Laugh Out Loud Stations

My 8yr old had party on a Saturday everything was great except burnt pizza accommodated for it, like the music and interaction with DJ plenty for the kids to do. Book party at a early time on saturday beat the crowd

My children had a great time, the most fun ever. I will definitely go back just for them to play and eat.

Fun for everyone! Dorthy is a great manager, I highly recommend LOL to anyone looking for a fun time!

I had my 6-​year-​old birthday party on a Saturday evening. Let me start off by saying, the children had a really good time. However, for me, it was a nightmare.
1. Poor communication/​planning. I tried to confirm the number in my party but no one bothered to check the message or return my call. As a result, the table/​chairs were insufficient. A number of my guests had to stand and eat because they ran out of chairs.
2. Overcrowded/​chaotic. In my opinion, they tried to book too many parties at once. It was obvious they were ill-​equipped to handle the volume.
3. The food was almost an hour late. It came out 10 minutes before the party should have ended. The chicken was good but the pizza was cheese on really bad bread. I was disgusted by the drinks in pitchers. It was too crowded to have pitchers without covers sitting on a table that will be mainly unattended.
4. Our table was directly in front of the dance floor, other party goers were crowding our table to watch their children dance. (Open pitchers, people crowding the table yelling and chatting, not a good combination)
5. Apparently we should have had a host but we never saw one.

I have a 4 year old son and we love this place, from the bumper cars to the rollercoaster and the big playground. There is so much more for the kids to do. It was our first time going and my son fell in love. He can’t stop asking about it. I love that each activity is spread out so it will not be to crowded. The only down fall that we had was they closed 30 minutes before closing. Go check it out!

I wanted to like this place, really. But I found it to be loud and chaotic. I came here for a kid’s birthday party, but seriously doubt I’ll go back.
To its credit, LOL Stations is fairly conveniently located. It’s on the back end of Beltway Plaza (opposite of Target, up the ramp). There is plenty of free parking available, so that’s also a plus. However, things went a bit left field for me once we walked in.
First, you just stroll in. There’s no greeter, you’re just *BAM* right in the middle of the action. As a parent with a young child, I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting my child run around without being right behind every moment them because there’s no real monitoring of entrances/​exits. While I’m sure it’s unlikely, there’s nothing to stop someone from picking up a kid and walking out, and nobody would be any wiser. I am personally a fan of hand stamps that coordinate between adults and kids they enter with, which prevents this from being an issue.
Luckily, the party parent was at the door and directed us straight to the table, which was at the back corner, near concessions and restrooms. But if you’re just popping in here, it will probably be jarring to have to figure out where to go, what to do, or otherwise make sense of it. There is no entry fee here like other entertainment places, but you «pay to play» as the website states. The kids were issued wristbands, but also had to carry punch cards with them, and were given tokens on top of that. I’m still not totally clear, but I think the wristbands gave access to play areas, the punch card allowed them to get on rides, and tokens were for arcade games.
Myself and several other parents definitely had sensory overload. I’m not sure if we’re just too old or not (doubtful … all under 35), but being in here was exhausting. Between the kids running back and forth screaming and playing, the loud music & dancing, plus the sound effects from attractions, there was too much going on and you couldn’t escape any of it. No matter where you were, you were still in the midst of everything. It comes with the territory of this kind of place, but this was on a whole new level.
There were tables for about 8 different «parties» so I can imagine the party area gets packed if they’re fully booked. I appreciated that they had extra chairs in addition to the table/​benches available for kids, though. One thing that was unique is the featured DJ. He was really engaging and kept both adults and kids entertained. He also played a wide range of music, including rap, R&B, Latin, and pop. Given the diverse demographic of the area, it was nice to see them take their customer base into consideration like this. The DJ also hosted a contest and some kid won $ 100, which was a nice touch.
The space itself reminded me of a converted warehouse that is now home to carnival attractions. I wasn’t quite sure if the theme was tropical, carnival, or … what. Attractions included bumper cars, an indoor roller coaster, climbing/​jungle gyms, several inflatables, and traditional arcade games. There’s probably something here to suit everyone’s interests. Unfortunately, there were mechanical issues at several stations. When some of the kids wanted to ride bumper cars, they could only go 2 at a time because the other 2 were broken, which was incredibly disappointing.
I briefly interacted with staff, and they were hit or miss. The person working the party was very professional and attentive, but the attendant working the bumper cars/​shooting gallery was clearly bored and had her nose in her phone most of the time. Nobody was outright rude, but at least try to seem like you care about what you’re doing …
That being said, the kids loved it, and I suppose that’s what matters most. But as a parent, I don’t see myself picking this as our location of choice. In fact, when the party ended, the playdate I’d originally planned to have in LOL Stations afterward was promptly moved to Chuck E Cheese, which I find is a much more controlled chaos, believe it or not.