Surfside Splash Park

A new splash park is in town!  Surfside opened just a few weeks ago on 9th, just west of Sheridan.  We finally made the trip to check it out on Sunday.  

I'm glad we made the trip!  The splash park is amazing!  Like Ray Ross Park, this splash pad is an oasis in an otherwise questionable area.  Unlike Ray Ross Park, this splash pad isn't free.  They charge $1 per person, but the fee is definitely worth it.  They have lifeguards on duty and everything.

We set our things down on one of the many picnic tables under the pavilion.  There was a really nice, gas grill installed by the seating area.

I spoke with one of the lifeguards and learned it's only for private groups.  You can rent out the whole splash park for $90 for two hours on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings.  She told me they're actually booked solid for the rest of the season.  I could see why.  This would be a great place for a party or reunion.  She told me guests are welcome to use any of the charcoal grills during regular hours, though.

Here's Oliver checking out some of the water features when we arrived.  He was pretty uncertain about a lot of it at first.

I tried to give him a pep talk to run through the water.  When that didn't work, I picked him up and ran through everything myself.

He slowly, slowly warmed up to everything.  We learned that some of those tall water features could rotate.  Oliver was able to rotate even the large ones himself.

There was a tunnel to run through that spritzed water everywhere.

Jo's checking out the water, too.

Check out all the fun to be had at this splash pad!  Incredible!  
Oliver started to get into the fun!  In the background of this picture, you can see a kid using a green water cannon behind Oliver.  There were two.  Kids could aim them at each other and get each other soaked.  They spun, so kids could aim it all over the splash park.  The neat thing was: the water pressure dropped when they were aimed at the benches.  So, parents sitting on the benches don't have to worry about getting soaked.

Off to the side was a water feature set up for kids to explore.  It reminded me a lot of the Children's Museum, actually.  Kids could dam up water flow with foam walls, and then open them back up again.  The surge of water would make the water wheels spin.  It's incredibly interactive and fun.

Oliver, of course, wanted to understand how everything worked.  He loved exploring all the things to do.

I took a video of the little guy in action:



We went back to the main area to get wet!  One water feature was essentially a funky looking bucket.  It would fill with water and then tip under the weight of itself.  Oliver loved watching it fill and dump over and over again.  He was too scared to stand under it himself, so I "helped" him:

In this video, you can see the bucket dumping, followed by Oliver spinning one of the water features.



I think it's safe to say that we had a great time.