Aviator Sports & Events Center — Attraction in New York

Do not underestimate what the good folks at Aviator Sports and Event Center can do: we just held our wedding there, and everyone had an absolute blast! I wanted a different kind of wedding, fun, memorable, kid-friendly -- but more low key/less fancy than a typical wedding, because black tie just isn't my style. I had attended nearly all the Riveters games at Aviator and was really impressed with the concessions, the beer selections, the atmosphere, and all the things there are to do. The parking is ample; the staff is friendly and helpful. They were open to our ideas/questions and were able to help us create an event that reflected who we are. We had guests with mobility concerns – but with the elevator and ramps and everyone could get around easily. Downstairs we had ice skating, basketball, an arcade, rock climbing, a sky jump, a flight simulator; along with a lovely bar and amazing buffet meal in a large private party space upstairs. The hospitality coordinator, Jenna Jones, is a dream to work with. She is a super smart, capable, on-point professional who handled with aplomb every single thing thrown her way. Jenna was on top of everything, anticipating problems or snags, answering questions, handling issues. She is an honest, straight forward, kind, always responsive, always considerate and thoughtful, respectful person who worked with us intimately to make sure the wedding went off without a hitch. Jenna's staff are amazing. All our guests raved about how nice, friendly, and sociable the employees were in every respect, whether it was servers during the cocktail hour upstairs or playing basketball with our guests or taking the kids down to the indoor soccer court to let them play and run around. Whether it was attending to a relative who needed help getting around or rounding up guests so everyone was there for the toast, they handled it nicely. We had our ceremony on the ice, and Jenna was excellent at helping us figure out just how to make it work, where everyone would sit, how the music would go off. We incorporated the scoreboard too which was a total hoot. We had ample time to set up our space the day before so everything was ready to go. Before we committed to Aviator as our venue, we needed to know if they could handle the food. Their concessions are great but this is a different type of thing, so we had questions about whether they could pull it off. We went for two tastings and were absolutely blown away by the quality and variety of what they have to offer. We had vegetarian/non veg options and could accommodate kosher guests; they were even able to get sushi in, along with sparkling cider and champagne for the toast. Everyone loved the food – it was exceptionally good. We got a meal much better than your typical wedding day rubber chicken/steak/fish/veg (make sure to sample the braised ribs and the risotto!). Our dinner was very tasty, filling, and high quality. Everyone asked if we'd had an outside caterer come in. Nope! The bar was great. It's so much more than your typical four or five beers; you can get 22 different kinds of beer, including multiple craft beers. To be clear: we did a lot of our event as a do it yourself thing to keep overall costs down, so we kept our décor simple and didn't have a dj or a band, but it didn't matter because the music was awesome too. One of the things I hate about weddings is when the music is so loud it makes you deaf. We were able to use our ipod/laptop and make a playlist, and they had it on at a great volume so that everyone could hear it but nobody's ear drums got blown out. Another thing to keep in mind, the facility was open to the public during our event but we didn't have a single problem. At the end, we walked outside and got lovely shots against a clear blue sky. Ours was a daytime wedding but I could easily see a fancier event working quite well, maybe a winter wedding with ice skating, or low lighting upstairs with string lights making it intimate and luxe. You could also hit the beach for pictures. In short: don't...

My three-year-old went to ONE Preschool Gymnastics class.

