The Play Factory

Three stars because it started out as five, but I wasn’t happy about two things. Yes, it was fun for the kids and nice and all, but the employees/​customer service needs working on. Like many other reviews state about misinformation or general unhelpfulness, I experienced that before we even got here.
We called because we were lost inside the center and couldn’t find the place. The guy that answered the phone was having a side convo and was VERY unhelpful. He said this place was south of albertson’s by target in the marketplace. Uh, no. That would be incorrect. 15 minutes later, I call back and the girl says to park across from barn’s & Nobel and walk into the center and the play factory is across from Dave and busters. Ok, that’s more like it. Definitely someone more helpful. We find the place. We come in, we’re greeted by mr. Unhelpful. We get a plate of food and sit down and let our kid play. Second thing I didn’t like at all is the kid behind the concession counter was the drink nazi. For $ 10 for a small pancake and some fake eggs, we should get a little lousy drink without being harassed. I poured a cup of coffee that was like water and went to grad a juice for my kid and the guy says, «one per person, ONE PER PERSON!» Sheesh, you would have thought he paid for them out of his own pocket. Plus, they are the mini sized kid’s drinks, so come on, boy, chill!
Everything seemed clean and it was ok because my son is older (8.5) so I didn’t have to follow him around like a Sargent, but the employees are definitely LAZY. They all sit around or stand behind the counter and chit chat. People, it’s a JOB, WORK! Help supervise the kids, run the rock wall, go around and play, don’t just stand there with your arms crossed and talk all day.

Nice little place to let the kids burn energy and the parents to relax, watch them play all while watching the game lol place is pretty clean everytime me, my daughter and her cousins come here… and cheap on $ 5 Fridays, never threw a birthday party here but I like it, judge for yourself, some « Unilocalpers» expect too much for something chill and cheap lol me I’m a simple Dad.

Filthy and unsafe are the 2 best descriptors. Everything is dirty. The safety harness on the rock wall is held to the ceiling by duct tape and safety caution tape like you would see at a crime site. A toddler was playing the Xbox by sitting on the counter 4 feet off the ground versus the provided chairs. When asking for assistance with anything, the employees dismissive and unhelpful. Stay at the desert ridge splash pad if it’s hot or go to a local park if the weather is nice.

I posted a review on Facebook that the owner responded to but completely missed my points so I’m going to post here in order to make sure others understand the concerns I had as they weigh their options for play places in the area. One of the attendants working the day we were there was SCREAMING at the kids to get their attention for those who did not have socks on. It’s fine that socks are required but there were literally no signs posted indicating that but that does NOT excuse their employee from screaming at a group of 6 to 10 year olds about it. Had we not been there to attend a friend’s birthday, I would have left with my son at that point. I won’t patronize any business that treats kids this way especially when it’s a business geared to children. A few minutes later this same employee started SCREAMING AGAIN at a couple of the kids who were trying to climb up the soft slide. I understand it’s a safety hazard if someone is coming down the slide at that time, but there wasn’t anyone coming down. Again, I don’t have an issue with safety concerns being addressed but screaming at paying guests is not the way any employee should behave no matter what. For those reasons alone, we’ll never return, however, I should also mention that the place could use a thorough cleaning. The rock wall in particular looked sketchy from a cleanliness standpoint and was missing several grips so it doesn’t appear to be maintained well. Last but not least, the place is small with very limited play equipment (literally it has one rock wall, one jungle type gym and one blow up slide) so if you’re expecting something more, you’ll be disappointed.

Went to a play date here today. The kids had a blast! My LO is really too young for the big play area so we stayed in the toddler zone most of the time. She really enjoyed the bounce house. They had a nice little snack bar. The staff was very courteous and great with kids. When one of them saw I had a crawler that picked up some paper on the ground, he immediately got another staff member to vacuum. There were a lot of parents that were NOT watching their kids, but that’s to be expected everywhere I suppose and is no fault of the employees of Play Factory. I will definitely be back but probably when LO is a little older.

HAND, FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE! Six of six kids at birthday party came down with illness after birthday party. The two guys that worked there were very nice with helping with the party. The slides, play area and toddler bouncy were sticky like the bottom of a shoe. If nobody would have got sick I would have given four stars. The maricopa health department said that all they regulate is that a cleaning plan is in place, not that it is clean. So beware that you may get more than a good time at the «play factory».

My kids had so much fun here! I got to shop around a little and then take them to play. It was really convenient. I love that they have an attendant at the rock climbing wall at all times making sure the kids are taking turns and being safe. He’s also really nice as well. The kids loved tumbling around on the indoor climbing unit. The video games are a great addition as well. Bought some passes and will be coming back again soon. Don’t forget socks for the kiddos!

Ugh… I’m sitting here now with my 5 kids. This place is dirty and run down… mats are torn, there’s nothing set up in the toddler area. The toilets are broken up N the women’s room and the staff is in there doing her makeup. I just paid $ 9 a kid for a run down and un kept facility. The idea of the place is great, just not in its current condition… Especially for an upper class location. I don’t recommend taking your kids.

