St. Louis

[TheSweetLife]

One of our favorites is Fitz's. It's on Delmar in the loop and you can eat great burgers while watching them bottle soda. Super fun for the kids.

I'll also ditto all the Magic House, Zoo comments.

 

[LIBLULA]

My DD9 loves the City Museum!!! The Zoo is great--they have a new sting ray exhibit this summer. If you like fried chicken --Hodaks is a great place and very inexpensive!!!( It does great crowded before Cardinal games) Crown Candy has awesome shakes!!! Hope you have a great time!!!!

 

[maggymouse]

These are all GREAT ideas…you are going to have a blast in St. Louis and at the Cardinals game!

The Anheuser Busch Brewery is a must stop along with not to be missed Italian meal in any restaurant at “The Hill”. If you are able to make it to The Hill….stop by the Missouri Baking Company for a delicious treat.

On your way to the game….take some time to walk through the City Garden which is a few blocks north of the Cardinal’s stadium and across the street from the Hilton.

Have fun & Go Cardinal’s

 

[Danemom]

Just wanted to add my two cents for anyone considering a visit to St. Louis --
Our family (me, DH, DD15, & DS13) went for three days this past spring break.

Because they have so many free attractions, we made it a challenge to see how cheaply we could do it. We spent right at $300 for the three days. Really. That includes two nights at a Hampton Inn w/free breakfast, meals, and gas from Louisville.
Disclaimers - the kids really got into the challenge and planned cheap stuff for meals like Subway for lunch and pizza from the Sam's Club by the hotel for dinner. Also, we put donations in at several of the sites and I don't think I counted that in the $300.


We went to the zoo, the science center, the holocaust museum, the historical home of Ulysses S. Grant, Union Station (not much there), and the Arch (we only paid for parking since the trams ? weren't running). All free. We did pay to park at the science center too.
St. Louis is a great town to visit on a budget. Google "free things to do in St. Louis" to find a website with a list.

 

[Leajess99]

DH, DS (who is 8) and I are going to St. Louis next week for a Cardinals game and want to do some fun things. Can you please tell us what not to miss?? Also, some good places to eat. Thanks so much!

When we go to St Louis we do the zoo, Grant's Farm, The Science Center and The Magic House. The zoo, Grant's Farm and the Science center are all free with the exception of parking at the first 2. The magic house was not very expensive when we went last time. My girls are 6 and 11 and these are things they love. They have asked to go to the Arch but when doing that I would highly recommend getting your tickets on line prior to going as the line gets long as does the wait. Have fun!!!!

 

[MrsPooh]

Editing to add a little about City Museum. My niece got hurt really badly there on one of the slides. Had to have surgery on her broken leg. It can happen anywhere but locally I have heard of a few accidents there. My kids don't go anymore.

First - I agree about City Museum. My dd had a friend break her arm there and when the mom took her to the ER they were told that they get "tons" of bad injuries from there. In May her class when there as part of their 8th Grade Mystery Trip and one of the boys broke his leg. If I personally know two kids who broke bones in the same place I worry.

 

[MrsPooh]

I graduated from Hazelwood West, DH from Rosery (both a long time ago) DS is a junior at Duchesne now. I taught in Pattonville for awhile but now I am at Holy Spirit ( the old St. Blaise). I am guessing you will know most of those.

Another North County Native!!!!!

I grew up in Bridgeton and lived there until about 8 years ago. My girls went to St. Lawrence until we moved out here. I think it was open one more year after we left before it merged with St. Blaise. My parents still live in Bridgeton and belong to Holy Spirit parish. My oldest dd went to Duchesne and now works for the City of Bridgeton.

We're out in St. Charles now but I think about half of North County moved out here!

Amazing to be on this big board and meet someone close to home!

 

[Macsmomma]

Thank you-everyone- for all the suggestions. We are leaving tomorrow and I have taken notes of everything. We are looking forward to a great time.

 

[Macsmomma]

Ok guys. We had planned to stay at Harrah's but I am wondering about a better option. Do you have any reasonably priced hotels that would be a good option for us?? We leave tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

You may have trouble finding a room with the all Star game today. Some will go home after but my guess is many will spend a couple days. Harrahs is close to my house and I would allow for about a 30 minute drive to the game.

There are hotels by the stadium. Let me think about which ones! This might help http://www.hotels-stl.com/

I think the Drury Hotels are good. DH has business contacts stay there. I think the one at Union Station. Anything at Westport would be good. About a 30 min drive downtown. The ones in Chesterfield are nice but you run into the problem of 40 being closed.

 

[LizinSTL]

Ok guys. We had planned to stay at Harrah's but I am wondering about a better option. Do you have any reasonably priced hotels that would be a good option for us?? We leave tomorrow. Thanks.

Harrah's would be an ok drive to basically everything- it would take you 20-50 minutes to get whereever you wanted to go.

