Gymboree Play & Music Center

This is our first time joining Gymboree but we are happy with this place so far. The staff are very kind and totally about the kids. My daughter is 16 months and she is a very active. We first went for our free visit of the 12 – 18 month group and after about 15 min he lady suggested we try out the next class instead since Demi was a little more advanced :) we are doing the more advanced class and she let us also have a free pass since the other class didn’t work out. We are super excited for her to join.
It’s 75 a month which is super reasonable and you have have a couple free plays included. No shoes in the play area so make sure to bring socks.
I deducted one star only because some of the equipment and toys look like they have had some extra love, and the floor needed a little attention. Other than that the place is clean.

I love gymboree. Teachers are so cheerful, helpful, and energetic all the time. Place is so nice and clean with good hygiene. My daughter learned how to walk only with Gymboree’s help. i would be always thankful for that.

Our family continues to go to Gymboree. We still love it just the same! The school skills class is the best. My second kid goes to pre-​k, but still continues with school skills class at Gymboree.

This review is based on the free trial class that we received. The teacher, I believe her name is SARA HER NAME IS SARA (sorry I wrotethewrpn name), she was absolutely amazing. My son is 11 months and we took the music class. One of the most genuine and happy kid loving teachers I have seen there ! She makes teaching the kids look effortless and Interacts with each and every one of them. The class room was very clean an I can tell that they clean the toys and equipment thoroughly. There was droll (left by my son) on the slide and heather quickly and alertly cleaned it with disinfectant. I appreciate that! Will be back soon even if just for play gym! It seems pricey but if you break it down its $ 15 a class if you take 5 classes a week.

First and foremost, Gymboree is the most wonderful place to take your children. It is a beautiful establishment, and the staff that this site has is top notch. They care about every child and family that walks into their lobby, and they provide great service to everyone.
This review is not about the wonderful work that Gymboree does, however. I just wanted to make it clear, because some of the reviews from other families, make this location look problematic, or that they like to rip people off. And that is not the case at all!
When you come into Gymboree, you first fill out what they call a «Preview Form» so they can add you in their system. You get to enjoy your trial class, and then afterwards you decide if you want to sign up for the class. If you decide you do not want to sign up at that moment, there is no pressure from any of the workers, they keep a smile on their face and thank you for coming and trying the class and give you a paper with their number on it, so if you decide when you get home you wanted to enroll, you can call them and they will help you then!
If you do decide to sign up after your preview class, someone will explain in detail everything you need to know about the membership. There are two prices for the first month (Unless you have a promotion), the first charge being the $ 50 membership fee for starting, and the second being their $ 75 monthly tuition charge, which amazingly gives you at least 5 opportunities a week to come to gymboree! After they explain what they offer, they then go into detail about what is on the contract that YOU are about to sign. And they inform you that you are on subscription billing (JUST LIKE A GYM MEMBERSHIP) so on the same day every month, you will be charged their monthly tuition of $ 75. Then they make it very clear, if you EVER want to stop your classes, a 7 days notice needs to be given in order to cancel your membership. in WRITTEN form, they accept emails. Or signing the back the contract. Regardless it MUST be 7 days. If it is not, you will be charged for the upcoming month. They show you the contract, they go over those main parts with you, and then they ask you to sign the bottom stating you understood their cancellation policy.
Now, what I’m reading is that the problem seems to be that people don’t understand the policy very clearly… you do realize you have the ability to stop, take the contract, sit down and read it yourself? You can use your eyes, and read it for yourself, it is all their clear as day on paper. So you can not get mad, when YOU signed your contract, and then take it out on the staff, when you don’t follow their cancellation procedures.
Life comes up, and things get in the way of not being able to take your kids to gymboree, it happens to us all. Miss a week, Miss two weeks, miss three months… it happens. But Gymboree is an establishment, it is a business, and it runs as such. It is like a gym membership for adults, just because you are too tired to go and work out at the gym, doesn’t mean that the gym is going to refund you money for not coming to work out! Same goes for Gymboree… GYM-​boree!
I spoke with one of the girls that works their, and asked them how many families they have at Gymboree in Fremont, They have over 400 families signed up with this location! They also have a very simple makeup policy, miss a class come to another one to make it up– simple. But because of that, how do they know you are not showing up to your scheduled class for 4 weeks, and simply not taking advantage of their amazing makeup policy, because you are too busy on the Wednesday afternoon class you originally enrolled for? Each teacher does not know all 400 families. They know the families that are signed up for their classes, and get makeups, and drop-​ins daily. They have no way of keeping track of who is in which class, and who is not regularly attending!
So as grown adults, it is our responsibility to make sure to call and cancel if we no longer wish to attend. And if it is not 7 days before, well… a contract was signed! Just as if you signed a gym membership, or any other kind of contract! Their are no refunds, and their shouldn’t be– we were told how it works, and we signed the contract. It is what it is, and we get charged again, and cancel for the next month. Maybe that even gives us a chance to use those classes we’ve missed!
But to see negative reviews for a place, that brings so much joy to children, was upsetting. Because this staff and business does it’s job and they do it VERY well. These people should not take their anger out on the staff, it is not their fault. Their job is to make kids happy and help them. And they most certainly do!

