Adventure Kids Playcare

Unethical and unprofessional facility
Proved to be a trap in my experience sold me membership under false pretexts vindictive when I noticed billing anomalies
Business owner responded unfavorably despite genuine issue
School age program was a waste of my child’s time. snarky front desk at the end of a hectic work day. no thank you

They have been so nice here and helpful.
I brought my 14 month old, and it wasn’t easy. He’s spent the last 4 months at home with me, a while lot of travel and an international move. I was pretty sure it would be tough to get him used to daycare. And it took a while, but the ladies at adventure kids persevered! Lots of patience and a few weeks later he is all smiles when I pick him up. And I can soon have some much needed grown up time as part of my regular routine. !!!
I don’t really understand the negative reviews, but then I’m not a very picky parent. As long as my son has some attention, a good time, and someone responding to his needs, I don’t really care about which snacks he ate or whether his diaper is super fresh when I pick him up.
Prices are very reasonable too. Have to reserve in advance but that’s fair enough. Very friendly when I’ve called to reschedule.

This location is very convenient. My child has a blast every time and asked to go there all the time. If I were a kid, I’d love to come too. We have sent our child in throughout the year, there many activities to keep the children occupied. The care takers are very friendly and capable to handle all the active kids. I’d recommend them to friends.
I give them a 4 stars. Could be 5 if these things are improved; most of the times phone messages are not returned and sometimes front office ladies aren’t as friendly. Sometimes I’ll just be standing there and no one even looks at me until I say something. Very awkward and strange. It’s a hit or miss.

I have a rambunctious one-​year-​old boy who is in daycare full-​time, but I needed a backup place yesterday. I read the reviews and some of the issues brought up and took a tour to check it out. In spite of a very busy front lobby, all of my questions were answered by an owner or manager (my guess). The front staff and care staff all seemed fine. The facility looks wonderful; heck, *I* myself wanted to go play on that huge structure in the main room! The rates seem appropriate for a drop-​in place in a moderately affluent city. Both the infant room and the toddler room looked and smelled clean and there were a great many and variety of toys. They check diapers every 90 minutes, feed their own snacks or nut-​free food that parents bring (or a meal can be purchased retroactively for $ 4). They state that they follow all regulations, such as sanitizing, not accepting ill children, staff-​to-​child ratio. I plunked my munchkin down for 2 hours while I had a doctor’s appt. There were two young ladies for about 12 toddlers in the toddler room. I heard afterwards that my kiddo had cried for a few minutes and then played well the rest of the time. He was newly crying when I picked him up, but I think it’s because he was interrupted with his playing. The staff in the toddler room described his activities and his mood and seemed very competent. His diaper was on fine (I saw some reviews about diapers being askew). All in all I give this place an A+ and will certainly use it again if I need a back-​up for when my daycare is on vacation or anything else.

I constantly refer friends to Adventure Kids Playcare in Bellevue across the street from the post office. The location is wonderful and there is no shortage of things for kids to do there. I’ve seen personally what started as a referral to a mom who needed short term relief turn into a weekly appointments and every time I see her all she does is talk about how wonderful this place is.
I know Corey and would encourage those skimming reviews on here to take them with a grain of salt. Having grown up in Bellevue I know that when things don’t go the right way for the high drama moms, they tend to start over reacting on Unilocal simply because they don’t feel anyone is listening to them.
Arrive a touch early to the right location with a reservation and how complicated can it really be utilize a drop in day care? If you lined all the daycare owners up around the State and picked out the best one, you would be looking directly at Corey.

Best Birthday Party EVER!!! Had my sons 5^th Bday party there. They supplied everything including cake, ice cream, piñata & goodie bags! The staff was AWESOME! Jessica was very prepared for our arrival and the kids had the BEST time!!! My sons preschool friends are still talking about it!

Great, great, greatttt place! I have never left my child anywhere and trust me they took great care of him. They checked me out and said they were changing his diaper before he left after a long night, last thing i had to do before I put him to bed (we live 5 mins away).

