New Roc City - With Family - First Time

Good Evening Everyone!

I have been hearing about this place for several years and I wanted to check it out first hand. The weather was near 100 and humid today, so we wanted to do something "indoors yet fun" as a family.

First Impressions: This place is billed as a "destination" place, but when you pull into the parking garage, it first looks like you are pulling into a supermarket lot. The rates were pay as long as you want to stay at about 75 cents per hour. I felt it was reasonable and the pay stations are near the escalators that take you to the main area. I was surprised to see a parking violations office right in the middle of the garage.

On the main level of the complex there is a restaurant or two, a HUGE movie theater complex and the main building. The plaza is rectangular shaped between the main building and the sid eof hte garage. I noticed a nice decorative bridge for a higher garage level, but limited places ot sit and relax in the outdoor plaza. There was a small snack booth about he size of hte trailer.

When you first walk into the main building...you can see that a glow in the dark mini golf course with a few video games. We looked at it, but didn't play. We were not allowed to get a "closer look." Next on that level was a BEAUTIFUL looking go-cart track. My son is too short to drive, but he would be my passenger. (A ride for the two of us would be 8 bucks). But it wasn't going to happen. Despite the sparse line and non-existant crowds, people were not allowed on with sandals or open-toe shoes.

Next was the pool room and bowling alley. The pool tables were in nice shape and they had about 20 of them of which 3 were being used. There were signs all over about consuming alchohol only in the pool room but nobody was eating or drinkning. They had a "private room" with special amenities and higher rates that a few employees were using as a break room. Also, there was a signed photo of the "Black Widow" from a night where the place was promoting her visit. It cost about 8 bucks an hour.

The bowling area didn't have too many lanes, but it looked nice and clean.

The main arcade had a few rides including a super shot that giave riders 3 decent bounces per ride. It went throught the top of the building and up the spire on the roof. They also had bumper cars, a kiddie carosell, a small frog hopper, a couple of other kiddie rides and a few ball crawls. The arcade itself was huge. 2/3 of the games were the ticket types for prize validation and the other 1/3 were video games or ride on games.

The movie theatre had an Imax movie and a lot of different screens. We went in to look for a movie, but the ones we wanted were several hours away. A lot of people were purchasing tickets in advance and then going back to do other things.

OBservations:

This could be a nice place to hang with your adult friends for a "boys night out." It could be a decent place for young child to have a birthday party, but I didn't think "a great time could be had by all at the same time." There aren't enough rides to justify the trip. There aren't enough adult things to do in the kid area which was VERY noisy.

In the middle of this is a sporting goods store which looked out of place. There were a couple of restaurants, but we didn't eat at any.

I felt like driving 3 more exits north to go to Playland, but it was too hot.

Bottom Line: I came, I saw, I tried, I moved on.