Angel Island Fun Park | Durham NC — Attraction in Durham

I've read all the reviews and can say that some of the bad reviews WERE correct for their time. Please take a moment to let me address the main points.

I've been taking my five-year-old son here about once a week since shortly after they opened. I'm in IT and work from home. This is a great spot to work from on weekday afternoons--allowing my son to play and me to work with a very good amount of supervision, given the seating layout. Plus, it's not crowded. I've gotten to know the owners and crew very well over this time.

Let's preface this by agreeing that finding dependable staff in this day and time is difficult. Every fast food place--really, every restaurant and store is operating severely understaffed. It's a miracle that any new business would attempt to open since the pandemic hit in early 2020. As such, I feel like we owe it to the community, as consumers, to support a place like this. It's future is up to each of us. We can make it the gem that it can be.

Food: Yes, this was a big problem in the beginning. I've opened several restaurants and can tell you it's not cut and dried. Between equipment failures and staffing issues, there is no "smooth" opening for a food joint. While there are ways to minimize the difficulty, it's a moot point. They currently have their snack bar working very smoothly considering the time they have been open. Their food is good. And they have a good variety.

Front desk: As with food, the first couple months are going to be rough. The pool of "fun park associates" doesn't exist. People have to be trained from the ground up on complex systems and processes that we as consumers never truly appreciate. Their check-in staff and process has improved tremendously over the past three months. Most of the friction I see these days has to do with the waiver process. A better flow could be implemented. But we have to allow this place and the staff to get their feet planted on the ground. As it stands, the only complexity is that a waiver MUST be signed for each child prior to checking in. This is done at the computers immediately next to the entrance. Do this ONE time and you are good for every future visit.

Fun Zone play area: Yes, there are people in this world who do not supervise their kids. In this regard, think of it like a public playground. Parents need to keep tabs on their children. AND, parents need to explain the rules a few times so the kids begin to manage themselves. This is not the type of place you throw your kid into without a parental presence. If you experience an issue with another child, just speak with staff to handle it.

The arcade, VR and carts have been running well for a couple months. But do not forget the massive issue of dependable staff these days. It will get better. We need to support this place through its first year if we want to have it in our community. Don't expect perfection. Be patient and kind to allow this...

Overall the establishment looked nice and the staff was friendly. I think that place is made more friendly for children ages 3 to 12 years of age. I recently had a birthday party on Saturday, March 11,2023 for a 11 year old. The package that I got was for 21 kids and their parents with the max of 60 people. This includes one ride on the go-karts, one ride on the bumper karts and 15 dollar play card. O yeah the socks are not included and they are 3 dollars each. So I believe in paying for my guest so I had an open tab for socks.That was schedule to be from 6pm to 8pm which I booked about 2 weeks inadvance. We arrived at 5:45pm for the party. I paid about 1000.00 dollars for this party. I was greeted by the hostess. We was in the line for awhile but she apologized and help us. I think that she need some help because she was trying to ring us help and help with other parties. She did put her best foot forward to help us. I became very frustrated because I paid for a party for my son that I was able to enjoy with him do to it not being organized. I was able to get into the party room until 20 minutes later which was going into a party that I paid for. I was told that they still had a previous party in there which was cutting into my party time. I spoke to the manager about this and was able to get a refund for 400.00 dollars. The kids only had a few minutes to play due to waiting in line to recieved their bands and cards. The food area was closed due to unforeseen problem. I didn't have hostess to help setup. I was told that was included in the package. Due to the company over book and not having enough staff I wasn't able to enjoy a party that I should have to do anything but show up. But this was a very frustrating event. The kids didn't even get to enjoy the establishment due to the timing. Our party ended at 8pm. The party hostess ask me for feedback of my experience and she did also apologize. She also put a credit on my account to bring my immediate family back one day in a future. But i didn't get that in writing but I'm going go off of good faith. Overall I'm not sure if I would come back but I definitely won't do a party there again because the amount of money I spent to have a stress free party wasn't worth the money especially when I lost a hour of time when I paid for 2hour party and I wished that recieved have of what I paid since I was only able to enjoy part of the party due to staffing and overbooking. At the end of the party I was able to leave feedback to the manager and the party hostess of...

We booked my daughters 6th bday here. I went the Friday before to check it out. It was spacious- clean- but staff was totally disinterested. We were the ONLY people there. But whatever- we were there for the fun. Everything was very clean. Adventure zone was a blast. Fast forward to the birthday. TOTAL wreck. It started with their “included e-vites” never working. They just knocked $20 off. Which didn’t cover the other excited I had to send out. Or the immense time it took to type all the names/addresses in. Overall- the in person Staff were SO rude. Acted totally put out to even speak to me. We got the largest party package. We were nickel and dimed for EVERYTHING. Socks came with our package- they acted like we were criminals for wanting time for all guests. Go karts came with our package. Well the wait was 30 minutes. And they turned our kids away stating they needed head Coverings. A “new rule”. $1.50 each. I refuse as this wasn’t in my contract. They were hesitant to let my party Guests ride the karts because our time was up- even though the wait was so long. Party room was dirty. The chairs had food debris all over Them. Provided napkins were crumped and had grease Stains. But really- it was the rude staff that killed everything the most. We will never book a party again. Nor will any of the families from our group- they were blown away. We May go on a day off a school...