There was a time family entertainment meant dining together, watching a movie or visiting relatives. Children used to play out in the open – the only form of kids’ entertainment that was available. With rapid urbanization, climate change and a dearth of play areas for children, it has become imperative to provide other forms of educative entertainment for children, entertainment which exercises not just their muscles but also their brain cells.
Understanding this and seeing a gap in the market for the same, Shalini Vij founded Hang Out, with its flagship Center at Select CityWalk Mall, Saket, Delhi in 2009. The brand is considered to be one of the pioneers in family entertainment. It’s a one-stopshop for all things fun, food, and entertainment.
Concept
Hang Out, as the name suggests, is a complete family hang out entertainment centre in the true sense of the term. It’s not just another gaming zone or toddler area, it is a comprehensive centre for family fun. It caters to all age groups, from toddlers to tweens, parents to grandparents, unleashing the child in each one of them and encourages parental interaction and quality family time. Even its catchphrase is ‘ages 2 to U 2’.Hang Out’s edutainment toddler areas, games, 6D/9D Virtual Roller coasters, the 3 level playgrounds and their hourly musical performances, have the kids coming back for more parties, games and fun.
The brand was the first to launch a next generation motion actuator system, 6D/7D motion theatre, 360-degree Rotating Virtual Roller coaster, which has 8 diff erent tracks, a replica of roller coasters at popular parks like Euro Park, Busch Garden etc., inverted virtual roller coasters like the Mini Rider and the Typhoon, bringing the newest in Virtual Reality. The bubble, wind, snow, blizzard special effects and the electric motion simulator with a dynamic 6DOF motion with 3D stereoscopic graphics and ride films, ‘is as close as it gets to reality.’
Hang Out is a unique, promising, amusement and entertainment centre. It is amongst India’s pioneer and best Family Entertainment Centre that provides an unbeatable range of exceptional games and rides for every age. Hang Out has been a popular kids entertainment center in Delhi’s popular Select City Walk Mall, Saket, Pacific Mall, Subash Nagar and Bharti Pavilion Mall, Ludhiana.
“Playtime is the beginning of learning and it can enhance the child’s skills in a fun-filled environment by giving them age appropriate activities and safe surroundings. The edutainment panels in the toddler area enhance their cognitive, music, fine motor and sensory skills while they play. For kids below 5 years (The Little People), there is fully foamed area which is spacious, has security and the right kind of stimuli which kids need to crawl, walk and talk before they run and jump. For children above 5, (The Explorers), Hang Out offers three level playgrounds with mazes, tunnels, tubes, sky wheels, and other activities to allow them to run, jump, crawl and burn their energy in a creatively stimulating environment. The play area provides a dynamic, mental and physical voyage of investigation and exploration and simultaneously enhancing their gross motor skills. These games better the hand-eye co-ordination and other games like virtual bowling, golf and basketball help them practice and better their skills. Playtime can teach us so much, while we have fun,” says Shalini Vij, Director, Hang Out.
Fun & Food All in One Place
Hang Out Café and Restaurant promotes family dining, with animal-themed furniture and a healthy kids menu. It operates as a 92-seater restroom-bar that serves mouth-watering signature dishes, cocktails and a special menu designed for kids. The jungle café has a well-stocked concession area with snacks and beverages. The show zone of Hang Out is a pure fun area where Monku (Hang Out’s mascot) makes an appearance every hour with a whole lot of musical entertainment.
Hang Out throws the best, hassle-free and memorable birthday parties. It offers a new dimension to kids birthday parties with Kids favourite character themes as well as Sports, Candy shop, Frozen, Princess, Circus and many other new themes to choose from. There is a customised packages with a buffet laid out from a hot-cold menu with unlimited soft drinks and desserts. The packages are custom made to suit the age and budget. It’s a great place to let the kids play on rides, indoor playgrounds, games and attractions. “We also have a VIP loyalty membership programme. By enrolling, people get points for every rupee spent at Hang Out, which in turn can give upto 30 percent discounts to regular guests – and all our guests are VIPs,” says Vij.
Last but not least, they ensure every child is a ‘winner at Hang Out’ by rewarding them with tickets they can redeem for prizes.
Expansion Plans
After completing 10 successful years at Select CityWalk Mall Saket, Hang Out is now operational at Pacific Mall Subash Nagar and has spread its wings to Punjab at the Bharti Pavillion Mall, Ludhiana. It has also launched its new division called ‘Sports Diner.’
“Sports Diner is a place to eat, drink and play, as it adds a new dimension for young adults, parents, corporates, teens and tweens by bringing a 92 seater restro-bar with glow in the dark bowling, gaming, pool tables, darts and more all under one roof,” says Vij.
The Sports Diner is a USinspired Dave and Buster model that caters to all age groups, The ex-VP of DandB was on board as a consultant with them for this project. It has six diff erent segments making it a very unique Family Entertainment Center.
The VR Zone-brings in a 360-degree turning roller coaster – VR2002.Here, riders can program their own journey, selecting track pieces to create millions (literally) of “mild to wild” track combinations.
Passengers then strap into the coaster cockpit and the full motion 360 degree “forward-of-axis” action sends them soaring, spiraling, plunging and twisting in two different pulse-pounding directions. Every loop, leap and lunge is seen on the huge 1080P HD projection screen. Premium quality 5.1 surround sound and the feel of real wind in the face creates a true adrenaline rush.
The VR Zone also boasts of the VR shooting a 360-degree head turning shooting game and a 6-seater VR ride with Virtual glasses, bringing virtual reality into the entertainment industry and more virtual games and rides under one roof. In addition to this, it has the first black light arena bowling with UV lights, neon balls, black light reflecting carpet, lanes, capping, side painted walls to give you the 1st of its kind neon bowling experience as its second segment called the Hi Lanes Bowling, with 4 lanes each catering to 6 players with full seating capacity and service and party area. The private party and pool table area is the third segment where interestingly, the pool tables convert into dining tables if your requirement is not to play. There’s a wide variety of games to choose from including Beer Pong, Beer Buck It and Electronic Darts.
“The idea behind Sports Diner and Hang Out Kids, was to keep the moms, dads, teens, tweens, young adults and corporates entertained by drawing a fine line between gaming and their entertainment needs and yet bringing in a comprehensive and complete Family entertainment Cente,” concludes Vij.
