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When my mom and I were there earlier this month, we didn't go to a ton of places (only there for two days) or really splurge, but our favorite place was the Wolfgang Puck grill in MGM. We split an app and a pizza - it was affordable and SO delicious. Also, the sandwich joints are better than most 'sandwich' places anywhere else. My mom and I hit earl of sandwich in Planet Hollywood, which was surprisingly good, and I got a lot of rec's here to hit one of the 'wichcraft locations (though we didn't end up getting to one).

We also googled the free stuff (bellagio conservatory and fountains, flamingos @ the flamingo, etc) and just walked through the various indoor malls and had fun just looking at everything (we're 24 and 53, though I think the 'fun' came more from not having seen each other in a while). I regret not having gone to the Stratosphere to ride the roller coaster on top, and we were too tired to bother seeing the sharks at Mandalay Bay. We were also too tired and cheap to hit the Body Works (Worlds? i dunno) at the Luxor, not sure how long that's there though - something I've wanted to see for a while. What I thought would be lame but turned out to be awesome was riding the elevator up the Eiffel tower - do this at night, you get a fantastic view of the strip all lit up.

Also, no one told me about this before I went so I will give you a heads up: during the day along the strip, there are TONS of guys all along the sidewalk clicking 'business' cards who wear shirts advertising "GIRLS DIRECT TO YOU IN 20 MINUTES." It takes a lot to offend me, but that got old pretty fast. Others have told me that they'll shove the cards into guys' hand. It seemed to be worse on the east side of the street for some reason.

Have fun!!

oh gosh, the people shoving cards and flyers advertising girls, girls, girls! is so annoying and EVERYWHERE!

I wanted to mention any show by Blue Man Group--I think it will appeal to everyone in your family--I don't know about ticket prices, but it would be worth the splurge because they are just so different.

Wow, thanks for the great response, everyone! I'll check out all of those places and try to avoid the stripper cards.

wookie - I don't think we'll go see the Blue Man Group because the only appeal it's ever given to me was watching Tobias on Arrested Development try to become a member. Thanks though!

QueenHerm - Thanks for all of the advice! The Burger Bar sounded amazing since I adore Hubert Keller but can't afford Fleur de Lys. Did you prefer BLT Burger or The Burger Bar? I am going to check out prices and see if it is worth it because my family is always quick to say 'it's just a burger, why would we pay extra?' They aren't exactly foodies.

All of those suggestions sound great and I will note them for the trip. I've seen ESPN Zone in NYC and I always thought it was a store, not a restaurant even though I pass it frequently...oops! My brother and my dad are into sports, so I'm sure they'd enjoy the atmosphere. Thanks again and if any other places come to mind, let me know! If you have any entertainment suggestions, please toss them my way too.

When we went a few years ago, we were also on a tight budget. My husband and I decided to attend the dreaded time share presentation - we received either discounted or free passes to a variety of shows for attending. I think it was worth the 90 minutes of our vacation for the savings - but we are good at saying "no" so there was not the worry of purchase!

One of my most favorite memories was breakfast in Paris - it was so beautiful and well done, I actually thought I was in Paris for a bit - our kids were about the same age as yours when we went, but two boys so they stayed back at our place while my husband and I went, our hotel had a Tasty Kreme and they were just as happy with that.

Fremont Street is something both of your kids will enjoy - it's an incredible experience for free! http://www.vegasexperience.com/

There's a lot of free stuff to do, just google before you go and get ready to be super hot - we live in Florida and everyone told us it would be a different "hot" not as bad as here, but hot is hot~!!

Budget?! You just take your lil' "bugdet" and bet it all on black to win! $HIGHROLLA$

kathyvegas - Wow, thank you SO much for all of the help. A few quick questions...do you recommend us renting a car or relying on taxis since our resort offers a shuttle to the strip and a grocery store (not sure which though). I know Vegas traffic can be a bit unsettling for tourists, so I don't want to run into a lot of issues driving and wasting our vacation time. I'd love to hit TJ's or Whole Foods, but it's not worth it if we're driving in bad traffic for an hour or something like that.

I will do a lot of googling to see what I can find out about the various restaurants and their deals, etc. I want to go to Fleur de Lys, but my family probably wouldn't be up for high end French cuisine, especially at the cost that an entree runs there. Hubert is one of my favorite chefs, so it's a bummer; we'll just hit Burger Bar instead!

Do you have any personal favorite order-in places (delivery) or restaurants in general? I know you're a native, so any food or entertainment recommendations would be excellent. Everything you wrote was fantastic, but we're just trying to plan out some sort of schedule. We may visit the Hoover Dam, but do you have any other ideas aside from the Canyon for trips also? Thanks again!

I'm not familier with where you'll be staying, but if your resort has a concierge, ask them for delivery places that they like in that neck of the woods. There are literally hundreds of interesting smaller restaurants all over Las Vegas. There just might be a few in walking distance to your resort. You might find a gem that you'll be recommending to all of us when you get back. And you might even be very close to some interesting grocery shopping if you'll be cooking in. If the grocery store that your shuttle goes to is an Albertsons, Vons or Smiths it'll have everthing you'll need to prepare a great meal or two. As far as the strip buffets they are all the same...and you really must experience one while you're here. The best buffet is a free one. Or a half price one. Check for coupons at the players' club counters at each resort.

