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From launch to splashdown, the slides at space-themed Blast Off Bay indoor water park in Goddard offer rocket-trip thrills. Find missions for all your crew, including a surf machine, toddler splash area, lazy river, and swim-up bar. For outdoor water fun, head to Exploration Place science museum in Wichita, where a multilevel splash park anchors a brand-new 6.5-acre playscape. Inside the museum, marvel at a miniature display of 1950s Â鶹´«Ã½¹ÙÍø and experience a simulated EF1 tornado.

Exploration Place - Wichita
Credit: Ryan Donnell
 

Sedgwick County Zoo is the nation’s seventh largest, with more than 3,000 animals from 400 species on its nearly 250 acres.
 

Sedgwick County Zoo - Wichita
Credit: James Kellerman

In 2025, the accredited zoo became the first in the United States to anticipate five African elephant births in a year. More amazing animal encounters await at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard.

Tanganyika Wildlife Park - Goddard
Credit: Ryan Donnell
 

Visitors feed giraffes, hippos, ring-tailed lemurs, and lorikeets, plus book playdates with penguins and a pygmy hippo. Extinct creatures come to life at Derby’s Field Station: Dinosaurs, where more than 40 true-to-size animatronic animals—including a 23-foot-tall T. rex—emerge from plants and native grasses.

Field Station Dinosaurs
Credit: Doug Stremel

A downtown Wichita tradition since 1932, Old Mill Tasty Shop still serves ice cream treats from a marble-counter soda fountain. Their slew of sandwiches includes a peanut butter, banana, and honey fave. Thursday means legendary chicken-fried chicken.

With a lakefront patio, Deano’s on Pier 37 offers a crowd-pleasing array of pizzas, burgers, and other pub fare. Kick things off with bottomless shoestring onions, and wrap it up with indulgent fried cheesecake bites.

Watch cheetahs roam as you sit on the back deck at , a five-bedroom guesthouse near Tanganyika Wildlife Park. Perfect for large (or multiple) families, the spacious and modern home offers eight beds, 10 baths and a full kitchen, plus a pool and tennis and pickleball courts out back.