Billy Beez Bay Plaza Mall — Attraction in New York

I hosted a birthday party at the Billy Beez at the Bay Plaza Mall on June 11th for my daughter’s 9th birthday. We rented the party room, in which we were granted only 90 minutes in, then unlimited access to the Billy Beez center. We (husband and I) ran into a series of issues when booking this party. Firstly, we were given a number to contact the hostess for party inquiries, but the employees at Billy Beez do NOT answer the phone. We had to travel in person on multiple occasions to get our questions answered regarding our party. Each time we arrived, business was slow. I could understand not answering calls if they were busy, but it was a weekday - most kids are in school.

The day of the party we were told to get there an hour earlier than our scheduled time to fill out paper work, but they would not let us in. What is the point in telling people to come an hour prior to their party time? We were left waiting to be let inside with cake and decorations for an hour.

Our party was for 2:45, and we weren’t allowed inside until 2:30, but didn’t get in until a little after 2:45 because another party was occupying the room. We ended up having to decorate around the guest sitting in the event room to make up for lost time.

We also communicated with the hostess, Gabriel, the day before (as we had to go in person to get in contact with him) that we have our own decorations for the party theme and that we will like them to be set up instead of Billy Beez decor. He assured us that it would not be an issue, but he did not follow through the day of and we had to set up our own decorations ourselves, which bled into our 90 minute party time.

Once the party started, the hostess, Gabriel, barely checked in on us. My husband stepped out on multiple occasions to ask for assistance in the party room, at some point he began grabbing the drinks himself. There was no air conditioning inside, the pizzas were $20+ a pie and were all burnt, and when it was time to cut the cake, they didn’t have a cake knife to give us. We had to use a cake server to try to cut the cake and struggled.

Once our time slot was up, the kids played around the center. Around 7pm, we heard several loud thuds, saw smoke and people fleeing from the entrance/exit way. People were shouting “gun!”, and “fire!”

In a panic, we grabbed our child and her friends and ran to the exit. Everyone inside were in a frenzy, we were practically stampede on. Turns out, two children were fighting that led to the Fathers of these children fighting and it caused a huge scene. In the light of the current shootings, we were completely terrified! If we hear someone has a gun, we’re not staying to ask questions. My daughter and her friend could not stop crying, and it ultimately ruined her birthday party. The employees / security at Billy Beez did nothing to prevent this/ deescalate the situation. The fight should’ve been broken up once the parents began arguing, but they only stepped in once it got physical. To top it off, my phone was stolen! During all of that panic, as everyone is fleeing the scene to safety, someone thought to rummage through my things and steal my phone.

So much money spent/wasted (about $700) just for my daughter to be traumatized in the end. We spoke to Billy Beez employees and they were of no help. They told me that there are no cameras on the inside play area, only the entrance/exits. That is bad business, there are kids there, cameras should be everywhere!

My phone was never found, my daughter’s birthday was ruined, their customer service is terrible. There was no apology, no compensation- nothing. My husband and I even tried reaching out to customer service with no prevail. They do not answer emails or phone calls. I do NOT recommend hosting your child’s party here, they are incredibly unprofessional and it is not safe for...

WHAT. A. TOTAL. DISASTER!!!!

I booked this party April 20th online (deposit was taken out SAME DAY) for a June 4th party day...after not hearing anything from the store I called them on May 10 to find out why I hadn't received a contract or my invitations. For an entire a week I COULD NOT get a hold of anyone in the store. when I finally would get a hold of someone there I was asked for manager and then I would just get put into voicemail. I ended up calling the Palisade store (apparently the corp office) (what a joke) Palisade store said they would call the manager and have someone call me... I had to call Palisade FOUR times before I was able to get a call back. in-between all my calls I trying to find alternative place but at this point everything was booked. This took another week to get someone on the phone. Finally I get the manager Ms. Glorimar Alvarez who ensured me that everything will go well the day of the party. After a whole month of frustration and the back and forth that I trusted in Ms. Alvarez word that it will go well and promised us the Billy Beez character at not no charge. I showed up at Billy Bez 11:4 for a 12:15 party to find out that they had NO record of my party!!!!! Lucky I was able to pull up the contract on my phone. The person checking the parties told me that she had no party rooms available till 3:30pm!!! This was a party for toddler and that was UNACCEPTABLE!!!

Alley one of the employees came to our rescue and made the 1:15 party room available for us. There was no record of the character visit but she made sure that he visited the room.

At party check in anyone who says they are with your party they just check them in without confirming with you if they are guest or not... and that is UNACCEPTABLE for $30 per child. Especially if they didn't eat pizza or play in the area.

The manager Paul was asked to stop by the party room and he NEVER CAME BY TO apologize or listen to our complaint.

The party hostess was aloof and barley in the room... she brought in the pizza, served it and then disappeared. I had to clean off table of dirty plates. after of about 20 minutes of kids getting restless in the room, I had to go find her for matches to sing happy birthday which I had to set up myself.

I do have to say that it was pretty clean for the time that I was there from 12pm - 3pm.

Thank you to the Billy Beez employee Alley who helped me ge through this nightmare of a place!!!!

WHAT A TOTAL NIGHTMARE!!!! DON'T DO IT TO YOURSELF AND BOOK THIS PARTY AT THE BILLY BEEZ PAYPLAZA...

I’m giving this place 2 stars for 4 reasons.

Adult/parent entry fee is ridiculous. Obviously I’m not going to expect ANYONE to supervise my child better than myself yet these EMPLOYEES AREN’T SUPERVISING. They just stand there at the entrance and get upset for guiding you through the consent and payment process which is ALL THROUGH QR scan Link. They don’t even monitor the cameras and really protect their customers. A family had some belongings stolen from them when I first arrived and one of the employees seemed bothered by the customer addressing their issue to report it.

Not only that but I am a 25 year old mom. I went through all the obstacles and fun play of this place but it’s severely lacking on damage repair nor does it seem like they report it for maintenance. Some of these areas have “strong” linen fabric like texture quite literally being the “floor” when high above in the air past the soft stairs of this big jungle gym. These linen fabrics are breaking and shredding apart like when your bookbag strap tears apart and it starts unraveling. As other reviews show some pictures of broken area of wear and tear this can be a dangerously risk to your children. I’m more upset I didn’t take any pictures of what I’m addressing but these reviews are telling the truth. And the food “court” was not open, nor did the employees wanted to go and back their and ring up the cash register for food purchases.

I just wanted my son to have a good time, clearly he did but I wasn’t feeling it being that it threatened his safety.

This please needs a high evaluation from the district or the main head quarters of this company. To even think I wanted to reserve this place for his birthday. With 3 adults and 3 children the price was ridiculously high. We had to pay over $100 and more with tax!!

AND NO EMPLOYEE CARES FOR FOLLOWING THEIR JOB POLICY GUIDELINES?!?!

I don’t care if I sound like a Karen. These young adults (and I’m 25 yrs old as stated before) these people work here and do nothing!!! They just clock in and get paid to stand there and move the entrance bar and tell you welcome. THATS IT.

It’s a rip off— as is everything that’s targeted for children. I hope to see this place in better shape but Bay Plaza seems like a ghost town itself. It might shut down like all abandoned...