Storymakery

My kids had a blast and walked out feeling like real authors! A little pricey to do often, but it’s a fun activity to do during a school break. I agree with the other review about the graphics being disappointing. They were okay, but definitely could be cuter.

What a wonderful experience! The owner was so interested and invested in my children’s stories and characters. Payal and her staff helped create a wonderful memory for my kids and even helped my 4 year old make a story as well. Such and amazing and novel interactive experience! You must definitely check this place out!

My daughter loves this place because she’s in love with the concept. She loves creating a character and creating a story. I absolutely love the concept as well. You can sign up online for free to create characters and stories or you can upgrade to Young Muse to unlock more features. The store itself is nice, clean and modern. The staff there is VERY helpful and friendly. So why the 3 stars? My biggest disappointment is the GRAPHICS. I really don’t love the graphics at all. Reminds of the ‘90s. This is 2016! We need more image selections and cuter graphics! The images look like simplistic emojis. It’s all personal taste, but for example, the Snap Chat emoticons are super cute! If I’m gonna spend $ 35 on a book it better be cute as hell! Which brings me to my next disappointment — $ 35 for a 5 page book. The paper is not even really nice. It’s very thin. The cover is thin. I can pay the same amount for an album at Snapfish with a hard cover, you know? So although we love the concept, I feel like there needs to be some improvements to make it really special. 1. improve graphic design 2. offer more images 3. improve end product quality OR reduce price 4. create an app version (for a fee).

I found myself in Storymakery one evening while wandering through the Spectrum after stopping from a long and tedious LA road trip. The store caught my eye and I popped inside.
What an amazing concept!
Now if you know anything about me, you know I don’t have kids. I don’t want kids. And most days, I don’t even like kids. But that’s beside the point because I think one critical thing missing in children’s toys and upbringing these days is creativity and imagination. Video games and iPads seem to force prebuilt stories on children without allowing them to foster their own ideas and feed their own imaginations. When I was a child my grandmother and I used to make up stories together, and I spent the rest of my days imagining I was a hero fighting bad guys on a battlefield, or playing with my action figures creating elaborate storylines.
Storymakery is amazing in that it completely fosters that imagination and allows it to flourish. I took a short tour of the store and even was invited to try creating a character. The elaborate software really allows children to create any type of character they desire, and then working with the staff, the child writes a story of their own and gets to take home an illustrated storybook printed on-​site. They can also get posters and t-​shirts with their own character on them. Fantastic. If I’d had this 30 years ago, I would have begged my parents to take me there all the time.
I hope that if you have kids you’ll consider bringing your children here. It’s not far from Disney, and definitely worth it to visit and create a keepsake that lets kids expand their imaginations. Terrific job and I hope to see Storymakery expand to more locations someday.

We love Storymakery! My girls are fans and the people there are wonderful and they know what they’re doing. It is a bit pricey, so we go sporadically but it’s always a good experience each time!

Loved the experience. Took three grandkids there to write a book and it was so fun! The staff was amazing and we all had a great time.

My husband and I brought our daughter here this afternoon. The team that helped our daughter was amazing. They were so patient and helped her write her story. I recommend this place to any parent that has a kid who is a tad bit creative. It really brings out their imagination !!! I spent $ 54. My little one got a book and a poster, and an hour of writing. Very worth it.

I brought both of my sons here a couple of months ago and they loved it! This is such a unique store — allows the kids to create characters and stories. My boys are different ages– 4 and 6yo and they both enjoyed creating their stories. The staff was great at working with the kids and helped them choose stories that were at their level. The staff really helped them become engaged in the process. They still love to read the books that they created! We will definitely be going back again.

I recently received a gift of a coffee mug with the character I created printed on it. It was a huge surprise and I love showing it to people. Great Gift!

This is a really cute idea if executed well. It’s kind of pricy but I don’t mind paying because it’s customized. The thing that annoyed me was that there isn’t much flexibility in what you are illustrating. The girl who works there (wont disclose name) made mistakes 3 times and all 3 times said that I couldn’t pick the same format I had and had to change it again and again. So at the end, I ended up with something I didn’t really want. Also, they are unable to change the fonts and text which sucks.

What a gem !!! The staff, set up and product is a real genuine experience. My grandson has the Muse online package now and we can continue at home!
Highly recommend this experience for your kids.
One of a kind!!!
To see my Grandsons words come home in full picture is just an amazing experience !
Thanks Storymakery! We will see you again soon:)

Took my little nephew here on a weekend morning and had a great time. Wonderful décor and touch screen computers for children to work on. The workers are great, cheery & very helpful! Although, it can get busy and the process can be time consuming… you have to remember this is a customized story for children to have fun with & build. In the end you receive a poster & book package (well there are different packages, and also an online builder/​membership).
My nephew loves his character, poster & book that he made (almost talks about it everyday)…so was it worth it? Definitely… in a world where children’s imaginations are becoming muted by iPad’s and «instant gratification, click me video-​games» I think this is awesome. There is nothing else like it.

This was one of the most unique and creative experiences I’ve ever had. The idea itself is an amazing concept, which, in turn, is further complimented by the amazing staff there. I went in on a whim just because the décor caught my eye — two days later I came in to begin my own project there. Despite the concept predominantly targeting young children, I highly encourage anyone to go there for a fun treat — I personally went in to make a gift for my girlfriend. The process is surprisingly simple yet incredibly rewarding.
I highly recommend at least talking to the staff and shooting some ideas out there. It’s a blast!

I brought my son here after receiving an email from Irvine spectrum about this new shop. I expected it to be a little bit cooler than what it actually was. It was really pricey for just a poster ($ 25). Online it says that each session so it should be about 30 minutes to an hour, but I believe it was more like 20 minutes to set up my son’s character. The idea behind all this is very cute, but it’s really something my husband could have done with him. Alexa was sweet to work with, but overall, it was one of those things that I did just to do as an experience with my young son. I really wish I was a little more excited about it after I paid for the service.

What a great concept — a store where you can use your imagination to write your own story! I visited the store with my wife to write a story in anticipation of our first baby. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience, even as adults! Now we have something special to read to our daughter after she is born.
Writing the story is simple. There are three stations: you first pick a character, write the story, and then publish/​finish the book complete with illustrations. There are standard stories for the kids to choose from so they don’t have to start from scratch. Once they pick a story they can edit as they please.
Definitely a fun experience for the kids and even adults!