I was so excited to bring my son here for the 1st time today, he loves places like this. We've done Pump it Up parties, we've done the My Gym membership classes, etc...it's nice for young kid to have an indoor spot to run & jump and play safely even when the weather's not great. I was happy to hear this place was right up the street AND they had an open slot for the earliest open-play time today (I figured earlier=cleaner!). On the phone yesterday, I asked about the cost & was told it was a couple dollars higher than usual as it was a vacation week (no problem), asked if it was VERY clean & safe & was told yes, and I asked if there were staff attendants to make sure everyone stayed safe, etc. and was told YES.
When we got there, the first thing I noticed walking in was the strong smell of a gas leak. I mentioned this & the young lady (owner?) told me her landlord said this is normal and that it dissipates as the day goes on. Umm...OK, maybe worth checking into, I think...but OK. She gave a safety talk to my son but talking too fast with a lot of info for a 5 year old (on top of that, my son has a language processing disorder so it pretty much went over his head, but he's a pretty mild kid and he already knew the main ideas were "take turns, no pushing, be safe".)
So we go in & take off our shoes, there were only 3 other kid when we got there so it seems pretty good. Equipments seems in good shape, etc...I did find a AA battery laying inside one of the structures that hadn't been played in yet so I gave that to the owner. She was the only staff there, but I figured the other staff would be along shortly. Meanwhile, my son's pretty happy on the slide & the other 3 kids are about his size and well-behaved, so far so good.
So, pretty soon the place is filled with kids, babies to big kids. As is usual with these places, parents get caught up talking to each other & pay no attention to their kids (which is why most of these types of places employ staff). Some of the small kids were being overrun by the rambunctious older ones, and one of the other mothers expressed concern that she couldn't see or get to her kid in the big green play thing closest to the entrance, while another mother cringed as she saw her small kid almost crushed by an 8 or 9 year old on the slide. Every now and then the owner would leave the front desk and ask the kids to take turns and/or be careful, but then she'd go back out front to the counter. I asked her about the other staff (the one's I'd been told would be there), and she told me she was it. 1 semi-present staff for 25 kids? Really? Even the 12 year olds who staff Pump it Up are at least a physical presence. Meanwhile, my son is trying to get up the slide and he was looking kind of stressed, it was too crowded and kind of unruly. I expressed my concerns to the owner & although she seemed kind of defensive that I thought she was not enough to safely monitor 25 running screaming jumping kids on 5 different structures across 1000 feet of space, she offered me a refund. She told me they had video cameras on the play space that she can see from the front desk...not the same as having people with the kids, and NOT what I had been told on the phone (and I'm pretty sure it was her on the phone). I told her I was going to think over her refund offer for a minute as I didn't want to disappoint my son. But, a minute later as he was being crowded again by bigger kids, he told me "there are too many 100 kids here". OK, time to go.
This place isn't awful...it's pretty clean (aside from the battery, and some staples I saw on the floor while putting our shoes on). It would be WAYYY better with some staff. Or with smaller groups. Or if the play times were organized by age to give even the small kids a chance to play. Pump It Up & other places aren't perfect, but they do seem to be more structured and safer. I know for sure My Gym staff have child development experience & it shows. This place could be great, but right now there's definitely lots of room for improvement. It felt like it was more about making money (big groups of kids with no staff to pay), than about kids. And that gas leak NEEDS attention: no matter what the landlord says, it's NOT normal.
Feb. 2011 edit: Considered giving this place another try, but am now pretty creeped-out that someone (owner?) seems to be tagging their reviews as "useful/funny/cool", like a dozen time each...except for the ones that weren't positive. Check it out: completely disproportionate, as well as really sketchy and really obvious. Just reinforces what I felt in December: this place isn't interested in doing good business, only driving up buiness volume. read more