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Doing battle at Laser Quest

Hayley Edginton says...

Other than taking my son to birthday parties, we have never been to Laser Quest, but we will definitely be going back!

The staff were friendly and helpful, the place was clean and not overbooked.

I never thought of it as a family event but we had so much fun. It is however highly competitive so be warned!






Lucy Markillie says...

Laser Quest is a great attraction for the whole family, as it's suitable for all ages and is based around teamwork. The course is on two levels, so there's plenty of hiding places for you to sneak into! The staff were brilliant - they'll help you put on your laser vest and make sure it's all working before you can enter the arena. Don't worry if you've never been before as full instructions are given, along with a safety demonstration before the game can commence. The staff are also on hand in the arena should any problems occur during your game. After the game, you receive a certificate as a souvenir and there's also a moving climbing wall named The Rock outside the entrance for you to try your hand at.

Pirates - now showing at ODEON Cinema at The Trafford Centre

Lucy Markillie says...

The auditorium itself was clean, comfortable and offered plenty of legroom. The sound and picture quality were also great. I chose to watch 21 Jump Street (rated 15), which is about a pair of coppers who get sent back to high school to try and break down a drug dealing ring – I’d recommend this film, it was much funnier than I was expecting. My only criticism would be that the drinks and snacks are quite pricey so make sure you take a bit of extra cash with you – a bottle of water will set you back £2.60. If you’re willing to pay for them, there are a good choice of snacks on offer from popcorn, sweet and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.

Tina Bailey says...

This is a once a week film showing aimed at those with babies. The idea is that you can go to see the latest film releases, without worrying about your baby crying or making noise, as everybody there is in the same position. The volume isn’t quite as loud as usual, and the lights are left slightly up, so you can feed and soothe your baby without missing the film. You pay for adult tickets and babies gets free entry.

When you arrive at the cinema, your pushchair is taken from you and stored in a secure area. You are given a raffle ticket to claim it back at the end. If your baby is in a car seat, you can take that into the cinema with you.

When the film started, my son (who is 9 months old and loves tv) became instantly transfixed on the screen. He happily watched for a good 70ish minutes before he got a bit restless – at which point I gave him a drink and he settled down again. I would definitely use this service again, and recommend it to everyone.

Tina Bailey is The Mother Geek, a mum-of-one blogger from Manchester. You can read the full versions of her Trafford Centre reviews over on her brilliant blog – click here to pay her a visit!

Hayley Edginton says...

We visited the cinema on a warm Thursday evening in March. The cinema was extremely quiet, which may have been due to the uncharacteristic weather outside or just due to it being a school night.

For us, this meant uninterrupted bliss for two hours! No rustling crisp packets or shadows creeping across the screen 10 minutes into the film! The seats were lovely and comfy, 'We Bought a Zoo' was a great family film. Overall, we had a very enjoyable evening.

Gemma Valentine says...

When we got to the ODEON we were quite shocked at what was available to do on this level of The Trafford Centre, if only the kids were a little bit bigger or we had gone on our own. There was a rock climbing experience, Laserquest and Paradise Island Adventure Golf (I think we should have done the adventure golf, as my little girl would have loved it too). We will be paying another visit soon to try this out, as it looked great and the setting was brilliant. We went to the cinema and even got the option to choose premier seats or standard, we choose the premier ones which were bigger and right in the middle of the cinema with the best view - yet another great experience.

Bowling a strike at Namco Station

Lucy Markillie says...

The Namco Station is a great way to spend a few hours with your family. The main attraction is the bowling alley, although I would recommend booking a lane as it can get quite busy. They have lighter bowling balls and ramps for younger children, and a good choice of heavier ones for the adults. There’s also dodgems, which are a good laugh and you get quite a long ride for your money. In addition to this the surrounding arcade offers something for everyone, from slot machines, air hockey, simulators and crane grabbers.

Tina Bailey says...

An amusement arcade in its traditional form! There is also a bar, bowling alley, Dodgems and many, many machines. We spent half an hour in here on the machines, we spent a total of £5 and I won a Disney Teddy on the grabbers (Cost: 30p) – I won it on my first go!

