Category: Wichita

ORIGINAL STORY FOUND AT WICHITABYEB.COM

Wichita loves new things. Whether it’s a new restaurant or entertainment, we just have this fascination with openings and movie theatres are no different. AMC Northrock 14 which took the place of the old Northrock 14 finally opened Friday. My niece and I booked tickets for the first showing we could Friday morning to get a glimpse of what moviegoers can expect on their first trip.

We covered ticket prices in this blog but the $4.49 price we paid for our 11:30am showing was an incredible value. It was cheaper than many of the dessert shops we stop by around town. All seats are also reserved seating which is the ONLY way to go for a movie these days.

Once you arrive, you can purchase your tickets up front or stop by a kiosk and pick up your pre-purchased tickets. There’s also two lines to get tickets, a regular line and a Premiere Club line. I paid the extra $15 for the Premiere Club which saved me the online convenience fees on tickets.

For more on their rewards program, click here.

There was also a nicely set up bar but unfortunately it wasn’t open at the time. Too bad because I could have used a couple stiff drinks for the movie I was about to endure.

Next up is the concession station. This is where being a Premiere Club member really helps. As you can see in the picture below, everybody is waiting in the right side line. The roped off yellow section to the left is for Premiere Club members. I was able to forego the entire line and get to the front. Aside of the annoyed glares I received from other customers thinking I was cutting in line, it was worth it.

From there here’s the menu. Sorry for the picture quality, I didn’t want to hold up other customers taking really nice pictures.

We ordered a regular size drink, regular size popcorn and chicken tenders. As a Premiere Club member, our drinks and popcorn were automatically upgraded to larges. Unfortunately as a Premiere Club member, that didn’t mean we would receive our chicken tenders in a timely manner.

There were some first day issues for the concession staff. It took almost 35 minutes for the tenders to be ready. Many customers were complaining about their food not being ready in a timely fashion. The staff there apologized for the issue and said they would deliver the food to our seats when ready. They also threw in free fries and a cookie with it. Still a learning curve and hopefully their food prep system can get better over time.

They also have ICEE as a drink option. My niece went through her ICEE like college kids do shots. I was impressed she survived with no brain freezes. Her parents are probably going to be excited when she gets home with an extreme sugar rush when I publish this review.

After that it was off to the movies. The inside is very Warren like for those that have been downtown or to the Warren 21. Every seat in the house is a leather recliner. Keep in mind, unlike Warren these aren’t heated. This was my niece’s first time being able to sit in a leather recliner at a movie theater. Her reaction was priceless. She felt like royalty.

The screens are all great and it made for enjoyable experience. Aside from the long wait for the chicken tenders and Sherlock Gnomes being one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, we had an awesome time. For what it’s worth, my niece loved the movie and thought it was “super cute” to use her words.

All the accommodations offered by AMC were right up to par with what I expected. Joining the Premiere Club was well worth the $15 so I’ll be back again.

ORIGINAL STORY FOUND AT WICHITABYEB.COM

Are you old enough to remember the days you would spend at Aladdin’s Castle inside Towne East Mall? The afternoons you would spend your entire allowance at one arcade machine and leave unsatisfied? Well kids (and adults) can have it easier and cheaper now with the new arcade in Wichita aptly named The Arcade.

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139 N Mead St.
Wichita, KS 67202
316-844-0010

Thursday: 6pm – 10pm
Friday: 6pm – 1am
Saturday: 1pm – 1am
Sunday: 1pm – 8pm
Closed Monday – Wednesday

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At The Arcade they have over 60+ arcade games and pinball machines ranging from the 80’s and 90’s. All of the machines are set to free play meaning you don’t have to keep pumping in quarters. The only exception is pinball where it’s 50 cents to play. The cost to play is $10 for adults which gives you unlimited play all day. For kids 10 and under, it is $8.

They also have party options where you can book the Arcade for your party. These are available Monday thru Wednesday where you pick the two hour block, Thursday thru Friday between 4-6pm, Saturday and Sunday between 11-pm or 1:15 to 3:15pm and on Sundays from 8-10pm. There are other times available on their website as well. Prices range between $150 – $250 parties of 10 players to 20 players to unlimited guests.

The rules there are simple too. Be respectful, don’t abuse the games, and keep drinks off the games.

So what does The Arcade look like inside? Let’s take a video walk-through.

There are so many arcades to choose from, If you’re interested in seeing their gamelist, you can check that out here on their website.

My family and friends stopped by over the weekend and had a great time playing some old games which brought back some nostalgia. My favorite was playing NBA Jam with my childhood idol, Reggie Miller.

If you go with a group of people they have some fun four player games such as X-Men, NFL Blitz and Gauntlet.

If you’re into racing games, they had a couple different options to choose from as well.

Loves of Pac-Man will be happy to see there are plenty of options to choose from. This was probably the most popular game I saw being played. It was nice to see the classics getting some love.

