This place was so fun! Even though we were there for at least two hours with one year olds, I would…read moresay we went through half of what they had. I am itching to go back already, it is well-worth the price ($18 for both my child and I). There is a lot of outdoor activities, so I would go on a nice day, but there's plenty to do inside as well if you need a rainy-day activity. So many fun activities for children, from a racing car track to a large outdoor xylophone, a "tree house" and fun little pretend areas, such as a hospital (the nursery, of course) pizza parlor, a market stand with fake food. Outside has a lot of fun things for Littles to climb on and explore. We will definitely be back!

Sooo many thing to see and do! Had to leave but will come back to do more activities.read more

The night market is such a fun and unique time! You will find some one of a kind hand made items…read moreand so much more all while enjoying some great tunes! The people and the vibes are always great to be around. I love it when Night Market season rolls around!

awesome arcade! $10 and hour or $20 for 4 hours. enough pinball machines, in tip-top shape. it's…read morefun, it's safe and the best arcade experience since I am 12. I am 62 now. I highly recommend.

For $20 you can play beautiful pinball machines and other arcade games for up to 4 hours. It's very…read moretidy. The people are nice. You can bring your own snacks and beverages or you can purchase from onsite vending machines. We always have a great time!

Noah, the host for the open housdid an excellent job showing us the Moon, Venus, Mars, Orion Nebula…read moreand the Christmas Tree Cluster. They will be having open houses every month through October 2023. You can find the schedule on their Facebook page. Noah encouraged everyone to ask questions and he shared a lot of information with the group. 9-23-2023 We were able to view Saturn and its rings before cloud cover washed out any more viewing.

I am writing this review strictly from an end customer experience - I did not book this company or…read moreuse them at my event. I attended a customer event at the St. Patrick's Day parade this past weekend and Premier Entertainment had balloon artist and face painting available to the customer. I experienced both. My cousins got balloon art and I was so impressed! First, they have a nice sign showcasing available designs and what they recommend. They offer wrist items where its a balloon design and then you can attach it to your wrist to walk around with it. This is the coolest thing! I watched them make a turtle one for a child and it was so impressive! My cousins got a wiener dog and a fishing pole with fish at the end. The whole process was super quick, professional and the best looking balloon animals I've literally ever seen. True art! Now for face painting. The face painting station had two artists. They also had signs of what they were offering that day and you could select colors, etc. My cousin got a crown with some sparkles and I got a 4 leaf clover with a bit of glitter. It was done quickly and professionally and the designs turned out great. Note that there were long lines waiting for both of these stations and the employees handled it with grace and ease. They were friendly, answered questions and really appeared to want to be there. I'm not sure what their services cost, but I was impressed with both of the services I experienced. I'd definitely recommend them for events.

What a fun experience we encounter with Brian, The Balloon Guy! The name tag alone is brilliant!…read moreThank you Genesis for sponsoring them at the 50th hot air balloon race. Brian is a fun and energetic guy and his balloon skills are top notched and fast! We asked for a surprise balloon for our toddler and we got this cute monkey wrist wearables! I'd consider hiring his company for future kids birthdays or events! Even my husband enjoyed his ninja wearable - ninjas are always watching and you may never know where he will turn up next! Lol.

This little-known and hidden museum is located inside the supposedly haunted Mineral Springs Mall…read morebuilding in downtown Alton. Some say it is fitting, as Alton is known to be one of the Top 10 haunted places in the United States. The building itself was a hotel that opened over a century ago, and several paranormal sightings have been reported over the years. You can kind of get the idea once you set the foot in the place. Its only five dollars admission, and you get to learn a lot about, well, ways people tortured people for centuries. First off, this museum is not for everyone. There are some offensive and disturbing parts here, as one would sense. This is basically for the open-minded, and for those who have a keen sense of history. The museum is a bit small, but there are several things that await the visitor. The woman who operates this museum has apparently done so much research and collected so many artifacts about the 'torture' subject. You can definitely tell she had an enjoyable time doing this! The weapons/chambers/photographs are accompanied by several materials that talk about how people were tortured. The first paragraph usually explains how the device operated, and the history behind when it was used (like what time period and what country/continent). The always controversial topic of slavery (in most countries of all periods of time) is also explained here. I'd rather not give away too much. You may find the subject on torture interesting! When reading these, I had to put myself in these people's shoes. Whether they were the victims, or the people who lived under one supreme ruler who frequently used the torture devices on the folks under them. Some of these torture methods are still being used today in some parts of the world, sadly. If you make a weekend trip to Alton, check this place out. Unfortunately, the museum is not open during the week, just on Saturday and Sundays. Be sure to check the hours.