I’ve had my son’s birthday party there and it was great. But today was a complete disappointment. Hours are posted that they open at 10am for open play. I show up at just after 10, their doors are locked. So I wait for 20 minutes in Barnes and Nobles. At 10:20, their doors are unlocked. We go inside only to be ushered out because it’s booked for a birthday party. Nothing is posted on the door. Nothing is on their website. I just wouldn’t have come rather than deal with a screaming child. Ultimately, if you go to the place, either do it for a birthday party or check, double check triple check when their open play hours start.

So this place needs a good deep clean. All they do is have kids running this place. My son asked one of him to climb the walk wall and he told my son he was busy and he will go over there later. Then this kids went to the front desk to start text messaging on his phone. He is lucky I didn’t pick him up and throw him off the rock wall for talking to my kid like that.
They get a one star because one of the girls put the tv on sports center for me.

Had a fantastic birthday party here on 6÷27÷15 for my twins girls’ 1^st birthday! I was worried about a few reviews I read prior to our party but I’m so glad we decided to try it out and judge for ourselves!
The staff that worked our party was Nathan, Summer and Colin. The manager I worked with on the phone prior to the party was Desiree. It’s my understanding that Management is not usually there for the evening parties.
We had a great experience!
Here are the details:
–Awesome and attentive staff
–Management and staff were professional, organized & very accommodating.
–Facility was very clean and well maintained.
–All special requests for our party were fulfilled.
–I was able to call multiple times to go over info and they were always very friendly and professional.
–Staff was attentive to those eating and playing (especially the rock climbing wall.)
–Food was a hit! Pizza is ordered from a place called Slices. DELICIOUS!
Two days before our party Desiree called to review all details about the birthday party.
–Kids and adults had a fantastic time
–Reasonably priced
–This is our new birthday party spot now that we live in AZ! My family and friends feel the same way! Wish we discover this place sooner.

It small and most of the moms don’t really watch their kids. If my niece wasn’t twice the size of the boy that punched her to try and get her off a thing he wanted I would have yelled at the mom that seemed more upset that her son was crying over her not moving than the fact he was trying to injury another child. However she had fun and don’t seemed fazed by the boy’s menacing attempts. Five dollar Friday before a holiday is crazy packed with kids.

In the area and wanted to check this place out with my sons. I called ahead to make sure of the hours of operations and that it’s open to the public due to any parties going on. Nothing was said when I called, we show up a little after 5 to be told there is a party in a little bit and they will be closing for it. So we wasted our time driving there for nothing, yup pretty much. My boys were very disappointed to say the least.
Looking at other reviews for here, this seems to happen more often than not. Some sort of communication protocol needs to be put in place so families don’t waste their time and money for nothing.
We won’t be returning.

This place is very good, with a caveat: it is not the kind of place to let your toddler /​young child run free while you stare at your smart phone.
This may come as a shock, but parents, you should supervise your child! I have 4 year old twins and I kept a constant eye on them not only to make sure they were not misbehaving but also to keep them out of harms way from the other kids who were running a bit wild. There are only a few activities here so when it gets busy things get crowded, I am amazed that many parents do not tell their kids to wait their turn, not shove in front of other kids, be careful around the little ones, not walk up the face of a slide when other kids are sliding down them, etc.
If you want them to babysit for you this place will be a disappointment. If you want a nice air-​conditoned activity to keep your kids happy and let them expend some energy with you supervising then you will really like this place.
Also, children need to weigh 40 lbs to use the climbing wall.

Website and staff both provided misinformation about the time this business opens today. The result of this was that we had to lead our two disappointed children away crying.
Very disappointed in the lack of accountability and accurate information, especially from this business that we have patronized often over the past 2+ years

I did not feel that addressing the poor experience we had at the Play Factory would improve anything, and didn’t feel the need to make things even more unpleasant for us and our guest. The fact is that I have 5 children and have had many birthday parties at several other kid venues around the valley and yours was lacking to say the least. So please allow me to clarify your confusion.
1. You called to confirm our reservation, and yet when we arrived, at 3:10p, there was no party set up and all the tables were dirty.
So what exactly did my $ 50 groupon pay for? The three balloons and use of your nasty tables? ANY other venue would have a table set up and ready for our arrival.
2. I paid an additional $ 50 for 1 pepperoni pizza, 4 pitchers of soda, and 1 small gluten free pizza for 6 kids… I’ve paid far less, for much more.
3.I then paid an additional $ 50 for admission and use of your facility which we found to be subpar. The floors and over all cleanliness of your facility was poor… And the bathrooms were gross.
4. I didn’t mention this in my review about the fact that your staff allowed such rough behavior by other patrons, to include the fact that my daughter was choked on the slide and another of our guest was pushed and bullied to the point that we had to intervene to prevent this 2 year old from being injured was Unsatisfactory indeed.
In closing I paid $ 150 for no decorations, over priced food and a small & subpar facility with poor customer service.
I understand that you must deal with unhappy customers on a regular basis, and normally I would say nothing, but it is wrong to post a groupon in order to scam people out of their hard earned money. And it is my duty as a parent and fellow grouponer to make sure that anyone considering to purchase that groupon, be aware that the Play Factory is a complete rip off!
Sincerely,
Carrey Vacha

