Kansas City area

[sjams]

We are off to Kansas City MO for a wedding in June and are trying to tie in our family vacation with it. We will be driving from the Fort Worth, TX area. DD is almost 13 and DS is 9. So something fun? We thought about the Arch in St. Louis. Any other thoughts??

thanks!

 

[WDWAurora]

The arch is about 4 or so hours away, just so you know. I'm not sure if that's on your way or not. You should visit the Crown Center, which is the home of Hallmark. It has a ton of shops, but my favorite thing there is a restaurant called Fritz's. The kids will love it. You call in your order (from your table) and an overhead miniature train delivers the food. Fun! There are other locations, but this one is the easiest to find. That's right across from Union Station, which I believe has a museum for kids.

There is a toy museum that I enjoyed, but I'm not sure if your son would or not, and your daughter might find it a little juvenile. I enjoy the Plaza area, with all the expensive shops. You may want to check out a KC Royals baseball game, assuming that is baseball season (I'm clueless). I enjoyed a game.

I really enjoy the area. DH's family (grandparents and aunts) are there, so we go when we can. You'll find plenty to do!

 

[golfgal]

Kansas City is the birthplace of the BBQ so you have to go eat at a BBQ place somewhere.

St. Louis is a hike from Kansas City but if you have time, it is worth heading over to St. Louis. If you can plan a couple days in St. Louis go to the arch but also the CITY MUSEUM!!!

 

[WDWAurora]

Oh, good point on the BBQ. I recommend Oklahoma Joe's, which should totally be on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It's in a gas station and it is FABULOUS. Now, I still prefer NC BBQ, but it's really good!

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Crown Center is a lot of fun. They have a place that is great for kids called Kaleidoscope. There are several water parks including Coco Keys and Schliterrbahn. The Country Club Plaza is a more adults shopping place (one of the first shopping centersi n the country if not the world) but they have some kid oriented stores as well and the architecture is beautiful.

Union Station has some fun stuff including a Science Center. Don't forget the KC Zoo. I would also be remiss if I did not plug the theme park I work at: Worlds of Fun. We are owned by Cedar Fair (the same company that owns Cedar Point.) We have some amazing coasters, including one that won the Golden Ticket from American Coaster Enthusiasts for the Best New Ride of 2009- in the world! We have an attached water park called Oceans of Fun.

 

[Tink_Or_Belle]

we can't go there without hitting T-Rex cafe!

 

[Figment22]

I'd recommend visiting The Legends at Village West which is on the Kansas side. It's an incredible shopping, dining, entertainment complex that includes one of the nicest theaters I've been in, Pin Up Bowl, a very cool bowling alley--definitely not run of the mill, T-Rex Cafe, Dave and Busters and many other places of interest. The whole area is near the Kansas City Speedway. A massive Cabela's is right there. Your kids will enjoy all the displays at Cabela's.

Science City at Union Station is definitely worth a visit. Union Station by itself is interesting and a connecting walkway gets you to Crown Center. Science City also has a planetarium.

As a history buff, I also enjoyed visiting the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum but that may not be the direction you want to go with the kids in tow.

We loved our visits to Kansas City!

 

[Born4Disney]

What would a disboard vacation suggestion be without mentioning something Disney! It's not open, they are still working on renovating, but there is a group trying to restore the building where Walt had his Laugh-o-gram studio in Kansas City. It will be a museum when they are done. They have an event in May with the voice of Goofy, but watch their website to see if they have one that corresponds to your visit in June (google Thank You Walt Disney, that's the name of the group). Marseleine isn't too terribly far away either and they have a museum there too I think.

 

[mykidsand_i]

BBQ!!! Oh, my gosh. There is this origional Arthur Bryants BBQ place there- some friends of ours took us there and it had some of the BEST BBQ I've ever eaten! BEST! And we lived in South Carolina for 5 years and tried BBQ all over there (NC, Georgia, SC, TN)...

Go to the origional one, it has been visited by many famous people AND it's in a TON of different magaziene articles.

Another good BBQ place there is Jack Stacks BBQ. VERY, VERY, VERY good. I recommend their corn bake- oh my! It has been some of the best corn I've ever had. They also had great baked beans and ribs. It's located in a really neat place- and in an old train station.

Also, close to Jack Stacks is the Boulevard brewery. They give a very good tour...all ages welcome. That was our 'grown up' activity.

Harley factory tour! I don't remember what the ages were that could tour, but it was very interesting.

I second the Legends at villiage west! That place was AWESOME! There is a TRex place there that was pretty cool...shopping is fun there, the race track is there and there is this cool little 'louisianna type' restaurant there with live jazz. It was fun to go there.

Downtown there is the hallmark center. THERE IS SOOOOOOO MUCH to do there for kids/teens/adults/young people!!!! There was lots of 'theater' types of things scheduled while we were in that shopping center, the actual Hallmark building had a neat section to look through...

Federal Reserve Bank...It was neat to see a REAL reserve bank in opperation. You could look at how money has changed through out the years, what has been added and taken away, my kids were actually more interested in this place than I thought they'd be.

 

[NotUrsula]

You won't be there at the right time of year for the American Royal shows, but you can tour their museum -- this is a VERY big deal for horse-lovers.

BTW, if you're driving up through Oklahoma, consider detouring and spending the night at one of their state park lodges. Some of them are REALLY nice.