Greetings all! My husband, 5-yr-old son, and I are planning a weekend trip to Indianapolis in a few weeks (probably April 12/13/14), primarily to visit the children%26#39;s museum, and I wonder if any moms and/or dads might have suggestions as to additional places where our young man might be able to have fun, let loose, and just generally be five...? If anyone has ideas of where we could stay (i.e. somewhere w/an indoor pool) and eat (anywhere unique to the area and family-friendly), I would be soooo very appreciative of those as well!
Thanks a million!
Fun Family Venues in Indy????
Caribbean Cove Indoor Water park at the Holiday Inn on the northwest side might be a good option. There%26#39;s lots of places to eat in the area %26amp; it%26#39;s about 30 minutes from the Children%26#39;s Museum.
Fun Family Venues in Indy????
Try the Indianapolis Zoo.
The zoo is a good idea, and it%26#39;s in the White River State Park area right by the canal and the conservatory is right by the zoo. There are several museums there including the Eiteljorg, NCAA Hall of Champions, the Indiana State Museum and IMAX. The baseball stadium is also right there.
http://www.in.gov/whiteriver/index.html
While I wouldn%26#39;t say that the museums there are especially geared toward little ones, it is a nice environment. On nice days you%26#39;ll see people renting surrey bikes. You can walk from the zoo across the bridge past modern art sculptures and get a good view of the skyline.
I haven%26#39;t been there yet so I can%26#39;t say if it%26#39;s actually worth a visit, but downtown near the circle is a ';Super Hero Museum'; that I would bet would interest your son.
Conner Prairie up in the Fishers area north of town is interesting, but I%26#39;m not sure when the outdoor part opens. It%26#39;s a pioneer village.
http://www.connerprairie.org/
Trader%26#39;s Point Creamery might be worth a visit. I happened to get there ';when the cows came home.'; It was great to see them all lined up heading in to be milked! They have really good organic milk, ice cream and cheese. http://www.tpforganics.com/
If I think of anything else, I%26#39;ll post it. Have a great time!
Lily
Between Cincinnati and Indianapolis is the White Water Valley Railroad. They offer special event and excursion trains from Connersville to the historic canal town of Metamora.
Looking at their schedule, they might be a better choice for a different trip, but I wanted to mention it while I%26#39;m thinking about it.
http://www.whitewatervalleyrr.org/excursions/
Definately the zoo not as good as the Cincy Zoo but it%26#39;s worth visiting.
Stay in a hotel in the downtown area for the convience of restaurants and activities. The Super Hero Museum closed unfortunately. It was one man%26#39;s private venture.
There might be a baseball game. If the Indianapolis Indians are playing in town. A great place to watch a game but it may be chilly.
The old spaghetti factory is a good family friendly restaurant and reasonably priced.
The possibility of the Pacers might also be an option.
I would concur with staying at least one night at the Holiday Inn North. The Caribbean Cove Water Park is located inside %26amp; am sure your son would enjoy all that. Holiday Inn North has a ';Splash %26amp; Discover'; package that includes overnight lodging, admission to Caribbean Cove, 4 tickets to the Children%26#39;s Museum, and kids eat free in the hotel. The rate is $209-329 depending on the room. There is a French Market Bakery %26amp; Noble Roman%26#39;s Pizza inside the hotel. You can also signup for a free getaway! The only drawback is that you%26#39;d have to go clear around to the NW side of town.
If you are interested in baseball, the Indianapolis Indians play their games at Victory Field adjacent to White River State Park %26amp; the Zoo. The Indians are a farm club for the Pittsburgh Pirates %26amp; open their home schedule that weekend. They play the Norfolk Tides (April 11-14). The stadium is one of the finest in minor league baseball. Tickets are $13 for box seats, $9 for reserved, or $9 for lawn seats where you can bring a blanket %26amp; box lunch %26amp; watch the action from the outfield terrace. A 5-yr old can get up %26amp; run around if he gets tired of watching. The Saturday game is Mascot Mania %26amp; will include Rowdie (Indians mascot) plus other mascots from area groups. Game times for Sat/Mon at 7:00PM %26amp; the Sunday game is 2:00PM. You can purchase online tickets starting 3/4.
The Indianapolis Zoo/White River Gardens are open 9-5 Fri-Sun with tickets priced at $8.50 for adults %26amp; $6.50 for children. Parking is $5 %26amp; admission lets you see both the Zoo %26amp; Gardens. Mom can always see the floral displays while Dad %26amp; son see the Zoo. It%26#39;s a very nice zoo but may be disappointing when compared to the Cincy Zoo or St. Louis Zoo.
Conner Prairie up in Fishers is having a program titled ';Follow the North Star'; where you at dusk you find your way using the North Star just as slaves used the North Star to see freedom using the Underground Railroad. Nice tie-in with your new Underground Museum there in Cincy.
