Escapology Tempe Review!

 

My kids have both done at home Escape "rooms" with us in the past & have been wanting to do a in person Escape room for quite sometime, so I set out to look for one that is family friendly. I found a spot in Tempe that not only offers regular escape rooms, but if you are looking for a birthday party idea they also have rooms specifically designed for kids to escape together as a group. The room we selected isn't specifically geared towards children, however it was a moderate challenge room & our children who are ten and fifteen felt confident they would do just fine. Escapology Tempe was kind enough to have the four of us out to test out one of their escape rooms & write a review for them. Escapology Tempe offers seven different rooms, plus they have a kids mode as well. Rooms at Escapology are private so you will not need to worry about another party joining in with you. 

The room we selected was Batman: The Dark Knight Challenge.The theme for this room was is that you & your group are part of a training course who is sent out on a mission by Batman to stop a disaster from happening in Gotham. You have sixty minutes to find & solve clues that will help you complete your mission, save Gotham City & escape the room. If you get stuck your game master will be able to help provide some clues to help you progress. So, were we able to beat the clock and save Gotham City? Keep reading to find out. 

This challenge consisted of three rooms full of puzzles that need to be solved & completed before the clock runs out. You start off your adventure in the Batcave being given instructions by Batman, once he is finished giving you a run down of what your mission is the first step is to find your way out of the Batcave. I enjoyed how they had everything set up in the Batcave, you did feel like you are in a real room set up by Batman for briefings and training. This is also the area where you'll find a screen which will hold any clues you ask for along with a basket to hold any belongings you do not wish to carry the entire time. I honestly wasn't keeping a close eye on the clock so I can not say how long it took to get out of the first room.

The second room was well thought out as well with how everything was decorated and made to feel as though it was part of the Gotham City world & that you are actually in Arkham looking for clues as to how you will stop the disaster in the city. This room had a lot more physical things that were able to be found, moved and completed which was a lot of fun & I felt like we all did a great job contributing to certain aspects of different puzzles to figure it out as a team. 

Entering the last room we had just under sixteen minutes left to complete the final steps. We were able to do one of the puzzles & collect a piece we needed for the final puzzle however one of the puzzles that needed to be completed in this room stopped us in our tracks. I do not want to go into complete detail of what the puzzles was as that would ruin the fun for anyone else wanting to do this game. I will note though that when the screen dinged after we spent quite a while on the puzzle, the clue that was on the screen already matched what we had figured out & what was written down on our little notepad. We had tried the combination forwards, backwards and with a combination of signs as well but nothing seemed to work. We did sadly end up losing! When our host came in after, I asked her if she could show us what the answer was along with showing her on our notepad our list of the order + the different ways I tried to punch them in. She went to hit the same buttons I had & said it should have done something so I honestly have no clue if it was something we had done wrong or if this particular puzzle wasn't working properly. She had let us know she would tell her manager about it as she seemed slightly puzzled as well. My husband & kids felt slightly robbed with that puzzle, but it happens! 

Even without escaping we did have a lot of fun & it was great seeing the kids in action figuring out puzzles and helping with clues. My husband and I think they did a fantastic job and we are looking forward to taking them to do another escape room in the future. We went on Easter, so Escapology actually had some Easter eggs hidden around their lobby area which was a cute way to decorate for the holiday. I had thought it was just the lobby eggs were hidden, but during our escape game my son actually found an egg hidden in one of the rooms! It had candy and a little note to take it to a staff member to redeem for a free game in the future. I thought that was a nice touch to add for guests coming in on a holiday. Escape rooms are always fun to do with friends or with family! If you are looking for something exciting to do, why not try out an escape room? Stop by their website to see the different themes they offer and book a escape challenge today. Prices for the rooms range from $36 per player for the kids mode up to $44 per player for certain rooms. 

🌵 If you live in Arizona check out the "Things to do in Arizona" section of my blog to find entertainment, restaurants, vacation spots & more. (Click on the name or locate it on the right-hand side of my page).

Disclaimer- The experience mentioned above was provided by  Escapology Tempe for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

World of Illumination Candy Rush Review!

One of the things I remember most about the holidays growing up was going with my grandma to see Christmas lights that everyone put up. Now that I am older & have my own kids, we enjoy taking them out during the holidays to see lights too. The only difference? It doesn't seem like nearly as many people put up decorations like they used to, so we normally look for neighborhoods that decorate together, & fun events like the World of Illumination offer you a chance to see hundreds of lights while listening to Christmas music. 

We are lucky enough to actually have three different locations here in Arizona that each offer their own theme, however today I am only sharing the "Candy Rush" location in Tempe with you. It is located at the Tempe Diablo Stadium 2200 W Alameda Dr. Tempe,AZ 85282. They officially opened last night for the season & will be open until January 1st,2023.

