Family Friendly Places to Visit in Kansas City

Thanks to Lego Land and Sea Life for hosting us on our trip to Kansas City.

Visiting Kansas City is a annual thing for our family. My husband’s grandparents live there and a lot of his mom’s side of the family as well. You can usually find us making our annual trip around Thanksgiving each year with our kids in toe. As our children have gotten older, it’s been our mission to find family friendly places to visit while we are in Kansas City. Whenever possible, we head out early the day before Thanksgiving so we can squeeze in some family fun in the city before heading to visit family. We had so much fun this last Thanksgiving that I think we will have to make an annual tradition out of this! Kansas City has so many family friendly places to offer, so if you are headed that way, you’ll want to make sure to check a few of these places out yourself!

Family Friendly Places in Kansas City

1. Union Station Kansas City. We didn’t even get to explore all Union Station had to offer this last trip, but it does not disappoint. Union Station Kansas City is especially magical during the Holidays. If you ever happen to be visiting Kansas City during the holidays you have to make sure to stop by.

2. Crayola Cafe at Crown Center Kansas City. This place was the coolest little restaurant I had ever seen! I am a huge fan of kid friendly and family places and this place definitely hit the mark! It was adorable! There was also a Crayola store attached to the restaurant which pretty much brought me back to childhood heaven. We didn’t eat at the restaurant this time, so I can’t attest to the food, but it’s on our list for our next visit!

3. Fritz’s Railroad Restaurant. My kids were SUPER excited about eating here. It’s quite a popular place in Kansas City so you should expect to wait in a small line, but it moved pretty quickly. I will be honest and say the food wasn’t AMAZING, but the experience is WORTH IT. So if you’re going for good food, this probably isn’t the place. Fritz’s is all for the experience. You make your order on an old fashioned telephone and they bring your food to you via train. SO cool. The kids got their own train hat and loved watching all the trains bring people food. Seriously such a fun experience. You’ll have to check out more action on my Instagram highlights under “travel.”

4. Sea Life and Lego Land Discovery Center. Last but not least, Sea Life and Lego Land were the highlights of our trip! Both places are right next to each other, so if you are interested in going I recommend hitting up both places with the combo experience! I would go through Sea Life first, as you are likely to spend way more time at Lego Land with your family. There is just so much to explore at both places!

One aspect I loved about both Sea Life and Lego Land is that they had this fun passports for the kids to bring through the center. At different points in the center you could find a stamp for your card, and when you finished you would get a prize. The kids, especially Jase, loved looking for the areas to stamp his passport and it felt like a treasure hunt. Seal Life had such an incredible atmosphere with so much for the kids to take in. There were interactive areas and areas for the kids to play. Perfect aquarium for kids!

Lego Land was the much anticipated area for the kids, especially Jase who eats sleeps and breathes Legos these days. Lego Land was pretty much a giant play ground filled with Lego lovers dreams. There were areas with Lego Friends, Duplos, a playground, and more. There was even an entire miniland created of tiny Legos! Chad and Jase went on the rides and spent time building cars to go down the track. Jude loved the Duplo area and could have spent all day there. Elyse loved the playground and definitely spent the bulk of her time there.

This was the perfect stop after our road trip for them to run off energy. Mama’s highlight? There was a Starbucks cafe right in the center! They know how to make it cozy for parents too. I really wish we had one in St. Louis because I would definitely invest in a family membership pass! For now, we will definitely be visiting again!

Kansas City definitely has a lot to offer in the family friendly entertainment. If you’re looking to make a trip and have some family friendly items on your to do list, hopefully these ideas will help. We had a blast and definitely believe we will be making an annual tradition out of this. I can’t wait to explore more of what Kansas City has to offer!

Have you ever vacationed in Kansas City? What’s your favorite family friendly stops?