McCully Ala Wai Community Playground — Attraction in Honolulu

Playground is updated in the past year, so we have been there 3 times, but it gets trashed. We've found vomit under the structure, food wrappers every time, graffiti, mysterious brown-ish red paste-like substance smeared on the railings and steps. There are sketchy characters that linger around. We went at the end of May 2024 and we watched a homeless couple nearby purchase drugs from someone who haphazardly biked by. Shortly later, a woman in her 30s without any children walked over from the baseball fields and sat at one of the benches. She then intensely watched my 2 year old daughter until we left about 10 minutes later. If my husband wasn't there, I would have left right away as she was making me uncomfortable. The weekend before, we were told by a different mentally unstable person that "Jesus is coming in 13 years, so buy a big loan because we won't have to pay it off" after staring at the play structure my children were playing on and complaining how they got rid of the pull-up bar.

I wish the Honolulu police would enforce homeless people from lingering and camping so closely to parks and playgrounds as I'm fearful of drug residue, condoms, and needles being found by my toddlers. I am thankful that some of them aren't 100% mentally gone and are aware that it can make parents uncomfortable and leave or move further away from the play structures.

If you go, I advise bringing alcohol-based wipes to wipe your kids down before putting them in the car. And please be extra diligent of...

Only nice playground near the Ewa/western end of Waikiki! We’ve been with our 1yo a few times.

Fresh new equipment. Nicely shaded until about 9:30am (December). Occasionally another family is here, and we would love more to come!

I was hesitant because of the reviews saying it’s been trashy, but it’s been clean/tidy all the times we’ve gone in the past month. There’s also a restroom and a nice grassy area under a banyan tree.

Main downside is that there are a lot of open/unbarred/freefall areas at the top that require a lot of parental attention for the little guys when they climb. I’m sure older keiki would love it.

It’s a nice morning routine to grab coffees from Sunny’s then walk another 5 minutes here in...

Playground is okay. Could definitely use some maintenance and repainting. There are also quite of decent amount of homeless in the area, some of which were just riding their bikes around constantly, and admittedly made the experience less appealing. My 2.5 year old did have well enough fun though. The playground is very similar looking (slightly better actually) to the Hoa Aloha playground in salt lake. I do have to admit, plus are there are fields in the area and the Ala Wai canal if you are ok to have them play near the canal. Also decent shade with the...