Shanghai Baoyan Paradise: A 20,000-sqm Kid-Friendly Wonderland – 5 Floors of Themed Fun for a Full Day, Passionate Summer Just This Feel!

Foreword: Two adorable little angels have come into our lives—a son aged four and a daughter almost two. Since becoming parents, our days have been filled with sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy moments, a real mix of emotions. Parenting is a journey for us adults learning to coexist with tiny human beings. Growing together with our kids, we witness their joy, frustration, and disobedience, and in the process, we learn how to be parents.

Our son is already in nursery school, and our daughter is still in that adorable babbling stage. Both are deeply loved, never favored over each other, never spoiled. We give them the same love, the same living space, the same education, and the same companionship. Work keeps us busy during the week, but weekends are always set aside to take our two little ones out to play. Play is in children’s nature, and it’s a vital part of their upbringing. We want them to explore the world from a young age, to develop the ability to tell right from wrong and to interact with others. We also hope they learn resilience through play, and for preschoolers, all of this can be learned by having fun.

July is the most beautiful season;

July is the season for blooming fully;

July means summer vacation is here for the little ones~~~

On ordinary weekends we take the kids to malls or out into nature. Now that our son is on holiday, we wanted to let them go wild. There are so many spots in Shanghai perfect for family outings, and in the end we decided to bring them to Baoyan Paradise—a place where they can play like crazy all day, sweat joyfully, laugh their hearts out, and truly experience the moment.

Shanghai Baoyan Paradise

Why did Baoyan Paradise catch our eye?

First of all, it spans about 20,000 square meters, with five floors each offering different attractions. Most importantly, this is Shanghai’s only mega-combo family entertainment center that boasts an indoor four-season constant-temperature water park, a rooftop grass sledding area, and a Cute Pet Paradise, Slide Paradise, Naughty Castle, VR Motion Paradise, Building Block Paradise, family restaurant, arcade zone, constant-temperature water park, and outdoor experience zone—all in one place. In other words, you can arrive at Baoyan in the morning with your kids, eat, drink, and play all inside, and the whole family can spend an entire day here. Totally worth it!

【Heads up】Before You Go

This part is super important—it directly determines how much fun you’ll have! Baoyan Paradise is a comprehensive indoor theme park. Each floor has a different theme and of course different ways to play, so you’ll need to pack some essential items for yourself and the little ones. If you don’t bring the right gear, you won’t be able to enjoy many areas, so please cooperate (forgot something? You can buy it inside).

Booking a time slot in advance is required to ensure a smooth visit. Tickets cover the Water Park, Cute Pet Paradise, and Castle Paradise.

- Non-slip socks for the kids are a must in the Naughty Castle to prevent slips and falls and for hygiene.

- To play on the slides, children must wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants. It’s best to arrive in long clothes, because the first floor has the slide zone – you can change into short sleeves and shorts afterwards.

- For the Water Park, swimwear, swim caps, and bath towels are required. For very little ones you might want to bring a swim ring or other floatation aid; you can buy them inside if you forget.

- The fifth-floor outdoor area is open-air with no air conditioner, so you need to take sun protection, heatstroke prevention, and cooling measures.

Baoyan Paradise puts great care into safety management, leaving no detail unchecked. In addition to the requirement for non-slip socks and long clothing, even feeding the little animals requires wearing gloves. After all, every child is the apple of their parents’ eye, and nobody wants any mishaps during playtime. So coming to Baoyan Paradise to play really feels safe and reassuring.

1st Floor: Slide Paradise, VR Motion Park (7D/9D/5D), Rainbow Corridor, Cute Pet Paradise;

2nd Floor: Naughty Castle, Building Block World, Mommy’s Nail Salon, Baking Workshop, Birthday Room, Bumper Cars, Western Restaurant, Baby Rest Room, Fun Stage;

3rd–4th Floor: Four-Season Constant-Temperature Water Park, including a rainbow slide, dry sauna rooms, hot spring pools, and more, plus male/female changing rooms and family changing rooms;

5th Floor: Rooftop grass sledding, children’s pony field, outdoor climbing nets, Dino Adventure Jurassic Zone, sightseeing mini train, pirate ship, merry-go-round.

Top Summer Recommendations

So many activities—surprised and excited?

If you’re worried that one day isn’t enough when you bring the kids to play, you can first focus on a few key attractions. The giant slide on the 1st floor, the huge ocean ball pit and Building Block World on the 2nd floor, and the Water Park on the 3rd–4th floors. We allocated our time fairly reasonably, mainly enjoying these themes and playing a bit at the others. We went in around 11 a.m. and headed out in the early evening, checking off all five floors.

Walking into Baoyan, we first went to the front desk to exchange our tickets. With one adult and two kids we naturally had a lot of stuff. After ticket inspection there’s a dedicated stroller parking area. On the left of the entrance is the Super Combo Slide Paradise, and on the right is the VR Motion Park. The slides suit both big kids and little ones; as long as you wear long sleeves, long pants, and grip socks everyone can have a go. The VR Motion Park is recommended for kids aged five and up, but when it’s not crowded we still had fun posing for photos.

