Review :: Is Kidzania worth visiting?

We decided to visit Kidzania last Friday for the first time. This place is located in Cairo Festival City, in a building next to IKEA. We were lucky to book the tickets just 15 minutes before our arrival, I guess cause it was Valentine's day as well. I have posted a video from there in my Instagram stories and received quite a few questions from you guys. Therefore I wrote this personal review.

What can my kids do overthere? 

The concept of this place is pretty much a "role play". You feel that from the moment you walk in. The entrance hall is designed to resemble an airport departure hall, with Egyptair inspired check-in counters, where you receive your pretend boarding passes and bracelets to be able "to board" and start your journey. There is an option to purchase a passport as well. After the pretend security check in, we walked down the corridor, which looked exactly as the one, that leads you to a real aircraft. At the end, there was a magical city awaiting.
First stop was at the bank, where kids cashed out the checks, we were given at the check-in counter. Afterwards, we started our 4 hour time slot of fun. There were many many shops, factories, services, restaurants, just as you would find in any city center. The whole look and cobblestone pathways made me feel like we were in some European old town.
The kids could choose which place they wanted to enter. Inside, they were given instructions, small tasks and after they fulfilled it, they received Kidzanian money- KIDZOs. The point was to work and learn about variety of jobs, gain salary and afterwards be able to buy toys from the special shop accepting this currency, or spending it on variety of services. Our kids enjoyed two particular jobs the most. Firefighters, who had to put out the fire with a real water (fire was not real though, no worries haha) and supermarket, where they could be either customers or work as a cashiers.

I want to discuss pros and cons now. 

Pros:

1. The decor is out of this world, it really pulls you in, from the first second. The ceiling is painted as a cloudy sky and it really tricks one's mind into thinking you are outdoors.
2. There is a cafeteria and several dining options within the city. We have got pesto chicken wrap and pasta. It was decent food, not overpriced. (Sandwich with side salad 50 EGP, pasta with grilled chicken 65 EGP, pasta red sauce 50 EGP) . They offer salads too.
3. There are two small rooms for kids under 3 years, in case you are visiting with older child, the younger can play there, as the role play activities are age restricted. 
4. There is lots of music playing, but you can still hear each other and talk. 
5. It's stroller friendly.
6. They let the kids wear disposable head covers under the helmets.

Cons:

1. The sessions in each shop were too long for 4 year old child (about 20 min each). The introduction was boring for some kids, as they were not able to pay attention for that long. 
2. Each session had limited spots and waiting was too long. Little children cannot stand in a queue for 15 - 30 minutes. This specifically applies for firefighters, where we felt the introduction session was way too long and afterwards, they were taking pics of each child in order to sell us photos. It could be managed way faster, so more kids could participate.
3. We didn't find a toy under 300 KIDZOs in the shop. Given the fact, that kids received 50 KIDZOs at the beginning and earn from 5 to 10 per activity, it's next to impossible to earn enough in those 4 hours. If we put money of both our kids together, we would still not be able to buy a toy

Summary

Overall, it was an amazing experience and I must admit, we, adults, were super excited at the beginning, while kids took a while to understand this concept. They both are 4.5 and it was their first time to enter an entertainment center without slides or ball pits, where they were required to do other stuff, than just jumping around. That turned around at the end though, when it finally clicked in their heads, they started to enjoy it. But us, adults, were already too exhausted. I would definitely visit again, but first, I have enough for like a year now haha. Second, I think that appropriate age for this place starts from 5 years plus. Third, this is not a weekly play area place, but rather special occasion one, as this visit set us back 1000 EGP for 2 kids, 2 adults, 2 plates of pasta and 2 sandwiches ;)
I hope you found this helpful. TTYL✌️

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