You may not need a rental car for your entire stay with your shuttle service (even your shuttle driver will be happy to point you to some great dining deals, ask him for some suggestions). Taxi service is very good here, so are the buses, they run 24 hours. Other than Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon, a side trip to Chinatown might be interesting for some cheap shopping and very reasonable dining. Sam Woo Barbecue is very good there as well as a large number of other smaller restaurants & noodle shops all clustered together in a larger, very Chinese, very cool shopping plaza. It's just a few blocks from the strip on Spring Mountain at Arville.

My best advice is keep Googling--you still have plenty of time to Google the different resorts (don't miss Mandalay Bay, the Venetian, the Bellagio the top of the Stratosphere as well as an entire afternoon and evening at Fremont Street). Also Google the restaurants' individual web sites-they have the coupons and deals on their own web sites. Also, print out some user friendly maps for reference.

There are sites like http://www.easyvegasdeals.com/ that might have dining deals you can take advantage of.

I honestly think you'll find you won't need to plan out evey day...once you get here you'll quickly get into the flow of things and see that it's an extremely user friendly place to explore. Info will be available everywhere you look.

I definitely recommend Wolfgang Puck in MGM Grand...decently priced, but really good quality food.

Also, David Copperfield was an interesting show, but I do think it is overpriced so don't go unless you want to splurge.

It's all good.....you'll see...have a great time & report back when you come home. I want to hear about where you decided to eat.

Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of good foodie news to bring back! Here's a basic run-down of where we ate and what we did (major shows, not counting the walking around the strip and seeing all of the hotels/casinos). Here's a few thank you's first and then a list!

@kathyvegas - We went to the Ellis Island Brewery our second night and it was very inexpensive, but also very busy! It was just down the street from our resort which was wonderful, but we weren't too impressed by the food. It was good for the price, but we had some dry tasting meatballs and overdone steak. My prime rib was excellent though, thanks for the suggestion! Traffic was ridiculous, but we managed to get to both Trader Joe's on Decatur and Whole Foods on the strip, both were great. We ate at a Korean BBQ on Spring Mountain that was delicious as well and ate at The Burger Bar (which was our best meal in Vegas honestly). Red Rock Canyon was BREATHTAKING, but we made the mistake of not bringing food and were quite hungry when we got back to town...after a long detour from taking "the scenic route" back near the lake.

@floridayaya - My parents went to our time share presentation and we ended up getting free tickets to see the V Variety show at Planet Hollywood which ran for at least $50 otherwise, so it was a good deal. The show itself wasn't that impressive, but it was free, so that was nice!

@QueenHerm We were already planning on going to The Burger Bar, but it didn't disappoint! It was absolutely delicious.

Now that those thank you's are out of the way, here are the restaurants we went to:
- Ellis Island Brewery & Casino: Prime rib with mashed potatoes and green beans. DELICIOUS for me, but my family didn't all enjoy their meals. Decent service even though it was busy!
- Burger Bar in Mandalay Bay: Hands down best burger I've ever had. I had a turkey burger with caramelized onions, baby spinach, swiss cheese, and aioli on ciabatta. I couldn't decide between sweet potato fries and zucchini sticks, so the waitress immediately asked if I wanted half and half. Filling, well priced, and absolutely scrumptious.
- Random places in the food court at MGM Grand since we went to a TV screening and received a stack of coupons for food (buy one, get one free, etc.)
- Sonic Drive-In on West Flamingo: Standard fast food, but it was our first Sonic experience since there aren't many in New York. The day we went there, one opened in my home town, so that was surprising! Delicious drinks, I'll give them that.
- Woo Gai (not sure of the name actually) on Spring Mountain: Not much selection at this Korean BBQ buffet, but we got to cook at our table and had delicious bulgolgi! Decently priced.
- Plate Plate Plate buffet at Stratosphere: Some food was alright, but most of it was nothing better than a Ponderosa. Turkey was very dry. We wished that we hit more buffets, but we had a free coupon after seeing a show there since it was a package deal.
- Various places in the food court at the Fashion Show Mall: What could be expected from a mall food court. The lemonade at Hot Dog on a Stick was delicious though!

Next time, we will definitely hit better places. No one in my family cared about anything other than eating a meal and having it be inexpensive, so I'm hoping to go with friends and fellow foodies next time so I can REALLY experience Vegas. To me, Vegas wasn't a great choice for a family vacation even though we did have fun.

Shows Seen/Activities:
- Penn & Teller: EXCELLENT! Hilarious and captivating.
- V Variety Show: Mediocre. Some was interesting, but the whole time the hosts poked fun at a guy being 'gay' even though he was with his wife and made jokes at him and even called him up on stage.
- American Superstars tribute show at Stratosphere: Mega fail show. Hands down terrible...I can't even put into words. The Stratosphere itself had a wonderful view and my brother went on that terrifying ride that makes you look like you're plummeting into the ground, but the show was bad. Not worth the money in the least!
- TV Screening in MGM Grand. For free, we were able to see the pilot of a new show (Accidentally on Purpose) and for completing a survey, received a envelope full of coupons! Great deal and a nice way to spend some time inside after it being so hot.
- Red Rock Canyon: Worth the drive and absolutely breathtaking!
- Fashion Show Mall: Great way to spend some time inside and shop NOT on the strip!

We did a lot more, but honestly I am tired of typing. Thanks for the tips, everyone!

Really? I thought that he worked out of his San Francisco Fleur de Lys, that's what they said on Top Chef: Masters! I'm surprised. Either way, I'll have to tune in, he's an excellent chef.

Thanks for the help again, Kathy!

Oh, I knew that! I passed it and desperately wanted to go, but it was out of our budget and my family would rather have burgers than French cuisine!