The Williamsburg Indoor Sports Complex is taking a new approach to promoting physical fitness, as well as giving tourists and passersby more drop-in activities in the form of The Zone.
The Zone is a collection of new activities, including Clip N’ Climb challenges, laser tag, a “Mission Impossible”-style laser maze and an indoor playground, that WISC General Manager Chris Scrofani hopes will change the public perception of what the complex has to offer to the general public.
“We’ve been a program-driven facility for 15 years now, but we wanted to look at other avenues of generating revenue,” Scrofani said of the motivations behind the expansion. “We wanted to see what we could do to draw in outside people that could walk in and actually do something when they walk in.”
WISC is known for its gymnastics, exercise classes and sports clubs. The Zone looks to offer those not affiliated with a sports club or exercise class a chance to have fun and stay fit.
After renovations shut down much of the WISC in the fall, the climbing area, laser maze and laser tag arena are now all operational and open to the public.
The new climbing area comprises seven different challenges, ranging from rock walls of varying difficulties to a rotating helix climbing structure that looks like something out of a science textbook.
“It’s been well-received so far,” Scrofani said of the climbing area.
One of the most unique attractions of The Zone is the “Mission Impossible”-inspired laser maze — a small, dark room with green lasers shooting out of the walls while spy-themed music blares over the speakers. The goal is to navigate through the room while hitting as few lasers as possible in an attempt to press three buttons along the walls.
The laser maze has a leaderboard for each of the four difficulty settings, allowing participants to track and compare their scores with others. The laser maze offers entertainment for spectators thanks to a camera placed inside the maze that gives outsiders a birds-eye view of the current maze-goer.
The pre-existing laser tag arena has been relocated to WISC’s top floor near the rest of The Zone activities in an effort to keep The Zone activities on the upper deck.
The 3,500-square-foot laser tag room can hold 15 to 20 combatants comfortably and features multiple game modes, including team and individual high score.
The laser tag area is still undergoing some minor renovations and fixes, such as adding a monitor inside the prepping room where players collect their illuminated vests and laser guns, as well as some light touch-up work on the blue-team base.
The indoor playground has yet to be completed, though Scrofani said the three-story playground is expected to be completed by the end of February.
The playground will contain multiple slides and climbing apparatuses, which Scrofani likened to what one might find at a Chick-fil-A or Burger King, but on a “larger scale.”
Next to the indoor playground will be a toddler area with smaller, softer climbing areas for younger children.
“It’ll be nice for parents that have several little kids,” Scrofani said of the yet-to-be-built playground. “One [child] can be in the playground here and one can be in the toddler section with [the parents].”
