Kidsville Playtown—Big Fun for Little Imaginations
Give your kids a chance to turn off the TV and jump start their imaginations.
Kidsville Playtown is a preschooler's dream, and as a work-at-home mom, it may be mine too. This kid-sized city has plenty of opportunities for pretend play, and mom can relax and enjoy comfortable seats and free Wi-Fi while watching the kids.
Open-Ended Imaginative Play
One of my biggest pet peeves as a parent is that there are so many products and services geared towards children that do the playing for them. Everything from electronic toys to live shows are designed to entertain the child rather than encouraging them to participate in developmentally appropriate activities. Kidsville Playtown offers children the props that they need to exercise their imagination and interact with other kids in a safe environment.
From the moment we walked in the door of Kidsville Playtown located at Plaza Camino Real Westfield Shoppingtown, my kids, ages 3 and 4, found plenty of ways to keep themselves busy. Co-owners Amber and Kelly say that "parents really like the fact that they can get their kids away from the television and get them in a place where they can use their imaginations, get exercise, socialize and be safe."
Kidsville has everything a child could want. Themed play centers are filled with toys, furniture, and gorgeous hand-painted artwork to set the mood. It's up to your child's imagination to do the rest.
A dress-up theatre features a full dressing room filled with frilly dresses and other costumes for a preschooler to dress up in before putting on a show on the stage. A jail and a firehouse are side by side and the firehouse has a great fire pole inside that my kids would have played with all day. A schoolhouse has child-sized desks and plenty of books and puzzles. A clinic allows preschoolers to nurse each other back to health. Kelly and Amber say they frequently find parents lying on the cot in the clinic being nursed back to health by their children.
A dinosaur mountain allows for active play and includes several slides and a Jack and the Beanstalk climbing wall. Kidsville has something to appeal to any child and, as the mother of boys, I loved that there were pretend play opportunities for both genders.
Clean and Safe
As a parent, I always want to make sure my kids are playing in a safe and clean environment. In public places, that can often be a challenge. I was extremely impressed with the cleanliness of Kidsville Playtown. Employees were hard at work making sure that the toys in each center were set up again so that every child could have a great experience.
With only one entrance at the front, I didn't have to worry about my children wandering off (or crazy strangers wandering in) and I loved that the seating available for parents was in full view of all the play areas.
Affordable Play for Carlsbad Kids
Kidsville Playtown really makes it possible for you to make a day of your visit. You can leave and go have lunch in the mall or bring outside food back with you. Daily rates are reasonable, at only $10 a day, which is a definite plus in this economy. Children who aren't yet walking are free and sibling discounts are offered to give families with multiple children a bit of a break. Memberships offer further savings and are a great option since after going once, it's pretty much a guarantee that your kids are going to ask to go back.
Kelly and Amber say that they frequently have parents come in and let their kids play while they work on their laptop as an alternative to sitting at home and sitting the kids down in front of a movie. My own kids woke up the next morning and asked to go back, so I'm sure we'll be taking advantage of all the great things that Kidsville offers.
To see some of the great things Kidsville offers, including themed birthday parties, drop-off care, and free play, visit the Kidsville Playtown website.
Have you visited Kidsville Playtown yet?
Tell us in the comments.
Marymichelle Lotano
7:14 am on Sunday, January 9, 2011
We recently had a basic package birthday party at Kidsville. We had a horrific time dealing with the staff. At the time of the booking we had requested red paper products. We were assured this would be done. Upon arriving the host was decorating the room with pink and purple. My son is not a fan of pink and purple. It took approximately 30 minutes of arguing to get the promised product. We had to threaten to go out and buy it ourselves and bring it in. The spoons that we were offered as part of the package were handed to us in a plastic cup and were not wrapped in any type of protective packaging. One of the spoons was dirty. We had to refuse to use them and used our own utensils. The floor of the party room had not been swept and there was bits of food and other sundry items on the floor. The tables were dirty so I asked for cleaner but, they said there was no need to clean them because the tables would be covered. I had to use a WetOnes from my purse to clean them. The host was a nice young man but, appeared to be responsible for 4 parties at the same time. We did not feel he could take care of the details of the party so we did our own decorating and cake cutting and clean up. At the final payment stage the young woman attempted to over-charge us for x-tra children. This issue was delt with swiftly and quietly, unlike the issue over the paper products. We would not recommend Kidsville as a good value for your money as a party planning establishment.
Kidsville
4:34 pm on Sunday, January 9, 2011
To the comment above. I apologize you were unhappy with your party, but there are some facts that need to be cleared up. We would have happily switched out the table covers for red ones. Honest mistake and an easy fix. The Father of the party actually put his hands on the host in a threatening manner while restraining him (while his wife pulled the table covers out of his hands) - which is unacceptable. In fact, our employee had every right to press charges. That was unecessary and this party should have been asked to leave immediately. However, we felt bad for the child and let it continue (with a new host). As far as 1 host for 4 parties, well that is simply untrue, since we only had 2 parties yesterday that required a host (at different times in fact). We have never received any feedback like this and know for a fact that most of it was fabricated. We have had 4 parties today, all with GLOWING reviews and extremely happy children.
Marymichelle Lotano
6:52 pm on Sunday, January 9, 2011
I am very sorry if someone misinformed you about my husband touching anyone. I can assure you that no one touched anyone. I did not grab or pull any table covers out of anyones hands. In addition, neither of us touched any product from your establishment that was not handed to us. I also thought the switch out from pink and purple would be easy since red is not a difficult party color to come by but, it was not easy at all. We did not get a new host. Kevin helped us in the beginning was with us the entire time. He was caucasian, had dark hair and dark eyes and was approximately 5' 6" tall. He was a very nice young man. I am sorry you have never had any negative feedback, but no one is infallible. Sometimes things do go wrong. Please remember that when you run a service business, it is always best to be smart and see the side of the customer you are servicing. If you do so this it will show a genuine concern for your customers and increase you stature in the community. It also allows for a disgruntled customer to see you in a reasonable and caring light which increases the chances that the situation will be forgotten and not harbored against the business. Also be very careful when you make accusations such as "pressing charges". I am an attorney who has worked in the District Attorney's Office and spent several years as a litigator. It is unwise to make such statments unless officers were called to the scene and an acutal police report was generated.
Kidsville
10:03 pm on Sunday, January 9, 2011
I am sorry if you misunderstood. I did not say we have "never had any negative feedback." We always strive to make everyones experience a great one. We do have a genuine concern for our customers - they come first, we appreciate their opinions and concerns. However, when there is clearly information that is false and our employees have been mistreated - we will set the record straight.
1. The table covers were blue and eggplant, not pink and purple.
2. There are witnesses that saw your husband grab our employee by his elbow and you rip the bag out of his hands.
3. We ARE truly sorry that we set out the wrong color table cloths. All you needed to do was simply walk over to the manager and it would have been taken care of immediately. It was a simple mistake and the scene that followed could have been avoided.
4. We would have taken a more sympathetic standpoint if you and your husband did not mistreat our employees in the manner you did. That will not be tolerated.
Marymichelle Lotano
12:06 am on Monday, January 10, 2011
To whom ever the actual individual is who is responding to me, I am sure you are a lovely and well meaning person. As such, I am also sure that you would not want to post something that is simply not true that could hurt another person. And, I am sure that if I tell you again that neither myself nor my husband laid a hand on any person who is in your employ, nor did we grab or abuse your table cloth or any other paper products, you will let it go at that. We wish you the very best and continued success with all of your endevors with Kidsville.