My nephew's birthday party was at Bounce Academy recently. The place was every child's dream. Zip lines, ropes to swing on, climbing walls, slides, trampolines, foam pits, a gigantic three person swing...it was quite a spectacular set up. I can understand why they had to implement an explicit rule that parents can't play on the equipment because the urge was definitely there. It really was a neat place and the kids all had a blast, even my very young child who was too small for many of the toys still had a blast! The more complex toys, such as the zip lines and swing were manned by gym staff, so the kids could use it all and have the appropriate assistance.
There are a couple of reasons that I only gave it three stars. The first is that the gym staff there during our particular party time consisted only of a group of teenagers. I say that no to be ageist, because teenagers are lovely, but this particular group wasn't very proactive or enthusiastic in undertaking their job duties. They ignored us when we walked in until we deliberately got someone's attention to instruct us as to where to go to find the party rooms. They were nice when approached, but didn't make any move to initiate contact, welcome us to the gym, point us in the right direction or go over the gym policies with us.
They also definitely were not on top of the liability waivers. I didn't see any system by which they checked the children in attendance by the waivers to confirm that everyone had one signed. All we heard about them was as the employees were releasing the kids into the play zone they casually mentioned in passing to be sure to sign the waiver. It was mostly an honor system type of deal. Now, as a parent with a child who might get injured, this clearly inured to my benefit (although we filled out the waiver), but as an attorney looking at it from the business owners' perspective, it was disconcerting.
Also, the party times are very short, so you have to cram a LOT of stuff into a very little time. They must turn parties over every two hours or so. The kids were given one hour of free play time - which was great. I'm sure they could have gone longer than an hour, but the parents were done by then. The problem was when it came to cake/ice cream/present time. They had party rooms for the individual parties separated by a curtain. The rooms had tables, chairs and a refrigerator, which was nice. However, they only allowed you half an hour to serve small children cake (and ice cream, if applicable) and open presents, hand out favors and say bye. Half an hour really isn't a long time when you've got 15 little people to manage. It was somewhat harried and stressful for the parents, particularly those hosting. If they would give an hour for cake and present time, it would probably make a huge difference.
So, we really did have a great experience at Bounce Academy, and my little girl absolutely adored it. It was a great facility and we may even do a party for our child there someday, but there are a couple of issues that might bear some reconsideration to make the experience just a little better - and to provide better protection for the business owners too. read more