Charlie’s Safari

Came in on a low attendance day. My kid & friends enjoyed the whole play place basically to themselves. It was awesome to have been able to get a mil discount & the food was ok. Pizza & burgers menu. The variety of activities is fantastic; arcades, climb through playscape, laser tag, various bounce houses, & a closed off section for indoor soccer ball. I even noticed they have a private side area for adults only. That’s pretty amazing being that you can come let your kids be kids & you can sneak away to read or use the phone without the extra back ground noise. Overall it’s a good family time.

My kids absolutely love coming here! I love that my 2 year old can enjoy CS as well. Something for everyone. It isn’t the cleanest place but it isn’t disgusting either. There are a bunch of kids running around and I think it would be unreasonable to expect complete cleanliness. The food is decent. We don’t care for the pizza but they have amazing chicken wings and other things. We get the super platter! Great for a rainy day!

Brought kids ranging from 2 – 10 and everyone had a blast! I love that they have a bounce area, play gym and arcade! We came on a weekday during the afternoon and it was pretty empty. I would visit again if in the area!

My kids and I have been coming here for years and though it’s been a while since we’ve gone we always have a great time. This is a great place to go when it’s cold or rainy outside, or even in the summer when it’s gotten too hot outside & you want an air conditioned place to cool off.
They offer a military discount, which is always nice for us to save a little. Besides the bouncy houses, they have a large climbing structure with slides and towers to explore. I’ve gone in and played with my kids and it’s actually a lot of fun! There are arcade type games and laser tag too, so there should be somethng for everyone.
They go offer food at their snack bar, and since the last time we’ve been there they’ve added some new items, like a hummus plate (something a little healthier than nachos, right).
Staff is friendly and everyone seems to play nice here.

Great place for kids to run around and spend energy on bouncing houses and slides and a maze to climb around in… has an arcade for older kids and food and drinks for adults… near the theater so can watch movies… also has a laser tag. Great indoor fun for a rainy day, or any day

I love this place! Perfect for a rainy day. The play structures are large enough for adults to join the fun and the lazer tag is two levels high. The food tastes great and for the most part is prepared in house. They have healthy gluten free options like their new hummus and veggie tray. It’s super affordable and the staff is very friendly. I’ve been on the weekends and weekdays and the crowds are always well managed. I usually take me laptop and hibernate in a corner while the kids get their ya-​yas out. They serve beer, wine and some other malt beverages. There is a quiet kid free room for relaxing and the arcade has a decent variety of games. I’ve hosted a birthday party here for 8ish kids and it was a super fun experience. Simply the best in the northwest in terms of indoor children’s play areas. A must try!
I would love a real latte and then I’d be there all day!
Thanks for all you do!

A bounce house deflated with children inside my wife had to remove the children because there is no one watching the bounce house when my wife approached the manager she was told that sometimes happens and you should really watch your children if safety is not your prime concern just close your doors and stop taking peoples money!

Although it’s a knock off atmosphere of Chuck-​e-​Cheese and is somewhat affordable, it’s appalling that this is the baby changing station for kids in the men’s restroom! Completely UNSAT!

I would give a 5 for how much my 5 and 2 year old liked it! (my daughter who is almost 2.5 was just big enough to enjoy half of it but she is not to adventurous)
BUT. It is DIRTY! run down and hasn’t been swept it mopped in a long while it looked. The toddler bounce house were clean inside but the carpets were pretty dirty. The big climbing you had a lot of ripped seams and stuffing about to come out. We came at the morning when they open at 9:30 summer hours. They were late to open and only 1 worker for an hour and a half. The cage opened a few minutes late and the worker came in watching her phone as she walked up to the café. We will come back cause my kids liked it but it is not what I have experienced in gig harbor, Tacoma and kirkland bounce house centers.

Not impressed at all! The kids aren’t being watched, they don’t have staff walking around to make sure kids are safe. The kids were throwing the game balls down the slide in the climbing area and hit my friends daughter. Complained to a staff member and she just walked away, didn’t try to resolve the issue. Ordered a corn dog and fresh fruit for my daughter and after 39 minutes went back to the register and the employee said the ticket was lost and didn’t get the corn dog and fresh fruit for another 10 minutes. They don’t have any staff at the front checking to see if kids are leaving with their parents and not a stranger! They need more staff around this place ensuring safety for the kids!

Love this place! Kids have a great time and they have a comfortable and quiet «parents room». Air-​Conditioned! Also, next to Regal 16. Plan a fun day with the kids including playtime and a movie.

I want to share my visit I had at your establishment today. I arrived today with my boys right at opening. I was overcharged but only realized this as my friend came in 20 mins later, with 2 boys the same age and she paid a much lower price. I decided to let it go and not bring it to the attention of staff, although I should have. Upon entering, I look around and notice the place is filthy. There was debris all over the large bounce area as small children on a daycare field trip were running around barefoot. There was debris all over the carpeted area and it was obvious it had not been vacuumed prior to opening. The hard floors near dining were unclean… all floors generally were FILTHY. We were charged full bounce (??) price, when we learned several bouncers were deflated.
I am just truly disappointed as I have not been to your establishment in over a year and to see that it has taken such a turn in quality is really sad. Either your staff is not on point with their cleaning or there is a complete lack of care on the part of management to «see» just how dirty and uncared for the place has become.
We will NOT be returning.

