Since Kuwait is so hot for much of the year, I’m always on the lookout for fun indoor play spaces that give Miss G the freedom to play and burn off some energy while keeping us cool and out of the sun. Since returning for the current school year, we’ve visited Fun City in Gate Mall a couple of times, and my guess is that we’ll be back again. Gate Mall, which officially opened not that long ago, is located in Egaila and is therefore nearby and easy to get to. The mall itself is pretty impressive… Much more so than I expect it to be. It’s got a ton of shops, many of which are ones we visit regularly, and many of which are brand new to me. As with most shopping malls in Kuwait, however, the downfall is the parking. If I’m being honest, it’s an absolute disaster. The mall seems to share one medium sized lot with 2 or 3 other surrounding malls, which means there’s not nearly enough spots and people park wherever they like, even if it means blocking in several cars in the process. Ugh.
Fun City inside is quite nice though. As expected, it’s a bit {or A LOT} over the top with all of the beeping, buzzing, talking arcade games and flashing lights {hello, sensory overload}, but the soft play and climbing area in the back corner is a little more chill, plus clean and well-kept to date.
In order to go in without a supervising adult, kids have to 108 centimetres {which Miss G totally is even though the height chart out front of the play area puts her at about 100} and the staff is very diligent about not letting kids out of the play area without having a parent there to collect them {you can drop and shop if you please}. The first time we visited we were with a big group of expat mamas and munchkins on a weekday morning, which meant our kids pretty much had the place to themselves until lunchtime. It also meant that us moms were able to sit just outside of Fun City and catch up after a long summer away while sipping hot coffee – so nice! {I think they know that their height chart is out by several centimetres, as they allow Miss G in without me.} The next time we visited wasn’t quite as nice, but we’ve learned from our experience and will know better next time. We went on a Friday morning and we were disappointed to arrive at around 10:15 – 15 minutes after their opening time – to find out that they were still cleaning from the night before {I’m guessing that Thursday night at Gate Mall = craziness}. It was also a lot more busy than our first visit and both little girls were quite put off by the loudness of the ball blaster going off every two seconds near the top of the structure. Not fun. We pretty much had to cheer them on every few minutes and barely got an hour of play out of them for our KD 3.750 admission fee, but meh – I think they still had fun overall. From now on, we’ll just stick to weekday morning visits.
Both times we’ve gone, Miss G and I have gotten lunch from the falafel shop in the food court just outside of Fun City, and it’s been very good both times, so that’s a perk to visiting too! ☺
For more info about Fun City, visit their website here.
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