6 Flags Kentucky(have free kids tickets) or Holiday World

[tooh8ful]

The Old Spaghetti Factory is right down town, good and fairly inexpensive.

I second the vote for Lynn's, its WONDERFUL.

I can think of a million other great places to eat but not necessarily kid friendly. Sorry

Have fun!

 

[Praying Colonel]

I think it's got to be Holiday World. To be honest I think I already knew that!
I was just trying to save some pennies. However, I just got a steal on the hotel. Hyatt Palce for $42 a night.
Total for 5 nights on the Hyatt website is $695 + tax

Just hope getting to all the attractions downtown is not going to be a hassle.

As for Mammoth Cave, it's already on the list. I think the kids are going to do the TROG tour.

I am so excited. We leave in 2 days time.

Thanks for all the helpful advice. Please keep it coming. Especially good / kid friendly places to eat.
Angie

W.W. Cousins on Breckinridge Lane has kids-eat-free nights on Monday and Tuesday. Great burgers, sandwiches, fish and a fixins bar to rival Pecos Bills.

Louisville also has a lot of great locally-owned restaurants. They may not fit within a budget but they are exceptional. Others have already mentioned Lynn's Paradise Cafe, which has an eclectic menu and crazy decor that'll keep everybody interested. You can read more reviews of Louisville restaurants at this Courier-Journal link----> clicky clicky

 

[chalex]

Now I'm getting worried that 6 days is not enough.

The Hyatt Place is on South Hurstbourne Parkway, East of downtown.
Where should I park downtown?

We will be visiting the slugger museum, science museum, frazier museum, waterfront; not all on the same day of course.

The Bats are at home on 6/29 and although my kids are not big baseball fans (both love soccer) I know they will enjoy it and I can always bribe them with the fireworks!

Now I need to put together an itinerary so we don't forget anything.

I couldn't have done this without all your help. A heartfelt thank-you to you all.

One of the moms on my daughters soccer team called and asked me 'what' on earth are we going to do in Kentucky for 2 weeks. If only she knew!

Angie

 

[Praying Colonel]

There are lots of parking garages downtown, and during the evenings and on weekends you can use any of the metered parking for free.

Please give us a report when you return--I love living in Louisville and hope you enjoy our town!

 

[ICF]

I would MOST definatly choose holiday world! We just got back saturday and it was awsome. Food was really cheap,FREE COKES ALL DAY, rides and crowds were great. 2 of the rides had a good wait but for a saturday it was not bad. IMHO I can't stand KY kingdom. way,way to small for the amount of people, and expensive!

Just to clarify since it may be important to some...the free drinks aren't "cokes" but Pepsi products. They do have water / lemonade / iced tea and gatorade available as well for free.

They have food prices on their website, and you can beat them at other parks. I had BBQ sandwich, baked beans, fires and cookie when I was there and I it was either $4.99 or $5.99 and was very good.

We love the park and were there last week on a Friday and the crowds weren't bad at all. Our longest wait in the water park was probably 15-20 mins. They have 3 roller coasters at the park and the other smaller rides. Our kids are young, but I would imagine the older kids (12+) would like the water park, but not be that crazy about the rids in the Holiday World section as there are not a lot of "thrill rides".

The free parking , free suntan lotion, and free parking all make it a fun place to go.

 

[Alesia]

I don't want to hijack the thread - but, I do have a question about Holiday World and crowds. From what I understand, it's better to go during the week. What about July 4th or 5th? does anyone know if it's wall to wall people around the holiday?

I've never been on the 4th, but we go every year on the 5th of July (DD's birthday.) It's busy, but not unbearable. Saturdays are ridiculous, but Sundays are not bad. The best advise I can give you is to go to Splashin' Safari first. First thing in the morning there are no lines for the water slides. That changes by about 1:00. The lines in Holiday World aren't generally long in the afternoon unless it is VERY busy.

 

[madge]

I've never been on the 4th, but we go every year on the 5th of July (DD's birthday.) It's busy, but not unbearable. Saturdays are ridiculous, but Sundays are not bad. The best advise I can give you is to go to Splashin' Safari first. First thing in the morning there are no lines for the water slides. That changes by about 1:00. The lines in Holiday World aren't generally long in the afternoon unless it is VERY busy.

good to know, thanks!

 

[Alesia]

I honestly think you might save money by going to Holiday World. At Kentucky Kingdom you have to pay to park and food and drinks are incredibly expensive. I have Heard that 1 slice of pizza is more than $6. We can feed 4 people dinner for less than $20 at Holiday World.

The Bakuli (the new water slide) is awesome!!!

 

[Pugrpooh]

Now I'm getting worried that 6 days is not enough.

The Hyatt Place is on South Hurstbourne Parkway, East of downtown.
Where should I park downtown?

We will be visiting the slugger museum, science museum, frazier museum, waterfront; not all on the same day of course.

The Bats are at home on 6/29 and although my kids are not big baseball fans (both love soccer) I know they will enjoy it and I can always bribe them with the fireworks!

Now I need to put together an itinerary so we don't forget anything.

I couldn't have done this without all your help. A heartfelt thank-you to you all.

One of the moms on my daughters soccer team called and asked me 'what' on earth are we going to do in Kentucky for 2 weeks. If only she knew!

Angie

The museums are all within a block of each other on Main St. There's a parking garage right behind Slugger Museum and a parking lot behind the Science Museum off of River Rd.

I haven't been to the Ali Center yet, but DH took some people there and they really enjoyed it. That's also right there in the same area.

I heard someone from the Bats on the radio this morning and they have a lot of things planned for their long home stretch coming up. One night they are having the LA Lakers dancers to dance between innings and they may be having fireworks after a game. You can probably find the info on their website.

