A couple of weeks ago Ava had a very special day. She took one of her oldest friends to Kidzania, for a day of fun. We’ve been to Kidzania before, but as Ava was only 3 at the time, she was limited in what she was able to take part in. So the expectations were high for this visit!
For those of you who haven’t been to Kidzania, it has to be seen to be believed. It is genuinely mind-blowing. An entire kid-sized city with its own infrastructure.
As soon as you set foot inside the building the experience has started and the incredible detail was evident.
On her last visit Ava had to be a shopper and this time she was old enough to be a shop-keeper! She was so happy!
For every activity within Kidzania kids either earn money (Kidzanian Dollars) or pay money to take part. At the end of the day they are able to go to the Department store to spend their money. Or they can go to the bank to open their own account and deposit the money until their next visit.
The girls then had a great time being Firemen. After they were briefed, they had a call out to a burning hotel!
Ava is always keen to put on a show, so our next stop was to the theatre workshop where they learned to do a magic trick, which they then performed for us mums.
Ava wanted to do some painting, but sadly there were no staff in that room (and we couldn’t see any paper ourselves), which was a shame.
So we went to the dancing room/night club. The session was due to start at 1.30pm and so we decided to wait the 10 minutes, rather than getting in another queue and then missing it. The lady who was running the room arrived a bit late and then took some time setting up before she let the kids in, so they were climbing the walls and we felt we’d wasted a bit of valuable time.
Once inside Ava was in her element dancing and busting her crazy moves!
Both our girls love dressing up so we headed to the H&M shop so they could indulge themselves in all the lovely clothes and accessories. They had such a fun time.
Our time was almost running out, so the girls made a quick stop at the maternity hospital, before we took them to spend some of their Kidzanian dollars to get their faces painted.
We stopped at the department store on the way out, but having only 60 dollars each they could only afford a ruler which was a little disappointing for the girls.
The girls had such a wonderful day and were utterly exhausted by the time we left. There certainly isn’t anything which comes close to the Kidzania experience that we have ever been too. My only issues were the value of the items in the shop. Having little ones meant they didn’t get through as many activities, so they had less opportunity to earn the dollars to spend in the shop. Also the queues for the activities further ate into this available time. 4 hours goes super quickly!
The onsite photography was also posed an issue for me. At the start of every activity the kid s were photographed individually before the activity started. This took quite some time. The photographers were very business like and didn’t interact much with the kids, simply told them what to do or what to hold and then snapped away. These pictures were obviously to sell to us parents later. While the pictures were being taken, the other staff members just sat and waited. The kids all seemed to get a little bored waiting and again this all ate into their available time. I would have much preferred reportage style photography of the kids enjoying themselves doing the activity, which would have also meant less wasted time.
In a fair few of the activity rooms we went in the staff seemed a little bored, almost like they didn’t want to be there and I feel when working with kids you have to be energetic and full of life, to ensure they get the best experience. You have to love what you do and not just be there for the pay cheque. There were a couple of exceptions, I just wish those bright, bubbly, awesome people had been more evident throughout.
All in all, despite my concerns, the girls had the most wonderful day and I definitely wouldn’t hesitate to take them again in the future.
Disclosure: We received complimentary tickets in return for an honest review.