Hours: Monday-Sunday (Open 24 Hours)
Restrooms? No
Playground Surface: Mulch
Parking Lot? No. Limited street parking only.
Gated/Fenced? No
Overview
This small, family friendly park, is located right in the middle of a nice residential neighborhood in the city of Irvine. While not too fancy, the playground has just enough to keep kids busy for a prolonged period. The wooden, fort style playground is sure to allow kids to let their imaginations run wild. Other great parts of the park include the fantastic picnic area, with vines covering and wrapping there way around the picnic structure. Additionally, the lawn area is just the right size and perfect for those who have had enough of the playground. The park is very relaxing and for those that are looking for a quieter spot away from the more popular playgrounds in Irvine, Woodland Gardens Park is a great spot.
Features
Wooden, fort style playground with 2 separate play structures. One for kids ages 2-5 years old and one for kids ages 5-12 years old
Play Structure for Kids 5-12 Years Old
- 2 slides including a large tunnel slide and a spiral slide
- Multiple levels on the fort. A tunnel crawler and 2 climbing walls, fireman’s pole and a chain ladder
- Zipline
- Carousel net spinner
Play Structure for Kids Ages 2-5 Years Old
- Race slide, toddler table and bench underneath the play structure and a toddler play panel
- Rock climbing wall with rope and chain ladder
- 1 baby (bucket) swing and 1 mom and me swing
- 2 spring jumpers
Other Amenities
- Very nice and reasonably sized lawn area
- Picnic shelter with with nice foliage and 3 picnic tables
- Small walking path
Scout’s Story
Today would be another day of my wife and I attempting to get our daughter, Scout, outside to play while limiting her contact with others. As I have written about so many times now, Scout has been battling stage 4 cancer (germ cell neoplasm) for nearly 4 months now, and is now 19 months old.
We are currently at a stand still in her treatment as we await P.E.T scans on her tumors to determine our next steps in her treatment. The difficult part has been getting the scans completed, as we are having to go to Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles and the waiting period was originally 6 weeks. On our first attempt to get the scans, Scout’s blood sugar was too low (most likely from fasting), so they couldn’t do the scans and we had to reschedule and wait another 5 weeks to get in. That is currently where we are in this process and we are very anxious to just move forward in this battle.
As our lives are currently centered around Scout’s battle and ridding her of these cancerous tumors, normal daily activities have become a bit of a foreign activity to us. Luckily, Scout was now more than a month removed from her last chemo treatment and her blood counts and levels were steady enough that we felt comfortable taking her outside. On this day, we would be meeting up with Scout’s Grandma and Grandpa, who would be visiting from Arizona. On our drive to meet them we elected to stop at a few parks and let Scout play, as if she were a normal, healthy kid.
Scout’s Afternoon at the Park
As our family continued our drive towards Grandma and Grandpa, we had now arrived in the fantastic city of Irvine. Scout was now taking a nap in her car seat and after running into the local grocery store, I searched on google maps for somewhere else to stop as we waited for Grandma and Grandpa to arrive at their hotel. Woodland Gardens Park was just down the street and seemed like a perfect choice.
After arriving, we noticed a group of school age kids playing, who must have just gotten out of school. They were much older so we stayed out of their way and let Scout swing and do her thing on the toddler playground. I really knew nothing about this park before visiting but I was surprised by how nice it was. The surrounding neighborhood is very nice and the park was very quiet and clean. Unfortunately, Scout was still a little too young for most of the equipment here. After about 30 minutes I decided we should head for one last park, more suited for Scout’s age. We really enjoyed Woodland Gardens park. It was nice to get out of the car for a bit and to stretch our legs in this peaceful park.
December 7, 2022
