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I've heard so much about these parks being great for kids as young as toddlers. What are the reasons you go to one versus the other? Do you recommend any others?
Umstead is not a park where there are really playgrounds, it's a state park, mostly just trails. All the rest are great for kids (Umstead is too, but not for a playground)! Pullen has "attractions":a train, kiddie boats and food and is very entertaining. Bond Park is very large with more running/biking trails, a small boat dock, and an outdoor amphitheater but it also some play areas as well as other types of recreation such as canoeing, sailing and a compost education center. Marla Dorrell is more of what I consider a typical play ground.
So, really, they're all great but I might choose to go to one over the other depending on what we were in the mood to do! If we felt like riding our scooter, I might go to Bond, if we wanted a leisurely hike, we'd go to Umstead, if we just wanted to swing and slide we'd hit up Marla Dorrell, and if we wanted a little more excitement, we'd go to Pullen. I say you should check out all of them!
Pullen Park is the best of the bunch and has soooo much to do for children from the playground to the train ride to the historic carousel, etc. It has picnic areas for families and even an indoor city pool complex.
All of them! When my daughter was younger, we used to go to a different park almost every week, sometimes more than one. Pullen and "kids together" were favorites, for whatever reason, my daughter really liked Kids Together, and still talks about that, now she is 12.
Crabtree Park is near Umstead, and has some good exploring.
Harris Lake Park is similar, both have decent playgrounds.
The area behind the Art Museum is a great adventure for a toddler
San Lee Park in Sanford has a neat little nature museum with some cool snakes.
Venture a little further, and Raven Rock is awesome. Cool bluffs.
There was a cool little park, I think it was off ten-ten, just nice picnic shelters and walking trails.
Apex Community park is good, as is Shelly Lake.
Bond Park has really cool "activities" all summer long.
We used to like riding bikes around the lake at Regency Park. Flat, not too long, a good starting point for early bike-riders and/or walkers.
Seems like there is some kind of cool mill/park off of St. Mary's, can't remember specifics.
heck, we used to just drive around and stop when we saw a park. A 4-year old kid will find a way to have fun, all we had to do was stay out of her way, get our excercise while chasing her, and we all had fun! :-)
We're busting at the seams with parks and it's great! When I was a kid moving to this area I swear the parks were the only thing that kept me from constantly whining to my parents about wanting to return to NJ.
One tip is if Pullen Park is ungodly crowded (which it often is on nice weekends), and your kids really want to ride a carousel, you can head over to Chavis Park and they also have a historic carousel that is very nice. That park used to have a bad reputation in the early-90s but I go over there all the time now and it's a great place.
My wife brought our daughter to Kids Together and said that the park is awesome, but during the day on a weekday it was awfully crowded - There must have been a group from some daycare center who brought a busload in.
My wife brought our daughter to Kids Together and said that the park is awesome, but during the day on a weekday it was awfully crowded - There must have been a group from some daycare center who brought a busload in.
And you gotta watch your kids like a hawk at Kids Together because there is so much landscaping that they can easily be out of sight in a blink of an eye. Especially if you have a little one still in a stroller along with an older child. Difficult to keep up because of all of the shrubs and winding sidewalks. Hard to go 4-wheelin with the Graco.
We go to Kids Together with our almost 3-year old all the time (it's just a short drive from us). I had high hopes for Pullen park, but we actually liked it a bit less. Our son is very tall for his age and the slides etc. in the Pullen park were too small for him and not interesting. But the "big kid" slides were too big (they're from 5 yo, I think). At Kids Together he can go almost anywhere. We do watch him closely all the time.
We also enjoy walking at Lake Johnson Park, although there is no playground, I think. Our son enjoys watching the birds and turtles (?) there.
An not really a park but a surprising hit with our son was the renovated Waverly Place in Cary. He didn't go to the small playground (it's for bigger kids), but was very excited about the fountains and lights. Not even mention the frozen yogurt place.
Umstead is not a park where there are really playgrounds, it's a state park, mostly just trails. All the rest are great for kids (Umstead is too, but not for a playground)! Pullen has "attractions":a train, kiddie boats and food and is very entertaining. Bond Park is very large with more running/biking trails, a small boat dock, and an outdoor amphitheater but it also some play areas as well as other types of recreation such as canoeing, sailing and a compost education center. Marla Dorrell is more of what I consider a typical play ground.
So, really, they're all great but I might choose to go to one over the other depending on what we were in the mood to do! If we felt like riding our scooter, I might go to Bond, if we wanted a leisurely hike, we'd go to Umstead, if we just wanted to swing and slide we'd hit up Marla Dorrell, and if we wanted a little more excitement, we'd go to Pullen. I say you should check out all of them!
There are TONS of other parks though!
Great summary. We frequent all of the mentioned ones except Umstead with our three year old and you broke the differences down nicely. Umstead doesn't really have much for kids, although we've occasionally run with the little guy in a BOB stroller there.
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