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| - Web site says you get a FULL TWO HOURS to take the new Hoover Dam Power Plant Tour - what they don't tell you, either on the web site or on the bus, is that you spend at least 1 hour and 15 minutes waiting in line. The first 15 minutes is in a security line where you are not allowed to bring in any food or liquid, except for bottled water. If you have a little baggie of snack for your baby - it's going into the trash; a packet of gum - into the trash. Also, no big backpacks or large bags allowed.
Your next 45minutes are spent in line for an 8 minute film on the history of the dam. It's very interesting and informative, but 45 minutes - NOT. After the film, your next 10-15 minutes are in line to wait for the elevators for the Power Plant Tour which lasts about 25 minutes. Now before entering the elevators - take note that this a point of no return. Once you get on the elevator and down to the plant, you have to wait for the tour to finish before you can come back up. If you've made a bathroom run [which also has lines] or stopped for a snack or decided to view the dam before your Plant Tour, you may be out of time and late for your bus by the time the tour is done. Our group opted to be late for the bus as we decided after waiting in all those lines that we actually wanted something for the money we paid besides standing in lines. There were actually other people in front of us who had 15 minutes more to spare than our group, but they decided to skip the Plant Tour just to make sure that they got back on their bus in time.
We purchased our tours through Groupon for $29/person - so NOT worth it. We should have just driven there, paid $7 for parking and $11/person for tickets for the Plant Tour, gone up to the exhibit and observation deck, walked around the dam and the bridge. Would have been really pissed if we actually paid full price.
Oh and your stop at the chocolate factory [it's a 3 minute walk through in what is now a Mars company] and botanical garden [really just a cactus garden] - you get 15 minutes. It would have been better to give the extra 15 minutes at the dam.
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