Interactive Upgrades at Safari Play Allow 35% Ticket Price Increase
Background
Safari Play’s soft play venues in Peterborough and Milton Keynes offer a wide range of interactive attractions for children aged 12 and under. The brand is renowned for providing spacious, clean, and safe play environments for families throughout the East of England.
With multiple interactive Rugged soft play products at each venue, Safari Play showcases how tech-enhanced play equipment can promote active, engaging play for 3-12 year olds.
Safari Play Milton Keynes
Safari Play Milton Keynes
Safari Play Milton Keynes
Safari Play Milton Keynes
Safari Play Milton Keynes
Safari Play Milton Keynes
Safari Play Milton Keynes
Safari Play MK was opened in 2014 by Gordon and Fiona Forster. Following years of steady business growth and development in the family entertainment sector, they recognised the opportunity to enhance their offering through interactive soft play attractions that would boost the venue’s appeal.
In 2024, the owners invested in FreeStyle Duo reaction walls and TriggerTrac obstacle course for the Milton Keynes site, expanding their gamified play offering. These additions aim to keep both new and returning visitors excited to explore the venue’s evolving experiences. The TriggerTrac was strategically installed in an underutilised area of the soft play, transforming it into a dynamic zone designed to promote more active, engaging, and challenging play.
Safari Play Peterborough
Safari Play Peterborough
Safari Play Peterborough
Safari Play Peterborough
Safari Play Peterborough
Safari Play Peterborough
About Safari Play Peterborough
After the success of Safari Play MK, Safari Play Peterborough opened in 2019 with a range of soft play attractions and our High-9 reaction game.
In 2022, the owners upgraded the venue by incorporating a Freedom Gaming arena and Trailblazer interactive climbing wall to keep the soft play fresh, engaging, and ahead of the competition. The attraction upgrades have enhanced value perception of the soft play centre, allowing the owners to raise ticket prices in line with the improved offering, without any issues.
This is the largest soft play center in the East of England, featuring a strong safari-themed brand image, soft play frames for both toddlers and kids aged5+, a high-quality café and party rooms. Alongside this, the Peterborough location has a 120-child capacity early years nursery which opened in 2020, a great business venture to increase footfall for the soft play and vice versa! The little ones get to explore the soft play too, before the bigger kids arrive.
Interactive Upgrade Impact at Safari Play
Long-term active play strategy
With years of experience running Safari Play Milton Keynes, and the successful launch of their second site in Peterborough with interactive play equipment as a focus, the owners have continued to invest in Rugged products across both soft play centres.
This aligns with their long-term vision to offer tech-enhanced, engaging, and active play experiences for children under 12, recognising that today’s younger generation are motivated by digital experiences with sensory input such as lights, sounds, and interactivity.
Business-savvy product investment
A key motivation behind these interactive investments at Safari Play was the opportunity to offer a wider range of activities than competing sites, enabling them to charge more for a premium play experience and increase value perception.
Over three years of investing in venue upgrades to enhance the customer experience, Safari Play has successfully increased ticket prices by 35%, demonstrating the commercial impact of offering a play experience that truly stands out.
Interactive products that customers love
The interactive areas within Safari Play’s indoor playgrounds are both eye-catching and popular, especially the Freedom Gaming zone at the Peterborough site, which features 30 colourful light pods hidden within an impressive play frame for children to seek and hit out.
The product speaks for itself: in 2024 alone, over 60,000 games were played! Little ones can’t get enough of the thrill of hitting the lights and watching their scores appear on the big screen – an exciting, replayable experience that keeps families coming back for more.
Brand-Boosting Custom Graphics
Our interactive reaction walls are versatile and fun for all ages, whether installed in a soft play frame, above a trampoline court, or venue walkways. “We have the FreeStyle Duo reaction walls in the Games Hut and they’re positioned low on the wall so they are perfect for 2-4 year olds to play on, or older kids to compete with their parents. It just works!” - Gordon Forster, Owner of Safari Play
An interactive, rope-free climbing activity for the whole family that tests agility and coordination. The perfect soft play attraction for underutlised areas of the park, with the option of 6 to 8 panels of graphics to promote your brand. “The TrailBlazer looks new and fresh and continues to work after years of use.” - Gordon Forster, Owner of Safari Play
Safari Play is part of a very specific market for 2-10 year olds that relies on constant improvements, to show parents we are continuously investing in the venue. The new interactive attractions have allowed us to keep on growing year on year above inflation, as we’re able to charge more because we offer more.
It’s important our products have longevity, and TriggerTrac was an easy retrofit to replace the Race Track which was a problem area in our park, needing fixing often and being closed off most of the time. It’s gone from the least, to the most popular area in Safari Play Milton Keynes.
What an incredible place, amazingly friendly, helpful staff who do everything they can to give you the best experience. Brilliant for kids of all ages with specialised zones for them to play, from dressing up, interactive play, educational play, on top of the usual slides, climbing and ball play, and the wiggle cars and ball playing area.
