Wanna Play Playcare

I love this place! Perfect drop in, my kid loves it here! I would recommend to any one. There is a two hour gap in my schedule that they fill for me so that I can make it to work and my man can pick up my son after he gets off. My son absolutely loves this place. Also great for when I need to shop alone or get my nails done. I wouldn’t be able to survive with out this drop in. They have amazing staff and great prices. My son didn’t cry when I left him with strangers, he saw the toys and kids and just shot off like as rocket as soon as they put the sticker on him

Ever since we discovered this establishment this year, our toddler son loves being dropped off here when we need some alone time as husband and wife. We have dropped off our son many times here and he is always happy he came. It can be pretty noisy at times but the caretakers don’t seem overwhelmed, we’re always greeted with warm smiles and upbeat attitude. There are a lot of things here for the kids to do. It just seems like such a colorful and fun place to be, and stimulating too, keep them interested in learning. I’ll be glad to do business with Wanna Play again and again and there’s not very many places like this around Austin.

Pros: Good hours. People seem nice.
Cons: Place is super crowded and noisy. The rooms are locked away from each other like cattle cages. They clearly are maximizing their kids-​per-​square-​inch rate.
Warning: If your kid has a food allergy, make sure you write it in permanent marker on his/​her forehead. Picked ours up one day and she was walking toward me eating exactly the foods I told the staff NOT to give her — and on top of it, we brought food for our kid anyway. Maybe this happened because there seems to be 20 kids per staff member, and the detail and attention per kid is very low.
Actually, I have to drop this down to 1 star, because I just asked myself, «Would I ever take my kid here again?» No, I would not.

BEWARE !!!
I really wanted to try this place. I went in very hopeful and immediately noticed a very strong dirty diaper smell. What made this smell unforgivable was what shortly followed. I started to hear one of the workers yell and snap at some child. You should not be working in this type of business establishment if you are not patient, kind and understanding. This caregiver seemed tired, overworked, overwhelmed and stressed. Her tone and inability to keep a room level «normal voice» may have come from these factors. Maybe that was why the place was not cleaned well. Maybe she was not someone who should have been hired for the job. Maybe the owner needed to hire a few more caregivers.
Might have caught them on an «off» day but didn’t appeal to me.

This place was recommended by a friend and my two year old loves it here. She’s been going about a month a few days a week. She’s making friends, eating well, and building her immune system.
Hubs and I toured four places total and Wanna Play stood out. Our daughter is small for her age so we didn’t want a place where she’d be mowed over, but we wanted her to have exposure to a lot of kids. This place is small enough to be manageable and big enough so there’s room for everyone.
Staff is very friendly, they know and care about our daughter and the prices are great. Also I don’t feel guilty about her being there because I know she’s having fun and being well cared for.

We moved to Austin in January and my son goes here at least once a week so that I can run errands, go on interviews, have date nights with my husband, etc.
At first, I wasn’t too sure about some of the staff. It wasn’t an issue with how they interacted with kids but how they interacted with me. The first time we went my son was 2 days away from turning 18 months and had to be in the nursery/​infant room. Since the ratio for that room is lower and spots are limited, they recommend that you have a reservation. I completely understood that and I had made a reservation for that first visit. The next couple of visits, I just dropped by to see if they had space and I felt like I would get a bit of an attitude because I didn’t have a reservation. Yet, when I would try to make a reservation, I was told that I didn’t need one. Also, I had asked for them to give him a nap one day and was told that my son couldn’t nap because they didn’t have space in the infant room for him. At that point, I had decided that this wasn’t the right place but I had purchased a package so I planned to wait for the package to run out so I could go somewhere else.
Then one night when I was picking my son up, Sharon was at the front desk. She is by far my favorite because she is amazing with the kids and incredibly helpful to me. I decided to ask her about reservations, naps and everything else that was on my mind. After speaking with Sharon, I came to the conclusion that all of my issues I experienced surrounded confusion on how old my son was. Since he was 17 months on the first visit, they were responding to me at drop off as if he was still 17 months old. Also, the kids do get naps every day right after lunch if they need it. Once I had a better understanding of their schedule, I could understand where the miscommunication was coming from and I was better able to plan our days that we needed childcare.
We have now been going to Wannaplay for almost 3 months. The staff all know my son and they greet him by name. He has separation anxiety and they are so good with him at drop off. He usually has stopped crying before I even have a chance to walk out the door. Some days I can even get him to walk in all on his own with no tears at all (especially if his favorites are at the front). Almost everyone is friendly and I love the way they interact with the kids.
We have been to a couple of other drop in childcare places here and in other states. This one is my favorite. Had it not been for the attitude I received the first couple of drop offs and the confusion that I experienced in the beginning then this would be a 5 star place to me. I am glad I stuck it out.