If you can find a good rate at Drury- look at the one at Hampton and 44 or downtown (union station or at the arch)

 

[Disneycrazymom]

Wanted to add the Muny is doing GodSpell this week. There is a free seat option for all the shows. The shows starts at 8:15 but to get into the free seats you need to be there a couple hours early. Many people bring a picnic dinner and eat while they wait for the show to start. Our seats are just in front of the free ones and we paid about $9 each for them. The advantage is not having to go early. If you like musical theater it is a great experience to see them performed outside.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Don't forget to stop by Ted Drews for a nice treat after the game! This is a must do for anyone in St. Louis after a Cardinal game or a trip to the Muny - or the Zoo!

 

[NotUrsula]

There is also a botanical garden, I think it is called the Butterfly house. I haven't been there either.

They are 2 different things. The butterfly house is small (free I think) and in Forrest Park. The botanical gardens is a very large "garden" that costs to visit.

Actually, there are TWO different butterfly houses in St. Louis. There is a relatively small one inside the Zoo (in Forest Park), which used to have an extra admission fee but is now free; it is part of the Monsanto Insectarium.

The larger and better (IMO) is the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House at Faust Park in West St. Louis County. It is very large and has a butterfly themed accessible playground outside. Management of the facility was recently taken over by the Missouri Botanical Garden. The admission is $6 for adults and $4 for kids. http://www.butterflyhouse.org/default.aspx
Faust Park is also the home of a wonderful antique Carousel in an indoor carousel house; those rides are $1.

The Missouri Botanical Garden (in South City just East of Kingshighway and south of I-44) is one of the top five botanical gardens in the U.S., and usually ranked as one of the top 10 in the world. If you like plants and gardening, this is a must-do stop. Lots of people don't think kids will like the place, but they love it -- trust me, I know -- I worked there for several years and I could see them enjoying themselves all day every day through the one-way glass mirrored walls of my office. The admission is $8 for adults, children are free. http://www.mobot.org/visit/default.asp (Some of the fountains -- not all! -- allow splashing, so come prepared for that.)

Also, just FYI, with the recent reopening of the Magic House after their expansion, the price has gone up a bit. Admission is now $8 per person over age 1.

There are coupons for almost all the paid St. Louis attractions in our Entertainment Book, so you may be able to access those online if you have one for your area. Also, there is a St. Louis Family Attractions Card that also offers discounts at various places. http://www.familyattractionscard.com/

PS: Note that Forest Park and Faust Park are two entirely different places. Forest Park is in the central city about 6 miles west of Downtown, but Faust Park is pretty far out in West County, in Chesterfield, over 20 miles west of Downtown. Forest Park was designed by Frederic Law Olmstead, the architect of Central Park in NYC, and is in fact larger than Central Park, by over 50%.

 

[lionpryd]

One of our favorite hotels is actually in St. Charles. It's a Country Inn and Suites. Nice (albeit small) indoor pool, free decent breakfast every day, very comfortable mattresses, and an easy walk to the historic district, river or casino. We usually get a rate around $100 a night, which is pretty good for a decent hotel there. We go every year to celebrate our "gotcha" day.

In August, we are going for the American Idol tour, and got a room at the downtown Hilton for $65 a night on priceline, so you might try priceline too.

 

[JB2K]

There's a Fuddruckers 5 minutes south of the Magic House.

I wasn't aware of that -- but, still not very convenient to public transportation (MetroLink).

 

[LizinSTL]

I wasn't aware of that -- but, still not very convenient to public transportation (MetroLink).

There's really not much convenient to public transportation in St. Louis, IMO. It's a car-town for sure.

 

[Macsmomma]

I just want to thank everyone who replied about St. Louis. We had a fantastic time!! I would recommend a trip there for everyone. We did The Magic House, The Zoo, The City Museum and a Cardinals game and would have loved to do more but only had 2 days and 3 nights so we will definately go back. The Zoo was amazing and I cannot believe it is free. And the City Museum was wild with all the kids but our DS8 had a blast! We were there for 4 hours. We had a little car trouble and had to go to the Nissan dealership (Lou Fusz) there and they were very friendly. I was amazed at what a nice town it is. Can't wait to go back. It was definately worth the 6 hour drive! Thanks again everyone.

 

[sonnesolsun]

I graduated from Hazelwood West, DH from Rosery (both a long time ago) DS is a junior at Duchesne now. I taught in Pattonville for awhile but now I am at Holy Spirit ( the old St. Blaise). I am guessing you will know most of those.

Too Funny!!!
I actually work at Haz. West!!! We just got back from our 1st Disney trip and we are hooked. Can't wait to go back!!!

OP...glad you all had a great time in St. Louis!!!

 

[LizinSTL]

I just want to thank everyone who replied about St. Louis. We had a fantastic time!! I would recommend a trip there for everyone. We did The Magic House, The Zoo, The City Museum and a Cardinals game and would have loved to do more but only had 2 days and 3 nights so we will definately go back. The Zoo was amazing and I cannot believe it is free. And the City Museum was wild with all the kids but our DS8 had a blast! We were there for 4 hours. We had a little car trouble and had to go to the Nissan dealership (Lou Fusz) there and they were very friendly. I was amazed at what a nice town it is. Can't wait to go back. It was definately worth the 6 hour drive! Thanks again everyone.

I'm so happy that you had a nice visit!