Theme & Amusement Parks in Bountiful

Thrill seekers and people looking to be moderately entertained can take the four arcade tokens and also choose any combination of the activities Trafalga has to offer. Aspiring kings and queens of the home-run derby can get 50 swats at the batting cages, and golf-ball haters can punish an orb throughout 18 brutal holes of mini-golf. Trafalga has two courses, one under the stars on the late-night cosmic golf course and the other beneath the glowing waves on the indoor undersea jungle black-light course. A round of five minutes or 25 laps on the go-karts will satisfy speed demons more than 60 inches tall, but shorter adrenaline junkies will have to ride shotgun and have it administered by a taller chaperone. Trafalga has four different XD theater rides to choose from, taking participants through four-dimensional experiences in outer space, under the sea, in the tunnels of a haunted mine, or on the kids' favorite urban flight alongside some jetpack-sporting companions. You can also trade one activity in for 25 tokens to bolster the four free ones and spend some time with the classic arcade machines such as skeeball. Take your adopted family of loving chimpanzees for a day of entertainment at Trafalga Fun Center and enjoy the simple pleasure that beating a relative at skeeball or hitting 50 home runs in a row in front of your date can afford.

Shafts of sunlight pierce Tracy Aviary’s dense conifer forest, sending great grey owls into hiding until nightfall, when they emerge to hunt silently above the treetops. The Owl Forest is just one of five diverse ecosystems that dot the aviary’s eight acres. Nearby, at the South American Pavilion, aviary keepers tend to keel-billed toucans as their colorful beaks break through the cereal boxes in which they incubate. And on the Kennecott Wetland, visitors can espy long-billed curlews and American coots roosting in the tall grass.

In addition to providing a diverse habitat in which native and endangered species can thrive, Tracy Aviary’s curators strive to educate visitors about threats to avian species and to encourage stewardship. To that end, the aviary frequently hosts bird encounters, small group talks with avian keepers, and even the opportunity to feed various species.

The whirring carnival attractions inside Jungle Jim's Playland never pack up and leave town. Instead, the year-round kiddie complex keeps its stable of rides completely indoors at its climate-controlled facility. Proud parents look on or join the action for free as kids 11 and younger enjoy jungle patrol cars, a ground-level roller coaster, and a traditional carousel. In all, seven rides and a multilevel jungle gym provide all the fun of an outdoor carnival without having to endure sticky, summer heat and long carnie lectures about 17th-century Italian operas. Kids split up their bumper car sessions with Skee-Ball and other arcade games or sit at picnic tables and nosh on a house-made pizza from The Jungle Cafe concession stand.

Youngsters challenge gravity as they bound across the brightly colored confines of Jump Around Utah. The literal centerpiece of Jump Around's facility is their inflated jumping pillow, a natural 40'x25' pocket of air that construction crews discovered when they broke ground in 2010. Several inflatable structures surround the pillow, including twin slides and obstacle courses. Foam-wrapped scaffolding supports a 20-foot-tall by 30-foot-long network of tunnels and slides that kids can crawl through. While their little ones burn off excess energy, parents keep watch from the sitting area, complete with free WiFi.

Open Memorial Day through Labor Day, North Shore Aquatic Center features a pool, waterslides, and other water-related diversions to stoke family-friendly fun all summer long. In the center of a shallow pool, a brightly colored jungle gym invites young hydrophiles to unleash their inner amphibians on its slides and spraying fountains. Elsewhere, a sinuous powder-blue standalone slide whisks giggling riders along its curves and bends before jettisoning them out into the pool, while both high and low diving boards test courage and cannonball splash trajectories. North Shore also holds classes for yoga and Zumba, in addition to lifeguard classes, and American Red Cross swimming lessons, which impart the basics of paddling and mermaid sign language.

As one of America's oldest and final bastions of the pizza, arcade, and animatronic-variety-show trifecta, Chuck E. Cheese upholds an important entertainment legacy. Though their core philosophy and slogan, "Where a Kid Can Be a Kid," sounds like a simple-enough mantra to maintain, many years have passed since Atari inventor Nolan Bushnell opened the first location in San Jose.

Despite the ever-changing nature of entertainment consumption, Chuck E. Cheese has done nothing but flourish. Intrinsic to this continuing knack for capturing kids' imaginations is its incorporation of modern entertainment and adherence to the robotic act that got it started in the first place. Chuck, Jasper T. Jowls, and Helen Henny are all still there, suspending a new generation's disbelief in gargantuan singing animals. Their charms, though, have been bolstered for the appetites of modern kids with more immersive games, wilder rides, and sweeter prizes.

Skytubes traverse the ceilings as an oversize human Habitrail, offering fantastical escape for energetic kids above the lights and sounds of the arcade. Staples such as skee ball and hoops now stand alongside sense-saturating simulator rides and the latest video games. At many locations, even the variety show has been modernized for the digital era. In its place is an interactive experience dubbed Studio C, where, thanks to bluescreens and video cameras, kids get to jam with Mr. Cheese himself.