If you had thirty bucks to spare and a lot of anxious energy to work out, you might have hopped on down to the World’s Largest Bounce House last weekend, which set up shop in Tallahassee November 8-10. The inflatable theme park offered “adult-only” hours, allowing college students to skip down to the Mahan Park area and let loose without fear of drop-kicking a toddler.
The attraction offered a unique opportunity for newly minted adults to take a much needed vacation. Stressed out about finals? Tired of being an adult in general? Students took a break by hiding from responsibility in the immersive ball pit of judgment-free nostalgia, bouncing around an inflatable daytime rave (complete with a DJ), and unleashing their unbridled rage at the current economic and political climate by fighting their way through an intensive blow-up obstacle course.
In a world where workplace discrimination is normative, but the phrase “ok boomer,” is ageist harassment, older gen z’s and young barely-millenials united to bounce back to a simpler time. The surreal image of hundreds of adults volleying beach balls and attempting clumsy flips through an inflatable castle could have easily been a modern Renaissance painting as the existential dread, uniting a generation of college students, faded into complete joyous chaos.
The park included a 10,000 square foot inflatable castle that included a DJ booth, ball pits, bubble machines, basketball hoops, slides, and even a small (still inflatable) rock climbing wall. Inside, the DJ held bounce-based competitions ranging from dodgeball to reverse limbo – in which you must vault over the bar to win. You’d be hard-pressed to find such a large group of college students having as much (sober) fun as was seen this past weekend as young adults trampolined around the inflatable wonderland.
Future patrons should be warned, however, the obstacle course section of the attraction is not for the faint of heart. While the large inflatable castle has “adult-only” time slots and small children are few in number during said sessions, there will be the occasional toddler or pre-teen bouncing about other sections of the park. Should you enter the obstacle course, prepare yourself to be lapped by every child under 12. Our Chuck-E-Cheese training days are over folks. Whether we consider ourselves closer to couch potatoes or spend half our week at track practice, our brittle 20-year-old bones are no match for the sugar rushed youth of the World’s Largest Bounce House. Do not get in their way, as you will not make it out alive. Emergency exits are present throughout the course.
So if you’re the average college student, chances are you’re stressed as hell these days. You might not be able to afford homeownership by a normal adult age, but you can forget that the planet is dying by bouncing around for a few hours if you catch the World’s Biggest Bounce House on tour. For those who missed it this year, keep an eye out. The only adult part of the attraction is that you have to buy the ticket.
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