Review of Leo’s Funzone at Huntingdon Leisure Centre
by Alconbury Pre-School Mums
On Monday 17th November 2008, I accompanied an eager group of mums from Alconbury Pre-School to the Huntingdon Leisure Centre’s new soft play centre, Leo’s Funzone. This was just two days after the 
official opening, so some of the suggestions made in their comments below will have already been actioned by the Leisure Centre management by the time you read this in December (such as providing more high chairs).
My comments:
Leo’s Funzone makes very good use of space in a brightly lit room at Huntingdon Leisure Centre. It is reassuring to know that your children can be seen in every aspect of the play frame. There is an excellent variety of activity areas on offer including an air blowing machine, which was particularly popular with all the children, a tube slide, ball cannons and disco zone.
A comfortable seating area is provided in front of the café where a tempting selection of food can be purchased.
At first the room may appear small and it is in comparison to similar soft play centres, but I think this is an advantage, after all parents want time to relax whilst their children play; they don’t want to be worrying about where they have wandered off to.
Huntingdon Leisure Centre has paid particular attention to safety, by installing a gate beyond the main door which can only be opened by a push button (and is out of reach for a child).
Overall I would highly recommend this play setting, particularly for pre-school children.
Ruby Speechley, mum to Edward, aged 5
Comments from Mums about Leo’s Funzone
Colourful, Compact and Close!
A vibrant array of toddler activities in a comforting space that is easy for a parent to always have a watchful eye on their little ones, whilst enjoying a cuppa. Huntingdon was in dire need for this type of facility i.e. close!
Best for children aged 2 to 5
I only hope they keep it to a limited number or it could become a little cramped.
Holly Mulheron, mum to Niall, aged 3 and Logan, aged 8 months
I’d definitely go again, especially in the week when it is not too busy. I don't think I would go at the weekend as I imagine it will be so busy. Yesterday afternoon was perfect; I could see my kids and what they were doing. I hope they have some kind of method of counting how many people are in there and stopping people entering when they reach a maximum amount. I hope children are not left there while parents do exercise elsewhere and not supervised, especially with other young children using the apparatus.
It was very clean on the play zone and in the Cafe area. The coffee was very good and a nice assortment of cakes and refreshments. I liked the room next door with the video game for older kids.
The equipment seemed safe and extremely well padded and solid. My kids loved the "air-ball" thing, and could quite happily have stayed another hour playing. All the children in the group seemed happy and content and no one came back to the table for anything more than a drink the whole time we were there (1 1/2 hours) and the children's ages ranged from only just 2 years to 7 years I believe.
This morning at breakfast both my children were asking to go back today to play in Leo's Funzone. I would definitely recommend it to other mums. The climbing area was bigger than I thought it was going to be, with bright colours and not too noisy!!
Sarah Brawn, mum to Louis, aged 4 and Olivia, aged 2
Initially I thought that it was too small, and can see that it will get over crowded. But this worry soon evaporated when Charlotte was happily playing in the toddler area for some time, then ventured up the larger climbing frames. It was lovely being able to have a cuppa and know that she was in a safe environment and could not get lost. The environment is clean, friendly and inviting. The food service is quick and efficient.
In comparison to the likes of the Big Sky and Activity World, it is newer so is cleaner, and also much better suited to an adventurist 3 year old!
Vanessa Watson, mum to Charlotte, aged 3 and Sophie, aged 7 months
The first place I've been to where you can have a drink and a chat without wondering where the children are as you can see them at all times and there is a secure manned gate. There is plenty for the children to do and they loved every minute of it.
Ruth Smith, mum to Toby, aged 3 and Luke, aged 7 months
It was a nice area for the adults to be able to sit close by and watch their child have so much fun with all the activities they had on offer. There was also enough room in the play area for the adults to go with their children if needed. Definitely a good 2 hours worth of entertainment for them and reasonably priced. Although they could do with more highchairs and no space for pushchairs/prams to be left.
