Kaboutjie SA Mommy Blogs by Lynne Huysamen
On the last weekend in May I was in Cape Town with my kids and decided to meet up with one of my besties and her daughter at Playstation in Tokai. She has been to Playstation regularly with her daughter since they opened and raved about it so I was really keen to go with my kids to check it out.
The Playstation is an indoor play park for kids from birth up to 12 years old. It provides plenty for young kids to do from the massive slides to the climbing wall, an obstacle course, a maze and plenty of places for kids to climb and explore.
There are plenty of tables for parents to sit comfortably and have something to eat or some coffee and cake.
What I really loved is the amount of aids there to look after the kids and ensure that all the kids stick to the rules. This means that parents can really relax.
When we arrived my kids shot off like bullets – they were absolutely in their element. Playstation in Tokai is similar to Play Time in Vredenburg except that Play Station is much bigger. Play Time is like a mini me version of Playstation.
The restaurant has a nice variety of food for adults and children as well as cake, cupcakes and waffles. There are dedicated areas for toddlers which is good since they need to have a place free from older kids running wild.
Try to get to Playstation on the hour as you pay per hour on the hour. I arrived about 20 minutes past 10am and I was told that we can go in but my kids must wait till 11am to start playing. That’s a bit of a tall order to ask of a 4 year old and a 6 year old…. no wait its impossible! I told them to bill me from 10am even if I lose that 20 minutes play time, its not worth fighting with my kids for that!
If you want to get the best value for money and not waste play time rather get there on the hour. They are open daily from 9h00 to 17h00.
Pricing per child works as follows:
Off Peak – Monday to Thursday excluding public holidays and school holidays:
1st hour R60
2nd hour R40
Peak Times – Friday to Sunday plus public holidays and school holidays
1st hour R85
2nd hour R65
Drop & Go
1st hour R100
2nd hour R65
Children under 2 years old are free and can play in the dedicated play area.
Children can have a 1 hour free play session on their birthday upon showing their ID document.
We had a wonderful time there, the food was great, the cheese cake was amazing and my kids loved the unicorn cupcakes and had a blast playing!
I was even allowed down the slides with my kids on my lap which was great fun. It’s amazing the extra speed you can pick up being weighted down with a kid.
If you haven’t been there yet I highly recommend you give them a go. This will be an awesome place for winter when the weather is cold and rainy, especially during the school holidays when the kids start getting bored of being cooped up all day at home.
Well, where do I start. I didn’t know that the play time starts on the hour. Normally play places charges from the time u get there. Be that as it may, I was very disappointed in management specifically. The place wasn’t full. I got there innocently not knowing the times and my daughter had another appointment so we were not able to stay longer. Bottom line, they were not willing to accommodate us. In my opinion u should really be flexible. I was not allowed to pay for 1 hour as I got there 30 minutes past the hour. Management should be accommodating and flexible and this is not the case here. I was told about parties happening. The place was so empty I am disappointed because it wasn’t full, I can understand if it was. They weren’t willing to let me pay for the hour.
I was also a bit put out by that Chrisandra, and I feel they should have a half hourly rate at least to accommodate for people that come in past the hour. However from the management side of things I totally understand why they have the hourly thing since managing who comes in at what time would be chaos but they should then charge for the next hour plus the additional part hour. It just is not viable for parents to tell their kids they are in a play wonderland but they have to wait to play!