I am writing because I recently went into Gymboree to cancel my membership. The associate recommended that I put my account on hold so I could use some of my make up classes (I had 12, which was why I wanted to cancel in the first place. I just was not able to fit the classes into my busy schedule at this time). The woman told me she would cancel my account after the month hold, and that I wouldn’t be able to use any make up classes after the cancellation (so use as many as we could during the holding period). I agreed to do this, and was assured by her that my membership would be cancelled the following month. We still only ended up using a couple of them unfortunately. I remember it was very busy as a class was about to begin that day, but the associate told me she would put everything in the computer. She was actually very nice, and was offering this to me because we had so many unused classes. I thought, ‘how nice of her to give us an opportunity to use missed classes!‘
When I got charged for the following month, I called the office right away. Bianca (the manager?) informed me that I would need to come in person to cancel (I already did that!), and that she had no record of my attempt to cancel (not my problem). She also said she wanted to ‘investigate the matter more’ and continued to call and email me with a bunch of ridiculous questions. Bianca never once apologized for this huge inconvenience. Regardless, I am a very busy full time working mom, and don’t have time to «investigate» how her team did not properly take care of a customer. If they misplaced forms, did not enter things correctly, and/​or told the customer they would do something that they did not, then it is their responsibility to fix it in a timely manner. This has been a time consuming issue, and shows that this location is actually more interested in trying to ‘trap’ customers into membership fees THAT THEY WILL NOT USE, instead of just making them happy, encouraging positive word of mouth, and opening the door to joining more classes when their schedule is more open.
Additionally, it goes without saying that it is beyond disappointing when a customer comes in (in person I might add) to cancel their account, and actually ends up getting finangled into being charged for yet another month they will not use! Anyone who has any sense of making customer service a priority, knows what the right thing to do in this situation is.
I will be posting this review on ALL Gymboree sites in the bay area so that everyone knows how Gymboree handles cancellations. I definitely feel obligated to inform others.
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STAY AWAY FROM GYMBOREE TO NOT GET RIPPED OFF!!! They charged me 3 months membership fee, 3*$ 75, for classes we did not attend at all, and did not refund us any penny. The most ridiculous thing is on Sat I called them to cancel membership for the coming month and they said yes and the membership was cancelled. On Monday called the store, the manager even confirmed that the membership was cancelled. But on the same day, I was charged another $ 75. Next day called them the manager Beth again, she completely denied what she said one day ago, and insisted that to cancel membership, parents have to either come to the store and sign a form, or email them a form 7 days in advance. How ridiculous. They just came up with all the excuses to rip you and get your money. STAY AWAY FROM GYMBOREE OR AT LEAST THE FREMONT STORE!!!

I just enrolled my child in Play and Learn and she is loving it. She is anxious around a lot of people so it is a way for her to get around other kids and adults. I’m excited about how sweet and kind the staff are and how she is going to develop through the challenges they give the kids in class. I might enroll her in a second class too! Beth and Monet are fantastic. Open Gym was awesome too. We will try to go to as many as we can!

