Family Fun in the Dallas Area (San Antonio, Austin: rental, home, landscaping)

[Robzherenow]

We live in Collin County and are looking for fun things to do in the Dallas area (or beyond)- nice places to visit, interesting things to see, etc. Please share your experiences about any of the following:

- Dallas Zoo / Fort Worth Zoo / Tyler Zoo?
- Any good Lakes around? How about Lake Lewisville?
- Inner Space Cavern
- Canton
- Wet Zone?
- Hawain Falls?
- Wet Zone?
- Adventure Landing

Any other suggestions?

[Texxo]

I-35 to San Antonio.

[pfw]

Originally Posted by Robzherenow

We live in Collin County and are looking for fun things to do in the Dallas area (or beyond)- nice places to visit, interesting things to see, etc. Please share your experiences about any of the following:

- Dallas Zoo / Fort Worth Zoo / Tyler Zoo? I like the FW better than Dallas but both are pretty nice. The Forest Park Train near the FW zoo is a fun activity for the kiddos and it's cheap also. Other good activities in FW would be the botanical gardens and Japanese gardens. When the FW Science Museum opens again (next year, closed for remodeling) it's worth the trip. Another zoo you could try is Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville, north of Denton. I've never been to this one but most of my neighbors have and said it's a good enough zoo that it's worth the visit. In Dallas, the Dallas World Aquarium is worth a visit as well as the museums at Fair Park. The aquarium at Fair Park is not as great at the world aquarium but it's enough to entertain the kids.

- Any good Lakes around? How about Lake Lewisville? Depends on what you're doing but lake Lewisville seems to be overcrowded. We recently went to Joe Pool Lake (Grand Prairie) and they had an area by the bait shop and restaurant where you could feed the fish. Buy bread at the day old bread stores and you'll be entertained for awhile.

- Inner Space Cavern, haven't been to this one but we have done Natural Bridge Caverns near San Antonio and had enjoyed the visit.

- Canton - go to the McKinney trade days first, if you like what you see then make the trek to Canton.

- Adventure Landing - we went here tonight for the first time and played putt-putt and did go carts. The crowd was light when we arrived but had picked up by the time we left near 8pm. They've got some video games, laser tag, putt putt, go carts, batting cages, jr. go carts and bumper boats.

Any other suggestions? Any of the art museums in Dallas or FW are worth the visit. You can "ride the rails" by getting on the DART light rail or the Tarantula which you can catch in either Grapevine or at the Stockyards in FW. If watching rodeos is your thing, you can catch that in the Stockyards or in Mesquite. Go to the Schlitterbahn in San Marcos or Galveston for water park fun. We recently went to Horseshoe Bay on Lake LBJ which was really nice. We took some time and went to the boyhood home of President LBJ in Johnson City as well as LBJ Ranch, drove to Luckenbach and on to Fredericksburg. All of this was very nice, the drive was enjoyable thru the hill country and they've got quite a few wineries if that's your thing. Glen Rose is another road trip you can take and go see the Passion Play.

I'm running out of ideas but if I think of anymore I'll post them.

[Macbeth2003]

The Dallas Zoo is getting really good. The gorilla habitat is amazing and they just added two new Gorillas.

Lewisville is good for boating/Swiming, but not too picturesque, for a different lake experience you might try white rock. Particularly tee pee hill which has great views, and a great playground. No swimming or motorized boats though.

The Dallas World Aquarium downtown is amazing,

Heritage Villiage -formarly Old City Park- is good as well.

My son loves the Arboretum, but not all kids are excited by that

Dallas Children's Theatre has some good shows for families

Neglect not the museums at fair park, the museum of Science and Natural History has some wonderful interactive exhibits, and if you like trains the Rail museum there can be fun as well.

[pfw]

[quote=Macbeth2003;4424292]

Originally Posted by Robzherenow

Heritage Villiage -formarly Old City Park- is good as well.

I forgot about Heritage Village...go in December when they have the paths lit by candlelight. They only do this for one weekend but it's really pretty.

Along the lines of history...visit the Log Cabin Village in FW.

[Macbeth2003]

Originally Posted by pfw

I forgot about Heritage Village...go in December when they have the paths lit by candlelight. They only do this for one weekend but it's really pretty.

Along the lines of history...visit the Log Cabin Village in FW.

Halloween is pretty good too.

[Big G]

Originally Posted by Robzherenow

We live in Collin County and are looking for fun things to do in the Dallas area (or beyond)- nice places to visit, interesting things to see, etc. Please share your experiences about any of the following:

- Dallas Zoo / Fort Worth Zoo / Tyler Zoo?
- Any good Lakes around? How about Lake Lewisville?
- Inner Space Cavern
- Canton
- Wet Zone?
- Hawain Falls?
- Wet Zone?
- Adventure Landing

Any other suggestions?

Here are my hot sports opinions:

Fort Worth Zoo - GREAT
Dallas Zoo - BAD
Tyler zoo - DON'T KNOW, Wouldn't drive out there over Ft. Worth
Lake Lewisville - FINE if you like boating - JT's Boat Rental can set you up with everything you need for a day on the lake
Inner Space Cavern - OK if you're on the way somewhere, wouldn't make a trip just to see it.
Canton - AVOID unless you love garage sales
Hawaiian Falls - GREAT for pre-teens, LAME for teenagers.
Adventure Landing - GOOD for what it is.


Other ideas -
Head out towards Athens and check out the lakes in that area.
Eisenhower State Park/Lake Texoma
Turner Falls (In OK, 2 hours north on I-35) Some love it, some hate it.
Dave & Busters
SpeedZone
Heard Nature Center - McKinney

[smiling]

The FW Zoo has better landscaping. I'm there to see the animals. A monkey is a monkey. FW likes to charge for parking. Dallas has the train.

FYI there are a few "spray grounds" that are free and are a nice diversion for a few hours. There is one on Campbell and Hillcrest. There is another in Allen, east of 75.

As far as beauty, Grapevine Lake is awesome. There is a huge hiking trail that even Austinites would drool for.

I don't know how old your kids are, but there is the Wiggly Play Center in Frisco. 8 dollars for the kids, no charge for the adults. They have Free WiFi.

[pepper131]

We always do the Ft Worth Zoo, Forest Park Train then Japanese Gardens (since they close at dusk).

Dallas Zoo is getting better. But FW has it beat.

Frank Buck Zoo's main attraction is feeding the giraffe. But they only do it at a certain time - it's listed on their site.

Canton sounds dreadful for kids.

I like Inner Space Cavern. We stopped in last year on our way back from Austin.

Additional splash parks at Ridgewood Rec Center on Trammel and another at the rec center on White Rock Trail and Church Rd. FREE!!!

Free movies at Victory Park on Tues nights at 7:30. Shrek 2 is on July 29th.

Free movies at Nasher Sculpture Center on Friday nights at 9pm. They have Big coming up.

[Philip T]

Burger's Lake. Actually Fort Worth, but worth the trip.

Like a trip back to the way we never were in the 1950's.

Burger's Lake - Sandy Beaches in Ft. Worth, Texas

Do an old-time park-style picnic and enjoy the day and the kids.

Print yourself a map, the roads are a little twisty getting in there.