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Fantasy Kingdom
Rating Details »
Categories: Amusement Parks, Playgrounds, Venues & Event Spaces
Neighborhood: Near North Side1422 N Kingsbury St
Chicago, IL 60642
(312) 642-5437
- Nearest Transit:
-
North/Clybourn (Red)
- Hours:
Mon-Fri. 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
12 reviews for Fantasy Kingdom
Don't let the location throw you. You gotta pass a couple of strip clubs to get to this unassuming industrial location. However, once you park and follow the signs through the building, Fantasy Kingdom is a great place for a party of the under-6 set.
It is a nice space, pretty large for this type of kid-gathering/party place, which has play area with many climbing structures, a food/eating area and also a baby/toddler corral.
We were there for a 4-year old girl's birthday party and I am guessing there were about 30 kids or so. The space was totally ample for the kids and parents that were with them. Fantasy Kingdom provided (at a cost, of course) the food and an event coordinator. The three varieties of Starbucks coffee made an immediate positive impression on the parents.
One great thing about Fantasy Kingdom was the level of cleanliness of everything in the joint. I'm not a crazy germophobe, but sometimes a kid-centered play area business can get quite skeezy. The toys, the play stuctures, even the bathroom was in good clean shape. Maybe in a year it will look a bit different, but for this party it was great.
http://www.oakparkdad.com
I get the sense that FK is run by very nice, well-intentioned individuals. The space and choice of toys, however, leave much to be desired...
First of all, the equipment is one-size-fits-most. There wasn't much in the way of accommodations for the bigger children among the small-fry. My four-year-old is tall for her age, and she could not fit into any of the toy cars which royally cheesed her off. Secondly, all the toys revolving around play-acting were pretty domestic - for the $12 admission, I was hoping for more variety -- for example, sensory-based toys, board games for the younger set, et cetera. Third, FK falls woefully short when it comes to having an ability-diverse environment. There didn't appear to be any modifications for children with special needs, beyond the token "handicapped" stall in the restroom.
Good, but not good enough. Definitely not good enough to warrant a repeat visit -for us, anyway.
I'm writing to let others know how thankful I am for Fantasy Kingdom (especially after the first snowfall today). Rain or shine, they are always there to save me and my energetic kids from our cramped condo. I've been visiting since my youngest was 1? And now we are lucky enough to have 3 with the oldest at 5. I never feel guilty spending a few hours there, (considering how relaxed I am there!) as they all find stuff to occupy themselves with. Our smart little ones get bored of our toys very quickly at home I suppose. At FK, my 5 yr old loves the dress up, 3yr daughter loves it all, 1yr old can run free and stay safe. Staff always helps me too, they have the pertinent supplies (ie diapers in all sizes, juice boxes, organic crackers, Starbucks coffee etc) to rescue me in a jam. Love the hand sanitizers everywhere too!
All in all so happy they are still there! Well worth the money when momma needs a helping hand and the kids need room to roam!!!
Like the other reviewer I've taken my daughter here a few times, but I never really enjoy it. There aren't that many things to do. Most of the toys are the kind of stuff we have at home (dress up, exersaucer, train set, dolls and strollers) with the exception of the cars which are a favorite of my 2.5 yr old. But for $12 visit (and $5) to park....riding in the cars for an hour is not at all worth the price.
And the owner is always trying to sell you something when you come in. They have a little eating area for you to do lunch with your child, but they sell all kinds of unhealthy snacks to try to get more money out of you. Choc and vanilla milk- no thank you. I'll stick to the sippy cup of water or regular milk I brought from home.
Sometimes they have vendors come in to pitch you about new products (ex. organic baby food), but I'm not here for a sales pitch, I'm here to play with my child or maybe zone out for 5 min while my child plays with another child. I can learn about baby food at the grocery store.
