If I could give a negative star, I would.
I was at Monkey Joe's on Saturday for a birthday party, first time to set foot in the place. My first impression was that it was significantly better than some of the negative comments I had heard, and I began to wonder if they were just wrong. I was impressed by the size, quality, variety, and number of inflatables. I was also impressed with the number of attendants stationed at the various inflatables. However, the positive first impressions were swiftly overpowered by the negatives.
I noticed that there were at least 2 or 3 kids going in and out of the inflatables who were definitely NOT 12 or younger. At the very least they were 14 or 15-years old. Initially I thought they were helping younger children/siblings, and then I realized that some of them appeared to be doing that one minute and the next they were chasing each other in and out of the inflatables without any regard to the little kids around them. Eventually, I observed a group of 4-5 of them playing with reckless abandon, and no one was stopping them. I later saw them in a party room and came to the conclusion that no one stopped them because they were attendees for another birthday party (not a valid excuse).
The icing on the cake was when a little girl could be heard crying, loudly, from inside one of the inflatables. The attendant who was stationed at that inflatable just stood there doing NOTHING (not even looking to see what was going on) until another attendant, who was stationed 2 inflatables away, blew his whistle to get her attention. When all the adults standing around finally saw the little girl emerge from the inflatable we thought she had hurt her wrist as she was cradling it against her body. Still the attendant did nothing. The girl kept crying loudly, and eventually a little boy who knew her led her away. It turned out that she had peed on herself and the inflatable. Urine was pooling up at the entrance to the inflatable and running down onto the mat that in front of the entrance. What did the attendant do? She disappeared. I thought she went to get a "closed" sign or something like it, but instead she returned with a few paper towels and a spray bottle. There were PUDDLES of urine pooling up in the crevices of the inflatable and running down onto the floor. I can't even imagine what it was like inside the inflatable. The attendant wiped various parts of the inflatable, but the puddles were still visible and somehow getting larger. She disappeared again and eventually returned with some more paper towels. Besides the fact that her cleaning skills were dismal (I don't know how you can clean by tossing a few paper towels on the ground and swiping them across the mess by using your foot), but she never once closed the inflatable. Kids kept going in and out of it. Accidents happen, but that was unacceptable and unsanitary to say the least.
It's fair to assume that we will not be going back. Ever. I thought maybe this could be a great option for birthday parties. Um...No. read more