My kids absolutely love this place! I wish I could afford to send them more. The friends they make, the relationships they form with the staff, the hands on activities.. the list goes on. I don’t feel great about leaving my kids but I know that at wanna play, they will not feel like they are missing out on anything. Thanks to the staff for providing such a fun safe environment for my kids.

I really like this facility and so does my 6 yr old. They work with us and my daughters food allergies and are very friendly. I love having a place to rely on for caring for my daughter when we have no relatives near.

My sons, age 2 and 5 had an epic time. Reasonable pricing. We will be back!
The website says movie theater, but really it’s a big tv. My kids liked the legos and playdoh. They offered pizza for additional charge. My family is vegan so I packed food. My kids were hungry when we got home, said they were only offered part of the food I packed and then dinner-​time was over. I will ask they be fed their entire dinner next time.

This place is AWESOME! Our boy LOVES IT there. We had a small issue with another kid messing with him and they came up with a solution PRONTO. Very affordable for the amount of care you get.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND

I have been with WannaPlay for two years now. All my kids love it here! I sometimes cannot get a hug and kiss from my son he is so ready to go inside. The staff are very friendly and treat my kids like their own. Being that I work from home 50% and commute 50% this is thr best place ever! Their schedule accommodates mine and if you buy your time in advance you get a major discount. I would not go anywhere else.

My 3 children love going to wanna play. It is great to know that I have Wanna play there for me if I want to have a date night or just run some errands and my children get excited to go there so I have no guilt and they get To socialize as well. They are also less expensive than there competitors. We love wanna play!

After my review they promptly apologized and cleared the air. It was mostly over the phone that I got the cold treatment, but things have certainly changed for the better. We love Wanna Play!

Let me start by saying how sad I am that Ms. Charlette is no longer there, she was absolutely great and we all loved her! She will be surely missed! … I’ve been bringing both my kids for years here and since they were baby and toddler. Now 5 and 6, so you do the math. Aside from grandparents who occasionally watch them but also love the freedom to drop them off, I will not trust anyone, but the staff of Wannaplay, to take care of my children. It is clean and has also been evolving with the times and redecorated, when due. As far as the worst review down there goes: I do have high standards for my kids… so much so that I would spend a ridiculous amount of money to secure only the best private nanny’s through personally recommended elite agencies only to end up with really unrepeatable bad experiences for all of us. Enter Wannaplay which not only has several caregivers watching over all the kids and ea. other (greatly reducing the risk of wrong doing) but the kids get to be active and interact with other children and adults who entertain them with shooting hoops and other fun games then watch a movie with their new friends at night. They get to socialize and learn new coping skills (if anyone got into an altercation they will tell you, accidents do also happen, that is just life!)
Or…you can just pay someone beaucoup money to dine, watch your tv and enjoy your amenities while the kids are sleeping and wake up earlier the next day rested, while you are dying to sleep off the adventures of the night before. Btw. We do not use this only for the occasional late movie date my folks have tested WP at literally any hour of the day in the past because it is simply a life savior with a wide range of hours of operation. I have recommended WP to all my friends and now am finally doing so in a public forum which I dreaded because it would probably attract all of Austin to this, once, well kept secret of mine. There, my gift to you… ;)

The only babysitter we use for a date night. I’m not the wordy type, so I’ll get to it; open till 1230am on Fri & Sat. Always friendly, clean, reliable, fun, and guilt free (kids happy to go there). The price is more expensive than most sitters (we have a 3, 5, and 7 year old), but worth it… I hate worrying about whether or not a sitter will show, or do a good job. $ 8 per hour for 1, $ 4/​each additional kid. I have been to both locations, both awesome! To the low-​raters: kids are dirty. Your child’s illness is not due to the cleanliness of the center, but the health of the kids brought there.

An insiders view from an ex-​employee.
Let’s start with the facility, licensing requires a square foot per child allowance and then gives you a capacity for your space. However I can tell you they utilize and maximize the space using rooms and areas for multiple purposes to ensure proper supervision at all times. The kids love this place, some of them might be transitioning to a center for the first time, some may have adjustments they are dealing with on a personal level or just dealing with friend issues (yes 3 and 4 yr olds have friend drama) but I assure you these people genuinely care for children. I have seen it.
The owner loves her company like it was her child, each child that comes in matters. This place really is a place kids want to be, and great teachers too!
I will always love Wanna Play! Great job!

