Piccadilly Palace Roller Rink, Union

Location: 181 Audrey Ln., Union, MO 63084

Website: https://piccadillypalace.com/

This rink offers arcade games, birthday parties, a concession stand, and of course, skating! It used to be called Nothing Fancy but it was bought out in 2023. It's very large and clean. They are in the process of adding a new indoor mini golf next door too! 

They have traditional roller skates and also inline skates, but they do cost $2 more.

Lots of tables and arcade games line the wall all the way down. They do have walkers to assist young skaters.

I was surprised at the menu, it has a lot more variety than other rinks. 

My daughter was invited to a skating party when she was 5 and I honestly think that is too young to be skating. Most of the kids couldn't get the hang of it and were crying and frustrated. Many were also falling and hurting themselves. As a result, I tagged this as a school-aged activity. Once they're old enough, it is a fun and inexpensive activity.

St. Louis Live Steamers, Union- DISCONTINUED UNTIL THE NEW LOCATION IS READY

Location:  South of Grant St. and east of City Park, Union, MO 63084

Amenities: Free miniature train rides - select dates monthly during the summer

Website: http://www.stlouislivesteamers.org/

The St. Louis Live Steamers organization is a group dedicated to building large-scale model railroads. Since 2005 they were in Kircher Park, however, after excessive flooding, they decided they had to relocate. They struck a deal with the city of Union and are going to rebuild the tracks there, but it may take a year or 2. They hope to be back up and running in 2023.

Each train only holds 15 or so people, but we only had to wait for a couple of full trains before it was our turn. The trains are smaller than the Wabash, Frisco, and Pacific Railroad. Before you take off, they instruct you not to lean to one side or the other during the ride, and to keep kids centered on your lap with their feet inside yours so they don't stick them out off the train. There's a narrow bridge the train crosses during its loop trip and you don't want to catch your foot on it! We looped around the track 3 times before our ride was over - and many families with small train fans immediately circled back to the end of the line for another ride.

If you have a kiddo that likes trains, check these other train activities out! 

Longmeadow Rescue Ranch, Union

Location: 480 St. Joseph's Rd., Union, MO 63084

Website: http://longmeadowrescueranch.org/

Longmeadow Ranch is a division of the Humane Society that handles farm animals. If you ever see a horse, pig, duck, or other farm animal that is being neglected or mistreated you can call them and they will see about rescuing the animal. They adopt out their animals as well. Several times a year they have an event called "Wagon Days" where you can get a free wagon ride around the 165 acre property. They have animals in various different barns and we enjoyed learning about their histories and how they came to live there. They had BBQ for sale and a nice pavilion. I'm glad we got to see the place but it's not somewhere we'd go on a regular basis. It's a wonderful organization though and it's almost completely run by volunteers, which is amazing in and of itself.

The first thing you do when you get here is go to the gift shop and sign in. They will give you a visitor's badge and show you where to go. 

Katie the llama

Animals in the playhouse

Cool horse sculpture at the entrance

This horse was new and was in quarantine.

The playhouse has sheep, goats, ducks, and roosters. 

Gift shop