Como Town — Attraction in Saint Paul

I've been to Como Zoo and Como Town many times, but my visit yesterday is not one I will soon forget! I arrived at 12:30 p.m. with my 8-year old granddaughter, planning to get her the unlimited ride wristband for $30. However, upon entering Como Town, we discovered that 6 of the 15 main rides were closed down, most of which were ones my granddaughter was looking forward to riding (roller coaster, swings, frog hopper, fun zone, bees, and tilt-a-whirl). We decided go to the zoo first and come back at 3:00 to buy the Starlight unlimited band for $22, as there were only 5 rides open that my granddaughter wanted to ride, including the Soaring Eagle. All was going well until a little bit before 5:00 when my granddaughter was waiting in line to ride the Soaring Eagle with another young girl. Apparently a girl around age 9 was accused by a parent in line of trying to cut in line. The girl went to get her mom, and then all hell broke loose. What started as one mom yelling at another mom escalated rapidly as other family members got involved as well. There were two different family groups of close to 30 people, mostly teens and adults, and the profanity (the f-word by parents and kids alike) was disgusting! Another parent and the Soaring Eagle female ride attendant (who was absolutely awesome), asked that they please stop using profanity as there were several small children in line. They eventually left the line and moved over to a picnic area nearby and continued yelling and swearing, threatening to fight. A few of the workers and a manager came over to try to contain the fight, but they were out numbered by about 30 to 3, and also outsized. Just as my granddaughter was going to get on the ride after waiting in line for about 20 minutes, the two groups started fighting, punching, kicking, and the mom of the girl accused of cutting picked up a metal chair at the picnic area with the intent of hitting someone with it. The Como Town manager was able to get it away from her, but at some point she picked up another chair and threw it at someone. We felt somewhat trapped, as there was really no way to leave without going right past the fight, so we stayed in the far corner by the soaring Eagle, about 70 to 80 feet from the group. Once the physical fight started, we grabbed the girls out of line and the ride attendant closed the ride. However, within seconds the fight spread to within just a few feet from us, and my granddaughter was extremely frightened. I put her behind me as we grabbed our drinks and backpack. I saw one of the women fall on her knees as she was being punched and kicked by a woman, and then a second woman came and kicked her in the head while she was down. It was absolutely disgusting! I yelled for them to please stop before someone got seriously hurt, but they were all so enraged by this time that they were only intent on hurting each other. My granddaughter and I were able to get away to the far side of Como Town where she was able to go on some rides, and I could keep an eye on the fight in case they started moving our way. The workers weren't able to stop the fight, but they did do a great job of keeping it contained to the area between the bumper cars and Soaring Eagle. Both the ride attendant and the parent of one of the young girls waiting in line called 911, but it took almost 25 minutes for the police to come (with sirens blaring so the fighters were alerted and broke up, and one of the families escaped). About 20 St. Paul police officers arrived and nonchalantly walked through the park. The parent who called the police asked what took them so long, and they said they were busy. Shortly one of the families involved in the fight walked by us, followed by the oblivious police officers. The parent who called 911 called them out as part of the fight, and specifically pointed out the mom who threw the chair at someone. Some of the kids and parents started yelling the F word at her. It was extremely frightening & disturbing. Thankfully none of them had...

We typically make a trip here once a year for the rides. We always have a good time and the kids enjoy it. There are a variety of things to do- rides for all ages, a big playground area, splash pad, foam party. It's also great to pop over to the zoo for lunch or a little break. There are often coupons or deals to be found for all day wristbands making the cost reasonable. There used to be a lot more for the younger kids to do but many of those things have been removed to make way for some bigger rides. My adventurous 5 year old only has a couple rides he's interested in that he is tall enough for but certainly enjoys his time there. My biggest issue with Como Town, that seems like it should be easy to fix but hasn't been, is the bathroom situation. The bathrooms are very small, only 4 stalls in the women's. The baby changing table is in the handicap stall. And people also use it as a locker room for getting out of wet clothes from the splash pad. The lines get very long and slow moving. There is a family bathroom but it is almost always occupied by people changing clothes. You can head over to use the zoo facilities, which are nice, but the walk is significant. If you have a baby to change or potty training toddler/preschooler, beware. It seems like some changing stalls by the splash pad would...

The bathrooms in the main entrance were completely flooded and smelled like urine. We waited in line for a long time for the tiger coaster and they were not astute enough to shut it down while assessing whether it needed repairs so we had multiple times of people waiting in line while they were fixing it. We also had an issue with rude staff giving us a hassle about our tickets. Yes, we bought them a year ago, but they explicitly said “no expiration,” so I’m not sure why they made a big deal out of that. We purchased tickets - what’s the difference as long as we payed to get in? After we got that sorted out, the rest of the park was pretty fun. It would be really great if they had places where younger kids in the 2-4 year age range could play while their older siblings go on rides. This would make it MUCH easier on parents. Also, more clean bathrooms. Did I mention clean bathrooms? Don’t let this post discourage you completely from going to Como Town - we did have a lot of fun there and it’s a nice addition to the zoo. I just want to make you aware of a few shortcomings that were a bit disappointing, especially since we drove almost three hours...