Lets Play Hwy 280 — Attraction in Lake Purdy

I’m normally not one to write reviews and I’ve spent the better part of the afternoon debating on if I should or not but I decided parents should be aware. I took my two year old to this location for the first (and last) time today. There’s an area to the side that’s smaller and semi closed off so the smaller kids tend to be in that area. When going through the tunnel (not even 3ft wide) a bigger kid ( probably around 10-11 if I had to guess) cut my daughter off and assaulted her. I heard him tell her “you need to leave or I’m gonna flip you and you’re not gonna like it” as I was reaching down to pick her up. She was hysterically crying and shaking with blood coming from her lip/ mouth area. I told him to be nice and knock it off and he then told me he didn’t do it, before I could even get a good enough look to asses the situation. I removed my daughter from the area so she could calm down and collect herself. Another parent approached me and said that the boy was aggressive with her family as well and that they were leaving because of it. I informed the staff of what was happening and all I was told was “oh man I’m sorry” I understand the facility cannot control children but being dismissed when my daughter was hurt and visibly upset was completely inappropriate considering we were not the only family leaving due to this child’s inappropriate behavior and his guardian not paying attention/ correcting his behavior. I had really high hopes for this location since it looked slightly more age appropriate than the Hoover location and I was interested in hosting her birthday there. Needless to say the lack of professionalism was noted and I would not recommend taking your child here. Regardless of who is responsible for holding the child accountable, it’s very clear that staff intervention is unlikely even if it means a significantly smaller child will be abused by other guests. My husband called to inform the manager and she was apologetic and said intervention should have happened. It really doesn’t matter after the fact but for transparency I’m including that context...

Upon our arrival I noticed that there was a school there for a field trip. I bought tickets online the night before, so we made our way in anyway. The staff was helpful, but not super friendly. Once we got into the play area it was chaotic. The kids from the field trip were not being supervised and they ran all over my 2 year old in the toddler section. This section is meant for smaller kids, but no one was enforcing it. I had to block her several times from being pushed over. At that point I was ready to leave, but they called the field trip group to lunch. The moment that happened the entire play area was much more enjoyable. Once the field trip group left she was able to venture out and play with her older brother and the other kids. We spent about 4 hours there, and while the beginning of our visit was not desirable we ended up having a great time.

The space was much larger than the Hoover location. There is a lot to do, and it looks like it has been recently updated. It was hard to pull them away to leave, so I know they had a great time!

They do not have food on-site like the Hoover location, so if you want pizza you have to wait 2 hours for it to be delivered from Papa Johns. There is also a minimum order amount, and you can only get a large pizza. We opted to just get snacks instead.

My biggest issue was the lack of supervision from the field trip group. Parents and school staff were not watching the kids, and this caused issues for my youngest. I understand employees of Lets Play may be limited, but I never saw one staff member leave the checkout area the entire time. At the Hoover location staff was present in the play areas and were sanitizing as needed.

All in all, my kids had fun, but I was stressed in the beginning. While it had more to do than the Hoover location, I think the staff at the other location was more friendly and involved than at this one. I highly advise to not go when a field...

was really disappointed with the check-in process at Let’s Play Birmingham 280. It was extremely hectic, confusing, and not well-organized. They only had one person checking in parties, while two other employees were handling open play, even when there were no customers in that line. Instead of stepping in to help keep things moving, they just let the party check-in line back up, leaving guests waiting unnecessarily. When several people politely asked if they could be checked in at the open play station to help move things along, they were brushed off with a dismissive “no, we don’t do that.”

For a facility that is consistently crowded on weekends and hosts multiple birthday parties, I would expect a more efficient system to check in guests quickly. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and as a result, we lost a significant amount of our party time just waiting to get checked in. The lack of organization was frustrating for both adults and children, and it set a stressful tone for what was supposed to be a fun celebration.

Beyond the inefficiency, the staff did not seem warm, welcoming, or particularly helpful. The overall experience was disappointing, and I strongly feel that they need to improve their customer service and check-in process, especially during peak hours. A little more organization and attentiveness would make a huge difference.

I hope they take these concerns seriously and work on making the experience smoother for...