In the North Texas city of Grand Prairie, Bolder Adventure Park has opened its doors! If you are a lover of outdoorsy style thrill seeking (or wish to try in a safe and controlled environment), then you will fall in love with Bolder Adventure Park.
A bit of background first. If you are a fan of YouTubers or have kids that are…you have probably heard the name Unspeakable. The Houston based YouTuber teamed up with North Texas businessman Paul Fontanelli to plan, create, and build this massive indoor dome.
If you have ever watched Unspeakable’s videos, you know that he goes all out in everything he does. The guy craves adventure. In fact, they purposely left the “u” out of the name. Everything about this Adventure Park is BOLD-er that anything else of its kind.
So where is Bolder Adventure Park? Bolder Adventure Park is part of the up and coming and massive Epic Central district. Conveniently located just north on Interstate 20 and just west of Highway 161, Bolder Adventure Park and all of Epic Central is easy to get to. Other completed destinations within Epic Central are Epic Waters Water Park, The Epic Fitness, Arts, and Entertainment Venue, PlayGrand Playground For All Abilities, and the shops and dining of Epic West.
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What’s Inside Bolder Adventure Park
There are four tiers when it comes to the adventure attractions and they are color coded. These tiers also dictate the pricing. Here is what is in each tier.
Green Tier- These are attractions geared for younger adventurers. There is Synthetic Ice Skating, Exploration Play, and Adventure Nets.
Blue Tier- For kids and adults 42” and up. This tier adds Tubing Slides, Blaster Arena, and Spin Zone bumper cars.
Black Tier is for kids and adults 42” and up. You must be comfortable with heights. This tier adds the Ropes Course and Climbing Attractions.
Double Black Tier is for kids and adults 48” and up. You must also have a minimum weight of 88 pounds. This tier adds Via Ferrata free climbing and a Free Fall experience.
In addition to the adventure attractions, there are also archery lanes that can be rented. There is an impressive arcade with traditional video games and redemption type games. They have an old west style water trough for gem mining. Bags of gem filled dirt available to purchase. There is also a cafe onsite with good foods, sweet treats, and they even have beers on tap. There is something for everyone inside Bolder Adventure Park.
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What Was Our Experience Like?
In short, we absolutely LOVED our experience at Bolder Adventure Park. We already know we will be back soon and we have told some of our friends about this place. Here is what you can expect when you visit.
Upon entering, we were greeted right away by a host who asked if this was our first time visiting. Since it was, she guided us to the tablets where you sign your waivers. After that was done, she measured and weighed our kids and recommended the Blue Tier based on their age and height. She then guided us to the registers to purchase our wristbands. Smooth and efficient process. Employees were smiling and friendly.
When you step inside, you can’t help but be awed by how big this place is. It is literally a giant air-filled dome. All of the features intermingle with themselves. Despite having so much stuff, it never feels crowded. It was fairly busy when we visited, but we never had to wait more than just a few minutes to do an attraction.
Our first stop was the tube slides. To give you a mental image of how tall it is, there are 64 steps to get to the top. Once at the top, an employee will help you get your tube and ready to go down. If you have a good person up there, they will give you an extra good kick (or even some spin) as they send you down the slide. Our boys LOVED it and as soon as they got to the end, they were running back up the 64 steps to do it again. And again. And again… You do not carry your tube back up. An employee grabs them and sends them back up a conveyor belt.
Next up was the Blaster Arena. While they list this as a 42” and up attraction, it probably should be 48” and up. They only have one size vest. It was too big for our 48’ seven year old. It was comically too big for our 42” four year old. Because of this, they didn’t want to do this after they got all geared up. Luckily, they weren’t too upset about it. We watched a round and it was really cool. It is kind of a blend of paintball and laser tag. The guns shoot soft foam balls.
At this point, the boys split up. My wife took the younger boy and he did the tube slides some more and also the Exploration Play area. My older boy (7) decided he wanted to upgrade his Blue Pass to a Black Pass and do the ropes course. Which meant that I also needed to purchase a Black Pass since he is too young to go solo. Have I mentioned that I am terrified of heights? Oh the things parents do for their kids…
The training they give you is very thorough as they get you harnessed. They explain how all of the equipment works and ensure you understand. It is definitely a lot to take in, but seeing that you will be very high above the park floor, it is best to be safe!
I wish I could tell you how the entire course was…but we only made it to the third platform and Ian had enough. The crazy thing is, he did GREAT through the sections we completed. Me, on the other hand, had to ACT brave. In reality, I nearly peed myself several times. At one point, I was flopping so much on a net bridge that part of my harness hit my eye. Still have no clue how that happened. LOL. One of the very friendly and expert climber employees came to retrieve Ian. He asked if I was going to just continue on till the end. I answered “Well…I should probably just join my son.”
After this, we all joined back up and the boys played in the Adventure Play structure. They loved that. They said there was lots of challenging climbing and that there were four slides that were “CRAZY FAST BRUH!” Both boys played here for quite a while.
Right next to the Adventure Play area was the “ice” rink. This is a really cool concept as it isn’t actually ice at all. The surface is actually a very slick, synthetic plastic surface that the skates glide across. Neither of our boys had skated before, so for them this was a great way to learn. Both fell on their butts several times and they thought it was hilarious. As did we…
We headed over to Spin Zone bumper cars. They look like small hovercraft but they are actually on wheels. You have two levers to control your car, but I am not thoroughly convinced the controls do anything. Which doesn’t really matter, as it was a wildly fun time for all of us. We would randomly go into fast spins as we would crash into each other. So many laughs!
Our last stop was the gem mining. We have done something similar in Tennessee, so the boys were already familiar and wanted to do it. It was pretty pricey at $11 for the large bag of dirt (that isn’t very large at all). Of course each boy wanted their own bag. They boys thought it was fun though and we left with a good sized amount of shiny rocks and “gems” that they have displayed in their rooms.
In all, we spent about 4 hours enjoying what Bolder Adventure Park had to offer. Time and money incredibly well spent!
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Is There More To Do In the Area?
Absolutely! Epic Waters is an amazing water park with a retractable roof so it is open year round. Epic Waters is a large-scale water park on par with a Kalahari, Great Wolf Lodge, or Hurricane Harbor.
There are DOZENS of new dining establishments in the area. Our favorite is Chicken and Pickle. Chicken and Pickle is a restaurant/bar/pickleball/foosball/ping pong/shuffleboard/cornhole establishment. The food is amazing and there are so many things to do for fun. The only activity that is not free are pickleball court rentals. All of the other activities are free.
This area has certainly turned into an amazing destination location perfect for weekend getaways. They are in the process of building several hotels close to Bolder Adventure Park within the Epic Central and Epic West developments, but there are several great hotels that are just a 5-10 minute drive. Those hotels are:
Holiday Inn Express Dallas/Grand Prairie
Staybridge Suites Dallas/Grand Prairie
Home2 Suites Dallas/Grand Prairie
La Quinta Inn and Suites Dallas/Grand Prairie South
Courtyard by Marriott Dallas/Grand Prairie
When Are You Coming?
Because two of the primary activities in Epic Central are indoors and designed for year round enjoyment, any time of year would be a perfect time to come play at Bolder Adventure Park. Whether you are seasoned adventurer or want to test your bravery, this newly opened gem in Grand Prairie, TX is definitely a place to come check out!
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