Even the staff is awful. The owner almost never opens his mouth unless he's trying to convince you to buy whatever the vendor is selling, probably because the vendors pay to come advertise there and he's trying to make it look worthwhile. And the grumpy woman behind the counter (his wife? his mother?) literally sits on her ass all day and stares at her computer and barely even looks up to take your money. SO RUDE! Granted we don't come to play with her, but would it kill them to act like they appreciate our patronage?
As far as cleanliness it also leaves MUCH to be desired. A few times a day they have a gopher girl run around and put all the toys back in place, but they never "clean" anything. Ewwww! How many kids a day pick up (and often eat or lick) these toys and they just get put right back for the next child to use. And while they have a sign for parents of sick kids to please visit another day, many of the kids running around have runny noses and coughs. So I guess each visit comes with a chance to take home a case of H1N1 for no additional charge. At least something is free.
Overall not a good place to spend time or money.
PROS:
Out of the house
CONS:
Bad location
Hardly any natural light, dim lighting resulting in depressing environment
EXPENSIVE $12day and $5 parking
Rude/unfriendly staff!
I take my son to Fantasy Kingdom from time to time, but I never really enjoy it. It's an average-looking indoor play area that charges $12 for all day admission (I think from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm). He has an okay time, but I never get the sense that he loves being there.
Things that aren't so great about Fantasy Kingdom:
1. They often let in too many kids for the size of the space.
2. The place itself is small and cramped.
3. There are some really dark areas that make playtime difficult.
4. About half of the toys are either old or just really beat up.
5. The bathroom is not inside the facility itself.
6. No free parking, but they do have a $5 parking garage.
Things that keep me coming back to Fantasy Kingdom:
1. The owner seems really nice.
2. It's generally clean, even though it's disorganized.
3. They have a parking garage.
4. It's reasonably close to our house.
If it were more than a ten minute drive away, I don't think we would ever go. I hate to give it such a "blah" review, but it really is sort of a "blah" place.
"A Magical Children's Play Place for ages 6 months to 6 years"
Learning through play. A great place to go and get out of your condo (or apartment or house) with the wee ones and mingle with adults (yes!) and other wee ones while they are in environment of make believe and imagination, costumes and toys provided. Designed for children 6 and under and parent supervised. Daily admission is $12, adults and siblings under 1 are free, they have memberships - an example of one is to buy a 10 visit punch card for $100, no expiration date. They have a variety of party packages. On Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:30-11am (event calendar) they have The Storybook Mom, Nilli, who performs interactive stories with the children. Bring a lunch a stay as long as you wish. Mon. - Fri.: 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Open weeknights and weekends for private parties only.
The show Supernanny had a casting call here on 12.04.06
Located 1 block north of Division, 3 blocks south of North Avenue and 2 blocks west of Halsted at the corners of Kingsbury and Evergreen
So it's seemed as of late that my kid is getting a little too old for the open play at Bubbles Academy and all I can wonder was "where did all those other kids go?"
Well, they are apparently all here!
If you're reading this you probably know that during that precarious age between 2 and 3 there's not a whole lot for your kid to participate in: most of the park district programs start at age 3, "pre-pre-school" programs are just too expensive to justify, heck, even Gymboree and Bubble classes add up to a Montessori tuition in a year's time. And even if you DO load up on classes (esp. for the winter months when outside play is out of the question) the odds are high, between erratic nap schedules, potty-training and meltdowns that you're going to end up missing a bunch of them anyway. I mean c'mon...whose 2 year old values the concept of puncuality?
Fantasy Kingdom is a drop-in play-place. You can go anytime you like between the hours of 9am and 5:30pm. Unlike Corner Playroom it's CLEAN (at least it seems that way). They even have a designated employee who spend the entire day wandering around and cleaning up after the dozens of tykes so nothing ever gets too out of place so NO ONE can enjoy it (I wish I had one of her for my house...oh...wait...that would be me).
