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Where do you take your family when they are in town?

voyager12

By voyager12
in Charlotte Coffee House

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voyager12 Town

voyager12

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I have tried to take my folks to a museum or to visit a few interesting spots around town but my mom has an invisible tractor pull right into SouthPark from 77. My dad hates shopping so he sits in the hotel room all day watching The Golf Channel and then picks my mom up from the mall in the evening. Its quite hopeless to suggest anything else I have come to realize. The upside being I get to choose the restaurants we go to for dinner. What do you do when family or company is in town?

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krazeeboi Gigalopolis

krazeeboi

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I say, "Hey, want to hop down to Charleston?" :D

No seriously, whenever my family is in the area, we try to do Carowinds (in the spring/summer). Other than that, we do malls, drive around Uptown for a bit (they aren't urban geeks like me, so I don't make them walk--my dad especially), and if they stay over to Sunday, we do the church thing. That's about it.

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dubone Megalopolis

dubone

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What about for kids?

I have kid relatives coming soon, and I'm running out of ideas:

- LNK

- Imaginon (they may be too young for it)

- Ray's Splash Planet

- Imax

- Discovery Place

Has anyone gone to the Reed's Gold Mine? Any other suggestions from people who were or have kids here.

For adults, I'd say football, whitewater, and nice dinner someplace uptown.

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monsoon Gigalopolis

monsoon

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Any other suggestions from people who were or have kids here.

If you don't mind a little drive, Latta Plantation is a great place for kids. They can visit the historic colonial farm, see the animals, see how people lived in the 1700s, and also go and visit the Carolina Raptor Center and see the birds of prey up close. I would check their website for anything going on. Also near there right now is the Maize Maze at Rural Hill Farm. It's just down the road from Latta Plantation. Both front mountain island lake and there are some good views of it too.

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atlrvr Metropolitan Area

atlrvr

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Latta Plantation is great for kids....we took our son their and he had fun. So is the greenway, just for getting outside for a nice day.

It's been a while since I did Reed's.....it probably depends on the age of the child, but I would say 6-7 years old would be the minimum.

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Charlotte_native City

Charlotte_native

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Reeds is OK, thought I haven't been since I was a kid.

Also Freedom Park. We live across the street and when my in-laws come w/ their 5 and 9 year old they spend all day riding bikes and razors over there. Apparantly tossing bread at ducks is fun too.

The Raptor Center is GREAT if you like that kind of thing.

As for WalMart -- I hate that place, it always looks dirty, cluttered, is way too crowded and smells like a perm.

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CLT Unincorporated Area

CLT

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I'll third the Raptor center. While up that way head on up to Hiddenite and pan for some gold or gems. Maybe you can land one of those Hiddenite Emeralds!

Take a tour of Ben Longs frescos uptown. Total of 4 i believe.

Mint Museum of Craft + Design.

If its October go see the Bobcats.

Stowe Botanical Gardens.

NC Zoo

There is usually some sort of theatre or concert event on the weekends.

For food Lupies!

Have fun

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moving uptown Whistle-Stop

moving uptown

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I'll third the Raptor center. While up that way head on up to Hiddenite and pan for some gold or gems. Maybe you can land one of those Hiddenite Emeralds!

Take a tour of Ben Longs frescos uptown. Total of 4 i believe.

Mint Museum of Craft + Design.

If its October go see the Bobcats.

Stowe Botanical Gardens.

NC Zoo

There is usually some sort of theatre or concert event on the weekends.

For food Lupies!

Have fun

i heard on the radio something about free museum admission this saturday - is that accurate?

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monsoon Gigalopolis

monsoon

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This weekend there is also the following:

  • Antique Auto Fair at the racetrack. If you like old and exotic cars, this is the place to go.

  • Rides on a B-17 Stratofortress at the Concord Airport. This is a fairly unique opportunity to take a ride on an old piston/prop driven US Army WWII bomber. This particlar one is the famous Memphis Bell. It's also a chance to see the new Concord Airport terminal.

  • The Lincoln County Apple Festival. This is the closest apple festival to Charlotte and where you can get some really good crisp NC apples for cheap prices. Certainly better than the frankenapples that you find in the grocery stores. For CLT peeps just get on Freedom Drive (hwy 27) and drive west. You will go right to the festival

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graydog Hamlet

graydog

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The LMS tour is not bad for guests if they have the slightest curiousity. There's history, humor and a van ride around the track at 60MPH. Then they stop at the top of turn 2 so you can experience 30 degress of banking sitting still. It's fun to do on the way to Concord Mills after the Charlotte History museum.

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GoFightWin Unincorporated Area

GoFightWin

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The LMS tour is not bad for guests if they have the slightest curiousity. There's history, humor and a van ride around the track at 60MPH. Then they stop at the top of turn 2 so you can experience 30 degress of banking sitting still. It's fun to do on the way to Concord Mills after the Charlotte History museum.

If they are race fans, the Hendrick race shop near the track is a great place to stop. They are only open during the week but it is a must stop for Nascar fans. You have access to most of the buildings (with limited access in the #24/48 shop). Skip the DEI shop as you can't see squat and a waste of time (and that was coming from a Jr fan I took there).

Daniel Stowe is great if you are entertaining your parents.

Rapor Center is great if you are entertaining kids.

Carowinds is great for all ages but rather expensive.

Biltmore and Grandfather Mountian are great 1-2 hour one-of-a-kind road trips.

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AuLukey Town

AuLukey

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I agree with the general consensus on here so far. Charlotte does lack a lot of children's entertainment on the broad scale. Whenever my nephew comes in town, we are coming to the point where we have few ideas anymore.

  • Ray's is fun for a couple hours until the massive amount of chlorine they use seeps into your skin and hair for what seems like a decade.

  • Discovery Place is interesting until about the third visit. I can't wait until they revamp it.

  • The LMS tour is fun for kids, especially if you pay the little extra to ride around the track.

  • Carowinds and minor league baseball (K-town Intimidators are closer for us) in the summer seem to be a popular place for him.

  • I like the 49er's basketball idea for fall and winter, it's relatively inexpensive for non-students, (or free if you know any students, wink wink) and very lively. I'll have to try that if my nephew comes up during the season. I don't know why I hadn't thought of that before.

  • Reed's Gold Mine is a great place for 8-13 year olds, outside that age range they seem a little A.D.D. while panning for gold. Also, you wouldn't think so, but panning for gold is a very social event, you meet a lot of people while participating.

  • Lazy Five Ranch in Mooresville is a bit of an unknown gem two miles east of 77. It's a zoo but you can take a hay ride through it and feed the animals. My nephew has probably been there five times and loves it. There's nothing quite like having giraffe saliva falling on your head as you hold a bucket --or for the daring, your hand-- up for it to eat out of. There's a technique to avoiding getting wet, but I don't think I'll share that as it is part of the experience.

  • For the older type, my parents and millions of relatives are easily entertained by the various museums and historic sites. To be honest though, we took my grandmother up to Lazy Five for her 80th birthday and she had a blast. Make sure to bring a hat though, especially for the older relatives.

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