District Kids — Attraction in Oviedo

UPDATE TO PREVIOUS REVIEW:

We went to Arcadia tonight to see the changes mentioned, and it was a much better experience all around!

Admission after 5pm was just $5 per person which is much more affordable for two hours of play.

The new platform steps around the water area allow kids of all sizes to play safely now, which is so great! There were many rugs that weren’t there before to keep kids from slipping, and the smocks kept the kids dry! Fantastic upgrades!

I’m so happy that we went back to give it another try! Highly recommend a visit!

PREVIOUS REVIEW:

I’ve been to Arcadia twice now with my four year old, and while both times were a fairly positive experience, there are a few areas they could stand to improve upon.

First, price. This place is very spendy because you don’t just pay for your child, you pay for yourself as well. If there were adult activities too, that’d make total sense to me. Seeing as there isn’t, and you are simply a spectator at this place, it’s too expensive unless you happen to come in when they’re running a special (which we did on our second visit).

Second, the water area is poorly planned and slightly dangerous. The water coats (even if you put them on with buttons in the back) do not keep your kid even remotely dry. The tables (save for one small side) are made at adult height. My kid is 44” tall and she has to stay on the small end or she can’t see over the table lip. With the taller tables making up two thirds of the entire area, it’s just wasted space no one under (roughly) age seven can see over. The worst part about this area though, is safety. There are only a few floor mats laid down, and they don’t cover enough of the floor. I saw four kids who were simply walking, not even quickly, slip and fall hard on their bottoms. Between the risk of injury, and the fact that it smells like mold over there, you’re better off avoiding it.

Third, when they have several parties at once, they take away the use of the bakery room and use it for party space. That’s one entire area you cannot use then, but your admission price is not adjusted. That may seem odd to expect that, but in a place as small as this is, and for the price they charge, it’s an entire area of entertainment lost.

Overall, even with those few issues, the place is cute. The kitchen area is by far the best ... I’d even call it darling. There is food, and costumes, and my daughter really enjoys that area.

The playground is cute, but it’s small, so when you have older kids roughhousing in it, it becomes a place that your smaller kid probably shouldn’t play. If it was easier to retrieve your child from the structure, it would be different, but once they’re in there, there are areas parents just can’t climb on.

The construction area has several fun things to do (tools and building wise), there is a rug with cars and buildings for very little kids to feel included too, and the veterinarian office is adorable with an exam table and lots of animals to treat!

While this isn’t a place I could see purchasing an annual pass for ($199 to come anytime is a lot of money when there are limited activities), when they have specials, it’s worth it to visit. Best of all, they’re open til the mall closes so you have a place for kids that isn’t shut down at 6 on weeknights if you need to burn some more energy...

I want to like this place because it has really awesome potential but I just.. can’t. I will say there are a few pros and of course cons. Let’s go over the pros first- The prices have lowered significantly since first opening which is wonderful! The price is $10, which it should have been the entire time, adults do not need to pay for entry only kids which is so great and again should have always been like this because adults aren’t even playing it made no sense to charge adults but glad that is fixed, there are so many really cool tings to look at/stuff to do here, they have great durable Melissa and Doug toys, really cool different sections to give you something new to do every couple of minutes, they have a great little jungle gym area with a little bit of balls, lots of seating for adults, overall the kids loved it. Now let’s talk about the cons- My main number one comaplaint is how dirty this place is I mean honestly I don’t think this place has been cleaned since they first opened years ago all the toys are sticky and dirty absolutely need to be cleaned ASAP it is not sanitary I cleaned my hands with hand sanitizer about 50 times after leaving because I didn’t think it was enough. There is a “dirty bucket” for toys in every play area but I am not understanding that? Do they only clean the 4 toys out of the houdreds of toys there, very dirty! It was also muggy and just did not feel clean, it’s super dark inside not much lighting, the area is very very very small and seems everything is packed in together, water damage all across the ceiling wonder how much mold is in the building around all the babies/kids, there is not an age limit it seems babies and 10 year olds are all packed in together, the water table is no longer there so there is kind of just a random big area of nothing there, the place is a mess the toys were all thrown on the ground and nothing had the proper place for anything I had to start cleaning all the rooms because it was such a mess it was stressing me out and I don’t even work there, the workers sat on their phone not doing anything. Overall great concept and I could see how this place could have been fun but just not worth it even though the price did decrease and could almost be worth it, with all the cons it’s just not worth it. Go check out...

Took my almost 2 year old and it was too expensive for the experience. I’ve been to a couple kids museums in a couple different cities so I was expecting something similar with this one, but it was disappointing.

The prices were expensive for such a small “museum,” and some of the areas were really for older kids (the Ball pit/jungle gym thing and the water area was too tall for my kid)

the learning aspect of the areas was kinda lame like the gas station area had some of those electric kid cars that were just the shells of the cars which were tethered to the ground (which is fine, but it takes away the interactive component when the noises and lights are disabled)

This may just me being nit picky...but with other kids museums, the expectation was for kids to be kids. It was gonna be safe but also a little crazy and messy as kids explored and played with things while learning and the museums were structured to accommodate those things. But this place had a lot of rules for the kids, like cleaning up after they played in an area. I get that that is an important life skill, but when a kid is in a play environment and the parents paid too much to be there, those signs were kinda annoying. Never saw any signs like that at any other kid museums. And the floor in the water area was real slick when it got wet. Again, like wet = slick, duh, I get that but other museums have floors to accommodate kids getting water everywhere without it being excessively slippery.

The girl behind the counter was pleasant to us and she did a good job answering questions.

Could be enjoyable for older kids, but it wasn’t worth it...