Indoor Trampoline Park
Is it pouring rain outside? Has it been for the last 6 weeks? Is it 90 degrees outside (and inside, because you don’t have AC)? Are your kids just making you crazy and you wish you could make them run around the block 10 times to burn off all their energy?? Well, maybe it’s time for a day trip to one of the area’s indoor trampoline parks!
We recently spent a weekday morning at DEFY Seattle in Tukwila. The boys LOVED it! Now in the spirit of full disclosure, they’re obsessed with watching American Ninja Warrior Kids right now, so that might have had something to do with their enthusiasm… but I don’t think that’s a requirement for this outing. Read on for some tips on a fun adventure to an indoor trampoline park!
General Itinerary:
9:00 – Arrive at DEFY right when it opens
9:00-10:30 – Play for 1.5 Hours (this is the standard amount of time for admission)
10:30 – head home!
Bring:
Water bottles
Snacks
Wear exercise clothes with a zippered pocket for your phone and keys if you’re jumping
Stroller for babies – if you’ve got a little one who won’t be jumping bring them into the play area in a stroller. This way your hands are free to help your older ones (or you can take a turn too!)
Quarters from your kid’s piggie banks if they’ll want to do the arcade games after
Grippy socks from your previous visit (if you’ve been before you can reuse your socks from last time)
Don’t Bring:
Socks – you have to wear their special grippy socks that they have for purchase
Valuables – they do have free lockers you can use, but they’re a bit finicky. Better to just have non-valuables in your diaper bag (or leave in your car) and keep the important stuff with you in a zipped-up pocket
Weather:
These places will obviously be more crowded on rainy or super hot days. Also weekends, holidays, summer – anytime kids are out of school. Just something to keep in mind when you’re planning your trip.
Details:
I feel like indoor trampoline parks are kind of a new thing. Or maybe now that my 3 boys are older, these are just starting to cross my radar. But boy, is this right up their alley! I believe there are 2-3 parks like this in the greater Seattle area. For our first time, we chose DEFY Seattle: it’s a bit closer drive for us than the others and kids of all ages can explore the majority of the facility. We do like to go first thing in the morning to help keep the crowd sizes down – trampoline parks are a bit dangerous in my opinion. There are so many opportunities to fall off something wrong, or run into someone else. Having the crowd be smaller can be really nice. If you can go a weekday instead of a weekend that will also help enormously.
Be sure to hop online the before you go to buy your tickets and to fill out your waiver – because it’s so fun entering your phone number, address, kids names and birthdays, etc. into a crappy touchscreen computer while your kids are waiting to jump… Even if you’ve been before, it’s good to check that your waiver is still active online. Even with that said, it still took us a good 15 minutes to check in, get our socks on, go potty and put our things away.
Ticket prices are $24.99 for 90 minutes of jumping, ages 5+ and $19.99 for 90 minutes ages 4 & under. “Kidjump” is for kids 6 and under from 9-12 on weekdays and allows one parent to jump for free during this time. Generally, these ticket prices do seem like a lot to me, so try and save yourself a few bucks by taking advantage of this deal. Their grippy socks are required for jumping – we have some from previous visits so I try and remember to bring those each time. Also, you don’t have to buy tickets for everyone – if mom just doesn’t want to jump that’s fine. They will still let you wander around the trampolines and watch your kids. There are plenty of couches and areas to watch from.
They have a nice row of cubbies that you can store your non-valuables in. There are also free lockers but these were in pretty rough shape. You enter your 4 digit pin two times and then it locks for you. I must have done it wrong, because when I came back at the end mine wouldn’t open, so the front desk guy had to unlock it for me… not very tough security… But my diaper bag is full of diapers and apple sauce pouches, so next time I’ll just be sure to wear something with a zippered pocket that I can put my car keys and phone into and just leave the rest of our gear in an open cubbie.
Be sure to go potty before you start – and just to be clear, I’m talking to you, mom! I don’t know about you, but after carrying (and delivering) three 9-pound baby boys my pelvic floor and trampolines don’t exactly go together. Not to mention my back, neck, right knee… I’m getting old…
There are tons of fun things for the kids to try: zip lines, swinging trapeze, platforms to jump off, and of course American Ninja Warrior like courses.
My 6-year-old did take a bad fall and hurt his back a bit. While we were there, another little boy did something to his wrist. Even if the crowd sizes are low, and the “running into each other” risk is minimized, there’s still plenty of ways to have an accident. I think the key here is to know when it’s time to call it quits. The more tired your kids are, the more likely they’re going to hurt themselves. But overall, I wouldn’t say it’s not that much more dangerous than the trampoline in your backyard or the bouncy houses at Arena Sports. The crowd started to get a bit older (tweens) around 11:00, so it was definitely time to get the little guys out of the way.
But we’ll definitely be back! I personally couldn’t have gone without a second set of hands. A few of the features (zip line, for example) require an adult to help lift any shorter kids up to the handle bar. It would have been too hard to hoist up the 6-year-old while keeping the 1-year-old from taking a head dive into the foam pit. But if your kids were the right age you could go alone. I saw a mom following her toddler around, with her 6-month-old in her arms – seemed pretty easy. And other moms had kids old enough to do most things by themselves so they actually got to sit and relax a bit – amazing!!! But I will say it was fun to jump!! However you may not feel the same way after you wake up sore the next morning…
Having the smaller (and younger) crowd was really nice for us – I’ll be sure to avoid visits on holidays or days where big school districts are out. A weekend will obviously be busier, but if you hit that early morning hour you may still have a decently low-key time.
Hope all this info helps you and your family have an adventure to your local Trampoline Park!
DEFY Seattle: https://defy.com/locations/defy-seattle/?park=theme-blue&park_id=825
Other area parks:
Elevated Sportz: https://www.elevatedsportz.com
Altitude Marysville: http://altitudemarysville.com
Vertex Arena: https://www.vertexarena.com/
Destination Address:
DEFY Seattle: 455 Andover Park E, Tukwila, WA 98188
