OrionOctober
Skate Zone boasts a rollerarena, lazer tag, bumper cars, outdoor putt-putt, and indoor jungle gym called "Web City". Sounds great, right? Well, not really. The last time we played Lazer Tag, half of our team's equipment didn't work. The employee was nice enough to let us play a little longer, but they really need to invest some funds in upkeep on the vests / guns. The rollerarena is a nice quality. However, the skate rental is terrible. One time, my niece had to go through about six different pairs of skates to find a decently comfortable pair. There are usually things wrong with the skates - bad wheel, uncomfortable fit, bad laces, etc. Skate Zone needs to invest some funds in repairing / replacing skates. Also, the staff members in charge of playing the music might want to consider the message / lyrics of the songs they play. Some of the music is downright objectionable, and I'm a fairly moderately minded parent. There are very young kids that come to Skate Zone, and the music blares throughout the entire building. Putt-putt course is really excellent. But it's closed if it's raining or too cold. Web City is pretty neat, and I don't have any complaints about it.Bumper cars are "ok". The kids usually don't have enough time in them for the money, in my opinion. The snack bar is overpriced, and the food isn't great. Eat before you come or bring snacks. I think the biggest problem I have with Skate Zone are the staff members. They're usually under-staffed, and the people that are working would appear to be high school and college kids. Which is fine, if they'd had proper training in customer service. Most of them just don't care, and the ones that do are few and far between. My son had a couple birthday parties at Skate Zone, and I ended up doing most of the work. Just an awful, awful experience. At least the kids had a good time.Another qualm with the staff is security of the kids. A lot of parents will drop their kids off for school skates, and return later to pick them up. There really isn't a good way to make sure the kids stay inside, or that they leave with the right parent. The "exit" door is locked, but the "entrance" door is just down a hallway, and is unlocked, and the desk is never staffed full time to watch that kids don't go out the entrance door. I feel it's a disaster waiting to happen.I guess if your kids really love to skate, this really is the only place to go for that. It's a pretty popular spot, and the schools use Skate Zone for after school parties, etc. Just be sure to watch your kids, and be prepared to do some work.