Bucket List Bonuses

By Kristina Light

When you want to add something extra to your KC visit, consider one of these great bonus excursions!

This autumn, visit the Kansas City Zoo and explore the detailed illuminated displays of GloWild, a spectacular nighttime lantern festival. Giant sunflowers greet thousands of visitors every autumn at Grinter Farms where acres of the beautiful yellow flowers bloom in the heart of Kansas.

Underwater pumpkin carving is a thing, and you can watch as scuba divers carve jack-o’-lanterns at Sea Life in October.

Challenge your friends or family as you compete IN a game show in at Overland Park’s Game Show Battle Rooms. Kansas City is known as the City of Fountains, boasting more fountains than any city other than Rome. Visit some of the city’s more than 200 fountains using the“Best Fountains” guide and map on KCParent.com.

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CRAFT IDEAS,

SWEET TREATS AND MORE! Read KC Parent magazine each month for more ideas to enjoy with your family.

Imagine you’re in outer space as you walk a scale model of the solar system on a quest to see the entire Voyage Exhibition along Baltimore Avenue in downtown KCMO. Follow a 1-mile path through the Crossroads District, ending in front of historic Union Station to discover our solar system from the sun to Pluto. Play a round of mini golf at Art Course, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s mini golf experience on the gallery lawn, with holes inspired by some of the museum’s favorite masterpieces.

Learn about historic U.S. aircraft at the

Airline History

Museum. See the first Lockheed Constellation ever restored, a Martin 404, a DC-3 and a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. Ride a bike or scooter available for rent throughout downtown and midtown Kansas City. Enjoy fresh air views of the city’s sites and attractions.

Design your own custom donut at Donutology in Westport. Mix and match flavors and toppings in this custom donut laboratory.

Ice-skating isn’t just a winter sport. Lace up your ice skates and enjoy Independence Community Ice, KC Ice Center or Line Creek Arena, some of the city’s year-round indoor ice-skating rinks.

The Midwest Genealogy Center is a free research facility through the Mid-Continent Public Library system. With thousands of resources and expert research librarians there to assist, you’ll discover new secrets about your ancestors. KC Segway Tours and KC Fun Tours offer one-of-akind tours of our hometown, a great way to become more acquainted with the city.

The 58-foot-tall Russell

and Helen Means

Observation Tower is opening soon at Kill Creek Park. The steel behemoth will offer visitors amazing views from the Kansas Speedway to KU. This Instagram-worthy destination is a must for photographers. Quench your thirst at the Roasterie, where coffee is an art form. Take a 45-minute tour and learn all about their cupping, roasting and blending processes. Get a behindthe-scenes look at the factory and experience a manual coffee brewing demonstration.

Hook a fish at Lake Olathe, one of the area’s newest lakes, where you may enjoy boating, kayaking, swimming or a day angling for “the big one.”

Pack a picnic and a blanket and enjoy Heart of America’s Shakespeare Festival’s free outdoor production of Romeo and Juliet at Southmoreland Park June 14 - July 3. Photo by Zach Andrews

Trains deliver food straight to your table at Fritz’s restaurant (Crown Center and Shawnee locations), a local icon since 1954.

Carousels were once made in Kansas, and now you can visit the C.W. Parker Carousel Museum. Learn about C.W. Parker, the founder of a carousel factory in Leavenworth, and ride an authentic 1913 carousel.

When we’re looking for indoor adventure, rock wall climbing is a favorite. RoKC, the longtime KC favorite, has locations in North KC, downtown KC and Olathe.

Watch as Lost Trail sodas are bottled and apple cider is made from scratch at Louisburg Cider Mill.

The Shoal Creek

Living History

Museum is a wonderful way to experience history firsthand. Play at the Johnson County Museum, where the interactive KidScape exhibit, a child-size village, fosters creative play.

The Lawn at Legends Outlets

is a greenspace centerpiece of the shopping center offering live concerts, yoga classes and events throughout the year. In between events, it’s a great place to hang out and enjoy the outdoors with friends.

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STAYCATION Staying in town for a family vacay? Read on for how to make the most of your staycation!

DAY ONE

Crown Center is a bustling mecca of family fun. Named after the famous Hallmark logo, Crown Center is not only home to the famous greeting cards’ world headquarters, but also Kaleidoscope, a free arts and crafts wonderland where kids can crank out a homemade puzzle along with other fun projects using Hallmark’s manufacturing leftovers! Then sit back and enjoy an hour-long Broadway-style show at KC’s premier children’s theater, the Coterie. If you’d like something sweet to eat, go to Chip’s Chocolate Factory where more than 40 flavors of decadent fudge are being whipped up from scratch!

The fun doesn’t stop there. A hop, skip and a jump away from Crown Center is Union Station, Kansas City’s beloved train-stationturned-family-attraction-extraordinaire. Within its walls are Science City and the Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium, places where we can get up close and personal with simple machines, a dino dig, makers space and nature center and then sit back and view the farthest points in the sky. And thinking of stars, they’ll probably be visible outside soon, too, so it will be a perfect time to take in the view of KC’s gorgeous skyline as we venture home after an incredible day of fun.

DAY TWO

After a day of urban excitement, visit Worlds of Fun, Kansas City’s own 236-acre amusement park themed after Jules Verne’s famous book Around the World in 80 Days. Divided into five sections (Scandinavia, Africa, Europa, the Orient and Americana), the park lets you globetrot to various shows, rides and attractions all in one day! There are rides like the Mamba for the thrill seekers in our group. And we might even spy a member or two of the Peanuts Gang in Planet Snoopy, a section where little guests can find rides just their size. Pounding the pavement is sure to make us break a sweat, but that’s just fine by me because we can cool off and catch some waves in the afternoon at Worlds of Fun’s sister park, Oceans of Fun. Thankfully, it’s easy to hop from one park to the other.

DAY THREE

Don’t wonder what life was like in bygone eras. You can experience it, thanks to exceptional local programs spread out all over the Kansas City metro. Hop aboard a stagecoach at Olathe’s own Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm; step back into pre-Civil War era life at Missouri Town 1855, a 30-acre living history museum with more than 25 historical buildings on site; get schooled on local life, Depression-era style, at Shawnee Town 1929; or try your hand at turn-ofthe-century farm life at Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead in Overland Park, a place where young guests can bottle feed goats, hop aboard a pint-size pedal tractor, take a pony ride and even fish with an oldschool fishing pole at the local fishing spot.

After all that old-fashioned fun, we can indulge in modern comforts, tasty grub and high-tech gaming at America’s Incredible Pizza, a food and game attraction that is about far more than pizza (although they have more than 100 flavor combinations of that, too!). Their colossal buffet includes hot dogs, soups, salads and pasta and is sure to please even the pickiest of eaters. But the fun doesn’t stop there. After eating, it’s playtime! Laser tag, bumper cars, video games, rides and attractions await!

Lauren Greenlee is a homeschooling mom of four, a KC native and a staycation enthusiast.

America’s Incredible Pizza