Play Cenla — Attraction in Alexandria

I recently visited this establishment with my 9-year-old nephews who were visiting from out of state. They were really excited when I told them we were going somewhere fun with cool activities. Unfortunately, our experience didn’t meet expectations. When we first walked in, the greeting was far from warm. I’m used to being welcomed with something like, “Hi, welcome! "My name is and how can we help you today?," but we received no such welcome. It felt impersonal, which was a little off-putting from the start. After we selected and paid for the 90-minute package, I signed the waivers and the staff member placed the wristbands on the kids. However, he didn’t explain anything about the activities or how things worked. I had to ask him directly to share information about what they should expect during the experience especially with it being our first time here.  He placed the bands on their arms and began to explain,  after being prompted to do so. The high obstacle course was one of the main attractions that excited my nephews. One was eager to try it, but the other was hesitant. When my brave nephew got up there, I could see he quickly became uncomfortable. I asked if someone could accompany him, and the owner said they were short-staffed but could send someone, if i could wait because he had the others that were there assigned to doing something. While I understand staffing issues happen, it’s not the customer’s responsibility to deal with that. What matters to me is that my nephews felt safe and supported. Initially, I even asked about a refund (not realizing the no-refund policy posted), and rather than offering any assistance or alternatives, the owner simply said no, until I suggested someone accompany my nephew myself. Eventually, a young woman was sent to go with him, but unfortunately, there was no friendly banter going on with us to say hey today we're going to be doing this and you're going to experience ... just silence and coldness. I filmed the interaction, and you can clearly see my nephew being scared and wanting to come down. Later, he told me the staff member made him feel even more uncomfortable.  He said she didn’t make him feel secure and she didn't listen and that’s why he didn’t continue. I read in one of the reviews that the owner strapped up and went up with one of the patrons that had come in who was actually the same age as my nephews, but that service didn't happen for us. When I shared that my nephew felt uncomfortable during the activity, the owner dismissed it as 'just a personal opinion.' That’s not okay. My nephew’s feelings do matter, especially as a paying guest and a child in what’s meant to be a fun, encouraging environment. What was more disheartening was the comparison to his own five-year-old daughter 'zipping through the course,' as my nephew was being unstrapped after not feeling safe enough to complete it. Instead of empathy, we were met with minimization. That moment stuck with us. To be fair, the owner did offer a $20 play card to each of them, after our complaint, and my nephews did enjoy the arcade portion of the visit. But honestly, the damage was already done. The overall vibe from the staff was that we were bothering them. At one point, the same “busy” staff was seen sitting and scrolling on their phones. In summary, I hope this review serves as constructive feedback. Being short-staffed should never translate into poor service or cold interactions. Kindness, attentiveness, and a welcoming atmosphere go a long way, especially in places designed for kids. My nephews picked up on the lack of care and that’s something no child should feel when they’re simply trying...

Humongous shoutout to Play Cenla Jamar & Fallan!!

Brax and I kept seeing ads for this place on TikTok and I honestly just hadn’t ever looked up the address.

Brax wanted to try sushi 🍣 for the first time ever, so I took him to The Mandarin in Alexandria. It was a rainy, nasty day.. so when we finished our food we were just gonna go home and out of the corner of my eye next to one of my favorite places in the world.. Tractor Supply.. 🫣 I saw #PlayCENLA !

I asked Brax if he just wanted to go check it out inside and we could come play another day..

First great impression was how clean the place was! Second great impression were the prices..

They had a summer pass that was $50 for the entire summer, come and go and play as much as you want!! Vs having to pay hourly like jumping world and other places we’ve been to that were similar. So of corse we got that and Brax was like can we stay and play? I said sure……. Even though we were totally just going in to check it out. Then they had another great deal that if you bought X amount of credits for the games you got $30 worth for FREE in addition.. lo and behold my kid had almost 3,000 credits to start.. that will last a while!!!

But all of that aside… it wasn’t busy, and it was a weekday, but we ran into an old football friend, Charles and Braxtons 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Timmi!

Once Braxton saw his friend do some of the rock climbing and zip lining, he was interested in trying it. However, he was very nervous. I could see his legs shaking, his mouth quivering, and the look in his eyes once he got to the top of the obstacle course.

Well let me say this..

….Jamar, is about a 6 ft tall young man who works at Play Cenla. Next thing I know Jamar is drenched in sweat helping Braxton do the entire obstacle course AT BRAXTON’S COMFORT ZONE AND PACE!!!! He wasn’t impatient, he showed Brax that if he fell that the harness would catch him, and he went back and forth all over the entire thing with Braxton probably 30 times not even kidding. He got Braxton to face all of his fears and made my mama heart so happy!! My neck hurt from looking up at them for so long, my arm hurt from trying to record it all on my phone and my cheeks hurt from smiling.

Braxton came down from the obstacle and told me that he thinks Jamar is probably his best friend.

So thank you Jamar, for being an outstanding young man and like a big brother to my little boy for the day.

We look forward to seeing you and fallan again!!

If you haven’t been to Play Cenla, you need to try it at least once. I hope your experience is as good as ours was. 🫶🏻🙌🏼❤️

I will be leaving a google review...

Staff was very, very nice and accommodating. I loved that they control the number of people who can enter at a time. This won't be anything like getting bumped into in places like Chuck E Cheese. You have plenty of space to walk and play. Our kids enjoyed it so much. It was clean. The AC was nice! Group rates were good. My only recommendations are really just that the toddler area (play house, small slide and half of a tunnel caterpillar) being enclosed would be nice and napkins to dry hands on for those of us who aren't fans of the hand dryers should be available. Some of the games/photo booth didn't appear to work, and the prize booth for tickets isn't set up yet so you have to redeem your tickets when they get that all set up. NOT huge complaints. Bathrooms were clean. Staff was amazingly friendly. Kids enjoyed it! We...