Theme & Amusement Parks in St. Catharines

The beaming, barky face of 16-foot-high Trevor the Tree greets youngsters as they scamper into Kin-R-Gee's storybook-themed play structure. After clambering through tubes and obstacle courses, tykes can return to terra firma by racing their playmates down a two-storey projection waterfall slide. Elsewhere, toddlers can explore the Three Bears Garden and Sprouts Patch, an area full of age appropriate treats like toy cars, building blocks, and action figures.

In between sliding and block building sessions, kids can refuel with tasty treats at Kin-R-Gee Café, where parents can likewise lounge with a latte while keeping an eye on their whippersnappers in the play area. Parents also barely move a muscle during Kin-R-Gee birthday parties, whose packages and supplies—built around themes such as create your own teddy bear and create your own surveillance cameras for teddy poachers—ensure a stress-free celebration. Along with open playing and partying, Kin-R-Gee educates children with a wealth of classes and programs geared toward enriching tots aged two-and-a-half to six through such activities as sports instruction and day camp.

Enormous waterslides twist like snakes above Wild Water Kingdom's acres of landscaped grass and open pools. All in all, 17 aquatic attractions dip, dunk, and douse visitors in torrents of water as they whip down slides with names such as Corkscrew and Sidewinder. Though tykes frolic on the semi-submerged playsets of Dolphin Bay, older visitors scream in delight as they hurtle through the twisting pitch-black tunnels of the Night Rider. Elsewhere, sun-soaked volleyball courts and dual miniature golf courses—one themed after a shipwreck, the other an enchanted forest—provide entertainment that keep suede swimsuits perfectly dry.

Despite the ample outdoor fun, several attractions offer respite from the sun. The Wild Water Drive-In Theatre allows families and couples to enjoy an excursion without leaving the comfort of their car or motorized couch, and to the east of the main park, a 60,000-square-foot indoor arena hosts soccer games and athletic summer camps.

The minds behind Ultimate Laser Tag have developed leagues, parties, and day camps around the game of laser tag, as they've learned from experience that it’s a fun way to interact with friends and family. Leagues accommodate laser cowboys of all skill levels and 10-gallon-hat designs, and parties let kids slink through the space-age-rainforest ruins of the laser-tag arena before monkeying around at the facility's colourful playground. Day camps pack in the activities, highlighting Ultimate Laser Tag's goal of getting people off the couch, with laser tag and rock climbing alongside imagination-boosting events, such as talent shows where kids can get on stage and lick their elbows for a wider audience.

With two decades of racecar driving under his belt, Mr. Uli Bieri sought a means to safely share motorsports with other enthusiasts. In 1997, he found it in the form of Cayuga Dragway Park, a former airstrip built in 1955. He purchased the land, and over the years added a 3-kilometre road course that could be reconfigured for drivers of different skill levels and extensive noise-reduction berms. He constructed the tracks with a strong focus on safety, keeping the ground flat and providing ample runoff area. In 2001, he rechristened the two tracks Toronto Motorsports Park, providing a venue for amateur racers to compete, practice, and engage in instructional programs.

Today the dual stretches of pavement serve both education and entertainment for the motorsports community, regularly holding massive events featuring professionally modified vehicles and legendary drivers. Amateurs still get plenty of track time to try out new vehicles with the Test & Tune Program and race custom rides in the Bracket Series.

Replete with a five-level jungle gym and rock-climbing walls, Lil’ Monkeys Indoor Playgrounds’ 15,000-square-foot fun center has won more than 15 best of awards from the Burlington Post, the Hamilton Spectator, and the Flamborough Review. In the play area In this environment adorned with palms and a green turf floor, kids slip down the swirl slide, dive into the foam-building-block pit, and navigate the boo balls and punch-bag forest. As parents lounge in plush leather chairs with a complimentary coffee, kids bounce from mechanical-horse rides to the enclosed basketball court, their smiles leading the way. Alternatively, parents can get into the action, joining their youngsters at the twisty slides and monkey ropes to relive their college-dorm days. Additionally, the center’s staff accommodates 2.5-hour birthday parties with a choice of four private-party-room packages built around pizza, ice-cream cake, and kids having fun climbing and running through the playground.

Dave and Buster’s decks out 40,000 square feet and three storeys with a wall-to-wall array of more than 200 games ranging from arcade classics to interactive video platforms. To give thumbs a breather, visitors can escape into Captain Jack’s Pirate’s Cove, a pirate-themed complex of mini golf and laser tag. Cannons and sea creatures thwart revellers in the glow-in-the-dark mini-golf course. Patrons duck and weave through a hide-and-seek-style laser-tag arena teeming with fog tendrils, or hunt for a hidden treasure chest in the depths of the Lazer Maze. Patrons who can’t photosynthesize can refuel at the full-service bar and restaurant, whose menu ranges from burgers to other hearty classics such as fish ‘n’ chips and chicken tenders.