We were checking this out for a future trip with the grandkids. I think it's a must go…read more It's a little sparse, but we were talking to the guy at the front desk and he was talking about trying to get official accreditation. Once they get that they can expand. Everyone who worked there was marvelous. Chatty, friendly, and enthusiastic. The exhibits are wonderful. The highlight for me is the big tank in the center with the small sharks. It's well worth taking an hour or two. I'm looking forward to what they become, and maybe give them that other star.

Love it here! I like to go right when they open so you can spend a little extra time looking at the…read moreanimals before all the strollers appear. Thankfully there is water and aquariums all over so the sound is dispersed nicely. Animals appear well cared for. Staff seems to care for the animals & be knowledgeable. They are almost entirely rehabilitated animals as well that would never survive in the wild. It's great they have an opportunity to live here. I really enjoyed the bid feeding. There are so many little hungry birds that don't mind sitting on your hand or shoe. Groupon has GREAT deals for this place as well. Highly recommend as they are set up with snacks and room for events and sometimes have experts speak & themed events.

Anthony was very friendly and helpful during our visit! He was attentive and courteous when we had…read morequestions.

You have to buy socks for 15 dollars for each kid to get in it's 21 dollars and if a more mature…read morekid doesn't want to do it's still 41 dollars with tax and the only consider you an adult at not 13 or even 16 but 18 16 and 17 year olds have kids sometimes goofy ahh place

This is a small children's museum located within the Valley West Mall. We visited on a Saturday…read moremorning and the shopping mall had very little foot traffic. In fact, it looked like there were several empty stores. The children's museum has play areas with different themes. There was a fishing boat, pizza company, house, ice cream parlor, farmer's market, and chicken coop. It is ideal for children under 7 years old and a good option for a rainy day.

We opted for the DSM children's museum as a road trip break a few weekends ago. It was a great spot…read moreto stop and get our wiggles out. I appreciate that they have a designated snack area where we were able to enjoy some lunches we'd packed. They had plenty of differing play spaces for the kids - a cute little ice cream truck, a parachute/wind experiment , light play, climbing areas, post office and libraries for pretend play, etc. Overall, for our 2&3 y/o it was plenty of activity and excitement for an hour or two. But I gotta say, when you hold it up against the Omaha Children's Museum, it falls a little short. For starters, it's just one large room divided up into little sections along the walls and in the middle of varying types of play. In addition, there's a decent amount of the supplies and props that just seem to be lower quality. Again, my toddlers certainly did not mind any of these changes but sure how well it would hold an older child's attention.

Completely let us down - we had a major cultural event in Des Moines with over 4000 people turnout…read more Bounce houses were booked in advance, money was paid before the event - they were supposed to arrive at 10am, and I got a call at 12:06pm saying they couldn't arrive until around 1pm. Main crowd and families gathered between 11-2pm ... They still hadn't arrived by 1:30pm. Completely let us down ... NOT SHOWING UP at all. Got a refund but our event was ruined as we couldn't keep families at our festival long enough - kids couldn't enjoy the bounce houses. We had ordered 2 to ensure kids had something to do. NEVER HIRING FROM HOP-A-LOT again.

This place is actually pretty rad. For under 10 bucks you…read morecan give your kid a lot of hop for not much drop in the wallet department! Now usually these kinda places freak me out... cause I'm a germ a phobe but this place seemed pretty clean and hey when it's cold out and you need a little slide time this is a great option! There are plenty options for jumping and bumping here.. I will be back I bet!

In all reality there are not that many places in town, where you can bring a kid in the winter and…read morepretty much let them run free and play and keep them occupied for over an hour! The DSM Children's Museum is one of those spots! Don't think of it like a normal Children's Museum, it's more like a big play zone, with all the stuff your kids love about going to pre school or school in general.. They can dress up like a construction worker, Make Pizza, play on a farm, balance on balance beams by a volcano.. You know all the fun stuff! I was here recently for a B-day party.. They have some separate rooms in the back perfect for hosting a crew for a bday! Bathrooms were clean and they do have hand sanitizer stations.. Which is probably a wise thing! This is a fun spot and heck they don't charge the parents to be here just the tikes! So that rules too!

I requested a singing telegram and my expectations were surpassed with Trixie. She arrived and sang…read moreher original song she wrote for the occasion and delivered a balloon bouquet! I have no complaints and would definitely recommend!

From the owner: Clowning Around provides comedic or serious clown performances at a variety of events. TRIXY has…read morebeen a clown for 20+ years. She has done balloon twisting, face painting, magic and singing telegrams. But now just loves doing Singing Telegrams for all ages. This includes writing and singing songs with original words to familiar tunes about the person she sings for. Or she can do a medley of three birthday songs. The singing telegram also comes with a bouquet of lovely hand-made balloon flowers. JO JO has clowned for 15+ years. He does birthday parties, festivals, business openings, and business parties. He makes many different balloon creations, from balloon animals to swords to super heroes & princesses to super duper hats! At parties he specializes in balloon twisting, and can add a funny action song, magic, children parades with instruments and hats, or games.

We are so pleased with the experience we have had so far at Mathnasium. My daughter really enjoys…read moregoing there and has learned so much. Her confidence with math has improved tremendously. Our only regret is that we didn't start her sooner!

