Things to Do in Portland

The karts at Maine Indoor Karting definitely aren’t of the amateur variety. The center maintains a fleet of European racing karts that balance the power of 200 CC, 6.5-hp Honda engines and wet clutch drive systems with the comfort of adjustable padded seats. Before climbing into these speed machines, adults must first attend safety briefings, suit up in provided uniforms, and strap on helmets. Drivers younger than 15 must complete an intensive safety course on how to steer safely, increase speed, and ramp over oncoming fruit carts. But all that prep proves to be worth it when drivers squeal out onto the newly renovated serpentine track and motion-blur their way through 1,200 feet of narrow stretches and sharp switchbacks.

The family-fun center also houses an indoor 18-hole miniature golf course and an arcade filled with video games. An on-site café serves casual fare such as hot-dogs, hand-made pizza, and root beer floats.

Inside a mint-green Victorian Home, the experienced artists at Artascope Studios share their expertise in various mediums with adults and teenagers of all skill levels. Throughout a schedule of workshops, instructors provide all the necessary supplies as they teach groups how to craft jewelry out of wire, beads, or metal, arrange glass bits into colorful mosaics, and use paint to expressively capture a mountain landscape's majesty or a urban wilderness's hidden Waldos. They also lead three-hour intensive Art Night Out sessions that focus on specific projects such as crocheting wire or setting a resin pendant. Through reservation, Artascope's experts can host private parties and one-on-one lessons.

Cavorters of all ages caper about Joker's Family Fun and Games's massive indoor play zone, which is stocked with games and attractions that inspire climbing and sliding. Kids can scramble into the three-tiered A-Maze-Zing playhouse to navigate tubes, web bridges, and conference rooms, and toddlers can maneuver through the mini maze or hop aboard the train ride for a sightseeing jaunt around the tracks. Future adults can challenge one another in sundry classic arcade games such as skee-ball and air hockey, and more than 50 video games await thumbs desperate to win garlands of exchangeable tickets. Whippersnappers achieve liftoff in lieu of jetpack overalls on a Jolly Jump air bounce then safely glide down a 22-foot inflatable super slide. At the 14,000-square-foot Portland location, youngsters can also blast comrades in a space-age laser-tag zone, scale a towering rock-climbing wall, and master putting skills on an 18-hole mini-golf course. After extreme bouts of frolicking, families can quell tummy rumbles with slices of housemade pizza slathered in Joker's signature sauce or peek at the menu to peruse sandwiches, burgers, and chicken tenders.

As members of the Crustacean Nation, fans of the Maine Red Claws cheer on the rim rattles of alumni from some of the top NCAA programs as the athletes hustle and sweat for a shot at the NBA through its development league. In its first three seasons since joining the D-League in the 2009–10 season, the Red Claws—an exclusive affiliate of the Boston Celtics—fostered nine players who signed NBA contracts, including the Celtics' own Avery Bradley, Kris Joseph and Fab Melo.

Built between 1858 and 1860 as a summer home for hotelier Ruggles Sylvester Moore, the Victoria Mansion continues to dazzle visitors more than 150 years later with its Italian villa-style low-pitched roofs and soaring architecture made from locally sourced Connecticut brownstone. After a hurricane swept through the region in 1938 and badly damaged the mansion, it was scheduled to be demolished and rebuilt as a gas station until a retired educator, Dr. William Holmes, rescued the property. He turned it over to the Society of Maine Women of Achievement, which now operates it as an historic house museum and National Historic Landmark.

Conservation efforts have gradually restored the mansion’s brownstone front steps, balusters, and decorative carved finials; the Islamic-inspired paintings in its Turkish Room; and the Pompeian-style painted walls of its preserved mid-19th-century water closet. Elsewhere, palatial gilded surfaces and stained glass add color to the interior, juxtaposed by modern conveniences such as hot and cold running water, central heating, and robot janitors.

Since its inception as a restaurant and mini-golf course in 1960, Funtown Splashtown USA has steadily expanded to include manifold family-friendly theme-park attractions and water-park slides. The park invites thrill-seekers to rush down the slopes of the wooden Excalibur rollercoaster or free-fall 220 feet from the zenith of the Dragon's Descent tower. At the Splashtown waterpark, guests combat the summer sun aboard two-person slide tubes or circular family rafts. And at the Portland Pirates Paradise attraction, visitors fire water cannons and slip through eight water slides. Between slips and slides, families can unwind on the 1,200 lounge chairs or grab a snack at the picnic areas, so long as they make sure to wait at least 30 minutes before swimming or picnicking again.