I am disappointed that I can no longer bring my children in. I have a baby that just turned one years old (April 2), however he was born 2.5 months early. Because of this I asked, when I made the reservation, if he could be in the infant room, as his motor skills and emotional needs are that of a 9.5 month old. I was told I could. The staff had ample time (2 weeks) from when making the reservation to contact me if management decided this was not OK. But low and behold the day before his scheduled appointment the establishment decided that it needed that space for another infant that did not have reservations. They put him in with the toddlers. He just learned to crawl 1 week ago and he cannot even hold his own bottle yet.
I am very disappointed on how the staff responded to me today, telling me that they need to run a business. That they are a licensed day care facility. Yeah I understand all of these things. (In fact I own a day spa of 12 years with 16 employees.) Had I been told me my baby would be bumped if they needed room, I would have never made the appointment for him to be in there. I did not appreciate being treated like my being upset was out of the ordinary and it is my issue and not theirs. I wish I was told in advanced that other parents are a priority, not me.
I do feel let down. And I was hoping to have my baby scheduled to come in at least once a week for the next 7 weeks as I am short a nanny right now. But now I can’t. Bummer :(.

We’ve taken my son here for almost 2 years. He’s now almost 4. He loved it! We used it for a few hours when we need an adult only meal or when I need to head to a dr or hair appt. he loves it! He especially loves the Friday night pizza and the craft projects. I think it’s great there’s a place to let your kids run around and get their energy out plus interact with other children for a few hours. What’s more is he loves it so I do too. :)

I am so glad this place exists. I was a little nervous about it given a few of the reviews but then one of my co-​workers reminded me that this is in Bellevue and if it was really bad it would have gone out of business because real estate is so expensive. She also reminded me that more people will share a negative experience than those who might be content with the services rendered and probably won’t say anything.
I have an infant and this place has saved my hide as I have gone back to work part time and have had a lot of problems trying to find a place or a person to take care of my Bubbo on days that I work. They have never made me feel bad even though I’m usually frazzled when I show up. Bubbo usually doesn’t nap as much as she should and they feed her kind of weirdly (half bottles) and could be better at diapering. BUT AT LEAST SHE HAS SOMEWHERE TO GO. It’s safe it’s clean, it doesn’t close at 5:30. We can peek in the window and there has always been someone playing with our baby.
We do accidentally leave something each time and even though I write it down on the take in form my husband is the one picking her up and doesn’t check it. I’m still hoping I can get our Colgate blanket and giraffe head mini blanket back, time will tell. They are both things she would normally use everyday. If a staff or owner reads this please set them aside in your lost and found and we will keep asking about it each time we come.

I really like this place. It’s exactly what it says it is, and I feel bad for the owners about the negative reviews I’ve read up here. Maybe some people are confusing this place for a chain 5-​star hotel concierge desk? It’s a family business, people!
I feel the staff, and the male owner, are very friendly — I had to wait to talk to the male owner once, but it was clear that that was because he was dealing with a family dropping off their child. I didn’t expect him to drop everything just to mouth some meaningless polite-​ism at me. I waited no more than a minute or two to talk to him and get a tour, which was lovely. He was very friendly and nice.
It is *playcare* so it isn’t necessarily the best solution for long-​term nonwalking baby care. I did bring my son here once before he could walk, and it was fine, tho — safe and clean. There’s a lot going on, though, what with all the playing, so I don’t think he napped much — pretty stimulating environment for a baby.
For the record, he’s come home with a backwards diaper several times from our regular, excellent daycare facility. I have no idea why this would be a big issue — it’s hard for ME to tell which way his diapers go on sometimes, because every brand is slightly different, and disposable diapers have such insanely absorbent material in them — it really doesn’t matter that much. I might even start putting my little guy’s diaper on backwards on purpose if it’ll slow him down at all. :)
I was babysitting when I was 12, so it doesn’t bother me that the staff is young. In some ways, I think that’s better, even tho I am an older mom (40yo with a 15mo).
I’m grateful this place exists, and plan to use them more in the future.

We just used this place for the first time today. We’re new in the area and have no family or friends in the state at this time. So I was naturally hesitant to hire just some random person to come into my house and babysit my son. But I do need to get out every now and again, and that’s where AKP come in. I’m soooo happy I found this place. I like knowing it’s basically a revolving door of pickups and drop offs. With all those parents stopping in I’m less concerned about abuse or neglect happening. And I love that this place is open so late. I take a night ballet class and most places close at 6pm, that’s when my class starts. So this place is perfect for me.
*UPDATE*
I removed a large portion of this review because it was no longer relevant. My son has been coming here for more than a year and is always happy when I tell him it’s a playcare day. The staff is great, and we really like them. I sometimes send my son to The Nest in Woodinville and my son ALWAYS has major upset stomach issues after going there (he has Celiac disease). He never has an issue when he goes to Adventure Kids. They clearly do a better job of cleaning hands, surfaces, and keeping kids from eating each others food (my son, 2.5 told me flat out he ate another kids food at The Nest).
May this place never go under. I love them more than anything.

