On Saturday April 13, Viking staff member Ami Drez drove out to Rockin’ Jump, a trampoline park in San Carlos. Upon her arrival, after about a 20-minute drive, Drez was required to sign an electronic waiver via the four computers provided. After filling out the waiver, Rockin’ Jump charged her $12 for one hour.
Once she entered the park, Drez flashed back to her childhood. However, she was no longer in fourth grade and found herself among a much younger crowd.
To Drez’s surprise, the area was bigger than expected and included a food stand with typical American junk food, as well as some tables and chairs. As it was quite crowded downstairs, Drez discovered a lounge area upstairs. The lounge featured a large couch with three TVs, one of which was monitoring the jumping areas.
Upon entering the jumping area, Drez discovered that there were in fact four large jumping areas, each offering a different activity. Tapping into her inner child, Drez was excited and overwhelmed, not knowing where to begin.
Starting at the regular trampoline area, Drez was surprised by the large 50 yards of trampoline provided. However, on a Saturday afternoon it was very crowded and Drez was much larger than her eight and nine year-old counterparts. Thus, she entered the “advanced jumpers” area where there were others more her size. After jumping around for a bit, Drez noticed some kids doing flips and round-offs. They made it look easy, so Drez thought it would be a piece of cake and attempted a flip. Looking like a pathetic high schooler and landing on her back, Drez was clearly not an “advanced jumper” next to kids who were obviouly more experienced.
Deciding she didn’t quite make the cut, she moved on to the next activity. However, a Rockin’ Jump staffer told her that she was not allowed to wear her own socks while jumping. Despite finding it a little bit weird that they would not allow her to wear socks, Drez did as she was told and took hers off.
Moving onto the next area, Drezdecided to try out the trampoline basketball court. It was not much of a court, offering only two hoops with enough trampoline under for one person.
After waiting in line, it was Drez’s turn to shoot, so once she received the ball, she took a couple of large jumps and reached for the rim to throw down a dunk. However, after a few shots it became too repetitive, as the hoop was not high at all, despite the fact that there was a trampoline under it. It could have been a lot more fun if they actually offered a full court, but as it was, the hoop was just average, and not up to The Viking’s expectations.
The next activity was the foam pit, with three lanes where people could run and jump into a large pit full of foam (see picture above). Readying to jump into the foam, Drez took three large jumps, landing far and deep in the foam. However, being so far from initial jump point, it was a struggle for Drez to get out of the pit and she became claustrophobic. Surrounded by foam, Drez took five minutes to actually get herself out of the pit. And so, after one jump into the foam, Drez was far from done and ready to move on.
The last area of Rockin’ Jump consisted of an arena with a continuous game of dodgeball. Jumping into the game, once again she found herself among a much younger crowd. However, there were some children who far more experienced in the game of dodgeball than Drez. After being hit with the ball multiple times, Drez found it was hard to not only dodge the ball coming at her, as the space was limited, but also to get her hands on a ball, as there were not enough to go around.
After trying out all sections of the center, an hour had almost passed, which was more than enough to satisfy a nostalgic childhood urge. However, if you do find yourself wanting to jump around, do some flips, shoot some hoops, get balls thrown at yourself and jump into a claustrophobic mess, then Rockin’ Jump is surely the place to go.
All in all, Rockin’ Jump definitely did not live up to The Viking’s expectations. Rockin’ Jump is very similar to a more well-known establishment, “Sky High,” but it is not the same. Despite offering new aspects like the basketball hoop, it is meant to attract a younger crowd for a reason. Although spending a Saturday afternoon at Rockin’ Jump does not sound too appealing to some people, it is what you make of it. If you have fun and just go with it, and get a group of friends to all go, it will surely be fun.