Frisco Train Store, Valley Park

Location: 24 Front Street, Valley Park, MO 63088

Amenities: open train table play, toy store, birthday parties, fun nights

Website: http://friscotrainstore.com/

The Frisco Train Store (formerly the Whittle Shortline Railroad) is in Valley Park. It is more than a toy store, it's an indoor miniature train paradise for kids. There are several train tables for kids to try out the merchandise or just escape on a rainy day to play. The best time to visit is after 11:30 am, as the mornings get really crowded, especially on cold or wet days. The crowds clear out quite a bit at lunchtime. They have an electric train circling the room and if you're lucky, you might even get to catch a real train going past the building right across the street! There is no fee to play but please donate or buy something to keep this awesome place in business!

 

Electric train circling the room near the ceiling

Watching a train go by outside

Lots of merch!

Here is a great article by my friend Denise who did a story on Frisco since the quarantine of 2020. 

This is a great place to have a birthday party too! My son's 3rd was here and they open up the upstairs for it. It's on the smaller side but very reasonable compared to other venues in town. 

Hidden Valley, Wildwood

Location: 17409 Hidden Valley Dr, Wildwood MO 63025      636-938-5373

Website: https://www.hiddenvalleyski.com/

Tubing at Hidden Valley is super fun! There is no age limit, you just need to be old enough to be able to sit in the tube.  As of 2021, they have a new height restriction of a minimum of 42".

Always check the Snow Report before coming out to Hidden Valley for updates on snow and tubing conditions. Skiing, snowboarding, and tubing are weather-dependent activities, and conditions and hours are subject to change without notice.

They have 16 total lanes for tubing but not all of them are always open. The lanes on the right of this photo are the slower ones and the lanes on the left are faster. There are attendants at the top who make sure people follow the rules and don't follow too closely to the person who just went down.  Only one person can sit in a tube however several people can link up and go down together by holding on to each other's straps.

Polar Plunge is the largest snow tubing hill in Missouri. This area is separate from the ski area which is over to the right. 

There is a floor on the bottom of the tube which is nice so snow doesn't hit your bootie. They want you to put your feet out over the logo and hold on to the straps with both hands and then an employee gives you a push and off you go!

This is the lift area. It's actually like a conveyor belt. You stand on it, hold on to the tube strap, and pull the tube behind you. You stand there and it takes you up. There is a bit of walking from the end of the tubing hill to the lift but it's level.  The tube was a bit heavy to pull for my 5-year-old.

They have a concession stand here and a bunch of tables at the base of the hill. My son was too scared to try tubing so we sat at the tables and had a hot dog and hot cocoa and watched my daughter go up and down.

The table area has a fire pit going to keep you warm on a cold night

It's not cheap to do this, the regular price is $32 per person and you get 2 hours. But sometimes they offer deals and price breaks if you go late. This place is very popular with teens and college kids so we went early at 5pm and it wasn't busy at all. By 7pm when we were leaving it was starting to get crowded. It was really fun though and my daughter LOVED it.  

Rental area

Bar & restaurant area. The prices were not great, I got a coffee, a hot chocolate, and a muffin and the bill was $14! 

Regular ski area