The Long-Awaited New Jacobson Park

UPDATE as of 9/11/16: We went to play at Jacobson Park this morning and found that a lot of the previous issues were finally fixed (whew!). The fence was around the entire structure so you don't have to worry about your kid running into the lake while you look away for one second. But, I did notice that there are some gaps by the bridges that don't have posts, so a child could still go through those. But, they are a decent distance from the water so you should have about 10 seconds before the splash (see below).

The other great update is that the gaps in the boardwalk are finally fixed! So, there isn't a chance that they will end up in swimming with the ducks from falling through there. My son is totally fixated on playing with the larger play structure, and I have to say, this thing freaks the heck out of me. It is so darn high! It is about 7.5-8 feet off the ground, which makes for a really large fall if your kiddo tries to climb down and slips. Or, just steps off the end, like my son loves to attempt. And, boy are those larger slides fast! The old wooden structure still just has the first floor open, with no updates to when they will be opening the second floor. So, some great safety updates that we have been waiting for.

UPDATE: We headed over August 7th and I am happy to report some of the problems being in the process of being fixed. There were posts up for a fence behind the bigger kid swings to stop them from running in the water. Also, it appears that the second floor of the older wooden structure is going to be open at some point. There was a sign there that said it was closed for further renovation. Not sure why they didn't finish it at the same time as the rest, but okay.

However, there are still huge concerns with the boardwalk missing posts. This time, I saw an area that was missing two posts, which created a hole big enough for a kid to go through and into the water in a second. Seriously, who allowed this? And, while we were there, I saw a ton of dead fish floating around the water near the shore. Yuck.

Lastly, a new concern I had was with the rain water sitting in the ditches that run under the bridges. It is just old, nasty stagnant water sitting there almost pleading for a toddler to come over and stomp in. I am sure the place will be pretty heavy with mosquitos due to this. And, please be careful with your toddler on the taller climbing structure. We went up there this time and it was pretty cool, but had about a million open areas for kids to fall. And, my kiddo is really into pushing his boundaries with these holes. Cue heart attack.

As of August 1st, Jacobson Park is now open. It looks like they are still doing some work on it and fine-tuning, but you can go and play there as of now. This park is located off of Richmond Road. The park is huge and has a large lake that you can fish in, paddle boats for rent, a dog park and a large playground. As you may remember, the old Jacobson Park was an all-wood structure that was very similar to Shillito Park. But, the city decided it needed to be redone and it has been closed for most of the summer. The play area is to the left when you drive into the park. Continue down the road until you see the playground on your right. There is ample parking, although it can be crowded during the weekend when the weather is nice. Bathrooms are located across the boardwalk by the paddle boats. Which is a bit of a haul when you have a kid potty-training and that already waits until the very last minute for a bathroom break. There is a water fountain and a part that fills water bottles (super cool!).

The new park is pretty nice and definitely the most handicapped friendly in the city. It has two of the Expression swings (where you and a baby swing together-see picture below), ramps up to the slides and structures, and a swing chair. They also have baby swings, regular swings, an orbit swing, a merry-go-round, and a hammock . The park has a lot of natural elements with tree stumps to step on and trees to sit on. It is definitely a pretty play area. The walkways are rubber, so falls on here will not take skin off knees or elbows for your early walkers or runners. The rest of the area is wooden mulch. There is some shade around the playground with trees and covered areas (see the picture below), but it is mainly sun. There are picnic tables between the two play areas and they are in the shade but there aren't many of them.

There is a play structure for younger kids with slides and a few different play things to turn and move. My son loves moving around the wheel, puzzle and x and o play things.

The larger structure is behind the old-school wooden tower. And, it is pretty high up! It also has a ramp to it, but we didn't head up there, so not sure how the setup is up there. But,the slides look pretty darn cool and fast. There are also a lot of things to play on under this structure. You can also climb up a net in the middle to get to the top of the larger play area.

So, there is a lot to do at this park. And, some really new and interesting things too. We saw lots of kids here and they were all having a great time moving around.

The things I didn't like about this park:

1. There isn't very good sight lines at all between the two structures unless you are standing off to the side between the two play areas. I don't think you could see the smaller one if you are on the larger one and vise-versa. So, not great for people with multiple kids.

2. There is a serious safety issue with no fencing behind the larger play area (see above picture). There is a nice fence by the smaller kid area, but just a temporary fencing behind the larger one. Not sure if they are still working on it and putting it in, but right now, it is enough to give every parent a heart attack. My son ran right for the water today and I had a hard time keeping him out of it.

3. There are also some safety issues with the boardwalk. My son has always loved walking on it and standing on it and looking at the ducks. It has been needing a bit of a re-do and I was hoping that they would put some work into it before the park opened. But, there are some rungs missing and they are easily wide enough for my toddler to fit through and fall right into the water (see below).

4. The old structure from the old park is pretty much a waste. You cannot climb up it like you used to be able to which is sad. I was excited to hear they were keeping parts from the old park, but they are pretty much just to look at. Which is not really worth it.

By the ducks is a water pipe feature that you can put your ear to and hear the water moving through. My son was too busy chasing the ducks, but it looks pretty neat.

So, there you go! It is pretty neat, new playground and has some interesting features. However, both times I took my son here, he didn't really play long at all before wanting to go. Not sure why that was, but some playgrounds just aren't for him I guess. He is always much more excited by the boardwalk and the ducks. Which is great, because we always go home with a shoe full of duck poop. Yuck...