Route 7 Karting & Entertainment — Attraction in Viera

It’s changed. Our first experiences were of Route 7 being a family-friendly venue geared to children, and we left feeling tired (the good kind) and happy.

It’s grown up, and it feels like it’s targeting an entirely demographic now. When we were there at opening on a weekday afternoon, there were a few kids, but more young adults. (Which was honestly odd and surprising). The bar area had a lot of neon signs for different draft beers I hadn’t seen on previous visits.

Around 4pm, we were politely asked to move our seating, as there was a Chamber of Commerce event being held in the new high-top dining area (which replaced the amazing 3-story kids’ climbing area that is now gone forever).

All the areas are still super-clean, and they have added seating by the go-carts which was well-thought out. There are TVs everywhere, and they also have on music. (Loud!) It’s expected to be energetic at an indoor entertainment venue, but the music was loud enough my throat hurt from having to talk over it for 3 hours. If you are a person with sensory issues, this is not your place. It will be overstimulating.

The parents of the kids who were there were pretty happy with the bar, but it didn’t feel right to have adults with a buzz semi-ignoring their kids as they played at 3pm in the afternoon. And I did wonder how many people would go drive go-carts after a few drinks at the bar.

As the Chamber event attendees flowed in, many enjoyed the happy hour specials. Opening was at 3, at 4 we had to vacate our seats, and before 5 there were professionals who were a little too happy (after their drinks) for me to still feel good staying there with my child. We left before our time was up due to this.

The video games and simulators have matured as well — there was a machine gun game that had a steady stream of boys younger than 10, teens, and 20-something adults. For any veteran with PTSD, the “pop-pop-pop” could have been distressing.

Most the employees were fabulous. Kind, conscientious, helpful, polite. A few acted like teenagers because…they are still teenagers. Thankfully it was minimal.

Biggest takeaway: It’s not the kids’ haven it uses to be. With all the new tech / space / military jobs in the area, I’m sure Route 7 can make more money selling alcohol and food to adults wanting to have some time out.

It still offers a lot to do, and the people are still amazing, it’s still clean. It’s just…different. And not bad, if what they offer matches what you’re looking for. For us, it wasn’t, but for many it will be — and that’s ok. If you’re a family who used to attend, you may want to look elsewhere now.

Humble proposal for management: offer daytime hours with different TV / music choices for the younger kids earlier in the day (pre-11am), transition it for older kids through afternoon, and switch to teen / adult time to hit many different audiences. And reconsider bar hours. Families are willing to pay for indoor air conditioned activities in Florida, and are likely wanting to come back…if they knew there will be things for their younger ones to still do. With sober adults in...

2024 Update: Came again in late January 2024 and some things has changed:

The Good Things: The whole leaderboard has been reset somewhat and it now can be access by anyone by visiting their website, and surprisingly with their racing league club on Monday nights, someone finally broke the 17s which is impossible with the normal karts from any other day! The races were pretty good even if I had to wait a hour (3pm on a Saturday).

The Bad Things: My old times were deleted while other stayed. records on the leaderboard. [My old times of 18.9 seconds, 19.1 seconds, and 19.4 seconds] I was going to complain about it to the manager, but its was just a minor problem so I didn't ask about it. While going in around 3pm when they are max capacity, the karts were not optimized for full power since it was being used back to back. It was hard for me to get to the low 19s with the lack of power, but wow the races with other people was challenging!

The worst thing that has changed is pretty much nothing, but I will say that PLEASE REMOVE KART 13. I was using it in a solo race, but my $20 was wasted with a busted kart.

Overall, 3.5/5 stars

My 2023 Review: Going around my college area for go-karting and this place is recommended to me. I first thought that it was just another "go-karting" arcades with a dining, but do my surprise, it was very inserting to come here.

When first stepping in, it was a very unique experience with the ceiling "Ropes Course" course they got, riding around the whole area on the "Zip Line," and the extremely fast go-karting. However, those 3 are the good things about the area to be honest. The arcade just feels like an addon and the mini bowling looks weird (but its only my opinion it may appeal to your senses instead of mine).

My review is mainly coming here on 3 separate days (each one on a Sunday evening) where there is little to no people go karting. When this happens, I usually go against a staff member, and dang they are FAST. (If you don't have any experience with go-karting, be prepared to be smoked!) I was surprised of how fast they can go around the track, but at the same time, it was my first time vs a veteran go-karting. I would avoid three people to 1v1 with because one of them can get low 19s while the other two can get high 18s (which is the track record).

The main reason why I rate it 4 stars is because price. $60 (total with tax) for three races is pretty cheap for go-karting, but does not appeal for everyone and they won't save your times unless you get onto the leaderboard which is 19 seconds or lower. You can get the same races in weekday for $55 (total with tax) but its still a bit high for people.

Overall, pretty inserting place, but be prepared for your wallet to go bye bye if do more than go-karting.

(oh by the way, don't race a staff member named Lina... its a bit...

I held my granddaughters 2nd birthday party there. Her 1st birthday was spent in the Children's hospital in Orlando so I wanted this one to be extra special for her. We had a mixture of adults and children and it was so disappointing right from the start. We were rushed right to the party room and while we were setting up the decorations before all the guests arrived they wanted us to order the pizza and drinks knowing that not everyone was here yet. So by the time everyone showed up the pizza was cold and then they wanted us to get right to the birthday cake and presents. I was so disappointed with the rush that we were put through that we didn't even get to open presents because the kids just wanted to go play. Another HUGE disappointment was that they took out the ball pit/jungle island. That was the selling point for me, it's perfect for a 2 year old to play in like all the other times we brought her. It was a safe spot where she could throw balls and climb around with her mom supervising. I felt like I should have been notified that it was removed since they knew it was for a 2 year olds birthday. Yes I would have cancelled had I known. It's a lot of money spent and a lot of unnecessary rushing that should not have happened. The young men that were our "host" tried to be upbeat but carrying around a clipboard with everything on how much time could be spent, from eating pizza to opening gifts was a bit much. I will add that they did allow us to go back to the room to open the gifts but it was difficult to wrangle up all the kids who of course didn't want to stop playing just to open the presents. Maybe I just didn't have enough experience as a first time grandma but I was hoping that this was going to be a great memory to hold onto. Instead it turned out to be one party I should have left to the mom and dad. Very expensive party for what you get especially with the jungle island gone. Edit: I realize that I'm a month behind on making my review but I just want others to be aware that you will be rushed while in the party room and while $10 game card is included that goes extremely fast and of course you're going to open up your wallet for them to play more games. Taking out the island was a big mistake because they could have easily spent the whole time just...