St Louis with Kids

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• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

There are several areas of the park. "Big Cats" has lions, leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, pumas, and tigers. The bears area has black bears, grizzly bears, polar bears, spectacled bears, and sun bears. The ape/primate area (my favorate) has spider monkeys, chimpanzees, tamarins, gorillas, orangutans, and lemurs. They also have a hoofed mammals area where you can find the camel, giraffes, gazelles, and zebras, and the other mammal area has elephants, rhinos, sea lions, otters, hippos, kangaroos, and red pandas. The birds area has condors, eagles, flamingos, owls, swans, and kookabura. The reptile/amphibian area has snakes, tortoises, frogs, komodo dragons, and more.

Finally, the children's zoo--well it has over 300 animals so I won't mention them all.

The St. Louis Science Center's Planetarium is one of the nation's leading space education facilities, focusing on astronomy, space sciences and aviation. This ticketed experience takes you on board the Boeing Space Station where you learn what it's like to live, work and play in space. Planetarium tickets are $5 -$6 per person.

The Discovery Room provides hands-on experiences for children ages 2-8. They can dress-up like surgeons, go back in time and imagine life as a Mississippian Native American, or explore fossils and a cave. There is also an an area featuring a Velcro wall, plastic mirrored walls, a gym mat floor and age-appropriate toys and books. Also there is marble highways, a car ramp, computers, a camera and monitor, magnets, optics, microscopes and activity boxes to help children focus on the fundamentals of science and technology. Sessions are 45 minutes long, including a brief introduction to the room by staff on duty. Space is limited to 45 people (one adult is required for every four children). Ticket Prices General session admission is $3 per person.

Take the tram to the top, which leaves every ten minutes. This is where you'll get a stunning glimpse of the St. Louis region from a dizzying height of 630 feet. See a movie, watching a film inside the Odyssey Theatre is a thundering, larger-than-life experience. The giant-screen format will have you on the edge of your seat as the towering four-story screen comes alive with breathtaking action. Combine that with the explosive THX® sound system, and you've got an incredibly powerful film experience you'll never forget. Current movies are Monument to the Dream or Lewis & Clark--a Great Journey West.

Try a riverboat sightseeing cruise. A spectacular Mississippi River sightseeing cruises, also; it will be narrated by the riverboat captains. These scenic cruises recapture the vibrant life upon the river at the peak of the steamboat era. Historic ports of call along the Mississippi's banks, lively river characters from Mark Twain to Louis Armstrong, and famous river tales are all brought to life in the course of a delightful, hour-long journey up the river and back through time.

Tram only prices range from $3-$8 per person.
Movie prices are $ 2.50 per person.
Riverboat price are $4-$10 per person.
Tram and a movie are $5.50 - $12 per person.
Tram and Riverboat are $7-$18 per person.

The Museum of Westward Expansion is at the bottom of the Arch. The days of the old West come alive. From rare Indian Peace Medals and weapons of survival to an actual teepee and Sioux war bonnet, the Museum of Westward Expansion has preserved the days of the past so they'll live in your mind forever. Entrance to the Museum is FREE. Plan a full day at the Gateway Arch.

The Ninja is a steel coaster that propels riders through 2,430 feet of high-speed spirals, steep drops, a loop, a mind-bending sidewinder and a double corkscrew. Mr. Freeze blasts riders out of a 190-foot icy tunnel, traveling through 1,382 feet of track at spine-chilling speeds of up to 70 mph, into a totally vertical climb while twisting to enter a 180-degree inversion. Mr. Freeze then takes a vertical dive while again twisting into a 130-degree wraparound turn, rocketing passengers 226 breathtaking feet straight up and finally sending them through all 1,382 feet of the entire coaster again--in reverse!

Scooby Doo's Ghost Blaster has special effects: animatronics, lasers, blacklighting, fog, digital sound effects, spitting gargoyles, falling bookcases, crocodiles with laser-beam eyes, and rushing water geysers, each ride experienced in unique sequencing. Tidal Wave is a 20-person boat that drops over a 50-foot waterfall into 300,000 gallons of water. Thunder River is a whitewater canyon ride. The Ice Mountain Splash is another water ride with a 60-foot drop. These are some of my favorites.

If you have smaller kids they have a great kids area featuring: Acme Gravity Powered Roller Ride (a kid coaster), Daffy Duck Airways (kid planes), Looney Tooter (kids' train), Merry Melodies (merry go round), Speedy Gonzalas Speedway (kids' sports cars), Tasmanian Devil Twister (kid swings), Tweety's Flying Cages (kids' ferris wheel), and lots of Warner Brothers Character Greetings.

Admission also icludes entrance into Hurricane Harbor, their water park. The water park has Hooks Lagoon, a 5-story interactive treehouse with 7 slides, 50 plus water gadgets, bucket dumps and a pirate ship, which is for the kiddies. Hurricane Bay has 560,000 gallons or water and 30,000 square-feet. Wave duration time is 7 minutes, wave action is 15 minutes calm with up to 4-foot waves. There are also high-speed body-slides, innertube-slides, a lazy river, and Big Kahuna, a six-story family raft ride.

Steinberg Skating Rink is open for ice skating from November through March, depending on the weather. The hours vary. Entrance fees are charged only for skating, so the concession area can be for joggers, bikers, and those who want to watch the skaters but not participate. Skating fees are $4 for adults, and $3 for children 12 and under. The fee is for each skating session. Skate rental is $1. The rink has an indoor cafe area with food and drinks.

The hayrides are offered on Friday and Saturday nights starting in October and ending around the first week of December. Reservations are required. It is a 45 minute ride that ends in a bonfire, so bring your own hot dogs and marshmellows.

Turtle Playground features three large and four small turtles. It is at Oakland and Tamm avenues, on the south side of Forest Park. Visitors will find a snapping turtle, a soft-shelled turtle, a red-eared slider, a Mississippi map, three box turtles, and a stinkpot along with a snake that is curled to form an area for sitting and a serpent taking a bite out of the Highway 40 overpass. Seven large eggs, three with emerging turtles, adorn the sitting area, all made of conrete. The playground is open from dawn until 10pm daily. The Forest Park Golf Course has 18 holes, is 6024 yards, 71 par.

Check out the schedule at The Muny and take in a show. I have made separate entries for the zoo and the Science Center.