The room is set up like a little mini Renaissance Faire with a 2-story castle on one side that has 2 tube slides. The other side of the room have a few "storefronts" including a Firehouse, a police station, a grocery and a clothing store(?). Each little storefront has all the accompanying make believe toys and outfits...a toddler version of LARP, I guess. There are a couple of tables with train sets, several ride-in cars, tubes to climb through, rocking toys, blocks, etc. There's also a separate little 2-and-under hoosegow with age-appropriate toys and nice big windows that look outside onto the river.
Shoes, drinks and food are prohibited in the play area so they provide a coat rack, shoe cubbies and a snack room with paper plates, cutlery and a microwave. You can buy snacks, juice boxes and other drinks at the front desk. There are tissue boxes and antibacterial pumps everywhere and they'll even provide complimentary diapers in case you forgot yours.
Really, it seems they've thought of everything. Now, if they provided wi-fi for me I think maybe we'd stay 'til spring!
Super, super, super. There need to be more places like this for kids and adults. I only regret we found this so late.
Awesome fantasy areas that include a police station, a castle, a fire station, costumes, trikes, learning toys and more...
Miss Dena and I recently entertained at a birthday party hosted at Fantasy Kingdom and we both very impressed with both the space and the professionalism of the Kingdom's employees. First, the space is spotlessly clean - not an easy task when hosting small children all day long! The space also features lots of "kid-sized" play castles and houses that allow kids to really have fun and use their imaginations.
I would recommend this venue for any parent looking for a quality space for the next child's birthday party. Just be sure to let them know Smarty Pants sent you!
Safe, great place for kids to play. They have an eating area that is clean. You can stay there all day for the same price. On some days they have someone come in a play music which is fun. My only complaint is that the bathrooms are out of the area in another part of the building so if you have multiple kids you have to round everyone up and lug them to the bathroom.
I just looked down, and my socks have not been knocked off by Fantasy Kingdom. I suppose if it were winter and my son had been cooped up for weeks I'd be glad to have somewhere clean and safe where he could run free and play with other kids. I visited yesterday with my 17-month-old, my sister and my three-year-old niece, however, and wasn't all that excited about the place. There are fantasy play areas, and they look cool from the outside but then crawl inside and you'll find them mostly dark, only partially decorated and basically empty. There are toys to accompany each room- fruit and veggies for the store, fire trucks and uniform for the fire station, etc, but they're everywhere, making it almost impossible for a child who wants to play house to do so. He or she would spend their whole day trying to find the pots and pans over in the castle or in the police station. The toddler area is full of baby toys- rattles, excersaucers, etc, and when I brought my son inside I found it was full of three and four year olds taking toys away from the babies and bossing them around. My son had fun running around the main play area, but I was pretty disappointed in the other parents; not only was I following him around making sure he played nice and stayed safe, but I was also having to babysit other people's kids because they were too busy reading the newspaper or chatting with friends to actually make sure their kids weren't hitting, fighting or being brats in some other fashion. If I wanted to watch a bunch of snotty kids I would open a day care, not pay $10 plus $5 for parking. As a final complaint, literally none of the battery-operated toys were working. I don't know if they needed new batteries or if they were broken, but none of them worked.
So, all in all, it's a good place to go if you're with some other kids you know and you can trust everyone will be mostly nice to each other and if you're sick of playing at your own house. But in nice weather you're better off at the park. To end on a positive, there is a kitchen area where you can put your lunches in the fridge and warm them up, I thought that was a good idea.
I was a nanny and i brought the kids to Fantasy Kingdom ALL the time! They loved it! Its such a nice place, where i knew that they would be safe and that they could have fun. it was great for winter and for nasty rainy days when we couldnt be outside. We would bring a snack and spend the afternoon there! :) a great place for little ones as well! My guys loved the fire house and all the costumes they could wear! :) The parking garage was also a HUGE plus for us, with a small infant, winter sucks in this city! That garage was a blessing!
