Boogie on down at Bogi Park
The warm weather ended with a vengeance this week and for parents suddenly casting around for something to do with their youngsters the Bogi Park – a 5,000 square metre play area packed with activities – is a popular choice.
Indoor play parks have come a long way since somebody had the bright idea of taking the playground and putting it inside and the Bogi Park is the largest in Austria.
And that doesn’t just mean bouncy castles even though these are present in a huge and enormously complicated form at the Bogi Park .
Although it was always a popular attraction over the last year when visitor numbers are traditionally smaller as parents make for the more traditional outside activities – managers have taken the opportunity to revamp and revitalise the facilities.
The racing track that was always struggling to cater for the large numbers of children as batteries ran low towards the end of the day have been improved and expanded with the new longer lasting cars – so the services is available right to the end of the day.
The bouncy castles from last year that were starting to look faded have not only been replaced but replaced with a vengeance – with giant sized monsters that have little resemblance to what was previously in the same place.
That rather scary dark passageway in a rather drab corner that most of the very young children avoided has been turned into a disco packed with gyrating toddlers through to young teenage dance Queens putting themselves through their paces.
The animators too seem to have been upgraded and have been given a new lease of life – and chains of youngsters following in procession for some game or another or attempting to win one of the prizes in the latest game are constantly weaving between other kids dashing from one attraction to the other.
Entry is free for children up to one year – or 3.50 for small children aged between one and two. Youngsters aged between three and 16 pay 8.90 and adults cost just 4 euros and once you’re inside there is a restaurant were it possible to let the children run free and enjoy a breather and a snack. Alternatively a season ticket would have paid for itself after five visits.
The park puts an emphasis on good clean fun with lots of physical activities that will leave every child asleep almost as soon as their head hits the pillow once they finally get home. The only unhappy children seem to be those forced to leave early before the final bell.
Features include a climbing volcano which is a stretched tarpaulin that youngsters struggled to climb – and for those that make it the top they have the delight of a large and lengthy slide right to the bottom.
There is also a swimming pool filled with plastic balls, and a labyrinthine climbing frame filled with action packed rooms that look like they belong out of the film set for Charlie and the chocolate factory. The trampolines are carefully regulated to make sure everybody gets a chance if they’re prepared to stay in the queue for five minutes or so – and in order to avoid any accidents with overexcited younger children mixing with toddlers there is a special section for the very young.
Youngsters that attend regularly looking for something a bit different can sign-up for some of the special area activities for example with hair design, face painting, making sand pictures and even getting temporary tattoos!
Really busy parents can signup with an experienced childminders to make sure children of different ages have a chance to enjoy themselves.
It’s worth remembering that Bogi Park offers the opportunity to book up special rooms for birthday parties or other celebrations – there are five specially themed rooms and the price generally includes a cake and the decorations and the gift on request. There is also an animator designed to make sure everything goes with a bang and various meals available to order in child sized portions. It costs about the same price as renting a room in a restaurant and with a lot more fun.
The company also offers the export birthday parties so that they can provide everything needed from entertainment through to present for birthday parties at home.
In fact under the new management the Bogi Park is even available not just for the young but for the young at heart – and several businesses have put up evening sessions outside of the egular opening times (Mo – Sa from 10am to 7pm) to enable staff the opportunity to enjoy bouncy castles guaranteed to be all the more fun after hours.
The management are currently taking booking for office parties, Christmas parties, company presentations, customer events, club anniversaries, and anything else where the space and the facilities would go down well.
It’s worth checking out the park’s homepage – they include details of special events for example Halloween themed parties and special offers.http://www.bogipark.at/goto/home – or sign up for the newsletter.
If you’re looking for something to pass the time as the cold winter days approach then this is a great place to start.http://www.bogipark.at/go