Also concur about the Old Spaghetti Factory. Food is filling %26amp; moderately priced. If you go between 5:30-7:00PM you may have a wait but otherwise you shouldn%26#39;t have a problem. There are also several Chuckie Cheese locations in town that kids enjoy. The area south of the Holiday Inn North (around 86th %26amp; Michigan Rd) has a wide variety of dining establishments including many fast food %26amp; a goodly number of sitdown restaurants.
If you are basketball fans then the NCAA Hall of Champions is a must see. They are open 10-5 Tue-Sat %26amp; Noon-5 on Sunday. Cost is $3 for adults %26amp; children 0-5 are free. Hinkle Fieldhouse on the Butler campus is also a must see. If you%26#39;d like to see Hinkle it is normally open 8:00-5:00 daily. If you%26#39;d like a tour, then let me know %26amp; I%26#39;ll arrange one for you.
It%26#39;s a little out of your way, but another tie-in with the Underground Railroad theme would be to take 27 up to Fountain City to see the Levi Coffin House. It%26#39;s been featured on the History Channel and other TV shows. Hwy 27 was an important route on the Underground Railroad, and the Coffins moved from Fountain City to Cincinnati. (There%26#39;s a painting featuring them in the Cincinnati Art Museum.) You can see the wagon they used, see some of the places that escaping slaves hid in the house, buy a book about their lives, etc.
You might even want to make a special trip sometime to that part of the state since it%26#39;s only about 1 1/2 hours from you. You can combine the Levi Coffin House with a trip to Silvertowne in Winchester if your little boy enjoys coins. Winchester also has ';the Fastest 1/2 Mile Track in the World';--definitely a treat for boys. About 20 minutes from there is also the Academy of Model Aeronatics which is a hit with all ages. www.modelaircraft.org
In the summer, you can go to an old-fashioned drive-in, and year-round there%26#39;s a General Store in Farmland which has candy in jars and some classic toys. You can print out a walking tour and see event and attraction lists on www.roamrandolph.org.
The historical museum in Richmond is small, but they have an Egyptian mummy, a Conestoga wagon and a nice collection of classic cars. They also have a small village out back with a great collection of all types of carriages (schoolbus, milk wagon, etc.) Don%26#39;t miss the basement displays either. All for just $5/adult.
http://www.waynecountyhistoricalmuseum.com/
Have a great trip!
Lily
I%26#39;m not sure if any of us have mentioned this yet, but www.indy.org is a really helpful website for other ideas.
The Children%26#39;s Museum downtown is an absolute must with a 5-year-old. Out niece and nephew (5 and 3) have been twice in six months and adore the place. I%26#39;m 50 and I even enjoyed it...twice. Great staff and great find!
My family of 3 just returned from staying at the Holiday Inn North at the Pyramids (3/16 – 3/20/08). We stayed there because of the access to the Caribbean Cove Indoor Water Park. We purchased the Splash and Discover package. We did stay in one of the suites at the hotel. The room had 2 Queen beds, sofa sleeper, refrigerator, microwave and a large bathroom.
The hotel is a bit dated, and the room was nice but not great. The room was clean and comfortable, and everything worked well. My family of 3 had plenty of room. When we travel we normally try to stay at a Westin, so maybe our standards are a little higher, but we would stay again at this hotel.
As I mentioned above, we purchased the Splash and Discover Package. When we were checking in, my reservation did not show that we were to get the tickets to the Children’s Museum. I told the person at the desk that when I made my reservations, that this is the package I wanted. I was not loud or disruptive in any way either. A manager came over immediately and told me that for the discounted prices I was receiving for the rooms, that the museum was not included. I had with me all of my reservation information, (who I talked to, the dates I talked to them and the rates I was quoted). When the manager saw my sheet of paper, she immediately gave me the tickets to the museum and that was the end of it.
The water park is a lot of fun for children. Our 6 year old loved the lazy river and playing basketball for hours was a lot of fun. The park closes each day from 3:00pm to 4:00 pm. One important thing to note. The water parks pools have a high level of Chlorine in them (within state guide lines). In the paper work you receive when you check in, it has a disclaimer that they are not responsible for any type of rash you may develop using their facilities. When you sit around the pool, your contacts will dry out. Both my son and I developed a skin rash. It is more dry skin, but we even used a lot of lotion on us and we still developed the rash. We saw numerous people walking around and in the pools with the same type of rash.
Others here mentioned visiting the Children’s museum. We spent a complete day at the museum and we had a great time. Many things to do for the children to keep them interested for the day. I would highly recommend this. The museum is about 25 minutes away from the hotel and very easy to get to.
When we were checking out, my bill did not reflect the rates I was quoted. A quick trip to the front desk with my reservations information took care of this. The desk clerk apologized and off we went.
We would stay at this location again, to enjoy the water park. There are several restaurants with-in 3 miles both north and south (on Michigan Ave) of the hotel to eat at and we would visit the museum again.
Mike
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