Today my son just ‘graduated’ from the Gymboree Play & Music Program. He has been enrolled with Fremont Gymboree since he was 22 months and he is now 5 yrs. I applaud the staff for all their hard work and dedication to all the children who come through. I have seen the development in my son and he has loved the activities through the years even at the preschool level.
I absolutely love their flexible make-​up policy. Because we are frequent travelers, it was fitting for us to be a part of the program because you can always make it up in so many diverse ways by even choosing other days, times and from art, music to the play and learn classes. Especially during the times the kids get colds ie. it’s easy to stay at home knowing you can make it up. I have also been a part of other programs of the city and we have stayed with Gymboree because we know that there is a place we can always go to.
As a piece of advice, if you are new to Gymboree or inquiring about it and it seems a little crowded in the lobby before you are helped, just know that you happened to come at a transition time and that there are parents picking up and dropping off their children and to wait 10 minutes to let it all die down and you will get all your questions answered!
It’s also nice that the Teachers there have been there for quite sometime and the turn around is low (although we have seen some teachers come and go). I love the manager, Beth, and she has seen my son grow from a baby to now a preschooler. Kuddos to Teacher Shanda, Tanya, Heather and all the staff — Thank you for all you have done!

Both my boys love it here!!! I love this place!!! It is a very welcoming and safe environment for my boys to explore and just have fun.
My almost 5 has been going since he was 8 months old and my almost 2 year old since he was 6 months. We have done the regular gym class, music class and art class. All of which were awesome and very age appropriate. My 5 year old has had many and different teachers during his whole stay here but ALL of them, teacher Beth is his favorite :), have been wonderful, caring, nurturing and just pleasant to be around with.
Parents have to remember that this is a Mommy/​Daddy and me class. You have to supervise your own child at all times. The teacher is there to introduce and facilitate the activities. I have seen them trying to engage and involve the children in each and every activity.
For the price, you get a weekly class; play gyms that are offered 4 days a week at different times to meet the parents schedule and a very flexible make up policy.

Will not be going back here again! WASTED MY MONEY AT THIS PLACE. The teachers are HORRIBLE! As another reviewer mentioned they are like Robots. They are NOT kid Friendly, rude, mean. Infact The teacher Beth made my kid cry. and shes supposed to be the Manager there. my friend tried it out at same time as me and didnt like it as well mostly because of the teachers and the people who work there. and i see so many other reviewers also complaining about the same thing. the free play times are super chaos. honestly save ur money and try the mommy and me classes with city of fremont. regerec. they honestly have much better quality teachers that are actually good with kids! and they arent always trying to sell you stuff as they do that gymboree.

Never had to Unilocal before. But we had such a bad experience that I felt like I had to. Their customer service initially was good. But last year they added some not so good staff members. They charged me for many months after canceling. They wouldn’t give me a refund. They told me i could make up a few classes. But when I showed up with my daughter exited and ready to join they told me it is full. And actually always full. Very insensitive with their behavior toward my toddler. They are like robots. They were very insensitive ., made my daughter feel very unwelcome. Very negative experience. There is one teacher who consistently had been good. But the Saturday class teacher very insensitive with my 3 year old daughter.

My son loves Gymboree! We have taken the level 3 play class with Stephanie and try to go to open gym as much as possible. My son really enjoys going and has a lot of fun! I have seen his gross motor skills advance since going to Gymboree and I enjoy seeing his interact with other children and parents. All of the teachers that I’ve met there have been friendly and loving with the kids. Shout outs to: Stephanie & Shaunda they are great!!! My son is ready to move up to level 4 and although we are sad we won’t have Stephanie as our teacher we are happy Shaunda has some :) POPPIN BUBBLES AT GYMBOREE!

Our daughter attended from 9 mos to 29 mos — Play&Learn, Open Gym, Music and Art classes. The «teachers» for the classes are very engaged, supremely patient, and allow room for the tots to have fun (aka making a mess!). The variety of the play structures makes for a different experience each week and of course the interaction with the kiddos is the best part of it all. We had to end our membership to accommodate pre-​school costs/​schedule, but we take away a lot of fun memories.
Thanks to all sweet teachers who were also very helpful scheduling make-​ups, last minute walk-​in requests, Gymbo stamps on hands, feet and tummies… and responding to all the questions us neurotic parents have!

