Bolder Adventure Park — Attraction in Grand Prairie

Simply put: Unsafe, inattentive staff, never coming back

Full explanation: It makes sense why you must sign a waiver before doing anything because you are for sure at risk of getting hurt. I visited Bolder on 5/10/24 and every single staff member that I interacted with was disrespectful and in their own world. Most of the employees were talking amongst themselves and straight up ignoring my group of 4. I saw a young employee running around and playing with other employees instead of helping. She almost even ran into guests. The group of 4 I went with did the black diamond option with the ropes course. When we went to get our gear for the ropes course, again, all the staff members ignored us. We had to ask multiple people what we needed to do, and no one responded. They finally sent us to the harnesses but failed to tighten them appropriately. I have experience with ropes courses and rock climbing as I run a ropes course, and I had to tighten other people's harnesses because staff members failed to do so correctly. Once we had all our equipment, my group stood there, and we had to ask what was happening next or if we were good to go. Instead, we were again ignored, and that is when our group leader came running over to bring us to the ropes course. The employees who were at the ropes course that day seemed like they hated everything about being there. No smiles or communication or even asking if we enjoyed anything. When interacting with us, they all had straight faces but were laughing and talking to their coworkers. After we got off the ropes course to return our equipment we were given the same horrible service as we did when we walked in. We actually had to loosen and take our gear off by ourselves as employees sat and watched. My friend actually had to interrupt the employee's conversation circle to let them know we were done. When I was on the ropes course, I was near the final zip line when an employee came across. I stopped on the platform as I couldn't proceed and he then wrapped both of his arms around my waist to reach my ropes. I felt so uncomfortable as he didn't ask he just grabbed me. Not to mention the condition of most of the equipment was poor. One of the "obstacles" on the ropes course was walking across a literal ratchet strap while others were covered in duct tape. While on the ropes course, I noticed the kid's jungle gym had loose netting on the very top. I witnessed a young girl slide down the slide, and her feet went through the mesh... 3 stories up.... We also went to the blaster zone, where none of the equipment was sanitized or cleaned. We asked the guy working there if the goggles were clean, and he just laughed. The unprofessionalism here is throughout. When I was on the ropes course, I also saw an employee with a plastic ball from the ball pit, and he was playing with it at the bottom of the slides. What I'm assuming is a supervisor told the boy that he knows he's not supposed to have the ball in that area and needs to put it back. Once she left, the boy continued to play with the ball and ROLL IT UP THE SLIDE WHILE A KID WAS ABOUT TO COME DOWN. The slides were fun, and my group went on them three times. However, every staff member running the slides did not talk or even smile in our direction. Most of the time the staff was not even paying attention to the guests. My girlfriend went to order our pizza and drinks at the bar, and the guy behind the counter ignored my gf while he made himself a drink. He then proceeded to yell profanities at the other employees in the back. He said something along the lines of "You guys are taking so f** long." My girlfriend finally received our alcoholic beverages, and then another member of our group went up to do the same. That friend also ordered an alcoholic drink, but he was given a bracelet that said he was no longer allowed on the climbing activities because he was drinking alcohol. So half our group received "can't climb" bracelets, and half didn't, even though we were all consuming alcohol. I wish I could put more but I hit...

Loved the place, and the family had fun until the end. We came all the way from Kansas City for our first time here because the kids are huge fans of Unspeakable and have been excited to come here for quite a while. Finally got the chance to take time off work and make the drive here for a long weekend! The kids were so excited to be here, but they were bummed they were not able to meet Unspeakable. Hope we can give the place another try once they have been open a bit longer and had a chance to work out their issues. Maybe then can raise the rating. Wanted to add we did try to call them today before they were busy and already open but got no answer.

Wanted to give 5 stars because overall the experience was a good one early on, and we had a lot of fun! Initially, I did post a 5-star review, but due to the apparent issues, I decreased my rating. I think a lot of what was happening is easy to fix and may benefit from constructive feedback. As the day went on, the crowd and the issues increased. At the end of the day, we let the kids climb on the jungle gym set up. No staff present in or around the equipment. This is important because there was a child who fell and hit his head and was laying there in the equipment, a little girl was sitting up there crying, and our own son was being hit aggressively multiple times by another child which prompted us to leave and end our visit early.

