The Playground — Local services in Midland

It has been 5 years since I visited this business. I still feel uncomfortable driving past it.

When my rule-oriented, 47 pound, 8 year old Autistic child, pointed out that they were over legal capacity, they had a strong reaction.

I get it. The economy was cruddy and pandemic drama was stressful.

That did not justify an employee (who was also part owner) getting down in my child's face to say something like, 'How's it gonna feel to be the kid whose Mommy got kicked out of the Playground because you were harassing us??!!"

My elementary age child was not harassing anyone. He said, "Excuse me, you might want to know that there are too many people in the climber and nobody is wearing their masks."

Considering that they had laws about capacity and masking posted in the entryway, his comment was logical.

Small businesses really took a hit in 2020. The pressure was intense. That still doesn't justify the amount of unbridled rage that was directed at my family...particularly at young kids.

If there had been an apology or even a truce in the last few years, I wouldn't be writing this.

But instead, when I left a review on FB (back when it actually happened) I got messaged with more anger and accusation, saying I must want their business to fail.

That wasn't my goal. I'm not spiteful.

My goal was to raise awareness about their customer service so they could improve.

Maybe they did. I wouldn't know, because they scared my kids so badly that they have never wanted to go back.

We are looking forward to Midland Mall opening it's Playland. My youngest will still be young enough to enjoy it.

Because I Googled it, Google suggested I leave a review about this place. So.... I am sharing my experience.

It's not current and it may have nothing to do, with how they run things now. But I believe that we should be accountable for our choices, and I would still like to hear an apology for yelling in my child's face. Because that's just not good customer service.. and kids deserve to feel SAFE, in spaces that advertise themselves as...

My wife and I went here with our two kids (5 y/o and 21 months) and found it to be OK. On a cold and rainy day, it provides a place to take the kids to burn off some energy.

The issues we had with it relate to staffing and cleanliness. On the cleanliness perspective, the is NO area for mouthed toys so they can be properly cleaned and sanitized. Kids were placing the plastic toy balls from what would be a ball pit in their mouths and dropping them, and moving on. There MUST be a place that these items can be placed so they can be cleaned to limit the transmission of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease and other common childhood illnesses.

Staffing: On the day we went, the wide majority of the staff were only a few years older than some of the kids actually playing on the playground. Since, in Michigan, minors can be 14 and work, my suspicion is that most were around that age and they mostly tended to the snack bar. The Playground has two separate areas where kids under 18 months and under 3 years could play (bravo- excellent idea), except those areas often had children outside of those age brackets and the "staff" would be best utilized by supervising these areas to any degree for safety purposes. I stopped this when I saw it, but not all parents show the same courtesy, so this would be a great use of the staff.

For two children, we paid $16 on a weekday and were there for about 60-75 minutes. There is a snack bar with a variety of items you'd find in a Meijer (Frito-Lay brand potato chips, Kraft cheese sticks, pizza, juice boxes) and a selection of coffee drinks.

With some changes to their cleaning protocol and staff practices, we would consider returning. 3 out of 5 stars as the review...

Don't waste your time booking a party. We scheduled a birthday party at this outrageously expensive location and not only were we paying $430 for the party and food but we were told at the door that we couldn't have our cake and ice cream we had to choose one of the other. We obviously chose the birthday cake for our kids party and they said they would hang on to the ice cream until we left. We forgot and they never mentioned to grab the ice cream so I immediately called them once I got home that night and they didn't answer their phones of course don't have voicemails so I can't leave them a message. I messaged them on Facebook which they say is the most reliable way to contact them and they never bother sending me a message back I go in 11 days after my party and they let me know that they threw away my $25 worth ice cream that was brand new in the packaging because "everybody else leaves her ice cream here and they don't have room to store it". If they would have reply to the message I sent or answered my phone call they could have let me know on either one of those that after a week they throw the ice cream away even though it's brand new in the package never been opened. I'll be selling my gift card I was gifted because I I'll be selling my gift card I was gifted because I refuse to waste my time or energy with this place anymore. They don't deserve the business. Oh and just to add if you do have a party here and you run 10 minutes over they charge you $100 for every 10 minutes over you are past your time. It's in the contract in...