rev:text
| - I went to a birthday party here with my 5 year old. Overall, there were a few things that were good, but it was mostly bad. First, the party is private, which was nice. You basically get herded from one bounce room to the next, with parties before and after you. There were several employees that were assisting and taking photos during the party. However, several kids were crying and scared and the employees made no attempt to assist. I would say that the venue is more appropriate for older children. The 5 year olds at this party did not seem to be tall enough or physically capable of using most of the equipment. At one point during the party, we were being moved from one room to the next and one child was still in the bouncer that was furthest away from the door. The rest of the children had realized that it was time to go to the next room but one girl was not aware. Rather than having staff check each bouncer to ensure that all kids were out of the room before leaving, this girl was left behind and was hysterical after the room cleared out and the lights were turned off. Imagine being a 5 year old in a new place and suddenly realizing you are all by yourself and then having the lights turned off so you cannot find the way out. As you can imagine, she was traumatized.
The amount of time for bouncing was one hour, and the rest of the time we were stuck in a tiny crowded room to open presents, eat, and have cupcakes. There was way too much time devoted to opening presents, and way too much involvement of the staff during the presents. Probably the most concerning, the staff took turns teasing the birthday girl by telling her that they were going to keep her presents and gift cards and also that they were going to smash the cake in her face. While it may have seemed like some light hearted teasing, it basically equated to bullying. The staff routinely picked on children at the party, such as implying that one of the boys liked to pick his nose. Of course, the kids all laughed, because teenagers who pick on 5 year olds is apparently hilarious (except for the kid that is being pick on!) It was very unsettling to see that it appeared to be a very common practice.
I would never take my child to another party here. Horrible experience - but what do you expect from a place that is run by teenagers?
|