The Nets were not open yet, Bumper Cars were closed, Ice Skating area is very small. Husband paid for a Blue ticket and then we found out he could only do the FAKE ice skating in the small area due to weight. Got my 5 and 9 year old a Blue ticket and they could ice skate, play on the McDonald's style jungle gym, or do the slides. Ropes, climbing, archery, mining for neat rocks, and arcade cost extra. No clear directions on how to find things. The cost of 4 Blue tickets and food is quite an expensive day for mostly slides and a jungle gym. You can rent a locker, which we also did, but it costs extra, you have to pick 4 or 8 hours. At one point found our locker open with my purse still inside. Unclear if the locker opens when the time expires or if someone forgot to close it. Lucky nothing valuable in my purse as there often is but a very close call.

We didn't have much wait to get in but came earlier in the day. We brought our friends with us from Kansas City who were also a family of 4 and they bought Blue tickets. Would like to see more tables and trash cans around the place. Waited about 20 minutes for grilled cheese and fries and a hotdog early in the day when there wasn't much of a line to see. The kids ran out of drink before their food came but no refill because by then the line was a mile long. Nobody to clean tables. Healthy options would be helpful for food and drinks. The kids did ask for pizza, but all the birthday parties got priority, so the pizza went out to them.

Regarding safety, we would like to see nonskid socks or be aware to bring our own. Cannot understand announcements with all the other noise and echo once busy. The big slides could use some direction on where to go to get to the top as not initially clear there are stairs, but it seems we need to go up the ramps on the side which isn't the correct way.

There is not enough parking. People parked in spaces designed for driving and not parking, which is a serious safety issue and stops traffic from getting out because two cars cannot drive past each other in different directions but cannot go backwards either since cars are behind, making a traffic jam. While here, the fire department made a visit. The fire truck appeared to have difficulty navigating the crowded parking lot to get out as well. If the parking is designed to limit the number of people arriving here, then it should be set up to limit how many cars can park so people are not caught in a traffic jam to leave.

Safety is something that probably needs more evaluation, given the crowd size here later in the day. We came on a Saturday as well, so possibly more...

Leading with the positive, but recommend a full read of this review... the Instagram reel is always better than what you actually get:

This is the best playground I have ever seen. There's no comparable space inside this form factor that I'm aware of. The design and layout of the venue is clearly thoughtful. It makes me sad for my own childhood in many ways, that I missed out so much on what could have been possible if only I had been born 25 years later! It therefore makes me happy too, and thrilled for my children, to experience something like this with them. I got to be a kid again, what joy!

We waited too long for nearly everything. It wasn't a function of demand. Yes it was busy, but it wasn't a demand issue, it was a supply chain logistics issue.

From the outset, it was abundantly clear that this business has not adequately invested in/trained their staff to deliver maximum throughput on moving people from the front door onto every wonderful experience thereafter. We watched staff make non-sensical decisions that delayed experiences we were (and others) eagerly anticipating. The staff had been given rules to follow and no authority to deviate from them. These young men and women could see the issue, but they had their marching orders. This impairs monetization of the concept, which just drove me nuts.

For example:

The ticketing/waiver system is trash. This business under invested in staffing this bottleneck. It's evident in everything from the website to the POS systems used. We waited ~30 minutes just get into the place.

The restaurant (or really, a fair comparison would be concessions, because it feels and looks like it) has a similar problem. Furthermore, food quality is subpar. My 6 year old son lifted his slice of piece of cheese pizza from the tray and the cheese was stuck to the tray, so he ended up with a piece of bread slathered in tomato sauce. This isn't a big deal for adults, you just put it back together and eat it, but a 6 year old becomes distraught when their food expectations fall apart.

The artificial skating rink is an injury risk. Adult skates at this place in my experience could not provide the ankle support to prevent an ankle roll. Furthermore, after I took my skates off to rejoin my daughter in socks, I was approached by an employee wearing Air Force 1s telling me that I couldn't wear socks on their artificial rink. I pointed at her shoes, and pointed at the sign that said no shoes are allowed too, and asked, why this rule made sense? I just want to hold my daughters hands and make sure she has a good experience right? I was sent back to the entrance to put a cover over my socks (the irony, by someone wearing shoes, which clearly violated their own rules) to rejoin my daughter who had never been skating before.

They advertise bumper cars but that doesn't actually exist. Lying is a bad look. This would be a two star review, but the deceit on this is unforgivable.

The best part of this for me and my kids was the blaster arena! The worst part for me was having an employee explain why dry firing one of the blasters was a bad idea and then she proceeded to put it within a 4' distance of my head and show us why! I exclaimed "FU" and didn't finish that word.

This place gave my kids an unforgettable/lifelong experience that they will always cherish because they don't know any better. They only see the good, and that's what is so special about children. However, this place gave me an experience too, and while I'm so happy my kids had fun, we will...