I have mixed thoughts on Urban Air in Waterbury. They have a lot for the kids to do which is great. We got memberships today and we will return, but we will see how it goes... overall I do think it will be a great spot for the kids to burn energy on a rainy day, so it’s worth it in my opinion to get a membership. They also get a slice of pizza with the premium membership so that’s cool too. I added my parent pass onto the membership to be with my boys which is fairly priced too, but if I need a break there were plenty of places to take a break which is good. But, with the atmosphere I highly recommend staying by your children and I’ll explain…

So what makes me unsure at this time. (Also we went on a Sunday, so average busy weekend give or take)

The age requirements in some areas versus other areas is weird and the strategy is questionable. The slides and playscape are large enough for full grown adults to be in but they want it to be almost like a toddler area? It doesn’t make sense because the steps and slides are definitely designed for older kids (and has handicapped signage as well which is confusing for my 11 year old special needs son that sees a fun slide and wants to go down it). My thoughts… remove the arcade and make a separate toddler play area with a small ball pit, a few small slides, STEM toys, and that would be a good spot where they’d be safer. Their current “toddler” area is ATTACHED to the structure for the zip line and obstacle course which is for those over 4ft tall which is obviously taller than anyone technically “allowed” in the playscape. Totally contradicting and confusing. Most staff we interacted with was pleasant, but they’re absolutely understaffed which made me feel guilty tbh. Because we’re there to have fun, but one person to these large areas meant to accommodate several guests at a time just isn’t ideal and no doubt stressful for staff. Major kudos to the young girl with tattoos working the zip line and obstacle course today. She deserves a pay increase, and she had patience for my son. I really appreciated her, she’s a gem. She was working the zip line, obstacle course, and securing guests in their harnesses by herself, moving up and down the course to help guests. I’ll likely look to see if I can leave a compliment for her on the website because she was putting in WORK! Which leads me to my next point… Why is one person doing all of that? Is that really to their standards of safety to have one employee for all of that? There should be at minimum two employees for that area. One securing harnesses on guests, and another loading guests onto the zip line or obstacle course.

Other areas… the foam pit, they were missing one of the batons for the “fighting” on the beam, one basketball hoop area was blocked off, laser tag was “available upon request,” and one person working solo for the kitchen. Also, by the giant “air bag” that you land onto from jumping off of the trampoline there were teenagers just totally abusing that area and using profanity. They were running from the far end of the fence, and jumping onto the air bag, and doing double flips off the trampoline onto the airbag, with staff standing by doing nothing with small children around. I can see how aggressive teens can ruin the family fun for those who bring their kids for healthy, active fun and the kids who are using the equipment as it was meant to be used. At some point, urban air will need to make a decision to have to create a public rule that parents can’t just drop off their teens. Amusement parks are doing it, and I don’t doubt that trampoline parks and arcades will have to follow along next for the safety of all. It was an accident waiting to happen and it takes away from their younger demographic.

I do recommend Urban Air but please hire more staff. Please credit the employee that was really working hard on that zip line/obstacle course today. And please instruct employees to remove teens from areas that take away from those who are using the equipment correctly.