Kids in Prague

Hrad Zabavy Indoor Playground & Family Centre Palladium Mall, Prague 1

Indoor Playgrounds on 29 August 2011 by Darina (4 comments)

This is a NEW Indoor Playground in Palladium Shopping Mall. I am not talking about the smaller one in the Food Court - which by the way - will be closed soon. It’s operated by the same owner and he’s decided to concentrate on Hrad Zabavy (The Entertainment Castle), a larger area with lots of attractions and friendly staff. There is no real Babysitting here but you can leave you child in the care of staff and they do a great job. At the moment kids can exit on their own but a gate is soon to be installed that will prevent this. Get your wallet ready – I will explain why.

The whole concept is created by the owner who has similar Indoor Playgrounds operating in 7 countries and I am clapping my hands at how clever the concept is. Apart from the two level climbing frame with slides, ball pool and swinging walkways they also have a craft room and Game Machines. Every game machine produces small coupons – depending on how well you played. These tickets can be exchanged for prizes at the reception desk. So in theory - you gain something from your spent money and kids walk away with small toys as a reward.

There is a special machine that counts the coupons and based on how many of them you “won” you can choose from a range of small to large prizes, the majority of these are toys. I think it is very nice that you get something - usually the Game Machines are used for fun and that’s what you pay for. Here you get the fun and a reward. To quote a line from the movie Ice Age: “The Dinner and a Show” :-D

Now – why did I tell you to get your wallets out? Simple. All the Game Machines are really attractive. I wanted to try them out myself. They are all very innocent and my kids enjoyed them tremendously. You do not feed the machine with the real money.

No No. Firstly you go to the change machine that will give you 5 house coins for 100 CZK. That is the minimum you can exchange for. So every coin equals 20czk and every game costs you 1 coin = 20czk. You know – if you would have to throw 20czk into the Game Machines every time your kid play, you would think twice and would definitely spend less. With the funny money it doesn’t really hurt so much to throw them in and before you know it you are standing in front of the changing machine again, getting a new load of House coins.

I managed to spend 400czk just on the Automats. Add 150czk entrance fee per child and there you go! A new pair of shoes is gone… :-) of course, its totally up to you if you let your child play. Yet again – try not to. I didn’t have the strength. The fee of 150czk is for THE WHOLE DAY. And what’s fair - only for the Kids. Parents go for Free unlikely in Beckiland where they trick parents to pay although the only thing they do is supervise their own children. At Hrad Zabavy, kids under 3 years pay a 70czk entrance fee.

There is a lot to do even without paying for the Game Machines. The craft room is supervised by one of the staff members who creates and assists kids with their drawings, the climbing area is huge and the kids can play with special sand pits – filled with little plastic beans instead of sand which would make a horrendous mess. By seeding it they can find little coloured semi precious stones - like imitation diamonds :-) My Marcus spent good 30 minutes mining and we ended up with palm full of colorful stones :-) There is also a netted firing range where kids can fire soft balls out of their own cannons - this attraction is very popular with boys!

Indisputably we had much fun and my Nikki kept on asking to go back. So it was money well spent. Just when we were leaving there was a foreign family entering with 6 Kids…I hope they were rich :-) ALl of the staff are frienly young people Boys and Girls who all speak many different languages.

The Indoor Playground is connected to a cafe and a sitting area on the roof of Palladium, perfect if you have a child in a pram. It’s a shame you cannot watch your kids from there because that would be perfect. I assume it will be closed in winter - yet again the owner said they will try to keep it operational. Maybe he will use those heating lamps. The plan is to decorate it for Christmas and hold some seasonal Events there too. The cafe has 2 additional tables indoors where you can sit and have a coffee too.

Since this is a newly opened venue everything is spanking new including the toilets, with changing table of course. Spacious, clean just to my likings. Also, if you are interested in a new VENUE for your Kids birthday celebration - here’s an option, just send inquiry to: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call: 774 754 794
Let us know what you managed to win next time you go :-)