The highlight is the Slide Paradise, Baoyan’s signature Instagrammable attraction. It features 13 rainbow slides of different inclines. Among them, the roughly 45° blue ocean ball slide and the nearly 90° red vertical slide are the most sought-after by kids. It takes only four seconds to swoosh from a height of 7.3 meters down to the ground.

Our little one was too small for the 90° vertical slide, but my son tried all the others. At first he was a bit timid and needed Dad to slide with him, but after a few times he grew braver and started entertaining himself. Our daughter, after all, is still very small and could only crawl around here, her chubby little body wiggling so adorably. Despite her young age, she’s very independent and bold, and she had great fun on her own. It’s safe to say this is the perfect training ground for adults to nurture their children’s courage.

Besides the Slide Paradise and the VR Motion Park, there’s one more spot on the 1st floor you can’t miss: the Cute Pet Paradise. Incredibly, there are adorable little animals you can get close to here. However, the Cute Pet Paradise is outside the main entry, so you need to get a wristband at the ticket check to go in and out freely. Inside the Cute Pet Paradise there are alpacas, raccoons, lovebirds, hedgehogs, hamsters, long-eared rabbits, and more—over 50 kinds of small animals. You can feed them here, especially the alpacas, which are the internet sensations of this place. At the sight of the fluffy alpacas, our two kids went absolutely wild, vying to feed them. Right then, a Baoyan Paradise staff member handed our children gloves, and I truly felt their thoughtfulness. What mom would be okay with her kid getting hurt? These little ones are the apples of our eyes, after all.

The second floor is home to the super-de-stressing Naughty Castle, featuring an endless sea of ocean balls and a well-arranged mix of small slides, climbing nets, hammocks, and light-and-shadow magic balls.

My son absolutely loved it here, weaving non-stop through the ocean balls and other play equipment, reluctant to leave. Our daughter, on the other hand, is too small; we sat her in the ball pit and only her tiny head peeked out—so cute. Look, she was also happily playing by herself. Seeing both kids having such a good time really warmed our hearts.

We grabbed lunch at the 2nd-floor restaurant. While our daughter napped, I took our son to the Building Block World, a gigantic block play area. From a distance it looked like a castle. My son roamed there, hunting for block after block, and painstakingly built them up—really fun.

Once our daughter woke up we headed to the 3rd floor, a large indoor water park kept at a constant temperature of around 37°C year-round. Whether it’s scorching summer heat or torrential rain, even in the freezing winter, parents and kids can splash and play here with peace of mind, and the water is clean. On a sweltering summer day, this became what we were most excited about.

We took the kids to the changing room, got them into swimsuits, and then dived in for some fun! The water park has a 5-meter-high, 32-meter-long rainbow slide, dozens of shorter slides suitable for young children, and hundreds of spray-equipped animal and plant cartoon figures dotted around the shallow area. When tired, you can relax in the spa pool or have a water fight in the children’s pool—endless enjoyment.

Actually, it’s not just a kids’ paradise; adults have a blast here too, because this set of giant slides is also open to grown-ups. Watching the splash of water, this summer really feels refreshing!

Our son went off with his dad to play on the slides, while our daughter could only paddle in the 30cm-deep shallow water. Son fought a water battle with Dad, and daughter sat on the see-saw in the water, just right for her. I have to say, this water park is not only temperature-controlled and not only has a 30cm shallow area, but more importantly it’s a place that brings adults and children closer together. I think this is the meaning of family travel: we learn and grow alongside our children, and they grow up joyfully with us. By encouraging them more, they become braver.

After the water fun, we changed clothes and went up to the 5th-floor outdoor area to take a quick look. The weather was too hot and the outdoor temperature high, so the kids didn’t really want to linger, but both little ones were mesmerized by the dinosaur displays. They curiously touched and explored them. Not only my son but my daughter showed no fear at all. Looks like when they grow up, they’ll both be into Ultraman, right?

We also hopped on the carousel on the 5th floor. Because of the rain, unfortunately the aerial grass sledding and some other attractions were closed. I guess this is what travel is all about—you always have to leave a little regret to make it even more memorable. In the future we’ll come back to Baoyan Paradise because of this regret, and we’ll try all those activities we missed. That would be just wonderful.

1. Parking is available at the entrance. The first 4 hours are free; collect your parking voucher at the front desk. After that it’s 6 yuan per hour.

2. Baoyan Paradise Minhang flagship store address: 11, Lane 3825, Dushi Road, Minhang District, Shanghai.

3. Summer opening hours (July-August): weekdays 9:30–19:30, weekends 9:30–20:30, Water Park 11:00–18:00.

Important notes: When kids play, they totally let go and forget everything. All the attractions at Baoyan Paradise have very high safety standards, so don’t worry about accidents. Still, be careful during play not to slip and fall. Also, pay attention to cooling down and staying hydrated, because the little ones sweat a lot when they’re running around, so replenish fluids in time!

Happy times are always short. Our full day at this massive indoor family park ended close to dinner time. On the drive home, the kids fell asleep. Seeing their tired, peaceful sleeping faces, though we were also exhausted, we felt incredibly gratified inside. Throughout the play, we saw our children’s effort, their courage to overcome difficulties and to challenge themselves—a side we rarely see at home. So getting out and playing is really necessary! Keep going, little ones, you’re doing great!