Kansas City, KS Indoor Activities

At Screenland, campy and classic are rarely mutually exclusive terms. The movie theater serves as a cinematic time machine, transporting spectators through the history of Hitchcock's mysteries and straight into the heyday of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Though it also shows current titles, its schedule is often beholden to audience whims—the Crossroads location hosts new independent films that are uniquely screened at this sole location. This dual devotion to cherished and modern flicks helped Screenland earn the 2012 Readers' Choice award for Best Movie Theater from the Pitch.

Even outside the projection room, nostalgia rules. More than 40 games, from Donkey Kong to Missile Command, test dexterity at the Crossroads location's retro arcade, where guests can purchase passes to play indefinitely or until Frogger finally flags down a cab. Photographs taken by former Kansas City mayor Dick Berkley accompany historical trivia in the adjacent gallery, and celebrity handprints mark the outdoor patio. Greeting cinephiles out front is a marquee salvaged from the Isis Theatre, just as it once greeted a young Walt Disney when he shared his early animations there.

Wedding receptions and corporate meetings alike have taken advantage of the theater's capacity for private functions. At both exclusive and public events, however, a full-service bar supplies guests with libations, cracking open bottles of Boulevard Pale Ale and Tallgrass Velvet Rooster.

Each instructor at Pilates 1901 boasts extensive training in the Stott method, combining a contemporary understanding of physiology with traditional Pilates techniques to create a safe and accessible regimen of silhouette-firming exercises. Instructors gather groups in practice spaces overflowing with reformers and exo chairs before teaching students of all skill and fitness levels how to safely use the apparatuses' spring-loaded resistance. In addition to equipment classes, the instructors also lead technique-refining mat sessions and interval workouts, which incorporate Pilates exercises into a cardio regimen that leaves attendees as breathless as a focus group for jumbo kazoos.

Maya Zahira began studying natural therapeutic arts and belly dance in 1999, eventually creating a studio that she dedicated to alternative healing. Both folkloric and fusion belly-dancing classes welcome women of varying skill and fitness levels, promoting physical and mental well-being with empowering dance moves that teach students how to undulate as smoothly as a snake slithering across a waterbed that’s filled with pudding. Outside of the dance studio, Maya fosters a tension-free environment for visitors by offering aromatherapy, drum-therapy, and reiki sessions, which help encourage natural healing by redirecting roadblocked sources of inner energy.

Pilates instructors helm classes that include mat-based sessions and Pilates circuits, stocking their studio with reformers, chairs, and other equipment designed to help students get the most out of the core-strengthening and posture-aligning movements. The precision-barre teachers, meanwhile, tap into dance backgrounds as they lead groups through limb-lengthening workouts inspired by ballet classes and Stretch Armstrong’s exercise tapes from the '80s. They also offer Zumba, reformer, equipment, cardio chair, and Barre Reformed classes.

When her laser makes a successful hit, the speakers in her vest fire with computer-voiced congratulations, while at the other end, her opponent's vest vibrates to ensure he knows he was tagged. Those are just two of the engrossing features of Jaegerz Laser Tag’s Lasertron equipment that help players get into the game. Opponents open fire on one another with a single pop or even a rapid burst of laser fire as they take cover behind black-lit obstacles. Players can find plenty of places to duck and run in the 6,000 square foot arena’s fog-filled room while strobe lights work to disorient players. Guests can also arrange to have birthday parties and fundraising events held at the facility.