Kids Empire Houston Willowbrook — Attraction in Houston

This was my second time at a Kids Empire, always at this location. Back in December 2021 was when we were last here. I decided to take my 4.5 year old & 2 year old (who turned 2 on 08/28/23) which is the day I took them to spend a few hours here for her birthday since we had already had her party over the weekend. We had just gone out for brunch, so coming to play & burn energy was the best idea!

Upon walking in, the staff was very unfriendly, did not show interest in greeting you nor did they smile when you greeted them. Their tone & responses were very short. I did not realize that I would need to sign another waiver from the first original one I had done. The woman employee acted very bothered with me when I had said I didn't realize that it expires, so then I began doing it on my phone (as my toddler was asking when we would go in)-(at this time a lot of people began to come in to the facility at the same time, then I hear the woman employee say something like, "give me the flu again please." , I took that as she didn't really want to be there working since it was getting busy- To be quite honest, how a parent & her children are treated & made to feel are everything, & as a mother who was out with my two sweet little children for a fun day together, to be treated & talked to like we were not valued customers (as I am spending $45 for us to play there), truly made me want to say forget it & leave, but I didn’t because my little girls were eagerly waiting & so excited to play.

Anyways, we finally got checked in & began running around playing when both me and my 2 year old got bad burns on our arms from the slides (the giant pink and the purple/white slides), to be honest, I don't know how these are not deemed a danger, as a lot of people were getting hurt. The music room also did not have the best music nor was it turned up at the beginning of our visit (when we were last there in 2021, the music was amazing & at a great volume to dance!) - so then I thought that was kind of a bummer as me & my girls are crazy about dancing!!

All in all, me & my girls played & laughed & had a great time because what mattered most is we were together & it was still a very fun play gym , after 3 hours we went home very tired & filled with joy– however, way better friendly customer service towards the parents & ESPECIALLY the children is very crucial to make families want to come back & spend the money & time that they do here to make it a wonderful family friendly place! I don’t know if/when we will be back after this experience, but I hope so & I am hopeful next time we will be made to feel...

The reason I am giving two stars and not one is because my kids love having fun there and it is not super crowded as the competition. Here is the reason I am not giving this place more than two starts though. When we arrived at the place, the manager of the place was probably not feeling it that day, so when I was finishing the entrance purchase transaction with the manager, one of my kids tried to pull the little gate to enter the play area, but it was locked, so he tried again, but he could not open it. The manager, then told my son, in a very loud manner to leave the door alone (I was in the middle of the transaction and not facing my son so I did not realize what he was doing). When I noticed what was going on, I told my kid to wait patiently, and then told the manager that is not a proper way to talk to a person specially if that person is a kid. He looked at me, smiled in a sarcastic manner and told me that he was not having that discussion right at the moment. Then, my wife asked him to calm down and to watch his attitude, when he started to look at us in a mean way. I decided to let it go as my kids were ready to enjoy the place as always.

I sent this situation in an email to the headquarters, but they responded that were reviewing and investigating the issue, but it has been four weeks without an update even after I have sent them follow ups and have told them that I was going to write a review about this place but I was giving them the opportunity to provide their feedback, but nothing.

Unfortunately, because of that place having a person that manages the entire place and with an attitude that is unacceptable and inappropriate, I cannot go back to that location. My family nor me deserve this type...

The worst experience today at the willow-brook Kids Empire. Experienced racism at its finest from the staff who are mostly all African American. My son got into a fight with an African American kid who starting hitting my son my son hit him back. One of the staff members came and started telling my husband and 10 year old son to leave and defended the African American kid. My husband said well if we have to leave then so does that kid. The guy said I’ll call the cops if you don’t leave. Called the cops and two cops showed up inside one of them being African American. He comes up to my husband telling us to leave or he would arrest my husband… my husband said can you listen to my side he said no. My husband told the other cop who was Mexican and said he would like to file a police report against the staff at kids empire. We asked for a refund which they refused to give us. We left very upset especially because it was Mother’s Day today. It was mainly one African American lady and one African American male with braids. My son has scratch marks on his neck and face but somehow only he was wrong?? Also I had gone to get my socks from my car during all this came back asked the guy on counter if I can sit on the chair and put socks on since I’m pregnant he said it was fine. The lady walks past me screaming at me why I don’t have socks on and I can’t be in here without socks. The guy on the counter explained that I needed to sit to put socks on she starts screaming at him. This whole group of people working there were unprofessional and ready to fight every chance they got. Not sure if all kids empires are this horrible but this location...