FEC Sevenum: Unique, Family Experience in the Netherlands

FEC Sevenum stands for Family Entertainment Center, and that is just what you get: Entertainment for the entire family. When we were camping in eastern Netherlands in the Limburg region, we spent a couple of days experiencing all of the fun attractions within the FEC Sevenum. It offered us a unique, family experience in the Netherlands, one that we won’t forget for a long time to come.

Here are all of the reasons you should add the FEC Sevenum to your bucket list this year to give your family a memorable experience in Holland.

This post is sponsored by FEC Sevenum. Thank you for allowing us to enjoy each of the different experiences as a family. This post may also contain affiliate links. See the disclosure and disclaimer page for details.

Mattel Play

If you have children who love characters like Thomas the Train, Fireman Sam and Bob the Builder, they will love Mattel Play. This fun, play experience at FEC Sevenum lets children step inside the world of their favorite cartoon characters.

Though more targeted towards smaller children, we had to visit the Mattel Play area at FEC Sevenum. We had heard that they had a large Thomas the Train, which has always been a favorite of my kids. Not that they are that excited about the character now, but we still couldn’t pass up the opportunity to check it out.

Angelina Ballerina

Visit the Angelina Ballerina area and visit the dancing school where Angelina goes. There are tutus for the little ones to use during the experience. When they are not practicing in the dance studio, they can go on the stage to perform a little dancing show!

Bob, the Builder

You can also experience the land of Bob, the builder! Climb into Digger, but don’t forget to visit the Bob’s office to get your hard hat. This is also where you can build a sandwich!

There are empty walls that need a bit of construction work, but it is good there are so many bricks. Your child will have an amazing time pretending to be like Bob, the Builder.

There are also little machines where you can dig into the dirt without getting dirty.

Fireman Sam

One area that we thought was really cool was that for Fireman Sam. When you enter the area for Fireman Sam, you are immediately transported to the town of Pontypandy. Your child will have fun pretending to put out a fire with the help of Fireman Sam’s firetruck.

You can also step inside Dily’s shop and go shopping for different foods. I think the real highlight was getting to play on the Fireman Sam’s Titan boat to put out a fire while on the sea. The whole area was really well done with lots of opportunities for the little ones to play, climb and pretend.

Thomas the Train Village

We decided to check out what was upstairs at Mattel Play, and we were so excited by what we saw! We had heard that there would be a Thomas the Train at Mattel Play, but we had no idea that there would be so many other characters from this story.

As you walked into the train area, it felt as if you had walked right onto the Island of Sodor to visit with Thomas and his Friends.  A large Thomas the Train was visible right away, next to where you could buy tickets for the train.

Next to him, we saw Cranky the Crane, which was actually a playground you could climb and come down a slide. Behind Cranky was Harold the Helicopter in the middle of a ball pit. You could play in the pit and/or climb onboard Harold. It was a lot of fun, even for my boys.

Perhaps one of the areas that seemed the most fun was the Tidmouth Sheds, where the trains would go to sleep for the night. Here, there was a large Rosie the Red train, in which children could climb.

Rosie was in the middle of the circular track, where three smaller trains sat. Children could actually sit in these smaller trains and use the hand pedals to go around the track. There were so many fun experiences that would excite any train fan. My youngest son was a big, Thomas-the-Train fan, so going to this experience would have been amazing for him when he was younger. Though a bit older now, he still loved it!

Mega Blocks MEGACONSTRUX Area

If you child is more interested in building things than playing, that kind of fun can be found in the Mega Blocks MEGA CONSTRUX Area. In this area, there were 3 main building sections. You could build in an area that looked like a factory.

They also had a section with different backdrops, so whatever you built could have a background for a great photo or video opportunity.

Another section had some tv screens, in which an instructional video played. Here you could learn from a pro how you could create different things with Mega Blocks. It was all very interesting and fun to try!

Are you looking for a place to stay when visiting the Sevenum, NL? Check out De Schatberg!

Roller Skating Area

Lately, I had been thinking a lot about roller skating. I loved to roller skate when I was younger, but I haven’t done it in a long time. It could be the fact that I am in my 40s or that I had knee surgery a couple of years ago, but I never managed to get back to my favorite, childhood hobby. Until today!

