Theme & Amusement Parks in Bellevue

Laser tagging is a pastime enjoyed by children and adult children alike, mixing the elements of strategy, accuracy, and inevitable fits of fun. In the multilevel neon arena, taggers slink into the shadowy mist to surprise their opponents, or take a Zeus-eye view, zapping bolts of lasers from above. As a warning, some strobe-light effects will be used to intensify the battle's excitement and celebratory break dancing.

On a sweltering day with the air abuzz with mosquitos, Eddie Reznicek stood on a miniature golf course marveling at how many people were outside putting. Determined to create a more comfortable mini golfing space, he opened The Family Fun Center XL in Omaha in 1982, where guests could play indoor golf and nearly 100 video games in the arcade. These days, a new facility shelters a black-lit 18-hole course themed around video-game heroes, heroines, and the windmills who loved them, and the arcade enthralls gamers with classics such as air hockey, skeeball, and four-player Mario Kart on 27-inch flat-screen TVs.

At the Lazer Maze, participants channel their inner spy while swiftly snaking through alarm-system lasers. This spy theme also is evident in the three-level laser-tag arena, where players dodge enemy fire amid flashing lights to soundtracks from James Bond movies. Elsewhere, a 2,500-square-foot arena littered with bunkers, crumbling brick walls, and sniper towers accommodates 7-minute paintball games or bazooka-ball battles.

At Boulder Creek Amusement Park, people tap in putts on two 18-hole golf courses, wallop spheres in eight Monopole batting cages, and clamber up at 24-foot climbing tower. The Adventure mini-golf course ($7 for adults; $5.50 for children 12 years and younger) leads golfers over drawbridges and past whitewater rapids, and the wheelchair- and stroller-accessible Sport course challenges putters with lengthy greens and simulated sand traps. Ninety-three-foot deep batting cages ($1.75 for 15 pitches) offer eight stalls equipped with softball and baseball pitching machines with 35-foot-high ceilings to mimic the feeling of slugging home runs or clubbing asteroids from whence they came. Looming over the park, the 24-foot Mt. Boulder Climbing Wall ($4 for two climbs) features grips and foot holds designed to entice climbers upward with challenging configurations and spacing.

From bounce houses and jumpers to inflatable slides and moonwalks, Jumpin' Jax Bounce & Party Center's humming air blowers are a siren call to kids and adults for safe family fun. A mecca for parties and leisurely afternoons, the bouncy playplace lets kids roam free while under the supervision of both parents and employees, and parties are augmented with pizzas and a private room. The facility also hosts a summer-camp program with field trips to the zoo, forest, and museums, and emphasis is always placed on keeping kids active and afraid of cubicles.

As a boy, Jeff Bledsoe anxiously awaited autumn, when the pumpkins he planted each year warmed to an orange hue along with the falling leaves. Eventually Jeff also bloomed, married wife Maria, and spawned five pumpkin-planters of his own. But he never lost his childhood fascination for all things autumn, namely the events that come alive every year on October 31. At Skinny Bones Cornmaze & Pumpkin Patch, he, Maria, and their brood have converted Jeff’s interest into their lifeblood. Jeff personally maps out and plants the 10-acre corn maze with 10-foot stalks each year, according to an Omaha.com feature, but he leaves Saturday-night spooking up to the staff of scarers that haunts the field after hours. After meandering through the maze, guests can pick their own pumpkins, enjoy hayrack rides, or make lifelong friends with goats that rarely talk back at the petting zoo. That’s in addition to the haunted-barn maze, Mad Cow ride, bounce house, and Nerf-gun war zone that also offer entertainment on crisp fall afternoons.