Wonderfly Arena - Arbutus — Attraction in Arbutus

What happened to the customer service??? This is the only place that my daughter wants her birthday party at (she's had her 8th, 9th and this past month she celebrated her 10th birthday here). First two times it was 5 stars however, this year it seemed like they just didn't care anymore.

I booked the hybrid session for three hours the first two times then this year (since more guests were attending) I booked four hours hybrid (two hours in the field area and two hours in the game room). When reserving, I specifically asked regarding the availability of both VR's being operational (since last year only one was working). Due to more guests attending this year and my daughter’s favorite part of the game room is the VR, having two VR's ensured kids would get their turn more frequently. I was informed that both VR's will be available for use.

During the day of the party; the individuals assigned for our party session seemed like they wanted to be elsewhere or were made to come in on their day off (just their attitude and willingness to assist seemed ‘standoffish’). One individual was new and in “training” since anytime I asked him anything he had to check with the other member. During the field games; the past two years the games set up were quick and you moved from game to game with hardly any wait. This year the individuals were taking their time to set up the next games so much that the kids started playing the spectator games. My daughter even asked “why are they taking so long”. The main individual that knew what he was doing left twice from our schedule party to check on something or perhaps assist another customer.

After the field games we went to the game room and I noticed that there is only one VR being used. I asked why the other VR unit is not being utilized and was informed that the battery was low and it is charging. I mentioned that I specifically asked upon booking to have both VR’s available and was told they would be. The individual said he was sorry but there will only be one VR available. Most of the kids were looking to play the VR as my daughter was boasting about the games and she wanted her friends to experience her excitement. It was a disappointment as the VR experience was limited to two/three min per child with only one turn. We actually had to write a list with all the kids’ names so each child got a turn. My daughter was able to use the VR twice this year (Last two years the kids were able to get several minutes with multiple turns on the system). They have the Nintendo Switch (which most kids played while waiting their turn for the VR. The Xbox had mostly adult games and the N-64 barely worked. The games kept glitching and freezing.

Every year the pricing went up (which is expected and not an issue) however, the service should not deteriorate. I don’t know how many family/friends I have recommended Wonderfly for a family fun experience but after this years’ experience, I am rethinking this and may have to look for an alternate venue for my daughters next birthday and future birthdays.

Lastly; they also used to provide a Wonderfly shirt that would glow under the black light for the birthday child, they no longer give...

I had my son 10th birthday at the arena this past weekend. I had never visited this establishment before, however based on the reviews and how fun it looks on the website I booked the venue. For the price to have an event here it could be a bit more organized and flow a hundred times better. The website informs you ahead of time there is no ac in the arena and fans are in use. I feel they down play how hot it really is in the space. It was so hot the children did not want to play some of the games in the arena. More fans are needed especially in the summer. The game coordinators were awesome. No complaints The music was as requested and while we didn’t get to as many arena games as I would have liked it was ok as I understood there was not much time. Now it’s time to move to the VR area where you eat and play video games. So this is where for me things got sloppy and unorganized. First I don’t understand why you do not eat in the arena so your time in the VR lounge can solely focus on that instead of eating. I received a call earlier in the week confirming details of the party to include table cloth design. I requested fort nite designed table clothes. The guy shared they would ensure the fortnite table cloths were used. Additionally we discussed the games for the arena as well as the VR section. Because the party was fortnite themed I asked for that to be set up on one of the game systems. The representative said that would be no problem. However, once we moved over from the arena nothing in the VR lounge was set up to include the games. There were no table cloths, paper plates, anything. I had to request these items only to be told they did not have fortnite themed table clothes as I requested. So my party is wasting time sitting around while the games are set up and table clothes are put on the tables. Even after that I had to wait for cups and plates. Valuable time wasted that resulted in not all of my guests being able to experience the VR. I asked about fortnite being set up on one of the systems as requested and confirmed during the call but was told that could not happen because fortnite is a 1 player game. Not all of the systems were working. So while the children were smiling. For the price paid, I was thoroughly annoyed. Even the arena game coordinators were confused about why the VR lounge was not set and ready to go. The place has the potential to be awesome But needs a bit of...

We came for a corporate event. The entire staff was nothing short of amazing! Jay was the manager - normally at the Timonium location - but filling in because the normal manager was off. Jordan was one of the other staffers running the games. He did a great job.

There were 2 other team members with games and someone running the front desk for the waivers. And always an announcer on the mic giving us the rules, the play by play or any other info we needed. Great job to the whole team! I’m sorry I didn’t catch everyone’s name.

They didn’t think twice about helping to unload my truck and another car with our event swag. They offered, we didn’t ask. Many hands made light work!

The event itself was so much fun. We had 91 employees at tables with a buffet. They don’t include the food but they were easy to work with regarding outside vendors. There was plenty of space for all of the tables and any activities we had. The caterer said he did an event with 200 and it was a little tighter but still room for games.

We played bubbleball, cosmic dodgeball, hamster ball, arrow tag as well as basketball, large Jenga, large Connect Four, VR games, ping pong. Everyone had a great time.

The only potential negative was the parking but in the end, we parked all around and the other businesses are understanding and will call if a car needs to be moved or a gate needs to be closed. Def not enough of a deal to delete any stars but it was cause for concern in the beginning of our event so I felt it needed to be...