Okay I normally do not write reviews but I opened an account just to write a review for this facility. My daughter Had Gymboree classes in Sunnyvale, but I got tired of driving 30 plus minutes to her classes from Milpitas, so I went in for the free class to see how it was. It was awful!!! I will continue to drive an extra 20 plus minutes back and forth & keep my daughter in the Sunnyvale class, for MANY reasons which I will state.
First off, there are NO seats, and the cubby holes for your stuff are too small. You can not fit your shoes, your kids shoes, and your purse in the cubby. Also where do you sit to put on & take off your shoes, and your kids shoes? On the table? On the small bench that is too low for an adult, and the ledge sticks out going into your back? Just Awful. The person did not really greet me (an Indian lady) bad customer service, so I went up to her to explain I was here for the free class to see if I liked it. She had me fill out some paperwork, when I asked her if there was a place to sit she said no and rolled her eyes, and she did not give me a sticker, so I filled a name sticker out myself. The class was FILTHY, Glitter was all over the play mats and toys were rolled under tables, and the equipment looked like it needed to be re-​stained & repainted (kinda overused!) Also a lot of the toys were broken, and the parachute was pilling, and had stains on it. The music they were playing wasn’t really age appropriate, it was like polka dance music (weird)) instead of gymbo dance music. What I hated, was for the 10 month children the setup of the equipment (which changes from week to week) was set up way too advanced. Basically some of them were 4 feet off of the ground and they were like okay have your 10 month old climb the ladder? Uhhh Seriously? I have been to other classes where they are interactive, sing, say the kids names over and over, introduce members in the group, share what’s the babies favorite place to go when it’s raining etc. There’s also a lot of one on one time in Sunnyvale and the teachers will go around to help and explain how to play each lesson, unlike the Fremont location. The lady rushed through the beginning with one quick song then it was like okay go play. Most importantly the main reasons were not even what I stated so far. There was only one teacher to like 2 dozen kids at Fremont. The Sunnyvale location there are 2 – 3 teachers to like 10 kids. In Sunnyvale they clean the toys after every class, which in Fremont everything was FILTHY, also the toys are not broken in Sunnyvale. There are seats at the Sunnyvale location, bigger cubby holes for all your belongings and best of all the… PRICING!!! In Fremont it costs $ 110 for unlimited classes, or $ 74 for only once a week. Where as, in Sunnyvale «unlimited classes» where you can bring your kid every single day is only $ 74 a month, so you get way more for your money, oh and they also have more classes in one day so if you miss a Wed morning class you can go to a Wed afternoon class in Sunnyvale and it’s really worth it. So DO NOT go to Fremont Gymboree, it is awful, go to the Sunnyvale Gymboree even if you have to drive farther ~ trust me you will thank me for it!

This is a nice set of classes to participate in, but it’s kinda pricey for $ 75/​month. Also, my husband and I have come to realize that it’s hard for us to make it to a weekly class due to our schedules!
I wish they had a pay-​as-​you-​go option. I took out one star b/​c they essentially do the same thing each week. The activities may vary a tiny bit, but it’s essentially the same songs with the same movements EACH AND EVERY WEEK!
I took out a 2^nd star b/​c sometimes the class size is waaaay too big. They should limit it to 10 kids or less or else you end up paying $ 75/​month for an indoor play gym.
That said, the teachers are nice and the place is clean.

Stopped in to get information on their programs. 1 star because the place looked clean.
First impressions are important and Gymboree failed here in terms of customer service. The employee (blonde with a ponytail and I think glasses) was helping a customer, introducing her to the programs. At first it was just myself in line and then someone else cam along. The employee didn’t take a quick second to stop and greet us. She kept talking and talking… which was great for the person she was helping, but that person also had alot of questions. It would have been nice and professional if the employee had the common courtesy to say «Hi, thank you for waiting, I’ll be right with you.» If I were her I would have even handed a list of the programs for me to look at while I was waiting for my turn. But she didn’t do that at all. I HATE poor customer service especially when it comes to common sense things. There was another girl, I believe her name was Heather from what I overheard. She was on her way out, I guess her shift was over, but she should have greeted us as well and offered us a brochure to look at while waiting.
I would have loved to check this place out for my son, but with the poor customer service off the bat, sorry.

