests (child-care costs begin at $5 per hour). It had every toy imaginable, from Duplo building blocks for preschoolers to Ping-Pong and Super Nintendo for preteens. Open from 8 a.m to midnight, the center is staffed by an enthusiastic group of 25, chosen from 500 applicants. In just the first month, more than 1,000 kids took part in the programs.

On our way out, we stopped by the sparkling green, 75-foot-high Emerald City attraction in the hotel. Though “Wizard’s Secret,” the 15-minute, special-effects magic show, wasn’t open during our visit ($3 entry fee for children and adults), we followed the Yellow Brick Road around Emerald City, encountering singing and talking animatronic Oz characters along the way.

Also in the hotel, my kids liked the Oz Midway and Arcade, a 30,000-square-foot center, with 33 carnival games and a video arcade.

On to Treasure Island, which has a lot of kid appeal--particularly Mutiny Bay, the hotel’s 18,000-square-foot arcade full of the latest video, pinball and other electronic games. “Just one more quarter!” they pleaded in unison. They also admired skeletons (fake, of course) in stone alcoves in the wall, and treasure chests filled with mock gold pieces.

But we found the best action at the pirate village Buccaneer Bay. Here, on The Strip in front of the hotel, every 90 minutes beginning at 3 p.m. there’s a mock sea battle played out between pirates and British naval officers aboard a full-scale frigate. Cannons are fired. Men fall overboard. The kids thought it was great entertainment. It’s free, too. “Get there early,” is Matt’s recommendation, “otherwise you’re stuck behind too many tall people.”

He also liked Grand Slam Canyon, the climate-controlled, pink-glass domed amusement park that opened last summer behind Circus Circus. It contains 30-foot-tall animated dinosaurs, an arcade filled with games, and fossil replicas. It also has a double-loop, double-corkscrew roller coaster, a water flume ride, two tubular slides, a replica of a stratified fossil wall, pretend tar pits with pretend dinosaur bones, and even a fake cliff dwelling of ancient Native Americans, as well as the obligatory restaurants.

Matt especially liked Hot Shots laser tag, played with non-injury-inducing laser guns in a black-lit room. My vote went to Rim Runner, a heart-stopping flume ride. (Rides are sold individually and cost from $1.50 to $2.50 each.)

At the Luxor, the 18,000-square-foot Virtualand arcade, featuring Sega Enterprises’ most advanced games, was Matt and Michael’s idea of heaven. (My 13-year-old nephew from Orange County, who was there at another time, also gave it high marks.)

The pyramid-shaped Luxor hotel clearly is fun to look at. In its favor is one of Las Vegas’ largest pools, as well as an indoor 3,000-feet-long River Nile that runs through the hotel. It is open to visitors, who can take a barge ride on it as guides give lectures on Egyptology ($3). Check out the beam of light that shines from the tip of the pyramid. On a clear night, hotel officials claim, it can be seen from a plane over Los Angeles. Of course, there’s a replica of King Tut’s tomb and a 10-story sphinx at the front entrance. But a series of three special-effects shows--”In Search of the Obelisk,” “The Luxor Live” and “Theater of Time”--were too complex for smaller kids (and this mom) to understand. And at $13 for all three, each lasting about 30 minutes, were a bit pricey.

My kids wolfed their breakfast in a Luxor coffee shop and headed straight to the two-story arcade, where they would have been happy to stay all day.

Matt couldn’t wait to get back to the arcade. But no one wanted to see King Tut’s Tomb and Museum, a reproduction of King Tutankhamen’s tomb as it was when it was discovered in Egypt in 1922 ($2).

“It’s all fake,” Matt said, shrugging.

“That’s Las Vegas,” I replied.

Taking the Kids appears the first and third week of every month.

GUIDEBOOK: Kids’ Stuff

Grand Slam Canyon, 2880 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, Nev. 89109; tel. (702) 794-3912.

Luxor, 3900 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas 89119; tel. (800) 288-1000.

MGM Grand Hotel, Casino & Theme Park, 3799 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas 89109; tel. (800) 929-1111.

Treasure Island, 3300 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas 89109; tel. (800) 944-7444.