Bamboola

Renamed The Jungle Place:

Bamboola is closed? WTF? This place was way better than Chuck e Cheese and the Jungle. It was clean and there were constructive things for kids to do. Bring Bamboolas back.

Young kids LOVE this place. My 6-​year old has enjoyed coming here since about age 3. Its popularity is obvious since about half of all the birthday parties we go to every year are held here. It gets 5 stars from a child’s perspective because I’ve never heard complaints about the place from a kid.
The highlights: climbing tunnels, but not so many that you can’t find your child (as is the case at The Jungle); ball pit; curly slides; arcade games; mini climbing wall and mini maze; attic area with book area and dress-​up area; 2-​story play house and store, complete with furniture, grocery items, etc.; and a self-​painting face paint area.
As a parent, you can run after your child or you can sit in the center and enjoy an overpriced drink or some food and know that your child is having a blast and is safe (they use the matching wrist-​band system here to check out).
Check their hours, one night a week they are closed and sometimes, if it’s empty, they unexpectedly close early. You can go on weekday evenings for dirt cheap.

My kids like going to Bamboola. It is definitely a step up from Chuck E. Cheese. While it is geared primarily towards younger kids, my 10 year old stepson doesn’t mind tagging along with his younger brother and sisters. It could definitely do with a paint job and they could update the toys. I’d like to see a little bit more monitoring by the employees especially of the baby area. On a busy day, you can get a lot of kids and, unfortunately, not every parent is watching them as closely as they could or should. I’ve had to talk to several kids about being careful not to roughouse around my 7 month old in the baby area. For the same amount of money, however, I’d suggest checking out the Children’s Discovery Museum first. The docents there are very helpful and there is a room on the second floor dedicated solely to babies and toddlers that is incredible. They also have a water play area that has sections for both ranges of ages — toddler/​preschooler and school age. Given their druthers, my kids tend to prefer the Discovery Museum because there is something for everyone to do and if you get a family membership it pays for itself in just a couple of visits.

Bamboola is for little ones what The Jungle (
) is for older kids. It is a fun, indoor activity center with good variety. Note that the water play area is really fun, but you should prepare for it with a change of clothes.

This indoor center for hands-​on play is a decent choice for a rainy day outing. The equipment is a bit dingy and old though and there are better children’s museums in the area.

An amusement park style indoor activity establishment for children of all ages. There are amusement park games which you need tokens to play (you win tickets to claim prizes too), or there is water play, fun mirrors (for younger children) and face painting. Children’s birthday parties are very popular here and parents don’t have to spend all their time planning, preparing, serving, cleaning up for the party. You just have to watch your child while at Bamboola. The only drawback is that if you do have a birthday party here, the focus is taken away a bit from the birthday celebrant while the guests are busy playing with all the games on their own.