This is most friendly place to help children gain confidence in their math skills. My children…read morelove it there, even my child told me she would be quite mad if I stopped bringing her. Sessions are well organized, every weeks they email feedback and progress reports. Tutors are very friendly and engaging. Kids are helped with their math homework as well.

This is not something that I normally do, place a review; Let alone a negative one. I have thought…read moreabout this long and hard, since my daughter and I encountered this company; last Saturday at a birthday party. We were guests to the party and the bounce house company had shown up very late to set the equiptment up. The part had already started and they looked to of just started setting it up. I watched from close by as one of the parent's concerns didnt seam to both them. A few parents of children there had voiced to the parent doing the party concerns of the large hooked shaped steaks in the ground. The stakes very much as I could see still sticking out of the ground. As a huge safety and tripping factor many parents and i had. They seamed bothered with the fact anyone was even mentioning it. They were having issues with a blower and well into the party half the bounce house was still not up. Kids were getting hyped and asking adults when they could go on it. I felt as if they were having such issues someone should of left and brought back a replacement or someone else in the company bring it out. Well into an hour of the party they gave up taking half of it down saying they would be back. So for the remained of the party they only had half the structure to play on. Which for a 3 year old birthday made it hard for the younger ones to even do anything. Major disappointment for the birthday boy and others.The party was from 2-5pm and had been over by the time everyone from the company came back. We stayed to try and help whe. I could hear the party throwing parent talking with the bounce house people. They thought by offer her another day would make it fine. The party was today, the guest drove in for today. The party was at a friend of the family's house today. The next day was not going to do anything to help the fact that they majorly failed this event. The parent tried to offer who was there left if they wanted to come back the next day. Most parents could not. The birthday boy was crushed! Parents upset, and rightfully so. I watched as I wanted to see how this company handled itself. We rentalot of bounce houses for personal and church reasons, and have for years. Not always the same company. I have for sure noted this companys name, and will make sure to make it noted to not use them for our town, church , friends or personal use. Like I said I did not want to make this review hot headed, so i waited and thought hard on what i would say. I see this may not be the norm for them, but it still makes me very wirry that if things do go wrong, they can not handle the issues correctly, timely or tacitly. I could just see the parents face as she tried to talk to the owner on the phone. I am sorry the company is yours, and when this went down. He should of made himself visible there. I sidn check back the next day to see if he showed like he promised by 5pm. I found that he had not. I was able to in the end bring my daughter back there from around 6-8pm. they had not shown up for the unit so she was able to finally play on it. Until atleast they got their. But by 8am it was getting dark, and he had not shown either still. Please I do not recommend one to use them, and if you do. Please be prepared if anything goes wrong, for it to be handled poorly. Poor customer service poor attitudes... just poor all the way around.

My son turned six years old, so me and his dad threw him a birthday party 4th of July weekend and…read morerented a inflatable waterslide from DSM inflatables. We Paid $375 for the day. They were supposed to come at 12 but didn't arrive until 1:15. after it was set up it started to lose air and separate at the bottom I called the company to come and fix it, the guy Told me that if it happens again to call so he can come back I asked if he could just stay so it won't take time away from the party and he declined. Well it did happen again and at that time I'm upset and ask for some money back, the managers response was he didn't want to go back and fourth and he will come pick up the Equipment because it's separating and losing air is a health hazard to the children. he also stated he would not give me any of my money back. my son's birthday was ruined and our money was wasted, I am so disgusted with that company please do not do business with them.

Great selection of games and option to buy unlimited games based on time or can just buy…read morepoints/credits. Food on the other hand... incredibly overpriced and underwhelming. $16 for 8 pc. Boneless wings $10 for personal pan sized pizza $3 for fountain soda See attached photos for food review.

I'm updating my review from 7 years ago. I decided to give it another go after my 1 star…read moreexperience. It's much better than previously. We opted to do a birthday party. It was very reasonable in price compared to other things in the area. The kids loved the pizza and to be honest it was a nostalgic flash back for me. I tasted really good. We also did a salad bar trip and that was also better. The food was well kept and nice in appearance. The staff was so nice to us as well this time. Very helpful with the app and with questions. So much so we came back again the following month and the person working the prize counter let my youngest get something that was just slightly out of the prize winnings. They have gotten much better all around with service, food, and cleanliness. Also who doesn't love the old cheese man robot on the stage.

I was super impressed with the Learning Post. They have things for every interest and hobby--art,…read morescience, math, make believe, crafts, reading, you name it! My kids could spend hours in this place. This is the perfect spot to find a unique gift for someone, or to find an obscure toy that the big box stores don't carry. Staff is super friendly and helpful, and they remained patient even when the place was packed with busy people. I scored a Mad Libs book that I've never seen anywhere else. Love it!

I'm sad about how this store is now compared to even a few years ago. This store used to be focused…read moreon learning and items for teachers. There is maybe one row of actual teaching supplies and the rest of the store is now not even books, but cheap toys like slime and other miscellaneous items like that. They also remodeled sometime in the last 6 years or so because it's now dark and gray with just fluorescent lights. The shelves are pretty empty. Overall, I'm sad that this store has had to pivot so hard from what they were to stay open.