One of the moms at my daughter’s preschool invited the class to play at Magic Mountain right off 71 in the Polaris area. My daughter was excited to see her preschool buddies outside of class, and I was interested to check it out. I had been there once to play putt-putt years ago, and remembered it being loud and focusing more on teens and adults. Well, it was still loud (perhaps that’s just my age), but it was great for kids and cheap! Thursdays are “Toddler Thursdays” from Labor Day to Memorial Day (September through May), and admission is only $2.50 per child and includes 10 tokens for games. Magic Mountain offers special promotions for other days of the week that are family-oriented as well, check it out: Magic Mountain Special Promos.
My kids’ eyes lit up when they walked in because the place is huge and filled with arcade
games; but, that was not the reason we were there. Our visit took us downstairs where the kids could run it out inside. There was an enormous netted jungle gym, baby slides, and a large jungle gym that resembled a truck. Plenty of benches surrounded the play area where caregivers could watch the kids and chat with their friends. An attendant was guarding the door so the kids were pretty much contained in one place. This also made it easy for moms who had more than one child or more than one child and a baby.
The floors of the huge jungle gym were soft and all the bars had a foam material surrounding them. Babies were crawling on the floor, kids were playing tag and climbing all over everything, and I am proud to say I didn’t hear one child cry. I 
let my kids romp around for about an hour and a half and then took them upstairs to spend their tokens. Okay, I am officially *not* into those arcade games that hand out tickets, but I could tell my kids wanted to try. Many of the games were over their heads or not really working properly. I also felt as if my kids were a bit overstimulated running from one game to the next unable to focus. Painstakingly, we played all of our tokens.
Then the children had their tickets to spend before we left. {Let’s just say – YOU pick out the toy. You could be there all day waiting for your child to decide. Or you could be there all day explaining over and over again why they needed more tickets and you weren’t springing for more tokens.}
Next time, I need to think of a genius plan to skip the arcade games.
Other than the minor meltdowns over tickets and my hang up with arcade games, we had a nice morning. The kids were exhausted from running and playing all morning, it was easy on my wallet, and I enjoyed chatting with friends knowing my kids weren’t far away and safe. I hear they do birthday parties too – for more information click here. Hours and directions, click here.
8330 Lyria Drive (there is also a location out East off of Scarborough Blvd.)
Columbus, Ohio 43240
(614) 840-9600
Here’s a few more tips:
- Keyed lockers available for storing valuables by the door, or cubbies downstairs for shoes.
- Bring your lunch and sit at the tables outside of the play area. Or there are tons of place in the Polaris area to eat.
- Elevator to the left of the admission desk – strollers are easy to maneuver.
- Bathrooms upstairs and downstairs.
- Think about how you want to handle the arcade games: 10 tokens come with admission, but for more you have to pay.
- Think about how you want handle tickets and prizes.
- The place was not that crowded on the Thursday we went, but some of the moms said it gets really crowded on the weekends.
- If you are planning to go a lot during the cold/rainy months, consider buying a pass. Ask the cashier, but I think it is only around $19.
