Altitude is one of the biggest names in the USA trampoline park world, with over 75 parks, all over the country.
It’s fair to say that they know what they’re doing, with hundreds of thousands of customers choosing Altitude day, and day out.
Altitude Oswego is based in Chicago, and features a variety of activities for a big age range, from basic trampoline beds to battle-beaming foam pits and hoop-shooting trampoline runs.
Like the other Altitude parks around the US, Altitude Oswego caters for the whole family – everyone can jump, run, bounce and play, and there’s something for everyone, whether you’re a toddler or a pensioner, and everything in between.
While the Altitude Oswego site offered a range of activities and attractions, the site needed a lot of TLC – you’d say there were quite a few “operating issues”, with broken play items, abandoned areas, or areas that required a constant staff member on them.
All the open attractions were fun, but there was limited replayability – for many customers, it was ‘been there, done that’, with no vested interest in coming back to do it again.
Altitude Oswego chose The Play Company, following a visit from our MD Elliott and Robin from Rugged Interactive.
The two of them were passing through Oswego in early 2023, visited the site and filmed a short 5-minute video walking around, pointing out the areas that were popular and unpopular, and the assets that were being used regularly versus being ignored.
The video also suggested products that could replace the less popular, non-operational and labour-intensive areas.
The guys at Altitude Oswego were keen to implement their suggestions, and the alliance was born.
We began by looking at the current footprint, and making plans to improve or replace the areas in question.
One particular area that needed some work was a space featuring a super trampoline – these are slowly being phased out in the US due to high accident rates.
We removed the super trampoline, building in a Strike Arena, and because we now had additional height, working from the ground up, we built a Ninja Run over the top of the Strike Arena.
The old and tired high nine had seen better days, so we took the out, retrofitting an AeroStrike in its place – the interactive cageball target game is incredibly popular, and will definitely be a hit for years to come.
We also removed the Racing Zipline – this required two staff to look after it at all times, despite not being a particularly popular attraction.
In its place, we built a soft play and toddler area, which requires no staff member, with kids able to roam free in that area. And before you go thinking that they need a staff member to keep the bigger kids out – the area is designed for all, so that issue doesn’t arise.
Altitude Oswego has moved forward leaps and bounds, not only in modernising and appealing to their customers, but in streamlining their operations too.
Clearly, they’re now able to offer a more diverse range of attractions, increasing the people in through the door and the repeat business they’re able to get, and operationally, their staff are freer than ever before, helping with labour costs and distribution of staff.
The big improvement in terms of their offering has been the addition of a Strike Arena, which brings gamified play into the space for the first time and gives customers a reason to keep returning.
The Play Company International Limited based in South Devon was established in 1998. We provide soft play maintenance, cleaning services and play area sales to customers throughout the UK.