Update since I last left a review:
Staff has been friendlier and my daughter said they took her to bathroom during class. It was tough considering she has had a bad experience at another preschool before. So I need to give Adventure Kids some credit here.

I’ve been bringing my daughter (16mos) here since she was about 8 months old. I bring her here about 1 – 2 times per week, for about 3 – 5 hours at a stretch. This is not the only childcare we use, as we also have an in-​home nanny two full days per week (I work a nontraditional schedule).
I love this place, and more importantly, my daughter loves it! She starts smiling and kicking her legs as soon as we pull up in the parking lot. I also recognize all of the same caregivers over the 8 months we’ve been coming here, and they all know my daughter by name.
I’ve never experienced any of the problems mentioned in the other reviews. In my experience, this is completely hassle-​free, quality childcare.

For an emergency situation or temporary child care, it is moderate.
For long-​term child care, it is inadequate.
I used AKP in between a bad nanny and another daycare for an infant from the age of 9 month to 12 month. Suffice it to say, they don’t have any specific program based on age. The employees they hire are kids themselves who are in high school (and I mean barely). I’ve seen my kid come back wearing a diaper backwards. I“ve lost multiple pacifiers, spoons and food containers there. They don’t necessarily abide by any structure. Hygiene wise, I would say they are below par. My kid developed diaper rash while under their care and I can only assume it is because the employees are not well supervised or trained.
On the plus side, they have an activity sheet that tells you more or less what your kid did while there.

I started dropping off my kids (ages 3 and 1.5) at AKP during the summer as I was in a bind since my summer nanny quit after only 2 weeks on a job because she got full-​time employment with another family. Even though this was not my first choice for childcare, I do love the convenience of it and that my children get a lot of stimulation here (some good and some bad).
The play is very secure, which is very important to me, and clean. I like that older children are separated from younger ones due to liability and safety. There are some of the staff there are truly wonderful. I am a big fan of Amy and Ronnie, to be specific. I agree with someone’s comment that the male owner is not friendly, which is such a big turn off because he is a owner and this is a place where people drop off their beloved children. I also love that they «camps» for kids during the morning and early afternoon.
Overall, I love AKP and highly recommend it!

Excellent service! Same price as a babysitter without the hassle. Get back your date night.

I used this place to celebrate my daughters first year birthday. The service included 2 girls that would help me unload the car and set everything up for the birthday party. They only gave me 15 minutes for that and they said it was enough because these 2 people were going to help me. Result: they didn’t help me unload the car, they didn’t know how to setup the stuff on the tables or the food. I had to explain these girls even the minimum detail of how to do everything loosing a lot of time so I ended up doing most of the setup myself with the help of some friends.
It actually took us half an hour to 5 people to set everything up and the guests had already arrived by then.
I had to take care of everything myself and because of that I didn’t have the opportunity to enjoy the party during the first hour (they give you only 2 hours).
It seemed to me that it was the first day these girls were working there and they didn’t have ANY IDEA of what to do. They were not trained AT ALL.
The rest of the service was OK and the installation is fine. The other problem I found is that the place to eat is separated from the play area so that is another cons.
The attention on the phone and in person was OK. They don’t have a great customer service and I didn’t see they do any effort to improve it.
Based on my experience I wouldn’t recommend this place for celebrating birthday parties.
The price you pay is too much for the service that you get. If you are not going to have any help from the staff then you can use a much cheaper place than this one.