When I saw that they had a roller-skating rink, I knew that if I found skates in my size, I was going to try it. Fate had it that the biggest roller skates that they had were my size! ? My youngest son even tried to go out there with me, even though he had never been on roller skates before! We had a nice time, but I think I enjoyed it more!

They also have helmets and knee pads for children, which made it a great activity for younger children to try without the fear of getting hurt!

Soft Play Area with Slides

Hidden in a corner of the upstairs section of Mattel Play was the Soft Play Area. We weren’t really sure what we would find here, since the entire place was more focused for the entertainment of smaller children. We were glad that we checked it out though. As I mentioned, my boys were a bit big for this place, but we really wanted to see what it was all about. My 9-year-old son was still a good size to enjoy this fun, climbing area and slide.

We saw many smaller children go in after we had left, and my boys had been in similar, indoor, climbing cases like these, so I knew they already like them when they were younger. It was a fun time, and we were glad to have given Mattel Play a try!

Café and Stage

If you are need of a snack or a drink at the Mattel Play, you are in luck. They have a café in the center of the downstairs, which can also be a great place for parents to rest while the kids play. There is also a stage in this section in case you are there for one of their shows with Fireman Sam or other characters.

There is another area next to the soft play zone where you can find tables to take a break, eat a snack or have a drink.

Locker Room

If you have a diaper bag or backpack that you don’t want to carry with you the entire time you are at Mattel Play, you can store it in a locker. You may also be able to stow your stroller here. You may want to ask the worker at the desk for information on these lockers. For those traveling with babies or toddlers, you can also find highchairs in this room.

Are your kids fans of Playmobil toys? Then, they will love to visit Playmobil Fun Park in Germany!!

Mattel Play Gift Shop

The only place in the FEC Sevenum where you can buy any type of souvenir is at the Mattel Play. Here, you can find toys that go along with your favorite Mattel Play characters. This can be anything from cars to trains to dress-up clothes. I also thought that the prices were quite reasonable.

Portal Action House

If you are traveling with kids 8 years or older, you might want to check out the Portal Action House. This is a fun bouncing and climbing experience.

Kids and adults step through the portal, which seems to be within a teenager’s bedroom. The fun thing about these bedrooms is that they could have been mine back in the 1990s.

However, when you walk through the green portal within the wall, you are suddenly in a cool, video game. There are multiple trampolines with a climbing tower that looks like a castle straight out of a Nintendo game. We were glad that we were sure to bring shorts for this experience, because the boys really worked up a sweat!

Do your kids like to climb? Check out the Baumwipfelpfad in Schwarzwald, Germany!

Another really fun area was the track. Here, you could take a BMX bike or scooter around the track. There were also helmets and knee pads for safety. We had seen a couple of kids crash on this course, but no one was hurt. My boys don’t do much on two wheels, so this section wasn’t for them, but there were many other children who seemed to enjoy it.

You can also order snacks and drinks at the Portal for when you need to take a break. There are sitting areas for relaxing next to the registration desk, and there are tables you can reserve at the top of the observation deck. This can be a nice place for parents to camp out if they aren’t interested in hopping.

Portal Lasergame

Another experience that we had at FEC Sevenum that was completely unique for our camping trip to the Netherlands was the Portal Lasergame. No one in our family had ever tried lasertag before, but we had always talked about it. We had to make a reservation for a time, since we were paired with other “teams”. We were a family of 4 on the blue team. There were three other teams with groups similar in size to ours.

We started in a room where we got a vest, which had a lazer gun attached. The worker played a video and then explained a bit more of what we should do. It was fun that they programed our names into the computers so that all of the vests had our names on them. Having our names associated with a vest helped us to know how we did at the end of the experience.

We had 15 minutes to go around and shoot as many of the players from the other teams. They had many places to hide behind, and it looked like we were in a war zone. There was a fallen helicopter and a big truck. It was all very interesting. It was also kind of dark, since our lights needed to be very visible.

The laser game had two floors, and it was fun to go around and play for the time we were in there. When the game was over, we were all asked to go back to the room where we started. We returned our gear and were given a card that said our statistics on it. You should all be happy to hear that I came in 3^rd. LOL The boys in my family scored a little higher, but who is counting. ?

