Amusement & Water Parks
Portland offers family fun, from vintage rides to high-flying waterslides.
Water slides, carnival rides, go-karts and mini golf are just a few of the many ways families can have fun in Portland. Here are a few all-ages attractions in and around the Rose City:
Reveling in vintage charm, America’s oldest continuously operating amusement park offers a variety of rides and amusements.
In Portland
If it’s raining, the black-lit pirate-themed mini-golf course at Glowing Greens in the heart of downtown provides a great and unusual escape. Alternatively, take the bus out to the Avalon Theatre in the popular Belmont neighborhood and play in their extensive nickel arcade, or take in a cut-price movie.
Just a few miles south of the city center in the Sellwood neighborhood, you’ll find Oaks Amusement Park. Reveling in vintage charm, America’s oldest continuously operating amusement park offers a variety of rides and amusements, and while it lacks the biggest thrill rides of, say, Six Flags, there’s a great deal to amuse younger children in particular for a whole afternoon. Ride bracelets make a day’s entertainment very affordable.
In the Region
There’s something for everyone at the North Clackamas Aquatic Park in the Portland suburb of Milwaukie. The water park features something for everyone, with a 400,000-gallon wave swimming pool, three water slides, a 29-foot rock-climbing wall, a toddler splash zone, a six-lane lap pool and a 13-foot-deep diving well.
A little further afield, the Family Fun Center in Wilsonville (less than 30 minutes south of the city on I-5), offers go-karts, bumper boats, two mini-golf courses, laser tag, a zip line and climbing structures, batting cages, an arcade and a children’s play structure. Meanwhile, less than 25 minutes’ drive to the east of Portland lies Blue Lake Park, which offers a gigantic water spray ground and pedal boating on the lake during the summer months.
Where else can your kids propel themselves down a water slide that originates inside a 747 jet?
Southwest of Portland, in the Willamette Valley wine country town of McMinnville, you’ll find Wings & Waves, the water park at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. Where else can your kids propel themselves down a water slide that originates inside a 747 jet?
Attractions for Whole Family
Oaks Amusement Park
In Southeast Portland’s Sellwood neighborhood, Oaks Amusement Park has been providing families with carnival thrills and family fun since 1905.
The Best Arcades in Portland
Portland offers a wide range of arcades, from family-friendly game rooms to dive bars and adults-only bar arcades.
Kid-Friendly Regional Attractions
Trips outside the city promise all-ages entertainment. Here are four must-see attractions within two hours of downtown Portland.