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Original poster

How sad am I - counting the days until the new Monkey Bizness Softplay opens

34 replies

rookiemater · 12/01/2010 20:12

Very sad I know, use the car park at Fountainbridge and walk past it every day peering my nose in to see if its nearly finished.

V excited as don't like taking DS to Time Twisters as its so dark and big and Ratho is a bit far away, but really I do need to get out more if this is the big excitement in my life !

OP posts:
ChristianaTheTwelfth · 12/01/2010 22:51

Message withdrawn

sciennesmum · 13/01/2010 13:38

They say that it will open on the 23rd of January... Will probably be there hanging on the door handle
Have 2 under 4's so the only softplay areas we've been to are the Roayl Commonw. (which is closed) and Mollys (which to far-away I think for a quick visit)
I even looked at their website today to find out how much it would cost me to have a birthday party. My dd3 is going to be 4 in the end of March..

Original poster
rookiemater · 13/01/2010 21:53

Snap sciennesmum, think we will be doing DS 4th birthday there despite horrible expense as its new and shiny.

Agree Christiana, do wish they could spell things correctly. I am very fond of the soft play at Ratho, much more calming than the dreaded TT, but so far away.

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TheApprentice · 13/01/2010 22:02

Aaah, I am very close to Ratho - we have been today! they have started a new thing where you can go for 90 mins for £4 or just 60 mins for £3 which suits me to a tee! i will be interested to know what this new soft place is like when it opens.

mawbroon · 13/01/2010 22:18

Oh where is it? And when does it open?

Not that I will be able to get there for weeks and weeks with broken ankle....

Bookswapper · 13/01/2010 22:29

you do know they charge for the accompanying adult? £1 I think. Its bad enough having to pay for children to use these places!

Original poster
rookiemater · 14/01/2010 21:14

Congrats Mawbroon, not that you will be reading this for a while! Happy to take your DS major along as I think we will be treating DS to the annual pass we will be there a lot.It is at Fountainpark so it's not far away and has parking ( I should be on commission honestly I'm nothing to do with them)

Annual pass is £95 which covers child and 2 adults but as it is £6.95 a go for the over 4s then its reasonable value, although I agree its a blinkin liberty to charge parents for the treat.

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TheCrackFox · 15/01/2010 14:45

You have to pay to watch your own DCs? I will be boycotting on that basis alone.

nzm · 16/01/2010 00:05

We found a soft play place in Edinburgh last weekend which surprised us. It's not huge but better than nothing.
It's in "Our Dynamic Earth" by Holyrood. No need to go to the whole exhibition. You have to find the gift shop and it's just through a door there. Has an underwater theme. Small ball pool, a submarine that they can climb into, some large jigsaw pieces of a crab.

It's £1.50 per child but there was no time limit.

Just thought I'd add that in.

mawbroon · 16/01/2010 15:26

yes, have been to Ocean Commotion a lot nzm. Am surprised that it was open. I seem to recall turning up there last year to find out it was shut for the winter.

£6.95 rookie that's daylight robbery!!

Judeboo · 24/01/2010 17:56

Went to monkey bizness this morning with my hubby and 3 kids. We stayed for lunch and it ended up costing £50!!! £7 for my 5 yr old and £6 each for my 1yr old and 3yr old. Lunch was £28 for all 5 of us but the kids didn't eat any of it. The food was awful. They hadn't even changed the loos from when it was a night club. Not going back in a hurry -anybody else been?

Original poster
rookiemater · 25/01/2010 15:14

DH took DS on Saturday apparently as it was the weekend and opening day it was hooching.

I took DS this morning, we will get good value out of our annual pass with his friend. They had a great time, loved all the ball things and it wasn't too busy and it was a bit more bright and light than time twisters.

We were on a tight budget for lunch as their card machine was broken and I had very little cash. The children, or should I say "kidz" (shudder) had sandwiches at £1.99 each which I thought wasn't bad, water ( free if you are cheeky enough to ask for it) and got extra biscuits with my coffee £1.80 large americano ( again extra biscuits only available to those cheeky enough to ask for them. The cooked menu stuff looked a bit unpleasant, but they also do adult paninis which are hard to do wrong.

However I had forgotten to bring a book and the promised daily papers weren't there so was extremely bored as DS and his pal didn't require much attention from me ( disclaimer I kept a close eye on them at all times, ahem).

The loos were funny though, hope they get them sorted soon as the children couldn't reach the sink as too high, which is a bit out of order in a childrens, sorry kidz, soft play.