Your kids will probably love this place. A bunch of large bouncy inflatables, a huge playhouse with slides, laser tag, video games, and prize machines that spew out tickets that can be exchanged for prizes. Yayyy! 4 tickets = 1 tootsie roll. What a deal!
But here’s the way I see it.
You probably won’t love this place. It’s loud, crowded, expensive and kinda dirty. Way oversold on weekends.
The bathrooms are always a treasure of torn up toilets, soaked counter tops, and overflowing waste bins. This is the view in the men’s room anyway.
The eating area is also unkempt. Full trash bins and dirty tables if there are any available. Although you may enjoy the circus of high school kids taking orders and preparing food while living out all of their teenage drama. The snack bar sells the most basic types of concessions. Nachos, pizza, chicken strips blah, blah, blah. Trust me it all looks well below average and very expensive. In other words, eat something good before you go.
Finally and most importantly, the safety and supervision of your child is entirely up to you. Charlies provides zero supervision for any of the play areas. They don’t try to conceal this at all. In fact, there are several signs posted aprising customers of their responsibilty for their own childs safety and supervision. Even your receipt says this. With that, you can follow them around constantly (yeah right) or you can sit and rubberneck from time to time. There is no perfect place to sit and watch over your kids though. I’ve tried. Charlies has a terrible zigzag layout that makes this impossible. So good luck to you. Be aware there are emergency doors at the very back of the place just beyond the bathrooms and video games. It would be an easy escape for a child snatcher. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened yet.
So, go to a park or ride a bike or both. The kids will love it just as much.
P. S. A friend described to me a time during one of his visits where a kid vomited on the floor at the corner by the laser tag. The puddle was huge and splashed out several feet. Chunky! Other kids just kept running blindly through it tracking it all over the place in their socks. Took the staff a while to respond. Nice!

Three stars because my daughter loves it. I am not so much of a fan.
–loud, very loud
–busy
–not good for small children
–food is horrible
They do have beer for the adults though so thats good.
The lack in security by the front door is concerning to me. There are SO many kids there that it is nearly impossible to keep track of them all.
Because there are so many kids there, safety is also an issue for the kids. my kid gets ran into, stepped on, all kinds of things. She stiff has fun though. Ten bucks is worth letting her run around!

Attended my grandson’s 6^th birthday party there. He and his friends had a blast! But I have seen kids laughing as they play in sewage in Haiti too. This place is a hazard and I am surprised the health department has not shut it down. The bathroom was a wading pool of fecal matter and urine and the kids are in socks so this coats all the play equipment with all manner of gross diseases. Don’t let your kids eschew your judgment, this hazardous playground should be shut down!

Awesome place for a kid. Lots of jump houses and a huge jungle gym! Affordable prices to play! I would give it 5 stars but their snack bar could use a little work with the quality of their food. I would recommend this place to anyone who has little ones!

I hesitate to post a one star review, but for the safety of other children, here it is.
We went to Charlie Safari two days ago. Nephew loves the place, and it won out over Chuck E Cheese.
Paid for 3 entries. One 6 year old and two under 3 toddlers, one of whom was asleep. As another poster stated, there is really zero staff supervision in any of the play areas. Ok, I get that and was aware. Thus, I was literally next to my daughter the entire 8 minutes before it was essentially time to leave.
In the Little Tykes area, all the blow up/​bouncy attractions have an inflated «landing» area outside of the enter/​exit hole, except for one of them.
My daughter was in the attraction alone having a good time. I was watching her from the side at the net, bouncing and laughing. Then she landed, rolled over to get up, and was kicked right out the entrance hole since insides of the attraction are inflated with air and this ribbed (not sure how else to describe).
Result was a full frontal face plant onto what amounts to a nearly unpadded concrete floor. Every attraction in this area — except this one — has a padded pillow that is part of the attraction specifically to prevent this.
Daughter was in immediate and understandable pain, wailing, with a bloody nose, and complaining that her upper lip/​teeth hurt.
I picked her up to comfort her and attend to her bloody nose. To give a 30 month old baby a bloody nose is quite a feat for an establishment whose target audience is, well, kids. Put up whatever disclaimer as a business that you choose, but you a$$holes hurt my daughter, and not a skinned knee type of hurt.
After she calmed down a bit and I had dressed her bleeding nose, I went and told the nearest employee that padding really should be out there in this area. I got zero response or anything approaching concern for the bawling child with a bloody nose in my arms.
We then went to play some games to hopefully distract and comfort her a bit. Ordered pizza and a juice as hopefully another distraction and/​or comfort. She couldn’t even drink the juice because her mouth hurt, and that’s when I said it was time to go. This was about 15 painful minutes after the incident.
Upon leaving, I noticed that nothing had been done in this area. Toddler wailing with a bloody nose — heck, why fix the problem area?
Question here is not money or the $ 60 that we wasted to have a kid with a bloody nose, fat lip, and not able to eat anything.
The issue here is that there is an expected level of safety at a paid place like this. Padded mats and other reasonable pre cautions are part of running a business that caters to kids. If it’s too hard to keep such safety items like landing mats clean or expensive to install, find another line of business. Do not set parents up to trust you and kids to feel pain because of you.
Keep in mind that this wasn’t a case of incidental contact — i.e. one kid banging into another — but rather a case of inherent unawareness of safety.
That being said, I caution any parents in bringing their kids here due to this lack of basic safety AND, more importantly, the zero response from the staff when it was brought up IMMEDIATELY after it happened.
We will not be back to this establishment ever.

