My girls had fun at the beach, however, there was construction everywhere and it was bumper to bumper driving throughout the whole place. It was completely packed, I assume because they weren't using the toll booths and it was free to get in. It took at least half an hour to find somewhere to park close enough to the beach.
The ground was littered with garbage, even on the beach. My 3 year old stepped on an old pop can that cut her foot while playing in the sand.
The bathrooms were.....a horrying experience. Bring some sort of baby wipes with you!! There were only 2 bathrooms near the beach. Both of which were unisex and only had one toilet, so the lines were extremely long. Of course my 3 year old can't hold it for very long and even in a line with all adults, no one offered for her to let her move towards the front. (However, I do realize this is not the responsiblity of Bell Isle, speaks volumes for the type of people there. As well as why she even had to hold it for 20 minutes in the first place) the doors were propped open because there are not any lights in the bathrooms. There is just a half wall between the toilet and the door. So as you use the bathroom you can hear a bunch of drunk people outside yelling to hurry up. The floor was wet with puddles of some sort of liquid (water or something else, I'd rather not think about it) and there was no toilet paper either. The toilet itself was covered in urine. No actual seat on it either, just the bowl. All of which made it extremely difficult to take my little one potty without her being able to "hover". There was soap though, thankfully. It was just absolutely disgusting.
There were drunk people everywhere, but luckily state police were too, so it made us feel more safe.
My girls were looking forward to the water slide but they were closed and it appears the pool and slides haven't been open in a long time. The water in the pool was greenish brown. So that was a bummer.
All in all, my husband and I may have been frustrated and shaking our heads at some things but from a kids perspective they had a blast. They don't notice the drunks acting a fool everywhere and they don't give much thought to the litter on the ground. They just enjoyed being at the beach and swimming in the water (which was probably the cleanest thing there) and having alot of other kids to make friends with. At the end of the day, that's what really matters anyways.
They should really hire people to keep the park clean and reopen the pool and water slides. They would end up making a lot more money in my opinion.
Learn more insights from Wanderboat AI
