7/23/2023 0 Comments Discovery zoneWelcome to the bold new world of "pay for play," coming soon to a shopping center near you. "When I was a child, you only played outside or at a friend's house," she says. As she looks through the glass for the face of her son, sweetly flushed with excitement, a small frown tugs at the corners of her mouth. She pauses, thinking of those Ozzie and Harriet days of her youth - coming home from a bike ride at dusk, from the beach with shorts full of sand or from the playground with palms rubbed raw by the jungle gym. There is no way someone could run off with your child."Īsked how her childhood in balmy Southern California would have been different if there were Discovery Zones back then, Boxwell hesitates not a moment before saying she wishes there had been. I think it's wonderful," says Ramona Boxwell, 42, who, along with her 7-year-old son, David, is a biweekly regular at what the culturally clued-in simply call "the Zone." "I like this. If they wish, they can pay extra and leave their kids feasting on amusement while they shop or run errands. For a two-hour admission price of $5.99, parents can supervise their children from inside the "Quiet Zone," a sound-quilted fortress with such grown-up toys as a pay phone. ![]() ![]() Like so many Oompa Loompas, young boys and girls frolic in pools of Jujube-colored balls, or clamber over Slurpee-blue foam mountains.īut unlike Wonka's fictional chocolate factory, this futuristic FunCenter manufactures a product appealing to those stress-coated confections with soft centers of guilt: modern parents. The indoor plastic playground known as the Discovery Zone looks as if it were designed by candy kingpin Willy Wonka.
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