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. 

STL Virtual Reality

Location: 5626 Telegraph Rd., St. Louis, MO 63129

Website: https://stlvirtualreality.com/

We attended a birthday party here and it was super fun for the kids! They did an interactive game where they had to fight zombies together for about 35 minutes,  then they had pizza and cupcakes, and then they played another game against aliens. 

Upper Limits, Chesterfield

Location: 17375 Edison Ave., Chesterfield, MO 63005    314-241-7625

Website: https://upperlimits.com/chesterfield/

We have been wanting to check this place out for a while but I was waiting for my kids to be old enough. The first piece of advice I have is don't wear flip flops, wear shoes that are good for climbing. Also if your daughter wears a dress make sure she has shorts on underneath. The first thing you have to do is fill out a waiver and then decide what package you want to do. We paid $19 plus tax for my daughter who is 6 to do the wacky walls room.  This was the one-hour price. They start each session on the hour. You can get in cheaper if you have your own harness. They put a harness on her and gave her shoes to wear for free because it was our first time there. They will explain how to hook up to the auto-belays. It was a little tricky at first cause you have to twist and push just the right way to get it open. You can't let it go or it will fly up into the ceiling so they have them hooked onto these yellow triangles at the base of each climbing wall. Then you're off! Once you're at the top you can just jump or let go and the auto belay lets you down easy. My daughter loved "flying" when she was jumping down from the top!

You can see here all the different themes they have. My daughter had a blast! 

The beanstalk was definitely challenging

Those boxes were super challenging

 My son just wanted to play on his tablet and watch because he was too nervous to try. They have free wifi and cafe tables all around if you encounter the same situation.

This is the regular part of the place, for older kids and adults. 

Their website says there is no minimum age, but I don't think preschoolers would do well here. Their bodies have to be big enough to reach the rocks so I think kindergarteners and up are appropriate. Especially since it's not cheap and you want them to be able to do most of the walls to get your money's worth!