We have visited Kid Mania previously for play, but this review is in regards to a birthday party planned on the 22nd of February, 2020.
I decided to book Kid Mania for my daughter's 5th birthday party after asking her where she wanted it to be held. Booking was rather simple on their website, but key information was difficult to find until I clicked "submit". Once the payment was processed, I got a pop-up stating several things, including the fact that they do not allow outside food for parties...okay I guess. I immediately called the location to confirm that they received my reservation and spoke to a very unprofessional staff member who could barely answer my questions about silverware, etc. I started feeling nervous about the entire thing and almost canceled my reservation entirely.
Against my better judgment, I kept the reservation. About a week before the event, I spoke to a very nice woman who reassured me that everything would be taken care of and gave me some helpful tips. On the day of the event, we walk in and the place is chaotic, to say the least. I think it was at capacity, which was odd because all of the party rooms were booked...so this seemed greedy, to say the least.
I knew to walk in through the group entrance, but my guests had no idea where to go because there was no one is in the group line. I was "stamped" and told a lot of "um, yeah"'s while attempting to get my cupcakes, gifts, and decor to the room. Three women were standing near the carts for the parties, and only one of them was helpful, I believe her name was Jennifer. Jennifer led me back to a room and allowed me to set up my decorations. At this point it was chaotic, at least four other parties going on, and the rooms are small, maybe 10 x 10 and separated by a felt wall.
We had an assistant, Courtney, help with all the things and she was pretty good but I wish a bit more initiative was taken. When paying more than $100 for this event, I expected her to be a bit more upbeat, and to take charge of things or at the very least to ask. At our event time, I waited for an announcement for everyone to join the party but that never came, and I had to ask. The party went OK, but then in all of the commotion a 15-month-old wandered off and in the chaos, we couldn't find him for at least 5 minutes.
Some things that are clear to me:
-The stamping of the hands is security theater. From what I saw, everyone in the building gets the same stamp, so technically if another parent wanted to take your kid, they wouldn't be stopped.
-Parties do not get preference and there is nearly no attention to detail.
-This place is unorganized and quickly getting trashed even though they just opened.
-The child limit is ridiculous. 6 kids for a party then you pay extra? Not worth it.
We will not be throwing parties here in the future, nor will we play here. read more