If you only have time to read one paragraph, here it is: Absolutely horrible experience with the daycare center. Do NOT send you kids to that place.
Here are the specifics:
Our daughter (5 year old) was send to this center, because our backup care provider was unable to find a Bright Horizon center that is close to where we live or work. Per recommendation from our backup care program coordinator, we put in blank trust in this new place and sent her in.
We dropped her off in the morning around 9am along with her backpack and lunch box. However, when we pick her up around 6pm, she looked tired and complained about tummy pain. We thought that it might be gas in her tummy or she might have too much fun at the new daycare. Until around 7pm when we opened her lunch box for cleaning, we found out that the lunchbox was untouched. And then we asked her about her lunch. We were told that she was not given lunch at all (she was only given a cup of milk when other kids were eating lunch), and she was asked to sit on a separate table all by herself.
Her lunchbox was in her backpack, which was handed to the staff when we dropped her off in the morning. No one bothered to open her backpack to give her lunch. And what’s more profoundly shocking was the fact that no one, not a single person from the center, even bothered to give any of us a call to ask about her lunch. This shows nothing but a severely poorly trained group of staff and very disorganized childcare center. How could on earth anyone (not just trained teachers /​daycare professionals, how bout any adult) would skip a main meal for a 5-​year-​old kid?
She had tummy pain through the whole night and the next day. This is the worst daycare experience we have ever been, seen or even heard of!
In addition, we asked her about her stay. Through her description, we learned that the center let my 5-​year-​old daughter watch other school-​age kids playing video games for a long time. (She told us she watched 2 kids playing in a roll.) This is inappropriate practice and unacceptable. The owner’s apology sounds ok. However, the staff (frontdesk receptionist)‘s response was still in the tone of finding excuses. This is just adding to the disappointment.
That was not all. We later found out, when calling the state, that the center has not acquired a full license for providing child care (from the WA department of licensing for childcare and early learning). They only obtained a «half-​license» and renewed once.
We are absolutely not sending her back to this daycare center. Not in a century. We’re requesting Microsoft HR department to investigate this provider from the backup care program. We’re also telling all our friends about this incident and there you have it.

My experience with Adventure Kids Playcare in Bellevue started out on its a 5 star rating. The male owner was not as friendly as I would have anticipated. He was helping another family and barely made any communication with us while he was attending to the other guest (and I mean not even so much a ‘please hold on or I’ll be with you in one moment’). When we were finally helped by the VERY nice manager, she made the experience wonderful. She gave us a tour, told us a little about the set up and layout and was very friendly to us and our daughter. Our 31 month old daughter loved just stepping inside and the manager reassured us that our daughter would be fine and I left feeling that my daughter would be in good hands and have a great time.
When we returned, the same manager was there. Our daughter had a blast and didn’t even notice us when we stuck our heads in to watch her. Our daughter had taken off her socks and none of the staff could find them, so we had to leave without her socks. Minus the sock losing episode, we left paying our membership fee ($ 40 annually and the $ 10.00 an hour about $ 75 later for our first visit of 3 hours) and with a very happy little girl.
When we got to the car, our daughter complained of a «poopy diaper» and would not sit in her carseat. (Our daughter is still in diapers and will not sit down if she has a poop or sometimes a pee). She was in a fit not wanting to sit. I asked her if she had a poop or a pee because she sometimes gets confused and she said a pee, so reluctantly she sat down. We drove home (about 25 minutes) and when we got home I went to changer her diaper and I was shocked to find two things. 1. Her diaper was on backwards and 2. she did indeed have a dirty diaper. It was a runny diaper and her whole bottom was red, to the point that it had began to show small raised welts. I was absolutely appalled. Since I was told they do diaper checks about every 2 hours, I assumed her diaper would have been checked and changed, but to miss a dirty bowel movement it a bit surprising.
At this point, since the manager was so friendly and I knew was probably busy with closing, I sent an email to the owners telling them what had happened. I was surprised with a prompt call from the owner (this time the wife). She apologized and we chatted a bit. She told me she called the manager and I got the run down of the dirty diaper… she also told me that they like to hire high schoolers because they find they get down on the kids’ level and interact with them. She also told me all staff are trained on how to change diapers and other activities. With that, the call was ended and I felt that I was left with no sort of compensation for a backwards diaper and RED WELTS on my daughter’s bottom. I wasn’t even offered some sort of complimentary care or fee waved.
The next morning, my husband and I decided that we felt very disrespected and that the care our daughter received was not aqueduct for our standards. I promptly emailed them asking for a refund of my fee and we would not be returning. I was surprised that I did not receive a response (and I emailed on a business day). 4 days passed and nothing, so I sent ANOTHER email asking if they received my first email. I got a quicker reply telling them and was told a check would be put in the mail for a refund of my annual fee.
Long story short, I will not be going back. I should have known when the owner was somewhat rude when we walked in the door.

Walked in and this is how we were greeted by a pregnant lady– yes here for drop off or pick up and i sai neither, here fo a tour. Her response Alison they are herefor a tour. No hello or good afternoon nothing. First impression said a lot. If this is the customer service they prvided me, i would hate to see how they treat my children.