You will only need one ticket per carload, it is $39.99 for a ticket. You can get 20% off if you visit Mon-Thurs, tickets are purchased online only and can be purchased on their website by clicking here. There is no limit to the number of people that can be in the car, for example if you have a large van that can hold eight or nine people there is no extra cost vs a car that only has five people. However there is a size limit on the vehicles that can go in due to the size of the course, there are no limos, rvs or buses allowed.

We were able to visit last night for opening night & had a fantastic time with the kids. We enjoyed the songs they had playing on the station they allow you to tune into & enjoyed the synced light show that went along with it. There were a lot of really neat light tunnels to drive through, adorable characters to see & more. Since they ask you to stick to a speed limit of 2-5 miles per hour it was a slow & enjoyable ride, so we let the kids pop out of the windows to look at the lights which they were thrilled about. 

The drive was peaceful & exciting at the same time, we really enjoyed how they had everything set up. It was easy to guide yourself through the course & we were lucky enough to arrive at a time with only a handful of other vehicles so we were able to get some good clips, CLICK HERE to watch the instagram reel I put together with clips from the show.

Is this something you think you would enjoy visiting? What is your favorite Christmas song?

Disclaimer- World of Illumination provided me with a ticket to the event mentioned above for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase. 

Gingerbread Houses at the CMOP!

The holidays are officially upon us, Thanksgiving is two weeks away and soon all of the Christmas fun will begin (that is if you haven't already started celebrating). One of my favorite holiday memories growing up was decorating cookies and making a gingerbread house at school. When I found out that the newest signature program for the holidays at the Children's Museum of Phoenix is going to be gingerbread cookie and gingerbread house decorating sessions I was very excited.

My kids and I were able to stop by the Children's Museum of Phoenix to attend an early session of the Gingerbread house program to see what it had to offer. If you and your children would like to stop by the museum and participate as well, this program officially opens up to the public on November 29th and will last until December 22nd. A Gingerbread House program cost $34.95 for members and $39.95 for non-members, it covers up to 4 people and you get one large house plus lots of candy. The Gingerbread people program is $5 per member or $6 for non-members, these programs are not included with admission to the museum so that will need to be purchased separately. The house itself is already pre-constructed so you won't need to worry about building the house itself.

When you enter into the room there will be a table set up with the main supplies you'll need along with a muffin tin. The first photo above showing the gingerbread house is everything you get in the main kit (white piping frosting, green frosting, red frosting, two gingerbread people, a door, a chimney and various candy).

What do you need a muffin tin for? They have a nice selection of different treats and candies you are able to grab to decorate your house with, the muffin tin is to hold all of your goodies. They had a pretty decent selection of treats the only thing my kids commented that they wished they were able to use was small candy canes.

The big white icing bag that is used for both decoration and getting candy to stick to the gingerbread house has two different bag tips. Before using the bag it recommends kneading the frosting for a few minutes before cutting open the tip and using the frosting, this helps warm the frosting up a bit to help is spread easier. I HIGHLY suggest following that step hahaha I did not knead it for enough time and while I was trying to help add "snow" to the roof of our gingerbread house the bag went squish and frosting started coming out the side of the bag. It made for a good laugh and we were still able to decorate the house, but having a solid bag makes your decorating job easier!

It was a lot of fun seeing the ideas the kids came up with for the gingerbread house, they each made their own idea of what a wreath looks like, my daughter made a "light rope" between to light poles and we decorated the roof with colorful Christmas lights. My kids enjoyed being able to sneak in a few pieces of candy before dinner, and over all had a great time decorating this together. When we were finished we were provided a box to take our creation home in, my daughter was pretty relieved that she didn't have to carefully hold the house the entire way home.

If you are looking to do a gingerbread house they are hosting sessions for them only on the weekends except for Friday December 20th. Gingerbread people are during the week only with the exception of Sunday December 1st. Want to make your visit to the museum extra special? On Saturday December 14th they are hosting a snow day at the museum, they will have 40 TONS of snow that you and your child can play in, plus Santa will be visiting. The best part? "Snow Much Fun Day" is included with admission into the museum.  You can learn more about the Snow Much Fun Day Here.

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Children's Museum of Phoenix for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others.My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Fun with the family at Circus Americana!

My family and I love going out to events and fun attractions together so when we heard that Circus Americana was coming to town we were all excited about getting to check it out. Going to the Circus is a great way to enjoy some wholesome entertainment together as a family, and for those of you who don't like animal acts, don't worry! This is a human only circus. They are currently in Tempe, Arizona until November 24th so if you'd like to see the show there are still thirteen days left for you to go see it. They are located in the Big Surf parking lot located at 1500 N McClintock Dr Tempe,AZ 85281

I like that they decided to host their event in the empty lot next to Big Surf because it allowed for plenty of parking that was easy to navigate and it was easy for handicapped visitors to reach the tent. Seeing as how it is in a parking lot there are no bathrooms only a row of port-a-potty so if you aren't a fan of them I suggest using the bathroom before leaving. Once you arrive to the tent you'll get your tickets taken care of then will be instructed to sit anywhere you please aside from the seating marked "Reserved". While the reserved seating is closer and you don't have to deal with as many poles in your field of vision I much preferred sitting in the bleachers with my kids because we had a higher view vantage point so we were able to see more. During the show I actually saw a family who was in the reserved area move up onto the bleachers.

