News

Oct 29, 2024

Inside the new indoor playground at Medallion Center - Lake Highlands

Photography by Lauren Allen. At Joel and Kelsey Doolen’s new indoor playground, Down to Play, the couple have set out to create an inclusive and engaging environment for neighborhood children. The

Photography by Lauren Allen.

At Joel and Kelsey Doolen’s new indoor playground, Down to Play, the couple have set out to create an inclusive and engaging environment for neighborhood children.

The play area — a jungle of 3,500 square feet of soft maze — features ziplines, climbing walls, slides, mirrors and more. Alongside the main play area, a separate toddler playground has a ball pit, which is cleaned once a week with what has been described as a near-industrial cleaning machine, and other soft equipment.

Somewhere in between an ASI Gymnastics, public playground and children’s event space, the venue closely mirrors the indoor play areas the Doolens have become well-acquainted with over the last few years.

Their daughter, Kendall, was born prematurely with Down syndrome in 2022. She needed extensive medical treatment and support for the first year and a half of her life. While Kendall received treatment at the hospital with her mom, Joel would take their then 2-year-old son to indoor playgrounds to get him out of the house.

“We were just driving to Plano all the time for him,” Joel says. “She was at the hospital with our daughter, and I had our 2-year-old at the time. We visited several of these. We went on a trip to Maine and visited one that’s not totally like this, but similar, and that’s when I’m like, ‘This would work in East Dallas,’ because there’s nothing here. I could pretty much draw you a map at every restaurant or whatever it is in this area, and there’s nothing close.”

Driving to Plano constantly wasn’t going to cut it, especially for East Dallas residents who — like many of their neighbors on this side of Central — don’t like to leave the neighborhood incessantly.

So, they found a 5,200-square-foot space at Medallion Center, and decided to open Down to Play. Joel is a commercial banker at Frost Bank. He evaluated the risks of the location thoroughly, but felt confident in its location on a major thoroughfare close to Lake Highlands, Lakewood and Highland Park.

The playground opened in July, just in time for the worst of Texas summer. Joel designed every square inch of the play area.

“I’m kind of particular about it,” he says. “I’ve been into enough of these things with my son and I know what he enjoys. Whether or not (other kids liked it)was the scariest thing about opening this thing up, right? We just spent a lot of money on a playground, and if kids don’t like it, then we’re gonna have a big problem. But it hasn’t been that way. The reaction has been awesome.”

Business has been going well since opening, they say, even with a school year dropoff.

One of the Doolen’s biggest goals for Down to Play was creating a place where all children, regardless of abilities, can play together.

“There are a couple nonprofits that have great places for kiddos with Down syndrome, but we don’t have that in Dallas,” Kelsey says. “And so I wanted to create something for Down syndrome. Obviously, this is for everyone. I would say 98, 99% of the kids that come here are just typical learners, but the message of Down to Play, and what my goal is to convey, is that kids with Down syndrome and autism play just like everybody else.”

Down to Play has a therapy room available for bookings at no-additional-cost, a sensory room filled with activities for sensory-sensitive customers and is fully-ADA compliant.

“I think just by knowing that a place is owned by a couple that has a child with special needs might make you feel more comfortable, because you’re going to know that we have a no bullying policy,” she says.

“We have an acceptance policy. If your kiddo has certain sensitivities and needs, some needs, some things change, I’m happy to turn down the music.”

Parental amenities have been well-received, they say. They have enough seating to rival the Applebee’s across the parking lot, free Wi-Fi, a snack bar and coffee. Two adults are included in open play admission, which comes out to $20.

The therapy room also doubles as the party room. The couple say that their birthday packages, which come at different price points with varying amounts of DIY, have been solidly booked through November.

For a owning business that’s only been open for a couple of months, the Doolens already seem to have their eyes on the horizon.

“We’d love to find areas like this one, where there’s tons of kids that are driving far away to go places,” Kelsey says. “We’d love to find areas where the same need that was needed here is needed. In the long term, the goal for me is to create a nonprofit section of Down to Play eventually. Right now, obviously, we’re focusing on this one, and then possibly a couple more locations.”