Funtopia — Attraction in Naperville

Just hosted my son’s bday party at Funtopia Naperville yesterday and I have to say was the worst experience ever. As a mom of 2 kids ages 6 and 9 I can say I have hosted and attended many parties at different venues and had never had such an experience. First, after you walk through the door on a busy Saturday afternoon they only have one girl as a cashier, creating a very long line. A lot of my guests were late because they were stuck in line without nobody from Funtopia around to let them know that they didn’t have to wait in line and tell them we’re to go. Second, the party room was HOT, apparently they don’t have air conditioning? Also, the room was rundown, the ceiling had obvious water damage, the sink was broken and there was a big piece of ripped off carpet on the counter. Third, I had a party for 21 children and I was provided with ONE hostess who seemed totally and completely OVERWHELMED. she walked in with like 10 harnesses so had to keep going back to get more. The process took a very long time, and this was time that turned out was included in the hour of play time so my kids only had 40 min instead of 60 min. I asked for more time and they agreed but by then they had already called the kids back to the party room a lot of the kids had returned and taken their harnesses off. The kids were asked to watch a tutorial video right before they go in the play area but the place was so loud no one heard anything. Fourth, she made us wait in the hot party room for like 10-15 min while she brought the pizza (wouldn’t it have been better to let the kids play a little longer if the pizza was gonna take so long????). Fifth, If I had known that they had no utensils to serve the pizza I would have happily brought some. The pizza Was not cut all the way through and they didn’t have anything to cut it or serve it with and our host would not help in the process either. Luckily some parents had stayed and they helped us rip off the pieces of pizza with our bare hands and with some plastic spoons/ forks (no, they don’t have plastic knifes either) and put them in plates and distribute them. Sixth, if you knew that I have a party with 21 kids why wouldn’t you bring enough plates and napkins from the get go?. She had to be coming back-and-forth bringing more plates and napkins every five minutes. She would bring like five plates and napkins at a time. It was ridiculous. Luckily I had brought some extra plates and napkins and we ended up using those because our hostess kept disappearing. What saved the day was that the ninja course and the climbing walls are actually awesome and the kids ended up having a lot of fun. My husband and I and the parents that stayed were all horrified at the terrible service and the heat in the party room but the kids had a great time. I can’t believe I spent about $550 on this party. Fist...

Had a horrible experience and I will not be back. It took 1hr from the time we arrived to the time my children were harnessed. My reservation was at 2:30, I arrived 15 minutes early (as instructed) and the line was out of the building. Everyone around me had a 2:30 reservation, so why take that many reservations if you clearly can’t handle that? When I arrived There was 1 employee checking people in, by the time I made it to the front of the line there were 3. There were no employees managing the huge, confused, line. After people waited a good 30 minutes, they came on intercom to say they are booked for the day and no walk-ins will be allowed. They have to find a better, more efficient “reservation” system. If you know you are full or are expecting a big crowd at a certain time, have more employees at check in/harness area. Have staff manning the crowd and communicating with customers. I felt like we were at the airport and flying Spirit. It was that chaotic. I get that it was Winter-Break and I was using a Groupon (like everyone else), but prepare and manage your busy times.

After “check in”, we stood in a line of about 75 people to get harnessed. also I was not told where to go after check in, thankfully another customer told me where I needed to go. It was so disorganized and chaotic. The most alarming part of check-in was that our waivers were not checked AT ALL. They didn’t look up my kids names and had no idea if I completed the waiver or not. I also had to ask at the point of harness how everything worked. I would think it should be on the employees to interact with parents and ask the parents/kids if they know how the harness/latch system works. It should not be on a first time customer, especially after waiting an hour to just get in the door. Or have a 1-2min video (like laser tag) that shows parents how it works.

By the time my children were harnessed, they only were able to play for 45minutes. They were jipped 15minutes. I noticed many employees standing and talking to each other and not helping the kids with their latches. I thought the crowd and lines for check in was due to not having proper staffing, however there was plenty of staff...they were all standing around and talking to each other. I had 4 kids, ages 5-9, I was running all over the place. I would recommend 1 adult per 2 kids unless kids are over the age of 12. This place does not offer any leisure time for parents.

Although the climbing walls and ninja course was fun, we will not be back. I would never pay what their normal admission is (way overpriced) and using Groupons they can’t handle the volume....

Overall, it was a decent place to explore but with the height restrictions, limited options for smaller children, non-attentive staff and the lack of cleanliness, it’s not worth a membership.

I brought two five-year-old children to burn off some energy. We purchased passes and signed the waiver online to expedite the check-in process. There were coat racks and lockers to store outwear and personal items you don’t want to carry around. There were two-ish tables for guests to enjoy snacks purchased. I say two-ish because there were four smaller tables pushed together to make two tables and depending on size of party, several families could share that space although it’s bench seating. There was toilet tissue on the floor in the ladies restroom, and we made several trips in there during our nearly four hour visit, and it didn’t get cleaned up. One of the trash cans either didn’t have a bag or the bag wasn’t checked and changed out because a blue slush spilled all over the floor. I saw several employees walk past the waste and not one bothered to clean it up or even put a wet floor sign by it, so I grabbed a wet floor sign I saw hanging out and put it near the spill. By the time we left, the spill still wasn’t cleaned up.

There are a lot of hand sanitizer stations around the facility but all but one we attempted to use was empty. Why bother having them if you aren’t going to refill them?!?!?

Several of the climbing walls had lights but none of them worked🤦🏽‍♀️

There were at least 5 different parties happening from the time we arrived to the time we left, so the number of kids in the facility was up and down. With two smaller kids, I appreciated when there were fewer big/older kids so the littles could climb and slide.

Speaking of slide, the person working that station didn’t do anything to maintain control, establish order or ensure all who wanted to slide could do so. Older kids would come down and give there jumpsuit to a friend instead of some of the other kids standing in a line. And the jumpsuits did not fit the smaller kids. There should be jumpsuits to accommodate the minimum height allowed.

The walls had labels so that you could see the fear, speed, skill, and power levels. The faculty was well lit and colorful. The walls all had a yellow marker so that kids knew where they needed to stand to wait their turn.

We paid $30 for a day pass, water, two slices of pizza...