The Epic — Attraction in Grand Prairie

3 stars due to lack of competition in the area… or else it would be 2 and we wouldn’t go here. Unfortunately this is the “best” option if you have kids but I say that only because there aren’t other options.

Pros: A pool. A video game room.

Cons: Every time you come it’s different. Childcare hours, locations and policies change CONSTANTLY. You never know what to expect.

There are no family options to workout. 12+ so if you want a family friendly gym this is NOT your place despite how they advertise it unless you have teenagers. It would be nice to offer family hours so we could teach out younger kids how to enjoy fitness and use machines properly. Ever if it was a small window of time to not disturb other people’s workouts.

Childcare hours are slim, and only a few spots available. It’s very likely you will get here to drop off your child and they’ll tell you they are full and to come back in 2 hours or that they likely won’t free up before their 4 hours of childcare closes.

There’s 1 of each machine… prepare for a 6 Flags type of line for your weights. Also this causes people here to cut and steal machines and be realllllly nasty to each other.

The pool rules depend on who’s working. They don’t allow infant floats so if you have multiple young kids… you have to hold them all in the pool which creates an unsafe situation. (Currently have a 1 year old and trying to teach my 5 year old to swim but I can’t because I have to hold them both.)

They’re always looking for new ways to make money. They used to have childcare “punch passes” that they didn’t tell you expired after a year (no exceptions) so one day you go to the gym thinking you still have 100 punches and oops! You have none, they expired. (And again they didnt tell you about that when you got them so you were just out a ton of money) They now switched that you have to have an ADDITIONAL childcare membership. So not only do you have to pay for a membership for your child, but an ADDITIONAL membership for them to be in childcare. (And again, it’s a gamble if you’ll be able to snag a spot in the childcare room)

They also take things away often. They took away the wifi on the machines so you can’t watch Netflix or log in to track your workouts. They took the kids area away for the summer for a paid “summer camp” so now if you have older kids… there is no where for them to be during the day time- making the gym unusable for families even more so.

Teenagers tend to run wild here without any supervision. I’ve seen them playing basketball in the middle of the weight section, throwing the ball around and bouncing it towards people trying to workout. We had teenagers tell us they were taking the volleyball court over when we were playing on it and literally went into the court and started spiking it at our kids (ages 5 and 8) to push us off.

Little to no AC or fans… so every workout is like a hot yoga class.

And so much more….

This gym has POTENTIAL…. But unfulfilled potential.

Again sadly it’s the “best” option in the area if you have kids. Places like planet fitness don’t offer any childcare so you kind of get backed into a corner of paying an extra $30 a month for double kids memberships for their 8 hours of childcare that may or may not be available.

If the owners would listen to feedback, they’d be doing great… but I’m sure they make enough money to not really worry about customers over profit because again… there’s no competition in the area and...

Epic is a beautiful place. They have various gym equipment to use and you can even workout outside on the nice landscape. There is good amount of cardio machines. They have rooms for yoga, cycling and step class. There is also a basketball court. It's worth going to check out, walk around for a tour to see if you like it.

However, there are things that I do not like about it. I would only recommend this gym if you have a family. Parents can bring their kids and have them wait in the play rooms or even go swimming. I believe a child who is 10+ can be left unattended (there are life guards in pool area) while the parents are working out. You can rent out the pool area (for a price) for birthday parties too so that's a nice option.

Being an adult with no kids, I don't really enjoy working out here. There are SO many kids and teenagers around. I worked out at Planet Fitness before I joined this gym, and I have to say that PF is a lot more calming. Though there are a few things I don't like about that gym either, I just feel like Epic is a bit too crazy/hectic for me. So much going on, so many people everywhere. At PF, there are no kids since there is no babysitting service or playrooms, which I prefer. If I had a family, I would definitely bring my kids here though.

If you care about your skin and know that the sun causes you to age faster, you may want to pack sunscreen in your gym bag. Yes, even though windows, the sun causes you to age! I would prefer the area where squat racks are have mirrors instead of windows.. so you can see if your form is good! There is not much mirror space downstairs! I asked the front desk workers if we could bring barbells/dumbbells up to the rooms to workout and he said yes, it is allowed when there are no classes going on. But it would be a hassle to carry equipment up and down the stairs. I don't think there are dumbbells in the rooms.. I wish there was so that I could workout in there instead! There are mirrors in the room.

Another thing is that, they don't have a sauna or a steam room! They have both of these at 24 hour fitness and LA fitness if you see these as a necessity. I wish Epic had them.

You have to pay extra for GroupFit classes, where as other gyms like 24 or LA, the classes are already included in the monthly price! Epic is pretty expensive!

For such a big place, the gym floor really isn't that big. It's actually SMALL! So it gets super crowded. Around 5pm to 8pm there are lots of families. Overall, a nice place for families if you don't mind the crowds. But if you're a single person who is not taking kids to the gym, I'd...

The worst part of this place is the management staff-they need to be fired. The GM Chris doesn’t care about anything and lets his staff do and say whatever they want to whomever they want. They have a high turnover rate and the only people that stay is the management that should all be fired. They have a manager named Robert who they put in charge of purchasing equipment. He buys unnecessary equipment and makes excuses all the time about his shortcomings. I’ve attempted to schedule an assessment with him on more than 3 occasions and I never heard back. But If you like the smell of chemicals in the air while you workout look no further. Robert mops in the middle of the day during one’s workout so you can get a headache by the time you’re done. If you ever need to make changes to your membership rest assured it will not get done. You will get excuse after excuse. Karen should also be fired for being bad at her job. She’ll annoy you to death and is one of those people that needs to have the last word in. She also has a mom complex. Always feeling the need to tell people what they need to do. They cancelled my membership without my permission and overcharged me while I had the membership. I encourage anyone that has problems to reach out to Grand Prairie...