Kansas Attractions

There’s Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri but there’s only one state that was famously called “home” by Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” For further information about attractions and events in the state of Kansas, visit www.travelks.com or call 800/2KANSAS.

Great Fun for the Kids

(Toddlers to Age 8)

Oz Museum
511 Lincoln Avenue
Wamego, KS 66547
866/458-TOTO
A collection of Wizard of Oz memorabilia—from the storybook, MGM musical and other films— is on display at this museum. Some items are a Munchkin’s vest, an original script, and an autograph book signed by every Wizard of Oz cast member. Visitors can pass through Dorothy’s farmyard and travel to Munchkinland, or view the life-size depictions of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man. Open daily.

Exploration Place
300 North McLean Boulevard
Wichita, KS 67203
316/263-3373
This creative learning center welcomes adults and children to explore its many hands-on exhibits. You can test your skills in one of the two flight simulators, step into a 20-foot tornado simulation, touch a real mammoth tusk, travel back in time to the Middle Ages exhibit and prepare your own medieval dinner while talking to the friendly blacksmith as he creates steel authentic to the period or even examine a plane’s black box and learn how these devices really work. In addition to the exhibits, there is a 60-foot domed theatre, the largest in Kansas. Here, for an extra admission price of $2, you can enjoy a flight through space, battle a virus attacking a body’s cell, or discover the Seven Wonders of the World. The center also has a park and a mini golf course outside.

Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure Museum and Zoo
625 N. Hedville Road
Salina, KS 67401
785/827-9488
The zoo features 105 species of wildlife, and the museum features naturalistic exhibits of over 300 animals from seven regions ranging from the arctic to the rainforest. Visitors can listen as animated robots talk about natural resources, learn about animals in the interactive education center, or watch a 3-D movie in the domed theatre. Outside, families can see animals such as orangutans, camels, aardvarks, and many others. Kids will enjoy feeding the goats and giraffes.

Kansas Museum of History
6425 SW Sixth Avenue
Topeka, KS 66615
785/272-8681
The Southern Cheyenne tipi, a covered wagon ready and stocked for a journey on the Oregon Trail, and fully restored 1880 steam locomotive are some of the popular items featured at the Kansas Museum. Learn the story of Kansas through the events of The Civil War and the Kansas settlement, and about transportation and agriculture. Discovery Place, the children’s gallery, is a hands-on interactive museum, and the Special Exhibits gallery features changing exhibits throughout the year. An original plane, built and flown by Albin Longren, an aviation builder in the early 1900s, is also on display at the museum.

Fun for Older Children

(Up to Age 18)

Kansas City Community Ballpark
1800 Village West Parkway
Kansas City 66111
913/328-2255
If you’d like to catch a baseball game, Kansas City’s Community Ballpark is home of the T-Bones minor-league baseball team. Family-friendly features include a kid’s concession stand and a kid’s play area in full view of the field, so parents can watch restless children play without missing any of the game.

Kansas Speedways
400 Speedway Boulevard
Kansas City, KS 66111
866/460-7223
Kansas’ largest tourist attraction, the $200 million Kansas Speedway is a place for high speed thrills. On top of NASCAR and the IndyCar races, there are numerous things to do at this 1.5 mile long and 55 feet wide tri-oval racetrack. Throughout the year, the speedway hosts numerous driving lessons, sponsored by the likes of Jeff Gordon and Dale Jarret, with packages that include either riding in the car with a professional driver or even taking it for a spin by yourself. Available on Thursdays, from April to November, walking tours that cover the 44 pit stalls, garages, victory lane and the infield can show you life in the fast lane at a slower pace.

Hopalong Cassidy Cowboy Museum
15231 SW Parallel Road
Benton, KS 67017
316/778-2121
Hopalong Cassidy, one of America’s greatest Cowboy heroes, was originally created in novels and short stories by author Clarence E. Mulford, and was immortalized by actor William Boyd, who starred in 66 Hopalong Cassidy films, as well as T.V. shows and radio programs, during the ‘40s and ‘50s. This museum features a large collection of Cassidy memorabilia, interactive displays for both adults and children, and a 250-seat movie theatre showing movies and television segments.

Sternberg Museum of Natural History
3000 Sternberg Drive
Hays, KS 67601
877/332-1165
Fort Hays State University’s Sternberg Museum has an extensive fossil collection from the Cretaceous Period, which was about 70-80 million years ago, when Colorado was ocean front property and Kansas was an inland sea. Families can see the fossil remains of plants and animals that lived in or alongside an ancient sea, learn about the natural history of the Great Plains, or see a full-scale diorama of a T-Rex dinosaur and other creatures that lived when Kansas was covered in water. In the children’s discovery room, kids can learn about animals and the environment. Exhibits include a display of flying creatures, the unique fish-within-a-fish fossil, and many traveling exhibits, as the museum’s emphasis is on education.

Fun for the Family

Maxwell Wildlife Refuge
2565 Pueblo Road
Canton, KS 67428
620/628-4455
This 2,250 acre reserve has the largest population of bison found in Kansas. With a focus on the importance of preserving the environment and history of the area, Maxwell is home to 150 different species of birds, 50 elks and 150-200 bison. Since the last wild bison was killed in 1879 in Dodge City, Kansas, families should take the opportunity to see this beautiful and endangered species. By appointment only, the refuge offers guided tram tours all year round that takes visitors up close and personal through the herd.

Kansas’ Theatre in the Park
17501 Midland Drive
Shawnee, KS 66217
913/631-7050 or 913/312-8841
Throughout the summer, this outdoor theatre puts on a variety of Broadway musicals featuring aspiring actors from throughout the community. Past shows have included “Seussical,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “West Side Story.” The theatre is easily accessible from Kansas City and its metropolitan areas.

Old Cowtown Museum
1865 W. Museum Boulevard
Wichita, KS 07203
316/660-1871
This 17-acre open-air living history village showcases costumed characters recreating 1870s Old West life in a Kansas cattle town on the Chisholm Trail. Cowtown has 11,000 artifacts and more than 40 buildings, including a working blacksmith, carpenter and newspaper shops, historic homes, a livery stable, bank, saloon, drug store, bath house, law office, general store, and even a funeral parlor. Each home has a vegetable garden using period seeds and there are historic interpreters in many of the sites to demonstrate and discuss the area’s history, from 1865-1880. Open April-October, with special events monthly.

Botanica Botanical Gardens
701 Amidon
Wichita, KS 67203
316/264-0448
Children can attend a variety of educational workshops at Botanica, where they can learn flower arranging, create masks out of gourds, or build bird feeders. Adults will admire the variety of colors and blooms in the themed gardens, and children will be especially fascinated by the butterfly garden, where 5,000 butterflies are released throughout the summer and fall.

Boulevard Drive-In Theatre
1051 Merriam Lane
Kansas City, KS 66103
913/262-0392
This updated 1950s drive-in theatre boasts a DTS processor, which is at the forefront of digital technology and sound. Families can listen to the field speakers or tune in their car radios to 89.7FM; both provide distortion-free and rattle-free sound. Every Friday and Saturday nights the theatre shows two films currently showing in theatres. Relax and enjoy some goodies from the concession stand while watching a movie within the privacy of your own car.