Yes....

Spend ALL day touring the cave....or at least a half day

DONT take the elevators down.....walk in/down the natural entrance... very
impressive....listen to the beautiful sounds of the cave swallows at the
entrance..

TAKE your time walking down the trail, stop, look around/up etc and notice how
BIG things are and how much you can see when you really look....

DONT eat in the underground lunch room... the food is expensive and
bad....unless you just wanna say you did it....the eating place at the main
building is much better...and its a handy place to have breakfeast, lunch, and
dinner when your trying to do alot in one day...and IIRC the prices were pretty
darn reasonable....

Food/snacks/drinks are NOT allowed on the cave trail...so get a good breakfast
in you and the kids before you start...

The cave itself is pretty cool/cold (50ish? and a hundred percent humidity)
even though it may be 90 plus outside,... so take some warm
jackets/sweaters....cold hungry whinny kids can suck the fun outa justa about
anything ....

You can take the elevators up and out when your ready to leave....or if your
really adventurous you can walk back up/out the natural entrance or you could
enter by elevator and then walk up and out.... but remember you'll be changing
elevation by a 1000 feet or so....

Also ask the rangers about the "Lint Pickers", you will be surprised and
informed about the answer....and when your in the "Big Room"...ask a ranger to
point out the rope that leads to the "Spirit World" and ask em how they got the
rope up there.....then think about climbing that rope!

White City is at the base of the mountain/park....so allow probably another 20
minutes or so of driving to get from there to the actual cave...slow, curvy
road with lots of critters and brain damaged tourists...so be careful!

Carlsbad also offers "wild caving"

One type is where a ranger takes you to parts of Carlsbad that are generally
off limits and off trail....pretty cool and pretty easy generally...

They also offer lead trips into another cave in the park near the main
cave...its called Spider cave....and you get to do some REAL caving
there....crawling, squeezing, going through mazy areas...but it isnt too
tough....but I'd ask em if they thought the kids could handle it...

Then, they offer a guided tour of a big cave way south of the park, but still
on park land....its called "New Cave" (the old name) and now I think its
refered to as Slaughter Canyon Cave....though its a "wild cave" tour.....it is
VERY easy...you just basically walk around in this very big and pretty
cave....kinda like walking around in Carlsbad..except with your own
lights...dont let the Klansman get ya!

If you do the last one make sure you allow enough time for driving and
hiking....IIRC it takes about an hour to drive to Slaughter Canyon, then
another hour to hike up to the cave entrance.....and IIRC the time the tour
starts is the time they EXPECT you to be at the entrance of the cave .....and
remember in the desert you almost cant carry or drink too much water.....

And I think they may supply the equipment you need for some/all of the wild
tours...besides good shoes/boots, food/water, and a change of clothes...and you
generally have to have reservations for these wild tours, though you might be
lucky and find empty slots....and again I recall the prices being pretty
reasonable for them....

And yes, definitely stay for the bats! And dont leave the minute you see a few
like most people...it generally takes a good while for the bats to get REALLY
flowing....also ask if the bats are there yet/still....they migrate to mexico
for the winter/summer? And the "bat talk" by the rangers is usually pretty good
and worth listening to for awhile you wait for the cute little fellas...

If you only have one day....you might be able to fit in a decent tour of
carlsbad, one of the wild caving trips, and the evening bats too.....you'll
just have plan out everything well...ask about all the opening/closing times
and driving distances/times for stuff....

Im sure they have website....search it for the info (and more) that Ive
discussed here...

And if you actaully want to spend a couple days in the area I can point out
some other stuff you could do in the area that are pretty cool and could easily
eat up another day or 2....

take care

Blll "former lint picker" Fshh