Texas weather is always a fun guessing game! Are we baking cookies in our hot car or are we counting how long thunder comes after lightning? Sometimes a good, old fashioned indoor play place helps take the pressure off worrying about our hourly changing weather. I grabbed the 8-year-old and the 5-year-old and we took a trip to Urban Air in Cedar Park!
Austin has a lot of amazing and unique indoor play areas for kids. Because of that, places like Urban Air can be a little lackluster. The kids have a blast jumping, running, and screaming. But as an adult, you notice the duck tap holding equipment together, or the large bucket catching fluid from the dripping pipe in the ceiling.
We arrived at Urban Air at opening on a Sunday. The price to play is a little high at $20/person for children over five. We also had to purchase their special socks which cost around $2/pair. While children under five are allowed, there is not much for them to do at Urban Air. All the climbing structures are a bit too big. They could enjoy themselves on the trampolines, but with how many big kids are running and jumping at full speed, it isn’t the safest for the little ones.
Once we had our socks, we began to scope out the place! There is a giant rock wall the kids had zero interest in climbing. But it looked like a lot of fun and they were very good at keeping the line moving for kids waiting to climb. There is also a large ropes course and a zipline. They, of course, cost extra and the kids had no interest in riding on those either. This did result in me constantly getting scared every time a child on the zipline flew over my head. I kept thinking a child was falling off the play structure!
Then we found the huge ball pit! In the center of Urban Air is a large ball pit filled with obstacle courses. The kids were hooked and had a blast jumping in the balls, swinging from the rings, and pretending to drown so that I could pull them out and save them.
The main even of course is the trampolines! And I will give credit where credit is due, the kids have a blast on the trampolines! The kids jumped, flipped, bounced off the pads, and ran up the trampoline ramps. They have a trampoline in front of a basketball hoop for dunking. There is a trampoline dodgeball area, and a trampoline that allows you to launch into a big, inflatable pad. There is a reason Urban Air is so popular, and the reason is the trampolines!
After an hour of “watch me” in the trampoline area, we went in search of snacks and a bathroom. The snack area is pretty small and very basic. They have candy, chips, and slushies. No outside food or drink is allowed so you have to make due with what they have behind the counter. One very important thing Urban Air has that you don’t find elsewhere is alcoholic beverages! We restocked on sugar, I lectured myself on why it is irresponsible to drink while supervising children, and went back out to play!
As the morning continued, the place got more and more crowded. There were about four birthday parties happening all at once. This would be a great spot for a birthday party for the elementary school kids! But the crowding can make it a little tough to keep an eye on your kids. Urban Air is set up in such a way, that if you sit in the café area you cannot see your kids on anything accept the trampoline directly in front of the café. There are a few benches surrounding the various play areas. But between the massive amount of kids and the layout, it is really tough to keep an eye on everyone. Your better off camping out at a meeting spot.
I told the kids to keep playing until they got hungry for lunch. We left at lunchtime, and the kids were tired and hungry. Overall, it was a fun day. We enjoyed our time at Urban Air and the kids were able to burn off some energy. It wasn’t our favorite place to visit in Austin. There are other indoor play areas I would probably pick before Urban Air. But it got the job done. Tired kids and a break for the adults!