Please note: This post was written in 2019, and while it should still give you a good overview of the experience, it may also contain some outdated information. Please be sure to visit Urban Air Orange’s website for the most current information, especially about things like hours & pricing.
2019 Post:
Thank you to Urban Air Adventure Park in Orange, CT for sponsoring this post. Any opinions expressed by this blogger are 100% her own.
As my children get older, I increasingly face two challenges:
- Their never-ending desire to be ahem, active (read as: couches aren’t for sitting so much as they are for jumping off of).
- The decreasing likelihood that I can convince them do any one activity simultaneously (read as: “If my brother wants to do this then of course I don’t”).
So I was particularly thrilled to find out about a brand new (just opened last July!) indoor adventure park in Orange, CT called Urban Air. (Pssst! We know you’re gonna love it too so we’re giving away TWO pairs of Ultimate Passes AND a Birthday Party Package! Stay tuned for details!)
Not only is Urban Air filled with just about every imaginable jumping, bouncing, climbing, riding activity you could ever hope to find in an indoor setting, but the entire space is designed in such a way that I could allow my kiddos a measure of freedom in choosing their activities. At ages 5 and 8, my boys think they are independent enough to do everything on their own, and they have no patience for that old we have to wait for your brother line! So it was refreshing to find a place where I can let them roam a little more freely–while still being able to keep a close eye on them, of course. Makes the whole experience a lot more enjoyable for everyone 🙂
We visited Urban Air towards the end of our holiday break in December, which was perfect timing of course because after more than a week at home with no structured activities, my boys were ready for some action.
Located in Orange, which is just outside of New Haven, Urban Air was a very easy 45-minute drive down 91S/95S from where we live up near Hartford. Especially on a Sunday morning with no traffic.
Source: Google Maps
When we arrived, we couldn’t help but notice the immense size of this place! (84,200 square feet to be exact!!!) The boys were so excited. We knew this was gonna be good…
There is a large parking lot right in front of the building.
I knew that once inside the boys were going to be pulling me in all directions, so I was happy that I could fill out a waiver for all of us online ahead of time (one less thing standing between us and the fun!).
Of course, you can also fill out a waiver onsite. You’ll want to do that before heading to the front desk to purchase admission.
You can fill out a waiver online ahead of time or onsite at one of these self-service stations when you arrive.
Next, you’ll want to deal with your belongings. While there are plenty of benches and shelves and other places to drop your items throughout the park, you might feel more comfortable renting a locker for the duration of your visit. That way you aren’t constantly trying to keep track of your stuff (including shoes) as you move from activity to activity. Renting a locker was really easy. It was completely self-service and credit cards were accepted as well as cash (exact change needed) right there at the lockers!
It’s quick and easy to rent a locker to store your stuff.
Just visit the kiosk located in the middle of the lockers to complete your whole transaction!
Once payment is complete, you’ll be assigned a locker. You can open the locker as many times as you need to during the rental period (just check back in on the kiosk) at no additional charge. If you go over your time limit (like we did), you’ll just be asked to pay for the additional time before you open your locker again.
We took this picture so we could remember which locker was ours! Haha!
With shoes, coats and other superfluous items safely stashed in the locker, we checked out the different levels of admission at the front desk.
Urban Air’s Pricing Levels (January 2019)
As you can see, there is quite a bit of information to consider! I would recommend starting by measuring your kiddo on the provided height guide to see which of the activities he or she will be eligible to participate in.
He’s making his best “enough photos mom, can we get to the fun stuff now?” face–haha!
If your child is over 41″ they will be able to do almost everything, though they may need an adult to accompany them on a couple rides. At that point, it just comes down to how much time you have that day and how many activities you think you can fit in 🙂
And if you find yourself waffling between the “Ultimate” and the “Deluxe” for your under 48″ kiddo, I would recommend paying that extra $5 for the “Ultimate” because although he/she won’t be able to participate in the Skyride/Ropes Course, he/she WILL be able to do the climbing walls, and that alone is worth the extra price of admission!
I also want to point out the reduced pricing for kids age 5 and under, and the “Parent Passes,” which are only a fraction of the price of the “Ultimate” and “Deluxe” passes themselves, but still allow parents to participate with their kiddos. These are fantastic options to make family fun more affordable!
Whatever level you choose, you’ll be given a color-coded bracelet so park staff can easily tell which activities you have purchased.
Since we were there as Urban Air’s guests for the day in order to gather information for this post, we were lucky enough to be given complimentary Platinum Level admission.
