Fast Lane Entertainment — Attraction in Lowell

My review of the Fast Lane and the experience is long over due. I've been preoccupied having fun as FUNcle Andrew that I've neglected my duties as uncle. Anywho... one day, we adults (sometimes I'm included in the group and sometimes I'm not, lol!) convened and decided to celebrate my nephew's 4th birthday at Fast Lane. Since it would be the first time either he or I had gone to Fast Lane, I was equally as excited to give him the news as he was in receiving it. My sister, her mother-in-law, and my mother were in charge of organizing and coordinating the event with Fast Lane party planners. At the time, I was unaware of what the organizing/planning aspect would be like. Nonetheless, they got the job done, and done very well. Upon arriving at Fast Lane the afternoon of my nephew's party, we were met by one of the party planners who was expecting us. Following her lead, we bypassed the long snaking line of people waiting to pay for admission, and were fast tracked to a party nook across from Cosmo's Corner where we had to wait just a moment as the final touches to preparation of our party room were completed. This provided an opportunity to ask about the degree of frustration and stress planning this party caused her. I was shocked to hear her say none whatsoever. It just involved telling the planner what type of party, the desired process of events, and time frame. However, she did add there were some planning difficulties, such as predicting how many attendees and deciding on what activities to include. That made me chuckle, but I stopped laughing once her response of "what activities to include" permeated, then asked her to elaborate. She simply handed me a Fast Lane swipe card. From the beffuddled look upon my face, she said play whatever game and do whatever you want with that card except lose it. Just about that time a party planner informed my sister that our room was ready and would wait while we gathered our things to lead us in. With everything and everyone gathered, we all followed the party planner like a heard of sheep, not knowing our final destination (all except the three ladies who planned the party). Well we didn't follow for long as our party room was Cosmo's Corner! Conveniently located before entering is a desk to rent your bowling shoes. Once we were all inside, they closed the doors letting the kids the be as loud as we would allow. About 15-20 after the doors were initially closed, an army of waiters entered and took everyone's food and drink orders. In what felt like 2 minutes all drinks arrived, quickly followed by appetizers and inquiries for refill/another round. The waiters came by every 10-15 minutes to check on us during the hour or 2 we had Cosmo's Corner. The service provided was outstanding! Our servers were incredibly nice, extremely patient, and even playful with the kids. After eating and bowling, we returned to the same party nook we were led to just after arriving. To everyone's surprise, especially mine (again all except for the three ladies who planned it) my nephew's birthday cake, a cake I had the bakery design, and was to guard with my life (which I failed miserably to do) was already prepared and presents neatly stacked. Sneaky sneaky Fast Lane! I also failed to caprure a variety of moments during my nephew's party. Probably because I was being a kid myself. But I did manage to capture his expressions while blowing out the candles!! Lol!! Once those who wanted cake had some, and the gifts opened. It was game time!! The folks at Fast Lane had prepared reloadable cards for us. WoW! I've written a novel, and will end with a quick wrap up. I couldn't ask for a better first experience, and highly recommend allowing Fast Lane to take care of the next birthday party for a little one in your life. Combining the arcade time with laser tag and indoor go karts along with bowling, great food, and phenomenal services, I don't think another place exists that could come close to adding up, or much less even be comparable to Fast Lane and...

Rating 2 stars because of the manager and curly haired server guy who was very polite or it would be 1 star.

Usually our experiences are pretty good at this location, but this time was just terrible. The food was wrong when it came out, but at least they had the decency to fix and apologize for the experience. Being short staffed is a very understandable reason to make mistakes and the food / serving staff was very personable.

The short haired bartender was AWFUL! Not only was she standing at the bar with a customer saying she hates her job and doesn't get paid enough ( hopefully the other place you mentioned will give you an attitude change) , but when I asked for my ticket, she made drinks for 12 OTHER GROUPS! Not people, whole groups that came to the bar. When my husband asked her again for my tab, she told us 'Sorry, I was really trying to get to you before you asked me again. I'm just really busy.' Sorry, but my tab was not small and I can see why she does not get paid well.

Hoping to end the night off on a good note, myself and my 5 group members decided to do laser tag. Bought 2 games and went in with high hopes. The guy running laser tag asked us what teams we wanted. I said we wanted 2 v 2 v 2 and then whatever the other 3 people were cool with. My husband made a joke about 'How many teams can we have'. The guy got an attitude and said he's just gonna make the choice for us and do a free for all to which myself and my group said that's not what we wanted. 'You guys can do that in the next game' is how he responded ... I'm sorry, what?? He then tells us that we're all adults so he shouldn't have to explain how to play laser tag and then sent us in. My husbands vest didn't work the entire game and when he went to ask for help, the guy was nowhere to be found. My toes got smashed and bloodied by the other group that was running through the halls in the room. So when the round was over and we walked out angry, my husband had already made his way to the very nice manager on duty to explain the series of events. As we walked out, the guy had asked what my husband's 'problem' was to which I told him what had taken place, his only response was 'What, did you need a bandaid?'

Thank God for the nice blonde manager guy who graciously listened to my groups ramblings of what had happened and refunded our laser tag game. I really wanted better since we come here so often and it's good to know not everyone who works here is rude as hell. Although our problem at the end was fixed, it still needs to be put out what had happened so some changes might be made or in the least, some attitudes adjusted. Hopefully it will be...

I visited with my 3, 7, and 9-year-old, and while my kids managed to have fun, the experience was frustrating due to poor service and lack of management oversight.

From the moment we walked in, there was confusion. No signage, no greeter, and no clear instructions on how things worked. When I asked a worker about VR, laser tag, and the roller coaster, they didn’t know and had to call a manager. I was directed to the bowling alley desk, but there were no prices or explanations—just assumptions that we were there for bowling (we weren’t). The whole process felt like pulling teeth to get basic information.

Issues continued with ride policies. We were told my 3-year-old could ride the roller coaster with my 9-year-old, but at the ride, another worker said an adult had to accompany the 3-year-old. There was also only one worker running the roller coaster and bumper cars, which meant long waits. We tried riding bumper cars, but they were “charging” for over an hour. Even when they were ready, we waited again due to poor communication.

The playground was a bright spot—my kids loved it—but I noticed families using it without paying because no one was monitoring wristbands or the gate. The indoor roller coaster was just okay, with three loops and done. It made my kids smile but wasn’t worth a repeat.

The food was subpar. My pretzel had no salt, and when I asked for some, they brought out a plate of loose salt 5 minutes later. Nachos were overloaded with jalapeños, making them too spicy for kids.

The VR experience was the worst part. After waiting for assistance that never came, we had to ask multiple workers to get it set up. When it finally started, the wrong game (zombies) was selected for my 7-year-old, who spooked easily and ended up screaming. No worker was around to fix it. The manager eventually stepped in and offered a refund, but I just wanted the correct game to work. Even then, controllers didn’t function properly, and another worker clearly lacked training. After repeated frustrations, I accepted the refund.

The highlight of the night was the arcade worker. My son lost a big ball in the claw machine, (it bounced out of the retrieval slot) and the worker kindly retrieved it for him. Later, he guided us to win another ball, which made my kids’ night.

While the facility has potential for a fun family outing, the lack of trained staff and disorganized management ruins the experience. The offerings are great in theory, but the execution is a major disappointment. I wouldn’t return unless service improves...