but oh my, that was tested today. My mother-in-law and I decided to check out the new indoor, inflatable playground called Monkey Joe's. It's been raining and icky all week, making outdoor play virtually impossible. This seemed like a perfect solution. Apparently everyone else within a 30 mile radius thought the same thing!
Because I posted about the insanity on Facebook, some people asked me how it was. I am actually going to try my best to do a serious review and leave the sauciness aside, so this might be boring.
Admission-$8.99 per kid Monday-Friday
$9.99 on Saturday and Sunday
Children 2 and under are $4.99
Adults are free
When you come in, you fill out a form with your name/address/phone number and the names of all the adults and children in your party. Everyone is then given bracelets with a corresponding number on them (to prevent leaving your kid, leaving with the wrong kid, or kids leaving on their own).
You then come in and throw your stuff into a cubby. This made me a little nervous with all the kids and adults running around, so I kept my purse and Haley's bag on me (my mother-in-law carried the stuff when I had to go on the bouncy things with Haley, so if you're going solo only bring in your necessities and what you can put in your pockets, it's impossible to climb with a purse).
Of course, it's socks only. So make sure you have them. One of the things that this place boasted on its website was its state of the art cleaning system. I don't care how clean it is, my kid once got ringworm at the Y and I'm not taking any risks. There are socks for purchase in case you forget.
Clothing-dress light and comfortable. Haley was like a little sweat hog and I had to change her into a t-shirt. Keep the kids in stuff that will be conducive to sliding but not turn them into human torpedoes. So skip the jeans and windpants and go with cotton type bottoms.
There's also no outside food or drinks allowed. They do have a concession stand that sells soda, juice, water, pretzels, pizza, and hot dogs. Think movie theater, same stuff you could get outside for twice the price.
Rides/arcade games. There's a little area off to one side where you can ride a small merry-go-round and play some video games. These are extra and there's a change machine. The merry-go-round was 75 cents! Of course Haley wanted to go on, so while my mother-in-law got her seated I got some change. In the meantime a woman with a baby strapped to her put her son on and started to get her purse out. Then she saw me with my handful of quarters heading back towards Haley and she promptly put it away. Now, I wouldn't have minded paying for another child to ride (and I did) but I didn't get an offer to pitch in a quarter or even a thank you when it was done. Something about the whole thing really frosted my cake and that woman was lucky she was wearing her human shield or I would have slapped her on general principle.
Parties. They also have the facilities to host several parties at a time. These are held back in separate rooms. It really didn't effect us except when there was a massive exodus of the party guests from the bouncy equipment at the start of the festivities. The prices are listed on the website for birthday parties of varying sizes and times (again weekends are more expensive).
Parents. Again, you're going to run the gamut here. The website encouraged parental involvement and supervision, but there is an area with a tv and wi-fi and there were a lot of people sitting down there. So, watch out for a lot of unsupervised and out of control kiddos plowing around. Although the supervising parents weren't much better. In one of the areas with a basketball hoop a little girl with a green ball spied the red one Haley was playing with. 'Would you like to trade?' I asked, while looking around for her mom. Mom was inside the bouncy thing, but talking on the phone. 'Yes.' the adorable little pigtailed blonde replied. So I hand off the red ball and Haley reaches out for the green one. The little girl squeals, 'They're mine, all mine!' and runs off, while mom watches and TURNS AROUND to continue her phone conversation. I resist the urge to grab both balls from the little twit and use them to pelt her mother.
Activity. Oh lordy. Haley is a stage five clinger. Shy and quiet and slightly afraid of other kids. So, now I'm forced to go on all of the equipment with her. Let me tell you people, some of these climbing stairs were steep and I felt like Sisyphus, except instead of a boulder, I had a 40lb three year old. And the slides were crazy. I totally envisioned crushing innocent children on my way down. For the record, adults are allowed on the equipment to assist children under four, but numerous signs reminded me that adults 'may not bounce.' Again, a fleeting fantasy about jumping in the middle and watching toddlers fly everywhere. There are several pieces of all age equipment and two smaller ones that are dedicated to those three and under.
Organization. It appears they are still working out the kinks at this new establishment. It was sort of understaffed. There were a ton of people and I heard the employees say they weren't used to this sort of crowd and blamed it on the weather. I think if there's heat in the summer, it's going to bring the same sort of crowds, so hopefully they will work it out! The line was a bit long getting in and the line for concession also seemed to be slow moving. They weren't able to have as many 'refereeing' as they mentioned on the website. While I was in the top of the bounce house helping Haley I noticed a kid come up with a bag of chips which he proceeded to eat and get all over the place and another one who didn't have socks, which just skeeved me out a bit. It also seemed like they had sort of failed in the security department as well. The corresponding bracelets were supposed to checked whenever one left to go out, but again understaffing prevented this and I was able to exit to the car to get Haley her t-shirt and come back in undetected. And on the way out when we were supposed to have our bracelets checked and then cut off, Haley almost trotted out with another family (of course I was watching her), but no one stopped the giant three year old trying to make an escape. I think once they get into a routine and get the right amount of staff on board, they'll be fine.
Overall, it was a pretty good place to take Haley to blow off some steam. Because we only stayed about an hour, and it was a little pricey, we'll probably keep it as something to use for a special treat or bribery.
Also, if they get a liquor license, I'll totally come back again.
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