Zion & Las Vegas

Travellers

• Adithya — strict vegan + Jain. No meat, dairy, egg, honey; no onion, garlic, leek, chive, scallion, shallot; no mushroom.
• Vatsala — vegetarian. ~26 weeks pregnant (due 31 Jan 2027). Plantar fasciitis — stability + cushioning, no long standing.
• Leela — 3y10m. Vegetarian. The three of you share one King; every room below is booked on that basis.

No allergies. Leela has outgrown dairy and soy as of July 2026.

Flights ✓ Ticketed · conf. GRZOXZ

All three on one PNR. Ticket 0062452822303, issued 1 Aug 2026. Main Extra = fully refundable, not eCredit-only.

Shape of the week

Pace

Never up before 7am — leave later where possible. One major thing a day. Dinner early enough for Leela's bedtime. Restroom stops roughly hourly at named cafés or visitor centres, not every 20 minutes.

The Venetian ✓ Booked

Itinerary

Delta Stays 73508401569624 · booked 29 Jul

Room

Newly Remodeled Luxury Room, 1 King · non-smoking

Times

Check-in 3:00 PM · check-out 11 AM · min. age 21

Paid to Delta

$143.08

At property

$62.36 resort fee

Total

$205.44 (21% off — saved $33.80)

Cancel by

Sun 18 Oct, 11:59pm — free. After that, 100% penalty.

VIP Access

$20 beverage credit + $25 casino credit per room, per stay

Why

5.0-star, 9.2/10 from 17,997 reviews, tower renovation complete. Cheapest genuine 5-star of the week.

Address

3355 S Las Vegas Blvd · (888) 283-6423

$150/night card authorisation at check-in. Earns up to 882 miles. Parking is $20/day self-park, not included — budget it on top of the $205.44.

No door between bedroom and living area — the Venetian's layout is a sunken living room with an open bedroom. Accepted deliberately; the alternative at 5-star with a door was $2,449 at the Wynn.

Book the Palazzo instead? No. Its tower is the next phase of the $1.5B renovation, running through late 2026.

Hurricane stop — groceries & fuel ✓ Verified 2 Aug

The townhome has a full kitchen and Springdale's shops are small and expensive. This is the shop. Also fill the tank here — it's the last real town.

• Lin's Market — 1120 W State St · (435) 635-4477
  Mon–Thu 6am–11pm · Fri–Sat 6am–12am · Sun 7am–10pm. Fresh produce, bakery, deli, large natural/organic range — the better bet for the diet.
• Walmart Supercenter — 180 N 3400 W · (435) 635-6945
  Bigger range, cheaper. Backup if Lin's is short on something.

Buy five days of breakfasts and lunches here. It removes most of the dietary risk for the week in one stop.

Springdale Townhome 1 ✓ Booked

Booking

Vrbo HA-82L7C8 · property 743959 · hosts Matt & Trista

Arrive

Thu 22 Oct, 3:00 PM

Depart

Tue 27 Oct, 10:00 AM

Total

$3,078.56 — $1,921.72 paid 2 Aug, $1,156.84 auto-charges 7 Oct

Refund

100% to 8 Oct 11:59pm · 50% to 15 Oct · nothing after

Why this one

2.5 baths rather than 1 — the deciding factor at 26 weeks. Full kitchen.

The street address is not released until three days before arrival — Vrbo sends check-in instructions then. Add it here when it lands; several things below depend on it.

Entry ✓ NPS, checked 2 Aug

• $35 per private vehicle, valid 1–7 days — covers the whole stay in one payment.
• America the Beautiful annual pass, $80 — worth it only if you'll hit two more federal sites within the year.
• No timed entry or reservation to enter the park. (Angels Landing needs a permit — not relevant here.)
• The shuttle is free.

Trails that fit this crew ✓ NPS distances

NPS classes Zion Canyon's easy hikes as 0.4–3.5 miles with no more than 100 ft of elevation gain. These three are the ones that work for a 3-year-old on foot and someone who can't do climbs.

Pa'rus is the only stroller-friendly trail in the canyon — and it's also the only one dogs are allowed on. Riverside Walk is the signature easy walk and the one most worth doing.

Not doing: Angels Landing (permit, chains, sheer drops) or The Narrows (river wading, cold in October). Neither is appropriate.

Solo evening

• No rideshare. MGM Grand's casino is a 7-minute walk Delta's figure, unverified
• Park MGM — the Strip's only fully smoke-free casino and its only smoke-free craps table ($15, 3-4-5x odds). Reachable on foot; verify the route before relying on it.
• No show booked — the evening is gambling only.

Blackjack: insist on 3:2. A low minimum almost always signals 6:5, which triples the house edge (~1.9% vs ~0.5%).

