Unexpected Adventures at Apex (Virginia Beach)

Sometimes when things don’t go according to your original plan they end up working out even better. That was the case with my most recent weekend laser tag travels. While I had set out early Thursday morning bound for Charlotte, NC (the location for this past weekend’s Tag 4 A Cause), anyone following the news can see that right now airline travel is full of unexpected surprises. The long story VERY short is that instead of landing in North Carolina, I ended up re-routing to Richmond, VA where I rented a car and drove through three states, having unplanned adventures at 15 laser tag arenas before finally arriving in Charlotte to host the event.

In a way, this worked out even better than I had hoped because on the first night of the journey it put me in reasonable proximity to pay a visit to Apex Entertainment in Virginia Beach, which is a site I have been wanting to visit ever since they opened at the end of 2020. And with this stop it looks like airplanes will play a role in my day from start to finish!

I dropped an email to Anne Marie moments before I boarded my unexpected flight with my new itinerary and by the time I had landed, the local Apex team had responded with arrangements for my visit. I arrived just in time to meet up with floor manager Shar and get into the final game of the night!

I was led down a fully mural-decorated hallway that set the scene for what I would find in the arena.

What struck me about this arena first was the aesthetic. It was clearly built by a completely different arena designer than the other Apex locations that I have been to (which all feature CW builds). I am a big fan of the more photo-realistic art styling on these walls.

This one is comparatively quite unique, but also includes the one characteristic I consistently appreciate seeing at Apex arenas…a nod to the local region. In this case, that is reflected in the homage to the naval/military history of the area that provides the inspiration for the theming inside this approximately 4800 square foot arena.

One of the most distinctive decorative props would have to be the suspended airplane which appears to be flying just overhead.

Base housings have been designed to correlate with the theme.

And there were a number of re-taggable targets positioned on structures on the raised level platform in the center. While not a true double level arena, this does add some nice variety to make the space feel larger.

I definitely enjoyed this game of Laserforce inside the Task Force Blue arena.

Following the game, Shar gave me a tour of the other attractions featured at Apex Virginia Beach including an impressive ropes course along with escape rooms, mini golf, axe throwing and sports simulators. They also had some staple attractions like bowling, bumper cars and arcade as well, but the ropes course is the one that immediately catches your eye!

I was quite impressed with my visit to Apex Entertainment of Virginia Beach. As unexpected detours go, this was a really great way to end my first day of travel and I enjoyed finally getting to check out the fourth Apex Entertainment location.