“On the 5th floor above Bowlmor, Carnival’s a cavernous, adultified take on the traditional chaotic fairground, with big top tent-evoking strips of red/yellow/black fabric soaring over a dual-sided bar featuring giant spinning pinwheels; a spacious main room w/ wall-to-wall game booths; and a soundproof “Fun House” dance room (with candy colored bottle service booths and constantly changing LED floor tiles) accessed through the mouth of an enormous crazed clown…”

“But Carnival at Bowlmor Lanes, which opened last month on University Place, is not just any club; it owes more to the memory of P. T. Barnum than Steve Rubell. With 16,000 square feet of wire walkers, sword swallowers and Coney Island-style games like ring toss and goldfish pong, it’s a working carnival within the confines of a nightclub…”

“Perched atop Bowlmor Lanes, this just-opened hot spot brings the best of Vegas’s retina-burning flash to Manhattan (with a nod to Coney Island’s dearly departed Astroland)…”

“Coney Island has come to Union Square – minus the cyclone, but with cocktail waitresses in a dunk tank, bottle service at the dance floor and, best of all, a covered roof for year-round carousing.
Welcome to Carnival, so far the most amusing 21st-century fun zone to open in the Big Apple. By day, it’s a playground for kids of all ages. After the sun sets, it morphs into a new nightclub as unique as Tho Box was when it opened in early 2007…”

“To put it mildly, Union Square newbie Carnival lives up to its name.
Food takes the form of penny candies and snow cones. The dance floor is tucked inside a clown-mouth funhouse. a row of old-school games sit poised near the bar. Circus-style performers take the stage on a regular basis.
“This place really brings out your inner child,” bartender Sarah Shanfield, 22, said about Carnival, which is located above another nostalgia-inducing spot Bowlmor Lanes…”