A train snakes around the drive-in movie theater at TrainTopia. (Joey Held)
There are plenty of exciting things to do in Frisco for kids and adults alike. You’ll certainly get a nostalgia kick from our tour of the city.
Sitting about 30 miles north of Dallas, Frisco is quickly becoming one of the fastest-growing cities in all of Texas. In fact, a recent study from GoBankingRates.com named Frisco the most affordable and fastest-growing city in the entire country.
I recently took a trip to Frisco and was delighted by how many nostalgic activities I found. Whether you’re taking a family trip or planning a solo adventure, here are 10 things to do in Frisco that will invigorate you and make you feel like a kid again.
1. Fire up the controllers at the National Videogame Museum
As soon as you walk into the National Videogame Museum, you feel at home. That’s not merely because of the section of the museum that recreates a 1980s bedroom and family living room. A whole host of classic characters, highlighted by Mario, Pac-Man, Pikachu, and Sonic, welcome you into the fray. From there, it’s a walk through history to learn about the evolution of games.
I was so impressed by the immense volume of things to do here. There are more than 100,000 pieces of video game-related hardware, software, memorabilia, and documentation. I took a turn playing a floor-to-ceiling Pong game, pretended I ran a retail store during the video game crash of 1983, and took over in the middle of an “Oregon Trail” playthrough. We made it to Oregon, but lost James and Anna along the way. Sorry, you two.
There are tons of Easter eggs for visitors to discover (and even an interactive portion to keep track of all those eggs), so keep an extra diligent eye out along the way. The visit ends with the Pixel Dreams Arcade, a collection of dozens of arcade cabinets in one glorious venue. Each visit includes four tokens, with the option to buy more. I was tickled to rediscover Tapper, a game with excessive product placement where you slide Budweisers across bars to demanding patrons, and Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, which features the King of Pop rescuing hostages and defeating bad guys through dance.
2. Run experiments at the Sci-Tech Discovery Center
The Sci-Tech Discovery Center is a haven for kids to put their STEM skills to work. A few of the areas reminded me of science projects I had to do as a kid (alas, there was no dropping an egg down a stairwell and seeing if it broke), and I quite enjoyed the extra-large version of the Operation game.
It’s cool when a museum can also make you think a bit, and there’s undoubtedly some engineering work here. I heard lots of happy giggles from kids making rockets and drivable cars out of bottles, paper, and wood, and the basketball fan in me liked trying to propel a ball through a hoop only using bursts of air.
3. Do a scavenger hunt at TrainTopia
It’s a good day whenever I can take a train during a vacation. Seeing the countryside, not worrying about driving, and experiencing new places? It’s a blast. TrainTopia brings that to a magnificently miniature scale. Steve Sanders was a train enthusiast and model train collector who completed this collection a year before he died. His legacy lives on at the Museum of the American Railroad, with over 2,500 square feet of trains, tracks, and scenery across Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado.
Guests have four different scavenger hunts to choose from. I opted for #2 because I felt confident but not cocky. A big smile covered my face as I encountered new portions of this tiny world. There’s a drive-in movie theater playing old Looney Tunes cartoons, complete with classic cars hanging out in the parking lot. Childhood classics like Snoopy and Thomas the Tank Engine share space with newer characters like Bluey. TrainTopia also switches back and forth from day to night every few minutes, which would highlight a secret movie poster, vehicle, or activity going on around the scene.
4. Eat a sandwich the size of your head at Didi’s
All this adventuring made me hungry, so I headed to Didi’s Downtown to refuel. This charming little spot feels like the local neighborhood establishments my friends and I piled into after school, where sipping a Shirley Temple felt like an act of rebellion.
Though my metabolism is not as sturdy as it was in my younger days, when my server recommended the Hot Honey Buttered Fried Chicken sandwich, I had to check it out. She warned me I would need a hearty appetite to finish it. It’s a good thing I enjoy a challenge. I audibly exclaimed at the size of this sandwich when I picked it up. Had I made a terrible mistake? Luckily, after taking my initial bite, those fears dissipated, and I realized I had something super tasty in my hands. And I’m proud to report I did tame the behemoth and finished the sandwich.