We’ve been to many preschool programs in the Fremont area, and I’d have to say that this is probably one of my least favorite places to come. However, to be fair, my daughter did enjoy coming here, but not enough to want to come back once our month was up. One of the biggest reasons she didn’t want to come back is because of the «scary clown» — but I’ll get more into that later.
We’ll start off with what we did like with Gymboree:
1. It’s pretty clean in there and very kid centric. When a mess was made, the teachers would swoop down and get it cleaned up immediately. The bathroom was clean and the play area was always neat.
2. As many had said, they are lenient about make ups. This is great if you’re busy and need to reschedule.
3. The package we got for the month came with drop in play times that’s available 3 times a week. There’s no teacher to run the show then, but it’s not a big deal — it’s like taking your kid to an indoor park.
4. Groupon makes a month of classes super cheap. We didn’t have to pay enrollment, and the class prices were cut a little over half off.
Unfortunately, there’s a lot we didn’t like about Gymboree:
1. Fairly apathetic teachers. While they did interact with the kids, they really seem to be just «going through the motions». In our class (3 year old class), our teacher really didn’t have control over the kids, and while she seemed to be trying hard to connect with the kids, she really didn’t. Our teacher seemed like a robot most of the time who was just reciting the same crap class after class. I can safely say she did not seem to be enjoying her time here.
2. The class is really repetitive «controlled chaos». While I’m all for doing some of the same things each week, I did not expect to do the EXACT same thing for about a month. Even the story book at story time was the same — for a month. Come on now… that’s just silly. The activities will not change, either.
3. On a similar note, each activity lasts roughly 5 minutes long, then the teacher dismisses us to «do whatever» until the next activity. I timed how long «free time» is each time — it’s roughly 30 seconds before the next activity. Now, this isn’t a problem, unless you let your kid actually go do something else. It takes another few minutes to get the kids in order for the next activity, if they actually follow — about half the class will make it to next activity. The other kids will just run around.
4. Don’t count on anything majorly academic. This is play based learning only. In all honesty, it’s pretty much like going to an indoor playground where you feel obligated to talk to the other parents. No worksheets, crayons projects, etc.
5. You will be bombarded with gymboree. From 1−2−3 gymboree chants, to Jimbo the clown, it’s all about advertising! Thanks, but no thanks. My daughter didn’t really care to get hugged by Jimbo, either. There’s something about having a huge stuffed clown practically chasing you down to hug him that freaks some kids out. My kid now refers Gymboree as the «scary clown class».
That said, there are a lot of other alternatives to Gymboree, especially for the older toddlers. The City of Fremont has great programs with awesome teachers, there are a lot of skill specific programs out there (we tried out a few gymnastic classes in the area which are fun, more focused, and a lot cheaper than Gymboree), and there are a lot great playgrounds in the area. While my daughter did have fun, she did express that she liked other classes better. I can see why.

My daughter likes this place. We have fun together here. Its very fun and interactive, but I must say, for $ 75/​mo, kinda pricey.
DEFINITE PRO: they are pretty generous with their make up policy, so at least I don’t worry about not getting my money’s worth when missing a class.

If you have a little one and have money to spare, this place is perfect for them. I have a 11 month old and have just signed him up for the remainder of the summer. He enjoys it so much that I had to spend the money here. The reason why I docked it one star was because the pricing may seem a little unreasonable. And it may be this way for the particular age group class that I signed up for
The summer 2010 pricing goes as follows: $ 35 one time membership fee, $ 75 a month for a class a week. So you’re paying $ 75 for 4 classes a month. Or another option is to pay $ 110 a month and you’re guaranteed 4 classes a month (1 per week) but you can wait list for the others that you want to attend. I signed up for the $ 110 option since i have the rest of the summer off and can wait list the remainder of the classes, but I have not yet tried and am not sure how easy it is to get into a class. I will update that when the summer ends.
All in all, your child will love it. My son doesn’t even look for me when he’s there. He just cruises around and socializes with other babies.