For my daredevil daughter's 6th birthday she requested a visit to Urban Air, so we decided to check out the new Adventure Park in Southlake. We're currently going on hour six, so I thought I'd take a moment to type up a fun filled review.
When we arrived the entry area was a zoo with long lines, little signage, and no real sense of what was going on. I spied a self-service kiosk and hoped to expedite things by signing up on it. Bad move - after filling out the refreshingly brief personal information section I was presented with a dizzying array of options and no real explanation of what they meant. I made some choices hoping to get to playing sooner. Foiled again! The machine produced a ticket that I then had to stand in a long line to redeem. When we finally reached the counter, an employee promptly helped the family behind us. Another employee tried to assist the family after them until I suggested that perhaps we might like to be served as well. She did apologize and was very friendly and helpful, providing us socks and wristbands. Thirty-two minutes after arrived we were finally allowed inside. (If you have ever waited 32 minutes with an excited 6 year old . . . . )
Once in we made several discoveries. There are no benches, seats, or chairs anywhere near the entrance. You can walk to the food court in the back, but putting on socks at picnic tables is not the easiest way to do it. There is a surprising shortage of trash cans. We couldn't find anywhere to toss those sock wrappers. The required Urban Air socks are fine for the kiddos, but as an adult I found them to be quite uncomfortable. They are scratchy, don't stretch, and come in a very poor set of sizes. The indignity of these awful things resembles the feeling of wearing a hospital gown - you feel exposed, not quite covered up right, and a little bit dirty all the time. Oh, and they're bright yellow.
Next up: stashing our stuff. There are no lockers. The website says they exist, but a manager says they don't have any that are not broken. She was super sweet and friendly and offered to keep my bag behind the desk since there were no lockers. There is also shoe cubbies if all you are storing is footwear, but in our case the area was overflowing with shoes, socks, jackets, and the like.
Finally, on to the fun! There is sooooo much to do here. The girls headed straight for the ninja warrior course. There is also a variety of trampolines and other amusements. The best part - they are all included! That's right parents, no constant begging for more money! While the exact things you can do are determined by the level of pass you purchased, a very reasonable $25 gets you all day, all the attractions ($10 more for unlimited go karts and virtual reality). Little ones are only $9 and parents are half price so you can play too. After a while you get used to seeing kids flying overhead and that skyrider thing does look pretty fun. The 'pro room' is perfect for traceours, slam dunks are awesome, and there are at least 6 rock climbing options. The go karts are surprisingly quiet and the place is spotlessly clean.
So lets talk about the poopy part - that's right, the restrooms. There are located behind the food court, so not super convenient, but large, clean, and well-lit. While one stall was out of toilet paper, they seemed to be in otherwise working order. My favorite part was the family/gender neutral restroom available. This is particularly helpful if your son has taken to refusing to use the ladies' room, but you still insist that a 3 year-old cannot use a men's room unaccompanied. There is also a free, clean, cold water fountain available. (I despise places that remove the water fountain in order to sell more $5 bottles of water.)
When my six-year-old opted to work on her skills in the pro room, the staff member in there supported her and she happily joined in with the teen guys showing off their flips and wall climbs. The employee really made her feel welcome and helped her up onto the wall if she needed a boost. That level of customer service stands out to me because it would be easy to dismiss a little girl rather than treat her like a valued customer.
Later the same manager from earlier passed me and asked how we were doing. I asked her about wristbands that some participants had been wearing and she offered to get us some and help us register them. Then the kids could swipe them at different activities and it would e-mail me a video of what they had just done. Talk about cool! And free! One note here, the bracelet was too big and kept falling off my daughter's tiny wrist.
For lunch we visited the concession stand. While the usual concession favorites were on the menu (hot dog with stale bun, slimy nachos, slurpee), the prices were surprisingly reasonable and the quality was better than I expected. I spent $22 on 2 slices of pizza, 2 hot dogs, fries, sweet potato tots, and 3 drinks. They had my favorite Gatorade, plenty of dairy free options (wings, hot dogs, pretzels), and ranch for dipping at no extra charge. While the line was a bit slow moving, the pager system made getting the food easy and there was plenty of space to sit and eat. The dining area was clean and comfortable. Drink refills are free too.
Once thing that we noticed is that some of the policy enforcement seemed a bit sporadic, but that is to be expected for a new place. Often the ninja warrior course had so many little kids playing in the balls that the 'ninjas' couldn't really race. At one point my daughter was incorrectly told that she was too short for a certain attraction, but after I spoke with the operator he apologized and let her ride.
Later in the day another manager noted me sitting at my laptop and stopped to ask how our day was going. I mentioned a concern and he immediately took ownership of the situation and worked to make it right. He went above and beyond to help and again made a huge positive impression.
Even after a full six hours here, I think I'm gonna pack up the laptop and go get back on the trampoline because, yes, it's that much fun! This place made a great first impression on me and we can't wait to hear about the annual membership that a manager said should be coming soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment