Vegas Lures With Day-Care and Sights

The Espinozas aren’t gamblers, but they chose Las Vegas for their recent getaway with the kids. And once they got to Vegas, they didn’t venture far from the action on the Strip.

“We didn’t even have time to go to Hoover Dam,” said Gloria Espinoza, a California nurse and mother of two sons and a daughter ages 11 to 15. That’s without the pool time they would have had during warmer months, she added.

All five Espinozas found plenty to keep themselves busy from morning till night, gaping at the mega-hotels, playing at giant arcades, riding roller coasters and taking in shows such as “Lance Burton: Master Magician” at the Monte Carlo Hotel, where the audience was full of kids. “We’re definitely seeing more kids, and I think that makes the show more fun for everyone,” said Burton, a veteran Vegas entertainer who makes a point of calling the youngest members of his audience to the stage--as many as 30 at a time.

About 3 million kids now accompany their families to Las Vegas every year, city tourism officials say. This despite the fact that marketers don’t bill it as a family destination.

“We just thought this would be somewhere different to come for a few days,” explained Pam Hinkley, an Arizona consultant who was touring Vegas with her husband, 11-year-old and friends with younger children. Where else, after all, can you and the kids climb the Eiffel Tower (Paris Las Vegas), watch a volcano explode (the Mirage), stroll the ancient streets of Rome (Caesars Palace), see pirates battling (Treasure Island) and be surrounded by lions (MGM Grand)--all within a few blocks?

For visiting parents who want to take a couple of turns at the roulette wheel, the good news is that day-care options are now available that are safe and more fun.

My daughter Melanie and my nephew and niece, Las Vegas natives Kyle and Erica Fieldman, certainly gave Sunset Station’s Kids Quest, the largest drop-in day care facility in town, a hearty endorsement. No wonder. It has a gigantic climbing structure, computers, video games and a three-story Barbie house, not to mention the video games, computers and movies on the giant TV. At least one trained counselor to eight youngsters, and more counselors for younger ones, are on staff. All Kids Quest workers are subjected to extensive background checks and child development and CPR training, company officials said. Call Kids Quest at (702) 547-7773.

Other reliable Las Vegas child care locations include:

* The Gold Coast, about a quarter mile from the Strip, where care from 9 a.m. till midnight is free to all at the 2,000-square-foot-plus center. Kids must be at least 2 and potty trained and can stay no longer than three hours a day. Call (888) 402-6278 or https://www.goldcoastcasino.com.

* The Orleans, the Gold Coast’s sister hotel about a mile from the Strip, offers the 9,000-square-foot Kids Tyme for infants to 12-year-olds, complete with huge play structure, separate arts-and-crafts room as well as a place for the babies. The cost is $5 an hour, with a maximum stay of three hours. Call 800-ORLEANS (675-3267), Internet https://www.orleanscasino.com.

* The MGM Grand thus far has the only licensed child care facility on the Strip, though Kids Quest is opening one soon. The MGM’s 3,000-square-foot Youth Activities Center takes kids ages 3 to 12 and, when the Grand Adventures Theme Park is open, offers special kids’ tours of the park for those 6 and older. Cost is $7 per hour for hotel guests and $9 an hour for non-guests. Call (800) 929-1111.

Kid-friendly hotels include:

* Circus-Circus Hotel, with the Adventuredome, largest indoor theme park in the country. Call (800) 634-3450, Internet https://www.circuscircus.com.

* Mandalay Bay Resort, with its 11-acre water playground, including a wave pool. Call (877) 632-7000, Internet https://www.mandalaybay.com.

* The Monte Carlo Resort, where families don’t have to traipse through the casino to get to their rooms. Call (800) 311-8999, Internet https://www.monte-carlo.com. Tickets to Lance Burton start at $44.95. Call (877) 386-8224.

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