We went Monday night after Christmas (2021), and was not surprised at how busy the place was! This…read moreplace had bowling, bumper cars, and a mini arcade. We had to wait about 30 minutes for a bowling lane to free up. There was a bar where we grabbed a few drinks while we waited. Plenty of open seating. Staff was friendly, and went around keeping tables clean between patrons. The bowling lanes themselves seemed to have been recently updated. However, the TVs must have been from the 2010s because most of them had display issues which made the scoring hard to see. Thankfully, each lane had also a touch screen display that showed the scores of each player so you did not have to rely on the overhead TV. The bowling shoes were run down as you would expect from a bowling alley. We also ordered some nachos (decent) and fried pickles (very salty) at the food counter. Overall, a decent experience.

First round of bowling went amazing. So much fun and we love the touch tunes. However the second…read moreround went very very different. Our lane had malfunctioned and shut down without us knowing. I went to pick up my ball for my round thinking I was getting ready to play. When suddenly a woman with a pink bob screamed and I mean SCREAMED "STOP THROWING MORE BALLS" from the desk and walked away. We then looked and realized the lane was down so we stopped playing and waited. We waited for five minutes when we realized she wasn't letting us know the machine was down but she was actually yelling at us. So we began to put on our shoes when another worker came up to us and said "we didn't know your lane was down. We thought your time was up. That's why she yelled at you. We will give you ten minutes for this." So we got an extra ten minutes in a high anxiety and aggressive environment without an apology from the person who actually yelled at us. We were on edge the rest of the time and decided to leave early anyways. When we turned in our shoes the girl with the pink bob ignored us. On top of this, she had been ignoring customers all night and only talking to other employees. Overall, very very disappointed in this experience as we come here often for fun nights but now it's a little tarnished. I'm really ashamed and embarrassed that such a great environment has such a hostile pink bob in the vicinity.

One of the last old school arcades left in the area…read more I've been coming here since the early 90's, and it's just as fun today as it was back then. They have endless arcades, pinball machines, redemption games, and kiddie games for all ages to enjoy. They also have air hockey, joust, and mini golf. There's not too much else you could ask for. Go check em out!

Oh boy... I'll be fair to this place because when I looked up "kids activities" this was one of a…read moreVERY small list of places that popped up. The reviews were terrible but for an active toddler needing to burn off some energy, this is what we have. My expectation were pretty low for Mega Play and they basically met them. This is an OLD facility. Visibly it looks dated. Everywhere. There are handwritten signs about pricing all over. No employees monitoring anything really, just a couple working the food counter. It was crowded in the play zone which is where our 15 month old was going. Almost all of the toys are broken, without exception. Seems like they got a lot of stuff from a yard sale and used it. The toys were also visibly dirty. Wife took our daughter to the bathroom and says one of the stalls is missing a door. Come on... use this place as your last resort.

This was my first experience at a climbing gym, and it was a very positive one. My primary goal was…read moreto do a shared activity with my young daughter, who is a natural climber. The staff were consistently friendly and encouraging, and I wound up catching the climbing bug and now I try to get out there 2-3 times a week. I'm still a very basic climber, but the various and occasionally changing routes still offer a lot of reasonable and interesting challenges for me. The staff members (and fellow climbers) I've met are uniformly helpful and supportive.

See original review below. The owner called me after posting this review to apologize and make sure…read moreI was ok. He acknowledged the situation below was not acceptable and would not happen again. I greatly appreciated this and shows that the company takes feedback seriously! I understand you sign a waiver to protect the business, but I didn't appreciate the lack of professionalism from the business with dealing with a serious injury (knee dislocation). I screamed very loud and was on the floor for over 10 minutes. Not a single worker from the facility came to check on me or ask if first aid was needed.

This is a pretty nice rapids course in south bend, Indiana. It's about a half mile long rapids…read morecourse and you can go alone or fit up to 6 per raft. It's not insanely difficult but the rocks on the rapids do make it a bit difficult- hit one of them and you're flipping for sure (I did today). I don't like that you have to walk the half mile back to the start to do it again, but it's a nice course overall, just a pretty short rapids course - you're on the river for about 5-10 minutes. There is no "break" sections in the water - the rapids are non stop just FYI. Fun place though, I would recommend.

Whitewater rafting in the urban midwest! When you live in the midwest as I do, you learn to dig…read moredeep for new outdoor ideas. Finding this place was the equivalent of striking gold!! East Race Waterway is a man-made whitewater route using the water from the St. Joseph River. The course is about a half mile long and it takes roughly five minutes to navigate. You have three main options to use the race. Non-kayak owners (renters) can choose from the inflatable doubles kayak (seats two..of course) or a large raft (3-6 passengers). Rides in the inflatable kayak or large raft are $5 per person, per ride. If you bring your own kayak it's $15 for the day. The rented boats come with oars, life jackets and a helmet, so you don't need to bring those pieces of equipment. As for the race, you're going to get wet. Let's call it soaked! The race contains category II whitewater rapids and in at least three spots, you're going to get a rush of water thrust upon you. It doesn't take much experience to figure out how to guide your boat and if you go at the rapids head on you won't capsize. We watched many go over though, and that's because they broke the cardinal rule of hitting the rapids with a sideways boat. Even if you capsize it's no big deal. There's a few things you'll need to bring or consider. First, a soled shoe that covers at least the backside of your heal and straps across the top is mandatory. Basically, anything except open-toed flip-flips will work. Hard sole water shoes like Keen's work the best. Remember that you're going to get wet, I mean soaked..so phones, car keys, jewelry and loose sunglasses are all a really bad idea. If you have to bring keys make sure you bring a ziplock bag and have a zipped pocket to store them in. The water isn't nearly as dirty as some claim and there's a hose with clean water at the end of the race to rinse with. All the same I'd still recommend wearing older clothing if you can. This place is a total blast and a unique opportunity for mid-westerners. The race is only open June-early August and only on the weekends, so be sure to plan this one carefully. We'll certainly be back!