Ps the flapjacks were nice too!!!
Samantha Rees, mum to Madison, aged 3 years
We thought the whole set up was excellent. I liked the fact that you had a comfortable and welcoming coffee area which gave you good view of the play zone. Both the play zone and coffee area looked clean and welcoming. The beverages were good and I liked the food counter as it gave a feel of a coffee shop almost inviting the parents to sit and chat over a coffee! Only 2 possible criticisms. There were no signs for the toilets and more than one highchair would be more helpful.
Andrea Spall, mum to Eva and Anna, both aged 3
My first impressions were very good although I didn't think it would keep my 7 and 9 year old interested. I thought it was very bright and colourful. The staff were very accommodating and friendly. My children enjoyed it in there although they were playing with some younger children. I do feel that if they were with children of their own age they would soon get bored. The room next door was fun for them but it would help if they could pay one price and use both rooms, maybe keep the other room for over 7's?
I don't really like drinking a hot drink out of a paper cup but I suppose it helps with the clearing away. One of my concerns is whether it will stay clean, I never used to take my children to play barns as I thought they were dirty; sometimes you can see food in the bottom of the ball pool. I would recommend this to younger children and would definitely take children I child mind.
Jacqui Dawson, mum to Lucy, aged 7 and Phoebe, aged 9
It was good, but, I would recommend it to smaller children, like 7 and under because it wasn't very active. But it was still great fun, I like the twisty door at the top and the slide. I think it would have been nice if it was a bit bigger. I like the way they presented it so the mums could see the children more.
Phoebe's review, aged 9
The kids seemed to really enjoy their time at the Funzone. There seemed to be quite a few different things to do for both toddlers and slightly older children 5-8 year olds. Alex particularly liked the floating balls. There seemed to be a lot of floor based blocks and things in the toddler area which were brightly coloured and provided lots of stimulation and the memory game was good too.
The little dance zone has great potential from an interactive point of view. One concern was that there were so many blocks and balls and things all jumbled up in the toddler area that there was not much room for a younger child to sit and play without being squashed/bombarded and there were no signs to indicate that the area was pre-dominantly for pre-schoolers.
I think older children especially 10-12 years would find the whole thing a bit claustrophobic/not enough to stimulate them, however, the separate i-zone was a good idea for these older children. I assume this would be supervised at all times allowing parents to sit and watch their younger children playing. They might want to consider putting some signs up to say that food and drink shouldn't be taken into the play areas etc.
I liked the cafe area - you could clearly see the whole of the zone from there and it was good knowing that there was an exit button that needed to be pressed to ensure no children wandered off. The cakes looked good and it will be nice to have panini's etc available to eat as well. I would just make sure that there are also plenty of more healthy options available to the kids as well as crisps and cakes - maybe a fruit bowl, raisins, yoghurts?
The toilets were close by which was good (although external to the playzone therefore you'd need to make sure you accompanied children there).
The entrance fee is at the top end of what I would be prepared to pay (especially at weekends). I certainly wouldn't want to pay any more especially as the play zone seems smaller than other local soft play centres who charge similar prices.
The Leo's Toddler Morning prices however are reasonable and obviously come with a free drink for the children. I assume that they will monitor numbers so that there is not too much overcrowding at these sessions.
The Christmas special offer price is really good - consider us there! I understand that there is a separate fee to enter the i-zone. Is this always in addition to the cost of the funzone?
Anyway, overall, yes I would go there again and on a fairly regular basis and will recommend it to my NCT group.
One extra point about the parties - with the size of the venue and type of activities available to take into account, I think the main people who'd be interested in hiring the zone for a party would be parents of children up to the age of 8 years. However, 6.30-8.30pm is quite late and would probably deter most people with children this age as it's their bedtime, not time for starting to party!
Nicky Hansen, mum to Bethany, aged 5 and Alex, aged 3
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