Circus Circus Hotel in Las Vegas

By John Ziemba

If you're planning a family trip to Las Vegas, then you might consider staying at Circus Circus hotel in Las Vegas, for it has something for everyone, including a great variety of shops and restaurants, live circus acts, a family theme park, and, of course, three enticing full-size casinos (which offer the adult family members the exhilaration of gambling while trapeze acts may be taking place directly overhead!).

Children Enjoy the Circus

Circus Circus Las Vegas is a tent-shaped hotel casino that features trapeze artists, clowns, unicyclists, jugglers, acrobats, and magicians; in fact, it's home to a permanent circus that offers you a different, free act every half hour of every evening. Surrounding the Big Top is a Midway with dozens of carnival games and a popular arcade (with over 300 video and pinball games) - and if this isn't enough to keep your young children entertained, there's also a Be-A-Clown Booth (where children can wear a red foam rubber nose and be made up in washable clown makeup) and a McDonald's Restaurant.

Adventuredome

For the older kids, there's Adventuredome, a giant pink glass dome that has five acres of thrilling theme park rides, including the double-loop, double-corkscrew Canyon Blaster, the Rim Runner (a wet and wild ride where you'll plunge 60 feet), Chaos (which whirls its riders in varying ranges of motion) and the Slingshot (which forces you up and down a tower at 4 G's!). Day passes may be purchased for this spectacular and special facility, and the younger children will also have a good time here, for they'll enjoy the multimedia adventures of Dino Island and the Sponge Bob Square Pants 4D ride - and there's also a Frog Hopper (a ride which has your child hopping up and down like a frog) and Miner Mike (which has youngsters riding in coal bins). The whole family could play a round of miniature golf together (at Pike's Pass), or they could share a fun ride on the Circus Carousel and the Drifter (a hot air balloon Ferris wheel).

Shopping at Circus Circus

The 40,000 square foot shopping promenade contains about 20 shopping venues, including Circus Gifts (for souvenirs), Exclusively Circus Circus (an upscale shop that features apparel with the Circus Circus logo), Nothing But Clowns (filled with an abundance of clowns), Houdini's (a magic shop), and Sweet Tooth (where kids of all ages will enjoy home-made candy and ice cream).

Eating

The variety of eating establishments found here includes the Circus Buffet (one of the largest buffets in Las Vegas), a prize-winning, gourmet restaurant (The Steak House), and a more casual, 24-hour eatery, the Pink Pony (with its bubblegum pink pony carpeting and bright red cherry walls with immense paintings of clowns).

Accommodations at Circus Circus Hotel in Las Vegas

Circus Circus Las Vegas also offers almost 4,000 rooms - and the best of these are the deluxe Tower Rooms (which include wheelchair-accessible and non-smoking rooms), but there are also more reasonably priced rooms found in the Circus Circus Manor (810 smaller rooms located behind the main resort, in five three-storey buildings, with less amenities, but equipped with refrigerators and motor-lodge style parking). And for the RV enthusiast, there's also the Circusland RV Park (operated by KOA), the only RV Park on the Strip, which offers 399 spaces with full service utility hook-ups.

Unique Hotel

Circus Circus Las Vegas is one of the older, more reasonably priced facilities located right on the Strip, and it has been around long enough - and has been considered unique enough - to have been featured in such movies as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "Diamonds Are Forever" (a James Bond film). It's also home to the renowned, rotating Horse-a-Round Bar - and its own wedding chapel, too (the Chapel of the Fountain).