Ticket prices are quite affordable, you can get bleacher seats for just $17.50 per person, reserved chairs for $23.25 or you can sit ring side in the VIP for $50. None of the seating is really that far from the state, it is a rather personal experience and you are able to see everything on stage quite well.

Hungry before the show? I brought a bit of cash with me as I knew the kids would want to get a popcorn for the show, generally events such as this have a high price tag on food and souvenir items so I was expecting to spend about $20 on a popcorn and a soda. I was happily surprised to see their concession prices were very affordable, $3 per popcorn bag, $3 sodas, $2 waters and $5 cotton candies. I ended up buying two popcorns and a water which meant I spend less than $10 on food for the three of us which is fantastic.

Sadly we didn't stay for the entire show, my son wasn't feeling too well because of a headache so we ended up leaving after about an hour. The hour we did see was a lot of fun and they made sure to pack a lot into it, we thought all of the acts did a wonderful job and we wished we could have stayed for the rest. My favorite of what we seen was the ballerina doing the tightrope walk, it was a lot of fun to see and I liked how she seemed like a real music box ballerina. I'll be sharing a short clip of part of her act over on my Instagram page (@Burningmoonprod) if you want to head over and check it out on my stories. Did you know that the Taylor Family who runs Circus Americana is from Arizona? All of the staff working that we dealt with directly during our visit from the ticket booth to the concession stand were all extremely helpful and friendly, if you needed anything or had any questions they were more than willing to assist. When my son no longer wanted to watch letting me know his head was hurting and he wanted to go to bed, they held open the tent for us and wished us a good night which was sweet.

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Circus Americana for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

World of Illumination Arizona Promo!

This holiday season, experience World of Illumination - the largest animated light show in the world, fully synchronized to your favorite holiday music. Located at Tempe Diablo Stadium and Westgate Shopping Center in Glendale, this 25-minute drive-through event features close to 2 million lights. Special attractions range from a 36-foot tall animated snowman at the Glendale location to a 500-foot long super tunnel in Tempe. World of Illumination is open nightly from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM on weeknights and 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM on weekends beginning November 21, 2019 through January 5, 2020. Ticket prices start at $22.99 per car and can be purchased at www.worldofillumination.com. A portion of proceeds benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
10% Off The World's Largest Animated Holiday Drive-Thru Light Show with Promo Code: WONDER - Get 10% Off The World's Largest Animated Holiday Drive-Thru Light Show!

Order tickets online at worldofillumination.com.

Offer valid Monday - Thursday, excluding holidays.


Presented Nightly 6:00pm -10:00pm M-F and 6:00pm -11:00pm Sa/Su.

Not valid with any other discount or promotions.

Valid for our 2019 season.

No cash value.
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**This is Not a sponsored post, this promo is being posted for a chance at being selected to receive tickets to this event.**

Celebrate Brick Or Treat at the AZ Legoland Discovery Center!

Halloween has arrived at the Arizona Legoland Discovery Center! Brick or Treat will be here from October 4th until October 31st and they've decorated the center to get into the spooky mood of the season. What does Brick or Treat have to offer you and your child? Keep reading to find out.

The brick builders have added lots of spooky new additions to the Mini land, which is where you'll also find a scavenger hunt where you can search for a number of hidden letters to create a Halloween inspired word. At the end of the scavenger hunt we received a new Halloween pin to put onto our lanyards. I thought all of their Halloween lego additions were pretty cute, they have quite a bit hidden away inside of Mini land.

Upon entry to the discovery center we also received a small bag which contained a few lego pieces, while you are exploring the center there are five stations to find and "Brick Or Treat" at. Each station has a bucket with a different lego brick, the sign on the bucket will let you know how many of that specific brick to take. Why are you collecting legos from each station? Once you are finished Brick or Treating you'll have all of the pieces you need to build and take home a Ghost lego build.

Looking for more Halloween builds? You can help add layers to a six foot vampire figure or you can build a Pumpkin from the large pool of orange lego bricks. We really enjoyed the Halloween decorations that were put up around the center and we look forward to visiting again! I suggest buying your tickets online before heading down to the center as you'll save $2 a ticket, or look into their annual pass that allows you a year of unlimited visits to the discovery center and the Sealife Aquarium for $40 per person if purchased online.

Did you enjoy playing with Lego's growing up? If not, what was your favorite toy?, Do you have any events you'll be going to this Halloween season?

Disclaimer- Tickets to this event were provided by The Arizona Legoland Discovery Center for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.