Acrobranch Centurion — Attraction in Ekurhuleni Ward 89

I took my kids for Acrobranch at Big Red Barn yesterday, and it was a terrible experience.

A year ago, we went there on a weekend and it was quite busy. We arrived, paid, and started the course. The staff was very friendly (we did the yellow course for smaller children), they made it fun for the kids, repeating the zip line a few times if no one was queuing behind, and cheering them on with big smiles.

Yesterday, we went on a weekday in the school holiday, and it was not very busy when we arrived. We were told to wait 2.5 hours for the first available opening because we did not pre-book, and there is a limited amount of persons allowed on the course at a given time.

At that moment, there were 3 children on the yellow course, and during the next 2.5 hours there were always between 1-3 children. The more difficult courses were not busy either, with no more than 5 persons in total. Yet, when we started 2.5 hours later, there were 9 children on the yellow course, and more than 20 people lining up for the more difficult courses! The queue for the more difficult courses was so long that the older child had to wait 45 minutes from being harnessed before he could even start the training part of the course!

About half an hour before our allocated time, when there was again just one child on the yellow course, I asked if we could start earlier as it is not busy. I was told that it is not possible, because they have limited staff for the day. In addition, the kids first had to undergo the mandatory training with the group at the start of the time slot. There were other staff standing around doing nothing, but were unwilling to help because they were waiting to see where they would be allocated for the next time slot. Therefore, we cannot start the yellow course, with one child and one staff member on the yellow course. However, later there were 9 children on the yellow course with one staff member (and at times zero or two staff members). During this busy time, people arrived at random times and started immediately.

The staff were somewhat polite towards the children, but not friendly. When my children waited to be helped at the zip line and I clipped them in, I was reprimanded because I am not allowed. When I let them go for a second slide (with no one waiting behind us), we were told it is not allowed. No smiles.

This place will never see us again. The attitude of “we will go out of our way to NOT help you” was worse than when I had to renew my driver’s license. What bothered me most was the blatant lies to...

This was our first time visiting Acrobranch Centurion, and sadly, it didn’t go well. We arrived excited but had no idea how the process worked. Instead of being welcomed or guided, we were just told by someone named Betty to stand and wait at the entrance. Every time we tried to ask what was going on or what to expect, she seemed more and more irritated with us.

Eventually, I had to speak up about her attitude, but she just ignored us and went back to her laptop. She said she was the manager and that there was no one else we could talk to raise her attitude with us. I asked for someone else and was given the name “Sticks,” but the number we got just went to voicemail.

What made it worse was that it felt personal. We noticed that other families, especially of different races, were treated with more kindness and patience.

The experience for the kids wasn’t great either. One of the assistants at the yellow course shouted at the children while explaining the rules. It scared my 5-year-old and another child. Instead of making it fun and exciting, it felt harsh and unwelcoming.

We were really looking forward to this as it was my sons birthday and his first time trying this, but it ended up being stressful and disappointing. I wouldn’t recommend this place based on how we...

Slacking on Safety.

Earlier today we signed up our 7 year old daughter for the big zip line. Before reaching the final platform my daughter got stuck on the way up, as she was unable to release the safety clamp devices (After a later discussion with her, I found out that she was never briefed on how to release the clamp, only on how to clip it on). We had to call someone from the bottom to go up and assist her.

When she finally reached the top "start" platform, there was at least 5 children there, without any supervision from an Acrobranch employee. Children were clipping themselves onto the zip line without any safety checking and going down the zip line.

We stopped our daughter from clipping onto the zip line, while I reported the incident to staff. The staff member was unaware that no one was on the platform supervising. Granted he went up to take over.

About an hour later just before closing time, I noticed again, that kids were at the start platform, clipping themselves onto the zip line without a safety check from staff, before going down it.

Great Venue, been here before, but the lack of safety it a non-negotiable, an accident...