iFLY Indoor Skydiving at Xscape Milton Keynes!
With a family as big as mine, and having ages that range greatly (we have a 14, a 12, a 6 and a 3 year old), I am forever searching for things to do as a group which benefit and interest all of us. Most of the time we have a compromise somewhere along the line for one or more of us and so when I find something which invites all ages to take part I’m all over it!
iFLY, of which there is one in Milton Keynes at the enormous fun hub, Xscape, is just such an environment welcoming indoor skydiveres from age 3+. So we jumped (literally) at the chance to go and try it out over the summer break.
We happened to be in the area for something else the day before and chose to add this on to the end of a little mini break, had I realised quite what a mecca for family activities Xscape is, we might have made more of it and tried out the indoor, real snow, ski slope, some bowling, done a bit of surfing, played some golf and darts as well… And another time we will, but for now we’ve come away from iFLY with incredible memories of our afternoon flying!
Being indoors this is a wind tunnel and not jumping out of a plane which was mega bonus points for the faint hearted of us and we arrived on time (45 minutes prior to flying) to be trained, safety checked, suited and helmetted up and then we really got to enjoy our time watching (for me and Posie who chose not to fly on account of having had a previous scare on a ride at Legoland the week before) and to go up, up and away for the rest of them!
The package we were booked on is called “Kick Start” which costs £49.99 per participant and gifts two flights which though only last a couple of minutes each, do feel like you’re up for a long time I am told. You can also pay £15 extra to go up super high on either of your flights which the boys all chose to do. It may seem expensive however the experience as a whole is substantial and they all felt they’d really had a great time, and now, of course, want to do it again!
Expense, and feeling that something is, or isn’t worth its ticket price, is also just something which boils down to value for money. At iFLY we all felt you get this but we’d definitely pay the extra for two more flights with the bigger package (which also includes photography and videography of your flights). Just because we thought well, we’re here now, we wish we were doing as much as possible. That’s not to say we felt short changed, and it does give us an excuse to go back!
Our instructor Libby was incredibly gentle and kind with the children (and Jonny) and she took them through their flights on a real bespoke itinerary after checking with them that they’d watched the safety check video and going over the signs they’d need to know to communicate once in flight. Florence was more cautious, while the rest of the gang threw theirs to the wind and Libby really embraced all of their needs. At the end of the session she also performed a really mega display which was like something straight out of an action movie!
At the end, exhausted but exhilarated, they picked up certificates and got to watch the videos and peruse their own photos which you can buy afterwards if you so wish. Personally I feel I took better footage myself which was the only area I think they could improve upon. It would have been nice to have had up close videos from inside the tunnel but look what we captured, I mean, how good!
We’d go back in a heart beat, it was so much fun even as a spectator, and they’ve talked about nothing else since! In fact, they’ve told everyone they know and I’ve been asked a few questions on social media from everyone we’ve chatted to about it, in person and on-line so here’s some of the most frequently asked with answers to hopefully help!
- What should you wear? Nothing in particular other than lace up shoes, you are given the suit, helmet and ear plugs and to try and coax Posie they even offered her a Super Man suit (she was un-budging but they did try)!
- Is it worth the money? Yes, we think so. I’ve spent less on days out and felt short changed because it hasn’t been a very good day and things have gone wrong. Here everything went to plan, the support from staff was excellent and we came away feeling it was incredibly worthwhile.
- How old do you have to be? Age 3 plus!
- Can you do it if you have extra needs? Absolutely they will try and accommodate you in any way they can and regularly work with people who have physical difficulties, changing it and making it possible so that all can enjoy.
- Do you have to book? Ideally it’s best, it was very popular and they were fully booked on the day we visited.
- Can you get any deals? They have packages on their site, including a cheaper one for mid-week and you can also use Tesco Clubcard vouchers!
- Is it long enough? We thought so, we’d have liked to do more but we didn’t come away feeling like we’d been swizzled and it was a blink and you’d miss it activity, it was the talk of our journey all the way home!
- Can children do it without an adult? Yes, the instructor is on hand to look after each flyer and you can be a “carer” for a little one to go in and sit with them on the side, but inside the tunnel waiting area instead of outside it where I sat.
- Can you take your own pictures or do you have to buy theirs? Yes, we actually preferred our own pictures but if you book the package where they come with it then you can do both!
Xscape is also a pretty fun place to be in general and you can easily while away a few hours playing video games, booking bowling and having something to eat in one of the many restaurants if you want to make more of a day of it – this is exactly what we will be doing next time!
Thanks for having us iFLY, we LOVED it!
Collaboration.
Follow