DEFY Raleigh — Attraction in Raleigh

This place is definitely not equipped to handle children with special needs! First of all I booked a birthday party here after speaking with Josh who assured me they would be able to make reasonable accommodations for my son the day of his party. After speaking with the staff further and Carolyn the party coordinator I was told that couldn’t happen. All we requested was to have the music lowered and allow the parents of the children to aide them if needed with jumping. Carolyn was very rude and condescending and obnoxious!!! She even stated they don’t really get kids with special needs or work with them! She also had no clue what ADA accommodations were!! This was surprising because she works at the corporate office! I had to beg to get a return call from Chad the GM after several unreturned phone calls. Once we connected he assured me our reasonable accommodations could be made. The day of the party was very unorganized. The party host never came to greet us or help with the items we brought. The lines were extremely long trying to check in to a party for our son. I explained he was unable to wait in long lines and they had to get someone to get our party host. The music was on full blast not adhering to our agreement!! It stayed that way!! I even think it was louder than the day I booked the party!! Later on in the party room my husband was approached about needing to cover an “extra person” that didn’t exist!!! We prepaid when we checked in. Very tacky and in front of our guests. I asked the party host to address this outside the room please. She advised me it was coming from the front desk. It turns out one of the children brought a sibling we didn’t receive an rsvp for. I told her 2 children had not shown up and my husband prepaid for them so just put that child in that slot. So it turned out we really should have gotten a refund for one child! This place has zero customer service!! I also had to call today to get the tshirt we paid for in the birthday package. I was told “they forgot” to give it to my son. Stay away if you have children with special needs clearly they are not wanted or respected! They don’t understand their little waivers they gave you to sign do not protect them from...

I am writing to express my disappointment and concern regarding an experience my husband had at DEFY on August 26th. I had previously visited and told him how wonderful the staff was and how enjoyable the event had been. Unfortunately, his experience was the complete opposite — leaving him feeling discouraged and discriminated against.

From the start, my husband informed the associate at the front desk that he is deaf. Rather than showing understanding or support, she rolled her eyes — an unprofessional and dismissive reaction that immediately made him feel unwelcome.

Once inside, he supervised our two young children (both under 5), one of whom has a serious medical condition that requires constant monitoring. We are fully aware of and respect DEFY’s safety policies, and my husband ensured he was always closely supervising both children. All individuals had grip socks on as well. Despite this, staff repeatedly approached him, asking him to separate the children and making him feel micromanaged — all while offering no assistance or engagement with the children themselves.

This constant pressure made the visit uncomfortable for our entire family. My husband felt unfairly targeted and treated as if he were doing something wrong, simply for being a responsible parent — all after disclosing his hearing impairment. As a result, our children were unable to enjoy themselves, and what was supposed to be a rare and special vacation day.

I would like to understand if this is standard policy for how guests, particularly those with disabilities, are treated.

I respectfully requested a refund with the business as the experience fell far below expectations and made our family feel unwelcome and unsupported; however,...

I surprised my three boys and brought them to Defy Raleigh this morning. We got here at 9:15. Before we left the house at 830, I had checked their website because I thought i had heard there was a toddler time but wasn’t sure. I wanted to make sure we could start jumping pretty early. All it says on the website is that they open at 9. I get here like I said about 9:15 and bought three groupons. After I did that, the girl says that we can’t start jumping until 10 because it’s only 6 and under. We go back and forth about it for a few and I say look can you just start our time at 930 and if a little kid comes in, I will have my 8 year old sit out. I mean what are the chances now at 930 that someone else will come in. She said people ALWAYS do. I cannot explain how this girl acted towards me. I was on the verge of tears. She refused to let them start at 930 together. And guess what, no one else came in. So, finally we can go in and the “trapeze” and “swing” attraction is not in service. This is my 6 year olds favorite thing to do and they absolutely couldn’t do anything about it. Why the heck do they not tell people this BEFORE they pay!!! All of this!!! It’s a bunch of young kids running this place. The two guys are pretty nice. We booked large field trips last summer with my kids preschool but will not be anymore. I cannot express what a disappointment this has been. The girl who was horrible said she was one of the managers... (The young man named Elijah was extremely nice)

Edit- just wanted to say that the general manager was very kind and we went today and had an awesome time. I went up from one to three stars. I didn’t go up more just because of how our original...