Valley Lanes Family Entertainment Center — Local services in Midland

Visited this place years ago and still think about the incident that occurred to this day. When I was in high school, I went to this arcade with two of my friends and one of their older sisters. We played mini golf and that was fun so we decided to stay and play in the arcade. We each spent a pretty decent amount of money and there was one machine that took several tokens but wasn’t working. We tried multiple times and tried pushing every button but it just took our tokens and wouldn’t let us play. So, we decided to go to the front desk and ask for help.

After we told the staff what happened they immediately started getting hostile with us. We tried to explain again and just said we weren’t looking for anything additional we just wanted our tokens that we paid for back or to see if they could fix the machine. Then they (man and woman, don’t remember many details about them but the woman was the main aggressor) started full volume yelling at us, calling us thieves, telling us to get out or they were going to call the cops. At this point the older sister joined to see what was going on and de escalate the woman. She just kept saying we were stealing tokens. We tried to ask how that would even be possible because the only way to get tokens is to pay for them. Then she said she saw us (on the opposite side of the building we were at) stealing tokens from a machine. We kept telling her that didn’t happen and to check the cameras but she just kept screaming at us accusing us of stealing. This was seriously like 20+ mins of her yelling at 16 yr olds and we were NOT “cool, rebellious” teens causing a lot of chaos we were all nerdy kids who’d cry if they didn’t make honor roll (not that she’d have a right to treat children that way anyway.) So we seriously didn’t care about the tokens like 5 mins in, we were literally just trying to defend ourselves.

Edit: Called my mom to ask if she remembers me talking about this and she reminded me that after all of the screaming we gave up and wanted to leave but they wouldn’t refund us for the tokens we had left and we were broke teenagers so we didn’t want to waste our money so we tried to spend the rest before leaving. Both employees left the counter to follow us around the entire arcade, just constantly glaring at us and making snide remarks.

It was humiliating, disgusting, and quite frankly, traumatizing to have experienced that. I wish we would’ve tried to hold her accountable when it all happened, but we just wanted to erase it from our minds. So despite the fact that nothing can be done now, if that lady or any of the bystanders happen to be reading this I truly hope you all have the lives...

Amazing Find! Took my 3 year old and 9 year Old sons and they had the best time. My 1st comment when walking in and looking around to my 9 year old son was, I had not seen him that happy and excited at an attraction since he was younger and we went to Disney World! He said, mom this is my place, this is all the things I love to do. It instantly made dad and I pumped to know we found somewhere perfect to go do. Inside mini golf, course is 18 holes, has pirate theme and even small waterfall and you go inside/under the cave for one hole. It’s not huge but it’s way bigger than you would imagine for an inside mini golf. To my kids it was huge. Laser Maze, you go in and have to step over and crawl under the laser light beams and get to one end then back, they let u put ur email in and send you the video of your attempt (FREE)! The bumper spin cars were the best! We did it twice, 5years and up can drive alone, totally safe -/ strict mom here and trust me it’s safe. My husband had our 3 yr old on booster seat with him buckled in and he loved it. It was 3 bumper carts that you drive around and when u bump a certain spot on their rubber bumpers it sends u spinning so they laughed when mom would get it, and you get to jam to good loud music during ur turn and it was a blast! So much to do, laser tag was off the charts, you go inside a two level huge area that is all black lights and neon stands and have on a laser vest and gun to try to find each other. My 3 ur old got to play, with mom walking with him, my kids were in heaven. Best place to go as a family inside in northern MI I swear! Also a huge amazing bowling alley, with updated technology at each lane, escape rooms (takes one hour to complete-we didn’t have time), and the arcade room is HUGE! The games were all $1 each but the games are all higher quality games and worth the cost. They have cards you buy and get bonus play cash so worth doing when you get there. Plus we ate at their bar/restaurant that’s inside with it, good food, chic strips, hot wings, bar food and kids food options available. So parents can even get a drink while inside with kids watching (just can’t drink in game rooms), if they choose. We are booking bday parties for my kids this year there, we are going back next week with entire family. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED...

They have done a lot to this place to keep it updated. They have added a lot of new things to do, its just a shame the building isnt bigger so some things could be more substantial, but its good enough, and it's the only place in Midland like this.

The putt putt is a little disappointing unfortunately, it seems to be the only thing that hasn't been kept up. I used to go there 10 years ago and it was much nicer back then. Everything looks extremely dusty, specially all the fake trees. The greens are worn, the water was low and the waterfall isn't used anymore. If it was more dimly lit and the waterfall was still used it would help a lot and make it feel much less dated and dirty and help with the overall feel. It seems like they changed something that really kills the feel it used to have, whether it's the lighting, the music that seems to kill the realism of the atmosphere, or the way the ceiling is just white tiles and not painted like everything else. It's hard to put a finger on what is different now. Bottom line is it has that feel that it used to be great but it's really run down. It's relatively cheap, but two people can play all 18 holes in less than a half hour.

Besides the putt putt, this place is great though, and the putt putt isn't too bad if you are new to it and don't remember how much better...