Go Banana's (North Van)

Mason stayed home from school today so I thought it would be a good opportunity to get out of the house and let him get some exercise indoors!  After reviewing Mason's last of Outings, I realized that we have't been to a play center in a while and thought we'd Go Banana's!

This location is actually in the Capilano Mall in North Vancouver.  However locating the entrance is a bit tricky if you rely on the map that is in the mall.  We asked for directions and found it in the front of the mall up the escalator.

The price of admission was $5.85 (includes tax) for Mason because he's under 3 (Monday - Sunday rate).  Once he turns 4 it goes up to $7.95 on a weekday and $8.95 on a weekend.   There is also an Entertainment Coupon for 50% admission.

Once we put away our shoes in the cubbies provided (no place for coats though..), we headed inside and scoped out the area.  The kitchen was behind the admission desk and while they didn't offer veggie dogs, the prices for their food were quite reasonable.   In the middle on the left there was an area sectioned off for birthday parties.  A few couches with two train tables.  The couches were old and worn and I noticed that the train table was quite dirty.

The play structure runs along the length of the space on the right.  It was very safe and didn't have a lot of spaces where kids could fall through (compared to the other play centres).  A lot of entrances to get up top with obstacles etc.

There was also an automatic ball dropper which the kids loved.  Kids drop soft material balls into a vacuum type drum and the balls collect near the ceiling in a bulldozer bucket type thing.  On a timer, it drops the balls onto the kids and resets itself to do it again.  It was a great feature!  Mason spent a lot of time playing with it.

Beyond the train table was more table/chairs + comfy leather couches for the adults to relax.  I am unsure if they had wifi or not but a lot of parents were on their phones.  There are no magazines or tv's.  The focus should be on watching the children however since the parents sit low and most of the kids are up high, you cannot track the kids 100%  There is one flat screen video monitor with four cameras so you can view the kids up top.  Mason had a striped shirt on so it made it easy to locate him on the 2nd 'floor'.  

Once in a while, I went up the ladder so I could play with him.  A few times I banged my shins but again, it's well designed to get around, even as an adult.

Aside from the main structure, there are also two coin operated 'rides' which a Parent told me were really cheap $.25 cents.  And there is a small climbing wall (which would be hard to scale with socks on!) which Mason didn't have any interest in..it was down a quiet corridor.

There were at least two washrooms (Ladies/Men's) I cannot recall if there was a 3rd for kids / family.  The women's washroom was clean and offered a change table but the room could use some paint.  It was in rough shape.

From what I could tell there was only one staff member working, she wasn't the most friendly employee I've run into.  If I was the owner, I'd hire happier workers that loved kids and welcomed guests into their business. 

We stayed for about an hour (as planned) and then headed into the food court for some lunch.

I liked this location and will more than likely be back.  Being in a mall, I'd probably avoid it on a weekend/rainy day but it was worth a trip during the day.  There were maybe 8 kids max!

If you go:

Website: http://www.gobananasnorthvan.com

Address: 935 Marine Dr #200North Vancouver, BC V7P 1S1

Phone: (604)-982-0576

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