Flip Out Canary Wharf — Attraction in London

How this place has managed to gather up 3.6 stars is beyond me! Before you read my lengthy review, if you like me, are mum of a child with a disability you might want to avoid this place because your life may actually depend on it and by the behavior of management they don't give a crap. We arrived in passing after a trip, since we live a few hours away. Thought our son would have a good time, and he did, initially. Although the place is freezing in the winter, and is visibly dirty and unkept (I dont have pictures but other people have already photographed it. Some of their soft play area reeks of urine smells, and there was no fresh accident on sight. So hygiene is already a big concern. Despite this, we went along and decided to make the most of it. UNFORTUNATELY for us, none of that was the worst part of our night. A FIRE ALARM WENT OFF BECAUSE THE KITCHEN WENT ON FIRE! Everyone was evacuated, and we were kept outside, with no explanation nor updates, some children without coats and shoes in the rain. My son SCREAMED BLOODY MURDER and even though we tried explaining him that everything was okay, he was terrified, and we spent over an hour trying to calm him down. For context, we paid for 3 HOURS and got to use about 1 before the whole drama ensued..When we came back we asked to speak to receptionist and asked (reasonably so if they could refund us ONE of the tickets, my husband's) we even told them they could keep the money for my child even though he wasn't going to use it fully because he just would not go in again. To our shock, after 40 minutes of waiting like idiots (we were the only people there btw, the manager just couldn't be bothered to talk to us), their response is that they "DON'T DO REFUNDS" but they can give us a voucher. I explained we do not live nearby, in fact we live HOURS AWAY. and the chances of going back would be zero to none! We asked them to be reasonable and please consider this was a very specific circumstance. They didn't care. Basically, they said their blanket policy says they don't do refunds, even if there was a fire, even if a disabled child was in severe distress due to the situation and how poorly it was handled. The lack of care and compassion from Xander, their "manager" was appalling at best and very much ableist at worst when he said quote " It isn't our responsibility deal or prevent the distress the situation may have caused him because it was out of my control" We ended up just leaving and I told him I hope the one ticket is just that worth it. If you don't care that to this company, you are literally a walking wallet and not a human being. Then this is the place for you. Otherwise, especially families with special needs, please save...

Overall, it was a very fun place. I don't think two hours is enough. We went for three hours and although it was enough for me, the children could have stayed longer.

There are lockers (large and small), which are £2-4 to use for a couple of hours. The place is quite dark and arcade like. Some activities are suitable/ enjoyable for adults.

There was hardly any use of the computer games. The donut slide was pointless as the donut didn't move so easily. This was tucked away, at the back.

One of the children wanted to stay in the football cage, which at one point had older children and looked a bit rough, but this did change.

One of the children (and i) really enjoyed the laser shooting game and went in several times! This is scored and was really fun, for adults and children. You get a decent amount of time in here.

The bumper cars are super fun. The controls are different and take a minute to adjust to, but once you've gotten used to it, it's great. You can spin round at speed they are not slow so it's fun, however, you dont get long enough, in my opinion. The queue was never too long and moved quickly enough, because the ride doesn't last long.

The tricycles are also very fun. The seats are very low and phones are easily lost on track, so be careful if you don't have a secure pocket/ bag.

This was definitely better than the usual flip out but very different. Some parts require socks and some trainers and so it's hard to know what to wear, when. I would say wear trainers, except for the soft play area. Although tickets were sold out, the place wasn't too busy, which was a good thing. We went on a Saturday afternoon, before half.

Flip out is strangely located. It's tucked away, which is great, but it doesn't fit the look and feel as all other stores on the floor.

Signage is poor, especially from the car park. Paying for parking is a pain. I only saw one machine towards the exit and we were directing to it after spending several minutes looking so you may as well drive to the machine, your way out. Very poorly thought out. Parking was £14.50 for about 5 hours.

The satnav doesn't take you to the correct place, and the signage at the roundabout is not helpful, so I would suggest giving yourself more time. The good thing is there was no queue...

We took my son for his 10th birthday party, and he had a whale of a time, but this is definitely a venue to avoid if you want a stress free birthday party.

Will start with the positives - there is a wide range of activities for all ages of kids, and the music is a decent level. Probably good for a one off visit rather than a kids party.

When we arrived we were taken a a reserved seating area and all the adult put their bags and coats down. We were told that the kids get 2 hours to play and then will be taken into a party room for food. We were told that the party room would be open and available to us once the party already in there had left, but that food won't be served until 2pm.

We were disappointed to find that the party room my 10 year old son was the ice room - a room that clearly had Elsa/Frozen inspiration and so was more targeted towards young girls.

We asked if the food could come a little early, and was told no. The kitchen needed time to prepare the meals and so we had to wait until 2pm.

When the food arrived served (1 hotdog and a packet of ready salted crisps) only half came up. Due to a communication mix up, the rest of the kids had to wait for more to be "cooked".

Pretty poor service from the kitchen, and a shoddy "meal".

We obviously wanted the kids to have the maximum time in the playground, so brought them in at 2pm (as advised by the staff) for the food, no point in bringing them in before they could eat.

What we were not told at the beginning of our visit, was that if we came in at 2, the kids only had 30 minutes to sit, be served, eat and do the cake/presents. So a very rushed 30 minutes ensued!

The Bluetooth speaker in the room wasn't discoverable on our phones (we tried 3 separate handsets, on both apple and android), so had to use the staff members mobile, which only worked for 2 songs.

Nobody at the park seemed to know what was happening. The staff were friendly enough, and apologetic, but this didn't undo the unnecessary stress and confusion that we went through on the day.

Certainly not worth it for a birthday party, so would definitely not return for that, however, my son enjoyed himself so may be worth going in just...