The other thing you’ll need to purchase is Urban Air’s special socks. There’s a size for every foot!
Everyone participating will need to purchase special Urban Air socks for $3/pair. They are reusable of course, so you can use them for all future visits too.
Stuff stashed in locker, bracelets on wrists and socks on feet, we were ready to head into the park!
As you walk in, you will be looking at activities literally ALL around you–left for Trampolines, right for Go Karts, center for the Arcade and even up for the Ropes Course and Sky Rider! It will be hard to choose which direction to explore first.
We decided to start in the back left corner with the Wipeout, the Warrior Course and the Climbing Walls.
The Wipeout activity was so popular, we came back for it twice! Basically, those yellow inflatable “bars” rotate around at variable speed (and change direction!) while you bounce on a triangle of trampoline and try to avoid being well, wiped out 🙂
Right next to the Wipeout is the Warrior Course. I think my kids could have spent the entire day attempting to master this!
There are three different lanes, all equipped with different challenges like rope ladders, hanging rings, swinging bars, swaying panels, etc. Beneath it all is a 3-foot deep pit of cushy plastic balls.
My younger son was determined to master this particular set of swinging bars, so he kept returning for more passes through the Warrior Course. My older son, predictably, was ready to move on to something new. As I mentioned at the start of this post, one of the wonderful things about Urban Air is that it’s designed to be all on one level, resulting in clear sight lines to multiple activities at once. So it was very easy for me to allow the little guy to keep trying to conquer the Warrior Course while my big guy moved onto the Climbing Walls nearby.
The Battle Beam separates the Warrior Course from the Climbing Walls area.
The base of the Rock Climbing area is accessed via ramp.
Getting harnessed up.
Staff members will attach and detach climbers to and from their cables.
Right next to the Climbing Walls you’ll find this entertaining structure, the Climbing Hill, also affectionately referred to as “the volcano.”
It’s harder than it looks to run your way up to that top platform!
Fortunately, there are a few climbing grips toward the top if you need a little help.
Perseverance is rewarded with a trip down this super speedy slide!
Across from the volcano you’ll find the Trapeze, a series of rings strung across a giant crash pad.
And adjacent to both these attractions you’ll find the Trampolines.
Our next stop was the Adventure Hub.
On our way to the Adventure Hub we passed a few other fun areas. This is actually the professional jumping area. We are definitely not seasoned trampoline acrobats, so we weren’t going in there. But I bet it’s fun to watch the experienced jumpers!
Here’s the Drop Zone, where the novice acrobats can practice 🙂
The Adventure Hub includes the Tubes Playground, the Ropes Course and the Sky Rider. You must be UNDER 52 inches tall (and age 9 and under) to play in The Tubes, but OVER 48 inches tall to partake in the Ropes Course and the Sky Ride.
The Tubes playground is filled with multiple levels of different kinds of obstacles and activities. I didn’t actually follow my kids into this network of passages, but you can kind of get an idea for the types of things inside from these photos near the entrance.
Kiddos who are 48 inches or taller can also use the Sky Rider and the Ropes Course, each of which are accessible from separate entrances within the Adventure Hub.
What is a Sky Rider you say??? I’m glad you asked!
Look up!
Don’t worry. Harness and cable are attached and detached by trained staff members inside 🙂
The Ropes Course
Harness and cable are attached by a trained staff member inside.
Once attached to the cable, participants can navigate their own way through any of the aerial paths–the cable is secured to an interconnected series of tracks above and changes direction with them!
This course is just high enough to feel exciting without being scary.
Another thing I really appreciate about Urban Air is that it has a real café area with a good menu of snack bar staples. This can make such a difference for an outing! For one thing, there are no worries about timing things right so you’ll be done before dinner time or have to grab lunch on the way. You can come any time of day and know that when the kids get hungry (and you know they will!), food is just steps away.
After you order at the counter, you’ll get a buzzer that will alert you when your food is ready for pick up. Apparently, this handy gadget also doubles as entertainment for antsy kiddos. Ha!
We may have ordered too much food… 🙂
Additional seating is located next to the Go Kart track.
You’ll also find various treat stations near the café.
Candy for the kids.
Massage chairs for the grownups 🙂
After lunch, we decided to check out the Virtual Reality.
There are three games to choose from, and the best one for little kids is called Cold Clash. It’s basically little creatures waddling around and shooting snowballs at each other 🙂
Getting a lesson in how to work the equipment.
You can actually watch the game on this screen as it’s being played!
Truth be told, my little guy (age 5) didn’t last very long with this one. I think the experience was a little overwhelming for him. But for the big guy, he was hooked!
