The anchors

Start downtown: the DISCOVERY Children's Museum (three floors, 26,000 square feet in Symphony Park — Toddler Town for birth-to-five, the mini-city where kids work jobs and earn a paycheck) and the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, whose Living History film shows an interpreter as an Egyptian high priest teaching mummification step by step. On the Strip, the Adventuredome gets its biography from a theme-park historian: the survivor of Vegas's 1990s family experiment, from the original Grand Canyon ride and dinosaur attraction to today's coaster dome under the pink glass.

Come laugh, play, and learn at DISCOVERY Children's Museum in Las Vegas!

DiscoveryLV

The museum's own guided overview (2019): 26,000 square feet of hands-on exhibits with STEAM learning built into the play, across three floors in Symphony Park. The tour starts in Toddler Town, the first-floor area for little learners from birth to five, then climbs into the mini-city where kids work jobs, earn a paycheck and run the cafe, the children's hospital, the grocery store and a Raiders stadium construction site.

Key takeaways
  • Three floors of hands-on STEAM exhibits
  • Toddler Town serves birth-to-five learners
  • The mini-city: jobs, paychecks, cafe, hospital, grocery store

The Troubled History of The Only Theme Park in Vegas - The Adventuredome: Failed Family Las Vegas

Expedition Theme Park

Expedition Theme Park's history of the Adventuredome — the survivor of Las Vegas's 1990s family-friendly experiment, when the Strip tried to become a kid-friendly paradise. The episode digs into the dome's beginnings under its reflective pink glass: the Grand Canyon experience that saved visitors a trip to Arizona, the dinosaur attraction with eight large animatronics and a fossil wall, and how the park evolved into today's coaster dome. Archival, detailed and fond — the dome's biography.

Key takeaways
  • The Adventuredome's full history, from the 1990s family era
  • The original Grand Canyon and dinosaur attractions excavated
  • How the pink dome evolved into today's coaster park

Is it worth your money? An HONEST Review of The Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay Las Vegas 7/4/23

Joe In Vegas Reviews

Joe In Vegas Reviews asks the only question in his title: is Shark Reef worth your money? His honest 2023 review walks the jungle room and the glass-floored shark room with its sunken ship, notes the shark count felt lighter than on past visits, and lands on a measured verdict. The critical counterweight to the pure tour films.

Key takeaways
  • An explicitly honest value review (2023)
  • Glass floors and the shipwreck shark room featured
  • Felt lighter on sharks than his earlier visits

Honest verdicts, not brochures

Three films here exist to argue with the marketing. The Shark Reef review (2023) walks the jungle room and glass-floored shark room and lands measured — the shark count felt lighter than on past visits. The Pinball Hall of Fame review (2023) is firmly positive with its caveat attached (free entry, cheap games, more machines down for repair at the busier Boulevard hall). And Tournament of Kings at Excalibur — the Strip's last dinner show, running since 1990, eating with your hands in a dirt arena while kings joust — gets one of the very few long-form reviews it has ever received (July 2025).

The day trips and the robots

Ethel M's chocolate factory and cactus garden (self-guided viewing aisle, then the garden plant by plant), Springs Preserve's WaterWorks and Flash Flood Exhibit — stand in a simulated flash flood — and backstage at BattleBots Destruct-A-Thon with Vegas PBS (2025): the only BattleBox arena in the world, per the film, behind Horseshoe, builders and creators tracing robot combat from garages to a nightly residency. Family Vegas is a real trip; this page's films treat it like one.

Sources: the nine videos on this page — museum overviews and a living-history film, a theme-park history, three honest reviews, factory and preserve tours, and a PBS backstage feature — summarized from their entries in our catalog.

My HONEST REVIEW of TOURNAMENT OF KINGS at The Excalibur in Las Vegas!

MikeTheVegasGuy

MikeTheVegasGuy's honest review of Tournament of Kings at Excalibur (July 2025): the full treatment of the Strip's last dinner show — eating with your hands in a dirt arena, the kings' jousting and pyrotechnics, the sections' rooting sections, and whether a medieval banquet that has run since 1990 still earns a family night. The page's anchor, and one of very few long-form reviews the show has ever received.

Key takeaways
  • Full honest review, Jul 2025
  • Hands-only feast in a dirt arena
  • Jousting, pyro and section rivalry

Living History at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum

Las Vegas Natural History Museum (LVNHM)

The museum's Living History program in performance: an interpreter in character as Beruty, high priest of Anubis, teaches young visitors the ancient Egyptian art of mummification step by step — the 70 days the process takes, what happens to the pharaoh's soul, the sacred oils and the incision — exactly the kind of first-person presentation the museum stages in its galleries.

Key takeaways
  • Living-history interpretation in character
  • Mummification explained step by step for kids
  • Filmed at the museum in 2020

An HONEST Review of The Pinball Hall of Fame in Las Vegas 2023

Joe In Vegas Reviews

Joe's honest 2023 review of the Pinball Hall of Fame at its Las Vegas Boulevard home near the Welcome sign, filmed after several visits since moving to Vegas. He walks the rows of vintage machines, notes that the sheer play volume at the busier Strip location means more games are down for repair than at the old hall, and still lands firmly positive: entry is free, games are cheap, and the old pinballs reward players of every age.

Key takeaways
  • Free entry; you pay per play. The hall moved from Tropicana Avenue to Las Vegas Boulevard south of the Welcome sign. Higher foot traffic means more machines awaiting repair, but plenty are playable. Good for all ages, especially anyone nostalgic for pre-video-game pinball.

Watch: Las Vegas With Kids And Family, guided

3 videos · summaries from the actual guides

Ethel M's Chocolate Factory | Cactus Garden | Tour | Vegas

GrahamVentures

GrahamVentures (Matt and Kara) tours Ethel M's Chocolate Factory and Cactus Garden in 2022, noting the company's Tacoma roots before walking the self-guided factory viewing and the desert garden — ending with the purple pancake cactus and a running commentary on the plant collection.

Key takeaways
  • Factory tour plus full garden walk (2022)
  • The brand's Tacoma/Washington origins noted
  • Self-guided viewing aisle format

A Day at Springs Preserve in Las Vegas | Water Works | Flash Flood Exhibit

Dani.702

Dani.702 spends a day at Springs Preserve in 2018 focusing on WaterWorks and the Flash Flood Exhibit — the hands-on water science museum where you can stand in a simulated flash flood — within the preserve's wildlife, museums, cafe and trails.

Key takeaways
  • WaterWorks and the Flash Flood Exhibit in depth (2018)
  • Hands-on water science for kids
  • One focused slice of a large site

BattleBots: Viva Destruct-A-Thon | Vegas All In

Vegas PBS

A Vegas PBS 'Vegas All In' feature (2025): host and Destruct-A-Thon emcee Bil Dwyer takes viewers backstage at the BattleBots Arena behind Horseshoe Las Vegas — billed on screen as the only BattleBox arena in the world — where the live show runs nightly. Builders and the show's creators trace robot combat from garage beginnings to the Las Vegas residency, and the cameras catch the arena, the bots and the crowd up close.

Key takeaways
  • Backstage at Destruct-A-Thon with its host, Bil Dwyer
  • The only BattleBox arena in the world, per the film
  • Builders and creators tell the residency's story

More Las Vegas essentials

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