BOUNCE Fourways Mall — Attraction in Gauteng

We visited Bounce Fourways yesterday and it was our first time at this branch. I paid for a two hour session for my toddler. The child-minder/host that played with her during the first hour was absolutely lovely and I wish I noted her name to give her a shout out. The staff manning the food counter was also lovely.

That is unfortunately where the positives end. After the first hour of play ended, the supervisor manning the area, a lady with a walkie talkie (which clearly gave her an inflated sense of authority), started ushering all of the kids out. She asked to see my daughter's arm and told her it's time to stop playing as her playtime is up. My mother was with my daughter at the time and informed her that we paid for a two hour session. I was sitting outside of the play area, eating. The lady approached me and explained the situation and I showed her my slip to prove that I paid for two hours. She still maintained that my daughter did not have the correct armband on and that I need to go back to reception and request an additional armband. I told her that I saw them placing two armbands on my daughter and that I was going to finish my meal first before I will clear it up. She said in a huff that she will then have to go downstairs to clear it up as my daughter will "get in trouble at the other checkpoints if she's not wearing the correct armband". (I don't know what she was referring to, we played all over and none of the other staff asked to see her arm). I asked her if she had checked both arms. She replied that the armbands are "supposed to all go on the same arm". She went back and stopped my daughter's play again to ask to see her other arm. She then saw that she had the correct band on the other arm. At this stage, my daughter was visibly upset.

As if the militant treatment we had received from her so far was not enough, she informed my mother that she had the wrong grip socks on. My mom was wearing perfectly good, appropriate grip socks (might I add, with more and sturdier silicone grip points on the bottom than the Bounce Inc socks). But of course, rules outweigh logic at this establishment and my mom was told that she needed to leave the play area and leave my distressed toddler behind because she was wearing the wrong grip socks. Anything to make some more money right, even if means treating a 72-year old pensioner with so much disrespect. My mom told her off so she sent another male staff member to escort my mother out of the play area. My mother then had to leave my daughter behind so I put on my (thank goodness blue and pink Bounce grip stocks) in order to join my daughter.

We have visited the Mall of Africa branch before. We were treated with dignity there and my mom was even allowed to stand close-by to my daughter and keep an eye on her in rubber summer sandals. I understand grip socks are necessary to prevent injury and to keep equipment clean and in good condition, but if you see a grandmother is standing around with no intention to climb onto the equipment with her grandchild and only keeping an eye, surely a little bit of discretion and at the least tact should be applied in handling the situation.

If you want your child to have some carefree fun, I would highly suggest you find another play area. Unless you are okay with a militant approach towards your child and elderly parents. And off course, this militant approach ends with the clients. There was something that looked like vomit lying on the floor outside the toddler play area for nearly an hour before it was cleaned up. There was a broom with an attached bucket full of popcorn and dust INSIDE the toddler play area, unattended. The staff was of course too focused on getting my mom to leave the area with her black grip socks than to care about this health hazard...

Our children are regular Bouncers and have always enjoyed it for parties and ad hoc visits. That is until yesterday when we hosted 13 children for a birthday party (3 x11 year olds and 10 x 6 year olds). Cost R350 per ticket so not cheap. For that we were assigned a party co-ordinater whom I assumed, from past experiences, would guide the group around the facililty to all the activities. Instead she let these young children run wild all over Bounce with parents scarttering all over the place to locate the children in our party in a complete panic. No one at Bounce would have cared or even known if a young child had run out of Bounce into the Mall - TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!! The facility sells itself on the fact that they will mind the kids and guide them through the various activities.Clearly this has changed and/or Bounce Waterfall has it right and Fourways has it VERY wrong. It was also so difficult to add two extra kids to our booking and even after signing our booking sheet and paying IN FULL and talking them through the extras, they only put out 11 party packs not 13! The box with our gifts and shoes in we had to ask for it 5 times before they brought it and parents were wanting to leave and needed the kids shoes. The parents that were there ran around Bounce like headless chickens trying to gather and find the children in our party and keep them together. It was embarrassing for me as the host. I am so disappointed having spent all that money for a "not so great" experience for us as parents and for the children as all the children were not together but rather each one on their own doing their own thing, Not the great experience we are accustomed to when going to Bounce for a party. I feel like we did the staff's jobs for them. Staff standards have dropped in our opinion and I would not host a party there again especiallly a party of...

Honestly one of my favourite places to visit if i want to have a workout and have tons of fun in the process.

I bought a combo ticket and did both the clip n climb rock climbing as well as the trampoline arenas. Remember to book online to secure a spot. The jump socks cost R30.

It was 2 hours of endless fun (5-7pm) This place also has the biggest indoor rock climbing area called Climb N Climb with the widest variety of walls to scale. You will love it! Definitely requires some bravery.

There's also an obstacle course called X-Park that will challenge you to walk across a slack line, swing on monkey bars, jump onto a giant bag as a leap of faith and ride a zipline. I love it so much!

There's also a basketball area for those who want to try and slam dunk. There's also a high performance area with a super trampoline that allows you to jump very high. It's tons of fun for both kids and adults. Highly recommend visiting Bounce.

There's lockers you can rent for R5 to store your belongings. There's also a tuckshop if you need refreshments. They are following all covid protocols. Masks must be worn and sanitizing stations are located by every area you enter.

Go and...