I’ve been taking my toddlers here off and on for about a year, so I’m definitely overdue for a review!
This drop-​off playcare has been a lifesaver — I really appreciate their late hours on weekends, and the friendly/​helpful staff! However, I generally have a hard time getting my younger toddler in (limited space for tots under 18 months old), it’s a little overwhelming at times for my older tot (with all the other kiddos running around), and the food offerings are always the same.
Overall, I really appreciate this playcare. :-)

I’m very shocked to see such great reviews about this place. I was desperate to find daycare for my daughter and found this place on Unilocal and decided to give it a shot since it has such great reviews. I came for a tour of the place, although it was a very short tour seeing that this daycare is extremely small.
I was shocked to see that they just throw 18 month olds in with kids as old as 12 years in one small room. It is very disorganized, kids are running around shouting and nearly knocking over the little ones and it had a very bad smell as if it hadn’t been cleaned in a while.
My daughter is 17 months so she would be in the (infant room) which is the size of my guest bathroom! They cramp I think about 5 to 6 babies in the room with a few toys there’s very little room for them to even move around and play! So after seeing all of this I still decided to give it a chance being that I was desperate for daycare.
When I picked my daughter up she had a runny nose and red irritated eyes. She ended up catching a cold from someone there, she’s still sick and it’s been a week. I do not recommend bringing your children here, it’s dirty and disorganized. I guess some people don’t have standards when it comes to the care of their children. I do, however, and desperate or not you couldn’t pay me to send my kids here again.
Luckily my daughter turns 18 months in a week and I can take her to Kids Spa Austin it’s way nicer, cleaner, bigger, more organized and is actually a little cheaper. They also do not throw all the kids in one room, it’s separated according to age.

I toured Wanna Play today, but I don’t think I’ll be sending my 20 month old daughter there. It just seemed too wild and chaotic for a child her age. However, I could see how older kids (4 on up) could have a good time running around.
After filling out the necessary paperwork, I toured the facility. It just looked like absolute chaos to me. Bigger kids were running around wildly and my daughter almost got knocked over twice. I asked the receptionist/​caretaker if I could spend some time back there with my daughter to observe and see if she liked it. The woman said, «yeah, you can have two or three minutes» and just stood there waiting for me to be done. Okay…
One reason I gave it three stars is because I thought they had a good security system. You must show your drivers license even if they know very well that you are the parent. I really appreciate that policy.

This place is a lifesaver! I’m so glad Wanna Play exists and I owe a big thanks to Alicia K. for the referral.
Living far away from family and having no one eager to earn babysitting money in our social circle, we’ve rarely had reliable and affordable evening/​weekend sitter options since our son was born. To make matters worse, as anxious new parents of a premature baby, we were not willing to trust just anyone with the care of our precious spawn. For the first 2 years, we just never went out! As our son got older and went into daycare, we would hire a teacher from his preschool for the once-​a-​month date night, at around $ 12−15/hr. That worked great, but put us at the whims of her availability and made the occasion so expensive, we were hesitant to use it very often.
Flash forward a few years. Our beloved regular sitter is moving out of town soon, and we are panicked at how we’ll find another great sitter we can trust when we learn about Wanna Play.
When I show up unannounced to take a tour and interview the manager, I am impressed with what I see: a clean, safe, & cheerful space with lots of activities for kids around my son’s age, happy kids playing, and plenty of friendly staff members. Next step is to give it a trial run for a couple of hours on the weekend; my 6 year old is having so much fun, he doesn’t want to leave!
Since then, we’ve used the service several times and each time it’s the same, with our boy enjoying himself so much that he doesn’t want to go home. He likes the teachers, the other kids, the activities available, the meal options — pretty much the whole package. We don’t have a video game system at home, so he views Wanna Play as a kid-​sized video arcade, a reward for doing chores and homework, and a place he actually begs to visit. It’s only the promise of a DumDum pop at the exit that gets him willingly out the door when it’s time to go home.
As a parent, I have no real complaints about this place except that it’s not closer to where I live (but I’ll happily drive 12 miles RT out of the way for a safe, fun childcare option). The only other thing I’d change is that I wish it were bigger inside and offered more space for physical activity (like a playscape with climbing options for older kids), but it’s totally fine for us for a few hours every once and a while, as our child gets plenty of exercise elsewhere.
Bonus: Unlike many of the other drop-​in centers around town, this Wanna Play location is open until 8pm on Sundays and after midnight on Friday/​Saturday.
Pro-​tips: You can pre-​pay for blocks of hours and reduce the expense down to below $ 7 per hour for non-​infant care. There is another location in Round Rock near the Dell Diamond and your pre-​paid hours work there, too! If you call to check-​in on your child, chances are you will get the voice-​mail, but don’t worry, the staff is just focused on the kids. Someone will call you back within minutes.