There are many types of games. Including arcade driver simulators, penny pushers, teddy grabbers, bingo, fruit machines and more. The family area pays out prizes in tokens, not money – which you can then trade in for prizes. We got 155 tokens from our £5, which bought us a quacking duck soft toy. On the whole, it was a fun half hour, and the machines were not difficult to win on. We didn’t try bowling as I’m pregnant so not really up to it at the moment, but the lanes looked great, and the food hall looked good too. The Dodgems looked like fun too, but again – we were unable to try these. I think anyone with older children would enjoy an afternoon in here. Bowling, followed by a couple of turns on the machines would have been a perfect School Holiday day out for me when I was 10+. We will be back when the kids are old enough to enjoy it.

Tina Bailey is The Mother Geek, a mum-of-one blogger from Manchester. You can read the full versions of her Trafford Centre reviews over on her brilliant blog – click here to pay her a visit!

Hayley Edginton says...

We visited at 5pm on Saturday and were a little anxious that it would be overflowing with teens; but we were pleasantly surprised. The bowling area was generally home to families celebrating birthdays or couples enjoying an early evening bowl. The bowling area was clean and tidy with staff constantly clearing glasses and rubbish. The kids loved playing the 10p game with the moving shelves but when their pound was gone it was time to go! Great fun had by all.

Gemma Valentine says...

This was a great experience for the kids! They both ran off in different directions, one to the motorbike games and the other to the teddy-bear grabbing machine. My little boy was obsessed with the cars, motorbikes and even the dancing machine. It was great to see them having such an amazing day.

We have never taken the kids bowling before and only realised this as we got to the Namco Station. He loved finding his own bowling ball and rolling it down the lanes, his eye would not leave it until it had hit the pins, then he would jump up with excitement even if it only knocked a couple over. I think his arms were tired in the end as he started to use the stand his little sister was using. She also loved pushing the ball down the stand and even tried to follow the ball a few times!

We also experienced the dodgems (not my little girl) and this was a struggle to attempt to get my little boy off, and he loved people crashing into him as he squeezed his Dad's arm laughing and smiling.

There were a lot of games and rides in the Namco station for the kids to enjoy and they had a fab time.

Keeping score at Paradise Island Adventure Golf

Lucy Markillie says...

This is the perfect family activity – there are two 18 hole courses to choose from (one is split between 2 levels, the other on one level, making it a great choice for those with disabilities). The atmosphere adds to the fun, with animal sound effects, strobe lighting and even a plastic elephant that squirts water at players. There’s also a bonus hole which gives you the chance to win a free game if you can get a hole in one.

Tina Bailey says...

Me and Hubby went to Paradise Island Adventure Golf with the baby. When we arrived, we were issued with 2 balls, 2 clubs, a scorecard and a pencil. As we had the pram with us, we decided to use the 18 hole disabled course, rather than the full on “crazy” circuit, which was not pram or wheelchair friendly. Your scorecard shows you the “par” for each hole, and then you take turns to complete each hole. You cannot move onto the next hole until all members of your party have completed the current hole. The holes become more challenging as you proceed, and we had a great time. The sound effects and scenery are great too.

One thing I want to point out though, is that while the disabled course is pram friendly, there are still steps, uneven surfaces and bumps to navigate, so wheelchair users might need a bit of assistance here and there. We will definitely be back for another game soon! It is a fab way to kill a rainy afternoon in the school holidays.

Tina Bailey is The Mother Geek, a mum-of-one blogger from Manchester. You can read the full versions of her Trafford Centre reviews over on her brilliant blog – click here to pay her a visit!

Hayley Edginton says...

I have wanted to take the kids here for a while as I loved crazy golf as a child. I was so disappointed!

The place lacked any kind of atmosphere and apart from being passed our clubs as we entered, we had no help from the staff.

A diagram with hints on or a member of staff providing assistance may have improved this experience.

Alan Mead, Paradise Island Adventure Golf, replies:

“Thanks Hayley very much for taking the time to visit and review Paradise Island Adventure Golf! We are really sorry that you didn’t feel as though enough assistance was offered on the course, as all of our staff is trained to provide help when requested.

“In terms of a diagram, we make sure that we display posters and clear instructions on the scorecards for those players who need them – but we’ll certainly be looking at ways to make these more obvious to our customers, in light of your remarks. We hope you’ll visit again soon for another round!”