Crystal Cave, Springfield Missouri — Local services in Springfield

We went to the Dinosaur Trail and the Crystal Cave. I felt like 40.00 for an adult was overpriced. The Dinosaur trail is okay, the grand baby liked it the other kids thought it was lame but, it doesn’t take long to go through and felt like it wasn’t worth the money. Then to get to the cave. Yes it was pretty and our guide was very knowledgeable. But to say this cave is for everyone is simply not true. There is crouching and stairs and turning sideways to get through many obstacles. Many dark spots not well lite. It felt dangerous for the small kids. There was an elderly lady in our group as well as a woman with a baby strapped to her. This was particularly hard. The woman even said we feel mislead and was told this was an easy cave for my daughter to bring the kids. As we crouched down in a crab position for the 3rd time and by the end we all were done. The kids, the adults, everyone!! Then the kids “dug” for gems. It was a bag of dirt they panned for. I’m not saying there weren’t parts that weren’t interesting or good, which is why you got 3 stars. But, my daughter and her husband spent over 200.00 when we were there 2 hours and that was crazyyyyyy!!!! We won’t be back! Warning if you have tiny kids, weak knees, weak back, elderly, may possibly have heart attack, out of shape, gonna strap things to your body, can’t walk like a crab, can’t see on the dark and several other things, then please fine another cave. Skip the Dino trail! PS .....

Keep in mind that this is a walking tour, so wear comfy shoes with good traction that you don't mind getting a little clay on. Our tour was at 11am and since we arrived about half hour early, we started off by letting my two grandlittles do some mining for crystals and stones. There are different priced mining packages available. We did the middle one which was just right for them and they had a ton of fun doing it. I wish I could remember our tour guide's name because she was super friendly, patient with the littles, spoke clearly and had a ton of knowledge to share while giving the tour. Maybe it's because we were in a small group of 8, but she gave us time to take things in and take a lot of photos. The cave and it's history is pretty awesome. This was my first time in a real, natural underground cave, so I don't have much to compare it to. It's great that there's lighting throughout, because it would be pitch black otherwise. You are in some tight spaces where you will have to be close to people at times. There is ducking and squat-walking involved, but nothing extreme. We really enjoyed this and I thought it was worth the money. Definitely recommend. I wished I would've had cash to tip our tour person, though, because when I paid online, I didn't see a spot for a tip. When I paid for the girls' rock mining, she told me to go ahead and bypass the tip portion...

My boyfriend and I visited Crystal Cave last month (September) and really enjoyed it. We love touring caves and this was one of 6 that we toured on this trip to Missouri. So we aren't newbies - we find the structures and formations in them so fascinating and every cave is so unique. For this one it ended up being just us on the tour. Alex was a great tour guide. This tour is probably the closest to a wild tour that we've experienced without actually doing a wild tour. The paths and steps are sometimes uneven. Most, if not all, of the steps seemed to be created from raw slabs of stone - you can see them in some people's pictures. But there are sturdy pipe rails to hold onto. There are some passages that are very low so that you are practically crawling through - but with rails to hold onto instead of the floor. Those things just made it more exciting for us. We saw a lot of salamanders - Alex said it was probably because it's a little slower in the fall, not as many people coming though, so they come out of hiding more. Another warning - they do not have indoor bathrooms - just 2 porta potties outside of the giftshop. But they were nice and clean and they do have a sink inside to use after you use it. All in all a great experience. We definitely will be...