We had heard from a few family friends that Boomerangs Playland was worth checking out, so we headed to Carver, MA this weekend to give it a whirl. Located in a strip mall off Route 58 in one half of an old supermarket (the other half is a gym), Boomerangs offers 12,000 square feet of play space, birthday party rooms, an arcade, and an adult-only relaxation room. The entry fee is $8.95

Monday through Thursday and $11.95 Friday through Sunday, with kids under 2 costing $6.95 and $8.95. In addition to the entry fee you will want to purchase some tokens. These can be used for the arcade games and cost 25 cents per token or 100 tokens for $20.00 and a bonus of 10 tokens. We went with this option as we had two uncles with us that wanted to shoot some hoops and play air hockey while their nephew had his fun. We’d recommend scoping out the games before making this investment though, as most games only require one or two tokens.

The first attraction directly behind the front desk, and something you can’t miss, is a large inflatable activity apparatus. An employee told us that the inflatable activity changes monthly. When we visited, an obstacle course called the ‘Boomerang Challenge’ was there allowing kids to race each other over and around a few obstacles, climb up about 20 feet and then slide/jump down to complete the course. This one would be best for kids 4 and up and all the kids we saw on it were having a blast.

To the right of the front desk is an Animaland factory (similar to Build-a-Bear), which lets your kid build their own stuffed animal, complete with an outfit and accessories. We didn’t partake in this, but noted that prices started around $24.95 for the base animals and go up from there.

The Paradise Lounge is the next area you arrive at when walking through the facility and is directly adjacent to the toddler area. This room is for adults only and features 5 massage chairs, computer work stations, and a flat-screen TV. With windows providing a pretty good view of the facility, this room is a great place to escape the craziness and wind down. This is an opportunity to take turns supervising the kids allowing the parents to enjoy the facility as well. We tested out the massage chairs, and after some tinkering with a very complex remote control, we got the kneading and shiatsu working our back, legs and feet.

The toddler area is sectioned off for the little ones and has a large and small ball pit, soft climbing blocks, push and pull cars and trucks, and other toddler-friendly toys. While this section does have a height requirement, we had to keep our eyes out as older kids couldn’t resist a quick flop into the ball pit.

The featured attraction of Boomerang’s is the Mega Climber, boasting three levels of soft and safe activities. With a loosely enforced height requirement of about 3 feet, this structure is geared towards kids 3 and up. Parents can go inside with their kids to help them navigate the corridors or to just play alongside them. The climber is fairly open, so you could track your kids from the outside, but there are several blind spots throughout the maze-like complex. Kids that can navigate to the top corner are rewarded with a trip down the 3-story spiral slide.

Buccaneer Bay is next to the Mega Climber and has several different themed areas encouraging creative play. Kids can dress as a pirate, mermaid, or surfer and create an adventure in four different play structures. These looks like the sets from a theatre production, allowing your kids to get creative and develop their own adventure. The dock area doubles as a stage where your kids can see themselves on TV.

The arcade stretches along the left-hand wall and features standard games such as Skee ball, basketball, air hockey, and several driving games. For the older kids (and adults) there is a decent selection to choose from in this small arcade. Tickets are rewarded by most of the games and can be exchanged for small toys and candy on your way out. Koala Kafe is at the very back of the complex in between the birthday party rooms and offers ample seating and standard kid food such as pizza, popcorn, cotton candy, and slushies. It wasn’t lunch time yet, so we didn’t dine, but the food looked pretty good.

Dad Says: Boomerangs was clean and just big enough to keep our kid busy for a couple hours, but not too big that you feel lost. If we lived closer, we’d definitely do a birthday party here. The adult lounge was nice for even a quick break from the madness that can occur at any playplace.

Aunt Says: I was put off by a big hole in the ceiling (construction in progress?) and some duct tape on the Boomerang Challenge. However, the little guy had a blast in the ball pit, which made the whole trip worthwhile, and Buccaneer Bay is a great opportunity for older kids to get creative. I would really like some stricter staff supervision in the toddler area, as some kids got pretty rowdy with the ball pit, which was annoying. And I could have spent a lot more time at the Paradise Lounge, although I had a tough time figuring out how to adjust the settings on the massage chair.

Uncle Says: This would be a great place to have a birthday party and it looks like they have 4 different rooms for hosting parties. I must admit that I had a lot of fun playing the basketball game and air hockey.

Playland Boomerangs 160 N Main St Carver, MA 02330 phone: 508-866-2228 Website: www.boomerangscarver.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 4:42 am and is filed under Places to Go, Playplaces. If you use RSS, you can subscribe to the RSS feed , or if you would rather receive an e-mail, please subscribe to the e-mail in the lower right hand corner of this page. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.