The restaurant has a completely different entrance and a large outdoor seating area with tables and loungers situated around fire pits. There’s a smaller indoor seating area with a bar and a few extra tables. We ordered drinks and then sat down to enjoy Brett Welch’s live music.
Most family entertainment centers serve concession stand food, but not Lake Area Adventures. Both the kitchen and menu at The Terrace were designed by Chef Amanda Cusey. Cusey received her Cordon Bleu training in England and later trained under a Michelin Star Chef. She was crowned the Louisiana Seafood Queen in 2022 for her pan-seared red drum.
Everything is made fresh on the spot, and there isn’t a single microwave in the kitchen. For appetizers, we shared the honey sesame Brussels sprouts, and beef and chicken tenderloin skewers. The skewers were tender, grilled to perfection and served with a pistachio cucumber sauce. For dinner, Marvin ordered chicken nuggets and French fries. I ordered the roasted poblano burger with pepper jack cheese, charred corn salsa, cilantro and bacon crème fraiche. We were very, very full, but our waiter raved about the ice cream, so we had to try it. I ordered the cream cheese, and Marvin chose the chocolate (and then asked for seconds). I’m so glad we listened to our waiter. The consistency was perfect, and the ice cream was delicious. (The next day my daughter ordered the popcorn flavored ice cream, which she loved.) Your ticket time will likely exceed 10 minutes at The Terrace, but it’ll be worth it.
Lake Area Adventures as a business got its start in 2017 with their kayak and boat rentals at the I-10 beach. Their current location off of Country Club road opened earlier this year, only eight months after they broke ground. That timeline is virtually unheard of for a dynamic 35,000 square foot facility.
Owner Tim Robles says he was able to execute such a quick turnaround because every problem that popped up was quickly met with a solution. “If the contractor told me we were waiting for a part to come in, I immediately jumped in my truck and drove wherever I needed to to get it,” Robles said. He also kept the construction moving by having different crews on site at the same time. “If the sheetrock guys had the floaters waiting behind them, they were more likely to keep it moving.”
Saturday morning, the Yoga and Mimosas event was taught by Liz Kingham. Kingham, owner of Pure Vida, has four years of experience in mobility and recovery methods, and is McNeese Athletics’
director of nutrition. Her flavor of yoga is called mobility, which is faster- paced than traditional yoga and helps practitioners improve their range of motion and flexibility. After mobility, we headed inside The Terrace for brunch. I ordered shrimp and grits and, no exaggeration, they are the best shrimp and grits I’ve ever had in my 36 years of life.
Playtime
Later, Marvin and I brought our five kids, ages 4 through 13, to play. When you enter the lobby, the first thing you do is fill out a waiver. (If you’re looking to save time you can do this online before you arrive.) There are a couple of attractions that have height requirements, so it’s a good idea to measure your kids’ heights in the lobby. Visitors can choose between one-hour, two-hour or unlimited play. On your first visit you’ll have to purchase special jump socks at $2.99 a pair. “We’re up front about our prices,” Robles says. “Other businesses may get you in the door for less, but they’ll nickel and dime you as you go along. They make you pay separately for a player’s card or for a special attraction. They’ll set up claw drop games and other gimmicks that keep kids begging for money. That doesn’t happen here. I like to say you pay in the lobby but once you walk through those doors, we’ve got you.”
My eight-year-old spent the majority of her time in and out of the Omni Arena, a four-person virtual reality station tucked away near the gamers lounge. Most businesses charge $15 to $20 per person, and I was impressed to see the credit card machine that comes standard with the Omni Arena was disabled.
“Every family entertainment center consultant I spoke with told me I needed to charge separately for the Omni Arena. I didn’t listen,” Robles says. Players sign up on the screen outside the arena and are free to play elsewhere until their name is called over the intercom.
My two younger girls (ages 4 and 6) spent most of their time in the air park, and Marvin and I bounced around with them. It’s hard to fully grasp how huge the air park is. At 10,500 square feet I’m not sure we even explored the entire thing. Honestly, the air park alone is well worth the price of entry. That doesn’t even factor in the ropes course, climbing wall, gamers lounge, virtual golf, Omni Arena, or old school video games sprinkled throughout.
There’s a sensory room specifically built for kids with disabilities, and it acts as a safe zone for younger kids. Children who are too young to play don’t pay. Parents only pay admission if they want to play. I think one of our kids’ favorite part of the weekend was having their dad and I bounce around and play games with them.
There’s a pool on site, but it’s for members only, which I think is a good move. Otherwise the pool would be packed and no fun for anyone. A few hours in, I noticed my six-year-old had scratched her leg. She didn’t notice when it had happened, but she needed to be cleaned up. I stopped one of the workers to see if he had a first aid kit. He was friendly and worked quickly; my daughter was back to playing in no time.
Before Lake Area Adventures opened, Robles visited a competitive business to observe how their staff interacted with customers. He says one of the biggest takeaways from his research was how important it is to have well trained staff. “If there was bullying happening in the corner of this other business, the employees ignored it. If a little kid was playing and a bigger kid ran over them, there was no reaction from the workers.”
The staff at Lake Area Adventures are highly trained and are vetted before they’re hired. Each staff member knows how to perform CPR and attends two in-services per month. The in-services allow staff to role-play different scenarios and how best to handle them.
“You’re not coming to work for a family,” Robles says. “Everyone loves to tell their employees they’re coming to work for a family, but this isn’t a family. Christmas is coming up. Are you going to spend the holidays with your coworkers? No. You’ll be with your actual family. (Some of the owners) have become like brothers, but we started out as a team. Not many things can beat a good, strong team. At Lake Area Adventures we build teams.”
I wasn’t surprised to learn that Robles is an Army veteran and his partner, Jerry “Sarge” Antoine, is a former
Marine. It’s not hard to see how their military backgrounds have influenced the culture at Lake Area Adventures. “Our motto is, ‘Burn the ships.’ Just like Cortez did when he and his men arrived at the New World. There’s no turning around. There’s no back-up plan. Once we set out to do something, we do it full force.”
Robles wanted a clean facility where kids could come, be safe and feel respected. “There are a lot of places in the Lake Area where adults can go and have a great time, but Lake Area Adventures was specifically built with the family unit in mind. We feel strongly about preserving that family environment. Sometimes it makes people angry, but we have strict behavior standards. We don’t want adults speaking a certain way when there are kids around or wearing inappropriate clothing.”
A couple of hours into our visit, the kids weren’t ready to leave yet, but Marvin and I were done jumping. We grabbed a beer and sat in front of the 4 split-screen TVs to watch college football. Something for everyone, indeed.
In the spirit of honesty, no one in my family tried the ropes course or the rock climbing wall. I think that’s a testament to how much there is to do. The miracle of the whole day was that my four-year-old only cried once. This may sound like no big deal to you, but that girl typically cries about seven times a day, every single day since the day she was born. (God really wanted to build my patience with that one.)
It was a great family day, and we ended up spending five hours total at Lake Area Adventures. I’m dying to try one of their sunset kayak tours and attend an After Dark event. Robles says he’s had many couples tell him the adult-only After Dark events are their favorite date nights. “They watch the football game, sing karaoke and then jump around the air park like kids.” Lake Area Adventures has hosted team building and Mardi Gras krewes during these events.
In my experience, Lake Area Adventures truly does have something for everyone. The attractions, the staff, the food and the business philosophy are all a gift to Lake Charles. I can’t wait to see what else the team at Lake Area Adventures has up their sleeve.
Have an idea for Diana’s next experience? Let her know by emailing her at diana.vallette@gmail.com.
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