Upla | Jumps in kind

A huge bouncing playground perched 20 feet in the air opens this Saturday, about 30 minutes from Montreal. Our journalist lived the Uplå experience, a unique attraction in North America, with two of her daughters. Prints.

Veronique Larocque
The Press

Flavie, 4, and Violette, 8, were looking forward to our visit to Uplå. It must be said that they were immediately intrigued by my description of the activity: trampolines in the trees.

At the foot of Mont Saint-Grégoire, in Montérégie, I found that the world of Uplå was even more surprising than I had imagined. Eyes round like marbles, my daughters confirmed to me that this was the case for them too.

Forget the trampolines found in various indoor amusement parks. At Uplå, we jump on colorful nets. A technique inspired by Breton sailors, Jean-François Couture, head of marketing at Trekking Group, the company behind the seven Arbraska parks in Quebec, will explain to us later.

The sensation on these giant cobwebs is also very different than on a normal trampoline. The team on site described it to us as a “feeling of weightlessness”.

As I launch myself with my daughters in the amazing upward spiral that transports us 20 feet in the air, I tame this unique sensation. Each step is uncertain, as if absorbed by the holey ground on which I advance.

We come out on a first trampoline: a big black net on which we jump at our leisure. It’s frankly impressive to jump and perched!

We are only five on the trampoline, but I find that it moves a lot. Flavie, who has already fallen twice, agrees with me. What will the Uplå experience look like when the facilities get busier? Patrollers responsible for the safety of visitors will be present to enforce a limited number of people per trampoline, Jean-François Couture reassures us. “We are going to open time slots for families”, he adds, so that the youngest children can “appropriate the places” at their own pace.

Seven trampolines

After about ten minutes in the net, the whole family manages to keep their balance better, even when a group of youngsters runs by.

We then explore the seven interconnected trampolines that make up the universe of Uplå. On one of them, there are huge balls that you can throw or bounce. On another, we play dodgeball. There’s even a double-decker trampoline!

We go where we want at Uplå. There is no path to follow. “We like to create free universes. […] We wanted to give the child a suitable place to discover gravity, motor skills and nature on their own,” explains Jean-François Couture.

What is this hole in the trampoline? One of the site’s three net slides. Girls are hesitant to try it. It seems rather steep. Finally, we take turns to set off. It was our favorite of the day.

treehouses

Uplå is also a village suspended in the trees, similar to those of Arbraska parks in Rigaud and Rawdon. Ropes, catwalks and nets connect these “Smurf houses”, as Flavie called them. This one particularly likes to cross the tunnel in nets which leads to the hut decorated with daisies. Me, a little less. Let’s say that its restricted dimensions represent a challenge for adults.

After 45 minutes of jumping and running, we need a break. On the other side of the street, the Charbonneau sugar bush has a snack bar where you can fill up on energy. Slush in hand, Jacob Patenaude refueled there. How does the 11-year-old boy find the Uplå experience? “The first 10 minutes, it’s difficult to adapt. Afterwards, you jump higher and higher, it’s really cool”, he says, before running to join his friends.

“Really cool” is also the description used by my daughters throughout the two-hour activity.

The oldest also find their account there, maintains Jean-François Couture. “The adult has as much fun as the child. Companies have also planned to hold team building sessions there.

With this park open 12 months out of 12, the Uplå team wants to encourage young and old to “let go of the screens and reconnect with nature”.

To see the wide smile of the children present during our visit, we can say mission accomplished.

“Are we coming back, mom? asks Violette, her cheeks flushed from having jumped so much, on the way back. “We will be back, that’s for sure. »