Theme & Amusement Parks in Morrisville

The Proehlific Park Family Sports Complex and Fitness Center is a sprawling facility, whose space opens up for youth and adult programs, fitness activities, and sports. Three basketball courts and a 70-yard turf field welcome soccer and flag-football leagues. Meanwhile, the fitness center holds a weight room, spinning studio, cardio center, along with group exercise classes such as yoga, Zumba, and Pilates. While not relaxing in locker rooms complete with saunas, customers will also find free wireless and a smoothie bar in the lobby.

Seasoned tour guides at the nonprofit Conservators' Center acquaint guests with 19 species of rare, rescued, and endangered animals during tours, educational programs, and special events. The conservatory's mammals reside in enclosures, allowing observers to safely watch their behavior and critique their sense of interior decoration. During tours, a 3/4-mile walk down outdoor paths and roads acquaints visitors with lions, tigers, wolves, and lemurs as guides list each animal's backstory and role in the ecosystem. On treat-feeding and enrichment tours, guides carry scents, snacks, and toys to coax out timorous creatures and foster close-up views of the animals eating, playing, or arguing the merits of Austrian economics. Photography tours grant shutterbugs backstage access as they enter areas off the regular path, and twilight tours afford views of normally inconspicuous nocturnal species, such as the genets and kinkajous.

In addition to interactive tours, three membership levels net supporters discounts on special events, a photograph of one of the resident lions, and Member of the Pride gear. Membership also supports the center's commitment to rescuing animals in need, breeding animals responsibly, and stressing the importance of conservation through community education and demonstrations of animals turning off faucets while brushing their teeth.

Part of the North Carolina Railway Museum, the New Hope Valley Railway shepherds passengers through pine forest aboard vintage diesel and steam-engine trains. Covered cars protect riders from the elements, while a historic open-air caboose allows them to recline in locomotive fashion as they enjoy the shade of the woods, the breeze of the wind, and the harmonious serenade of local wildlife choirs. Trains depart from and return to Bonsal Depot, where a gift shop awaits filled with keepsake merchandise and a display track showcases vintage railroad equipment.

Free to the public, the North Carolina Railway Museum houses historic railway artifacts including vintage trains from builders such as Vulcan Iron Works and General Electric. On select Saturdays and Sundays, the Railway lets passengers take control of diesel-electric or steam-engine trains to experience firsthand life as a conductor.

For more than a decade, the staffers of InterSkate Family Fun Center have welcomed visitors of all ages to glide around their facility’s indoor rink on rented skates, score tickets from arcade machines, and celebrate birthdays by chugging pitchers of soda. The family-owned rink offers open skate Friday–Sunday and regularly hosts special events. InterSkate also hosts fitness classes for kids and adults in partnership with Xtreme Sports, offering courses in roller hockey, indoor soccer, and indoor soccer on roller skates.

From an adults' area equipped with free WiFi, parents and guardians watch their socks-clad youngsters amble about Jumpin' Beans' inflatable playground, where they can scale, slide, and bounce on the facility's air-filled structures. Seattle's Best coffee and espresso drinks keep grownups alert as kids reenergize with pizza or drinks from an onsite concessions stand or munch on their own snacks. In addition to open-play sessions, parties gather groups in Jumpin' Beans' play space, where the facility's party hosts oversee each soiree's arrangement of inflatables sidled up beside big-screen TVs, DVD entertainment, and cakes that turn back into cupcakes at midnight. When not busy with playing and partying, Jumpin' Beans' Jump Start programs, helmed by a veteran elementary-school teacher, teach pupils motor skills and offer social enrichment via lessons, games, and physical activities.