Rosenberg, TX Indoor Activities

Sculpted onto 55 acres of sprawling plains, including 6 acres dedicated solely to paintball, Oil Ranch entertains visiting families with farm activities, play areas, miniature golf, and paintball areas. The working ranch's friendly staff curates a barnyard full of animals, allowing guests to run their hands through a sheep's soft wool or learn how to milk a chicken. The cheery red-and-blue engine of the OIL Express train chugs around Lake Buenas Noches with passengers in tow, while a green John Deere tractor carts around the hayride wagon. Other activities include a summertime swimming pool, catch-and-release fishing in Lake Buenas Noches, mini golf, and a maze.

Also nestled within the ranch's grounds is a full paintball facility, where varied fields pit groups against each other in friendly clashes of chromaticity. On each field, competitors dive behind mobile cover such as large wooden spools, barrels, and crates, enacting countless tactical situations. All participants must sign waivers don masks, and really, really promise to not stare into the barrels of their own markers before entering the field.

Located just a few plaza suites away from one another, Lazer X of Cypress and Fergy's Frozen Custard supply an entire day's worth of family-friendly entertainment between them. At Lazer X, staffers dole out electronic vests and usher up to 16 players into a 2,500-square-foot arena for 20-minute battle royales. Bright-red laser beams pierce through the arena's hazy fog and eerie black lighting, taking players out of the game for five seconds after each hit. A computer tracks and records each hit, issuing a final printed report that details the game's winner and new recruits for the National Guard's elite squad of photon fighters. Lazer X's private party room furnishes guests with paper utensils and optional add-ons such as pizza and soda.

Following matches, players can amble to Fergy's Frozen Custard and fuel up with creamy scoops. Much denser than soft-serve or regular ice cream, frozen custard consists of 1.4% egg yolk and no more than 20% air exhaled by abominable snowmen. Fergy's team of scoopers can add sweet and crunchy mix-ins to any flavor for a customized treat.

Advantage Baseball provides players with 12,000 square feet of indoor training space and year-round conditioning opportunities. The facility boasts seven instructional cages, which can be shared by batters, pitchers, coaches, and coaches wearing mascot heads. In Advantage Baseball's four machine cages, balls zoom over home plate at speeds that range between 45 mph and 70 mph. The indoor training academy's staff, which includes former MLB players, also leads instruction for baseball and softball, helping teams and individuals develop new strategies and improve their techniques.

The combat controllers of Battlefield Houston supervise their own indoor arena, an 11,000-square-foot, multifloor battleground designed with routes resembling city streets and alleys and walls resembling burnt-out façades of old stone buildings. Here, players engage in a range of themed games and special scenarios that encourage them to destroy a target ot protect another player.

The playful battle cries that drift across the field are fueled by realistic weapons, each hand-built with a realistic heft and designed to sound fire in the style of their real-life counterparts. The arms are equipped with small laser sensors and eliminate the need for additional bulky vests, which has contributed to their use in the training programs of SWAT and law-enforcement teams and military personnel.

The Rumfolo family's blood seems to have mixed with oil somewhere in the past. It probably happened in the 1950s, when Walter Rumfolo founded the first incarnation of The Showboat Drive-in—a restaurant where his children worked throughout their teenage years. His children must have carried it with them, because today his grandchildren, Johnny and Chris, operate a drive-in movie theater by the same name. They've preserved the original venue's neighborly vibe and kept the family’s blood intertwined with car engines by employing Johnny's sons to sell tickets and run the projector. Today, the small-town ambiance has a much larger area to cover, and each of the theater's two jumbo screens steps up to the task by accommodating 400 cars full of spectators.

Guests park at dusk for a night at the movies—a full night, with double features painting the sky silver for hours. Audiences access the films' sound through their FM radios so that they don’t have to swipe a copy of the script and have their children read the parts. Together, families and dates can sit on lawn chairs, blankets, or inside the car as they lose themselves in the plot and munch concessions that range from burgers to candy and popcorn. The staff caters to viewers at any point during the films or intermission, providing a playground for restless youngsters and jumping cars if their batteries fizzle.

Cinematic drama, action, and romance soar across 131 all-digital screens at Movie Tavern's 16 locations in seven states. With the latest first-run releases and triweekly showings of Retro Cinema classics, its theaters entertain with the chases and hijinks churned out by Hollywood’s dream factories. Viewers can pair their flicks with frothy brews, a choice of wines, or items from a menu stocked not just with staples like popcorn and candies, but also with grill-seared burgers, homemade pizzas, and chef-inspired appetizers. All sweet and savory selections can be delivered to a tabled seat inside the theater after placing an order at the concession stand.

Movie Tavern shakes up the traditional theater experience with more than its food, varied beverage selection, and table service. Its Breakfast & a Flick treats early weekend risers to films and food inspired by classics with dishes such as the French Connection Toast. Its group outings help businesses captivate employees at holiday parties without having to project a slideshow of their personal emails. The Movie Tavern membership awards a free birthday movie tickets and popcorn to members when they sign up, and sends out invites to special events and screenings.