Hyper Bowling

Getting to bowl at the FEC Sevenum was the one thing that my boys looked forward to the most. It is hard to believe, but we had never been bowling as a family before. They had tried to throw a few balls once with their cousins at the bowling alley, but we never tried it as a family.

We first started with a normal game without bumpers, but when we saw how fun hyper bowling looked, we just had to try it. There were bumpers in the gutters, which would light up in different colors. The trick was to throw the ball so that it would bounce on the right color of the bumper. Green meant athat your points would be multiplied by 200 and blue was by 300.

If you hit a red or didn’t hit the bumper, you wouldn’t get points. You wanted to avoid that. We even made it to one of the higher rounds where there was a yellow light. This meant that the number of pins you knocked down would be multiplied by 500. Those were the ones to get if you wanted to win!

The waitress from FEC Bar and Balls came around and took our drink order, so we didn’t even need to leave the alley. It was all a lot of fun. We decided that we would need to go bowling more often, but we weren’t sure we would find another alley that was as much fun as the one bowling alley at FEC Sevenum.

Where to Eat at FEC Sevenum

ABC Restaurant

If you are looking for a great place to eat that has something for everyone, check out the ABC Restaurant Sevenem. You pay one price and get to walk from place to place to select different things to make the perfect meal. You are given 2 hours to spend in this restaurant, but we were there an hour and a half.

The entire restaurant was actually 12 different restaurants made to look like small stores in a village. You walked down the streets to the Mexican place for tacos or the Asian place for stir-fry. You can get sushi, burgers, pizza, steaks, salads, soups, and so much more.

I loved that the dessert section had smaller sizes for the cakes, cupcakes and some Dutch specialties. This meant that I could try more things and not get as full!

It was great to have so much variety in what we could eat. I’m a vegetarian, so it isn’t always easy to find food to eat when we go out in a restaurant. I didn’t have any problem finding many vegetarian options at the ABC Sevenum. We were all very happy (and full) by the time we left!

Looking for a unique dining experience? Try the Roller Coaster Restaurant in Hamburg, Germany!

FEC Bar and Balls

While we waited for our time at the laser game, we spent some time relaxing at the FEC Bar and Balls place. This was more of a casual eating and drinking area than a restaurant. With a couple of large TVs on the walls, this was a great place to watch a sports game and have a beer. Since we had just finished our time at the Portal Action House, we used it to cool off with a bag of chips and a lemon soda.

If you had more of a hunger, you could order usual, bar food, like: burgers, pulled pork, toasts, nachos, etc. They also have a wide variety of drinks, both warm and cold. All prices are quite reasonable, so it could be a good option for a meal before or after any of the fun activities at the FEC Sevenum.

Overall Thoughts on FEC Sevenum

We had an amazing time trying each of the experience that the FEC Sevenum had to offer in the Netherlands. For me, I really loved the roller skaking and Thomas the Train sections of Mattel Play. Getting to have my first ever laser-tag experience was quite amazing, and I loved that we got to do it as a family. The night of hyper bowling was also a lot of fun. I really wish we could make that a weekly tradition. It is just too bad that we don’t live closer to the FEC Sevenum!

We were originally supposed to visit FEC Sevenum during the spring on 2020, which is when much of Europe was in lockdown from COVID-19. It took us two years to get this trip to work during Easter break (påskeferie in Danish). Though we were only coming from Denmark, we still needed to wait for the restrictions to life before we could leave.

The restaurant was a big hit with our kids as well. They like the freedom of choosing their own food, and they loved the variety. Overall, FEC Sevenum was a big hit with our entire family. If we are ever in this area of the Netherlands again, we will definitely have to come back again! We would recommend it to any family!

Our boys were both old enough to do all of the activities, which actually worked out for us. Because the Action House and Laser Game were for children ages 8 and older, it was a good thing that we were able to go when our boys were 9 and 12. However the hyper bowling had bumpers in the lanes, so I think that children of any age would be able to enjoy it.

Get in Touch with FEC Sevenum

Address: Midden Peelweg 7, 5975 MZ Sevenum, Netherlands

Telephone: +31 077 467 7777

Website: https://www.fecsevenum.nl/

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