Sycamore Park

The Sycamore Park is located between Lewis and Eastwood Southwood, you can get to it by heading south on Trabuco Road and then make a left on Remington, the park will be right in front of you. The Sycamore Park is quite big, however, the playground only consists of two play structures for toddlers and kids. There is no dedicated parking to this park so you will have to find street parking.

Not a lot of traffic to this playground. We were there on a weekday afternoon/evening, but only 5 kids around and after 15 mins of playing, we're the only family left. 

The first thing you will notice of the Sycamore Park playground is that, the play structures' colors are very odd. If you view them from afar, you almost can't tell there is a playground. The play structures only has three colors: blue, green and brown in different shades. What happen to the typical bright red and yellow? Who approve these dull colors on the children play structure? I guess we will never find out.

Beside that, the play structures are actually very well maintain. The 2 to 5 toddler play structure has one half turn slide, two staircases (one plastic one metal) and one climb bar. I applaud to whoever decided the toddlers need more than two ways to get on the platform, but with only one way down (the half turn slide), I'm not sure if that's the best way to design a toddler play structure.

I would also like to give a thumbs up on the big umbrella shade on top of both play structures. It's very thoughtful and really think of the children (and parents who is standing guard next to the structure) who are playing under the relentless California sun.

An interesting observation: the slide is actually about 3-4 inches higher than the platform. Not sure why they do it this way, but my daughter (2yo as of writing) was having a hard time to get into the slide (because toddler usually sit down on the platform and then slowly move forward to the slide, as oppose to adults who usually put their feet into the slide and then sit down), and because of that, she actually prefers the slide over at the 5 to 12 play structure.

The 5 to 12 play structure consists of two slides: a pair of straight down and a full spinal, with one staircase, one rock climb, one climb bar and one monkey bar to get onto the platform.

The play structure is very well layout, and multiple ways of getting onto the platform is definitely a nice touch. The slides on this play structure do not suffer the same "higher than platform" problem and my daughter enjoyed this more than slide on the 2 to 5 play structure. Both slides are quite steep and down speed can be really fast.

Next to the play structures, there are also a balance beam, two sets of swings and an up-side-down merry-go-around. 

One of the complains that I would like to point out here is, the sand is quite dirty. The sand quality is good, but there are a lot of debris from the trees and grasses surrounding the playground. Of course this is not a sandbox and I shouldn't expect too much from it, but I'm sure other kids will just playing with the sand no matter what, so I hope that the sand could be cleaner.

Pro: quite area, few traffic, new-ish play structure, umbrella shade on both structures

Con: strange choice of colors, no dedicated parking, dirty sand

Plaza Park

Plaza Park that is located at the corner of Warner Avenue and Paseo Westpark, which is just about two blocks from Culver Drive (Google map at the end of the post). A typical playground layout that breaks into two sections: a wooden castle structure for younger age while a plastic/metal play structure next to it for older kids. Both structures features stairs and slides. There are also a spring horse, two kid size swings and a seesaw that can fits four people.

The playground has a car park adjacent to it, which is very convenient for parents. During weekend day time there are quite a lot of activities on the big soccer field nearby, so if you're thinking to park there, be aware.

Traffic to the playground is not too bad. We were there on a weekend around evening time and only about 6 kids (that's about 3-4 families) were there playing.

The wooden castle structure has two wide walkways for kids to walk into the castle, but climb up to the tower and the slides would be quite difficult for toddlers since the steps are quite high. However, what worry me most is the condition of the structure. Since it's sitting on top of the sand area, obviously whoever walks into the castle from the sand area will bring in a lot of sand onto the surface of the structure, and because of that, plus the foot traffic, the wood surfaces on the structure have been worn out badly and I worry that tiny wood chip will cut my daughter's finger.

The plastic/metal play structure has two staircases, and two climb bars to get onto the structure platform, with a full spinal slide and a half spinal slide on either end, plus the two lookout "windows". The staircases are unprotected (not a complete handrail) so toddlers will have a little bit difficult time to get up. My daughter (2yo as of writing) seems to enjoy the full spinal slide more than the half spinal slide side. The speed is definitely quick on the full spinal slide so watch out for that.

The plastic/metal play structure also suffers from the same problem its wooden friend has. The paint on the metal handle, especially the top coating, is mostly gone, and even the top plastic layer on the plastic balls on the structure is gone.

 

Another problem on the playground is the condition of the sand and the landing ground. I'm not sure if I can call that sand anymore since the particles are so big, I would consider those "dried soil" than fine sand. Of course those areas probably never consider to be a sand pool to begin with, but I'm sure all the kids who play there will try to play with it and assume those are sand. Surprisingly, although the sand is rough, the area is generally clean and doesn't have a lot of debris from the surrounding trees and grasses.

While the sand is rough, the soft-mat surface that the playground is standing on is even rougher. You can see the big crack on the photo on the left, which is very likely caused by the long exposure of the California dry nice weather. However, this is no excuse for the park to be in this condition.

Irvine thrives on high level of living standard and well maintain public facilities, but I fail to see it in the Plaza Park playground. I hope the city and the community can work together and renovate the playground.



Pro: parking spot nearby, convenient location, not too busy, quite area, restroom nearby

Con: lack of maintenance/poor condition on the playground facilities, lack of toddlers play facilities.