**edited per response received from wildnets:
Took my 11, 9 and 7 year old here for a holiday activity. The cost was $25 each so $100 as I also had to supervise even if just from the ground. On arrival, after filling out all the disclosure forms, we were told two of us had inappropriate footwear. We had booked online and I wasn’t aware of the footwear guidelines, so maybe making this more obvious at the booking stage would help.
The place did provide free footwear to use and socks. The next hurdle was the “safety briefing” where we were told no jewellery could be worn. I asked “none?” The guide said “none.” My children are all girls. And then there was myself. If I had to pay to supervise them, then I planned to go up briefly and enjoy them having fun. My girls are prone to ear infections so getting them to remove ear jewellery was too much. The guide then said the girls’ earrings were okay if sleepers or studs but my rings had to come off. I was wearing five rings including wedding and engagement ring. Was this twenty year old guide going to reimburse me if these were lost in the forest? I doubted it. So I said I wasn’t prepared to remove them. He said I could tape them. So I went back to the desk to have them taped up. The whole process was quite a kill joy.
The guide did not at any point tell me or my children that they could not flip or cartwheel on the trampolines. Most kids are drawn to trampolining or jumping places because they enjoy jumping and flipping. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon, with just my three daughters in one large netted trampolining area. I can understand there are liability issues and risk management factors. One of my daughters is very concerned about following rules. None of my daughters, nor me, were told of this rule as the guide spent so much time addressing the jewellery issue. Right as the girls were about to leave, I saw my 9 year old do a flip on a big wide net which had her two sisters on it. Then I noticed the same guide making a beeline for this daughter, who is the rule abider. I noticed she was trying to get away from him with her sisters and he was following her through various rooms. Where he said, “no flipping, I told you that, you’re not supposed to do flipping.” I saw her leave the nets down the slide highly embarrassed. She said to me “I didn’t know. If he’d told me, I wouldn’t have flipped.”
Strangely enough after chastising her for flipping, the guide walked down the exit net and kicked a black bucket ahead of himself out of the net which almost hit my 7 year old.
I provided feedback to the guide and another operator of the venue. I just said calmly by way of feedback that unfortunately we didn’t enjoy our visit and won’t be returning. I feel it is overpriced. There are better ways I could spend $100. I don’t think parents should be charged for supervising their kids from the ground. Rather than accepting the feedback, the first guide adamantly stated he did advise the children not to flip. I did not hear this, neither did any of my children. The second guide pointed to small signs which my nine year old had not read, which explained the rules. Not sure how many excited nine year olds could be expected to read such rules.
I said I am not asking for a refund, just giving you feedback. I am certain I am not the only parent who has been disappointed. One operator was polite and said thank you for coming anyway, and for the feedback. As we were leaving, the guide who had failed to give us the rules because he had been so concerned about jewellery said “she was a pain.”
Oh well. Pain or not, my children did not enjoy themselves, nor did I, and I walked away $100 lighter. We had considered having birthday parties at the venue but we won’t be returning for more of that experience.
**In your dismissive response, you provided a number to call to discuss further but unfortunately that number went to voicemail.
As discussed, my ex husband was also unhappy with pricing. As are other reviewers. We won’t...
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