I am sadly disappointed. I took my son for a birthday party. The place has promise, but fell short. Staff was young and not enthused or professional. Games and «play area» was very dirty. My son fell from the air slide and hit the «stool» that was oddly placed near the entrance. For the area at desert ridge I was expecting more, and would not return.
…They also TOSSED my starbucks that I just bought when I got up to check on my son for one second, and when asked they said they didn’t know it wasn’t to be thrown away…(I know I know — But a mom needs her coffee)

Everyone must read before planning on booking a party here.
You guys knew it was coming.
Okay so let me start off by saying we are not a picky family. We chose this place because it gets down to business, feed the kids and let them have fun for a little while. The price was decent (didn’t cost an arm and a leg) and it really looked like a fun place to throw a 3 year olds birthday party without all the stress that comes from hosting a big party at home. Booking was a breeze so I was very happy about that. I was also stress free because they offer to decorate your party any theme for a fee which was well worth it for us. So fast forward to the day of the event. This was our first time visiting and it was really hard for us to find the place because it’s in a big shopping center where it is surrounded by stores, most of our guests had never been there either so mostly everyone showed up late.
As I was walking in I was expecting to see a little section decorated (because that’s what we paid for) and everything ready to go. Boy was I wrong. As we were walking in (right when the party was set to start and guests were supposed to arrive) I noticed that the employees were barely putting the table cloths on the table. They looked so careless and didn’t even look like they cared that the party was about to start. So I asked to see a manager but guess what Unilocal,no manager on duty. It was just those 2 kids running that whole building by themselves!!! No wonder they were behind!!! So I then ask to speak to a manager over the phone, I expressed to her my disappointment in having to walk in and basically set up everything myself because those kids were busy helping other customers! There were a few people from our party already there and I couldn’t even converse with them or offer them a place to sit or drinks because I still had to set everything up!!! Okay, so i set everything up and we order the food and I still don’t have a chance to sit down and mingle with our family and friends because the employees are busy tending to other customers to where they could care less what is happening with our party.
I assumed that booking a party at a place of business meant you would have someone making sure everything is taken care of such as filling pitchers and offering assistance. Nope, every party for themselves there.
The kids from our party kept running up to me and said they really wanted to try the rock climbing but that the employee told them they had to wait for him. I had to ask him 3 times for him to actually go let them rock climb and even then he was only there for 5 minutes and then ran off to do other things. So the kids only got to climb the wall once.
It’s just so inconvenient to throw a party somewhere where they promise to have things ready and it’s far from that.
To make matters worse, they booked a party right at the time ours was supposed to end, the employees came up to me and said «we have another party coming in 5 minutes so you guys have to be gone.» It was 4 35 and we were booked until 4 45. Uh excuse you, I’m paying for 2 hours and I spent the first 20 doing things that should have already been done, so im using up every single minute I paid for!!! I can’t not believe that an establishment that prides themselves on throwing great parties would book a party back to back with no time in between to get things sorted out!!! You know what, from this place its believable.
I booked this place because I thought it would put less strain on an already stressful day, but being that the employees were left to fend for themselves because there was no manager on duty left me doing everything for my sons party.
I wouldn’t mind having done everything myself, but I would have appreciated a heads up!
It was so embarrassing to have to apologize to our guests for the lack of prep and for not having much time to actually enjoy their company. Most of our guests looked upset and annoyed at the way things went down, and that really sucks because we just wanted everyone to enjoy themselves.
I’m am just so frustrated at the fact that they would even book a part this size with only 2 employees to run this entire establishment! Why on earth would management think that is okay!!! Why would they not have at least one person dedicated to the party, why would they not even have a manager on duty on a weekend when it’s the busiest!!! I will never again book a party here. I would much rather pay more and actually get to enjoy my son and our guests. Don’t book here. Unless they make some serious changes in their management and training their employees on how to handle party’s, don’t waste your time or money!!!
Actually the best thing you can do if you plan to book here, look on google for a park near by, and celebrate there. You will save money and I guarantee it would be less stressful than this place, I know because we have celebrated my sons birthday at a park before and it was less stressful than this place!

My son just had to go hear. I promised him I would take him to a bouncy house. He is 5 and had a ball. But in my opinion the place could be much better. There is potential, but the biggest problem I could was understaffing. There seemed to be only 2 employees trying to run the whole place. While they were great with the kids, there was just too much for them to do. Supervision, checkin, food and many more things to do.
Give your employees more help and you should do great.

This place is TINY. It’s quite deceiving from the outside. The front area is quite large — it has a concession stand and seating area for birthday parties. There’s also a corner to play video games and a small area for toddlers to play in. But when you walk around the corner to the actual «play area», it shocks you to how small it is. It consists of one giant bounce slide (the one’s you can rent for your home parties) and 1 jungle gym play area. That’s it. That’s it, folks. Oh, and there’s a rock climbing wall.
I purchased a groupon for $ 20 for 10 visits. I think it was $ 20. My 5YO loved it there and after 2.5 hours he still didn’t want to leave. So as long as he enjoyed it, that’s all that matters to me.