North Platte, NE

Dusty Trails-Horseback Rides

This is a very easy and slow ride. The guides are always nice and they seem to take good care of the horses. The trail is pretty flat. 

Cody Park

Cody Park has animals you can drive along or walk to see. They aren’t a zoo, but they have animals like buffalo, deer, peacocks, an elk, donkeys and such to look at. It is free. When my kids were little it was allowed to feed the animals bread (photo); but that is not allowed any more. I believe they have feed machines now to help the animals be healthier.

Cody Park has at least 2 playgrounds that are fun for children.

Cody Park has a swimming pool. It is currently (2025) under construction to be a much better pool. From what I see online, it looks like it will have a pool, a lazy river and waterslides when it is done. It looks like it will be really great!

Cody Park also has a really cute set up of rides for young children. The prices are very low. There is a tiny Ferris wheel, a carousel (grown ups can go on this one), a little train ride, a swing ride (grown ups can go on this one), and another ride that kind of spins the kids in little car type things. The rides grown ups cannot go on have maximum heights. My kids loved it when they were little. Each ride is one ticket per person. There is a ticket booth at the entrance. They don’t always have staff member at each ride if things are slow, but I’ve found if you just ask, they’ll have someone open the ride you want.

There is also a concession state at Cody Park that sells things like hamburgers, fries, and ice cream cones. I’ve been quite a few times and they have always had a non-dairy soft serve ice cream too!

There is an area with trains that people can walk through to see. You can go into parts of them. 

You can walk along part of the Platte River here too.

All of these things have different hours. So double check before you go.

Golden Spike Tower 

If you like trains; this might be something to do. We went up in a tall tower to look over the train tracks. I think there was train info there too. 
https://goldenspiketower.com/the-tower/