24 Hours in Kansas City with Toddlers

We had the opportunity to visit Kansas City, MO a few weeks back and we absolutely LOVED our trip! I have only been to KC a few times despite living on the other side of Missouri my whole life, but I had never been with two toddlers. 

When looking for places to stay, I had an idea that I wanted to stay at Great Wolf Lodge. I watched for weeks for a coupon and found one for 50% off and booked! With that price, it was cheaper than booking a regular hotel, but with an awesome waterpark included! 

More on our stay at Great Wolf Lodge here. 

We chose to leave when the kids woke up on Friday morning to drive the few hours across the state. We had a few hours to check in to Great Wolf Lodge so we stopped by Wonderscope Children's Museum for a few hours of indoor fun. 

More on our visit to Wonderscope Children's Museum. 

After played for a few hours, everyone was pretty hungry so we went to Fritz's Railroad Restaurant. There's a few locations to chose from, including one in Union Station. We heard great things about this one, but it was out of our way so we went to the one in Shawnee, KS. This was such a neat experience! Once you're seated, you pick up the phone at your table and order your food! A short wait later, your food is delivered by train!! The kids were so excited to watch all the orders get dropped off! 

After lunch we went to Great Wolf Lodge for check in and playing at the waterpark! The checkin process was extremely easy.  

We enjoyed our time at the waterpark. There were several other families there, but I won't say it was overly crowded. Because of Rhett's height, it limited him from doing some of slides, but there were plenty of other options for him to do. The lazy river was on the smaller side, as was the splash area for little kids, but for a few hours of indoor water park fun, this was good for us. 

For dinner, we went over to The Legends Outlet Mall and ate at The Yard House. I have nothing but good things to say about this experience! While they did have a wait when we were leaving, we got there a bit before 6 pm and got right in. Because we ordered  before 6 pm, we were able to order from their Happy Hour menu. The selection is amazing and the portions were huge! We all ate well and it was cheaper than our lunch! The poke nachos and the chicken nachos were amazing, but the chicken nachos were massive! We were blown away by the amount of food for the price. We also ordered boneless wings and pizza that were amazing, too. This was literally 5 minutes from the hotel and so worth the trip. We walked around The Legends for a little bit before heading back to GWL. 

Before bed, we participated in a story time in the main lobby. Our kids were exhausted so we didn't stay for the whole thing, but we loved that it was an option! We went back to our hotel room, popped some popcorn and watched a movie together before all falling asleep. 

The next morning we grabbed coffee in the little cafe- it was terrible, I do not recommend. But we did eat breakfast at the restaurant they have on site. This was completely opposite of the little cafe, and actually really good. They had an omelette station, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, sausage, eggs, bacon, potatoes, fruits, and so much more. The scenery was also really cute. We sat in a cabin and the kids just that was the coolest thing ever. It is cheaper to buy the breakfast meal tickets when you're purchasing your room, so I would encourage you to do so if you think you want to eat on property. 

Check out was at 11 and it was an extremely easy process. Even after check out, you're able to stay and play at the waterpark which I thought was a really neat amenity. 

Overall, we had an amazing trip to Kansas City, MO with our toddlers and can't wait to go back. There's so many things we didn't get to see or do, but thankfully, it's only a few hours away and we can come back to visit! 

Have you been to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City? Would you go again? Let me know in the comments.