Mark's Feed Store has great bbq and sides. Either Mon. or Tues. nights kids eat free and the other night is free dessert night. I can't remember which is which though.

I don't know where you're coming in from, but the Newport Aquarium is a nice place to visit, and there's also King's Island north of Cincinnati (but not cheap). KK has added new water attractions in the water park, but we haven't been yet, and I've never been to Holiday World.

The Kentucky Derby Museum is very nice and easy to get to from downtown.

Mammoth Cave is a must. Go to their website to reserve your tours -- sometimes they sell out in the summer.

Shakertown and Old Fort Harrod are nice if you're in that area. Also the Perryville battlefield, although I've only been there for the reenactment and there's probably not a whole lot to see at other times.

The splash park at the zoo is nice. We took DD5 there a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday and they were very crowded, but it's big enough and there's such a lot to do that she was fine. The splash park at Waterfront Park is good too.

You can take the Belle of Louisville boat ride on the river. I think it's air conditioned now.

Locust Grove, Farmington, Farnsley Moreman House, and Edison House are historic homes here.

I could go on, I keep thinking of other things to do but this is long enough! Louisville has a nice website that lists all of the attractions and activities.

Have fun!

If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask!

 

[Indianadisneyfan]

It's Holiday World for me also. I have been to Kentucky Kingdom once, and the only reason that I went then it was for a work picnic/ get together. I would never go back even if I got in free again. To many little "punks" walking around with their pants half off. I also say lot of women ( and yes I don't mind seeing them in bathing suits) walking around in them riding rides and it wasn't a pretty site. You won't see that at Holiday World. When you leave the swimming area you have to have all your clothes on over your bathing suit.

 

[madge]

The museums are all within a block of each other on Main St. There's a parking garage right behind Slugger Museum and a parking lot behind the Science Museum off of River Rd.

The Science Center parking lot is affected by the restore 64 project (at least that's what WAVE-3 was reporting last weekend ) on the weekends. There are plenty of other alternative places to park, though.

 

[Pugrpooh]

The Science Center parking lot is affected by the restore 64 project (at least that's what WAVE-3 was reporting last weekend ) on the weekends. There are plenty of other alternative places to park, though.

That's probably true! The I-64 work might keep people away from downtown during the weekends too, I haven't seen any reports to that though, but even so there's plenty of parking.

A couple of kid-friendly restaurants that I thought of -- Huber Farm in s. Indiana and Claudia Sanders Dinner House between Simpsonville and Shelbyville.

 

[insoin]

The Speed Art Museum is really nice. Kids may not get a lot out of it, but its neat. Right now they have a special Photo exibit of famous pictures and all that. I know it was talked about going for a cruise on the river, I guess that means the Belle of Louisville. I drove past it today and it hit me again how neat of a boat it is.

 

[loveswdw]

Hyatt Place IS on Hurstbourne Pkwy. Downtown is about 5-10 minutes from there on the expressway or interstate. The Hyatt Place used to be an AmeriSuites hotel if you are familiar with those. Around the hotel is TONS of restaurants and shopping, mostly chains such as Olive Garden, Carraba's, Macaroni Grill, Chili's, etc. etc. etc. There's tons to eat just in that area alone. There's lots of stores too (Barnes & Noble and CompUSA are right next to the hotel).

As far as stuff to do I think everybody else has pretty much got it covered. We've been to KY Kingdom several times in the past but haven't been for at least 7-8 years. We've never been to Holiday World but we do have a trip planned to there the weekend after July 4th.

There's a LOT to do in Louisville!!

 

[Pugrpooh]

The Speed Art Museum is really nice. Kids may not get a lot out of it, but its neat. Right now they have a special Photo exibit of famous pictures and all that. I know it was talked about going for a cruise on the river, I guess that means the Belle of Louisville. I drove past it today and it hit me again how neat of a boat it is.

The Speed has Art Sparks in the basement for the kids. Lots of things for different ages. It's a $5 charge but there's a lot of neat activities for them.

 

[madge]

I keep thinking of more - there's the Abe Lincoln birthplace in Hodgenville and a small Coca-cola museum in Elizabethtown (right off I-65, on the way to Bowling Green)

Have a safe trip and enjoy your stay! I'd love to hear a mini trip report when you return home!

 

[don8life]

We went to six flags kentucky last summer. i thought the people and the customers were rude. I was not impressed. They did have a pretty cool water park inside that did not require extra money.

I don't know about the other park you mentioned.

The sugger museum and the science center are awesome. If your children play ball be prepared money wise to buy them personalized bats. If not they give out free minnie ones with the tour.

 

[Pugrpooh]

I just heard on the radio that a young girl had her feet severed while on a ride at Six Flags KK! I think they said it was the Superman (or maybe he said Spiderman) ride. It's been years since I've been there so I'm not familiar with it. Poor girl!

 

[WDWBarb]

I just heard on the radio that a young girl had her feet severed while on a ride at Six Flags KK! I think they said it was the Superman (or maybe he said Spiderman) ride. It's been years since I've been there so I'm not familiar with it. Poor girl!

I just read about it on MSNBC. How absolutely horrible. I've always hated that park. Apparently it happened on a "drop" ride that malfunctioned.

That poor girl. My heart goes out to her and her family.

 

[gracelrm]

To the OP: I don't know when you are planning on going to Holiday World, but if it is still during the month of June - if you take in a pepsi product can - you can get some off the admission. We went in May and got $8.00 off per person and I think that during June it may be $4.00 off per person. You only need one can for up to 8 people (not one per person). Maybe that will help justify going there over Kentucky Kingdom. Have a great time!