We had a good time here. We were able to see some animals be pretty active. We really enjoyed the…read moretrain ride and definitely loved feeding a giraffe and ravenous fish.

Very small zoo but well taken care of, very clean. Food wasn't too expensive either. A kids meal…read morewas $6 for chicken tenders and fries. Was a good time. I drove an hour I don't think I would go back since it is a little far for me but a great one and done. Tickets for 1 adult and 2 kids was $44. The petting zoo was fun, the animals were very friendly. I didn't bother with the rides were kind of expensive $3 a person.

This is the second kiddo hockey tournament I had placed here. It is an amazing rink with two sets…read moreof ice: the main rink, and a practice rink. Upstairs is the regular arena where the Irish play NCAA games. Downstairs is access to the practice area. Games are held on both but championship tourney games are traditionally held in the main. If you are looking for food and snacks, there is a snack shop near the bottom arena and also a place to rent skates and/or request regular skate maintenance...I.e. skate sharpening, blade falls off, etc. Parking is pay through an app during weekdays but was free on weekends. Not expensive though. I recommend eating at Rohr's which is connected to the Morris Inn if you have time. It's a much better option than other restaurants and extremely close. Easy walk on a nice day; if it is cold, park outside the bookstore and walk in. And, I mean, the campus bookstore, not the other one near all the random restaurants. Have fun! Beautiful campus!

What a great place to watch hockey. Not a bad seat in the house. Lots of different prices but all…read moreseemed good. We sat close to the rink and loved the energy. Ushers and staff were really helpful. Easy to enter and leave. Band was great and what a horn for goals. Lots of fun. Definite go to place.

St. Joseph's Lake Recently a really cool nice Yelper John…read moreS. of San Francisco Communicated with me regarding my posts on places on and around the University of Notre Dame Campus. He is amazing with so much information that has helped me. He's an Encyclopedia of Notre Dame! I'm going by my senior citizen memories and old photos. He geared me to the St. Joseph's Lake page for my incorrectly posted Lake photos. That being said I love being out in nature and around bodies of water. When my daughter and I spent time together at the university a walk to the lake was a great escape. I'm sure during my many visits in four years I visited other lakes near the campus. If you live in South Bend, go to the university, or you are visiting like me then by all means take in the lake activities and spend time hiking or walking around St. Joseph's Lake. Highly recommended.

I'm not sure why I didn't realize this was a separate lake the first time I visited Notre Dame when…read moreI was in high school in 1993. Or maybe I did realize it, but St. Mary's Lake just held a particular sway for me. In any case, St. Joseph's Lake is probably more beautiful than its westerly cousin--er, (unconsummated) spouse? I say "probably" because it depends on what you like. If you'd rather walk around a mostly flat path without trees obstructing your view, then St. Mary's Lake is your girl. But if you like changing elevations, paths that sometimes take strange turns, and the wonder of a mysterious island with a locked gate, then St. Joseph's Lake is your boy. Yes, I know, both lakes have islands; and technically, St. Mary's Lake has more of them, but one of St. Joseph's Lake's islands is connected to the shore by a footpath, and there's this weird gate that's usually locked, although if you don't mind getting wet, it's pretty easy to get around. (Believe me, I know.) If the weather's particularly nice, you can rent a boat and sail around the lake. I never did this, but when my brother was in town for my graduation, he really wanted to. The lake is strange during the winter because it doesn't freeze. Why not? Well, Notre Dame has its own power plant (coal-fired, unfortunately), which is cooled by St. Joseph's Lake. After the water is used, it is pumped back into the lake, which ensures that the water is always too warm to freeze. This causes quite a lot of confusion for the local waterfowl. Normally, ducks and geese fly south for the winter, and this is largely the case for Notre Dame's ducks and geese. But even in the middle of winter, you'll find some ducks swimming around St. Joseph's Lake, and I often wonder whether this ruins their natural instincts. I'm not very athletic, but if I were, I would be one of those people who run around this lake and then St. Mary's Lake in what seems like a decently challenging but also relaxing jog. If you're a woman and you choose to run around St. Joseph's Lake, you should probably bring some mace along. I've never felt unsafe walking around the lake, even in the middle of the night in really cold weather, but it is kind of spooky, and there are a lot of places to hide.

they are kind and patient. my daughter has become much more confident and open to learning new…read moreskills.

For years, I sought out an equine therapy solution. When we moved to South Bend, I was delightfully…read moresurprised to learn about Reins. The arena is wonderful, the staff and volunteers are top-notch, and I feel so lucky to have access to Reins! Most clients are children with all sorts of disabilities. Personally, the lessons are helping me with core strength, and being with a horse is an experience that's unique & hard to describe. They are hard-working and deserving of praise and support!