5. Travel around the Texas Sculpture Garden
The Texas Sculpture Garden in HALL Park spans 162 acres and over 40 sculptures. The works of art are a mix of indoor and outdoor, so you can catch some A/C while taking in fascinating pieces. My favorite is “Time Management” by Zad Roumaya, a Dallas artist. The work features three blue figures. One is holding a briefcase and looking at its watch, one has a cell phone up to its ear, and the other is simply sitting on the corner of the ledge and chilling, watching the serene beauty of the lake. Let’s try to be more like that one.
About a dozen of the sculptures are consolidated around the lake, providing a pleasant breeze. And while I generally dislike downloading an app for everything, the accompanying Otocast app includes a helpful map and voice notes from the artists to give more background into their work. Special shout-out to Joe Barrington, whose “The Headline Screamed: Bait House Disappears Without a Trace!” features a galvanized-steel fish with many sharp teeth bursting out of the water to snag a bait house in the air.
6. Catch a RoughRiders baseball game
My dreams of becoming a professional baseball player died when pitchers started throwing curveballs, and suddenly I couldn’t hit anything. But there’s still such a nostalgic feel to the ballpark, and catching a RoughRiders game—the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers—is one of the top things to do in Frisco.
The RoughRiders logo is an animated Teddy Roosevelt. That gives the team lots of creativity for quirky Texas-themed alternatives, including queso fresco and corn dogs. I took home a Corny Dogs hat with a mustachioed corn dog wearing a cowboy hat and kerchief. The lazy river in right field also happens to be one of the best pools in Dallas-Fort Worth. I’ll remember my bathing suit next time.
7. Admire trading cards at The Star
The Star is the headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys. It features the team’s practice facility and the Tostitos Championship Plaza, highlighted by a condensed version of the Cowboys’ field (with the star at the 50-yard line and everything). There were a few different groups of families tossing a football around. Was I tempted to intercept one of the passes and return it for a touchdown? Absolutely. Instead, I wandered around the shopping district of The Star.
After stumbling across Cards in a Box, I knew I had to peek inside. As a kid, I amassed a mighty collection of basketball and baseball cards—naturally, being drawn to the more obscure and quirky ones—and after seeing a pair of young brothers excitedly opening up boosters, it took me right back to being with my childhood, sitting at the dining room table and cracking open a pack or ten, then comparing our treasured card hauls.
8. Take a field trip to the Heritage Center and Museum
The Heritage Center and Museum is one of the free things to do in Frisco. That alone brings a rush of nostalgia to when finding a quarter on the ground felt like winning the lottery. There’s also the discovery of learning something new. I enjoyed reading about the city’s history and notable figures, such as Dr. Erwin G. Pink, who became the community’s lone doctor when he and his wife, Elisabeth, moved to Frisco in the mid-1950s. Pink was also the doctor for the local football team, so his office was adorned with stuffed animal raccoons, the team’s mascot.
After visiting the museum, I strolled the surrounding area, which features other artifacts from the city’s past. A 1910 locomotive and caboose stand on a piece of railroad track. I got to peek inside a log cabin and schoolhouse from the past, and I tickled the ivories on a colorful piano resting beneath a gazebo.
9. Putt at PGA Frisco
The PGA of America’s headquarters is in Frisco, so naturally, I had to add some golf to my list of things to do in Frisco. Does it matter that I’m not a golfer and only played on a real course for the first time earlier this year? Absolutely not!
While I’m sure the 10-hole larger course is a delightful time, I opted for a simpler experience with the largest mini golf course in the land. I borrowed a putter and a bright red ball (that I got to keep!) and took to the links. The very first time I went mini golfing, I got a hole-in-one on the opening hole. That good luck did not continue this time around, despite minimal obstacles on the course, my own putting incompetence notwithstanding. A live concert served as excellent background accompaniment, and I’m sure their cover of “Wagon Wheel” inspired me to nail a tricky putt on the 14th hole.
10. Sip and game at Nerdvana
Okay, this one combines childhood activities with those of adulthood. Nerdvana is a scratch kitchen and bar that pairs gaming with bites and drinks. The main difference is that instead of the endless amounts of soda we drank as kids, I opted for a local beer and handcrafted cocktail—all of which are appropriately video-game-themed.
Had I joined with a larger group, I likely would have explored some of the board games. But driving through the whimsical lands of “Mario Kart 8,” joining the “Rocket League” craze years too late, and being incredibly frustrated by the challenges of “Cuphead” was just the dose of nostalgia I needed for a gaming night.
As I set the controller down and paid my tab, I couldn’t help but grin. It was the perfect capper to an excellent weekend trip to Frisco.
