Jungle adventure?

Hi all! I’m just wondering what peoples experiences with jungle adventure are? We’ve just had our third visit to jungle adventure with my 12 month old. First was absolutely brilliant, we went mid week for my babies 1st birthday so was very quiet. We had no issues with older kids being in the baby area as it was term time. Second visit wasn’t great, we could only stay 20 minutes as there were too many kids in the 0 to 2-year-old area, most of which were well above that age. They were throwing the ball pit around and chucking all the balls forcefully around. I had to keep my baby out of the way from the balls and from getting hit with a ball pit so we just left. We were offered an alternative slot today on a quieter day. It was definitely quieter, especially the further into the afternoon it got. However we still had a lot of issues with much older kids being in the toddler and baby area. I’m a first mum so to be honest I’m not really sure if this is standard for all soft plays to just let their kids run off on their own devices? One older girl was having ago at my baby when she put the wrong colour ball in the ball pit. She also grabbed her face and was snatching balls from her. These all happened on separate occasions and each time I was trying to look out for the parent but there seemed to be no supervision as I couldn’t find any parent who was watching her or was ready to intervene and get her off of my child’s face etc. Children were also eating in the area and I had to take a crisp and a jellybean out of my girls mouth. It’s a shame and in general it is such a lovely place and the baby and toddler area is perfect, but it just doesn’t seem to be supervised well enough. I guess I’m wondering if I’ve just had a couple of bad experiences or if this is what it seems to be like in general?

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I only went once and it was exactly as you described that's why I decided not to go again.

I've always avoided weekends and school holidays for this exact reason

@Bea have you tried any others? Or did it put you off all of them? X

@Danielle I have only tried the one in the zoo as we have the anual pass holder and it was fantastic. During the weekend is a bit more crowded but still, parents looking after their kids and they follow the rules in the 0-2 years old area. My son loves it xx

Go bananas is really good as the 0-5 area is shut off from any older children. There was an older child in there once and I let staff know because I felt they were being unsafe and it was actioned straight away and no issues since. It’s also a lot cleaner than jungle adventure!

I had exactly the same at jungle adventure! Older children in the baby area emptying and throwing the ball bit around, they were all standing along the edge bit and jumping on top of the over turned ball bit, no staff or parent supervision! I ended up leaving with my little girl who was very upset and she got pushed over/trampled on etc by the older kids 😡 Another time we were there and attempted to play on the teddy claw machine, I put the money in and a little girl came running over and kept pressing all the buttons so we didn’t get to play properly, the same day we also tried the peppa pig ride and again as soon as pit the money in kids came running over and were climbing all over it shouting and screaming which really scared my little girl so I ended up taking her off leaving the kids on it, again no parents or staff in sight supervising 😡 unfortunately some parents use soft play for time to sit on their phones, chatting and forgetting their responsibilities 😡

@Jenna it’s really sad as mr girl really enjoys it when she can get a look in and we’re the only people/ it’s only babies in the area, but it just isn’t safe the staff and parents don’t seem to be fussed

@Danielle I know! It’s so sad, my little girl really enjoyed it there too, we’re the same and used to try and go on quieter days and times but that’s not always possible is it, and to be honest why should we be limited on the times we go because other parents and staff are not doing their jobs! We have zoo passes so use the soft play there now and it’s honestly so much better and nicer, we have been at weekends when it’s peak times and never had any issues! They are also so on top of the cleanliness and it’s often closed for periods of time where they are doing thorough deep cleans and maintenance so yeah I really recommend 🥰

Very very frustrating isn’t it when older children are in the baby bit and their parents don’t say anything! And don’t get me started on the children running around coughing and spluttering and quite clearly full of cold! Will not understand why parents take their sick kids to somewhere like soft play. I know that’s not what you’ve mentioned but it’s just something that annoys me 😅 But yeah in regards to what you’ve said it’s very frustrating parents and staff should be more aware of what the children are doing / where they are playing as it’s not fair especially those who take their little babies there to explore! I would definitely put in a complaint especially as it’s more than once and hopefully they can position their staff better or come up with some way to make the experience better! My little boy loves soft play but I can just never enjoy taking him there due to these things!

I hate it, it’s awful. I take my boy to iceni gymnastics next door for their toddler play sessions, on every day 9:30-10:30 and is £5.50. It’s so much nicer x

Always hated soft play due to unsupervised children. Much prefer taking them to a baby gym session instead.

I’ve only been to jungle adventure once and it was on a weekend in the school holidays and this was the same experience I had. I’ve only been to go bananas a few times during term time and found it much better where it’s more separated for the younger ones, same with the zoo. I also didn’t think the jungle adventure younger ones area was that great compared to the zoo and go bananas. Another soft play that is better for younger ones would be stanway garden centre in the cafe, it’s quite small but less likely to be overrun by older ones as a result.

There’s a lovely soft play at Craft Nurseries in Ardleigh. In the summer the price also includes their petting zoo and outdoor trampoline!

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