Location: 9061 Watson Road, Crestwood, MO 63126
Amenities: inflatables/bounce houses, concessions
Website: http://www.monkeyjoes.com/locations/st-louis
Ground Cover: carpet
Monkey Joe's is an indoor play place with inflatable slides, bounce houses and obstacle courses. It's active fun for kids from toddlers to 12.
Kids are required to remove their shoes once they enter Monkey Joe's. There is a cubbie area to hold shoes. Children MUST wear socks, if you forget to bring some they sell them.
Parents will need to sign a waiver at the check-in desk. Parent and child are given matching wrist bands once admission is paid and a staff member checks the wrists bands upon exiting to make sure you're taking the right children home.
There is only one entrance (staffed) and the room has an open floor plan. This allows parents of older kids to relax at a table or in the parent lounge area while their kids play--and still see what's going on.
The equipment is cleaned daily. The entrance/exit area of each inflatable has extra padding for safety. Monkey Joe's provides staff to keep the inflatables from becoming overcrowded and generally keep an eye on the kids. They do not patrol the obstacle courses--and no one over 12 is allowed inside the inflatables--so kids are on the honor system once they get in. (A staff member will retrieve any child who gets stuck in an inflatable or refuses to go down a slide.)
There is a section for kids under 3 to keep the little ones safe. The Mini Monkey area has a mini obstacle course and two bounce houses. Parents are not allowed inside the inflatables, but the wall is very short so you can watch from the sidelines.
The larger inflatables have no minimum age limit or height restrictions I could see, so it's up to the parents to judge their kids abilities. (The website suggests it's for kids 4 to 12.) Parents should peek over the walls of the obstacle course to see if their child is able to handle the challenges inside. Some of the bigger obstacle courses are designed for taller, stronger children.
Inflatables for the bigger kids include bounce houses, obstacle courses and a giant slide.
Monkey Joe's also has two separate party rooms, a parent's lounge with TV and WiFi, picnic tables and a play area with infant toys for babies too little to bounce. There is a snack bar with pizza, slushies, soda, candy and the usual junk food.
There are bathrooms for the customers (we didn't check to see how clean they were).
Monkey Joe's has a limited number of arcade games and an air hockey table.
We visited Monkey Joe's on a rainy summer day. Even though the place was crowded the lines moved quickly. Parents should be aware that kids can become rowdy and older children do not always remember their manners when engaging in active play. If you bring smaller kids on a crowded day you may need to watch their back to make sure older kids do not push them out of the way or that little kids don't cut the lines. Staff members were concentrated at the more popular inflatables, so they don't see everything.
The only draw back to Monkey Joe's is the room is extremely loud when crowded. Besides all the squealing kids there is the noise of a dozen blowers keeping the inflatables up. The room is basically a giant carpeted warehouse with terrible acoustics. The noise is not overwhelming on less crowded days. The kids didn't seem to mind.
Admission: Adults are free. Kids from 2 to 12 are $10.99, and kids under 2 (if playing) are $6.99.
Updated photos from 5/2/17