Why not the obvious ones

• Park MGM / The Reserve — every King sold out on 27 Oct, and the Kings are Sleeps 2 regardless.
• Marriott's Grand Chateau — the $258 rate is a studio; the real 1-bedroom villa is $371, and refundable costs $464. Only 3.5-star.
• Jockey Club — $192 and three minutes from Bellagio, but 3.5-star, four different management companies renting individually owned units, and the door could never be confirmed.
• Bonvoy points — every Strip property redeems at 0.42–0.56¢ against a 0.7–0.85¢ baseline. Pay cash.

Full reasoning in BRIEF.md.

Vendor

Avis, LAS Rent-A-Car Center — President's Club

Pick up

Wed 21 Oct, ~3pm, after the shuttle

Drop off

Tue 27 Oct under review — see open questions

Location

7135 Gilespie St · open 24 hours

Shuttle

T1 doors 10–11 · T3 doors 51–54 · every ~5 min · ~7 min ride

• Never Budget, especially at airports.
• Spouse is a free additional driver in Nevada — not a differentiator between brands.
• Plan a gas stop before the return leg.
• Carrying Leela's own car seat — no rental seat needed.

To call before the trip

• Truth & Tonic — (702) 414-3600 Allium not yet confirmed
• Eataly (Park MGM) — (702) 730-7777 Allium not yet confirmed

Ask the question the cuisine demands: for Italian it's the sauce base and the stock; for a juice bar it's the savoury blends and dressings.

Springdale — candidates, none vetted yet Call before you rely on any

These appear in current vegan guides and are open. Not one has been checked for allium, so treat every row as a lead, not a plan. Ask specifically about the sauce base and the stock — that's where onion and garlic hide.

Park House is shut on your Saturday and Sunday — only Fri 23 and Mon 26 work.

Cafe Soleil is permanently closed — it still appears in several vegan guides for Zion. Don't plan around it.

Self-catering — the actual strategy

Springdale has three viable restaurants and none is allium-confirmed. The kitchen is the plan; restaurants are the bonus.

• Springdale townhome — full kitchen. Buy five days of breakfasts and lunches at Lin's in Hurricane on the way in.
• Pack lunches into the canyon. There is one restaurant up there (Zion Lodge) and you can't easily leave and come back — the shuttle round trip is 40+ minutes.
• Signature — stovetop, microwave, no fridge listed.
• Venetian — no kitchen.

Springdale townhome address to be added from the VRBO confirmation.

1. Rental car end date

Current plan drops the car at LAS on Tue 27 Oct — a solo run out to Gilespie St and an Uber back — then Ubers to the airport on the 28th. But the Signature includes valet parking. Keeping the car overnight and dropping it at LAS on the way to DL333 removes both Uber legs. Re-price Avis for the extra day before changing anything.

2. The Delta Stays credit

The $200 annual Amex Delta Reserve credit applies to prepaid Delta Stays bookings. Both hotels qualify:

• Venetian — $143.08 prepaid 29 Jul. Amex confirmed a credit was earned on 1 Aug.
• Signature — $379.23 prepaid 2 Aug, against the ~$57 remaining.

Credits post 6–8 weeks after the charge. Confirm both land on the statement.

3. Verify before relying on them

• Signature → MGM Grand casino walking route (Delta says 7 min; not independently checked)
• Signature → Park MGM on foot, for the smoke-free craps table
• Vegas → Springdale drive time and the Hurricane grocery stop
• Whether the Signature suite has a refrigerator

4. Vet the Springdale restaurants for allium

Three places are open and vegan-friendly, none is allium-confirmed. Call and ask about the sauce base and the stock:

• MeMe's Cafe (435) 772-0114 — daily 8am–9pm
• Whiptail Grill (435) 772-0283 — daily 11:30am–9:30pm; Mexican, so ask about the salsa specifically
• Park House Cafe (435) 772-0100 — Mon–Fri only, so Fri 23 or Mon 26

Record every answer here, including the no-answers, so nothing gets re-vetted.

5. Add the townhome address

Vrbo releases it three days before arrival (~19 Oct). Add it to the addresses table and re-check the drive time against the real address rather than "Springdale, UT".

6. Re-check the shuttle season boundary

The 25 October step-down from a 6:00pm to a 5:00pm last shuttle comes from the currently published schedule. NPS confirms 2026 dates closer to the season — re-check in early October, because Sunday and Monday's plans depend on it. Park info: (435) 772-3256.

If the alert fires

• Call 833-778-9290 immediately. In-park cancellations go within hours.
• Ask for a ground-floor room. Lodge Suites and King rooms are all second floor with no lift. The 2-queen Lodge Rooms and Western Cabins aren't restricted.
• No kitchen — cabins have a microwave and mini-fridge, lodge rooms a mini-fridge and shared microwave. Buy that night's food at the Hurricane stop.
• Only change the Springdale booking once the lodge is actually confirmed, and only before 8 Oct.
• Lodge guests are the sole exemption to the shuttle-season driving ban — that's the whole reason to want the night.