When KidMania announced in September that it was closing its Plano location, it thanked customers for "summers, weekends, snow days and evenings," Local Profile reported. The indoor playground at 7252 Chase Oaks Blvd. had run for 13 years. The company now operates only its Fort Worth location at 9101 Tehama Ridge Parkway.
This will be the first Thanksgiving break and the first winter break in more than a decade without it. Its role is passing to a handful of venues. Each is built for a narrower age group and each opens on its own date, spread across the city from Independence Parkway to Alma Drive. Planning a cold Saturday this winter means matching the venue to the child's age and then checking whether it is open that week.
The calendar, from now through spring
Here is the order, using the dates each business or filing has given.
- Open now. Diggers Cove, an indoor sand playground at 7200 Independence Parkway, Ste. 238, opened Sept. 4. BearBit ClawMaster, a claw-machine arcade at 2001 Coit Road, Ste. 310, opened July 24.
- Saturday, Nov. 28. Kitty Corner cat lounge, 915 W. Parker Road, Ste. 315, plans a limited-capacity public opening two days after Thanksgiving.
- Dec. 7. This is the construction finish date in Chuck E. Cheese's filing for an Adventure World playground at 801 W. 15th St.
- Dec. 10. 2nd & Charles is set to open its first North Texas store at 1601 Preston Road, Ste. H.
- Dec. 11. Kitty Corner's grand opening.
- Spring 2027. RC World, a new indoor playground, is going into KidMania's former space on Chase Oaks Boulevard.
Big Air Trampoline Park also belongs on this list. It is going into the former Joann at 700 Alma Drive, Ste. 119, and its Plano page is the place to check for the opening date and hours.
Ten and under: Diggers Cove is open now
Diggers Cove is the one new play space that is open and fully documented right now, and it is built for young children. Owner Saira Waheed told Community Impact that it is open to children ages 10 and under. It has four zones: a large sand pit, an animated sandbox, an interactive creative wall, and a remote-control construction zone where kids move sand with small machines. The company describes its sand as silica-free and dust-free.
A few house rules shape the visit:
- Sessions are two hours and reserved. A reservation guarantees entry. Walk-ins get in only if the session has room, and they get only the time left in that session.
- Pricing is per child. It is $19.99 for the first child and $17.99 for each sibling, plus tax. Two adults per family are included, and each extra adult is $5. The pricing page calls these introductory rates, so check them before you book.
- No socks. Everyone plays barefoot, and every guest signs a waiver.
- Hours run late on weekends. Monday through Thursday it is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Friday through Sunday 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The walk-in rule matters most during Thanksgiving week and winter break, when school is out and every two-hour slot can fill. Booking a session ahead is the difference between getting in and waiting for whatever time is left.
Chuck E. Cheese's Adventure World concept aims at an even narrower group. Local Profile reported a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing to turn an existing retail space at 801 W. 15th St. into an 18,000-square-foot indoor playground for ages 3 to 8. The plans include multilevel climbing structures, slides, tunnels, a mini soccer court, and a light-up dance floor. There are no height limits, so parents can climb along with their kids. North Texas's first Adventure World opened in Arlington in November 2025.
Older kids and the whole family: the former Joann on Alma
For children past the sand-pit years, the largest new space in the city is Big Air. The company describes the Plano location as more than 25,000 square feet. Its attractions include an extreme trampoline dodgeball court, an airtrack sports court, air bag zones, a gauntlet obstacle course, a Valo Arena, BattleBeam, and toddler play areas. It will be Big Air's first location in Dallas-Fort Worth. The other Texas parks are in Houston and Missouri City.
KidMania's old space on Chase Oaks is 15,586 square feet, according to the state filing for its replacement. Big Air alone has more than 25,000 square feet, about 60 percent more floor than the playground that closed. Its list runs from toddler zones to dodgeball, so it covers the widest age span of any venue here.
BearBit ClawMaster on Coit Road fills a smaller, shorter visit. It is a claw-machine arcade with interactive games and animal-themed soft serve, the kind of stop that fits between errands.
Every age: a bookstore and a cat lounge in December
Two of the December openings have no age limit. They are useful when cousins of different ages, or grandparents, come along.
2nd & Charles is a 25,000-square-foot store that buys, sells, and trades used books, video games, consoles, movies, CDs, toys, and collectibles. You can trade items in for cash or store credit. Scott Kappler, the company's executive vice president of operations, told Community Impact that the trade model "creates a store that feels different every time you walk in" and called it "a place for readers, gamers, collectors and families to spend an afternoon." The Plano store is the company's first in North Texas. Its other Texas stores are in Beaumont, Lubbock, and Conroe. With a Dec. 10 opening, it arrives in time for kids to trade in old games before the holidays.
Kitty Corner, on West Parker Road, will have adoptable cats through a partnership with a local rescue, plus claw machines, blind boxes, a photo booth, and themed events. Co-founder McKenna Campsey told Community Impact the space is for "cat lovers of all ages." Its two mascots, Midnight and Toshi, are shelter cats. Because the Nov. 28 opening is limited-capacity, the Dec. 11 grand opening, with planned activities, promotions, and giveaways, is the first full-scale day. Watch its Instagram for hours.
Why so many of them are in old stores
The map has a pattern. Big Air is building inside the former Joann craft and fabric store on Alma Drive. Adventure World's filing calls for converting an existing retail space on West 15th Street. 2nd & Charles needs 25,000 square feet for a single store. Indoor play takes large, open, single-tenant floors, and Plano has been freeing up exactly that kind of space as older retail tenants leave.
The state filings also show how differently these spaces are being built. RC World's filing for the KidMania space lists an interior finish-out of 15,586 square feet at an estimated $400,000. That works out to roughly $26 per square foot. Adventure World's 18,000-square-foot conversion is estimated at $850,000, roughly $47 per square foot. The first is reusing a building that was already a playground. The second is turning a store into one, and the cost difference fits that.
Spring 2027: a playground back on Chase Oaks
The KidMania building will not stay a former playground for long. RC World plans what its site calls a premium indoor playground with "castle adventures and candy inspired fun," a whimsical fantasy town, dedicated spaces for toddlers, and a café serving specialty coffee, matcha, and sweets. Birthday planners get six themed party rooms and one larger room. The site says spring 2027. The state filing lists construction starting Oct. 1, 2026, with an estimated completion date of June 1, 2027.
That leaves this winter as the gap season. On the coldest days, Diggers Cove covers the youngest kids now, and the December openings fill in the rest one date at a time. On mild days, the trail system beyond the loop at Oak Point Park is still free. When it gets dark early, the holiday light shows take over the evenings.
At Katie Chu Group, we follow what moves into Plano's commercial spaces as closely as the homes around them, because a new tenant in an old store changes how a neighborhood's weekends go. If you're weighing a move across town or relocating to Plano and want to know what is opening near a particular street, schedule a consultation and we'll walk you through it.
