We stayed here for one night during President's Day weekend.  Since my wife had never been to Las Vegas,  the $40 room rate was the perfect excuse to introduce her to Sin City.  Besides,  I needed an excuse to get away from the cookie cutter master planned community of Irvine.  \n\nAs we arrived to the hotel,  we opted for the free valet parking (score!).  While we were unloading our bags from the car,  the valet attendant noticed that we were trying to gather everything and asked if we needed a bellhop.  Without hesitating,  I told him yes.  Within a minute,  we had a guy with a cart helping us load our bags and was given a ticket to call for our bags once we got checked in.  It was nice not having to ask for one and to find a very attentive and helpful employee.  So far, so good when it comes to good impressions.\n\nCheck in at the front was a breeze and I told the check in guy that it was our first visit to The Orleans.  He gave us a room with a view of the Strip and a coupon book loaded with resort discounts.  I think we used one coupon which was a 2 for 1 coupon for the 24 hour bowling alley.  We also signed up for the player's club so we could get credits for gambling and the all important $1 discount at the French Market Buffet .  (You get more discounts than that for signing up) The nice thing about the check in area was that you were bombarded with smoke from the casino.  In fact,  there were signs saying that there was no smoking near the front desk area.  \n\nThe room was a decent size and the beds were very comfortable.  There was someone's lip balm on the floor, but that was one of two minor glitches with the room.  The other glitch was that we had a leaky faucet in the bathroom sink.  We called the front desk about the leaky faucet and the problem was attended to within minutes.  The only thing I would add would be a fan for the bathroom area.  Other than that,  rooms in Vegas are meant for sleeping and bathing only.\n\nThe nice thing about The Orleans is that they are one of the few Las Vegas resorts that have a child care area: Kid's Tyme.  Since we had our 9 year old daughter with us,  we dropped her off there while we went to play 5 cent video poker in the casino.  Our daughter loved Kid's Tyme and her biggest complaint was that her time there was way too short.  90 minutes.  The charge for their services is $6.50/hr from Sunday-Thursday and $7.50 on Friday and Saturday.  Looks like they have quite the set up for kiddie fun with a huge chutes and ladders jungle gym,  Wii and PlayStation games and movies.  We promised our daughter that we will let her stay there longer on our next trip.\n\nThe casino area has a lot of machines and a great selection of penny and nickel slots/video poker.  My game of choice is Deuces Wild video poker and there is a good sized non smoking area for those who don't like being bombarded with other people's cigarettes.  They take the whole New Orleans theme to the max with Mardi Gras masks, fake alligators and fake crawfish adorning.  We even got Mardi Gras beads from the casino cashier without having to flash her.  I think we would have had a meeting with casino security if we did that.  My only complaint is that the machines were a wee bit tight.  I played on $20 on Deuces WIld for 90 minutes.  The only drawback was the drink service was a bit slow.  However,  the drinks are free and be sure to tip the server so that she returns ofter.  \n\nThe 24 hour bowling alley is huge and is a very good value. After midnight from Mon-Thurs ,  the price is $1 a game plus $3.25 shoe rental. My daughter and I bowled two games and both of us had a great time.   \n\nWe ate breakfast at the French Market Buffet.   Service was very good, selection was huge and the price was right at $6.99 with the player's club card.  Sweet potato pancakes, chocolate waffles, grits and a array of delicious breakfast foods.  The omelet station was very good and there were a wide array of ingredients including spinach, shrimp and jalapenos.  From what I hear, they do BBQ ribs and crawfish real well and will have to do lunch or dinner the next time we come back.\n\nOverall,  we had a pleasant experience at The Orleans.  The staff was very friendly, the room was comfortable and the whole environment was like a Vegas megaresort without having to pay the megaresort price.  Since we are player's club members,  we are now eligible for room  discounts on our next booking.   We will be here again on our next visit and would recommend this to anyone who is going to Vegas with their kids or without their kids.   I know it's about a mile from the Strip,  but there is a free shuttle that takes you there up until 12:30am.  We will also take advantage of that service on our next trip.  Some people want to be near the action of the Strip,  but sometimes it's OK to be away from the chaos.  The Orleans was the perfect fit and we are looking forward to being a repeat guest,