Visiting Kansas City, MO in June. Need travel ideas/coupons/discounts.

[happygirl]

Is Schlitterbahn water heated? Is it all outside stuff is there an inside lazy river

 

[KCmike]

What's the cheapest you can get into Schlitterbahn?

 

[Coaliesquirrel]

We've had season tix @ Schlitterbahn for several years now, so I can help with those questions!

(1) Cheapest way to go? If you're coming in June & know someone w/ a season pass, you can see if they can help you out. SPHs get a coupon book with some 1/2 price entry coupons - BUT you have to be WITH a SPH when you enter, so you can't just like have someone mail you one or something. One great option is to arrive at 3pm on a day they're open until 8 (check the schedules - they open & close at different times every day). That's plenty of time unless it's a TERRIBLY crowded day, and it's less crowded later after some people have left. 3pm admission is $26 for everyone age 3 & up. Or, if you want LOTS of time there, you can get a 2-day ticket that brings the average cost per day down. Other than that, you can get coupons for $3-$5 off in various places - Sonic, grocery stores, etc., but that's about as good as it gets.

(2) Is the water heated? The only heated water is in what DD calls the "pirate pool". It's a zero-entry deal with a pirate ship & kid stuff at one end and a bar at the other end. It's not huge - I'd guess maybe 2-3 times the size of an average hotel or back yard pool.

(3) Is it all outside stuff? Yes. There's inside stuff planned for the future in conjunction w/ hotel space, etc., but other than the couple shops & admission area, it's all outside. There are lots of shaded picnic tables, though.

(4) Is there a lazy river? Sort of. There's a section from the original stuff that's a wave river and starts/ends in a wave pool. It's not treacherous or anything, but it's not exactly "lazy" either. Also, there's a new section of river open this year that has some lazy sections and some "rapids" type sections. The two rivers link together and I'm told it takes about an hour to complete the full loop, although I haven't done it myself.

One final note about Jazz that someone mentioned earlier. When there's music, there's not a "cover" exactly, but I believe they add 50 cents to the price of each item as an entertainment charge. However, you can always go for lunch or go early so your ticket's generated prior to 6:30, which I believe is when the entertainment charges usually start. Jazz is one of our favorite places -- I highly recommend the zucchini appetizer and anything "a la mer"!

 

[kkandaj]

I was at Subway yesterday and saw some coupons there. They expire June 10th.

I also noticed that online you can purchase a WOF/OOF pass for one day in each park for $49. Not sure if you want to spend two days of your vacation there, but that really isn't bad for two days of entertainment. About $25 per day and you could be at both parks for an entire day, if you've never been before. Last weekend, we spent 2 hours just in the kid area at WOF, then went to OOF's kid area for 4 hours. There's much more to do than just the kid areas. We went on NO roller coasters or rides that a child under 42" could go on. At OOF, we never left the "little" kid area. My kids love the tiny slides.

Btw, Oceans of Fun never checks our bag and we always take our own food and drinks (sandwiches/fruit/water).

 

[momto2inKC]

Btw, Oceans of Fun never checks our bag and we always take our own food and drinks (sandwiches/fruit/water).

This is our first year of being pass holders for WOF/OOF and i'm glad to see they don't always check I hate when parks don't let you bring in food. We had planned on just taking a cooler to leave in the car when we go and going out to eat when we got hungry.

 

[apennel]

I have taken snack food and bottles of water in my backpack into WOF and have never been questioned.

 

[BensDaddy]

I didn't see anyone mention it, but Fritz's Railroad Restaurant is a big favorite for our family. Trains come from overhead and drop the food to your table on robotic elevators.

Very cool! Two locations in KC.

 

[stitchfan18]

Btw, Oceans of Fun never checks our bag and we always take our own food and drinks (sandwiches/fruit/water).

I noticed that when we were there a couple weeks ago. I accidentally walked right by them in the morning and they didn't saying anything to me. I was trying to figure out which way we needed to go to get to one of the rides, so I was too busy looking at the map to notice there was a table to stop at.

 

[trixkid89]

I have been so busy, I haven't been checking the posts lately. Sorry. My DH and I have decided to take your word for it and try some of these places. We are also going for some the restaurants you suggested instead of the food network. That's what's nice about asking the local's or people who have been there.
A couple of you asked: I have a 16 year old daughter. But we are all big kids! We leave this week to venture into KC. We are very excited.
Hugs to all my Dis friends for the advice!!!

