Things To Do Family Fun
From amusement parks to water slides to children’s museums to miniature golf and bowling, Monroeville, Pittsburgh, and the Laurel Highlands offer all kinds of family fun all year round.
Monster Mini Golf offers hours of ghoulish fun while Chuck E. Cheese features age appropriate games, rides, prizes, food and entertainment for children of all ages and great food for the family including freshly baked pizzas and a garden fresh salad bar. Bowling your thing? Then visit Miracle Lanes or Lokay Lanes. Prefer the outdoors? Visit Par 2 Putt Putt Golf & Games or head to Maple Crest Golf Course for a day on the links.
During spring, summer, and early fall check out Kennywood Park or its neighbor Sandcastle Waterpark for a full day of fun in the sun. Founded in 1898 as a small trolley park near Pittsburgh today’s Kennywood still contains two major buildings dating from 1898 — a carousel pavilion and a restaurant (originally the Casino). In 1968 Kennywood employed resident coaster whiz, Andy Vettel, to redesign an existing ride. Added to the existing coasters, the resulting Thunderbolt led to the designation “The Roller Coaster Capital of the World.” The park was designated a national historic landmark in 1987.
The most frequently heard expression of first-time visitors to Sandcastle is: “Wow! I don’t believe I’m still in the city.” Inside the park you can enjoy fourteen twisting, turning, plunging, and churning waterslides. There are pools for adults (including the world’s biggest hot tub) and kids. Surrounding it all is the Lazy River, a gently flowing stream where you can float on a tube for hours.
Across the Allegheny River on Pittsburgh’s North Shore is the Carnegie Science Center which offers a state-of-the-art Omnimax Theater, four floors of interactive exhibits and experiences, a year-round miniature train exhibit, and an authentic World War II submarine, the USS Requin. Then you can run, bounce, spin, climb, and tumble into Highmark SportsWorks®, a science and sports experience unlike any other!
Stay on the North Shore and enjoy the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh housed within the Old Post Office building and recognized as a regional asset for its adaptive use of historic property. The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh provides innovative museum experiences that inspire joy, creativity and curiosity and the highest quality exhibits and programs for learning and play.
Get nose to beak with a flamingo. Talk to a parrot and stroll through a 200,000 cubic-foot indoor rainforest! Home to more than 600 exotic and endangered birds in natural habitats, the National Aviary is the perfect destination for all ages. Check out Penguin Point, a 2,300-square-foot exhibit offering 360-degree views of African Penguins as they swim and dive. The new Flight Zone™ Theater offers viewers the experience of watching the free flight of birds from all over the world in an exciting and educational theatrical production.
Have you ever watched polar bears swimming — from underwater? The new underwater viewing tunnels at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium let you do just that! Open year round, the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium is home to thousands of amazing animals representing more than four hundred species, including 22 threatened or endangered species.
