We headed out to Medina’s far east side again near the corner of Route 18 and I-71 for my nephew’s Birthday party today. All the kids had a great time. As this is not my first trip to Amazone, I’ve learned what to expect from their employees and all about the employee training process setup by the management and ownership. Can I use the word ABISMAL? I wrote a nice article about Amazone a few years back when I was writing on About.com- I’m now jaded.
Child Safety at Amazone
Amazone has one of the best child activity centers around- don’t get me wrong. It’s a great big complex with lots of places for kids to run and play. Its popular too- lots of people fill it on a Saturday. But when kids 10 and over start rough housing inside in the same area that 3 and 4 year olds play, don’t expect anyone to interfere.
Our kids (ages 6-11) came to us crying that other kids were holding wrestling competitions and knocking kids down on the 2nd level. My husband had to ask the employee (yeay! There was actually one in the play area this hour!) to make them cut it out… Which lasted for 4 minutes. My husband asked the kids to be careful right afterward as they were karate chopping their way through the maze, hitting walls or kids in their way. I am all for kids having fun and playing and letting boys be boys, but there needs to be rules followed when so many kids are playing together in one area.
I checked out the inside’s of the play area myself with my kids- the mad house in there (with no employees on the inside) had left a small 4 year old child hurt and confused. I brought him down through to the 2nd floor outside myself, I took the crying boy to the employee sitting down watching and asked to sit him down on her chair. I told her that I needed to find the boy’s aunt, she got up and walked away! I proceeded to find the child his guardian myself.
Employee Attentiveness at Amazone
They don’t want to be there, they’ve never been trained, there aren’t enough employees, and the average age is under 18 when you include the management. I saw one adult there the entire time. It’s not the employees fault, they are not trained well.
Child Security at Amazone
Amazone has employed a false security technique of providing easily reproducible paper slips to parents that match their child’s armbands when you pay for admittance. When you leave, you are supposed to have the teenager sitting behind the desk that’s 4 feet high check your paper slip to the armbands of your children. 1/2 of the time no armbands are checked, and the other half of the time parents who think they are doing the right thing are ASKING the employee to check them. Our entire party, who left over the course of an hour, was not checked. You can scoot right through when people are coming through, you can wait till the employee gets busy texting, talking on the phone, or any other random distraction. This false sense of security is useless.
Bathrooms at Amazone
Bathrooms at Amazone on busy Saturday’s are always left unkept, and the paint jobs in those rooms always look like the kid running security did it while texting. I will admit that these are better then they were last year, and there’s been some better efforts done like paper towels stocked this round, hooray!)
Ventilation
During this busy day at Amazone, you could write your name on the outward facing windows because of the super thick air inside. If you went outside and compared it to inside, it was totally gross.
What do I want?
I would be pleased to take down this review once Amazone fixes their problem. For the past 3 years, I have seen Amazone get worse and worse. I have contacted Amazone through email 2 times with no response. I want this article to warn other families of the potential safety hazards at Amazone.
Mary, with one kid and a close eye on your child, you should be fine there. Just don’t rely on their security.
Glad to find this review before we drove 45 minutes to this place. We got free admission coupons last night via CAVS Fan Appreciation Night, but I will not take my 5 year old daughter now – not even for free admission.
Bring the kids to Romp’n’Stomp! Our goal is to provide a safe environment for your kids to play! Our employees are trained and highly qualified, and put a true focus on interaction with the kids. We strive for safety, security, and fun. We are also conveniently located on route 18 between Sheetz and the water tower. Check our website or Like us on facebook for up-to-date additions to our itinerary, including themed parties, mini-camps, special events, and open play times! We also welcome and look forward to comments and suggestions!
Agreed. The condition of their play equipment had at least improved on my last visit in December. On a prior visit, there were a number of worn pads covered in duct tape. I was glad to see that they had at least been replaced.
Still, it is one of few places to take the kids when the weather turns cold and I need a place for them to run around. Their evening pass that allows for both playground play and laser tag seems interesting. Although, having not played laser tag there, I’m not sure how good the laser tag is compared to other local places.
I totally agree with your review. My son loves is there so we continue to go when we can but you are right about everything you said. We never go during the weekend and I always go up with my 3 1/2 year old so I make sure he is safe.
I so agree!!! So glad you wrote this. I have been there for numerous toddler birthday parties and also for playtime with my girls. I have never (and I seriously mean never) had them check our arm bands. In fact. On one occasion, I was carrying a friends’ toddler out and was joking with her that they’d probably stop me and she’d have to come tell them it was okay. Nope. Nothing. And the older kids are horrible to toddlers (even in the supposed toddler play area). Not that their parents shouldn’t be handling their behavior. But you would also think that the employees could at least keep the older kids out of the toddler area!
I was interested in your comments about Amazone. I am trying to sort out an issue with an article about Laser Quest posted on cleveland.about.com because the pricing information is incorrect, so decided to do some searching on what else might be out there about Laser Quest in the Ohio area. Our company spends a lot of money and time training our staff to deliver the WOW to our customers. I hope when your children are a little older, you will have an opportunity to give Laser Quest a try for a birthday party. I would be interested to hear what you think about our experience. We have been in the Akron/Canton area for over 15 years entertaining both all age groups.
Totally agree. I was in that party. Management take note. We don’t have to come their year after year.
Love it! What a great review! I’ve never been there yet, and have always wanted to check it out, but now I don’t have any desire too.
Thank you for this review. I went there once about 2 years ago during the weekday and was pretty impressed but looks like it has went down hill since. I have a hard time with kids acting up like that…I do think that the parents should be held responsible as well.
Wow! Good for you. We’ve never been but doesn’t sound like we are missing anything. I too cannot tolerate the older kids mingled with the little ones. It’s too much for me to bare. Glad you and your hubby stepped up. Hopefully this review will get the word out that Amazone is NOT family friendly and they get their act together.