Little Rock Indoor Activities

Wildwood Park’s 104 bucolic acres are home to woodland trails, manicured gardens, and the 625-seat Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theater. In service of the center's continuing mission to encourage lifelong learning and fertile imaginations, the expansive grounds host myriad events that marry culture and art, from annual festivals to year-round children’s education programs. Beyond artistic pursuits, visitors can simply savor the center's natural splendor by taking in the sights of the Richard C. Butler Arboretum, wending through the Carl Hunger Wildflower Glenn, or spotting ballerinas in the wild at the park’s eight-acre swan lake. The nonprofit park maintains its gardens, education projects, and other artistic hallmarks purely through help from its community, including volunteers, individual donors, and arts organizations.

When the Little Rock Zoo opened its gates in 1926, it contained fewer animals than many people's homes. At the time, its inhabitants were, in total, a circus-trained brown bear and an abandoned timber wolf. From its formative days, the Little Rock Zoo has expanded dramatically, now home to more than 700 animals from more than 200 unique species. Visitors can witness lions, tigers, and jaguars up close; interact with exotic birds; and carefully navigate spider monkeys' webs. In addition to conserving wildlife, the zoo also preserves a unique antique carousel, one of only four in the world to feature an undulating wooden track rather than conventional moving poles.

On a January night in 1959, some 600 people packed into the Hotel Marion ballroom for the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame's inaugural induction banquet. The freshly minted organization was to honor the best-of-the-best from the Natural State–individuals who had achieved athletic greatness, and exhibited strong character and leadership along the way. Since that evening more than five decades ago, the Hall of Fame has continued to swell with new members, adding to a trophy case of inductees that already includes the likes of Brooks Robinson, Pat Summerall, and Jerry Jones.

When Ken Goodman survived a car wreck at age 4, his parents feared that his nearly severed tongue would never speak again. After a complicated surgery and months of healing, they found he could not only speak but sing. Years later, he nabbed lead roles in musical-theater classics such as Bye Bye Birdie and The Music Man. His lengthy list of performances also includes operas, pageants, and a concert for the Austrian ambassador to the United States. These days, Ken flaunts his melodious vocals at the Vienna Theatre, the 75-seat performance space he owns with his wife, Stephanie. Here, he adds his tuneful spin to renditions of Broadway standards and folk duets with humming radiators. Nestled within the century-old Simon Mendel building, the theater is one of the few structures to survive the fire of 1928 and the man versus building tickle war of 1987.

At Sotaira's Organic Spa & Yoga Studio, staff members instill visitors with a newfound sense of confidence by gussying up exteriors and keeping bodies fit with yoga and Pilates classes. Slimming body wraps help to purge inches more effectively than a corset imbued with the force of 10,000 bear hugs, and aestheticians hydrate visages with such organic ingredients as chamomile or antioxidant-rich red grapes. The massage therapists' mental rolodex of modalities includes relaxing and therapeutic techniques as well as maternity treatments for expectant mothers or hatching ostrich eggs. Intent on refining posture, instructors of the center's Vinyasa yoga and Pilates mat classes help to keep bodies and minds trim regardless of students' skill level or age.

Playtime Pizza entertains kids and adults with 70,000 square feet of long division–free fun. More than 140 games populate the facility’s two-story arcade, which encourages players to achieve new high scores on Dance Dance Revolution and on six miniature bowling lanes. Black lights cast a celestial spell across the mini golf course, where putters sink holes-in-one under the gaze of pirates and sea creatures, and on the bumper-car track, drivers spend time bouncing through the sea of cars. Smiles disappear only when mouths get sidetracked by pizza, one of the many finger-friendly food items that line the center’s expansive buffet spread.