Indigo Play — Attraction in Austin

Hopefully the owners see this review!

I’ve been coming here a few times a month for the past 1.8 years. It’s always been a great place for my son to explore, be amongst other children and have some fun gross motor activities to do. This year though, I’ve been pretty annoyed with some of the things they’ve done.

First is price increases. They haven’t added anything new to justify the price increases. I guess their excuse may be because of the artificial inflation and possibly covid. Not sure but they completely removed the weekday/school day prices and weekend prices which were higher. Just one price for everyday of the week depending on how old your child is. I was paying $9 and now I’m up to $18. So, if you plan to come here more than once per month, I would recommend you purchase a monthly membership to save money.

Just a few months ago, they implemented a rule stating no outside food or drinks. I can understand this from a business perspective. But they also have to allow parents to bring the required liquids or foods or medicines depending on if the child needs them for medical purposes. If they had a full-service cafe then I’d be okay with this. But they never have anyone at the cafe area and there are slim pickings there. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Last - is the fact that every time I come here (no more than 2x per month), I always tell an employee that there are several lights out of order and that it makes it hard for both my child and other older children to see younger kids or others passing by. It’s just plain dangerous at this point to not have functioning lights. I’ve attached photos of the locations inside. If I am paying $18 per visit, I would expect some of that money to go to maintaining this play scape. The fact that it has been literally 7 months since the time I first noticed them and they still haven’t been repaired or replaced shows to me that they employees that I discuss this with don’t really seem to care. Maybe they don’t even tell higher management.

Last, is not a recurring issue either, but I found it pretty odd that the day we visited, the themed area had all its pieces locked up in the supermarket area. Absolutely no one was playing in this area because they were having a hard time grabbing the pieces that were inside an area that was pretty much impossible to get into. Luckily enough, my husband was present and was able to retrieve most of the pieces for all the other kids to enjoy.

I don’t come here as often anymore, because I feel like they don’t really care about my reports of getting those lights fixed. But they care when someone sits on a massage chair and beeps like crazy, because it’s asking for money. “Oh no, gotta...

We've been going to Indigo Play for years now and it's one of my kids favorite places. Over the years I have seen some improvements- better food options, alcoholic & coffee beverages, seating, bathroom changing tables, cubby area, etc. but also some things I feel like take away from the original vibe- the arcade area to be specific. This was I place I could take my littles without worrying about them being tempted by screens and flashing lights until that was installed. It was an open toy play area originally, turned into a bookstore, and now one or both of those things have kind of been moved into the little rooms to the side with a small selection of play stuff. It also seems to be a little less clean but still clean enough imo. We do love the 6 other different soft areas they have: the infant area, toddler area, play town area, sensory room, big kid structure, and enclosed space attached to the back of the big kid structure that has balls and soft building blocks, etc. The sensory room used to have balls in the ball pit but now they have foam blocks which I think is a better option. My one complaint about that space though, is from the beginning the interactive piano has not functioned well, sometimes not at all, and the interactive lights in the pit are half out at this point and have never been fixed that I am aware of. The other spaces they have done well with, and the kids love the diverse options, especially in the big kid structure which consists of open and enclosed slides, educational tidbits, climbing, tunnels, a sitting short zipline-type thing, obstacles, mazes, small rock wall, monkey bars, balancing objects, free-form play objects, a secret hideout, and more. We have also been to birthday parties, puppet shows, and other special events hosted here, all which have been run smoothly. I will say they have increased their price over the years, which is to be expected, but it's quite expensive when bringing multiple kids. Also, don't forget the same-day half off deal between Indigo & the Austin Aquarium next door, which we usually take advantage of and get a good half day out of it. Overall we will continue coming here as my kids love it (they're now 2.5 & 5.5 and we've been coming since the oldest was a crawler) and I hope they continue being a great place with friendly staff to visit and...

My husband and I came on a weekend, which was probably our first mistake. We brought our 2 1/2 YO and our 1 YO, and it was $32. The price is outrageous to me, especially since our two toddlers were completely overwhelmed and couldn’t even make it an hour. The two teenage gentlemen at the front desk were visibly high, and couldn’t care less about the families visiting for the first time, only about keeping the line moving. They told us to fill out a waiver by scanning a QR code, then took our payment before we finished signing the waiver, just to keep the line moving. Just to paint a little picture, you have large front doors, a small desk in the middle of the lobby, cubbies on the left, a small arcade on the right, and right behind the front desk is the gated entrance to the gym with two waist high doors. Now, it’s an absolute madhouse. Complete chaos. Of course, hyperactive kids running out their energy isn’t the establishments fault, however, the gate in and out of the gym is in constant use, and our two year old was literally let out of the gate without us seeing. It took two seconds for us to look down, look back up and our child is gone, and running through the lobby. An adult had to open the gate, and allow a CHILD out of the gate, with absolutely no regard, and I have no faith that the two knuckle heads at the front desk would have noticed if he slipped out the VERY BUSY front door and ran through the parking lot. It surprises me that nearly every parent in here is glued to their cell phones. The staff here needs to be trained better, or there needs to be some kind of security. For the outrageous price, I expected this establishment to be a little more…. I don’t know…. Legitimate? But of course, instead of hiring a real staff and investing in some security measures, they say “sign this waiver” and send you on your way. I am giving it a star for being very clean, and being a cool place to take your kids, but I will never again give this establishment a dime until they can assure...