West Park

Carmel has totally reimagined West Park with updated and unique features. The main draw for the kids is an amazing climbing structure with a super long slide.I must admit that my stomach goes in a knot when I see the kids disappear up the abyss of ropes and poles. But they seem to have a blast coming down the slide. The lower level playground had features for toddlers and a swing that is popular. The water feature, splash pad, is unique with a natural looking waterfall and spouts of water that the kids run through. My granddaughters had a blast and were kept occupied for close to an hour splashing. There is a really nice pavilion with tables and very clean restroom. I want to give a shout out to the staff that was cleaning all morning including power washing the sidewalks. They keep the park immaculate and are friendly and helpful. There is a second pavilion that is new and the sledding hill is close by. There are trails and the park connects with Jill Perlman facility. The marshy area between the two parks is good for birdwatching. The park is dedicated to Jim Engeldow, who helped support the building of the Carmel Parks program. There is plenty of parking. The park tends to get crowded. The park is accessible with ramps and handicapped parking.

The perfect sized park for watching one kid or two! There's something here for both my 4 and 2 year old children. The park was very clean at 9:15am on a holiday (Labor Day). There's plenty of shaded picnic tables. Restrooms on site however I didn't need to use.... but it was nice to know that was an option. My daughter loved climbing the 'boulders' (basically a concrete wall cut into cubes of various heights) that leads up to the section of the park for older children. I really appreciate that the surface of the playground has some bounce to it and it is soft. My son's knees really appreciate it.We will return here. I didn't really understand if there is a splash pad there because the water just seemed to trickle. There appeared to be other water features kids could manipulate but weren't working.

For our girls' age, West Park was better in picture than in person.For one, various parts were closed off due to renovations. It surprised me because I thought the park was newly finished. I wish I discovered that during my research instead of finding out upon arrival. There are a lot of modern and cool features with extremely tall climbing structures and ropes. However, I do wonder why the slides are mostly metal. I would think hard plastic slides do not absorb as much heat in the hot, summery days, but I can't be certain. Our girls mostly spent their time in the "lower level" where there is a rubbery ground with modern play sets, swings, short slides, and what appears to be a bamboo forest.

My 90 year-old dad was staying with me and I wanted to get him out and about, so we took him to West Park. The sidewalks are perfectly flat and very traversable with a walker. My dad had no trouble walking around and enjoying the scenery. We had lunch in one of the little huts and then wandered around the area. It was incredible and magical and he loved it! He kept saying, "We should definitely come back here." And so we will!!

I'm very mixed on how I feel about West Park. This park would be a tough one if you have multiple children with you under the age of five. There are a lot of concrete blocks and places that a kid could potentially fall from a high spot on to more concrete. There is also a lower and higher area with concrete block "steps" connecting the two making it hard for parents to supervise multiple children. While some areas that look extra dangerous are blocked off with fencing, it wouldn't be hard for a kid to go around. The lower area has a few swings and a merry-go-round type item that spins and a small climber. There are strange, looking poles that look like asparagus stocks. Not sure what their purpose is but bigger kids want to try and scale them, but have nowhere to go once up. The area would've been better. Spent putting more items for kids to play on.We are here on a cool windy day, but if it were hot and sunny, the only shade on the playground area is a couple trees that are maybe 8 feet tall and mostly twigs. There is a splash pad area available in the summer. There is a nice large covered pavilion with lots of picnic tables. Bathrooms are new and clean. There is a water fountain with a water bottle filler. There is also a heart AED machine available for emergencies. There are walking paths and some wide-open areas that might be nice for sledding or using a kite. There is a large parking lot available.

West Park has been reimagined and redesigned as of October 2022, and it's an almost completely different park than it was when I left a review seven years ago.The playground has been redone and includes a huge slide for older kids with a large climbing structure, a playground for younger kids, swings, a merry-go-round, musical instruments and lots of other things to play on.The splash pad has a waterfall, although that won't be in use until after Memorial Day.There are two restroom structures now, and a picnic area, and an outdoor classroom, and lots of paths to walk around. One of the paths will take you to Jill Perelman Nature Park, on the west side of the grounds. West Park is one of the biggest parks in Carmel, and it has always been really fun, but now it has stepped up a couple notches! It's super impressive and a great place for all ages to play.

Excellent trails and environment. Very easy walk within the city limit. There is a pond near by with board walk.

This playground was so great but then they renovated it and I'll forever be bitter. I'm all for all of the new playgrounds Carmel has done but this one is not great. We've been a few times since it was renovated and today we went again. My son is older now so I thought it'd be better. It's still just kind of annoying in design. There's no shade so all their metal slides are fiiiire. I read through some other parent's complaints and the park just said it's standard and they're covered to minimize heat. The bottoms are not covered. Its just sad because if you go and play around a little while it just seems like the architect isn't a parent or never had to watch children play on a playground. My son loved playing in the big silo and then we'd all go on a nature walk on their trails. Not anymore Womp womp

When you have great weather in March- you have to go check out a new park. This park has it all. Swings, big slides, pavilions, paths (concrete and stone), Jill's hill and some small ponds/water feature. There are bathrooms and plenty of parking as well. When we arrived there was a man enjoying the windy day while flying three kites. It was a sight to see. We grabbed some sandwiches before we arrived and had a picnic. The park is also stroller friendly if you are chauffeuring around a newborn like us. Grab your sneakers and take a walk around this park.

Nice structures but needs more shade trees. Good parking, and lots of open fields too much in my opinion