Afterwards, we took a tour of the arcade. To play the games you purchase swipe cards. These cards take the place of both tokens to play and the tickets you win (both are recorded on the card so there’s nothing else to keep track of! Yay!).
First stop, these machines to purchase swipe cards. Cash and credit accepted.
Once the cards were spent, we headed to the prize counter
Some very important decision-making going on here.
At this point, we had already been at Urban Air for THREE hours! And believe it or not, there were still many activities that we hadn’t even tried yet!
Kids 48 inches and taller can ride solo in these spinning bumper cars; smaller kids can ride with a grownup.
Pro Karts are for drivers who are at least 54″ tall. Tandem Karts are for an adult (at least 54″ tall, age 18+) driver and a rider who is at least 4 years old and 36″ tall. Also good to know: Go Karts have speed settings based on age and run at the lowest speed when children ride the track. (Higher speed settings are available for adult only races with seasoned drivers.)
Each Urban Air track is different, so even if you’ve visited another location, this track will be new to you!
Photo courtesy of Urban Air Adventure Park
Photo courtesy of Urban Air Adventure Park
Photo courtesy of Urban Air Adventure Park
These scaled-down bowling lanes are great for families!
Bowling is just $10/hour per lane with any level wristband admission ($18 if purchased a la carte).
There were definitely other activities tucked in here and there (Slam Dunk Zone, The Runway Tumble Track and the Dodgeball Court, to name a few) that we didn’t get a chance to explore further on this visit.
And if the standard activities aren’t enough, Urban Air offers a whole week’s worth of special events!
Parents of toddlers will want to note Jumperoo on Wednesday and Thursday mornings!
And of course, Urban Air is a fantastic place to host a birthday party.
Lots of space for parties!
A peek inside one of the private party rooms.
Speaking of parties, remember at the start where we said you could WIN A BIRTHDAY PARTY??? 
Yes! Don’t forget to enter our giveaway for a pair of Ultimate Passes or a Birthday Party!
My kids had a blast at Urban Air. They were already begging me for a return visit before we had even put our shoes back on! (Confession: I may have had to bribe them to leave by saying they could eat the candy they got with their arcade winnings on the drive home…).
The variety of activities for all ages, the wide open spaces, the helpful staff, the family-friendly café, the fun lights and music– all of this and more go into making Urban Air an indoor play destination worth a drive from pretty much anywhere. Everywhere we looked, families were playing together– parents having fun with their kids and–shocking!–kids actually enjoying time with their parents 🙂
That’s not to say that Urban Air isn’t equally perfect for hanging out and chatting with friends while your kiddos keep themselves active and occupied. Benches and tables throughout the facility make it really easy to socialize and supervise at the same time. Nothing wrong with a little grownup playdate too!
If the current forecast is any indication, winter has finally decided to arrive!
Source: Weather.com
But no worries. You can always head to Urban Air Adventure Park in Orange, CT whenever your kids start using the couch as their own personal springboard. I know that’s going to be my plan!
Have you been to Urban Air in Orange, CT? What’s your family’s favorite activity there?
Urban Air Adventure Park
260 Bull Hill Lane, Orange, Connecticut
Phone: (203) 350-0241
Email: parties@urbanairorange.com
Hours (2019):
OPEN PLAY:
Pricing (2019):
Details:
- Stroller Friendly: YES
- Coffee Mug Friendly: Outside food is not allowed at Urban Air.
- Restroom: YES
- Baby Changing Station: YES (and also helpful steps tools for sink access for little ones!)
- Parking: YES. There is a HUGE parking lot right out front.
- Food for Sale: YES. There is a café with a kid-friendly menu of lunch/dinner items and snacks.
- Outside Food Allowed: NO
- Cash Required: NO; credit cards are accepted throughout for all activities.
- Dress Code: Closed toe shoes are required for driving Go Karts. You’ll need to purchase special socks for all other activities. Wear comfortable clothes for jumping, climbing and being in a harness.
- Age Recommendations: Access to each of the activities at Urban Air is determined by height. At 41 inches, kids can do most activities. But smaller kids can still have plenty of fun bouncing on trampolines, racing through the Tubes, playing in the arcade, and (if at least 4 years and 36 inches tall) riding in Go Karts. There’s no minimum age for the trampolines; if your kiddo is steady on their feet, they can have fun bouncing!
- Evening/Weekend Hours: YES
- Discounts: Sign up for emails and check their Facebook page for the latest on discounts and promos!
- Birthday Party Venue: YES. Find more info here.
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