Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park — Attraction in Lakeland

This was our second visit to Urban Air. On the first visit, we took our youngest as the older three were out of town. He loved it so much we spent 3-4 hours and could have spent longer. A few weeks later took all four of them. We checked in on a Wednesday just after opening, expecting to spend another 3-4 hours. Then, just after Noon, we heard an announcement that said, "If you're wearing an orange bracelet, you've been here for two hours, and you have to leave." Those exact words. What?

I knew about the fine print that states they reserve the right to limit play to two hours. It really didn't feel too crowded, and we knew from our previous Wednesday visit that the kids from the day camps would be leaving soon. More importantly, when checking in, we were not informed that they would be limiting play that day. Our kids were confused and disappointed when the announcement was made.

I went to the desk to ask the friendly young lady behind the counter how I would know before handing over my money that play would be limited. She said, "it says on the sign we reserve the right..." I know it says you reserve the right, but how do I know when that policy will be used and when it won't? I received no answer. I asked for a business card or contact information for a supervisor or manager with whom I could follow up. When they were not able to produce anything, one of them went and got their manager, which I appreciated.

The manager was friendly and understanding. She wanted to make things right and even offered to switch out the wristbands so we could stay longer. I appreciated her going out of her way to make that offer. She didn't have to. By this time, the place had lost its magic for me, and we politely declined the offer. My issue is not with her or any other employee I came in contact with.

The first thing that pops up on the website in big letters says, "All Day Play is Back. Play all day long for one low price." Nothing was said when checking in, but after playing for two hours, the announcement was made "You have to leave." This feels like a bait & switch. If a two-hour limit is enforced, state that up front at check-in before paying for one thing and receiving something else.

After speaking with the manager, she could not answer my original question, "How do I know before handing my money over that playtime will be limited?". If I would have known this was going to happen, I might have attempted to choose another day when it would truly be "Play all day long for one low price." There has to be a way to let paying customers know what they are receiving before collecting their money.

Because Urban Air is a 30-minute drive for us, I told the kids that there are other similar places we could try that are of equal distance. I also told them we might give Urban Air another try, but in my mind, I have my hesitations. This is too bad because up until now, we've had nothing but a positive experience, and I still need to figure out how to avoid this from happening on...

This place has continued to go downhill. If we weren't locked into a year long membership I would return to defy now skyzone. Urban air has amazing attractions which is what drew us in, but their leadership and culture is subpar compared to defy. Here's a few examples of the poor treatment and experiences we've been having at urban air. We go 2-4 times a week for months so it's not as if we are basing this off of one bad experience.

1.) My son was allowed to ride the zip line for weeks and then a different worker said no he's too short. Fair enough, but he is 6 and doesn't understand that. I let the manager know this was confusing and that their policies should be streamlined. She had an attitude with me, was rude to my child and told us to call corporate. Things escalated as they told me I also owed $380 for my son's birthday there because I had the wrong coupon code. I literally had to pull up their website for them and have them input the right code. I paid $50 extra dollars for a private room. It was covered in water stains if not mildew. There's no flooring in the private room either. The bathrooms are also often dirty and pack paper towels.

2.) They started charging for refills on their fountains drinks that are already very expensive in my opinion! Who charges a dollar per refill per person?! Unacceptable.

3.) We brought a friend with us whose 6 years old and was doing the high ropes course. He got stuck and I alerted the worked. Who rudely said, "wow already?" She whined every time he needed help. There's 3 of so nice workers there but most of them are rude and unhelpful. You often wait a long time for them to help or open attractions that you paid extra for.

4.) A child threw up in/by the ball pit and my adult friend and I had to continually alert staff until someone cleaned up the area. The balls were not changed out.

5.) Today there was a group of big boys breaking multiple park rules. A worker went over once or twice and they didn't listen. Workers did not enforce. They threw the bird and cussed out the 6 and 10 year old kids with me. The 10 year old came to me and said the workers here don't care. He's right. They don't.

6.) You are not valued or treated well here. This is probably the worst leadership and company culture I have seen.

Do better...

This play area is much smaller than I thought it would be, but it has more variety than Defy does. But that being said I do think a few things should be updated or changed. There is to many exits, the mall exit, the front door exit, the staff doors in back, and back by the bathrooms you don’t know where they go. It’s makes it uncomfortable to take your eyes off your kids for a second and when you have multiple kids that you’re trying to watch it can be uneasy.

They are understaffed they don’t have enough workers to have everything open (I realize this is a problem everywhere) but it is frustrating and I’m sorry but these teen workers need to learn to behave differently, the two girls at the desk were holding hands and acting weird while I’m trying to ask a few questions about the membership, I mean we are in a kids place after all respect your customers more and have better attitudes.

This place is dark in some areas like the kids play area where they climb in for the littles it could use a few more lights. It should be well lit and staffed because these are children inside this building, and I was very surprised at how rundown this place is after only being opened three years from what I was told, seems like it would be cleaner and newer still since it’s not very old.

We are giving it a try but because the prices are fair but I do not like feeling trapped for a whole year to stay at this place so if I need to call corporate, I will, but they should change the policy to maybe a three month or six months membership I don’t agree with them charging you for the whole year.

Also, just for the record I don’t think all their signs for the height requirements are correct they have two different 41 inches or taller signs and my son I know is 41 1/2 inches tall but for some reason he only shows the height on one of their signs the other sign by the rock climbing area he doesn’t show 41 inches or taller so that’s a bit irritating. And even though he is over 41” tall they will not let him do it because it’s a ultimate package item but why would I pay for that when he can’t do the other ultimate package item things it makes no sense...