The Inn Between - Airheads Pictures

Airheads Pictures
August 14, 2010

Orlando has had a trampoline gym, called Rebounderz for some time and I've posted pictures before. But Tampa opened up its own trampoline gym on August 14th, called Airheads, and the Squiggle-FLAN decided to check it out. We discovered that we really liked it. At Rebounderz, each trampoline section is its own section, with a frame around it. So the green bumpers between tramplines is solid and stable. At Airheads, all the trampolines are connected to each other. On the one hand, this is good because it's not so jarring to land on a bumper, but on the other hand, someone bouncing on the trampoline next to you affects your trampoline too. Rebounderz also has several vertical trampoline pillars scattered throughout, which sort of breaks up the area, but Airheads is one giant, open trampoline. I kind of prefer the pillars at Rebounderz for 2 reasons: 1) I can bounce off one wall onto a trampoline and immediately launch myself onto the opposing wall and just sort of ping-pong back and forth and that's a lot of fun for me. 2) The pillars make more intimate little spaces, pseudo-rooms or nooks where a group of us can congregate and have a feeling of privacy, even if it's just an illusion. Rebounderz also offers 30 minute price options in addition to by-the-hour, and we've found that 30 minutes is more than enough time (we usually bounce a couple minutes, rest a couple minutes, for a total bounce time of about 15 minutes). Airheads, so far, only offers hourly rates, but so did Rebounderz when they first opened, so maybe Airheads will add a 30-minute option soon.

But one of the biggest advantages Airheads has over Rebounderz is that they don't make the guests go through the stupid "safety" lesson first. The "safety" lesson isn't really safe. They make everyone, even repeat visitors, stand around while the referee explains not to do tricks or double-bounce people, and then they make everyone jump and roll to show that we know not to try and catch ourselves with our hands (which can result in wrist injury) if we fall. The problem is that this roll thing hurts everyone's neck because it's not safe for the neck either. Personally, I'll take a wrist injury over a neck injury any day. Last time I went for my birthday, I ended up sitting out for more than half of my paid time because my neck hurt when they made me roll even after I protested. I'd rather drive all the way into Tampa to avoid the not-so-safety lesson, which is a shame because Rebounderz has other things going for it.

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Datan0de& a blurry Jessie	Datan0de & Jessie	Zensidhe	Kim	Kim in mid-air
Datan0de & Jessie playing catch	Datan0de & Jessie	Datan0de & Jessie