$5.00! This museum is for those who love "campy" things. I enjoyed it, in a way that I enjoy…read morevisiting Graceland without being an Elvis fan. If you are into this kind of entertainment than this is for you. Leave the kids at home though. Lovely lady will answer all your questions, and she drives a hearse! How could you not enjoy her museum knowing these facts?!

A very good interpretation/museum for this amazing lock and dam. Wander through the aisles there,…read morethen sign up for a tour of the lock and dam. The structure will blow your mind. Huge and what a feat of engineering. We were lucky to be able to watch a barge go through the lock. What a sight! An awesome ranger provided so much information and explanation of the one of 29 "steps" for boats/ barges on this 600mile portion of the Mississippi River. Fascinating!

For a 'National' museum, this one had very few exhibits. We did enjoy the small display of local…read moreanimals. The museum was free though, so I guess I shouldn't have expected much. They have a 'no-bag' policy, but not everyone is asked to follow it. My husband had to hobble back out to the vehicle to take his small man bag back while two ladies walked around inside with a visible fanny pack and small purse.

This year the festival ran from July 2nd - July 4th…read more Came here for our 4th of July festivities. We arrived semi late. We missed the Carolina Liar concert, but we got here in the nick of time to hear Vertical Horizon. Those are two bands I absolutely love. When we arrived, we had prepped for the O'Fallon parking wars and assumed we'd get there right before or during the fireworks. Luckily, that didn't turn out to be the case at all. The time we left my boyfriend's parents to the time we got to the park was about 10 minutes. I was surprised after hearing from Jason and his dad what chaos it usually was. We paid $5 for parking and went on our way. Making our way to the park, you could hear the music from Vertical Horizon. The path that took us there was not a very long walk at all. It was very busy with lots of people coming to and from the area though. Tents with sprinklers in them were set up. They provided mist for people to walk through to cool them off from the extreme temperatures. I took advantage of that. The path was clean too. I was glad to see people had not littered the site. The park had a fair in it. There were carnival rides and concession vendors everywhere.It was easy to maneuver through. This was a very family oriented affair. Kids were having a lot of fun playing the carnival games, and hoards of teens were congregating together in various areas as you walked through the maze that made up the park. It appeared that some of the vendors were with the carnival and others were local from O'Fallon. Given that some of the prices fluctuated from vendor to vendor. You would go to one vendor that would sell water for $1, then a couple of vendors down, there would be water for sell for $2. I got jipped needless to say and bought the $2 water before discovering the $1 water. I think there should be one set price across the board for what vendors sell to the public. That way people don't find out the hard way like I did and end up paying for the more expensive item. The carnival rides seemed fun. They were very busy and seemed to be the standard run of the mill kind of rides that you would find at any carnival. They had a ferris wheel, kiddy rides, and thrill rides for those who dare. Tickets cost a dollar per ticket. 4 tickets = $4. That was pretty much the price for almost every ride I noticed. Come here with cash because they won't accept credit or debit. I have to point this out, but... Holy hot damn!!!!! I would never have let my daughter (if I had one) out of the house wearing what some of those little tweens were wearing. Girls that could not have been older than 14 were wearing see through tops and belly shirts. There were several girls that had shorts riding up their asses too! I know it is the summer, but honestly they were downright disgusting and distasteful. I would give a long lecture to any parent who let their kids out of the house looking like they did. I'm sorry, I just had to point that out. Finally the fireworks display that we came here to see... What a beautiful site it was. They put on a spectacular display for all the festival goers. The fireworks show lasted about 20 minutes, and considering the cancellations that had occurred all across the Saint Louis area and beyond, I was very happy and surprised they put on a show at all. There had been so many forest fires going on and a major drought that made the weather conditions very unfavorable to have them. O'Fallon took the risk, and it turned out beautifully. I'd most certainly come back. It's definitely worth the trip to take if you live in the city.