“So …” I began, seated in the car, Mommy Kyla driving, and her two kids, Jagger (5) and Presley (7), strapped into seats behind us. “Are you excited for Adventuredome?”

We’d only been talking about going to Adventuredome for weeks. The two boys and I had bonded over discussing what we were going to do when we arrived to the pink-domed theme park inside Circus Circus.

Most of our talk had centered around the 4-D Sponge Bob Experience and cotton candy. Well, to be exact, purple cotton candy. Which I wasn’t sure even existed. [Note: it does.]

Fast forward, and there we were, the four of us piled into the car on a very hot Las Vegas Sunday afternoon, en route to the five-acre park loaded with enough rides and games to keep kids busy for a full day.

“I don’t want to go on the rides,” Presley announced from the back seat.

What? “Oh, come on …” I said, hoping this wasn’t going to turn into a disaster. I wanted to get the scoop on kid-friendly Vegas from kids. Not from what I thought would be fun for them. Was my bright, fun-filled idea suddenly not going to be fun?

“No no no no no NO rides!!!!”

Well, OK. I braced myself for an Adventuredome disaster.

However, as soon as we walked into the hotel, everything changed. Presley’s hand in mine, we entered the park. The energy was immediate. I could tell Presley felt it because his grip tightened around my fingers and his scowl reversed as soon as all of the stimuli surrounding us began to soak in.

“Look at the rides!” He pointed to one spinning people upside down. “I want to go on the rides!”

And, just like that, his entire mood changed. We started the day with the Sponge Bob 4-D Experience, complete with our backs getting poked, our ankles getting tickled and the smell of pickles permeating the air. When we walked out, I turned to the two blonde-hair, blue-eyed boys.

“Did you like it?” I asked.

The answer? A resounding yes, with details about everything they loved. (And they loved it all.)

The rest of our time at Adventuredome was spent hitting some of the various rides.

Presely was tall enough to go on the “adult” rides, but opted to forgo the stomach drops in exchange for more pleasant experiences.

There was one ride that he wanted to go on that strapped passengers in and spun them around and around for a dizzying amount of time. I reluctantly volunteered to go on that ride with him. We stood in line for a few minutes.

“You sure you want to go on that?” I asked, hoping he would opt out.

“Oh yeah,” he said. After a minute of asking him re-think the situation (which may have included questioning him about the fun of the ride and the length of time spinning ‘round and ‘round…I admit, I didn’t want to go), he turned to me and blinked. “I don’t think I want to go on this anymore.”

Good.

After spending two hours hitting the kids’ picks at the indoor park, we headed down The Strip to Mandalay Bay and the Shark Reef. The boys greeted Shark Reef with as much energy and enthusiasm as when we first arrived to Adventuredome.

The four of us walked wide-eyed through the predator-based aquarium. Since it was a weekend, there were some bottle necks at the beginning, but as soon as we got to the main area where people could pet the sting rays, it opened up.

Jagger dangled precariously over the ledge of the sting ray exhibit, gathering his courage up, and then reached his little fingers in to the shallow water.

When a sting ray floated by, his fingers grazed the top. He looked towards Mommy and I with a huge smile on his face.

While exploring Shark Reef took under an hour, it was still something the kids loved. The verdict from the kiddos? Adventuredome and Shark Reef – two sure options for kid-friendly fun in Las Vegas.

Other sure bets for kids (based on kids' opinions)?

M&M World. We didn’t go that day, but just driving past it prompted the two kids (who have been there plenty of times before) to beg us to stop so they could go and look at the huge M&M displays (and likely purchase items at the humungous gift shop).

The Midway at Circus Circus. Think Chuck E. Cheese’s…but bigger. Games galore. Plus, there’s a circus act that performs for free that kids eat up.

The Stratosphere: The rides on top of the observation deck, while not approved by Presely and Jagger, are designed for the thrill-seeking kids and adults. These rides are located at the top of the Strat and dangle, drop, and give way to some serious adrenaline. This attraction is geared toward the older crowd. When I asked the boys if they wanted to go, their eyes got wide and a look of panic swept across their face. Interpretation: NO.

There’s also MGM’s Lion Habitat. This is a free exhibit and lets kids get up-close and nearly personal with lions? Visitors can’t touch them, but they sure can look … real close (!). Housed in an indoor facility, this glass-enclosed showcase lets people see them at nearly every angle – from the casino-level or from below.

Over at the Mirage is Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat, where visitors come face-to-face with some of the  most remarkable mammals on the planet. Within this specially-created environment, there are white lions, white tigers, leopards and panthers, along with a family of Atlantic Bottle-Nosed Dolphins. The boys have done this before and love it. They were miffed we weren’t going during our Day of Fun.

And, according to the boys, there are plenty of other great places to go Off Strip, too. But, that’s another story for a different day.

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Editors Note: Complimentary entry was provided to Adventuredome and Shark Reef.