MISSOURI

Kansas City Chiefs:

The Chiefs stadium is older and right next to the Royals. There is not much around this sports complex so bring food/drinks if you’re going to tailgate or hang out pre-game, or plan to enter at gates. Traffic backed up terribly from the freeway and it took almost an hour to go 2 miles to get into the parking lot for a pre-season game. If you’re bringing littles, plan to get there early, bring your own toddy-potty and have lots of sunscreen or a shade tent before heading in.

Kansas City Royals:

Easily one of the most kid-friendly venues, it has an incredible Kids Zone in the outfield that boasts a concessions stand with kid lunch boxes (drink, snack and hot dog or chicken nuggets for under $10 and comes in a cute reusable lunch box), a kids team store with all the youth sizes, family-friendly restrooms, a batting cage, mini golf course, full playground AND a carousel complete with Slugerrr as one of the characters! Slugerrr himself took photos and they did a great job managing the line and announcing it so it was easy to find. Staff honed in on kids and one amazing guest services team member even gave the girls baseball glove keychains she had made! My girls loved it so much, they now use Royals lunchboxes at school every day (much to the confusion of their teachers and peers). Parking was a bit complicated, both to find it, and then to leave as it was very gridlocked so make sure the kiddos go potty before leaving because you may be waiting quite awhile to get out. We had the best time and can’t wait to go back-win or lose!

Kansas City Zoo:

This zoo ranks among the best of any I’ve been too, with or without kids. The size is staggering, we spent 5 hours there and didn’t even cross to the Africa exhibit. There was so much to see, so many fun exhibits and great spots to sit and enjoy watching the animals.

• Restrooms: Easy to find and all have kid stepstools and kid potty seats to make it very easy to use.

• Snacks: Snack locations are throughout the zoo. We stopped at Bluey’s near Australia and sat on the covered patio watching the kangaroos. We also got lunch next to the Penguin exhibit. The food there was typical cafeteria options, but the kids’ meals had good portions. My favorite part was the reusable cups that came with coffee-style sippable lids. My 2 & 4 yo thought they were the coolest thing and walked around the zoo like little mamas sipping their lattes! Next to the gift shop on exit was a little ice cream stand, which had delicious ice cream and a $5 kid cone that was massive. Highly recommend!

• Activities: They have a train that circles the park in about 20 minutes, making two stops. It costs $3 and was a fun little way to see all we had discovered. They have a separate tram that takes you over to Africa to avoid the very long walk. While we were there, they had a dinosaur scavenger hunt where you searched for dinosaurs in the zoo and marked them on a sheet, which was great for our 4-year-old, who was learning to recognize letters and words.

• Exhibits: Where to begin! The exhibits were AMAZING and had incredible, interactive features.

  • The Polar Penguin exhibit had huge glass windows for above and below water viewing, a floor projection game focused on conservation and great signage to navigate.

  • The Australia exhibit takes you through all kinds of different animals, including free-range kangaroos. They have unique kangaroos as well and all were very easy for kids to view.

  • The primate area near the entrance has a slide taking kids down to see the monkeys instead of taking the steps and several different places to view the animals so you can easily see them with the crowds.

  • The Interactive barn had the most rambunctious goats I’ve ever seen, very demanding of being fed. Then you enter a two-story exhibit with a huge slide, which our kids absolutely loved running up and down.

  • Sting Ray Bay: Signs warned that entry was not guaranteed as they limit capacity and we were told on busy days, it is a huge line. We went during the week and were able to walk right in. You can watch and pet the rays as they swim around the tank. It is very family-friendly.

  • Aquarium: Just when you think the zoo is incredible, you reach the AQUARIUM! Yes, a full aquarium exists INSIDE the zoo, it’s gorgeous, has touch tanks, viewing tanks, and a massive underwater ecosystem where we saw the biologists in scuba gear cleaning the tank. So much to see and learn.

Closest Airport:
Kansas City [MCI]