G.B.
So, you're asking about my town....
The science center and zoo will take a whole day, sun up until sundown. The science museum is a total blast. There are so many things to do!
Actually, when we plan a trip to the science center we plan the whole day. If you've been to a zoo and it's nothing super exciting then plan the whole day at the science center. It shares the same parking lot as the zoo.
I'm sure a lot of people would say "go to the zoo"! But a zoo is a zoo to me. Of course the OKC zoo is awesome but there are so many other things that are just as good and maybe even better. If you want to stay right there on the north side of town or close to downtown then the science center is a must and the zoo is a good combination.
BTW, IF you do go to the OKC zoo be sure to pay the extra and feed the giraffes. The people who pay to feed them go onto a platform and get a container of leaves. The giraffes come up and use their long wonderful tongues to slide up your arm and nibble the leaf out of your hand. It's amazing!!!
You walk in and to your left is the IMAX theater. I can't "stomach" it but the kids love it. The last show we saw there was rescue helicopters. I got nauseous in a few moments.
Check when the shows are, if they fit with your schedule then get the tickets for the show when you go in, don't get distracted!
Then when you enter the museum it's all sectioned off with different topics. The first one is vibrations and sound. You can see the strands vibrating and see sand move from vibrations you can't even see. As you progress around you'll be able to leave a shadow from a flash of light, play in a huge fun playground, and so much more. There are even torpedoes back in the NW sections.
You can fly a plane in a simulator, turn a wheel and make yourself spin around, see a lifelike dinosaur, and the food back in the food court is good. I had a BLT for lunch and dinner because the bacon was so good.
My hubby sat in the food court while the youngest slept in his stroller. It gave him a break from all the excitement and fun.
The science center is a place any parent won't want to miss.
Some of the other things we've done....we've climbed the rock walls in the old grain silo in downtown, Rocktown. It's really for families that love the outdoors and are...even a little bit athletic or fit. It was a lot of fun for the kids when we took a road trip several years ago.
When you go to Brick Town you'll have a lot of fun too. My favorite Mexican food place is Nino's. The story is that Nino and his brother had a falling out so his brother went and opened Chilleno's in Brick Town to run the other brother out of business but using all the family recipes. I haven't eaten at Chilleno's but I've heard it's just as good as Nino's.
The river has a lot of sites to see too, if you do a cruise. It's still just floating around doing nothing but sightseeing so the kids might not be too thrilled.
The Myriad Gardens are lovely and there are things to do. There is a natural style playground on the south side and a water feature that everyone goes into to cool off. It's been updated too so I'm not sure what else they've added.
I loved Frontier City as a kid too. Of course when I was young Springlake was still there but it's gone now. At Frontier City they see gun fights, go into saloons, ride rides, play in the fun house, and do regular amusement park things but with a western flair.
If if if if you have time to drive and do a day trip the check out the Tuttle Tiger Safari! It starts out when you come out of the lodge to the west. Your kids can feed the deer and other animals while the group gathers. Then you go to an area where there are several glass front...homes, not cages. The tour guide brings out these critters one by one and teaches the kids about them. They get to hold them and experience them first hand.
As you continue around the park you get to see Puma's, birds that dance and make god awful sounds! You'll get to put chicken on the end of a long stick and feed the tiger, she's beautiful too. Then if you time it right you can watch the lion/lioness eat cow legs, they have camels, fennick (sp) foxes, kangaroos, those monkeys from the Madagascar movies, and more.
If you buy the extended tickets, it's not that much more per person, you get to hold snakes, some animal that looks like an otter but it's a land animal, hold a eagle owl, put a small alligator, did I mention holding crawly snakes?, and more. The eagle owls were really really very cool. My oldest got to stand up and extend his arm to hold it and the younger ones squatted by a statue and rested their arms on it so they could support the weight of the owl.
The kids still remember so many details about the visit there. It's better than most anything we've done before.
There is also White Water Bay. It's a huge wonderful water park with so many slides and rides and food and pools and kids will need a ton of sunscreen because they'll be in the water the whole day running amok!
Be sure to have an extra Card for your phone or a cable to down load all the pics directly onto your computer each day.
All in all, hit the Oklahoma Science Center, Tuttle Tiger Safari, Brick Town and the Myriad Gardens (Nice places to go do stuff for dinner and afterwards to walk around), and if you have time Frontier City. Those are the highlights and if I had a few more days that you have and enough cash I'd do it all.
