Smile Park: A Birthday Treat, but Be Prepared for the Hard Sell

Hello everyone!

We're continuing our series of reviews about the places we visited in St. Petersburg. Since we were traveling with a kid, we had to celebrate her birthday, so we knew we'd have to find some entertainment.

We visited the Extreme Amusement Park that day, and we thought that was enough, but as we were walking along Nevsky Prospekt, we got bombarded by promoters at every step, all dressed up in costumes, trying to sell us on Smile Park. The big Labubas really caught the kids' attention, and the flyers were enticing with their cool photos and captions. We decided not to disappoint the kid on her special day, even though we knew it wouldn't be cheap, and that the wait might be a letdown.

Pricing, discounts, and promotions.

I decided to get more information about the park and called the hotline. They told me that in celebration of the kid's birthday, we could get a 10% discount, but only if we paid at the counter, where the full, all-access pass costs 3000 rubles. Online, it's 2500, and the consultant offered us a link to pay through, which would give us a 12% discount, so we ended up buying the all-access pass for 15 zones for 2250 rubles. And that's a price anyone can afford, even without a birthday.

But if you buy each attraction separately, you can easily end up overspending, and the prices on the price list differ by 100 rubles. One of the dads even tried to complain, but they told him that the new price list just hadn't been printed yet, and that was the old one. What an interesting pricing policy!

The all-access pass has no restrictions except for age limits, and there are some areas that are really scary, even for adults, like the 'Museum of Dreams' and the 'Labyrinth of Fear', but they let you visit two zones again if you want to. Conditions, zones, and impressions.

We arrived in the evening and asked if the kid wouldn't be able to finish everything in one day, if we could carry over the remaining zones to the next day. It turned out that the pass is valid for a month, and we can visit every day, but each zone has to be marked before you visit it, and you can only visit places you haven't been to yet. The receipt on the photo shows how they marked the zones with a marker.

There are three locations in total, but they're all close to each other.

One thing that really stood out to me was the sheer number of rooms on Bolshaya Morская Street, right near the archway that leads to Dvortsovaya Ploshchad and the Hermitage. There are tons of storage lockers at the entrance, and the only place with a restroom is here - the other two locations don't have that option for visitors. I'll mention upfront that you need a code from your receipt to get into the restroom.

As soon as you walk in, you can tell they're trying to make a buck, especially with those 19,000 ruble 'deals'. I'm not sure who's actually buying those, but it's hard to walk by without dropping some cash.

There are candy machines, cafes with overpriced snacks, and even more tricks up their sleeve. Parents can't even take a photo without getting roped into buying a ticket, so I had to negotiate for a few shots and ended up getting a favor. Or they send you to buy tickets so you can go back and take photos with your kid. And in a lot of areas, they're not even allowed to take photos because the animators are doing it for you, then trying to sell you the photos for 1,000 rubles each. They'll even take your kid's photo without asking, then run off to find the parents to try and sell them the photos. It's super annoying!We didn't buy anything and watched as one mom was being chased down to buy a souvenir on a photo print.

We sent our kid off on her own, but we did help her sign up for a quest and waited for a bit before letting her go. She was able to navigate the rest of the place on her own.

That quest was her favorite part - she said it was both fun and a little scary.

She spent 2.5 hours there and managed to see everything. The only place that really disappointed her was the 'Museum of Man' - she said it was way too small and boring, and she ended up just reading about it instead of seeing any exhibits. She was really looking forward to it, but it just didn't live up to her expectations. They come in through the big mouth and go out through the back door.

My kid came out happy, but not all the zones were a hit with her. They're super colorful and inviting, but the content is pretty thin - it's mostly just ads.

The Museum of Illusions is just walls with some pretty cool, but ultimately pretty lame, optical illusions.

One of the 'House Upside Down' areas was way too small - we were in and out in 15 minutes, and some people were already done after just a few minutes. I even talked to a grandma who said it was way too pricey for what you get, and her 11-year-old daughter didn't even enjoy it.

I didn't love this part because they were letting people in one by one or in small groups, which was clearly just to make money off of photo shoots. It created some pretty long lines and wait times.

Дом вверх дном Smile ParkThe third area was definitely the highlight of our visit. The staff were super friendly and knowledgeable, and they didn't try to upsell us on anything.

We didn't end up going through the 'Labyrinth of Fear' because of the age restrictions, but from what I heard, it's pretty intense - even some of the adult guys were freaking out, and some of the guys were hiding behind their girlfriends. The atmosphere is pretty dark and foreboding, and the staff are pretty good at creating jump scares.

That's where we ended up taking our kid - the 'Mirror Labyrinth' and the 'Break the Dishes' room.

In the 'Break the Dishes' room, you get to wear this cool face mask and stand behind a counter and throw plates at a wall - it's pretty fun, and you get to do it five times.

The 'Mirror Labyrinth' is pretty cool too - you get to wear these nifty disposable gloves and just go for it!

When you walk in, it's actually really cool with these awesome street art and some pretty intense props - it's a great spot to take some photos for free!

Overall, I wouldn't really recommend visiting this place, especially if you're paying extra for the zones. Even with a membership, it's pretty pricey, and we probably wouldn't have gone if it wasn't for the holiday. The constant advertising is really off-putting, and it's always a concern - it's just not worth it! The super pushy photo services also left a bad taste in my mouth, especially since they didn't even ask for parental consent.But if you're dead set on visiting this park, just remember to look out for ways to save money, like I mentioned earlier.

I hope this review was helpful, thanks for reading!