Memberships Now Available; New Programming in the Works
By Sarah Mayle
In just two months since its opening, more than 10,000 customers have come to enjoy active, memory-making fun at SOAR! Adventure Park, an exciting new asset to Findlay bringing rave reviews – and positive economic impact.
“This number only includes people who have actually paid for an admission, so several thousand more parents and grandparents have come through the door with their jumpers,” said Andy Wysocki, co-owner of SOAR!. “About 20 percent of them are repeat customers, which is such a complement to our team!”
SOAR! is a 24,000 square-foot indoor adventure park, located on County Road 236 in the Timberstone Commons Shopping Center. It features a 24-foot climbing wall, a 55-foot zip line, 17 trampolines, an ultimate dodgeball court, jump slides and slide races, a battle beam with giant air bag, a 12-foot bouldering wall, a ninja course, giant air bags placed throughout for safety, and a soft play toddler area.
The park has been a vision for SOAR! owners Wysocki, Ann Hadde, Kerry Trombley and Brent Fortenberry (who is also director of operations), something they wanted to bring to the Findlay community to make it an even better place to live. They wanted to create a place where families could have active fun no matter the season without having to travel, and they wanted to support the local economy.
So far, about half of SOAR!’s customers have been from Findlay, and half are from surrounding communities in Hancock, Putnam and Seneca counties, Wysocki said. When it comes to economic impact, 70 percent of SOAR!’s total monthly expenses, including employee wages, stay in Findlay. Wysocki also noted that if half of their customers are coming from outside of Findlay, “it’s easy to think that some of them likely spend additional dollars while in town.”
“We believe that providing a family entertainment venue here improves quality of life for current residents and could help be a determining factor for new residents when choosing to live here or up north in the greater Toledo area,” he added.
Through in-person comments and customer surveys, overwhelmingly, people have found the park to be a great deal of fun; they appreciate the friendly, helpful staff; and they love that it’s so clean. These comments reflect many of the owners’ goals. They have worked hard to develop friendly, knowledgeable staff, safety is extremely important, SOAR! was designed for maintaining cleanliness, and fun – is a given.
In addition to the main attractions, SOAR! features an arcade with Ski Ball, Basketball, Pop-A-Shot and air hockey. The park uses Intelliband technology – electronic, Smart wristbands that can track jumps, climbs and other measurables that appear on a leaderboard. The wristbands also help parents locate their kids in the park; offer seamless, simple payment for more time to play; and through a change of color, notify park guests and staff when time is up.
Parents are welcome and encouraged to play, but a parent lounge with visibility of the kids is available, with massage chairs as well as tables with chairs to relax or set up a laptop.
“The parents are enjoying the lounge and massage chairs, but they’re also really getting active with their kids instead of sitting back,” Hadde said. “The other day at the jump slide there was a family and the little boy kept saying, ‘Mom, come with me again!’ The Mom was really happy. She was smiling and having fun. That’s just what we wanted to be able to do – for parents who want to participate – have a place for family time, a place for parents to be with their kids.”
Parties have been popular at SOAR!, so popular that 126 have already been enjoyed and to accommodate demand, another party room – bringing their total to four – was constructed in early December. The owners of SOAR! believe party success is heavily linked to customer satisfaction, and an important piece of customer satisfaction comes back to a well-trained staff. Each party is served by its own host, specially trained for just that role.
“We really want to be an employer of choice,” Wysocki said. “We want the experience of working for us and working with us to be a growing experience for high school, college and younger workers. The stories of engagement we’ve heard between team members and customers have been really great – Brent and his team are doing a great job mentoring.”
Fortenberry shared stories of team members riding slides with apprehensive young guests, of parents leaving glowing reviews of party hosts, of appreciation for helpfulness and smiles, and that many kids want to come back to see specific team members who were so welcoming and fun.
“These are the things we love to see; this is what I really enjoy,” Fortenberry said. “Our team members are learning customer interaction, how to handle different situations, how to make kids feel welcome. It’s been really exciting watching them grow.”
Another perk? Team members can enjoy park attractions for free during their break.
What’s New?
- Various types of SOAR! tickets, memberships, and gift cards are now Memberships include the Monthly Explorer for individuals, Monthly Family for families, and Monthly Playground for the playground only, ages 6 and under. All options offer free or discounted adult / additional family member add-ons to child tickets. Memberships offer great value – customers can pay a monthly rate and enjoy a 2-hour jump pass every day. SOAR! socks, special grip socks available at the park, must be used while enjoying attractions, for safety and cleanliness. The socks are $3.99 and can be used again for return visits.
- Discounted group rates are also available, an active option for church groups, field trips or large family get-togethers.
- Jumping Beans, a new weekly program for children ages 6 and under, is now available from 10am-12pm Wednesdays and includes access to all park attractions (except the rock wall). Jumping Beans will not take place on Dec. 24 or 31 but will resume in January. More programming options are in the works to be announced in 2026.
- After Jan. 1, SOAR! will offer STEAM-based (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) field trips for grades K-6. SOAR! owners said they have been working with an experienced educator who developed the programs. Field trips are grade specific with a menu of options available. “There are a lot of great STEAM-related things we can do here,” Wysocki said. “For a few examples, dropping things off of the balcony, timing things going down slides, some technology things with the wristbands. We’re really excited about it.”
For more information, visit SOAR!’s website, or find them on Facebook and Instagram.
Read our FHCED story featuring SOAR!’s beginnings here.
