Family Box – Beijing Kids

Holiday Boredom Buster: Fundazzle, Mitty Jump and Family Box

Nimo_Wanjau

If the weather is smoggy or rainy and being at home has lost its allure for the kids, here are some suggestions of some indoor play areas. Wangjing has seen the introduction of Mitty Jump to the indoor play zone scene. To get a better handle on how it stacks up against the competition, I’ve added it to the breakdown list from our archives.

	Fundazzle	Mitty Jump	Family Box
Free Wireless	No	Yes	Yes
Food and Beverages	Processed snacks and bottled drinks	One vending machine inside, but Costa Coffee is on the ground floor of the mall along with other options.	Fresh-baked goods from Tous les Jour bakery, brewed tea and coffee, fresh squeezed juice, fresh fruit, free water
Multi-Level Climbing Area	Yes	Sort of. There’s a series of suspension bridges encased in safety netting.	Yes, seems better thought-out and safer
Toddler Area	Yes (largest of the three)	Yes	Yes
Ball Pit	Yes, Beijing’s biggest, but no adults allowed	Yes, series of small pools and rivers in a volcano	Yes, two small ones for different ages
Sandbox	Yes, but costs RMB 15 extra	No	Yes
Slides	Yes	Yes, small	Yes, massive
Pretend Grocery Store	No	Yes, small	Yes
Water Play Zone	No	No	Yes, but half the features were not functioning properly and the center was very stingy with bubble soap.
Swimming Pool	No	No	Yes, but must be a member to use
Bouncy Castle	No	Yes	No
Train Ride	No	Yes	No
Mini Soccer Pitch	No	Yes	No
Toys for Sale	Yes	One – Mitty doll	No
Coin-Operated Games	Yes	No	No
Dining Area	No	No	Yes
Comfortable Seats	None, some pads on ground, some bar stools on second floor	Bench seating along the wall	Yes, even Ikea chairs (though people tend to sleep in them)
Cribs for Little Ones	No	No	Yes
Kid-Friendly Bathrooms	No	Yes, little sinks and toilets, changing tables, and training potties, also a room for nursing mothers	Yes, little sinks and toilets
Sit-Down Toilets	No	Yes	Yes
Attentive Staff	Only if adults are in ball pit or kids are playing on rides without paying, or big kids are in the toddler area	Yes	Very. Staff will play with children and learn their names
Slippers/Socks	Disposable socks on sale for RMB 1	Yes	Yes, slipper socks
Cost	RMB 50 per child for 3 hours + RMB 15 per adult on the weekend	RMB 160 per child for all day admission. Can buy multiple entry card to reduce rate to under RMB 100 per visit. Add RMB 50 per adult on weekends	RMB 480 per child for all day admission

If cost is the main factor, Fundazzle is still the winner hands down. It is centrally located and big enough for older children and toddlers alike. Fundazzle is the clear choice for hosting a play date or to let kids burn off some energy for a couple of hours on a smoggy or rainy day.

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Photo by Christopher Lay

Three-Way Faceoff: Fundazzle, Mitty Jump and Family Box

Sisi_Chen

It has been almost a year since we pitted Fundazzle against Family Box to see who had the best indoor play zone. Since then, Wangjing has seen the introduction of Mitty Jump to the indoor play zone scene. To get a better handle on how it stacks up against the competition, I’ve added it to the breakdown list.

	Fundazzle	Mitty Jump	Family Box
Free Wireless	No	Yes	Yes
Food and Beverages	Processed snacks and bottled drinks	One vending machine inside, but Costa Coffee is on the ground floor of the mall along with other options.	Fresh-baked goods from Tous les Jour bakery, brewed tea and coffee, fresh squeezed juice, fresh fruit, free water
Multi-Level Climbing Area	Yes	Sort of. There’s a series of suspension bridges encased in safety netting.	Yes, seems better thought-out and safer
Toddler Area	Yes (largest of the three)	Yes	Yes
Ball Pit	Yes, Beijing’s biggest, but no adults allowed	Yes, series of small pools and rivers in a volcano	Yes, two small ones for different ages
Sandbox	Yes, but costs RMB 15 extra	No	Yes
Slides	Yes	Yes, small	Yes, massive
Pretend Grocery Store	No	Yes, small	Yes
Water Play Zone	No	No	Yes, but half the features were not functioning properly and the center was very stingy with bubble soap.
Swimming Pool	No	No	Yes, but must be a member to use
Bouncy Castle	No	Yes	No
Train Ride	No	Yes	No
Mini Soccer Pitch	No	Yes	No
Toys for Sale	Yes	One – Mitty doll	No
Coin-Operated Games	Yes	No	No
Dining Area	No	No	Yes
Comfortable Seats	None, some pads on ground, some bar stools on second floor	Bench seating along the wall	Yes, even Ikea chairs (though people tend to sleep in them)
Cribs for Little Ones	No	No	Yes
Kid-Friendly Bathrooms	No	Yes, little sinks and toilets, changing tables, and training potties, also a room for nursing mothers	Yes, little sinks and toilets
Sit-Down Toilets	No	Yes	Yes
Attentive Staff	Only if adults are in ball pit or kids are playing on rides without paying, or big kids are in the toddler area	Yes	Very. Staff will play with children and learn their names
Slippers/Socks	Disposable socks on sale for RMB 1	Yes	Yes, slipper socks
Cost	RMB 50 per child for 3 hours + RMB 15 per adult on the weekend	RMB 160 per child for all day admission. Can buy multiple entry card to reduce rate to under RMB 100 per visit. Add RMB 50 per adult on weekends	RMB 480 per child for all day admission

The downside is that the facilities are OK, but not great. The staff acts more like referees and everything besides the main area costs a little bit more money. Fundazzle does offer packaged snacks and beverages, but they also have lots of toys and games that can cause children to plead for something you didn’t plan on paying for.