All visitors need constant supervision and a good immune system. The center is dirty and falling apart. Enter at your own risk.
— Rules are not enforced. Children much older than the posted limits are often in the «Tyke Village» on their own, not helping younger children. Yesterday my 1 year old was intentionally knocked down by a child who appeared to be about 10. The age limit for this area is 5.
— Safety is not a concern here. You are given matching stamps when you enter. No-​one checks them when you leave on a regular basis, only when they’re super busy on the weekends and not even then is it a guarantee. The doors to Tyke Village have tape over the strike plates because they’re damaged, so now they just push/​pull open with the slightest pressure. Bounce houses have rules printed on them that state not to mix body sizes/​ages, yet you will often see 3yr olds climbing up the bounce-​slide with kids 8+. The slides also state that only 2 persons are allowed at a time, which is never enforced.
— There’s no employee oversight whatsoever, to enforce rules or make sure the structures are being used properly to ensure safety. They take your money and spend the rest of their shift goofing off and rough housing.
— Nothing is maintained correctly. The door to the mini soccer arena has been broken for two YEARS. There are holes and gouges in the bathroom walls. The paper towel dispensers don’t dispense correctly (and are too high for many children to reach, even at age 8). The foam filled pillows in Tyke Village are ripped and dropping foam stuffing. I have brought a specific pillow (the elephant, ripped completely open) to the attention of employees on two separate occasions, yet it’s still in the play area. On our last visit a little boy was eating it as his mother played on her phone.
— The food is not worth the price, or stomach ache. The prices are extremely high for bar food. Everything is fried but the pizza. The oil is extremely old, you can taste it in the foods. The kitchen has more staff than the entire rest of the center, for whatever reason. Yesterday (Friday May 9^th) there was only one employee at the front desk, while there were three just playing around in the kitchen area.
I have other issues with Tyke Village. The floor is covered in filthy carpet. Yet the bounce area at the very front is covered in a foam-​tile flooring. That needs to be in place in the area with the kids 1−5yrs. The main climbing structure in Tyke Village is not safe for kids under 3. There are large gaps in the «stairs» that a smaller child could fall through and be injured, which happened twice during our two hour stay on the 9^th.

I’ve taken my daughter here twice. It’s a far drive from Lakewood so I went out of my way to give it a second chance. On the weekends it seems they just pack the place full of people! I don’t know what the maximum person capacity is… But I bet they are over it. There’s NO WHERE for parents to sit. The food court is over ran.
There is a toddler area that my 2 year old likes to play in. There is no regulation on the ages of the children that play there. It says infant to 5yrs, but you’ll see kids 13 years and of the age of puberty in it. Not sure if that’s a safari problem or a parenting one. But, someone needs to step up and get the huge kids out of there. They can hurt the little ones!
As a parent, kids don’t really notice but the place is filthy. These bounce houses haven’t been cleaned in ages. Black filth accumulating on the surfaces of the play areas. Yuck! I think the food is decent and reasonably priced. Good luck finding a place to sit to eat it. Not coming back again.

My 10 month old daughter loved it here, than again she loves any new place. She had a ball walking around all the open space in the toddler area which consisted of 3 bouncy houses and one small playhouse obstacle (slide and a couple stairs) What made me cringe was how everything looked pretty dirty and grimey, like nothing has had a wipe down in ages. I just felt like being that crazy mom following my daughter everywhere spraying lysol on everything and wiping her hands with sanitizer. Lol.
So we didn’t eat before we came, big mistake. We ordered from their snack area and umm. no bueno! I seriously thought if I got food poisoning later I know where it came from. I ordered the chicken sticks and my significant other ordered nachos with chicken, and when I looked at it I just had that thought, how old is this?! My chicken strips looked fried over and over like it was days old being refried and served. The nachos were okay except for the chicken, it just tasted odd.
We played a few games in their little arcade area next to the bathrooms. One quarter equals a token and most games are two tokens and up. They have plenty of rooms to rent for birthdays next to the arcade/​snack area. The older kids area has 3 inflatable slides and one jumphouse, and a huge playground obstacle with tons of areas for them to climb and slide. Altogether, it was pretty good, but I think we will look for somewhere that stays true to the no shoes policy and cleans their equipment more often.