Andretti Thrill Park — Attraction in Melbourne

My daughter loves riding the go karts. When she was younger, like 5,6,7,8 years old, she was too afraid to try it. Now at 11 she loves racing her Dad. My only complaint is the other drivers. They (staff) don't give much consideration to the fact that there will always be those who enjoys bullying other drivers, and when that happens to my daughter and she gets pushed off course by another driver, it scares her. The staff is "usually" helpful in getting her back on course, but mostly they just ignore the bad drivers . There seems to be little to no consequences for those that don't play by the rules. Many times we've gone, there is always at least one ride inoperative. And let's talk about the price. I understand that pretty much everything in this county is over priced, hence the reason for so many businesses being closed, but $45 to $65 for a wristband to just ride go karts for a few hours? Unless I can find a good Groupon discount, we don't go. The arcade is plenty of fun, but also plenty expensive. I mean these games they have , have paid for themselves 5x over. You do get a $10 game card with certain wristband purchases, but that $10 is gone after 1 or 2 games. The laser tag upstairs is a separate charge, at least it's been that way when we've gone. And it's not cheap. And they don't explain anything to you so if you or your kids have never been or played before, it can be very overwhelming and confusing. The one employee who sits inside the laser tag area, literally just sits there. Not really ever experienced any helpful friendly staff, with the exception of an occasional male employee. The female employees are lazy and rude, unhelpful, and ... well unhelpful. It's a pretty laid back atmosphere, so if you're going here with little ones, you'll need to supervise them at all times. The one place we usually encounter the friendliest and most helpful staff is at the counter in the arcade where you cash your tickets in for merchandise. It doesn't happen as often as it did when my daughter was younger, but when she was under 8 years old, the staff at the merch counter always were good to her and if she was just a few tickets shy of what she wanted to purchase, they always just let her have the item . Now at 11, she sometimes stands at the counter for ridiculous amounts of time waiting for someone to help her. The concession, or mini cafe/restaurant on site is usually empty so no worries about finding a table to sit and eat at. The menu is limited of course, over priced of course, and like everywhere else, staffed by mostly young lazy irresponsible youngsters who make it obvious they hate their job, don't want to be there, and patrons are nothing but a hindrance to their socializing. On a positive note, place is always pretty clean, cool inside, and dark. They are pretty good at keeping most games operative. If they would focus more on the outside of the park, the rides, the putt putt, besides the go karts, it would be worth the money to spend an entire day there. But when the paddle boats and little roller coaster and even the ride that shoots you up, are out of commission more often than not, you're left with go karts and the little choo choo train. We've usually had to go hunt someone down to ask for the train ride, as they don't have anyone dedicated to just operating and monitoring the train that drives around the park. It's just a lot of work the customers have to do on their own and when you're paying on average $180 for a family of 3 wristbands for a few hours of play time, and additional money for arcade games or laser tag or high rope or food or vending, mini bowling, you'd think they would make sure you get your moneys worth and keep rides and events open, arcade games operating properly, and hire more "mature" caring responsible staff. If weather is sketchy, forget about most rides. Our family is the type that will pay out extra, for an enjoyable experience, ie., tip out everyone where accepted, and will continue to patronize the establishment regardless if we get a...

Tonight could have ended horrifically for my family. My husband, 9 year old daughter, and 13 year old daughter got on the drop and twist tower. My 9 year old is small, and seeing her on the ride didn’t sit right with me. She didn’t appear to be buckled in correctly, and none of the 3 teenage employees even checked that her belt was buckled. I said to the employee that I wanted her to get off the ride. They then proceeded to send the ride into the air WHEN SHE WAS NOT BUCKLED IN. She immediately began screaming and crying while my husband and I were screaming for them to stop the ride, that she is not buckled. The look for terror on her face was one I will NEVER forget. I can only thank god that and they were slowly lowered back down. Had it continued she could have died.

As if I wasn’t upset enough, the 17 year old female that hit the button to send them in the air immediately began screaming at me saying she didn’t know my daughter wasn’t buckled. Isn’t that her job to know?!?! The screaming got very intense, with one of the other employees holding her back from me. She was even pushing up against my 7 month pregnant sister in law trying to scream at me. I couldn’t believe what was happening. The employee holding her back kept saying “I told her to buckle.” While he was much calmer, there was no apology. No concern for the lift of my daughter that they put in danger. She’s NINE! You need to check buckles on everyone, especially children!!!!! I then asked for them to send the manager right away.

The manager did come and profusely apologize. I was told the female employee was fired on the spot and sent home. We were refunded our money and they did also say we could stay until closing for free. My daughter was so terrified of the ride, but wanted to stay and ride the go karts. I will say, against my better judgement, I let her ride the go karts two more times, but was so sick to my stomach that we ended up leaving after that.

While the manager was VERY nice and apologetic, and they are trying to right their wrong, there is clearly something wrong happening at this place. The other two employees continued to control rides through the night. It is not safe and the training is lacking. I don’t think they should have been fired with her, but immediate safety training!!! I am not looking for anything from this park, but I am hoping I can reach other parents and stop them from putting any young children on any rides at this park until they do some serious safety training. Don’t make the same mistake I did by going there, or you too will be up after midnight crying at the thought of...

We bought the $400 Champion package for my daughter. I am fully aware this place is a bit long in the tooth, but the staff and the rides have been generally good in the past. I was also fully aware that rain could be impending last weekend, which it did. I had discussed it with an agent before reserving and they had advised that if it rained management usually made up for it with more arcade or passes for later. I even mentioned "at least the kids will have the arcade, the VR, laser tag, and the overhead obstacle thing". They agreed. When we showed up, it of course was raining. The birthday room was pretty sterile. Two Luke warm Domino cheese pizzas. Not all the sodas you could drink but rather you pick a drink from the fridge for each kid. Beyond that, you're paying. Black painted wooden Park bench tables and seats, with basic plates and napkins. The staff were always very pleasant. No one ever mentioned rainy day passes but they provided full free play to the arcade, we couldn't collect tickets for the prizes though. So I am thinking no biggy. Not there fault it was raining. That was till I noticed the overhead obstacle was totally gone, a quarter of the games we could not play because of the ticket rule, a tenth of the games that met the criteria were out of order, and the remainder are all throw back retro to early 2000s. We made the best of it. Mostly my focus was making sure my daughter was having a good time. Afterwards, dust settles, I am still not feeling saited by the experience. Looking back, I feel this was at best an experience of $150. I contacted Andretti and voiced my grievance and requested a few future ride passes, not the full party of course. They were very pleasant and stated it seemed reasonable and would escalate to the GM to contact me back in 24 to 48. Three days later I had to follow up, today. Lady wanted to argue a bit, but would escalate to GM. I got a call back, but could not answer due to work. No vm. I called back and another person advised that the last lady would call back. Still waiting to hear back. Would I do this place again? Sure, but not a birthday. I have been there before and had lots of fun, on the rides. The birthday packages should be reevaluated or at least update the arcade. All images of the obstacle course should be removed. We could have had 4x the fun for half the price at a competitor (Rainy day that is). I give it a 3 because the staff were always pleasant and helpful. Update: As you can see they respond faster to a review than they actually do to the grievance, yet still have not offered to...