Rush UK Trampoline Park. Is it a leap above the rest?

Location: Rush Birmingham, Unit 6 Avery Dell, Lifford Lane, Kings Norton, Birmingham, B30 3DZ
Opening Times: Term Time Open Jump (age 4+) Mon- Thurs 11:30am – 9pm, Fri 11:30am – 10pm, Sat 10am – 10pm, Sun 10am – 9pm.
School Holidays Open Jump (4+) Sun – Thurs 9am – 9pm, Fri – Sat 9am – 10pm.
Parent and Toddler Jump Sessions (term time only): Mon – Fri 10:30am – 11:30am, Sat* – Sun 9am – 10am (*excluding the first Saturday of each month).
Autism and SEN sessions: First Saturday of each month 9am – 10am.
Price: Open Jump (4+) £11 each for 60 minutes or a family ticket for 3 people £30 or a family ticket for 4 people £39.50. 25% off for Military/NHS staff on open jump sessions Mon-Fri Term Time. Parent and Toddler Jump Sessions are great value for money Mon – Fri £6 for 30 minutes and £11 for 60 minutes and on the weekends £8 for 30 minutes £15 for 60 minutes. Additional adults/children are charged a smaller amount. Please do check the Rush website.
Website: www.rushuk.com/birmingham/

Yesterday morning saw the Smallhousebigtrips household drive over to Kings Norton to experience (and review) Birminghams biggest trampoline park, boasting an impressive 35,000 square feet of excitement and adrenaline filled fun.
The session was starting at 9am (we were doing the Parent and toddler open jump session, giving us all access to the main park – obviously avoiding the age/height restricted parts for the toddlers but they were still open for us adults to try). Rush has over 100 wall to wall interconnected trampolines for you to bounce on, either solo or with friends/family.

Briefing Room: We headed into Rush and met the lady on the desk who checked us in to the park. We had already completed our waivers online but if you haven’t already completed yours, you can do them on the computers available in the waiver station area.

We were given a wrist band each (to show we had paid to go onto the equipment) and special Rush grip bottom socks according to our shoe size in a lovely bright orange colour.

We were pointed to the lockers (free to use and instead of having to carry a key, they are locked via a 4 digit code) and asked to be in the briefing room by 8:55am ready for our five minute briefing.

We headed over to the benches next to the lockers to swap our footwear to the special socks, put our things into the easy to use lockers and headed off into the safety briefing room.

The briefing was my favourite one yet (from a trampoline park). It was detailed, mostly highlighting what would be general common sense, but also giving a little comedy aspect to make you giggle (which I did in at least two parts, which is quite a feat at 8:55am in the morning for me). Our wristbands were then each given a mark with a marker pen to highlight that we had listened to the briefing, understood it and still agreed taking part on the equipment was our own choice.

With that, we headed off into the park at 9am to explore what Rush had for us to do.

Dodgeball Courts:

The girls immediately ran to the pair of dodgeball courts and started leaping around throwing the balls all over the place.

They were laughing and bouncing around so much that my ability to get a nice (none blurry photo) was near impossible (see above picture). But they were having fun, and photos of that are more honest and real than staged pictures. So please do excuse the blurry images in some of these pictures. There was a LOT of bouncing and laughing happening. I may have been hit with quite a few balls. Mostly from my husband whose favourite word on the court was “Out”.

On our way home in the car, me and my husband chatted about how great it would be to go with our adult mates and have a game. We reckon it would be an ideal place to go for an evening out with mates, that doesn’t involve a pub and a hangover the next day.

Wavy Tumble Lane/2 Long Tumble Lanes:

There were three long trampoline lanes, one was a wavy trampoline which both girls loved running and jumping up. We are nowhere near any impressive moves, we just bounce like kangaroos, but even that was so much fun. There wasn’t anyone doing any fancy moves on this session but I imagine on an Open Jump session for everyone aged 4 and over, there will be quite a few people doing impressive forward flips and jumps. I felt at home during this Parent and Toddler session, bouncing around without a care in the world, with no expectations that I should be doing any flips.

Battle Beams:

My husband asked me to go on the battle beam with him and although I have very little balance, I climbed up onto the beam, feeling like I was on the Gladiators TV Show (do you all remember that or am I loads older than my followers?) and we battled with our pugil sticks. Usually hubby wins and I am knocked off this type of equipment. People with limited balance on balance beams, do not usually go so well. But I was lucky, hubby caught a bout of laughter at me during a moment that I almost lost my balance and ended up losing his, which gave me the chance to knock him off the beam with my pugil stick.