So yes I thought it was all right and as we have the annual pass we shall be back. I'm not on commission honest.

OP posts:
EleanoraBuntingCupcake · 25/01/2010 15:21

shudder @ kidz

StewieGriffinsMom · 28/01/2010 17:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

HLaurens · 29/01/2010 14:02

I went this morning and although it is expensive, I think it is the best soft play I've been to in Edinburgh (i've done Ratho, Time Twisters, Commonwealth Pool). Mind you, we didn't buy any food and we didn't use the loos, and we only live two minutes walk away, so it is VERY convenient.

Original poster
rookiemater · 31/01/2010 16:00

Oh dear the honeymoon period is over. We went saturday afternoon and it was ridiculously busy and hot. DS didn't want to stay long so we bundled up our stuff to leave. Outside we discovered that we didn't have DS coat. Looked everywhere inside couldn't find it, left our details at reception wasn't found today and if someone had picked it up in accident they would have brought it back by now.

DH was sitting at our seats the whole time. DS coat has his name ironed into it and is bloody Boden and not even from the sale either, am v annoyed. Took DS and his friend this morning ( look I told you we got annual membership) and practically sat on our possessions the whole time we were there. One poor family had the misfortunte to have a child in a coat the same as the one that was nicked mysteriously misplaced and it seemed too big for their urchin so I gave them the evil eye for quite a period.

Have booked Loanhead for party instead at least no one should lose their clothing there.

OP posts:
tothesea · 31/01/2010 21:59

We were there yesterday too - also v excited about new soft play, thinking it would be all new clean and shiny - what a joke. I could have lived with the fact it was filthy, that the toilets were broken already with dirty nappies everywhere, that it was hideously overpriced, I mean charging the adults!! cheeky swines! the fact it that DS loved it so I could live with all the above really
HOWEVER! I am surprised that no-one else has mentioned the lack of security. I have never been to a soft play that doesn't take your or your childs name and doesn't sign in or out. There is no security door. Just normal double doors any child could escape from. The structure is so big it is really hard to keep an eye on your child and normally thats ok because you know that they can't get out. I may be paranoid but anyone could snatch a child in there and the staff wouldn't have a clue. DP asked the girl on the door about security and the stock line was, it is your child - your responsiblity.
They should be renamed Money Bizness as I think that is all they are interested in.

HLaurens · 02/02/2010 11:25

rookie, it really sucks when people nick your clothes, doesn't it? DD has left scarves etc. on buses and trains, and never once has anything been handed into lost property. It really p's me off.

tothesea - yes the security issue also occurred to me. Supervision from staff is very lax compared to other places.

Original poster
rookiemater · 02/02/2010 19:26

Yes HLaurens am still miffed about it particularly as 90% of DS clothing is second hand or presents but as it was his winter coat and he was going to be wearing it a lot I thought it was worth the expense to get him a nice cosy one, sigh.....

Tothesea I do agree about the security, when we were there a member of staff was permanently at the exit gate and it seemed to me that it would cost less just to get an adult height release buzzer than to have it manned all the time. Just as well though as you have to go through the entrance bit to get my car parking ticket stamped.

Maybe if we all complain to them about the security aspect then they might change it, luckily DS is passed the age of being a bolter.

I do still think overall it is more pleasant than Time Twisters as at least there is some natural light and they did have papers at the weekend. It is worth trying to go at non busy times i.e. during the week or if at the weekend as early as you can manage.

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Bleatblurt · 02/02/2010 19:37

Get yourselves to Ikea! They have the supervised play area and it only cost £1 (you don't have to pay at all but the £1 goes to charity). You can then spend that hour in the cafe drinking a free cuppa.

EleanoraBuntingCupcake · 02/02/2010 19:38

that ikea one is like some sort of horrible social experiment. do sane people really leave their children there?

Original poster
rookiemater · 02/02/2010 20:00

I don't know if I qualify as sane or not, but DS refuses to be signed into the Ikea one.

OP posts:
EleanoraBuntingCupcake · 02/02/2010 20:01

sensible boy rookie, he knows an agression filled cesspit when he sees one.

Bleatblurt · 02/02/2010 20:17

I think it's quite obvious that I take my DS there. But of course my boy is not sensible but filled with aggression so fits in well.

EleanoraBuntingCupcake · 02/02/2010 20:19

i loathe all softplay, don't take it personally