Have you been to imaginosity

Annabananna

Hey

I like to know if anyone has been to imaginosity in Dublin.

My husband has booked it for our two this weekend they are 4 and 5 as it their birthday and not having a party and I am wondering now if they enjoy it as we never been?

Please let me know your experiences of it.

Thanks

GG21057

We went with our twins and sine friends and their kids as a birthday treat to our kids. It wasn't a party, rather a number of families meeting in the same location to have some fun and enjoy each other's company.
We were extremely badly treated by staff from the outset as apparently we were classified by them as a party and should have booked as such.
This, despite it being explained at booking and again upon arrival was met with scepticism and outright bad manners which left an extremely bad impression on the 4 families involved, none of whom have returned.

It is a good facility; just make sure your party doesn't constitute a party from their perspective or you might not get the servuce

GG21057

We went with our twins and sine friends and their kids as a birthday treat to our kids. It wasn't a party, rather a number of families meeting in the same location to have some fun and enjoy each other's company.
We were extremely badly treated by staff from the outset as apparently we were classified by them as a party and should have booked as such.
This, despite it being explained at booking and again upon arrival was met with scepticism and outright bad manners which left an extremely bad impression on the 4 families involved, none of whom have returned.

It is a good facility; just make sure your party doesn't constitute a party from their perspective or you might not get the servuce

clairefontaine

I don't like their set up. You have a time limit.

And it is so noisy and so busy and crowded, that small children can get overwhelmed and it can turn into a negative experience.

How Strange

I went during the summer with my 2.5 year old who was definitely too young for it. Next time I'd also bring a pal for him as I think they enjoy it more with friends. My husband can get discounted tickets through his work social club.

However I was quite surprised at how grubby and tired the place looked. Also most of the toys are Melissa and Doug or from ikea. At those prices I expected the place to be kept up to date and also more specialised toys.

I think it's very overpriced for what it is.

Vel

Given the rave reviews I had heard prior to going, like others I was pretty unimpressed. The weekend after we went to Imaginosity we took our kids to the Natural History Museum and they had a much better time there, for free!

bubbaloo

The kids will probably love it but as a parent I hated it. We had to pay for ourselves as well as our son - seriously, what facilities were we going to play with???
And you are strictly limited to two hours. God forbid you'd want to have a cup of coffee outside of those two hours because you won't be allowed back up to the café. Thankfully there are plenty more cafes around.
It's a total rip off but yes, the kids will have great fun and won't want to leave - even when the staff are standing over your shoulder ushering you out the door!!
Enjoy

How Strange

Yes I'd saw the natural history museum would be a far better place to go. The ark theatre has a teddy bear exhibition on at the moment which I want to bring our son to.

Hannibal Smith

I love imaginosity...both our boys always have a great time. There are places for both kids and toddlers. They can find what they're interested in and hang out there the whole time if you like. I love the shop with the real cash registers. ..only problem is having to elbow the kids outta the way

Only down side is having to pay for adults too. ..so we don't go very often...maybe once a year. But I really really love the place

highly1111

I emailed imaginosity before regarding their pricing and this is the reply I received:

Thank you for your email, we always appreciate and value customer feedback. Imaginosity is a children’s museum, one of many around the world, that is designed to provide a space for adults and children to interact and play together – a facility where children play to learn and adults learn to play. For this reason all children’s museums charge a fee for all adults entering, as they are encouraged to be as involved as the children. If you Google the Boston/Chicago/Connecticut Children’s museums, you will see this in practice. Obviously the extent to which adults participate and play along is entirely up to the adult in question, however we feel that this is what sets Imaginosity apart from the other “play centres” you addressed in your email.

Imaginosity’s exhibit area and programming has been devised in line with the national curriculum and early education philosophies, and thus offers a visit experience which we believe cannot be compared to those offered by other soft play areas - this is reflected in our pricing structure.

The other reasoning behind adults paying, is due to the fact that we have a 160 person capacity limit within our building set down by the fire authority. We have occasions where one toddler may be accompanied by up to 5 adults, all of whom would be taking the places of children if it were a busy time. Finally, Imaginosity is a not for profit registered charity, using all entry fees for the upkeep of the building and the development of the interactivity of the building. Your entry fees also go towards us offering discounted rates to less advantaged groups so that the facility can be experienced by a wider spectrum of children and families.


What they failed to mention is that other children's museums offer discounted days - for example:

http://www.chicagochildrensmuseum.org/index.php/plan/hours-admission

Also in Canada, the prices are about $7 for adults & children of school-going age and $2 for pre-schoolers.

clairefontaine

Other childrens museums in the US have better exhibits, no time limits, and are less crowded.

They can't even begin to compare to the ones in the US.

January

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

I love imaginosity...both our boys always have a great time. There are places for both kids and toddlers. They can find what they're interested in and hang out there the whole time if you like. I love the shop with the real cash registers. ..only problem is having to elbow the kids outta the way

Only down side is having to pay for adults too. ..so we don't go very often...maybe once a year. But I really really love the place

They haven't fixed one of the cash registers in years... it makes this high pitched horrible continuous beeping noise and you have to give it a good bang to stop it. Pain in the bum.

We only go if they school decides to bring them...

Hannibal Smith

January wrote: »

They haven't fixed one of the cash registers in years... it makes this high pitched horrible continuous beeping noise and you have to give it a good bang to stop it. Pain in the bum.

We only go if they school decides to bring them...

It does it as a result of something. ..I think its pressing the buttons too much or pressing a particular button. There was a way of fixing it but I can't remember what. Maybe the staff did it.

It certainly didn't put me...err I mean the kids off

January

Hannibal Smith wrote: »

It does it as a result of something. ..I think its pressing the buttons too much or pressing a particular button. There was a way of fixing it but I can't remember what. Maybe the staff did it.

It certainly didn't put me...err I mean the kids off

The way of fixing it is to give it a good bang That's what the staff told me anyway!

Hurts my poor 4 year olds ears... she can't stand high pitched/loud noises.

Hannibal Smith

January wrote: »

The way of fixing it is to give it a good bang That's what the staff told me anyway!

Hurts my poor 4 year olds ears... she can't stand high pitched/loud noises.

Haahaa no wonder its broken if the staff are whacking it! Im full sure the last time I was there it beeped when you pressed the buttons till the number screen filled up...and when you cancelled it it stopped.

Our eldest is quite noise sensitive too. We can't use hand driers in public loos or thetr like

Annabananna

Hey

Thanks for all replies so far i lety ye know how we get on tomorrow.

Annabananna

Well we went on Saturday.

The kids loved it and wondering can we go again soon.

But the only thing we found as parents is there is way too many adults wondering around as no real place for them to go except the expensive cafe.

The place is dated also and for 32eur for the 4 of us wasnt really worth it the local playbarn is much more relaxed and us parents ca have a nice latte for 2 eur and its only 6 eur each.

Thanks Again

bubbaloo

Annabananna wrote: »

Well we went on Saturday.

The kids loved it and wondering can we go again soon.

But the only thing we found as parents is there is way too many adults wondering around as no real place for them to go except the expensive cafe.

The place is dated also and for 32eur for the 4 of us wasnt really worth it the local playbarn is much more relaxed and us parents ca have a nice latte for 2 eur and its only 6 eur each.

Thanks Again

Glad the kids enjoyed it.
I wouldn't think they get much repeat business - precisely for the reasons mentioned above, but they're doing alright out of it with €32 per visit!!

Dubl07

I've been three times but the repeat visits were pester power and by visit three even the (then) eight-year-old was asking why they hadn't fixed stuff that had been broken the last time we were there.