This morning, I headed with the 2 year old and the 4 year old to the recently opened McCools indoor playcentre in Ballincollig. We arrived early, just after 10am but luckily its opening hours are from 10 till 7pm.

There were already a few parents and children there and there were loads of staff so we headed in. Firstly we were very impressed with the size of the place. Its huge. It has a sort of castle theme running through it, and is very bright and open plan. There are separate play areas for 4years and under and another one for older kids.

As I had the 2 younger kids with me, we stuck to the former area. It was really good. I was impressed with the layout. The enclosed area had a mini park with 4 little tikes cars in it, which my pair loved. Adjacent to this there was a ball area, plenty of foam shapes, slides, a walkway, nets and a hut. Plenty of scope for them to run around and play. They spent 2 hours there and had a blast. There was a coffee dock right next to kids playarea and plenty of seating there, couches, tables and chairs, all of which had full view of where the children were playing, so it was possible to take a break, have a coffee and still keep an eye on proceedings!

The Mahers coffee was good. Lattes, americanos, cappuccinos all on offer, aswell as a big selection of cold drinks, juices, cordials. Sandwiches, pizzas, chips, buns, biscuits and sweets could also be purchased. My pair enjoyed their juice with fairy cakes which looked delicious. I was tempted.

There were a few highchairs there too, which would have been handy if we’d had the baby with us. The toilets were clean and there were a good few of them, I also noted the babychanging facilities.

Admission was €6.50 for 1-4 year olds and is €9 for kids older than that for 2 hours play. There was loads of stowage cubbyholes for shoes underneath benches of which are many throughout the centre. Socks are required for feet.

On this visit we very much stuck to the younger children’s area with just a quick gander at the older kids place. It looked brilliant, a huge array of slides, football area, climbing frames and tunnels. Blackboards and chalk were also available. I’m looking forward to bringing all my gang there. One concern in doing that is that both these areas are quite far apart. I’m unsure as to how I’d be able to keep an eye on both age groups at once.

That said, the security appeared very good. Checks were made on admission and when we were leaving. The gate was electronically locked and we needed to be buzzed out. There were plenty of high visibility staff there this morning and I must say, that also impressed me.

The centre also has an iceskating rink and soccer pitches which we have yet to investigate!

We’ll definitely be back. They also do birthday parties which I may check out too.

UPDATE 17/11/07

I was in McCools again this morning, but this time I brought 4 of my children aged from 6 to 1 years old. I must say, it wasn’t easy to mind them all  and not too relaxing an experience at all. The 2 areas are too far apart and I found it quite stressful to keep an eye on all 4 at once.

The 6 and 4 year olds wanted to play in the large older kids area and the 2 year old was too small to get in and around it. Also, some of the climbing frames were cladded with mock castle bricks so you couldn’t see the children when they were in this part.

I think for this playcentre to work for a group of children of assorted ages, they need to move these 2 areas to be adjacent to each other. Perhaps swapping the location of the bouncy castles with the under 4s area would make it easier to use.

In the meantime, I would still definitely recommend McCools if all your children are old enough to use the bigger area or young enough to be content with the under 4s area.

If you’ve a mixed aged group, ranging from toddlers up,  I think somwhere smaller like Chuckies would be a better layout of playcentre as you can see all children from the one seating area.