 

[KCmike]

Hope you have a great time! Weather looks to be good. Low to mid 80's for most of the week.

 

[happycampers]

So glad I found this thread! We are planning a trip to KC specifically to see Sporting KC and we're looking for other things to do while there. Thanks for sharing all of your tips and advice.

 

[wishicouldgomoreofte]

I highly recommend the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum. Beautiful, and you can have lunch in the beautiful Roselle Court restaurant. http://nelson-atkins.org/

Also highly recommend The Theater in the Park in Shawnee Mission Park.
http://www.theatreinthepark.org/ You can also rent canoes or kayaks there for a fun afternoon, and of course picnic, frisbee golf, etc.

The Country Club Plaza is a beautiful and great way to spend a day. Full of restaurants and shopping, bookstores, beautiful fountains, flowers and gardens. Strolling and shopping or window shopping and enjoying.

The Starlight Theater has plays, musicals, and sometimes concerts. http://www.kcstarlight.com/

It is a beautiful city, and there really is so much to see and do, depending on how much time you have and your interests. I hope you can see what a beautiful and friendly city it is.

 

[Coaliesquirrel]

I see your daughter is 16, so I wanted to note one more thing. I've heard that Legoland REQUIRES adults to be with a "child". I don't know what their definition of "child" is, so if Legoland's one of the things on your list, you might want to double check that you'll be allowed in. My understanding is that the policy is in place to keep overly-enthusiastic adults from basically bullying the little kids out of the way. Sad that that's necessary, but from what I hear it's a policy for all their locations - not just that they think Kansas Citians are bullies!

 

[KCmike]

We did the SeaLife Aquarium today. Adults were 19.99 and it was $10 more to add Legoland but we declined. It took us over 2.5 hours to walk thru the mini aquarium. To put it in perspective I have been to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago (awesome!) and the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey California (also very good). The KC one was good/okay. It is not world class but it had enough to keep us busy and entertained. It was my wife, youngest daughter (14) and I and we all agreed it was worth the money. This is contrary to what I have heard before from others. Here are some pics...

Entrance

First room

Giant Stingrays

 

[momto2inKC]

We finally activated our Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun passes and I just wanted to give a heads up about food prices You know how people complain at the expense of food at Disney? Let me tell you, it's a bargain compared to WOF/OOF!!! A burger, by itself, was $9. For $3 more you could get fries, not sure about the drink if it was included or not. Cotton candy $5. A funnel cake, almost $10 (toppings additional). It was major sticker shock that's for sure! My husband and I went to the BBQ place and got a platter to split, it was $14, we got free ice water to go with it. The refillable cups are $10.00 ($12 with tax) and only $1 to refill, definitely worth it.
We did have a lot of fun and the park was quite empty which surprised us for a Friday night. Almost all the rides were walk on with the exception of the big coasters. They had about a 10 min wait as they were only running 1 for each coaster.

 

[happycampers]

Thank you, KCmike for the info on and great photos of the aquarium. It's nice to hear a more encouraging opinion.

Thanks to momto2inKC for the heads up on the WOF/OOF food prices. We've been debating that attraction, so that info may be the final straw that deters us from going there.

 

[merekc]

We finally activated our Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun passes and I just wanted to give a heads up about food prices You know how people complain at the expense of food at Disney? Let me tell you, it's a bargain compared to WOF/OOF!!! A burger, by itself, was $9. For $3 more you could get fries, not sure about the drink if it was included or not. Cotton candy $5. A funnel cake, almost $10 (toppings additional). It was major sticker shock that's for sure! My husband and I went to the BBQ place and got a platter to split, it was $14, we got free ice water to go with it. The refillable cups are $10.00 ($12 with tax) and only $1 to refill, definitely worth it.
We did have a lot of fun and the park was quite empty which surprised us for a Friday night. Almost all the rides were walk on with the exception of the big coasters. They had about a 10 min wait as they were only running 1 for each coaster.

