Yesterday we went to a disaster of a birthday party…
Yesterday we went to a birthday party at Oxygen Active Play at the O2 in London. The parents had booked a VIP experience for their child and all their guests. They were promised a party room but got none, the food was late, and the pizzas burned to the point they couldn't serve them. £13 pizzas were small and one level up from horrible. Some guests left because their children were hungry. The staff tipped over the cooling bag containing the bespoke cake from an expensive cake shop, whilst it was stored in their fridge, so it came out in pieces. You couldn't even see the writing of the name. Their slush ice machines didn't work. The queue for drinks was 20 minutes plus. The proposed VIP party booking included party bags for all the guests, but the parents were told they had no party bags. The parents even offered to pay extra, but were told they party bags were not in stock. The party was completely ruined for the family, who were so embarrassed and exhausted from navigating one disaster from the other in the then they just wanted to go home.
At the time we were there, we witnessed a girl left on the roof on a balancing line with a harness and a helmet in complete panic, frozen, shaking and tears pouring down her face for half an hour, whilst the incompetent, unqualified staff did nothing to get her back to safety and calm her down. The manager insisted she did not know what to do as she had only been in the job for four days. Eventually, only after more people got involved, they managed to get a young boy out there to guide her through the course to get her back on solid ground. Whilst she had slips and several more scares, he never held her hand or reached out for her whilst she was hanging 6-7m above the trampoline court and clearly in shock and deeply traumatised. Apparently, they had no ladders or other means of getting people down. My eight-year-old commented what if there was a fire. Would they also just leave everyone under the roof or make them finish the course?
We have been to parties here before over the past three years, which have gradually got worse and worse, but this one was completely destroyed. I would never go back, and I hope parents know what they are in for by writing this review. This place is run by kids and safety is a serious concern.