Ashley River Park — Attraction in South Carolina

While we love the park itself, after utilizing our annual pass for 5 months, there are definitely some things that have made us honestly consider requesting a refund but also deciding not to purchase one next time that I think are important information to know upfront.

They tell you paying for this pass gets you into the other Dorchester County parks, too. What they don't tell you is that if you travel to St. George, not only is there not a gate to show your card, but it's open access with a ton of very nice, very new sports fields, too. They offer some great programs there that those of us required to pay to enter in Summerville aren't blessed enough to have too. Unsure if the other park closes or not, but it's not been busy when we went and was far nicer and for free. It has been a minute since we went so if this changed, my apologies, but it's still not transparent for Summerville residents to pay for what others get for free for the same county.

The constant reduction of hours is ridiculous. We would plan for the new time then it'd close before we and others got there. We live close but many may drive further and have to turn around. By the time I'm off work (5:15pm) and drive over there , it's closed now. Why not put some value into this, add some lighting and let people have somewhere to enjoy the evenings when they want to unwind? Goose Creek Central Creek Park does this (for free, mind you) and they are ALWAYS packed. Just sucks we gotta drive 30 min to a good park that's geared towards people of all ages with differing schedules. I think parks closing when the sun goes down eliminates options for kids and teens to stay out of trouble too. Goose Creek is full of teens having fun in a safe environment, something we are lacking here.

The amenities like the splash pad would close earlier than it stated causing kids to get wet for a couple minutes then be left upset that it turned off early. If we are paying for amenities, keep them open till 15-30 min before close. Otherwise, what are we paying for?

This is a wonderful, beautiful park, but it's a bit ridiculous at this point we can't even enjoy it because they operate on bank hours half the year. It's often nice out down here during that time, yet we can't enjoy something we paid for. This needs...

IT IS OPEN AS OF MARCH 19th Dog park is nice and big, BUT They are going to have to do something about the entrance to the dog park. it’s only a single entry point the gates aren’t spring loaded and it’s a constant battle to keep dogs from running out if someone doesn’t latch the gate properly. If you’re dealing with trying to get your dog in and they’re excited to get in the park and people don’t make sure it’s latched properly. They ought to take a look at the system in Wanamaker Park much better system and no problems they’re gonna have to fix it dogs are going to get out in the parking lot easy. Plus there is no water available in the park. Also while they have a dispenser for poop bags, they don’t have any containers in the park to put the bags, so you have to go outside to dump it.

Updated review-

They have redone the dog park after many complaints and they all are good!!! Separate entrances and exit so you don’t have the issue with dogs trying to get in or out by themselves. They have paved the area right at the entrance so now they have a water Spicket and a bucket for water. They have added benches and more picnic tables. They have cleaned out the underbrush under the all the trees, and they have filled in the holes that were mud holes that the dogs would sit and get filthy all the improvements are fantastic. What...

The Good: Nice very open fields. Great for picnics, kite flying, frisbee etc. Nice little fishing pond. Play equipment looked cool. Side walks were nice. Dog park was a good size. Has a little dock on the Ashley River. The Bad: No baby swings. No swings at all. The splash pad is a little disappointing, cant say it looked much fun, it's kinda large but alot of the time I looked there's just one stream of water ams it drains down the sidewalk making a wet mess. Almost no benches, unless u count these huge concrete structures around the play area where I saw a little girl ruin her day on. Ouch. Not many or any trash cans or dog poo bag receptacles. Cant say that I saw any fish nor anyone catch one. Terriblely designed dog park entrance, just one gate and not user friendly. I dont understand what the fencing is for around the bathroom.. if it's for safety let's take a look at the fact that a child could scamper around back and end up falling into a street.. I also dont get the building in the field, it has a hospitality suite, bathrooms and a giant awning.. The trail that runs next to the Ashley is VERY rough with roots, not stroller friendly.

Overall not very impressed, its 2022, I would have expected a little more pizazz, and better attention to detail especially for the budget. The whole place smelled like a...