When we arrived, there was no introduction or orientation, despite it being our first session. The Director of Gymnastics, Jenn Dooley, was present but did not engage with me at all. The class had a very high student-to-teacher ratio, about twenty children and two teachers. Jenn and her co-teacher failed to manage the children effectively, not providing extra support to the younger ones who couldn't follow instructions as well as the older children. The class is for ages 3-4. The class eventually broke into groups with one group going with Jenn to the bars and the rest of the group, the younger group, going with the co-teacher, a black woman with braids. This teacher was not paying attention to the children, she was biting her nails, and looking at the ceiling while my child was able to run away into areas with no supervision. She was able to climb structures that she could’ve fallen off of. I intervened several times and redirected my daughter to ensure her safety. At one point, I called out directly to the teacher to point out that my daughter was wandering into another class, where the girls were doing jumps and someone could easily get hurt. Her lack of response was unhelpful and she was obviously irritated by our concerns. Shortly after, a third staff member was called onto the floor, presumably to help. Immediately after stepping into the gym area, she fake-lunged towards my daughter aggressively and threateningly, as if she was going to fight her. She led the group of 4-5 kids to the other side of the gym and stood there, not engaging them at all, while the other group was actually learning and working on the equipment. My child wandered off again towards an area where she was at risk of being hurt. Fed up, my husband intervened. When we tried to address the issue with the teacher, she cut us off and began to aggressively argue. She blamed our daughter for not listening, ignoring the fact that she is only three years old and that such behavior is expected at this age. She completely overlooked the lack of engagement from herself and the other teachers. Jenn did not offer any assistance throughout. These individuals should not be working with children if they do not understand children. Attempting to escalate the matter, I approached the front desk to inquire about who was in charge. However, Robert at the desk refused to provide any contact information for the owner or Jenn's superior, stating that only Jenn could provide that information. There was an evident disparity in attention and inclusion for my daughter and another BIPOC child, which starkly contrasted with the treatment of their Caucasian peers. This discrepancy suggests a troubling undercurrent of discriminatory practices within the staff, which, paired with the lack of clear organization and supervision, negatively impacts the children’s overall well-being.

The requirement for liability waivers, despite the lack of a structured gymnastics program and the employment of instructors ill-equipped to ensure participant safety, is perplexing. This approach seems particularly misguided given that Jenn and the General Manager have been in their roles for over a decade without establishing operational standards or safety protocols. It raises the question of whether complacency has set in due to Aviator's long-standing presence, or if there's a lack of engagement from the leadership and ownership in maintaining...

The place is absolutely horrible. Do Not send your child here for summer camp.

I registered my daughter for the summer camp and the new camp director kicked my 4 year out of camp after 2 days. All because she cried because she wanted to stay in the pool. After she was fine. The summer camp staff is completely inefficient. The new director Robert proceeded to tell me that my child needs special help. Special help because over one crying incident?! I was absolutely appalled because if that’s your reaction to a 4 year old then you really shouldn’t be anywhere near children. He then told me that they have an incident report and when I requested it, he refused to give it to me. So you calm to have an incident report about my child and you don’t want me to see it. Sounds very unlawful.

To make matters worse, I signed up for aviator camp through 1199 and Aviator attempted to bill 1199 for my daughter attending for the entire summer. When I tell you I would never recommend them to anyone. Two days in attendance and you try to bill for a whole summer. Honestly, I really should make a complaint to Gateway National Recreational because the service here was absolutely atrocious.

UPDATE - Based on Aviator response.

Aviator is obviously trying to save face in the public eye because they know their actions were absolutely uncalled for. Then they say they recommended 1:1 programming but tried to bill for the whole summer. My child couldn’t attend any other summer camp because of this, which was extremely inconvenient and flat out crazy. Maybe your staff is ill equipped because you employ high school student with no experience but I digress.

Then the lies. They never offered to let me or my wife view the report virtually; the director Robert refused to give us a physical copy. Why is that? We asked about the staff members involved? Oh they’re unavailable. I even spoke to one of the camp counselors and he said it wasn’t that serious. Sounds like aviator wanted free money.

1199 were quite shocked and their management had to get involved because they couldn’t believe what happened. They tried to help us find an alternative but guess what the issue was. Aviator continuing to bill when my child was not in attendance. Any place that is saying there were multiple incidences in a 2 day time span and kick out a 4 year old who doesn’t have any cognitive issues as your Director Robert implied, should not be allowed to supervise children. You should really be ashamed because your actions penalized a 4 year old for literally...