Gravity is a trampoline park, right? It certainly is, and we’ve had many great visits to the Gravity trampoline park in Hull city centre over the years. However there’s now another option too – Gravity Max! This is a great new family attraction located on the top floor at Xscape, Castleford. The main arena is an indoor karting track, they also have immersive gamebox rooms and a karaoke bar. We headed there for a day out during the Summer school holidays to find out all about it….
The General Manager is actually from Hull, he’s managed other local attractions previously which we know him from and he was very happy to show us around and tell us all about this new venue. The main section is an indoor karting track. Its suitable for age 3+ with an adult in a dual kart, or age 8+ in their own kart. We met some friends from Leeds at the venue and their 10 and 13 year old, and my 12 year old, all had their own karts. My friend took her 3 year old with her in a dual kart, and I got to drive too! I loved it, but my son lapped me twice much to his delight. At the end you can see your times and race footage.
You start with a very thorough safety briefing, the team get you in the karts and check you are happy with the controls, then you get 8 minutes driving (or there’s a 15 minute off peak endurance option). It felt very safe; you wear a full racing helmet, you are strapped in, and the marshalls are around the course all the time watching and checking you are ok. You can’t bump into anyone else and there are rules for overtaking, at the end they slow the karts so you can all get back to the pits safely. There are family only slots where the karts are set to a slower speed, then general sessions with full speed. You also need to take trainers, I was wearing sandals which aren’t allowed but I luckily had a spare pair of trainers in the car to change into.
Andy (the General Manager) and all the staff were excellent, really helpful and friendly. I was a bit apprehensive about taking the kids karting and racing myself, that’s usually something my husband does with my son, but the staff put us all at ease and it was a great experience. The kids loved it! Especially the older ones. This is a fantastic activity if you have a child in late Primary or Secondary for them to drive their own karts. My 12 year old actually said ‘wow that was way better than I thought it would be, can we come again next week?’!
After that we got some drinks and a rest before heading to the Immersive Gamebox. This is a room where you play a video game whist wearing a headset so it knows where you are in the room, the walls are touchable too and used in the game. We chose Angry Birds but there is Paw Patrol which is ideal for younger children, and a selection for all ages. Both my children loved this! I also really enjoyed playing with them, it was a really unique activity and something completely different to anything we’ve done before.
Both the karting and immersive gamebox can be booked in advance. Karting was quite busy and we booked a slot to make sure we were all on as a group, you can book the gamebox in advance too but we added it on the day to make it a longer day out.
Also at Xscape is an aerial rollercoaster and leap of faith (that section is with Gravity Active). You can just walk up and book a turn on this so we ended our day in Xscape with a go! Only my eldest was brave enough but my youngest did cheer him on. It was a quick activity, we booked in and were quickly harnessed up and off on the aerial ride. My very brave child then jumped off the leap of faith (much to my horror!).
We spent a bit more time at Xscape to make it a full day out. Then we walked over to the retail park next door where my children fleeced me for new trainers at the Nike outlet, then we had a browse in the shops.
Xscape is a really easy drive from Hull. It took us around 50 minutes and we were there all day. Now I know these activities are here its one we’ll call at if we are passing on a drive over the M62 to break up the journey, and a day out we will do again.
Find out more and book activities on their website here
