Last Sunday we took the kids to Bounce at Menlyn Main in Pretoria. If you haven’t heard of it, it is a trampoline park. To say that the girls had a ball is an understatement.
Trampolining seems to be one of the latest crazes at the moment, and other than just having lots of fun its really good for keeping fit.
What’s Bounce All About?
An extract from their website describes it as follows:
BOUNCE Menlyn Maine is a massive indoor trampoline park in Pretoria that provides an adrenaline rush for all ages. Being the first indoor trampoline centre in South Africa, BOUNCE has hosted 1000’s of kids parties, 100’s of local school groups, and countless amounts of corporate team building activities. Decked out with performance grade trampolines, BOUNCE Menlyn Maine provides a locally accessible training ground for athletes looking to hone in their skills before taking it to the game.
Like all BOUNCE trampoline centres, Menlyn Maine has an awesome Free-Jump Arena, trampoline Slam Dunk, Big Bag, Dodgeball and Wall tramps in the Performance area. In addition to all of these epic areas, Menlyn Maine features a first of it’s kind, never before seen Adventure Challenge Course called X-Park. Here, BOUNCE Menlyn Maine combines elements of climbing, jumping & free-running before zipping on the aerial runway to the finish line… THE REVOLUTION HAS LANDED IN PRETORIA!
Do We Have To Jump With The Kids At Bounce?
My husband and I weren’t keen on jumping ourselves, so we just paid for the girls to bounce. They were measured and found a little ‘vertically challenged’ so were restricted to certain areas. The other more adventurous areas were out of bounds, such as the X-Park. This didn’t seem to bother them at all, although I’m sure my eldest would have aced the X-Park section! #justsaying
We paid for an hour, and they got an additional hour for free, but I knew there was no way they would manage bouncing for two full hours.
Here’s a bit more of the details:
Each paying jumper get a pair of ‘Bounce’ non-slip socks to wear included in the price of the ticket, yours to take home.
Access is only permitted at the start of each hour as a way of controlling jumping times. The staff do explain the rules to the jumpers before they allow them on to the trampolines, and after that they are free to jump away!
The rules are pretty self explanatory and logical, such as:
- only one person per trampoline,
- no double bouncing or rough play
- no food or drink
- no running
- no bouncing on the padding between each mat
- wear your socks
There are more specific rules per zone too but those are the basics.
How did the girls get on?
The girls spent most of their time on the free bounce section where they were quite happy and actually played really well together. My eldest (5, nearly 6) is really quite sporty. She must get it from her father, certainly not me. As I’ve said before, they are both fearless. After observing the other more experienced jumpers she was off, bouncing from mat to mat, onto the central block over the ramps, doing cartwheels etc. I was actually really impressed.
My youngest (3, nearly 4) was just as keen, if not a little on the short side to do all the tricks her sister was. But, with a little help from her sister she was soon climbing up on the central block and clambering over the ramps.
From there they went to the ‘Big Bag’ which is basically a trampoline in front of a ‘giant bag which they then bounce and land on, then clamber over the other side, run round and start again. They spent about 15 minutes on that and then went back to the free bounce section.
Observation Deck For Parents
My husband and I were able to observe them from the comfort of the Tuck Shop balcony area. Here they have a selection of hot and cold beverages, crisps, sweets, sandwiches etc. Perfectly adequate for parents to kill an hour (or two) while their kids burn some energy.
Overall Review: Bounce
I would highly recommend this activity for kids of all ages and adults! It’s perfect for families and you can even host your kids’ birthday party there. It’s maybe not ideal for babies and small toddlers, although they do have a soft block play area for little kids. I guess if you were to take your toddlers onto the mats with you, that would be fine too.
Top Tip:
Make sure you wear shorts, tights or trousers. My youngest decided to wear a dress and whilst at the age of 3 she didn’t really care, it certainly wouldn’t be appropriate for older kids.
Down side:
The kids were so exhausted that getting them to leave was a bit of a problem. And then they fell asleep in the car at about 16.00. We will definitely go earlier in the morning next time to try avoid overtired bounced-out kids.
If you are keen, please take a look at their website. It has all the info and prices on it. You can even buy your tickets online in advance. They have a variety of different priced packages for families, groups etc. Currently they have three branches in Gauteng, with Durban and Cape Town branches opening soon.
Note: This is not a sponsored post, just my review of our personal experience.
Fun! That place sounds even more exciting than our local “gravity park”. R has adored the bouncing experience since around 18 months! But at 3.5 she. Rome her leg because she was on a tramp with a kid twice her size who “double bounced” her — hence the rule to not double bounce. We’ve been a bit scared to go back since, but she’s soooo ready. Sounds like your girls were in heaven!
Thanks, they really were.