Ward Park — Attraction in Winter Park

It's great when there are not a dozen baseball games, but that happens more often than not. There are about 13 baseball/softball fields, 4 soccer/football fields, a football stadium with a track, a pool in the connected cady way park, a trail, and 2 playgrounds. However the baseball crowd really struggles to move around and park so it's like the mall at Christmas when walking the path through the fields - which it's uncomfortable to say that 99% of the path is in between the fields. The parking is an uncomfortable and similar situation, with the city putting cones down the streets in some places so cars can navigate for residents, and down the center of parking lots so cars can safely drive, and cutting into the grassy areas that used to be pedestrian outside the fields for even more parking. I watched as two different elderly people had to walk far to their cars today because there was no close parking and no open handicapped spots (there is barely any) and one almost fell over off the curb while someone almost drove over them in order to not have to slow down while exiting the parking lot. The church next to it is sadly losing their yard to the park for more baseball parking. The baseball crowd routinely opens or breaks the church's barriers to their lots and front/side yard and use it - it's just a rowdy, aggressive crowd. Also, there was a large pedestrian area on the side of the park with native plants and old oaks, and a lot of it was clear cut recently as part of the Y's rebuild - it's just moving in that direction. It was repaved with wide paths and the amount of paths were doubled, with some of it just for a design in the paths. They added rocks, sod, and big box store plants with signs to stay off of all of it. There is no room for your kids to run and play! Not unless you can find space and safely navigate the parking lots with kiddos to get to the playgrounds. It's just overrun by those people and has gone downhill. Unfortunately the games cannot be spread out over more days or longer periods of time, apparently to make the park usable by people outside of the baseball groups. Lastly, Winter Park Babe Ruth cooks fresh burgers and hot dogs routinely and lets the fat drain onto the pathways openly, leaving a large spot of slick, dark, pathway - be careful not to slip in it and fall in the fat since they don't...

SPORT EVENT PARENTS- legal (unticketed!) parking can be found off of Perth Lane and Cady Way. Granted, you need to drive around the park to reach it, but these places are marked, paved and very close to the fields.

Parking anywhere on St. Andrews is dangerous to the pedestrian traffic and children at play. And since that road is very narrow, parking on either or both sides of the street impedes local residents from getting or leaving home.

These are wonderful facilities with mature live oaks and greenery, playgrounds and pathways, as well as the baseball, basketball, tennis and soccer fields.

Help us keep our children safe- and save yourself the expense of a...

The fields are great but… never open. And if you hop the fence to get in they kick you off within minutes. The grass fields being closed at times is understandable but having a turf field closed doesnt make any sense. For a brand new turf field, it should be open all day as it doesnt need any maintenance whatsoever. They have 4 grass fields but only open the smallest one and only till a certain time since they rent out that same exact one. Wish this park was actually public and people could use...