My son and I don’t love the heat so in the middle of summer, indoor fun is our friend! I knew IPLAY America was great for bigger kids but I had never considered bringing my toddler there. It was a Friday late afternoon and we NEEDED to get out of the house for everyone’s sanity, so I checked out their website. I learned the vital piece of info that made me decide to take the trip—there was no fee to enter. Just pay for what you do. That made it feel like going would be less of a risk, and I knew if it was a full on bust, we could just head to Sonic in Howell and get milkshakes. Turns out– we had a great time!
Now IPlay is definitely geared for older kids, but for most three year olds, I think you will find it to be a worthwhile experience. Ages 1 and 2 won’t get much out of the park, but at the age of 3 (or 36 inches in height) you have a lot more options there. We spent most of our time at this indoor park in the arcade. Jacob loves arcades and carnival games and we had a great time playing claw games. We often play the “play until you win” games on the boardwalk and in turn we have gotten really good at claw games. Even though they didn’t have many play until you win claw games there (there is one by ballocity filled with rubber duckies but that is all that we saw), we’ve honed our claw game teamwork and actually won a whole bunch of little prizes which was really exciting!
The other favorite game in the arcade was a video game that had you squirt water (real water) at a video of dinosaurs running at you. My son and a few other littles played a few rounds of that game and had a blast. We also enjoyed the old school carnival game where you throw balls to knock down clowns, skeeball, and a few other options that allowed you to win tickets towards prizes.
There are a few rides at IPlay. The only one my little guy was interested in was the mini merry-go-round which he rode twice. Once your little one hits 36 inches, they can also ride the Crazy Cabs, The High Flyer, Dizzy Dragons, Happy Swing, The Mini Ferris Wheel (with adult), The Freedom Rider (with adult), and the Kite Flyer (with adult). You do need to be at least 4 to be a passenger on the indoor speedway. The Ballocity Playground area looked like a lot of fun but was busy when we went so my shy guy preferred to go back to the arcade. Kids under 4 need to be accompanied by a parent in that area but I think on a different day, he would have loved it! The playground is very interactive and has foam ball shooters, slides and more.
Even without riding many rides, we had fun playing games and hitting up the candy shop. I would say a late weekday afternoon was an awesome time to go because the summer camps had just left but the evening crowd hadn’t arrived yet. There were other groups there playing, but we never felt crowded and had plenty of room to move about and explore.
I spent around $70 on our trip here. I purchased $58 dollars worth of points (I was only going to get $50 but there was a promotion going on!) to access games and rides as we entered and then I spent a little more in the candy shop. We were in the park for a little under 2 hours and didn’t need to go back to refill the card. We did, however, use up all the points!
All in all, my suggestion would be if your 3 year old is at least 36 inches– this is a worthy try for your family. For the 1 and 2 year olds– I’d give them more time to grow before you make the trip! Got a 4 year old? They are gonna love it!
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