"Mountain View & Bethany Drive" Park

This small community park is located between Mountain View and Bethany Dr in the Turtle Rock Community. You can get to this by heading east on Campus Drive, make a right on Turtle Rock Drive and then right again on Emporia. The park will be right in front of you.

We stumbled on this little quite park when we're searching for another park that was recommended by one of our friends. We couldn't find what we were originally looking for, so instead we took the chance and tried this park.

There are two play structures in this park, however, without the proper specification, I could only guess that one is for 2 to 5 while the other one is for 5 to 12. The very first thing I noticed of these two play structures are how "unique" they look. They definitely do not look like the typical play structures that we found in other city parks. 

The 2 to 5 play structure has two ladders, one staircases and one climbing tube. There are also two sets of slides: one 90 degree turn slide and one dual slide. The play structure breaks into two sections and are interconnected with a bridge. The climbing tube is definitely something I've never seen before. It's actually quite interesting because at first I thought the tube is a slide, however, after I discovered a step is installed within the tube surface, I realized it is a climbing tube instead of a slide. Unfortunately, the tube opening is extremely high and in no way a toddlers, or any kids before 5 could possibly climb onto it without the help of an adult. This seems like a big oversight on the design of the play structure.

The 5 to 12 play structure has one monkey bar, one ladder, one staircases and one rock climbing wall to get on the platform. From there, the only way down is either the tube slide or the pole. Play activity is limited to a single metal steering wheel which looks like an afterthought more than part of the design. It's interesting to see that there's no real slide on this play structure except the tube slide. Do they think bigger kid enjoy tube slide more than open slide? :)

There are four swings, two for toddler and two for bigger kid. There are also one spring horse that is made to look like, or actually is a tire, which from my point of view is quite cool.

We arrived this park on a late evening weekend so it's hard to determine if the park is busy or not during weekday after school hours. However, judging from two problems I saw in this park, I would say this park has very little traffic.

First and most important, the play structures in this park are dirty. Not only do they cover with dirt and dust and leaves, some of them are also coated with bird droppings, which actually is a health hazard. Second, the supposingly sand pool that the play structures is sitting on, turned into a solid ground and has some plants grow out of it. To me, this means that no kids (or very few) has been playing in the field to loosen up the sand and the sand slowly compact into its current form. These two problems indicate that the park has not seen much foot traffic for a very long time.

I talked to few friends about the park situation, they all said that Turtle Rock is an old community and this is not uncommon. I think this is a valid argument, however, it's not an excuse to have the park in this poor stage. So what that the community residents' age is higher than other? Their kids, grandkids, or even great-grandkids can still come visit and enjoy the parks if they're well maintain. It's always sad to see a park for kids in this kind of situation and left to...... "died". I hope the Turtle Rock community will consider put in some efforts to these community parks and bring them back to life.

Pro: quiet neighborhood/area, non-exist park traffic, never before seen tube slide

Con: Poor condition, dirty facilities, unattractive play structures, street parking

Cypress Community Park

The Cypress Community Park is located on Visions, just one block down from Jeffery Road. You head northbound on Jeffery Road, make a right turn on Roosevelt, and then another right turn on Visions, the park will be on you right side. Pull into the parking lot and make a left and you will see the park. Cypress Village is a fairly new community in Irvine. So as expected, the facilities are also quite new.

The playground consists of two play structures: one for 5 to 12 and the other one for 2 to 5. There is a climb structure near the 5 to 12 structure that looks almost like a real rock climbing wall. The park also has four swings (two for toddlers and two for adults), three seesaws (two short and one regular size), and two excavators sitting on the sand pool.

There are four entry points on the 2 to 5 play structure: one staircases, one climbing blocks, one ladder and one plastic rock climber, however, there is only one dual slide for the toddlers to get down. This post the same question that I have on the Sycamore Park: who think this is a good idea to have so many entry points but only one slide to get out? This will be a automatic traffic jam epcicenter if we're talking about LA freeway. :)

The play structure doesn't have much extra activity. The only two choices are the wheel on the platform, or the table under the platform so they can play with the sand pool that's right next to the structure.

The 5 to 12 play structure has even more entry points compare to the 2 to 5, includes two staircases, two ladders, one monkey bar, and two climbing boards, but at least this one has two slides: one single turn slide and one dual slide. However, the dual slide is only accessible (if you go with the traditional staircases entry) after you walk through the fake rock bridge. That rock bridge is quite narrow and there's no handrail on either side, so I felt like I'm Indiana Jones trying to get to the treasure whenever I walked across that bridge. I can imagine that kids that are 5 to 12 might not have any problems crossing that, but just a little bit scary from my point of view.

There are also few new (OK, so may be they're already at other parks, but this is the first time I encounter one) play equipments, such as the flower style mini-merry-go-around, or the excavators on the sandbox, or the large climbing structure on the other end.

The overall design language of the play structures is quite similar to the one at Sycamore Park, which uses dull color tone on the structure with umbrella shades. The dull color is bad choice, but the umbrella shades are good call. I strongly encourage community (or city) to consider the adding shades when replace the older play structures. It benefits not only the kids, but the parents who accompany them.

The park is not very busy. I suspect not a lot of people know about this park, or may be because I went there during off-peak hours, but nevertheless, it is a very nice park that the kids will enjoy and the parents will relax.

The park is very close to the 5 freeway. There is also the Trabuco Grove shopping center right across the street, plus the Orange Tree Square and The Arbor shopping center down the road not too far away, which is quite nice for a half-day family activities.

Pro: Quiet neighborhood, quiet park, new-ish play structures, interesting play equipments, umbrella shade on both structures, a lot of parking spots 

Con: strange color choice, restroom is locked (I'm not 100% sure)