Yay! Just look at him stuck in foam pit (where you fall into off the balance beam).

He wanted a rematch, I knew I wouldn’t be so lucky for a second time, so refused to get back on with him. I could leave the trampoline park, a winner. Ha!

Trapeze:

Both me and my husband had a go on this. I felt the foam pit below the trapeze was just a little too high as when I got to the middle of my swing, my knees caught the foams, which in turn made me drop into the pit. I think the same happened to my husband. But then again, we are adults and if it was a child on the trapeze, it would most likely be the right height. So adults, lift those legs a bit higher in the air. Also beware the eating foams. I’m pretty positive they found my legs tasty and were trying to eat them (they managed to take a sock too), as I struggled to climb out of the pit. Saved by my knight in shining armour… my husband, who pulled me out.

Basketball Hoop Lane:

This was a netted off area with a trampoline floor, a ball and a net. It was quite popular and always had someone playing on it.

Slackline:

The girls loved doing this whilst holding onto our hands. Both girls managed to get across and my husband gave it a go too. Not sure he managed it though, but then again, nobody was holding his hand across it, like we did with the girls.

Total Wipeout:

You have probably seen this on the television. It is a rotating machine with two beams, one just above foot level and one just below head level. The idea is to jump over the one by your feet and duck under the one by your head, as it swings round, operated by a member of staff. My husband ran around the trampoline park trying to persuade people to come and have a go. He managed to get a couple of people to brave the machine. It looked great fun. Perfect for older children and adults.

If you pop onto my instagram site @smallhousebigtrips you will see the Rush stories saved, click on that icon and watch Wipeout in action.

Foam Pits:

There are a number of foam pits within the park and the girls absolutely LOVE them. Jemima runs and leaps into them and Matilda steps into them and throws herself around once in. You could jump in off trampolines or side boxes or you could climb a platform and leap in.

Adrenaline Rush Assault Course:

My husband had a go at this (young children are not allowed on the equipment, so I stayed off and kept one eye on them and one eye on the assault course). It looked hard work and like you need great upper body strength to be able to do most of the equipment. My husband leapt over the first part of the assault course which was a series of platforms in a foam pit. Other parts included hoops, climbing ladder, climbing net, boards to climb on and around and a number of other quirky bits. I didn’t see anyone manage to finish it (without falling into a foam pit) whilst I was there.

Main Trampolining Area:

We loved jumping on all of the trampolines in the main area. I hear they do fitness classes on these which I imagine would be great fun.

Toddler Area:

The toddler area (see picture above which is the full toddler area) is aimed at under 4s (but allows up to age 6) and was quite a favourite for Jemima who liked sliding down the trampolines on her belly and jumping into the pit.

Cafe:

The park had a cafe upstairs which has views across the whole of the trampoline park. Perfect for parents who are going with older kids and not taking part. You could sit and enjoy reasonably priced (and delicious looking) food and drinks. Or you could go as a family after you have finished bouncing around. We popped in to get drinks after our session and eyed up the cakes and the food menus. You could get a kids meal for £4.99 which seemed great value.

Conclusion:

We had a great time on Saturday morning. The venue seemed really new and clean. The staff were fantastic. All so friendly and happy to assist and help us. Some of the staff even joined in and played with Jemima who is a bit of a dare devil and happy to attempt anything in the park. Although it isn’t an overly cheap thing to do (although the parent and toddler sessions are a bargain). I think it is worth the money that you pay and you wouldn’t walk away disappointed. Instead you would be discussing when you are next going to go back. Is it a leap above the rest? Why don’t you go and give it a try and let us know your views below? 🙂

Additional Info not related to our personal review (but something that I feel is worth mentioning) :

Rush do monthly autism and SEN sessions on the first saturday of every month from 9am – 10am.

They create a safe, friendly and dun environment for customers with special needs of all ages. The music is turned off, lights are reduced to avoid any glare and sessions are run at a significantly reduced capacity. Additional siblings or family members can also join this session at the normal price of £11pp. Under 4’s do have to remain in the toddler court.

Disclaimer: We were invited along with a complimentary family ticket in return for an honest review. We have done that. Thank you Rush. We had a great time.