Inspiration Playground — Attraction in Bellevue

My kids and I were very disappointed with this new playground, built at great expense (5.5 million dollar!). It's of interest only to children under the age of 3 or 4, even 5 year old kids will be unimpressed by the anemic equipment - no swings higher than 4 ft, nothing that could conceivably give kids even the hint of a thrill or a tiny bit of speed on a swing.

I don't know how much of this is because of our litigious society, or because it's meant to "universally accessible". I can understand making a part of a playground handicapped accessible. But really - does the whole entire thing needs to be completely handicapped accessible? What means is in practical terms is that there's no drop of more than a few inches, and that the swings - sad and short though they are - all have seatbelts.

And instead of a merry go round where kids work together to spin it, there's a "tilt table". Where you tilt. A few inches. And it take a few seconds to tilt those few inches. Yep, real fun.

This playground is marketed as "for all ages and abilities". Nothing could be further from the truth. It's 100% only for kids under the age of 3 or 4, or for kids that are in a wheelchair.

The old playground at this location was nothing amazing, but there were a few pieces of equipment that kids actually lined up 8 deep for at the July 4th festivities. They tore those pieces of equipment down, and believe me, nobody will be lining up for any of the equipment at this playground.

Wake up, parents. Kids that are older than 4 need playgrounds too, they need places to go where they'll be challenged and can perhaps get a little thrill on a swing. Otherwise they're get even more sedentary than they already are, pursuing the pleasures of video games, instead of getting some fresh air and exercise outside.

Your kids may be interested for a little bit because it's so huge, and right now because it's new there's big crowds and it's fun to look at people. But overall, it's a sad waste of money, and a pathetic excuse for...

This playground LOOKS cool but in practice it isn’t very fun for older kids or parents. I recommend this playground for 5 and younger. There isn’t anything challenging enough or expansive enough to entertain an older child.

The swings don’t go high and the jungle gyms (2) are simple, and small especially for the amount of space available. The trampoline is small and hardly bounces. The teeter totter barely moves. There is a “car” that seats multiple people and shifts from side to side. You have to have an adult really push hard to get it moving and it really isn’t exciting for anyone. The water attractions are certainly for toddlers.

As a parent I don’t like it for a lot of reasons. There is low visibility. The jungle gyms have a lot of solid walls and not as many bars. This means as a parent I have to constantly move around to keep my kids in view. They could add more shaded seating. They also don’t have a fence around the kids’ playground area. The older kids and smaller kids areas are intermingled. A few of the climbing attractions are concrete and present a danger for children who slip and fall. The concrete wall has a walkway around the back so once the kid climbs over it you can’t see where they are going behind the very long wall. Parking is limited in my experience.

It is a beautiful park and well maintained. They have beautiful landscaping, bathrooms and drinking fountains. It looks pretty. They have arches and a beanstalk wall and a giant fake tree that provides no shade.

Overall, however, I am underwhelmed by the design considering that it obviously had tons of funding and a large space provided. Parts of it are dangerous, it has low visibility, doesn’t keep little kids and big kids separate or fenced in, not enough seating for parents, needs shade, and only caters to 5 yr olds and younger. Older kids’ fun will be short lived. Case and point: The multi-colored arches are purely aesthetic and literally have no function and take up...

Do not come here if you have a dog. The posted signs contradict each other, so though I was following the rules on the sign at the entrance to the playground I was yelled at by a park employee, and when asked if I could sit on one of the benches on the perimeter in order to watch my playing children I was rudely told to leave. He pointed to a small sign posted on a tiny metal fence in a back corner of the playground marked no dogs in the playground area Also worth noting is that the only bathroom within reasonable distance from the parking lots is in the playground area, so I saw, after being told to leave, four dog owners have to enter the playground area to use the bathroom, breaking the rules. For all their efforts to be an inclusive playground they have excluded a large portion of the population my family included, with no reasonable accommodation. At the very least they could install benches in the "garden" area on the edge of the playground for dog owners to sit while watching their children, so as to remain "outside" the playground area. As it currently stands I will not be coming back because there is nowhere for me to safely monitor my children in the play area while our family dog is with us, and I cannot/will not be irresponsible by leaving the dog in the car for several hours while my children play.

If you are a dog owner with children avoid this playground until it actually is inclusive to all people who...