Mitty Jump fills the price void between Fundazzle and Family Box. Facilities are very clean and well thought-out; it even has a train that kids can ride. For those bad air days, it is also nice to know they have the IQ Air filters onsite. Although Mitty Jump has the least number of snacks and beverages on sale, it’s located in a shopping mall actually with a wide variety of food and drink options, including Costa Coffee. Its facilities won’t elicit quite the same excitement as Family Box’s, but the place is worth repeat visits. Plus, you can take your child four times to Mitty Jump for the cost of one Family Box day visit.

Overall, Family Box is still our top choice because of the variety of available activities and creature comforts for parents. But at RMB 480 for a day visit, this is clearly not the kind of place you want to run off to for a couple of hours with a bunch of kids.

However, it is worth it for a special occasion – as long as you and your child are prepared to hang out for an entire day to get your money’s worth. That said, the staff were a bit confused about how to handle the payment for a day visit (we had to pay at the cafe). Reina also appeared to be the only expat kid in the place. Most of the members are Chinese and only pop in for a couple of hours in the morning or in late afternoon after school.

Fundazzle is located on Gongti Nanlu in Sanlitun near the Worker’s Stadium. It is open Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm, Sat-Sun and holidays 9am-7pm. Visit www.fundazzle-nc.com or call 6593 6208 for more info.

Mitty Jump is located on the 4^th floor of the Lotus Shopping Mall and Poly Wanhe Cinema on Futong West Street in Wangjing. For directions, pricing, and other info, visit www.mittyjump.com or call 8421-0908.

Family Box, also located in Wangjing, is at Bldg 4, 51 Wangjing Beilu and is open Sat-Thu 9am-8pm, Fri 10am-8pm. To find out more call 6478 6163 or visit www.familyboxes.com.cn.

Photo by Christopher Lay

Fundazzle vs. Family Box: The Battle for Indoor Fun

Sisi_Chen

As summer was winding down, we visited two of Beijing’s iconic indoor play zones: Fundazzle and Family Box. As we hit both in the same week, I thought it might be useful to have a side by comparison of their strengths and weaknesses.

	Fundazzle	Family Box
Free Wi-Fi	No	Yes
Food and beverages	Processed snacks and bottled drinks	Fresh -aked goods from Tous les Jours, brewed tea and coffee, fresh-squeezed juice, fresh fruit, and free water
Multi-level climbing area	Yes	Yes – seems better thought-out and safer
Toddler area	Yes – larger of the two	Yes
Ball pit	Yes – Beijing’s biggest, but no adults allowed	Yes, two small ones for different ages
Sandbox	Yes, but costs RMB 15 extra	Yes
Slides	Yes	Yes, massive ones
Kids’ play grocery store	No	Yes
Water play zone	No	Yes, but half the features were not functioning properly and the center was very stingy with bubble soap
Swimming pool	No	Yes, but must be a member to use
Toys for sale	Yes	No
Coin-operated games	Yes	No
Dining area	No	Yes
Comfortable seats	None, some pads on ground, some bar stools on second floor	Yes, even Ikea chairs, though people tend to sleep in them
Cribs for little ones	No	Yes
Kid-friendly bathrooms	No	Yes, little sinks and toilets
Sit-down toilets	No	Yes
Attentive staff	Only if adults are in ball pit or kids are playing on rides without paying, or big kids are in the toddler area	Very, staff will play with children and learn their names
Slippers/socks	Disposable socks for RMB 1	Yes – slipper socks
Cost	RMB 50 per child for three hours	RMB 480 per child for whole day

Hands down, if cost is the main factor, Fundazzle is the winner. It’s centrally-located and is plenty big for older children and toddlers alike. Fundazzle is the clear choice to arrange a play date to let kids burn off some energy for a couple of hours on a rainy day or bad air day.

However, the facilities are OK, but not great. The staff act more like referees and everything except the main area costs a little bit more money. They do have packaged snacks and beverages, but also lots of toys and games that can cause children to plead for something you didn’t plan on paying for.

Overall, Family Box clearly has better facilities, with more features and experiences for children to choose from, while also taking much better care of the adults as well. (Thank you for the Wi-Fi!) However, at RMB 480 for a day visit, this is not the kind of place you’d want to run off to for a couple of hours with a bunch of kids – well, not on our budget anyway.

However, it is worth it for the odd special occasion, if you and your child are content to hang out for an entire day to get your money’s worth. That said, the staff were a bit confused about how to handle the payment for a day visitor (you pay at the cafe). Reina appeared to be the only expat kid in the place, as most – if not all – of the members are Chinese, and just pop in for a couple of hours in the morning or in the late afternoon after school.

So it is clear as the sun, there is room for both the Family Box and Fundazzle in life. If money was no object, Family Box would win every time. But in life, money does matter, and you’re more likely to spot us at Fundazzle than at Family Box next time.

Photos by Christopher Lay