I almost posted the same thing when this thread first started. The WOF food/drink/snack prices were pretty high IMO. We also ended up going to the BBQ restaurant in WOF for lunch. We ended up with 2 of the platters @ $14 each and one extra order of fries and were able to feed 4 adults and 3 kids, much cheaper than the hotdogs and hamburgers. Not sure if the portion sizes were standard or if we were lucky with generous portions but we had plenty of food. We actually scaled our initial order back after we saw the first platter being made. The BBQ was also not bad.

 

[kkandaj]

I almost posted the same thing when this thread first started. The WOF food/drink/snack prices were pretty high IMO. We also ended up going to the BBQ restaurant in WOF for lunch. We ended up with 2 of the platters @ $14 each and one extra order of fries and were able to feed 4 adults and 3 kids, much cheaper than the hotdogs and hamburgers. Not sure if the portion sizes were standard or if we were lucky with generous portions but we had plenty of food. We actually scaled our initial order back after we saw the first platter being made. The BBQ was also not bad.

Completely agree about food prices! DS has food allergies so I have become at packing lunches everywhere. DH wanted something from OOF one day--he got a corndog (regular size, but it should've been kid size) and about 6 waffle fries for $11! Even he said he will eat what I pack from now on.

Thanks for the pics of the aquarium and the great review. I really hope it is good. We've waited so long!

 

[trixkid89]

So this was our trip update:

Wed: We went to Omaha Zoo. Got a tip on disboards to go to the 2nd entrance. Great tip!!! No one there and got a good parking spot. Made the mistake of going left around the park instead of right though. Missed the butterfly house that closed early. We ate at King Kong across the road also recommended on Disboards. Kind of a dive but they had good food for the prices, they were really busy (good sign) and I loved the name. LOL We drove to KC and stayed 2 nights by the WOF park.

Thurs: Ate free breakfast at Holiday Inn. Free shuttle to WOF. Went back the hotel for lunch (we brought our own). Ate supper in the park. Agreed...it was expensive but worth the convenience that night.

Fri: Ate breakfast at Bob Evans (B1G1F coupon). I had heard they had good biscuits and gravy and it was good but I'm still a fan of Cracker Barrel.
Went to the Union Station (just walked around, didn't pay to see the titanic because my DF wasn't interested in it) Beautiful building. We also parked there to walk to the Crown Center. Tip for future travelers: Free parking validations on the weekends if you park in their parkads. Wish I would have known. Got fudge from Chips (had a coupon of course). YUM! We tried to eat at Fritz's but the line was super long. Did the tour of Hallmark and got a free recordable book at the end plus free bows. We were going to try to go to the Aquarium but again there were tons of daycares and kids groups going through and we didn't want to stand in line. Plus, it didn't get that good of reviews for $19.00 per person so we skipped it.
I was very disappointed the dancing fountain show was not running due to debates on bacteria safety issues. It had just been shut down this week. I had really wanted to see that. Ate at Jack Stack because it was the closest BBQ and we were starving. Your ALL right...it was expensive! $80.00 for 3 people. What I saved in coupons for the whole trip, I just spent there plus some) I savored every bite! It was delicious.

Sat: Ledgens outlet mall. We loved this mall! Charming Charlie's had great deals. B1G2F purses, accessories & shoes. I got a free coupon book from the office but the best coupon in there we used was a free appetizer at T-Rex. T-Rex was pricey but worth it! I have been to the one at DW and it was very similar. I had the beef Stromboli. It was very good. Love, Love Love the atmosphere. So neat. We headed for home and hit Trader Joe's in Des Moines on the way.

Thank God for GPS! There were so many interstate changes in KC. Nice city. I would like to go back someday to hit some of the things we didn't get to do.
Thanks again for all the tips. It sure does make a difference in planning a great vacation.

 

[AnjieNet]

So happy to hear you had a nice time in our fair city!

Just an FYI about WOF and dining, if you don't have a season pass, your best bet is to purchase the WOF Backyard BBQ Admission and Meal ticket - $39.99 where a regular ticket online is $34.99 or $44.99 at the gate. Only draw back is that food is served at an odd time of 3-4:30 but last time we did, it was a decent meal. You can also get the meal for $8.99 if you do have a season pass. We usually get a couple of chicken strip baskets (about $10 each) and split it between the three of us and use our refillable cup.