Go Ape Battersea — Attraction in London

I need to make it clear before I write this review, that we have been to quite a few Go Ape sites and our experience was something that tarnished our overral experience as we were dtill talking about it on our way home.

We had travelled from out of town to this site, so parking wasn't the easiest to find and it wasnt to clear where it was in the park.

When we arrived, the lady at the desk was chatting to her colleague and wasn't too bothered about us waiting, especially as we were late due to the parking issue and continued chatting before acknowledging our group. When we were finally spokrn to, and after confirming our names, the first thing we were asked was to empty our pockets as we were not allowed to carry anything, and this was with no explanation as to 'WHY' once we got the explanatuon being that the childrens and adult courses overlap each other, and the playground area too. My issue is that we are seasoned Go Apers and have learnt since our first ever experience to wear clothing with zipped pockets, minimise what we carry, especially valuables from wallets, watches, keys and phones!!!! So items are safe and secure so there is no chance of anything falling out. The next issue was the security of valuables that we had to give up and were bagged and tagged and we were told they were kept secure and given back on finishing the experience.

One of the key points in doing an activity like this is to make memories and on every Go Ape we have always taken pictures, but be warned you need to purchase a phone holder to go around your neck which also has a line to tether to your harness incase it got caught, could possible choke you, but it would save the phone from dropping to the floor... My point was the guy harnessing never attached the phone cord to the harness.

My second issue with the 'No items' policy, especially if you have zip clothing is exercise some common sense on valuables if they are going to be secure with the owner rather than with your own security. This I will explain at the end.

The harnessing, explanation of the course and training was expertly done as always and the course was good for the area it sat in, and flowed extremely well, although you can be held up by children on the red course. The three courses get higher as you go Red to Blue to Black.

When you finish you get to take the harness off at the tent which has no sanitiser available to do your hands at the end of the expereince.

My final point that I eluded earlier was security of items, now rembember its put in a secure place, so imagine my surprise walking past the cabin office and a door wide open, and as you see from the picture, everyones valuables bags on show!!! So I totally uphold our point on security and our concerns were certainly founded on our points.

And to be still talking about it on the way home, instead of it being a great experience for all, certainly tarnished what was supposed to be a memorable day, but memorsble for the...

We arrived 15 minutes before our session as recommended, but were stuck in the queue behind someone checking in for a large children’s birthday party. He presumably hadn’t completed the check-in form online, and held up the queue by 25-30 minutes. We ended up not getting checked in until 2.25 despite arriving at 1.45, and missed our session starting time. There was only one check in desk open, and even though the staff we spoke to were great and very understanding, I think they were seriously understaffed, especially with a couple of parties going on at the same time.

We were then left standing for another 20 minutes waiting for someone to come and get our harnesses ready. We were told that someone would come and get us ready “whenever they were free”, even though the staff acknowledged it wasn’t our fault that we had missed our original slot in the first place. We ended up standing around and trying to make eye contact with staff until we ended up in a safety briefing with a group of 5 year olds. We finally got up on the course around 3.30.

On the first loop, a child got stuck a few obstacles ahead of us, we were left standing for another 20 minutes waiting for a staff member to come and help, and eventually we and another group were told to go back to the ground. When we got to the ground, the staff member there ignored us and the other group, and we had to ask to be allowed on another loop rather than left standing until the child could be helped down. We were also held up on that loop by a group with a child who looked around 3 and was having to be unclipped and carried by an adult as he wasn’t anywhere near tall enough to step between the obstacles.

When we finally got to the second loop, it took us over 45 minutes to get past the first three obstacles as a group in front of us was taking literally 20 minutes to cross one bridge. I appreciate there are different skill levels and some people are more afraid of heights than others, but it absolutely ruined our experience and we were only able to move at a reasonable pace once the course opened up into easier and more difficult paths.

In the end, it took us the full three three hours just to do loop 2, and we had to leave before re-doing loop 1 or trying loop 3 as we hadn’t been able to eat or have a proper drink since checking in. I think the main issue is that the place is understaffed and that very small children are put on the same courses as older children and adults. The staff themselves were very nice, but it was a waste of money and a really...

Firstly, despite my rating I must say that Go Ape Battersea is brilliant and I'd definitely go again with adults- however, with my child I won't be revisiting for now. Also, the staff were fantastic and I regret not taking a couple of their names so I could give them a shout out... I booked a group of slightly nervous but confident and excited x7 six and seven year old girls and boys onto treetop adventure, the course described as "Go easy" and "designed for the younger family in mind", I was the accompanying adult; only x6 children completed 1/3 of the course and only x1 child completed 2/3 of the course. Although safely harnessed, there are a lot of crossings with only a wire to hold on to - opposed to the net crossings - that are extremely wobbly and, of course, treetop high, which was simply too overwhelming for them. Go easy and for the younger family I think is inaccurate and a bit misleading as not only did x3 from my group lose their nerve (at different points) and require escort off the course by staff, also another boy of the same age and another approx 11 year old boy also required rescuing. In hindsight i realise the minimum height requirement relates to height to enable maneuvering the course but this does not equate to the ability to be self-disciplined for the combined mental and physical tenacity required, which in my opinion most 6/7 year olds are yet to develop. It became very stressful trying to calm, wipe tears, encourage and cheer on increasingly petrified 6 and 7 year olds. I felt sorry for those who were unable to bypass us and were stuck waiting for a child to be transitioned off which caused quite the delay. So I wirite this review as a caution to those thinking of booking for a younger age group, however, Go Ape is value for money if you're able to get the most out of...