And if pinball is your jam, there’s no shortage of machines.

On top of that, they have all the fighting games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Tekken and Killer Instinct. They have the old arcade classics like Dig Dug, Track and Field, Frogger, Dig Dug and more. Literally, it’s all there!

They also have a video screen scrolling through high scores at The Arcade so people can have something to aim for if they are really good at a particular game. If they had a low score record, I’m sure I could be on there plenty of times.

If you follow them on Facebook, they also have tournaments for different arcades and pinball machines.

At The Arcade, they encourage people not to hog machines and after a couple games to leave a machine if there’s a line. While walking around, I noticed everybody was really respectful of others regarding this.

The one drawback for adults is they don’t serve beer or liquor. I understand serving alcohol could bring possible trouble and damage to the machines by idiots who can’t respect property while drinking; sort of a double edged sword. If you’re thirsty or hungry, they have bottled water and assorted snacks for $1, soda for $2 and energy drinks for $2.50.

All in all we had a fantastic time for the couple hours we stopped by. Unfortunately we couldn’t play that long as our old hands and wrists were starting to ache. We didn’t have it in us to play all day long like we were children or teenagers anymore. The Arcade is a great addition to the downtown area that is in need of things to do besides the typical bars and restaurants. It’s nice to have a little variety down there and The Arcade provides that. Check them out as they are always adding new machines down there.

ORIGINAL STORY FOUND AT WICHITABYEB.COM

For the past few months, there’s been a traveling exhibition called “Toytopia” available at Exploration Place. With the exhibit available only for a couple more days, we wanted to stop by and check out the interactive experience on all things toys.

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300 N McLean Blvd
Wichita, KS 67203
316-660-0600

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This is scheduled to run through January 1, 2019 at Exploration Place and if you haven’t gone by now, don’t worry. You really didn’t miss out on anything. I brought three kids in my family and they were not impressed with the new exhibit. They ranged from ages 8 on up and love Exploration Place but not so much “Toytopia”.

Here’s the basic description of it:

TOYTOPIA is one of our longest-running exhibits and explores the history of toy-making and toy inventors from the turn of the 19th century and beyond. The exhibition features 8000 square feet of interactive learning experiences and demonstrations for visitors of all ages to lose themselves in.

There were all sorts of things like a life-sized Etch-a-Sketch, Monopoly board and a piano similar to the movie “Big” except it didn’t play actual music; it just lit up. There was also an arcade upstairs with old school games like Pac-Man. Most of the displays were not interactive as one might think. Many of the displays were just trivia that kids had to read; not as hands on as other displays we’ve seen in the past.

My brother also took his two year old son and wasn’t too impressed by it either. It’s on exhibit you could go in and out fairly easily and move on to something else at EP.

If you have a dollar and want to create the “Big” experience, you’re better off visiting Zoltar.

Some people have FOMO (fear of missing out). Don’t worry, this is one you can certainly pass on.

Four kids, all thumbs down.

ORIGINAL STORY FOUND AT WICHITABYEB.COM

Hoping to dispel the rumor that there’s nothing to do in Wichita, it’s my hope that I can begin to travel more around the city and take in the amenities offered. For over 15 years, Wichita has had the Museum of World Treasures. It’s a building I’ve walked by hundreds of times when I would venture downtown on the weekends back in my hangover days. Since that’s long gone, these days my stops downtown take place in the daylight. And the latest one brought me back to the Museum of World Treasures where I’ll take you on a visual tour of what you can expect on your visit.

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835 E 1st St
Wichita, KS 67202
316-263-1311

Monday – Saturday: 10am – 5pm
Sunday: 12pm – 5pm

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Daily admission runs $9.95 for adults. What I like about the Museum of World Treasures is they don’t tack on additional costs to see or do more things.

Here’ s the map of the current exhibits on the three floors of the museum.

While I won’t share everything I saw on my visit, here’s a little bit of what I did like.

I started off at the ancient civilization gallery where I found an exact replica of the size of my brain. Seriously, I’m so fascinated by shrunken heads and the fact people even did it.

This is me when I have a hangover.

There was also an exhibit featuring some Egyptian bodies that was (how do the kids say it these days) creepy A.F.

I was concerned this would wake up and I’d be reenacting the movie, Night at the Museum.

There was also a cool exhibit featuring Buddhism with bigger than life statues.

For ten dollars, I had a worthwhile time at the Museum of World Treasures. It’s certainly no Field Museum in Chicago and it’s relatively small compared to other museums I’ve been to but it was a great way to blow an hour and a half. There were more than plenty of exhibits that I could have read all the material and spent 4-5 hours but didn’t have the time to. I’d wager that most people will spend an hour there and be done. I’m not sure how often they change their exhibits but would like to go back and spend more time in the military gallery and reading all about the wars.